But there is one thing you must do before you start writing, and it is easily overlooked. If you do not take a few moments to consider how your article fits in to your overall marketing strategy, you could be wasting your time. And time is money in article marketing!



This just means taking a moment to think about the article's reason for being - or rather, two reasons, from different points for view. First, what will the reader think is the main point of the article? And second, how does it fit in to your marketing, or how will it make money for you?

Sure, from your point of view, your main reason for writing an article is to make money. But your readers don't want an article that is written too obviously from that point of view. It is usually best to keep that motivation of yours so well hidden that it is almost invisible.

Instead, remember that you are writing the article to inform the reader. Yes, let's say it again - to give useful information to the reader.

If you are selling information, you probably don't want to give away too much. But it's easy to pick out one point, perhaps something that you didn't cover in your ebook, or something that is quite well known. It needs to give real value to the reader, so it should be both interesting and helpful in solving their problem or whatever need or wish they have that led them to read your article.

Remember that there are people who write articles and run websites simply for the love of it, without making a cent from them. Those people usually have strong feelings about their subject, whether it be their religion, their pets, a food fad, or whatever. Imagine you were someone like that and you just wanted to tell the world about your subject. Then add your link at the end of the article.

Do not make the mistake of trying to put too much information into your article. Three points is plenty - and often, one is enough, if you develop it well. Over-stuffing your article with information confuses the reader. Instead, you should aim to leave them happy with the information that you gave, but wanting more.

At the same time, keep your own money-making reason for writing the article in the back of your mind. This is usually either branding (building trust in your name), sales (sending readers directly to a sales page) or lead generation (sending readers to a squeeze page where you can offer them more information). As a general rule, where your article is very closely related to the product you are selling, you can link straight to a sales page; less closely related, link to a squeeze page; and only broadly related, link to something like a blog that promotes you as an authority.

So before you submit your article, consider the thrust of the article both from the reader's point of view and from a money-making perspective. Do the two purposes go together well, or do they conflict? You may have written other articles leading to a squeeze page, but would this one be more effective if it went directly to a sales page, or to your blog?