Good question. Let me count the ways ….

1. Support Expertise Status
Having a library of article available for people to read can support your expertise status. Depending on your strategy and what you write about, they can also set you up as a thought leader.

2. Off-Page SEO
Posting articles to directories sets up quality back links to your website, which is one criteria used by search engines when determining how popular or relevant your website is.

3. Increased Exposure to the Market
When the articles you’ve posted to article directories are picked up by bloggers and e-zine publishers, you gain exposure to their readership … a readership you may not have been able to access in any other way.

4. Increased Traffic
Those back links I mentioned in #3 … they also, when positioned properly, can bring more traffic to your website.

5. Can Pre-Sell Products and Services
Well written articles can “prime the pump” so to speak, building the desire for what you have to offer in the reader’s mind.

Of course, these five benefits come with benefits of their own, as well. For example, when you are supporting your expertise status, you are also building credibility and providing valuable knowledge. You can also be increasing awareness of your brand.

All of the above benefits also can help you attract more prospects, grow your list of prospects and customers and generally grow your business.

And best of all, article marketing comes at no cost but time. And, over time, as you get better at writing articles, the time investment decreases.

In December, I launched the website for my new book Home Sweet Home Page and started a simple campaign rooted in article marketing that has taken my website from an Alexa ranking of 1,970,427 on Dec. 23, to 446,678 as of Feb. 28.

How did I do this? Well, let me share:

Step One: Write an article and post it to EzineArticles.com.

First I took my book and came up with several topics for articles based on it’s content. I started with knowing your Website’s target market and wrote this article: Home Page Design – Know Your Website’s Target Market. Once it was posted, I created a link to it from my website.

Step Two: Create an audio version of the article and post to AssociatedContent.com.

About a week or two after the article went live on EzineArticles.com, I created an audio version of it using FreeConferenceCalling.com. I added some music and posted it to my AssociatedContent account. You can listen to it here: www.associatedcontent.com/audio/13551/home_page_design_know_your_web_sites.html?cat=35. Once it was live, I added a link to it on my website.

Step Three: Create a video version of the article and post it to YouTube.com.

While I was creating an audio version, it wasn’t that much more work to import it into iMovie, add a few pertinent images and create a video version of the article. You can watch the video version here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HydZtCkUIGc. Once it was live, I added a link to it on my website.

There you have the basics. But, I didn’t exactly stop there. Once I had about four articles posted, I started creating Squidoo lenses using the articles. Here are a few of them, in case you want to see how I did that:

• Be Clear On Your Website’s Purpose
• The 5 Deadly Mistakes of Home Page Design
• Home Page Design: Make a Professional First Impression

But the point of this article is this: Did you see how I took one article and created three different ways for people to access the information in that article? You can do this, too, broadening your article’s reach and SEO benefits.

The April Article Marketing Marathon is now forming. The deadline to sign up is March 19.

What is an Article Marketing Marathon?

For one weekend, you’ll focus on writing 20-50 articles … but you don’t do it alone nor unprepared.

You’ll have all the tools, resources and support you need to do so before you even start!

The week before your Marathon, I’ll do your keyword research for you — find those key words and phrases that will bring you more action-oriented and engaged readers.

Even better, I’ll write a selection of headlines for you that will draw readers in and give you the focus of your articles.

But the support I provide doesn’t stop there … During your Marathon, I’ll be available for both telephone and email consultation.

And, after your Marathon I’ll submit up to 20 of your articles to up to two directories for you!

A frequently heard complaint from entrepreneurs who start blogging is: “Why isn’t my blog working for my business?”

Blogs that work well for attracting new clients have these key elements:

1. A great blog name
2. A tag line or blog purpose statement
3. An easy way to get automatic blog updates
4. A list of categories
5. A list of recent posts and recent comments
6. Links to useful websites, products and services
7. Frequent posts with links relevant to the blog’s purpose
8. An easy way for readers to have a conversation with the author

What’s in a good blog name?

