Article Marketing

The list of topics to choose from for an article is virtually unlimited. No matter what your interest, it's a pretty safe bet that you can find a 'niche' of people that are also interested in the same thing. That's not to say that every idea is as good as the next, but it means that you will most likely never run out of subjects to write about.

Once you've selected a niche, or area of interest, you'll need to spend a little time narrowing down your subject matter to address a specific area of that niche. Covering too broad of a subject will almost ensure enough competition that as a beginning writer you won't have a chance of getting your article seen.

On the other hand, being to specific in subject choice could well mean that only a handful of people are looking for your information. To use articles effectively for marketing you need more than a handful of people interested in what you have to say.

So how do we choose a subtopic of interest?

As far as determining what exact topic to write about within a niche you've selected, there is one thing that all niches have in common.

They all have people that have problems.

If you want to write for Internet Marketers, many may have problems figuring out the best ways to use a Traffic Exchange. Maybe your interest is in baking and you know that many others who like to bake have trouble making good pie crusts from scratch.

The best and easiest way to write an article that people will want to read is to address and issue that solves a problem.

People like solutions and more than that, they like simple solutions. So make it as easy as you can for them. One way to do that is by giving them steps to follow.. 5 Steps to a Perfect Pie Crust Every Time.

How do you know what problems people have? If your niche is an area that you are involved with then you can be pretty sure that if you have a particular problem then others probably do as well. That's a great place to start.

Another way to find out what people are thinking and are having trouble with is to visit forums that pertain to that subject.

Whatever your niche, I can guarantee that there is a forum that addresses it. A visit or two to a forum will identify to you what members are having problems with. Go to your favorite search engine, type in your topic, such as 'baking' and add 'forum'. When you hit enter you'll have a list of dozens of forums that revolve around baking.

Choose a few, browse a few categories and see what members are discussing and/or complaining about.. do you have the answer? Can you find the answer?

Maybe you don't have an interest in a particular niche or you're looking for something new. What then?

Here's a great way to find out what people are looking for answers to.

I'm sure you're all familiar with Google but I'll bet many of you don't know how extensive Google is and how many tools that they have. They've developed an impressive array of programs that are designed to provide you with many different kinds of stats and information.

What I want to look at right now is Google Labs.

Go to google.com and click on 'more' from the top menu of search items. Then go to Google Labs and from there click on Google Suggest.

This will give you a page that looks much like the main Google search page.. but it's not.

Begin typing in the search field something like 'how to'. Immediately the search field will be filled in with search results of actual questions searched for by visitors to Google such as 'how to lose weight' or 'how to write a resume'.

For even more options, type 'how to.. followed by the letter a. This will give you a list such as 'how to Apply makeup' or how to Ask a girl out'. Now type 'how to.. followed by the letter b. This will give you a list of things starting with b, such as 'how to Boil an egg' or 'how to Buy a house'.

These are actual problems pulled from the Google database that people are looking for solutions to. By doing this simple trick you can have a huge list of possibilities in very little time.

Many of these may be a bit broad.. so choose one that interests you such as 'how to buy a house' and type that in the search field.

This will narrow your search down even farther.. such as 'how to buy a house.. that's in foreclosure' or 'how to buy a house.. with no money down'.

Within very little time, you can have dozens of topics and subtopics that will be excellent possibilities for an article.

OK.. now you know:

1. One of the best ways to choose a topic that ensures people will want to read your article

2. Where to go to find out what problems people are having

3. How to use Google to pull information straight from their database on what people are searching for answers to

So begin this process.. choose a few areas that you are interested in.. find out what the common problems are in these areas and make a list of possible article topics. Make a huge list! Some will be weeded out once we research them a little more but you'll have many to choose from when it comes time to actually write your article.