Article Marketing Success: The '5 Things To Look For' Template

It's not always easy coming up with writing topics. Sometimes the most welcome thing in a writer's life is a template that he can easily adapt to his own specific situation.

To aid in your article marketing success, I've got a template that you can fill out in no time to come up with an article submission that is very helpful to your readers.

This template works great for:

*People who have service businesses, such as a doctor, electrician, carpenter, virtual assistant, etc.

*People who own product based websites (these are websites that sell different types of products rather than services)

Your Attitude:

Imagine that you are a business coach, and a friend of yours has contacted you asking for advise on choosing a business coach for herself. For whatever reason, you are not eligible to fulfill your friend's need, but you are an excellent source of objective information on finding a reputable person in your field.

This is an important attitude to have as you write this article. Your role is adviser to a friend, rather than candidate for the position.

Basic Guidelines:

*Don't mention yourself or your business in the article. You can talk about that sort of stuff in the resource box, but the article should be completely about the needs of your readers.

*Write as an expert advisor who is entirely objective. You know your field very well, so you are the perfect person to give insider tips for what to look for in a business coach, dentist, pet groomer, or whatever your field is.

*Your article should be able to be used by a reader who is looking for a person in your field. You should provide helpful, insightful tips for choosing the best plumber, veterinarian, hair stylist, etc.

The Article Title:

It's really easy...

5 Things To Look For In A [Hair Stylist, Insurance Agent, Dog Walker, or whatever your job is]

Or, if your website is product based, you can do:

5 Things To Look For In A [Trampoline, Lawn Mower, or whatever type of products you sell at your site]

Article Introduction:

This article is a list article (there are 5 elements in the list), but first you need to start off with a paragraph that will introduce your topic. In this intro paragraph, you can tell why it is so important to look for these certain indicators when searching for this type of person or product. You may also give a warning of what could happen if proper care is not taken in selecting this certain type of person or product.

List Element:

Your list contains 5 things that a person in search of a particular type of product or person should look for.

Create your list of items to look for, and arrange them strategically. The strongest item is your #1 tip, and the second strongest is your #5 tip. You want to lure the reader in with the strongest tip and finish strong with the last tip.

Give some supporting information for each of your tips.

Be sure that your list is clearly numbered in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 fashion. Each item should have a number in front of it. Readers appreciate articles that contain numbered lists, as they are easier to read.

Concluding Paragraph:

After your list is complete, you need to cap things off with a summary. You may state again some of the most important tips you mentioned or you can focus in on one tip that stood out as the most important.

It's also a nice touch to end with an encouraging word or a final bit of wisdom to help get your reader started.

Your Author Bio:

Also called the resource box, this is your chance to draw some attention to yourself, your business, and your website. Here is the information that you should provide in sentence form:

Give your name, your occupation, a reason why the reader should trust your advice, an incentive for a viewer to visit your website, and a link to your site.

There, that was easy! This '5 Things To Look For' template helps you provide helpful information to your readers and puts you in direct contact with people who are looking for someone in your field (or products that you sell).

It's a great way to make initial contact and show your expertise. Just remember--no selling in the article body. Be an adviser in the article, and the readers will put things together when they see your resource box.


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Steve Shaw is a content syndication specialist. Do you own a blog? Need content? Join thousands of other blogs and get free high-quality, niche-focused, human-reviewed content from quality authors sent on auto-pilot - and it's all 100% free! Get free blog articles now.