f you want a fast way to market your business and participate in the marketplace of ideas, writing articles and marketing with articles is a good tool to use.

Here are 7 ways a business can benefit from publishing articles.

1. Articles are an excellent method to positioning you as the expert.
The written word is very powerful. A word without video, without a narrator, without any other kind of influence allows the reader to use their own mind to interpret the meaning of the word. This is important. If you want to be set apart, then placing words on a document can do that. You won’t have to try to persuade people into accepting you as an expert. The content will show you to be an expert.

2. Articles will influence, inform, and create traction 24/7.
Once the article is published, it will work for you and never take a coffee break. It provides information and calls to action without a person becoming involved. Get thousands of these into the internet world through guest blogging opportunities and article sharing sites, and the marketing potential is awesome.

3. One combination of words on a document can be used in a variety of circumstances.
The world of internet marketing takes advantage of something called leverage. An article can become a chameleon. You can turn it into a free report, a newsletter entry, a magazine, a chapter of an ebook, or a bonus as part of an upsell or cross-sell. The content of the article can also become a video.

4. An article is a good and efficient way to spread the word about your product or service.
I wrote an article 4 years ago that consisted of only 400 words. I thought it was an over simplification of an electronic component. I turned the article into a video. The video has received 75,000 views on Youtube and is increasing every day.

5. Compared to the money that has to be spent for other types of marketing, publishing an article is simple, easy and inexpensive.
It doesn’t cost anything to write an article. It doesn’t cost anything to publish that article on article sharing sites. One article has the potential to reach thousands of people. Compare that to the cost of pay per click, social media advertising, and others.

6. Articles are an effective way to increase the size of your email list.
Once the article is published, it might take a while for traction to happen. Once it reaches critical mass, prospects will begin to flow. After the flow starts, the article will keep working for you.

7. Article publishing will allow you to stay in touch with your target market.
It has been determined through years of statistical research that it takes about 5-8 contacts with a prospect before they actually take action on some point. Articles provide the content that prospects can return to continuously to keep themselves up to date with information.

So, understand that article writing and publishing can get you traffic. We live in the information age and it looks like we will never be able to exhaust the human desire for information and knowledge.
You can make this phenomenon work for you, your product or service by providing people the knowledge that is needed for their decision making process.