Tiffany Dow’s 30-Day Warrior Article Marketing Challenge

[Charles Harper]

Even though I am late...I am in. If I don't get your package that's fine. Just need to motivate my blankety blank.

[Tom Borowski]

Originally Posted by hummusx

going to be pretty angry if they take a long time to upgrade me to platinum.

I'm approaching the 35 article limit too and I hope they'll upgrade my account to Platinum. But from what I see on EA there are people there with more than 35 article who are still on Basic PLUS. My guess is that, if you somehow screw up your submissions (i.e. get lots of rejections), they'll extend the Basic PLUS by another 25 articles.

I had some issues with some articles during my Basic PLUS level membership, although one particular rejection was an error on their part. So I'm hoping that I'll finally "break through" to Platinum this time...

Anyone have experience here how EA handle this?

[Hamida Harland]

Originally Posted by Tom Borowski

I had some issues with some articles during my Basic PLUS level membership, although one particular rejection was an error on their part. So I'm hoping that I'll finally "break through" to Platinum this time...

Anyone have experience here how EA handle this?

I know someone who was in Basic Plus for at least 50 articles - I think they keep you back even if you get one rejection. You might get lucky though if you can write them a good enough appeal!

[MADMONEY]

Hello,

Yes if you make one mistake in your submission they will not move you to platinum level. They will keep you at basic plus. It's important that you read the editorial guidelines and make sure that you get those submissions correct. After you are promoted to platinum level it doesn't matter anymore.

Here are my numbers:

25 articles submit
4 live
666 views
111 click throughs
16.7% Click through Rate

2 sales.

I am hoping to have more articles approved this week and looking to improve my click through rates on certain keywords. This was a great idea Tiffany thanks for starting this thread.

Mad Money

[Tom Borowski]

Dang. Guess I'm in for another round of Basic PLUS then... I'll try the appeal route, just have to see if I can muster enough charm

[traceye]

Originally Posted by Tom Borowski

Dang. Guess I'm in for another round of Basic PLUS then... I'll try the appeal route, just have to see if I can muster enough charm

I have two eza accounts. One of them I have over 60 articles and it is STILL on Basic Plus. The other one (my primary one now) is platinum and they actually gave platinum status to me one day out of the blue (I didn't request an upgrade). *shrugs*

[Tom Borowski]

Originally Posted by traceye

I have two eza accounts.

Shhhhhhh! That's not allowed

[Sami]

Originally Posted by traceye

Daily Results - Day 8

Clickbank Product: Strip That Fat
Key Phrases Used: emotional eating, tips for fast weight loss, tips on fast weight loss, flat abs, belly fat, flat stomach, hot abs, ab exercises, weight loss motivation, fad diets, nutrition facts, dining out

Articles Submitted – 13
Articles Live - 5
Article Views - 242
Hops – 43
Sales - 0


Tracey

Though I'm not in this challenge, here's a tip for everyone:

For best results (sales) concentrate on "buying" keywords and avoid non-buying keywords. For example in Traceye's list above...

"emotional eating" is less likely to be a "buying keyword". Anyone searching for that is less likely to be looking to buy a product. 'Perhaps' they are looking to be merely informed.

The same goes for "fad diets". Again the person searching is of course not looking to buy a fad diet. Yes you could argue that you could then try and sell them something that is not a fad diet. But the key is their frame of mind - "Are they looking for something to buy!"

By contrast those searching for "hot abs, ab exercises, weight loss motivation," are more likely to be persuaded to buy and are probably more easily persuaded too.

Traceye (& everyone else) you could also target actual product names and model numbers too...

Though very few people search for say "Sony Plasma XJ-2YT-4 blackscreen" (I made that up), just 50 people searching for that are infinitely more likely to buy (via your Amazon affiliate link ... & there's less competition for that phrase) than 50 people searching for "plasma TV" (which has huge searches and huge competion and IS NOT a "buying" phrase).

You see, with plasma TV, you have no idea what they want. It could be they're looking to find out about plasma TVs. Mentally they're very far from the buying stage, relatively.

With a specific product or model number, you know that they already know what they want. They're much closer to the buying stage.

I hope this helps. Good luck everyone.
Sami

[Allen Graves]

Originally Posted by Kelvin Nikkel

Thanks hummusx! I am sure glad that someone cleared that up for me.

