9 Article Marketing And E-zine Content Ideas Guaranteed To Get Attention

9 Content Ideas for Your Article Marketing Or Ezine

                                                                                                            

Now that you’ve decided to get your product or service noticed with article marketing, the next step is to get down to the business of writing your articles.

 

The big question then becomes, “what can I write about that will get people interested and make them want to read what I have to say?”

 

There are several traditional formulas for capturing your reader’s attention and beginning a conversation that will draw them in, build trust and hopefully lead to their wanting to purchase more of you through your product or service.

 

This article briefly describes 9 different ways to craft an article that will convince your reader that you have something valuable to share with them and capture their attention long enough to give you an opportunity to engage them.

 

Content Idea #1: Tell Them What They Want To Hear

 

One of the best ways to ensure you have your readers’ interest is to write about something that is on their minds.

 

The best way to find out what burning issues are most important to them is to… hold your breath… ASK!

 

Services like SurveyMonkey or ConstantContact make it extremely easy to do this. Plus, you’ll learn quite a bit when you start polling your audience.

 

After you find out what they’re interested in and what issues are uppermost in their minds, give them more information or tell them how to solve their problem(s).

 

Content Idea #2: Teach Them Something

 

Most people are interested in learning more about things that interest them or that will advance their careers or other personal interests.

 

If you have any sort of knowledge or advice to share that can help someone move towards a goal, achieve an objective or overcome a challenge, then you can be sure that they will be interested in hearing about it.

 

Write a brief article that gives your reader a step-by-step instruction set to help them achieve whatever it is that they want to achieve.

 

Content Idea #3: Tell Them a Story

 

They say that “facts tell, but stories sell” in the sales world.

 

So, armed with that knowledge, doesn’t it make sense to draw your reader and potential prospect in with a riveting account that just happens entertain them AND gets your point across?

 

Content Idea #4: Fascinate With a Q and A Session

 

Interviews, Frequently Asked Questions and similar information can really appeal to the short attention span, time deprived reader you may be trying to connect with.

 

Readers appreciate the opportunity to get inside perspective from interviewees as well as benefitting from hearing insightful answers to questions someone else made up for them.

 

To get content for the Q’s of your Q&A, poll your readers as suggested above, or just make a list of questions that your customers or clients most frequently ask you.

 

If you don’t already have customers or clients to poll or track questions from, go to places where your prospects spend their time online.

 

If you find they hang out in forums, you can usually create a poll within the forum software. Just ask your moderator how if you aren’t sure how to do it.

 

Alternatively, find blogs that your target market reads and spend some time going through both the titles of the posts and the comments to them.

 

By doing that, you will see what’s on your prospects’ minds and that will give you ideas for questions and answers for your Q&A article.

 

Content Idea #5: Tie Your Information In To Whatever Is Hot in the News

 

No matter how dull you think whatever you have to say is, you can always spice it up by figuring out a way to tie it to breaking news.

 

For example, if you’re a real estate agent and the Fed lowers interest rates, you can write about how that will make more homes available to people with lower incomes.

 

If you have a dog training product and a new kid’s movie comes out with an animal in it, you can write about techniques the trainers to the stars use to get animals in movies like that to do what they want them to do.

 

Just try to figure out how to grab something that’s hot in the news right now and related it to your product or service. Then… write about it.

 

Content Idea #6: Give Them a List

 

Just like Q&A articles, people LOVE lists. And, usually it’s for the same reason.

 

Lists are quick and easy to read. They take information and break it down into little digestible chunks that readers assume will not take too much of their time.

 

If you have any doubt about the popularity of lists, just look at how popular David Letterman’s “Top 10” lists became.

 

If you’re having trouble coming up with something to make a list of, you can borrow ideas from Amazon.

 

Just go there are search for a book related to your topic. I just went and searched “dog training.”

 

Next, take a look at the results and then peek over on the left side of the screen and you’ll see an area that says… Listmania!

 

Look there for ideas for your list, and if worse comes to worse you can always just make a list of great books related to your topic.

 

Content Idea #7: Objection Overcome

Another great subject you can write about is objections your typical client or customer may have to buying your product or service.

 

Here, you start out with the objection, and then you give the reasons it is not valid as you gradually overcome it.

 

For example, if you’re a mortgage broker, you could start with “Does the Prospect of Lower Rates Mean You Should Hold Off On Refinancing Your Mortgage?” and then give reasons why that’s not the best idea for your reader.

 

Content Idea #8: Profile an Industry Icon

This can be a great way to position yourself as an expert in your industry who is tied to someone else who virtually every prospect you know recognizes.

 

This can give you tremendous credibility.

 

Let’s say that you’re a copywriter - someone who writes sales letters, copy for websites and other sales and promotional materials.

 

If there are some really well-known copywriters out there, and there are, you can profile one of them and their great accomplishments and get credibility by association.

 

In the copywriting world, you could choose Gary Halbert and write a memoriam about all he added to the industry. Or, you could write about Dan Kennedy and how being grumpy is his trademark.

 

The way to do this is to start out writing about the icon and then tie yourself and your product or service in by saying how you or your product or service is similar or dissimilar or otherwise relates to theirs.

 

Content Idea #9: The Rant

 

This content idea is really popular in blogs these days. All you have to do is think of something that bugs you and about your industry or how things are done in your industry and then just “riff” on it.

 

Just keep track of any time you encounter something that drives you crazy, and then write about it. Voila, you have an article!

 

Conclusion

 

Use these 9 content ideas to spark your creativity and get you started writing articles. Article marketing is a killer way to attract new clients and helps you start a dialog with them, build trust and position yourself as the obvious expert in their minds.