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Article marketing has become an overnight online sensation. Before, the use of articles for promoting products and services is only done through newsletters and leaflets that are being distributed through mail or through flyer giving. Article marketing has also crossed over to the newspapers and magazines with more and more articles coming from companies that have products to promote.

In recent years however, article marketing has been widely used over the internet to also sell products, lend credibility to the site and to increase the site rank in search engines. Article marketing now does not only promote products, it also promotes the site itself. Through the use of these articles, the rank of the site in search engines like Google and Yahoo, will increase.

The use of article marketing is actually one of the reasons why the world wide web has become a treasure throve of information. In order to promote their sites, site developers and owners will need to submit fresh materials everyday. This will increase their page views fro site visitors as well as improve their site rank. With your website appearing in the first page of a search engine result, you are guaranteed more views and of course the support of online advertisers.

But the wide use of articles for site rank has made the quality of the articles suffer. Just look at the way article are written when you click the sites in the search engine results. Most will have the same exact content as the other. Some may not be the verbatim version but the principles and essence of the article is the same. A lot of them will have typos on the articles as well as misspellings. Articles are also not well-written. They will have structure problems, cohesion problems and of course mistakes in grammar.

Another problem with the articles found over the internet as a result of article marketing is the absence of a byline. Without a byline, the articles will not have any credibility and reliability. When before medical topics are written by doctors, now most of them will only be done by individuals who also research over the internet.

Because the idea of the websites is to promote their sites and to increase the rank, they are coming up with articles that are written just for the heck of it. They are not anymore in the mission of providing information to readers. What they are doing is for their benefit. This is why some of these websites will also feature information that are unreliable.

Only a couple of websites feature articles that are bylined. There are also sites that may not have any bylines but are being kept by people who are experts in the field. This is why it is also important to check the websites first before you cite them for your research. Sites that are being maintained by the government will of course have pretty reliable content. The same goes with international organizations like those of the United Nations. Some local sites being run by non-profit organization also have reliable content. Medical sites that are maintained by universities and hospitals are also great sources of information.

Before you research over the internet, check your sources. Article marketing online has definitely changed the way we do research. It might have made researching easier but it made discriminating harder.

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Free reports are the best follow-ups invented by the affiliate marketing world. Rare are the instances wherein you get to establish a sale just by a few convincing words on your pre-seller site, and so follow-ups are crucial. Some prospects need a little more courting before they finally make a decision of buying your product, and this is where free reports come in.

Free reports can contain everything and anything under the sun about your products, however, doing just that might spoil your chances of ever closing sales with your ever choosy prospects. In order for your free reports to bring you the results you want, and that is to increase your sales, you must focus on highlights instead of on complete information regarding the products your prospects might either already know or aren’t interested to know. Highlighting the right things will eventually make your prospects say “yes” to your products.

We like to buy products that are beneficial to us, therefore, you should HIGHLIGHT THE BENEFITS YOUR PRODUCT OFFERS in your free reports. The chances that your prospects already know of the advantages of buying your product are high. It is more likely that these benefits are the reason behind their subscribing to your free reports.

But it wouldn’t hurt to constantly remind them of what they are missing out on, and what they can gain if they buy your product. Just remember to repackage the benefits you highlight once in a while, for no one likes reading the same things over and over again. Lastly, remember that although more benefits mean increased sales, don’t overdo and exaggerate.

Next, you might want to INCLUDE TESTIMONIALS in your free reports. Your prospects need to be reminded that your products can make real people happy, and that it can make them happy, too. Highlight testimonials you feel your prospects can relate most to. Again, no one likes to read the same things over and over again, and so vary the testimonials you place on your free reports. Another mistake affiliate marketers do with their free reports is that they bombard it with too many testimonials, especially if the product is worth testifying for. Highlighting 3-5 testimonials per free report is good enough.

Prospects sign up for free reports because they want to know more about the product, so HIGHLIGHT ANY DEVELOPMENTS ON YOUR PRODUCT in your free reports. Highlight any upgrades your products might have recently experienced, recent findings regarding the features and benefits of the products, and reviews reputable people, groups, and organizations have made on your product. Again, be varied. You’ll never know what developments will catch the eye of your prospects, and bring you the increase in sales you have always wanted.

However, knowing what to put in your free reports is not enough. Your reports should contain certain characteristics that would turn your prospective buyers into buyers. If you want more sales than just a meager month’s worth of groceries and bills, then you should also take note of the following characteristics your reports should have in order to optimize sales.

USE AN ACTIVE VOICE. Tell your prospects what to do, not what they can do. Instead of saying “If you buy this product now, (benefits here),” say “Buy this product now and (benefits here).” This little change can make a lot of difference in your sales. Just make sure you place your commands at the right places.

ADD A LITTLE “SPUNK.” Make your prospects love the things you put in your free reports. Make them laugh, cry, or think. A lot of the right attitude can go a long way, and your prospects are smart enough to determine attitude, even if it’s written. If you make them feel good enough about reading about your product, you might finally get that increased sales you have been longing for.

BE FOCUSED. Do not write about search-engine optimization when you are promoting your products. That also goes for writing about multiple products in one report. Focus on one product only, and make your free reports in such a way that would make your prospects focus on buying your product.

Free reports, again, are one of the best ways to increase your sales, that is, if done correctly. Remember that the goal of free reports is to convince your prospects that your products are what they need or want. If you have to, put yourself in your prospects’ shoes, and focus on what they might like to see in the free reports. Combine that with the tips named in this article, and voila! You have your own recipe for increased sales through free reports.