Article Marketing Explained: 12 HOT Tips -

Article Marketing Explained: Leveraging Article Marketing to Promote Affiliate Offers as a Beginner

Article marketing involves creating and distributing high-quality articles related to your niche across the web to attract visitors and build brand awareness.

For affiliate marketers, article marketing enables you to organically promote affiliate offers and links through value-driven content without being overly promotional.

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Unlike blatant advertising, article marketing aims to subtly persuade readers by establishing you as a thought leader. This nurtures trust and credibility for your recommendations.

Crafted and distributed strategically, articles can drive significant traffic to your site and affiliate offers over the long term by improving your search visibility and authority.

In this comprehensive guide for article marketing, you’ll learn how to start article marketing as a beginner affiliate successfully.

Benefits of Article Marketing for Affiliate Promotion: Article Marketing Explained

Article marketing is a great way to build natural, organic backlinks that search engines love!-Article Marketing Explained

Here are some of the key advantages of using article marketing to promote affiliate offers:

Increase Organic Search Visits

Optimized, keyword-focused articles improve your search engine rankings and visibility for those terms. This drives direct traffic to your site and affiliate links.

Establish Thought Leadership

Publishing topic-related articles lets you demonstrate expertise and establish credibility within your niche. Readers are likelier to trust affiliate recommendations from those positioned as topic authorities.

Gain Backlinks

Quality articles published on other high-authority sites will earn backlinks pointing to your website. These SEO backlinks help your overall domain authority and search rankings.

Brand Awareness

Getting articles ranking on the first page of Google for your keywords increases brand visibility and awareness with your target audience. This expands reach and conversions.

Cost Effective

Article marketing has very low monetary costs compared to other forms of online promotion like PPC ads. The main investment is your time and effort.

Deliver Value to Readers

Articles allow you to create and share valuable content, not just sales pitches. This builds engagement and loyalty with your audience.

Overall, article marketing should be a core part of any affiliate’s promotional mix due to its versatility and performance. But how exactly do you get started?

Step-by-Step Guide to Article Marketing Explained

Follow these steps to launch your first article marketing campaign to boost affiliate promotions as a beginner:

Step 1 – Pick Your Topics and Keywords

Start by determining the topics and keywords you want your articles to target.

Use keyword research tools to find low-competition keywords and long-tail phrases buyers use related to your niche and affiliate offers. You can utilize tools like:

– Google Keyword Planner
– SEMrush
– Moz Keyword Explorer
– Ahrefs

Identify topics that:

– Attract your target buyer personas
– Relate to the products/brands you promote
– Have sufficient search volume and popularity
– Enable you to demonstrate expertise

This ensures your articles have an interested audience.

Step 2 – Research and Outline the Article

Now conduct in-depth research into your chosen topic to put together an article outline:

– Review competitor content ranking for the topic
– Check online forums and groups for related discussions
– Identify relevant statistics and facts to cite
– Find potential quotes and expert perspectives
– Determine complementary topics to address

Flesh out a detailed outline hitting all the sub-topics and angles you want to cover to create a comprehensive, authoritative piece.

Step 3 – Craft the Article Content

With your research and outline done, start writing:

– Open with an eye-catching introduction summarizing the topic and promising value to compel readers.

– Structure content in sub-sections using H2/H3 headers around related themes.

– Make sure your target keywords flow naturally within the text.

– Include relevant facts, statistics, examples, and expert evidence.

– Insert affiliate links where relevant as recommendations.

– Write a strong conclusion, recapping your main points and takeaways.

Aim for at least 2000+ well-written and researched words. The length demonstrates your depth of knowledge while satisfying search engine requirements.

Step 4 – Optimize for SEO

To maximize search visibility, optimize your article for on-page SEO:

– Use your target keyword in the headline and 2-3 times in the article body.

– Include related keywords and long-tail phrases in headers and content.

– Add meta descriptions and alt text optimized with keywords.

– Use keyword-rich filenames for images (e.g., best-affiliate-marketing-tips.jpg).

– Link out to authoritative sources and sites related to your niche.

Proper technical on-page SEO improves rankings and drives more context-relevant traffic.

