Warning! This article may cost you an ARM but not a leg!
My good friend Nikki Malnati is a real estate consultant with incredibly successful Hasson Company. She’s been selling homes for years and years. One conversation with her and you know she knows her stuff.
As you know, the real estate industry is in a bit of a mess right now. Nikki and I have discussed the multitude of ways she can promote herself and her expertise on the net. I divulged my secret to FREE ADVERTISING on the web … Article Relationship Marketing.
Article Relationship Marketing is writing articles for newspapers, magazines, chamber-church-organization newsletters and websites that are always in need for content. My focus, of course, is all on the web. Face it … You’re in business because you are the expert in your field and you want to share that information with the world – and get paid for it. ARM is not about getting paid to write your articles (besides, there’s a lot of competition in that arena), ARM is about getting your articles in front of as many people as possible!
For example, take a look at some of these websites: Articlesbase, ArticleCircle, and FreeArticles.com. You’ll find thousands of articles written by professionals just like you free for the taking. Your articles can be there, too!
WHY Should I Write Articles?
When you add your articles to these sites people can take your article and add it to their websites and/or publications for free … as long as they include the bioblurb (aka by-line) in the article! Since you’ll know, by reading THIS article, that your by-line should include your phone number, URL, and/or email address, your article has the potential to reach thousands of people reading that article and drive traffic to your website or leads to your phone and inbox!
For example, one of Transmutation Sciences’ divisions is Express Community Sites, a franchise of 12 websites in the Pacific Northwest currently reaching nearly 88,000 people each month. Is the time it takes to write an article worth reaching 88,000 potential customers? Our other division, Q Netwerk is targeted to the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans) market worldwide and reaches just over 100,000 people each month.
Over 40 websites that are jonesing for new content in just our company … think of how many other websites need content too and how many people they reach!
WHAT Should I Write?
It may seem a bit challenging to write an article; the key is to remember one very important fact: You ARE the EXPERT at what you do! The second important fact: People’s attention spans on the web are short! so articles don’t have to be very long … just effective.
Here are some easy steps to writing your first articles:
1. Think of the Top Ten Problems you encounter every day. EACH one of those can be its own article.
Nikki came up with more than ten problems she sees every time she visits a seller’s home for the first time: the lawn is a mess, the house numbers have fallen off, the front steps are damaged, toys are everywhere … the list is fairly long. Now Nikki can write an article about curb appeal and another about home inspections, and another about preparing the house on the outside and another about preparing the inside. This is just the beginning.
2. Top Ten lists. Top Ten lists themselves can be articles. “The Top Ten Tricks to Prepare for Tax Time” (That’s a lot of alliteration!) “The Top Ten Ways to Keep Your Office Organized” The Top Ten Ways to Reduce Your Grocery Bill” or for me “The Top Ten Ways to Promote Your Business
on the Web!”
3. Set aside time. For most of us, writing doesn’t just flow from our brains onto the page, we have to work at it. So, often it takes awhile to get into the swing of writing and, if you haven’t alotted enough time for writing, you might have to stop just when you’ve warmed up.
4. Set a goal. Say one article a week. Or two articles each weekend.
5. Remember that you aren’t writing to win a Pulitzer. You’re writing to show off what you know and drive business to you. Keep it focused. Keep it brief.
