Share Your Expertise - Write Articles

Writing articles was one of the first marketing strategies I used and I still use today. This has worked really well for me - I've written over 100 articles and had them published in a couple print publications and numerous online ezines and websites.

I enjoy writing and can do it fairly quickly and easily (at least some days!). But even if you feel you're not that great of a writer you can always do up a draft and get help with the copywriting and editing.

I believe that writing articles is such a powerful and useful way to market for several reasons:

- with your name in print, you can call yourself an author - which does wonders for how you are perceived

- build your credibility

- build your status as an expert

- you can repurpose articles: blog posts, compile a book, create a product, offer as a bonus, post on your website, use it in your ezine

- hone your writing skills

- sharpen your grasp of your subject matter

- build connection with your prospects and clients

- showcase your knowledge

- get people onto your list

When you write your articles, the expectation is not that you'll get paid. How you achieve value is by writing a great author resource "box" - basically a paragraph that tells who you are, how to contact you and gives them a call to action, such as going to your website to get a free-giveaway.

When people reprint your articles they have to include the author resource box and in that way, your name gets put in front of the readers and those that are interested know how to connect with you.

There are so many places that you can submit your article:

- free and low-cost article submission sites such as Ezine Articles and SubmitYourArticle

- online ezines

- association and industry newsletters

- local daily and community newspaper

- alumni newsletter

- other people's websites

- internet publications

- article directory sites

There are thousands and thousands of online and offline places where you can submit your articles for publication. People need content - whether it's a feature article or a filler.

Just remember, the content of your articles need to be valuable and relevant to the readers. And the places that you submit your articles to needs to have readers that are a fit with your target audience. You don't want to waste your time and the readers' time if the content of your articles isn't something they want to learn about!

I encourage you to start writing articles as part of your ongoing marketing strategies and if you're already writing, I challenge you to increase the number of articles that you consistently put out. This is one marketing tactic that will pay off for you!