Step 5 – Insert Affiliate Links
Strategically insert affiliate links within your article body:

– Recommend affiliate products as solutions where relevant.

– Spotlight specific features and capabilities of an affiliate service.

– Link to an affiliate’s content, resources, or sale events.

– Reference case studies and testimonials from an affiliate brand.

– Link terms like “affiliate program” to an affiliate site.

Affiliate links should add value rather than distract or overwhelm the reader. Aim for 2-4 well-placed links per 1000 words maximum.

Step 6 – Find Publishers and Submit

Identify websites, blogs, and publications accepting contributor submissions within your niche:

– Compile a list of 20-30 potential websites suited to your article topics.

– Check their writer’s guidelines for the submission process.

– Pitch your proposed article to the editor or owner, briefly explaining key points and what value readers will get.

– Follow up politely if you don’t get a response within two weeks.

With persistence, you can find reputable sites interested in quality contributed content.

Step 7 – Promote Your Article

Once published, actively promote your articles to boost views and links:

– Share articles on your social media accounts.

– Email links to relevant contacts and industry influencers.

– Monitor comments and respond to reader questions and feedback.

– Link to high-performing articles from your website and email list.

Promoting your content amplifies the value article marketing provides.

Following this process for creating and distributing targeted articles will steadily grow your organic reach, authority, conversions, and affiliate income over time.

Advanced Article Marketing Strategies: Article Marketing Explained

Once you master the fundamentals, consider these advanced strategies:

Leverage Data-Driven Keyword Research

Use analytics tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to identify the specific topics and keywords already driving traffic and conversions from organic search.

Double down on creating content optimized for those high-performing keywords.

Repurpose Content

Repurpose your best-performing articles into multiple formats:

– Convert into a video summary
– Expand into a lengthy guide
– Split into a multi-part series
– Adapt an excerpt into a blog post

Repurposing expands the lifespan of your best content.

Promote with Paid Ads

Boost high-quality articles by running paid ads pointing to them:

– Test Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
– Target by keyword and interests.
– Drive more visitors to articles and affiliated links.

Paid ads combined with organic search deliver a marketing 1-2 punch.

Interview Industry Experts

Create and promote expert interviews discussing your topic and keywords. The big name will attract their followers while showcasing your brand. Offer to share the interview on their social channels for broader reach.

Curate Content Compilations

Aggregate multiple articles on a focused theme into a single in-depth guide. For example, curate your previous articles on “Improving Affiliate Conversion Rates” into an epic guide. This long-form content performs exceptionally well for SEO.

So, in addition to optimizing and promoting individual articles, leverage repurposed, aggregated, and co-promoted content for multiplier effects.

Article Marketing Tactics to Avoid

When distributing affiliate articles, steer clear of these common yet ineffective tactics:

– Only publishing articles on your own site without external distribution. This significantly limits the organic reach and backlink potential.

– Mass article submissions to any low-quality site willing to publish your content. Prioritize reputable sites with engaged readers.

– Rushing the article writing process without thorough research and outlines. Quality trumps quantity.

– Aggressively cramming articles only with affiliate links rather than organically integrating recommendations. Over-promotion damages trust and credibility.

– Submitting duplicate versions of the same article across multiple websites. Search engines will penalize you for duplicate content.

– Using distracting or excessive ads around articles. This annoys readers and hurts conversions.

Remember, the hallmarks of effective article marketing are providing genuine value through high-quality, original content rather than aggressively promoting affiliate products immediately.

Wrapping up our article marketing explained content

Article marketing remains one of the most effective promotional tactics for affiliate marketers because of its versatility and low costs.

However, success requires significant upfront research and effort to deliver reader value versus quick wins.

Use this comprehensive guide to implement a thoughtful article marketing strategy tailored to your niche, integrated with your broader affiliate efforts.

Consistently publishing high-quality, keyword-optimized articles on reputable external sites will gradually build your authority and organic conversions over the long haul.

Article marketing success rarely happens overnight, but with a patient, value-driven approach, the compounding benefits absolutely pay dividends for affiliates.

What article topic ideas do you plan to create content around? What challenges do you foresee with getting started? Let me know if you have any other article marketing questions!