6 Article Marketing Mistakes That May Stamp S-T-U-P-I-D On Your Articles

Are you making article marketing mistakes that stamp S.T.U.P.I.D. on your articles? No worries; you can put a stop to any S.T.U.P.I.D. article marketing mistakes. Here are 5 article marketing mistakes and how to avoid them written into the S.T.U.P.I.D. acronym. Implement them now and create another income stream that produces more site traffic and double your sales.

1. Skimmers - ignoring the skimmers. Do you make your articles easy to read? Cater to the skimmers. New millennium readers are busy professionals. You could be missing out if you don't. Your article readers want to skim your piece for the top points. Give them tips, lists or numbered points to make it easy to pick and choose interests or read fast.

2. Titles - nondescript titles. Examine your article title. Does it do its job well? Will it get any attention among the hundreds of pieces of information streaming into your reader's consciousness each day? If not, you must re-craft your title until it sizzles. Aim each title and article at one specific audience. You will be less effective if you try to be everything to everyone. Then revise it and slant it toward another audience. For example, your article writing coach re-wrote the S.T.U.P.I.D. articles for 3 different audiences: article marketing, book writing and self-publishing.

3. Understanding - lack of understanding your reader. Do you understand your audience? Are you aware of their needs or desires? If not, you should campaign to find out. You could create a simple survey to collect information about what their greatest challenge is in your field. Then write articles to fill that need or to bring understanding to your readers. Before long, you will have a whole fleet of articles circulating to promote your business or product to success.

4. Prelude - no hook introduction. Does your short introduction grab attention right away? After your sizzling title has grabbed their attention to read your article then the introduction should hook them right away. You could start with a question about where they are now with solving their problem. Follow up with your article's thesis and benefits to the reader. To get more people to read always include what's in it for them in your introduction.

5. Information - information shift in bio. Don't forget to spend time on your bio. Upgrade your signature box to Web 2.0. These days the focus is not so much on your credentials as it is the reader benefits and especially the offer. Keep it simple; grab your reader's attention again and make a free offer for a report, ezine or even min-course.

6. Do it - just do it. There's one more point I need to make about erasing the stamp of S.T.U.P.I.D. on your articles. You must take action to reap the benefits of more traffic and eventually double sales and leads on your email lists. If you do the same thing you've always done, you will get the same results. Changing your actions will change your results. So that leaves one thing left to do; just do it.