So it would be ok to post my EZA articles onto my website? Because to tell the truth, these are actually the best articles I have ever written. LOL

My first article is at 3 bars
Second article, just posted yesterday is still one bar and I just submitted the third

BTW, I am writing in the ESL niche. Just thought I would fill you in Tiffany. lol

I too am getting excited to see all these articles in EZA. Can't wait to see what the results are going to be.

Kelvin

Kelvin,

You'll have nothing to worry about.

AL

[WritingMadwoman]

10th article submitted today! Four are live, 6 pending. Not much to report for click throughs and publisher, pretty slow going so far, but we'll get there inch by inch, right? ;-)

Wendy

[Ben Roy]

Anyone following this thread, don't be confused. My name change just went through.

hummusx ===> Ben Roy

[kiwichamp]

Well I have 7 articles waiting on EZines to approve and have 3 live. Now I'm stuck til they do approve them all, cause they will only upgrade me to be allowed to submit more once I have 10 articles live.

Mm guess this puts me out of this game. However I plan on keeping up and just submitting in other places. At least I can still pace myself and reap the benefits of team work on this challenge.

So far no articles approved that were submitted since the challenge started. - waiting

[Peggy Baron]

Day 8

I missed yesterday, Sunday, as we went up to the mountains to see the fall color. I had to get my nature fix.

But I was already one article ahead so now I'm even.

I submitted an article today and did my keyword research. I've got one very long tail and two very boad. This article is actually a Part 1 and now I'm going to write Part 2 and 3. I've not submitted a series to EZA before. I'm broadening my horizons.

Peggy

[aztecdataservices]

I have just submitted my first 2 articles, I am a few days behind but will try to catch up fast!

Articles Submitted – 0
Articles Live - 0
Article Views - 0
Clicks – 0
Leads - 0
Sales - 0

[idogi]

Good post, keep it up!

[TiffanyDow]

Humph. I didn't know if you made a mistake in submission that you got nixed for a boost. I made 2 today - I didn't know I couldn't mention my business partner Lewis Smile n my bio box unless I listed him as a co-author and I also didn't know I couldn't link to my affiliate page because it redirects to the PDC affiliate page for our business.

So oh well...

I'm listed as a Basic Plus but I bought the Premium membership, so not sure how that'll work. It says I have 4 submissions left before I qualify for Platinum review.

[Tenzo]

Okay, today I submitted two articles, because I skipped yesterday. Note to all IM'ers, make time to get out and be away from the computer sometimes. I went out to see a ceili band, and it was awesome.

So as of today, I have eight articles submitted-4 are live, although one just went live this morning. I have 102 views, and 24 clickthroughs to my landing page.

Back to work

Regards,
Kevin

[kevin campbelle]

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

I'm listed as a Basic Plus but I bought the Premium membership, so not sure how that'll work. It says I have 4 submissions left before I qualify for Platinum review.

I'm really interested in how this will work too. So are you paying the membership fee and not having the articles go live in fast times or even though you have basic plus status, are they reviewing and making them live fast while you just have the basic plus title?

Kevin.

[TiffanyDow]

Hi Kevin!

I paid $97 for the Premium. But I'm still in basic plus status. So I get faster service anyway I guess...

[Tom Borowski]

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

Humph. I didn't know if you made a mistake in submission that you got nixed for a boost. I made 2 today - I didn't know I couldn't mention my business partner Lewis Smile n my bio box unless I listed him as a co-author and I also didn't know I couldn't link to my affiliate page because it redirects to the PDC affiliate page for our business.

They rejected an article of mine for a similar reason too, but I appealed, saying that I merely mentioned the author of the book which I was reviewing on the page I was linking to (complicated, I know). The editor apparently thought I was using a different author name in the resource box and kept rejecting. After a couple of rounds and contacting support a senior editor emailed me saying they'd made a mistake.

So oh well...

I'm listed as a Basic Plus but I bought the Premium membership, so not sure how that'll work. It says I have 4 submissions left before I qualify for Platinum review.

I guess the way that works is that you get top of the queue priority with Premium, but you'll still need to apply for an upgrade after you reach your article cap to be able to submit more articles.

[onlinemoney00]

Most people slack off in this department, inspired by the challenge

[Shannon Herod]

It looks as if I have reached an article submission cap. I had an article that is under review because of a bad link, so I have to wait until that article is approved before I can apply for an upgrade. That kind of stinks, but I will keep writing articles and then just submit them when I'm able.

