Article writing is one of the most commonly promoted methods for building backlinks and if written correctly, attracting direct traffic.  

So what is the quickest, most reliable way of writing an article that will get traffic and bring you business?

Here is the article writing technique that I use. I have developed it based upon my experience, things I have read and tested, and my time poor lifestyle.

The basic article writing framework.

   Headline
   Introduction
  
   Point 1
   - Idea 1, idea 2, idea 3
  
   Point 2
   - Idea 1, idea 2, idea 3
  
   Point 3
   -    Idea 1, idea 2, idea 3
  
   Point 4
   - Idea 1, idea 2, idea 3
  
   Conclusion
   Signature box


Step 1 – Writing your topic

Decide on the topic of your article and write your topic as a question. I talked about this technique in an earlier article.

“…I turn every keyword phrase into a question. This is such a simple technique but many people don’t know about it. It is so much easier to create content from a question than just from a word phrase.”

My chosen keyword phrase for this example is “Affiliate Marketing”. As a question, I will write it as “Why start an affiliate marketing business?” To make writing easier, I will start out with it written this way as I can always change it later.
 
Based on what a lot of article writers say and looking at the top results on Google, their most read / most popular articles are ones titled with a headline like:

• 5 ways to
• The 6 best
• Our top 10
• 10 steps to

You can see by these suggestions that I can easily change my question to fit with the headline style they suggest.

“What are 5 reasons to start an affiliate marketing business?”

Oh, and I never write my final headline until I have written the complete article.


Step 2 – Introducing your content

The introductory paragraph is setting the reader up for what you are about to tell them. I like to think of it as a teaser to keep them reading on and into the next paragraphs.  I have sometimes seen it said that you tell them what you are about to tell them. I’m not sure if I totally agree with this but it does help you to focus your thinking.


Step 3 – Covering your main points

I follow a quick way to write the paragraph content. Not only do I list my main point but I also jot down 3 ideas about it. For the example paragraph below, my outline might look like:

1. No need for own product
   a. saves time
   b. no experience needed
   c. good if can’t build anything yourself

If you do this for each paragraph you write, it will help you to quickly build the outline of the article before you write it.

Use a sub headline to lead into your main points. Make sure that you use your keyword phrase in this headline. Look at the example below. For SEO purposes, you will see that I start my point and my paragraph with my keywords.

1. Affiliate Marketing doesn’t require you to make your own product.

Affiliate marketing means promoting someone else’s product and getting paid a percentage of each sale for your effort. If you start affiliate marketing, you can replace your day job if you work at it!
I try to follow this article writing technique whenever I am writing content for my sites or for article directories. Repeat this process for each of the main points you are writing about.


Step 4 – Writing your conclusion

It always works best if you write a final paragraph that sums up what you have written and finishes off the article. It doesn’t have to be too long so writing about 3 sentences should be enough. Think of this part as the summing up of the information that you are imparting. You can so this by revising the main points, add a final tip or even give some examples. Don’t forget to use your keywords in this section as well.


Step 5 – Inserting an anchor text hyperlink

The best place to build a link back to your site for SEO purposes is from within the text using anchor text links.  This means that you link from your keywords.

In the code below, you will see that I have use the keywords “affiliate marketing” as the anchor text. You can also see the HTML code used to make the link. If you’re unsure how to do this, you can take this code, paste it into your article and just change the keywords to fit.

<a href="http://www.associateprograms.com">affiliate marketing</a>

An example paragraph would look like this:

Affiliate marketing is promoting someone else’s product and getting paid a percentage of each sale for your effort. If you start <a href="http://www.associateprograms.com">affiliate marketing</a>, you can replace your day job if you work at it!

This link can be anywhere in the text but never add it into a heading. Also, don’t stuff the article with links as most of the top article directories will allow you have one link.


Step 6 – Filling out the signature / offer box

This is one area where a lot of people miss potential traffic. In the signature box we often write things like “Joe Blogs is from Blah and knows all about blah, blah, blah.”  Boring, isn’t it?

I was recently reminded by David Raybould, in his report “Easy Article Cash”, of a little change which will make this signature work for you.

He suggests turning your signature into an offer.

In the image below, you can see how I have used this in one of our recent articles.



Take the opportunity to make an offer to the reader. These offers normally invoke more action than a typical signature box and they entice people to do what you want them to do which is to visit your website.

Try writing something like “Click here to get 77 Ways to improve your dog and stop worrying about those messes in the corner.”

If people do follow your link, force them to sign up to your email list to get the report so that you can market to them over and over.

Remember: Never give something away without getting something in return.


Step 7 – Writing the Headline

Before submitting my article, is go back and rewrite the title of my article. It is important that you turn it into a headline that draws clicks. You should keep the numbers and keywords but you may need to reword the rest. Here is how I would rewrite our example question into a headline.

Original Title
What are 5 reasons to start an affiliate marketing business?

Headline
Discover the 5 Top Reasons for Launching an Affiliate Marketing Business!


Step 8 – Check your work

No matter how many times you check your work, there seems to always be another mistake that needs fixing. Do your spell checks, fix the grammar where possible and look for missing words. Allan reminds me to “read it out aloud”, which is good advice. When you read aloud, you often hear that it sounds wrong. You can then go back and make changes then read it again.

Don’t worry if you feel strange reading out loud… just do it somewhere no one is listening.

My final step is to put the article aside for a day then come back to it and read it again. For some reason it always sounds different after a 24 hour break. I often go back a rewrite sections after doing this.

Step 9 – Submitting your Article

The most common method for getting your articles indexed in Google is to submit them to the massive range of free article directories. After writing an article, you take it and submit it to each of the directories in your list where it is indexed and you hopefully create a back link.
Here are 10 directories to start with:

• iSnare
• Article Alley
• WebProNews
• Ezinearticles
• Articleclick
• Webarticles
• Articledashboard
• Article city
• Idea marketers
• Article feeder

Most article directories accept text articles only so it’s best that if you write your article in Word, you copy and paste into Notepad to remove all the formatting before you submit. Sometimes it’s better to write in a text editor but not all text editors have good dictionaries. You can still include hyperlinks but you have to put the full HTML code in as shown in Step 5.



As a suggested word count, you should aim for about 400-500 words. This amount of text will carry your message effectively and the search engines will like it too. Search engines love text!

While submitting articles to article directories can be useful, here's a more effective tactic for affiliates who want to rise above the herd...

Write a top notch, genuinely USEFUL article and offer it to the owner of a respected site in your niche. Do research first, to make sure the article you're offering fills a need. This is more challenging and you risk being rejected, but when you succeed you get a keyword-rich link from a related site. Nice one! Now do it again.

So, where do you start?

Start at the beginning. Take your list of keywords and turn them into questions. Take the first one and flesh out your article framework then get writing. Try to write one excellent article a week at first and then when you become more used to writing, you will be able to speed up.

Even if you think you’re a poor writer, there is no reason that you can’t learn my article writing techniques and improve. In my experience, the “worst” writers, as they class themselves, can produce some of the best case study stories and advice.

If you give people useful information, they'll forgive your minor mistakes.