Writing Articles And Gaining Trust

How do you persuade someone to do what you want them to do?

A whole world of marketing exists around us trying to do that every minute of the day. Do you even notice it anymore or, like your prospects, have you subconsciously set up a system of "radar defenses" against the daily bombardment of marketing messages?

Take a minute and count up the advertising methods which fight for your attention (and money) every day. Just the basic list includes:

· Yellow page ads

· Newspaper and magazine ads

· Postcards, catalogs, and direct mail circulars in your
"snail mail" box

· Radio pitches interrupting the flow of your favorite songs

· TV ads - about 20 minutes worth per hour now

· Hundreds of storefronts, "mega" malls, and strip malls

· Highway billboards by the thousands

· Circulars hung on your doorknob

· Illegal signs on stop signs and telephone poles

· Legitimate email messages

· Spam email or UCE (without permission commercial email)

Just these 11 sources can overwhelm your brain with marketing messages. Like trapped rats, people develop defenses against this never-ending onslaught. They throw up a wall or a "radar defense" that goes into action the minute they smell a "pitch" or a sales job. Don't blame them. We all do it!

So, how can you get around this psychological wall against the constant sales and marketing messages? Well, the answer does NOT lie in hitting people with more frequent and obnoxious advertising or sly, sneaky tactics. You might get them to trust you for a minute, but it will backfire in the long run.

You must do two things instead:

1. First, you must establish credibility for yourself and your business as an expert.

2. Second, you must reduce their fears about doing business with you.

Doing these two things will get you past their defenses and allow you the opportunity to persuade them to buy your product.

So how do you accomplish these two "simple" things? What will win someone's attention, raise your credibility, and lower their fear factor all at the same time? The one-word answer really applies to most everyone.

Trust!

If a seller can get behind your defenses with information which makes you trust them, then that credibility will carry over into a sale much of the time.

How can you get this credibility?

Well, take this next fact as online marketing "gospel," for many people have proven its effectiveness.

Fact: Publishing and promoting with free articles gives you one of the most powerful opportunities available to tip the buyer's credibility scale in your favor.

How can we prove this works? Quite easily actually. Take a break from reading this and go check out a newspaper or magazine for a minute.

Which do you trust more, the ads or the articles? Most people will choose the articles hands down. Why? Because the articles don't try to "sell" you anything. Instead, they hand out useful information for educational or other practical purposes.

Most of us grew up in a culture which says we can believe and "trust" what appears in the standard "news" or "information" format. In other words, if it appears in print, then we can believe and trust the author.

So, go ahead! Use this lifetime of conditioning to your advantage in selling your products and services!

Very few things will create an atmosphere of trust and confidence in people as reading one of your articles on a subject that greatly interests them. It shows you know your business. It also demonstrates you will do more than just try to sell them something.

Publishing articles literally lets you fly under their advertising "radar defenses."

So remember these points when deciding whether or not to use articles to promote your business:

1. Few things create as much trust and confidence in the minds of potential customers as reading an article you wrote on a subject which specifically and intensely interests them.

2. Articles establish credibility quickly because, right or wrong, we've all been trained to trust the "news."

3. An article, or series of articles, will differentiate you from the competition, who bombard people with nothing but sales messages.

4. Providing content-rich, non-sales-oriented articles will also help build and solidify your relationship with existing customers so they give you repeat business.

----

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to
use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted
visitors to your website or affiliate links!

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Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links?
"Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for using
FREE articles to drive Thousands of NEW visitors to your
website or affiliate links... without spending a dime on
advertising! Get the details at http://WritingProfitableArticles.info

Did you realize that thousands of website operators use a
simple technique to generate targeted visitors to their
websites without paying a dime in advertising? It's true.

In fact, the technique works so well that many of them
don't want you to discover how they get those thousands of
website visitors and make so many sales on virtual "auto-
pilot."

Their method?

Creating tightly focused articles other people publish in
their ezines (online magazines and email newsletters) and
post on their websites. This method rates so powerful that
some even call it "the web's best kept traffic secret."

Now, you may ask, "Why would an ezine publisher or website
owner publish my articles for their subscribers?"

The answer: Content!

Over a 100,000 ezines and newsletters operate on the web
(along with millions of websites) covering everything from
pets and cooking to investments and real estate. Many of
them need tightly focused content and they simply can't
produce all of it themselves.

Look at it this way... it's the same reason newspapers use
the Associated Press. Individual newspapers often can't
afford staff writers to cover every story, so they accept
articles from outside their organization.

You can do the exact same thing for various ezines and
websites catering to your niche audience!

You can get valuable publicity -- exposure you often
couldn't even pay for if you wanted to -- by providing
valuable, content-rich articles in exchange for a byline
and a link to your website (called a "resource box")!

The following represent only a few of the enormous benefits
of writing and distributing simple articles online:

** Attain "Expert" Status **

Let's face it! In the eyes of virtually everyone who reads
your articles you rank as the "expert" on the subject.

Just look at people who write newspaper columns. You
may disagree with their viewpoints, but they still have an
elevated status in your mind compared to the "average Joe"
off the street.

** Pre-sell Website Visitors **

If your article appeals to a niche audience hungry for more
information on a very focused subject, you actually pre-
sell them better than any sales pitch. In their minds,
you've already delivered content they really want so when
they click over to your site you already have a
"reputation" in their minds.

** Traffic Lasts Longer **

Even though the Internet changes very quickly, webmasters
are usually very slow to remove content from their sites.
Once you get an article posted on another person's website,
you have an excellent chance of that article staying there
for weeks, months, even years.

** Increase Links To Your Site **

In a recent search I found just a dozen of my articles
posted on over 813 different websites! Not only do those
postings bring me traffic, but they also help my search
engine positioning because of my increased "Link
Popularity."

** Builds Your Affiliate Base **

Fact: Affiliates always take the path of least resistance.

If you provide excellent articles they can easily post on
their sites or copy and paste into their ezines, your
affiliates will promote you more often and more effectively
compared to those who don't give them tools.

Plus, as you make more sales and publish articles, other
people will see you providing excellent tools and will want
to sign up as your affiliate so they can use them too!

** Build a Huge "Opt-In" Email List **

You can use articles to build up a huge list of subscribers
by simply compiling several articles into a series and
delivering them at preset intervals.

Often called a "mini-course," this technique allows you not
only to prove to your subscribers that you deliver great
information, but enables you to capture their name and
email adress so you can send them articles and special
offers in the future (with their permission).

** Requires No Special Skills **

People often think they need to be a "writer" in order to
publish articles, but that's not true!

FACT: If you have a passion for a subject and can talk and
explain things like you would to a friend over a cup of
coffee, you can write articles people will love to read.

So if you operate a website selling virtually any type of
product or service (whether your own or as an affiliate),
publishing and promoting with articles should rank high on
your list of traffic generation strategies.

No other method of generating targeted traffic to your
website provides the quality, quantity and steadiness of
traffic in such a simple, straightforward, and cost-
effective manner.

----

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-
author of an amazing new ebook, "Turn Words Into Traffic,"
that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly
drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or
affiliate link!
Click=> http://WritingProfitableArticles.info