Shannon

[TiffanyDow]

Hi Warriors!

Submitted Squidoo to Brand Your Business (keyword in bold) today. Here are current article stats – got a sale today, but not yet sure where from. Checking…

1.) Make Money With Squidoo Using Professional Content 42 views, 2 publishers, 5 clicks
2.) Squidoo Marketing Mistakes You Should Avoid 39 views, 2 publishers, 2 clicks, 1 vote
3.) On Squidoo - Everyone Can Make Money 26 views, 1 publisher, 1 click, 1 vote
4.) Squidoo Still Holds Power in the SERPs 25 views, 1 publisher, 3 clicks
5.) How to Squidoo From Start to Finish 61 views, 2 publishers, 7 clicks, 3 votes
6.) Squidoo Social Network Is a Boon to Internet Marketers – 20 views, 0 publishers, 1 click
7.) For Squidoo Affiliate Success - 25 views, 0 publishers, 5 clicks, 1 vote
8.) Squidoo to Brand Your Business – Just submitted tonight

Just checked our stats for the site and over 1/3 of our income this month was made in the last 7 days. Hmmm….that’s interesting! Might pay off for us But right now I can’t be sure they came from articles on EZA.

Tiff

[giftsolution]

I got derailed today, And haven't been able to submit an article, but will do 2 tomorrow.

My first 3 articles went live today, and between them I have 20 views. How do you guys get the other numbers you are reporting, like how many clicks you had for each article?

[traceye]

Daily Results - Day 9

Clickbank Product: Strip That Fat
Key Phrases Used: emotional eating, tips for fast weight loss, tips on fast weight loss, flat abs, belly fat, flat stomach, hot abs, ab exercises, weight loss motivation, fad diets, nutrition facts, dining out while dieting, exercises to lose weight, lose weight,

Articles Submitted – 15
Articles Live - 9
Article Views - 318
Hops – 56
Sales - 0


Tracey

giftsolution - I am direct linking from my articles so I can log into clickbank to see how many hops I have.

[Ben Roy]

Day 8 Results
Articles Submitted: 16 (8 each in two niches)
Articles Approved: 0 (STILL!)
Other stats: n/a

My first article in each niche is now showing as the 3rd bar, so I imagine they'll go live tomorrow finally. I have 4 submissions left before I'll be stuck, which REALLY sucks given that they are a full week behind my article writing. So it'll take them a week to catch up to where I am, at which point they'll approve me for another 25 articles. That means I'll have a whole week of writing without being able to post. That stinks. But what can you do?

[ezrock]

I believe I read somewhere that premium membership has no bearing on your actual membership level. They say they will not allow people to 'buy a platinum membership'. The quality of your articles is what gets you to the platinum membership.

-Ezrock-

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

Humph. I didn't know if you made a mistake in submission that you got nixed for a boost. I made 2 today - I didn't know I couldn't mention my business partner Lewis Smile n my bio box unless I listed him as a co-author and I also didn't know I couldn't link to my affiliate page because it redirects to the PDC affiliate page for our business.

So oh well...

I'm listed as a Basic Plus but I bought the Premium membership, so not sure how that'll work. It says I have 4 submissions left before I qualify for Platinum review.

[ezrock]

Submitted "Betta Fish - Guide to Buying a Healthy Male Betta", targetting "male betta" and "betta fish".

Day 8 Results
Articles Submitted: 7 (mostly in betta niche)
Articles Approved: 1 (plus now one at 3 bars)

Stats:
Tropical Fish Tank Setup in 5 Easy Steps -65 views, 4 URL clicks, posted on 3 sites.
I managed to make the links on this article all point to a non-squidoo page so these aren't really helping my main goal so far. But, if I get ebay sales from the site it is linking to, I'll be happy with that too

[ezrock]

Three posts in a row for me

Has anyone noticed sites publishing JUST their teaser copies of the articles? I have found a few doing that for my first live article. They post the title, then just the teaser paragraph. They're obviously just trying to get some quick content without having to credit (and especially link to) an outside site!

It ticks me off. The one site, I can't even really mention it to the author (not that they'd care) because there is no contact info

[Sami]

Originally Posted by traceye

Daily Results - Day 9
Clickbank Product: Strip That Fat
...
Articles Submitted – 15
Articles Live - 9
Article Views - 318
Hops – 56
Sales - 0
...

Traceye, it's me again.

