Have you ever played a song on the piano, skated across an ice rink, rode a bicycle, put on makeup or cooked an omelet? Even if you haven't done all of those things, I'm sure you've done at least one or two of them.
But can you guess what they all have in common?   These are skills that take practice.
No one does them well the first time they try.
Article marketing requires skills just like these, which you can learn, practice and improve.
  Here are the three top skills that will help you to make article marketing magic and grow your business:   Article Marketing Skill #1 - Clairvoyance   Imagine your ideal client, just rising to start her day.
It was another restless night, worrying about the issue that's been bothering her for months now.
She doesn't want to spend another night like that, so she searches online for an answer to her problem.
  The question is - is she going to find that answer from you? Do your articles - especially the titles - use the same language that she would be typing in to the search box?   Article marketing cannot work for you if your prospective clients never read your articles.
And they can't read them if they don't find them.
And they won't find them if you're not writing about what they're looking for.
  To cultivate the skill of clairvoyance, tune in at a deeper level in conversations with your clients, prospects, colleagues and friends.
How do they describe the problems that you solve? How do they describe the solutions they're looking for?     Article Marketing Skill #2 - Clarity   Great! Your ideal client found a link to your article and it matched what she was looking for.
She clicks, while checking her watch because she still has to finish getting ready.
  She skims through the article, searching for key points, but only finds large blocks of text, one after the other.
She dives in, but finds herself stumbling through long, run-on sentences that lose the point they started to make.
  After a few minutes, she gives up, feeling disheartened to be no farther ahead with a solution.
She clicks away from your article and moves on.
  There are so many things competing for your ideal client's attention, including plenty of high-quality, free information.
People simply do not have time to figure out what you're trying to say.
If you don't say it clearly, they won't stick around long enough to read your author resource box and click through to your website.
  To cultivate clarity in your writing, aim for shorter sentences and shorter paragraphs.
Shorter sentences make it easier to focus on one point at a time.
Shorter paragraphs create more white space on the page, which is easier on your reader's eyes.
  Also, get in the habit of reading your work out loud before you publish it.
That one simple step can highlight many common errors.
  There are plenty of online resources to help you improve the clarity and readability of your articles, as well as reference books and style guides.
  Article Marketing Skill #3 - Creativity   If your article was relevant enough to attract her attention, and written clearly enough to keep it, chances are that your ideal client clicked through to your website.
Hopefully, there was a pink spoon waiting there for her, and so she joined your mailing list.
  Now she'll be receiving your articles directly by email.
But will she open them? Will she send them to others? Will she make the leap from your site to a sale?   If you continue to send her relevant, well-written articles, she'll probably keep reading them.
But to keep her attention and really stand out as the solution she needs, you're going to need a little extra oomph.
  Here's where you can distinguish yourself from similar products and services, by showing her your personality - your quirks, your strong opinions, your likes and dislikes, and a peek behind the scenes of your business.
  Warning: Being more creative and quirky in your writing means that some people (gasp!) won't like you.
If you try to please everyone, you won't attract anyone.
What makes this person your ideal client is that she "gets you.
" She speaks your language and you speak hers.
So speak up!   To cultivate your creativity, read articles by people who express their personality in their writing.
As well, open your mind to creative ways you can get your information across by connections.
What can your daughter's finger paints teach your readers about marketing? How do today's news headlines reinforce the point you were making in your last coaching session?   Successful article marketers apply these three key skills and receive magical results as a result.
But it didn't happen overnight.
They had to learn and practice these techniques, and you can, too!