You've probably heard all of the current hype about articles being a great way to market your business. Well, hype is the wrong word to use; I'd call it an unambiguous reality. Articles provide some great traffic, they show off your knowledge to the world and they ultimately give you the essential credibility you require to run a long term online business.

But how many times have you written an article that takes forever to write, dries up after 200 words or gets published with hardly anyone ever reading it?

Been there, done that? Haven’t we all.

Do you know what? There are some very simple reasons why, along with one lesser known reason. None of which are actually your fault.

Are you ready for some refreshing advice? Ok let’s do this!

People that are hell bent on clogging the article directories just to get seen by others, just to make a quick affiliate sale (which in reality, only happens very rarely when they use this approach), or just to try and force any old traffic to their site are the first reason why your articles are being affected.

Keep reading as I’ll explain the little know reason why and how…

Many of these people seem to be missing the point with article marketing. It never seizes to amaze me the enormous lengths people go to in order to cheat the system, to churn out hundreds of articles that end up in the internet “Room 101” or simply put… …the trash bin

People snap up software worth hundreds of dollars that robotically creates recycled articles, disguising the plagiarism and narrowly avoiding serious copywriting laws.

In fact, there is every chance this article is being sliced to pieces by one of those treacherous robots right now, conveniently leaving my bio box out, or more pointlessly, cutting out the key point of the article and being left with a ‘car accident’ of words that, even then, the user has to operate on before letting my poor old article back out onto the street.

Ironically, this whole process is supposed to save time, yet if anything it actually wastes it. Not to mention the fact that such practises actually scar the credibility and reputation of the author (that is, if they actually had one in the first place).

So what does this have to with you?

Well, one of the reasons why your articles might be left in the shadows is by being subconsciously caught up in the trend. Instead of aiming for mass production of thousands of mediocre articles to be splattered across the online landscape, find a little corner where the frustrated buyers are, and clear a pathway with your article.

How?

1. Just give readers what they need, but not all of it.
2. Use your brain, not some kind of plagiaristic “guru recommends this, so it has to capable of making me richer than Richard Branson” article destroying software
3. Be specific and relevant to the people you are speaking to
4. Be original and speak in your own voice

Those three points make a great article alone. These are the exact techniques I used to produce an article than earned me £119 in three days.

However, you must not forget to include a good bio box. Some call it an author resource box, but whatever you call it; make sure you use it properly. That is, just make sure you add a little curiosity and some sort of compelling offer in that box and people are far more likely to follow back to your website so you can sell, sell, sell!

You don’t need to write award winning novels in there. Just a few lines that offer the reader something of value, something they can truly and honestly benefit from and ultimately, something that is 110% relevant to what you discuss with them in the article.

Before I leave, there is more very important lesson to take from this. Remember at the beginning of this article I mentioned a lesser known technique that is stopping you from writing money pulling articles? Well, this one technique is actually the same technique that made the real difference in my £119 article.

I know this because I actually split tested this technique. First I tried writing the article without using this technique. The result was 49 page views and 1 sale. The second time around I applied the technique properly and got 126 views and made £119.

What did I do differently?

I crafted the perfect headline.

After studying hard, desperately searching for the answer to article success, I eventually realized that the headline was, and still is the key to article success and ultimately serious financial gain. It’s what the world’s best copywriters attest to, so I knew it must have been true. Sure enough, some months of practice passed by and I was able to craft headlines that, even to this day, result in unexpected sales – even from weak or run of the mill articles. Talk about halving the effort and doubling the profits!

So my advice to you is this...

Be original, be specific, provide quality over quantity and above all, write a headline that hypnotises casual readers into hungry buyers. It is possible and yet surprisingly easy once you know how it’s done to such effect.

What would you do with an extra £119 every three days? Get a little romantic dinner, buy that new outfit you’ve wanted for months, upgrade that dusty old computer monitor, or buy some much needed advertising? Whatever you decide, make sure you know how to earn it first.

How?

Save time and money by writing a killer headline. Because I can guarantee at least one thing, writing great headlines is the one skill that turns average marketers into successful entrepreneurs. Anything you will ever do online falls into the hands of a great headline. And yes, you can quote me on that...