I took a look at the stats and the product. I hope it goes well for you and let's see what happens but here's another tip:

I like the product. It appeals to the scientist in me. But prospects "never" see any product until after they've bought. So a good product has very little effect on your sales. Sad but true.

It is the "sales letter" that sells. No matter how bad the product, you'll do much better with a great sales letter than the other way.

And that sales letter (Strip The Fat) starts well but loses it's way quickly. It lacks focus and worst of all it has "NO sales punch". There's NOT ONE ORDER BUTTON. Order buttons way outperform order links on sales letters.

The sales letter never asks for the order except for just once at the end! Shocking! Tests show 3- 5 times is best.

Their guarantee is very poor.

There's NO URGENCY!

No list of bonuses that I'm about to miss out on either!

There's more but I won't go on right now.

Traceye and everyone else obviously do monitor the situation and then may be reconnsider your product and watch out for a good sales letter. For this reason I never use direct links from the article to the sales letter.

I always keep control of all my traffic (forever) and so should you all.

... and that in itself becomes a tremendous assett in no time at all.

BTW, I know people who actually rewrite the sales letter and use their own! That's hard work but it pays handsomely, especially if you're getting the traffic.

Food for thought guys.
Sami

[Sami]

Originally Posted by ezrock

Three posts in a row for me

Has anyone noticed sites publishing JUST their teaser copies of the articles? I have found a few doing that for my first live article. They post the title, then just the teaser paragraph. They're obviously just trying to get some quick content without having to credit (and especially link to) an outside site!

It ticks me off. The one site, I can't even really mention it to the author (not that they'd care) because there is no contact info

Hey EZ

If the teaser heading doesn't link to your full article, they're breaking EZA's publisher terms.

You can (A) tell EZA and (B) contact their host* and get them to shut down for breach of copyright. ISP's and hosts care about getting shut down themselves much more than they do about dropping one site. They've been paid upfront after all. The other weapon you have against the site and the host is another breach of US law - the site having no contact/indentity details is also illegal I think and has been for a few years.

I'd say these 2 actions are quick and painless. But beyond this I wouldn't worry about it ... it goes on all over the place. And you know what these guys rarely get much benefit from this type of "theft".


* You can do this by running their domain name thru WhoIs - using sites like:

dnsstuff.com or dnstools.com abd find out who hosts that domain. You'll have the contact details such as an "abuse" email address. Also go to the host website ... you know the rest.

Good luck

[traceye]

Hi Sami & Others,

Totally agree with what you've said about keywords, sales letters etc - all brilliant advice!

My usual way of affiliate marketing is to examine the product and create an indepth review / comparison and sometimes build a mailing list depending on the product.

However my object for this exercise was to see how I could do with JUST article marketing. No influence from anything else except the article (which is why I chose to direct link for this exercise). I've never promoted a weight loss product before either so I just chose one at random - usually I spend much more time deciding on a product.

I think that's pretty typical for how most new affiliate marketers start so I was curious how well this would work (or not work ) whichever the case may be.

It's more a little experiment for myself if anything. I agree it's not the most effective method for squeezing all the money I could out of a campaign, but I'm still very curious at how the results turn out after the 30 days.

Tracey

[TiffanyDow]

Originally Posted by ezrock

Three posts in a row for me

Has anyone noticed sites publishing JUST their teaser copies of the articles? I have found a few doing that for my first live article. They post the title, then just the teaser paragraph. They're obviously just trying to get some quick content without having to credit (and especially link to) an outside site!

It ticks me off. The one site, I can't even really mention it to the author (not that they'd care) because there is no contact info

Yes and that bugged me, too! You can go to whois to find the contact info but too much hassle for me...

[MADMONEY]

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

Hi Warriors!
Just checked our stats for the site and over 1/3 of our income this month was made in the last 7 days. Hmmm….that’s interesting! Might pay off for us But right now I can’t be sure they came from articles on EZA.

Tiff

Tiffany,

What do you use to track your traffic, Stat counter, Google analytics??

I find it essential to know where my traffic is coming from in terms of conversion.

To answer some earlier questions regarding affiliate links, if I am sending traffic directly to the affiliate, which I never do, I would use a 301 redirect. This way I can stuff my affiliate code before I send them to the affiliate sales page.

Mad Money

[Allen Graves]

Check out www.Woopra.com. I love it!

