Does FREE Really Mean FREE
Like this? Digg this!
When a business mentor suggested to me that I write and submit some articles to Ezines and another competitor for content purposes only, I thought he was nuts. Struggling to make money as a writer, the thought of giving away my valuable services for nothing was incredible. To be honest, at this point, I was thinking of getting a new mentor. What I did not understand was that this so called FREE content was really an advertisement of my ability to produce content and a marketing tool to use for clients.
Over the past few months since I have been seriously marketing articles to content buyers whether it is online or in print, I have found that many of the clients come from referrals of the so called FREE articles I have produced. I am not necessarily an expert in article marketing, but it has been proven to me that this form of marketing my services has worked tri-fold.
Since writing is what I do for a living, it is something that I had better stay in constant practice honing my skills with each article produced. Here are a few things I have learned about article marketing.
* Sit down and brain storm ideas for articles. Spend an afternoon with a piece of paper and pencil and take a walk around your home town. List every idea that pops into your head, whether you know anything about the subject or not. Think outside the box. Don’t limit yourself on ideas.
* Put the list away for a day or two. Pick it up again and look at the ideas you wrote down and pick one that interest you. Not necessarily one that you are an expert on. Outline what you do know about the subject. Add questions that you personally have and find the answers. Sit down and write a 400-600 word article. It will cause your creativity to explode.
* Write an article about your own business and submit it to a local newspaper for FREE advertisement. Come to think of it, write a press release about your company or services every month. It is absolutely the best FREE advertisement on the market today.
* Be willing to take a risk. Write a blog or a pure opinion article about something you feel strongly about and post it. Controversy draws in readers. Once you have them hooked, the door is open to bigger money paying markets.
* Be unique in your writing. Provide new material without scaring people away with pushy tones.
* Most importantly, remember every article you write and is posted on Ezines is FREE advertisement for your services and can be put into that all important clips file. Who knows perhaps an RSS Feed showing up on some corporate officers desk will lead to the big story.
Keep Writing.
Bright blessings,
Ashira
***
http://ashirarhapsody.webs.com/
Owner, AskAshira
askashirar@gmail.com
The Witches’ Child Author
FFWA Member
Cassel Network of Writers Member
Like this? Digg this!
Leave a Reply