In the past I have blogged about the 7 Ways Articles Increase Your Prospects, Publicity and Profits, because I believe that writing articles is a great way to promote your business.

Few people realise the influence that an article can have. I talk to a lot of people who say they’ve heard that article marketing is a good thing to do, but few of them do it.

The main reason for this is that it is a time consuming exercise. But those are willing to take time to write and submit them will enerate a good amount of traffic to their website.

Here are a few benefits:

It’s free advertising

Submitting your articles to article directories won’t cost you a penny; its just takes time. But this method of driving traffic to your website will have a long term affect.

Be recognised as an expert in your field

When you write decent articles that are filled with valuable information, people will respect you and see you as an expert.

Generate sales

Writing an article is similar to writing sales copy.  Although they have different purposes the principle is the same – “One drives traffic, another generate sales”.

Build a good opt-in list

Article writing can help you build your opt-in list. By simply adding your link to your article you could grab their email address.

Opens opportunities for joint ventures or for finding a business partner

By building your reputation within your field, some of your readers may become interested in joint ventures or becoming business partner – it could open many doors for you.

Writing articles is great way to drive traffic to your website.  Don’t underestimate the power of article writings.  The more you write, the more you enjoy writing it, and the better your articles will be.

Sally Ormond is a freelance copywriter and internet marketer.

Direct response copywriting is everywhere and can take several different forms – such as a direct-mail campaign or direct response ads.

Many companies employ direct response copywriting. But you must ensure that what you are writing is interesting and compelling enough to get your reader’s attention. When you are doing direct response copywriting, you should make sure that you are writing to your reader as you would write to a friend so it needs to be conversational.

There are no hard and fast rules as to how long your writing should be – instead you should write until what you need to say has been said.

Direct Response Copywriting Formula

OK, as the advert says here comes the science bit.

There are three main parts usually attributed to a direct response letter:

• The headline – this must be attention grabbing.
• The offer – make sure you explain in great detail what a person will receive if they take you up on your offer.
• The postscript – this is where the incentive goes for someone to respond immediately to your offer.

The key behind direct response copywriting

The key is that you want the person to immediately respond to the offer that you have presented.

A good freelance copywriter knows that success in the direct response market is achieved by focusing on the three main parts such as the headline, the offer, and the postscript. Get this right and you’ll be setting yourself up for a high success rate.

Sally Ormond. Briar Copywriting

I have a blog which contains loads of articles about freelance copywriting. But for those of you who are new to the art of copywriting, this blog will focus on giving an introduction to the subject and why it is in such high demand today.

Take a look around you. Every where you look someone is trying to market something to you. Therefore the field of copywriting is large and continues to expand every year.

A way to describe copywriting is putting a creative message in front of a consumer and is based on three fundamental principles:

• When you are writing to a customer, there has to be an involvement between the customer and the seller.
• You must make sure that you explain the rewards as far as when the customer is purchasing a product.
• The final piece is achievement and that is what you as the writer will be focusing on.

Whenever you write copy, you want your readers (the customers) to want a certain product because they will want to gain certain rewards – you know the kind of thing, the product will save them time, money etc. etc. etc.

‘Come on, anyone can write sales stuff…can’t they?’

A lot of people would like to think that true but it’s not. There is a specific niche for copywriters. They are the ones who write messages in such a way that it brings about an interest in a consumer.

There are so many ads out there today so consumers won’t respond unless it is something that specifically interests them. This is why it is more important than ever to have a clear focus when you are writing your copy so that you know which particular niche you’re trying to hit.

There will always be a need for copywriters no matter whether the economy is in a recession or in a boom. Companies must always put out a message to consumers and as long as this demand is needed, copywriters will be in high demand.

Author – Sally Ormond, Briar Copywriting. A professional freelance copywriter with extensive experience B2B and B2C copywriting across all industries.

There have been a number of posts and forum discussion about the value of article writing. Well it’s not a fad – writing articles and marketing with articles is one of the best and fastest ways to market your business.

Don’t believe me? OK then, I’ll prove it. Here are seven ways you can benefit from articles.

1) Articles quickly position you as an expert in your field

Writing articles sets you apart from your competition. You never have to say “Listen to me, I’m an expert!” Your articles do that for you, because articles increase your “expert-ability.”

2) Articles can become an army of 24/7 salespeople

Once you have an article published, especially on the internet, you will achieve a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year international sales team working specifically for you and your business.

3) One article can have many uses

In other words, leverage. Just one article can be used as a free report, a newsletter feature, it can become part of an online e-course, part of a book, etc.

4) Articles spread the word about your business and your services

Articles, especially when submitted online have a very long shelf life. They can be picked up by anyone at anytime and anywhere.

5) Marketing articles is simple, easy and inexpensive

It costs you nothing to write an article (apart from your time). It also costs you nothing to have it listed on article directories such as EzineArticles.com. Imagine what it would cost you to pay for that kind of exposure and publicity.

6) Articles can help you build a mailing list

Once you have a few articles out there, prospects will begin to flow in. These will build into a mailing list worth its weight in gold which can be used over and over again.

7) Articles let you stay in touch with clients and sell more products

We know that it can take from 5 to 8 contacts or more for new prospect to be ready to become a client. Articles allow you to stay in touch with prospects and provide them with quality information.

This list of 7 is just the tip of the ice berg. Article writing and article marketing will boost your business. Why not give it a go?

Sally Ormond is a freelance copywriter working with companies across all industries worldwide.

Proofreading is most probably the most boring pastime known to man but it is also the one thing that stands between a letter, email or newsletter of quality and a shoddy piece of marketing that lands itself in the bin.

It is a job that most people avoid like the plague, but proofreading should be seen as (probably) the most vital stage in any marketing push.

When you are writing for a company, excellent proofreading services are vital. And there are three very simple steps you can take to make sure this doesn’t happen to you:

A recent example of this (and in fact the very thing that prompted me to write this) landed on my mat this morning. It was a mail shot from Google offering a free Google Adwords voucher.

As you could imagine my eyes lit up when I saw this – as I began to read their ‘5 reasons to attract more customers with Google Adwords‘ I couldn’t help but stiffle a giggle as I read number 1:

1. You control where you ad is showing – by country, region or town

It may only be a missing ‘r’ but it was amusing to see that even a company as big as Google occasionally make an error.

So what are the three simple steps? Well…

1. Get someone else to proofread for you – The services of a professional proofreader are invaluable. Externally sourcing editing services is money well spent especially when writing direct mail letters or reports that will have a wide readership (please note this Google!).

2. Leave it for a few days – By that I mean that if you have to proofread your own work, put it aside for a day or two and work on something else. That way, when you come to review it you should be able to read it with a fresh pair of eyes.

3. Read backwards – If you read your sentences backwards you will be able to spot mistakes easily as what you are reading will make no sense whatsoever so you will find that you will be looking at each word harder.

Basically if you can make use of external proofreading or editing services, then do so as it will save you pounds in the long run. A new pair of eyes will always be better than the old ones (so to speak). But if you have no choice but to proofread your own work, try one of the techniques above – it might just save your blushes.

Sally Ormond is a freelance copywriter who also offers proofreading and editing to her clients. If you would like more information you can get in touch with her here.