[Peggy Baron]

Day 9 results here

Articles Submitted -9
Articles Live - 5
Article Views - 35
Ezine Publisher - 6
URL Clicks - 4

The views are a lot lower than I'm used to, although I have noticed previously that my IM articles get fewer views than my articles in other niches. Ditto with the URL clicks.

Peggy

[TiffanyDow]

Originally Posted by MADMONEY

Tiffany,

What do you use to track your traffic, Stat counter, Google analytics??

I find it essential to know where my traffic is coming from in terms of conversion.

To answer some earlier questions regarding affiliate links, if I am sending traffic directly to the affiliate, which I never do, I would use a 301 redirect. This way I can stuff my affiliate code before I send them to the affiliate sales page.

Mad Money

I'm using my cpanel stats - is that not good?
I'm just verbally asking my customers (since it's a service, personable interaction) where they found us but that won't help with an eBook download.

For my new CB product which I just did an article about using the redirect, I included a tracking id of eza so i'll know.

[WritingMadwoman]

Just submitted 11th article. 6 Live, 5 Pending

Not much else to report at this stage! ;-) Getting a handful of clickthroughs, a few optins, a few publishers, no sales yet.

Wendy

[giftsolution]

Originally Posted by Peggy Baron

Ezine Publisher - 6
URL Clicks - 4

Peggy, how do you know the above info? Where do you see how many published your articles and how many clicks on your URL?

thanks.

[WritingMadwoman]

Originally Posted by giftsolution

Peggy, how do you know the above info? Where do you see how many published your articles and how many clicks on your URL?

thanks.

It's in the tab that says Author Tools, My Article Reports. Click on that and you'll get a list of all your articles, along with stats for how many times they've been viewed, published, clickthroughs, and so on. Very handy! :-)

Wendy

[jensrsa]

At last!

One approved and one with three red blocks - no views yet, no money yet apart from some Adsense.

Question: Do you promote one product with all the articles or different ones depending on the subject?

Jens

[Ben Roy]

Yay, so excited! My first article (of this challenge) finally got approved and is now live. I have two more with 3 bars and one with 4 bars, so hopefully I'll have 2 live or maybe 4 by the end of the day. Go go traffic!

[Ben Roy]

Ummmm ok. One of my two articles that went live has 3 views and 13 clicks! Can anyone beat a 433% CTR on any article they've ever posted?

I think I'm an article writing genius and will soon be launching a major WSO, "How I made $235,231.63 in one day with only 14 views and 2,256 click throughs!"

[Munch Mama]

Yippee!!! All three of my first three articles went through in a matter of hours after waiting 8 days!

Anyway, I will be loading the next articles by the end of the day. And that may put me into Platinum??? Once they are approved --in another 7-8 days. I don't know...

Anyway, I was just checking in - i am back in the saddle again!

[joefission]

Originally Posted by Ben Roy

I think I'm an article writing genius and will soon be launching a major WSO, "How I made $235,231.63 in one day with only 14 views and 2,256 click throughs!"

BUY, BUY, BUY, BUY!

Oh, sorry, habit.

Shaun

[giftsolution]

Originally Posted by WritingMadwoman

It's in the tab that says Author Tools, My Article Reports. Click on that and you'll get a list of all your articles, along with stats for how many times they've been viewed, published, clickthroughs, and so on. Very handy! :-)

Thanks Wendy: very helpful!

[TiffanyDow]

Alrighty, I'm out of submissions. Awaiting an upgrade or something So I'll write and wait.

Write and wait.

Write and wait some more

[WritingMadwoman]

Originally Posted by jensrsa

At last!

One approved and one with three red blocks - no views yet, no money yet apart from some Adsense.

Question: Do you promote one product with all the articles or different ones depending on the subject?

Jens

Jens, some people are promoting different products/niches with their articles, and some are focusing on just one. (I'm doing just one niche/product for this challenge.) Do whatever works best for you! :-)

Wendy

[WritingMadwoman]

Originally Posted by TiffanyDow

Alrighty, I'm out of submissions. Awaiting an upgrade or something So I'll write and wait.

Write and wait.

Write and wait some more

Bummer Tiffany. Hopefully it won't take too long, if I remember it's usually a week or less once you request the upgrade, but you have to wait until all of your articles have been approved and live before you get the opportunity. Maybe it will go faster since you have a premium account. Here's hoping!

Wendy

[Allen Graves]

Why not try a couple of other places while you wait???