People don’t often think of articles as being information products, but that’s exactly how I think of them. An information product is educational information that you can use to promote your business and/or generate income. You can do both of those with articles, and so I do think of them in the same category as information products (info products).
Most people write an article and use it once. That’s such a waste. There are so many ways you can leverage each article that you write. Here I’ll address just a few of the ways that you can do that.
First of all, why are you writing the article? People usually write an article for one reason. Perhaps you’ve written it for your newsletter or blog, or perhaps you’re marketing your business by doing article marketing – submitting articles to ezine directories, which is a very effective strategy. But don’t just leave it at that. Think about other ways that you can leverage your articles. Here are a few to consider:
Make printed copies of your article
If your article has been published somewhere, you can make copies of it within the publication. You can mail copies of the article to your customers and prospects with a note – “thought you might like to see this” or something like that. You’re not trying to sell anything, just sending out information and keeping in touch and they will appreciate you for it. You can also take copies with you to meetings, networking events, conferences that you attend. As you’re talking with people you can ask if they’d like a copy of your article. I’m sure most of them will. Again, you’re offering useful information without trying to sell anything so people will appreciate that.
Do you do workshops, classes or presentations? If so, take copies of your article with you. If you give a handout at your workshop or presentation, attach a copy of the article to it, or simply have it available for attendees to pick up as they leave. Either way, you’re getting your information out to more and more people. There is a high possibility that some of these people will make copies of your article themselves and pass them on to others – this is great. It’s exactly what you want. Your information is being passed to more and more people.
If your articles contain valuable information that people can really use, they will hang on to them. I’ve had people come to my events with folders full of every article I’ve ever written and every postcard I’ve ever sent – they keep them because I include information that is of use. Things that they can implement right away. People hang on to those for years and they start to look forward to anything new that I send. These people don’t just have an interest in what you do – they become your raving fans.
Always make sure your contact information is on your article, even if you have to stick a label on it with that information before you make copies.
If your article hasn’t appeared in a print publication that you can photocopy, then simply print out copies from your printer (making sure your contact information is on it).
On-line Marketing with Articles
If you are using the strategy of marketing on-line by submitting to various ezines or posting on other people’s blogs one issue that can come up is the issue of duplicate content. Whilst you can submit the same article to several ezine directories, if you’re going to be submitting to other people’s blogs or mini-blog sites and putting it on your web site and in your newsletter, etc., you might want to think of having several versions of the same article. You can be saying the same thing, but just saying it in a different way. The articles don’t have to be dramatically different, just different enough to avoid the issue of having exactly the same article, word for word, appearing in many different places.
Submit on-line Articles to Local Publications
If you’ve written an article for your newsletter or blog, or for article marketing, you might also want to consider submitting it to local print publications. They won’t always print articles that you send to them, but if your articles are good, with valuable content, they might. It’s definitely worth a try. I’ve had a lot of success with this in the past and have had major local newspapers feature my entire article, with photographs as well. This is great publicity and doesn’t cost you anything. It may even prompt them to contact you to do a follow-up article themselves, or ask you to be a regular contributor. Definitely worth a try.
These are just a few suggestions for making maximum use of your articles and turning them into info products that really work for you. For more detailed information on these and other must-have tips, with resource information, you’ll find a Special Report available at http://www.FastStartInformationProducts.com/Resources.htm