A good blog name must say what your blog is about. Ideally, the name lets the reader know whom the blog is for, and the focus of your topic. It is also compelling – it makes you hungry to dive in and start reading.

It’s can be difficult to create a great name. Plus, you probably want the title to be clever. Never sacrifice clarity when trying to be clever. The name is important for search engines, so it should use keywords readers use when searching for products and services in your niche.

But, wait! As long as we’re creating the ideal blog name, there’s more. It should also connect with your company name and contribute to your branding.

Don’t get discouraged. You’ve probably already formulated a title for your business or website that meets some of these requirements. In many cases, you can simply name your blog the same as your website, and tack “blog” or “online” at the end of it.

(If you have a blog platform that resides on your website you don’t have to worry about naming your blog as much because it will have the same name as your website and will simply be a page on the site.)

Finding a name for your blog depends on the availability of that name as a domain URL. Search for your ideal blog name using a domain registrar, such as GoDaddy. You will want to “map” your registered blog name URL over the URL your blog provider created when you set up your blog. For branding purposes you don’t want to have “typepad” or “blogspot” in your domain URL.

Next, tell readers who your blog is for and “what’s in it for them.” On some blogging platforms, this is done in the header, after the title and is called a tag line. The tag line states the benefits for readers, the readers you are targeting, as well as the blog author’s name (you).

Have you ever had done something you thought was a really good idea at the time and then it completely backfires on you?

Well, it happened to my good friend Nancy Marmolejo, Viva Visibility.

If you don’t know Nancy yet, you really need to. She is a social media rock star. However, sometimes even rock stars have days where the guitar is out of tune and the speakers catch fire and explode on stage.

Here’s the story in a nutshell. As you all know, social networking is pretty darn new and Twitter is the brand spanking new kid on that shiny new block. Because it’s so new, things like vocabulary and etiquette are still being hashed out.

It’s better coming from Nancy herself why she got so fixated on this, but she was busy telling people you “tweet” not “twitter” (including yours truly). She also decided to write a letter to Inc Magazine about this.

The result? Inc Magazine called her on it and, well, won.

Now I’m telling you about this for 2 reasons.

1. I’m quite excited I can now use “twitter” as a verb (I just hated saying “tweet” — I felt like I should put a chicken coop in my yard.)

2. Nancy handled the whole situation brilliantly. In fact, I would go as far to say this was actually a really good thing in the end.

So what did Nancy do? Well, to start she owned up to it. She didn’t try to hide her mistake or pretend it never happened (which is simply not possible to do in this day and age anyway.) She ‘fessed up.

Lesson #1 — if you make a mistake, and it’s a public mistake, just suck it up and admit it. It’s when you start lying and hiding that things get so out of control. Look at Bill and Monica. People lied, tried to hide things, and that just made everything worse.

By owning up to it, Nancy completely diffused any negative publicity around it. In fact, if you read the comments, most people didn’t think this was a big deal at all. (Which it isn’t — until you start hiding and lying about it. Then suddenly everyone wonders why you’re lying and hiding and it can blow up into a bigger deal.)

The second thing she did was write a very charming and witty blog post about it. Now, you might not be able to write a charming and witty blog post, but it might be worth it to find someone who can for you. She was entertaining about it, which again helped diffuse the situation and caused all her followers to rally around her.

Now, humor isn’t good for all situations. Remember the Tylenol and Cyanide scare? If the Tylenol CEO had come out with humor that would have been completely inappropriate. However, what he did do was immediately take responsibility, come up with a solution, and didn’t come across as defensive or trying to shift the blame.

Lesson #2 — if you’re going to take a stand, do it graciously. Don’t be defensive, don’t try and shift blame, and for heaven’s sake don’t be a baby about it. Do it with class and people will respect and admire you for it.

The result? Nancy’s post got TONS of comments, pretty much all of them supporting Nancy. She’s back on stage, bigger than ever, with her guitar all tuned up and brand spanking new speakers.