You should approach article writing with the same carefulness as designing a sales page.After all a properly written article will serve several purposes aside from just providing a means to expose your web URL to the masses.
Your articles can establish your credibility as an expert in your chosen field.
Your articles can portray your integrity as someone trustworthy to do business with.
Your articles will- over time- demonstrate that you are in the business for the long term.

There are certain things you should do before writing your article:

First of course you must choose your topic. Your topic can be about your chosen niche in general,or it can be about any single part or micro part of your niche. Your topic doesn’t even have to be about your niche if there is something else that you feel passionate about or have some knowledge about. Just remember, that your article should be informative.

After you have picked your topic, do some research on it. Go to Google, Yahoo, and other search engines and, using keywords that reflect your topic, gather as much information as possible. As you find bits and pieces of information, use your own words to jot them into a spreadsheet. Don’t worry about the order of things initially. Include the keywords you used for your research because you’ll want to include them in your article to make it search engine friendly.

Now make an outline for your article   The following is the outline I follow:

Headline
A good headline is generally no longer than ten words and uses
decisive action oriented words that act as a hook, pulling the reader
in. The headline sets  the theme of the article and reflects the tone
of what’s to follow.

The Lead
This is the opening paragraph. While the headline is designed to grab            the reader,, the  lead, has to pull the reader into the article and inspire            him to continue reading further. Most people skim and do no read            every word. The opening paragraph has perhaps more                 importance than any other part of the article. It may be the only part           that gets read entirely.
As a result ,the lead also has to provide enough information to outline           the story that follows, and provide the basic substance of the article,           while leaving the reader wanting to know more.

The Body
The body of the article is the main portion. It is here that you convey             the most important fact or facts. It is here that you provide the           “meat” of the information and answer the readers questions. This is            where you work in the material that you gathered with your
research. You can begin with the important points and then  support            each point by facts in following paragraphs, or start with the most            important point followed by its supporting facts in the first paragraph,            and then do the same with subsequent points supported by their
facts in each following paragraph..

The Conclusion
The best kind of article is circular, meaning that the conclusion             returns the reader to the points you made in the opening sentence.             Revisit your lead paragraph and structure your conclusion to             reiterate the feelings you provoked with the lead paragraph. Here is             where your article pays off for you, because here you can offer your              reader more by visiting your website. If you’ve done a good job of             providing the reader with valuable and useful information, he or she             will have developed an appetite for more of the same.

Here are a few more tips:
Most article agencies prefer articles that are between 500 and 800 words in length. Most will accept articles with a minimum of 250 words.
Set  your sentence length to 60-65 wordsper line.
Don’t be afraid to tell some of your  trade secrets! If you give more information, your credibility and reputation as an authority will beincreased.
Give resource information to your readers.Tell them where to find information.
Be sure to include your researched keywords into your article being often enough to get search engine attention, but not so often to disrupt the article flow.

You’ll only sell effectively on the internet when you target a specific group or a specific need.
“Drive buys” do happen but not with enough regularity to make this type of marketing profitable.

How many times have you had a question about something and you decided to “Google” it for the answer or the information. The web has become the “end all” solution to many every day questions and needs.

So, keeping that in mind, recognize a need and provide the solution to that need. Then when people come looking for information, they are “targeted” prospects looking for your site.

Remember, it’s not your site that attracts random customers with a need. It’s a specific need or problem that sends people looking for your site. Be there for them. These are motivated prospects.

Website business is simply an extension or replacement for a standard storefront. When people look for groceries they go to the grocery store rather than the hardware store.

The first step to a sale is accomplished when a customer visits your site to see the product he or she is looking for, and they find it there.

The second step is accomplished when you motivate him to buy the product by providing clear and precise information, by providing incentives in the form of discounts or back end bonuses, or by providing free newsletters as a source of continuing customer relations.

Always provide incentives to buy from you. Remember, you’re not the only store in town. There are others within “finger walking” distance.
With that in mind, it’s a good idea to check out other stores that sell the same or similar products, then tweak your presentation to provide more incentive to buy from you rather than a competitor.

If you happen to sell more than one product or service, provide all necessary information about this as well. You may keep this information at a different page so provide easily visible and accessible links that enable the customer to navigate to these pages for more details.

One of the most wonderful things in life is the ability to make choices.

What would our lives be like if we had access to only one style of clothing: one color of pants, one color shirt or blouse, one style and color of shoes, one kind of car, one brand of cereal, one type of meat, one choice of house design… Wouldn’t life be a drag?

In reality, we have the luxury of so many choices in every aspect of our lives, that it’s almost overwhelming at times.
Take a child to the candy isle of your local grocery or department store and watch them agonize over the selections.

A good salesman knows how to use the magic of the power of choice to his or her favor.

In your sales presentation, the choice “not to buy” needs to be eliminated from the selections.

If the only two choices available are “buy” or “not buy”, you’ll actually have somewhat less than a fifty-fifty chance of making the sale. The reason for this is that fear of losing one’s money on an “unknown” is a powerful force.

