What is article marketing? Article marketing is you, or a writing service, writing your articles for widespread distribution on the Internet. At the end of every article is a link to your website where you can proceed to sell affiliate products to visitors.



What are the advantages of article marketing? For one thing, you show readers interested in your affiliate product topic that you are a well-informed resource they can turn to for useful information. You establish your credibility as an affiliate marketer this way.

Secondly, you gain widespread distribution of your links when you use a good article distribution service. An article distribution service that has relationships with a broad spectrum of niche publishers will help increase traffic to your website. Of course, that will only happen if you have the option of submitting unlimited articles in a period. Choose an article distribution service that allows unlimited submissions within a period and you are on your way to building traffic.

Thirdly, article marketing allows you to measure the effectiveness of your work. A good article distribution service will provide you with a tracking option. You perform article submissions and want to know where they are going and how many hits they are getting. With tracking options provided you can see where you articles are and when others will go out. You can see which articles are popular. You can see which of your articles missed the mark and did not elicit interest from readers. You can then refine your efforts so you become a better article writer.

One disadvantage of article marketing is that you have to remain relatively neutral with your article writing. You cannot sound like a pitchman on a soap opera commercial trumpeting your wares. You must provide useful information without sounding as if you're selling your particular brand.

With social networking you have more freedom to promote your affiliate products. What is social networking? Social networking is online websites used to link people to other people. A user creates a profile that creates a personal network that allows them to link with other people that have similar interests.

The advantage of social networking is that you can talk in a casual informal way specifically about your particular affiliate product. You can do so with those who share an interest in your affiliate related topics. You may market tennis rackets as an affiliate. You can form relationships through social networking sites with those who share your interest in tennis and tennis-related topics. When the topic of tennis rackets comes up you can let them know what you have to offer. Of course, you will do so in a reputable way, giving them quality information to help them make buying decisions.

One disadvantage of social networking compared to article marketing is that it takes longer to reach a large niche market. It's the nature of the beast. It takes time to build up social contacts with like-minded individuals. Article marketing can reach more of your niche faster.

You can use article marketing and social networking together. As you share information with others on a social network let them know that you write on the topic at hand. Let them know where they can find your articles concerning a topic you are discussing. Point them to where your website is as well.

Article marketing and social networking are all about getting your links out into cyberspace. It's also about building relationships with others so they see you as a knowledgeable and credible affiliate marketer. Let article marketing and social networking initiatives be the tools working together to drive traffic to your website.