Market Your Practice By Writing Articles

Writing articles is a good way to gain credibility. Here are my tips to using articles to attract more clients.

1. Only write about your specialty. Give the readers tips, strategies and ideas about how to solve their problems. But make it about your specialty. Sometimes well-meaning professionals write articles about many different topics and their credibility is compromised.

2. Write several articles at a time. Create short (300 - 700 word) articles on various questions and concerns that your clients have. If you write several at a time, you can do so when your energy and creativity are flowing. Further, you now have several articles for distribution. You really look like the expert.

3. Create a distribution plan. There are several ways to distribute your articles. You can submit them one at a time to print publications. You can send a series of 6 to a local publication and suggest that you do a column for them - with the 6 articles you sent as a sample. You could send them to former clients or current prospects. You could send them once a month to people you think have the problem that you like to help them solve.

4. Create an electronic distribution plan. All over the web, there are electronic magazines (called ezines) that cover many issues and topics. There are also distribution companies that will take your submitted article and for free or for a small fee, distribute them to hundreds of ezine publishers. Two example of a these services is http://submityourarticle.com and http://ezinearticles.com

5. Make sure every article published has at the bottom a "resource box." This contains your contact information and the answer to the question "So what do you do for a living?" In the resource box, have a call to action. Invite the reader to further the relationship with you. For example, "Call today for your free initial consultation." or "Email today to get your free copy of our special report Top 10 Ways to (fill in your specialty here)."

6. Make sure your article title is fun, upbeat and has a unique twist. The purpose of the title (or headline) is to get them to read the first sentence. Make sure your title is something that would draw your reader to want to know more.

7. Ask all publishers to send you a copy of the article. If possible, ask them if you can review the resource box prior to publication to make sure it is to your liking.

Remember, it takes people 5 to 9 times to hear of you and decide to hire you. Don't just write one article.

Finally, writing articles is an introverted marketing activity. Couple your article publication with extroverted activities such as networking or giving talks in order to really gain credibility!

Happy writing!