When two or three product choices are made available to the customer – each with it’s different benefits, the mind begins to grapple with the pros and cons of each.

When the mind is engaged with weighing each product against its fellows , the choice “not to buy” fades considerably and often completely out of the picture.

So, present the two or three choices -any one of which you would be happy for your customer to purchase – and thus help him or her to always choose in your favor.
Quite often the customer will choose a product, but for fear of losing out on the appealing benefits of one of the other products by choosing the first, he’ll purchase the second also.

A note of warning: two or three choices are plenty. Too many choices can cause the customer to get bogged down in the weighing process and never arrive at a choice.

For more information on internet marketing you can go to:

The word “conversion” in terms of customers, simply means “the mind is changed from “no sale” to “sale”

An old saying that is very revealing about human nature is “A man convinced against his will…is of the same opinion still”. In other words, regardless of whether a man is moved from one side of the line to the other, by forces he can’t physically or mentally resist, his mind is still pretty much the same as it was.

He may, because of a good squeeze page, buy the product, but based on the nagging thoughts that are still in his mind, pulling him the other way, he’ll judge the product with suspicion and will be more likely to complain if it doesn’t measure up in any way.

Every day people are dragged across the decision lines by sales pitches that they can’t readily counter. How many times have people stopped to browse through a car lot and before they really knew what was going on the salesman approached and dazzled them into making a choice they knew they really shouldn’t have made.

How many times have they driven home in a brand new car thinking “How will I ever make the payments…what was I thinking?” For the next while, they’ll be looking at all the features of the new car and trying to convince themselves that they made the right choice. Still in the back of the mind remain the little digs from the conscience until the car proves itself and finally wins them over completely.

When an internet marketer sells a product, he or she will be on trial for a while after the sale until the product proves its value, therefore it is imperative that the product continues to convert the buyer after the sale.

Good products will do just that. Good products will have an already converted customer ready for the next sale.

More about internet marketing?

http://www.makesyouthewinner.com

Arlin Audrain
Dedicated to taking the struggle out of the internet marketing process

So what’s the best way to get started?

There are many experts out there who’ll gladly take your time and money … and many of them are promoting the same methods – each claiming their product is unique.

The problem is that very few have the ability to help you get set up in a simple , straightforward , step – by – step process to success.

While most experts will present to you their one facet of internet marketing ,there are only a very few who can give you a complete, no-nonsense program that includes everything – A toZ- covering every aspect of internet marketing.

As a newbie, I wasted the first seven months following one dream after another. I acquired an immense amount of knowledge, and yes…I figured it out.

During my search for my niche,I found out some vital things:

1. Generally the aspiring marketer really has no plan or sense of which direction he wants to go….he just simply would like to get started with something.

2.Because he has no defined plan, he’s wide open and vulnerable. He’ll sign up a few free reports, and soon he’ll be swamped with offers- each claiming to be the gold mine he’s been looking for.

3. He’ll become bogged down with information overload and spend all his time jumping from one thing to the next, and accomplishing nothing.

Everyone needs help. Even the most successful marketers need help.

It’s an uphill struggle without someone to guide you. While most marketers are interested in your money,thankfully there are a few who are willing to helpa new marketer get started.

http://www.makesyouthewinner.com

In all your marketing attempts, it is good to remember the following: It is better to have
a customer for life than it is to make a one time sale.

Your repeat sales and long term business… YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS….All depend on the value of your product.

Again…Creating value in your products is the key to acquiring and keeping loyal customers.

For beginning marketers whether you are selling products, doing affiliate marketing, or giving away products for free……your product must have value.

Who determines the value?

Well first of all the seller sets a value. If the only value to the seller is the monetary gain he gets from it, it will come across as cheap goods as compared to a product that the seller values himself.

For example, if I’m advertising an affiliate product and it’s one I’ve tried and proven to work for me, I’ll be better able to portray that sense of value to someone else.

I’ll come across more as sharing than selling. “Arlin, you’ve really got to try this….here’s what it’s done for me.”

The buyer makes the final and lasting determination of the value of your product by his actions….he either buys or he doesn’t. If it was valuable he’ll be back for more.(Later on he’ll sign up as an affiliate.)

You can set a value on your product and maybe, or maybe not, that will impress the prospective customer. Quite often you see statements that describe how much the product “is worth.” Generally an honest price placed on the product is sufficient.

Too cheap may be just as bad as too expensive. The prospective buyer can possibly be left with the feeling that the seller doesn’t think too highly of his own product if he’s priced it too low.

The implied or selling value of your product is determined by the following:

1. How professionally you come across.
2. What’s in it for the customer. How well you present the benefits.
3. Honest testimonials.
4. What bonuses are included.
5. Price

The actual value of your product depends on the following….in order of importance:

1. The real impact it makes on your customers’ life….what did it do for him? Did it work like you promised? Is it even better than you said it’d be?
2. Throughout the whole process how did you make the customer feel?
3. Your follow up and honest customer service

  http://www.makesyouthewinner.com