Hype vs. Truth in Article Marketing

[JackPowers]

Talking strictly article marketing here and results..

My experience with article marketing (on all platforms) is that it really is much easier, much more time effective to skip the quality content and just go straight into hyping and selling? My results with delivering 'expert content' in particularly money niches, have been pretty bad.

What I'm talking about is the difference in effort, time and money between going for 'expert' in a niche and just being a smooth marketer.

I mean, once you set out to be an expert and deliver real expert content, you really have to be an expert, right? If you pass yourself of as an expert, then if you don't deliver expert advice, you're not going to get those clickthrus.

On the other hand, be a marketer, just learn the buzzwords, promise the world in 250 words and drop your hoplink. That's going to scare away some people, but it will attract those who want to feel like their worries are over. "Thank god I found this, now I can stop working tomorrow" people. Market to them with realistic and honest advice and they'll click the back button before ending the first paragraph.

I know, I'm skipping expert and going straight to hype.

[ebooks4u]

I know how you feel, but article marketing really works. You just need to find a good balance when writing articles between delivering quality content and giving the reader an easy and fun reading experience if you have the intention to get people to your site.

Make it too complicated, and people will leave your copy.

[majidmaskat]

well usually you do not have to be an expert in your field. when i sometime don't know what i am talking about i just talk rubbish really, but the way i structure my ketwords are very effective. And becasue the keyword is the most important part, i get visitors still even sometimes when my articles are not that good

[Ashley Wright]

Personally you do not have to be an expert in a field, I can vouch for this and I bet other marketers can also,

if you do your research online you can bullet point very good points you want to speak about within your article and end up giving great content. With hype you will drive away more visitors, why don't you do a simple test, write two articles about the same topic, fill one with just hype, and then the other with content and less hype and see which one pulls in more clicks...

[tommen]

The article needs to have useful information, but it should not give away everything. That´s what the link in the resource box is for.There is another aspect to article marketing, it is getting a lot of inbound links over time that benefits your ranking.I would go with quality information even if it takes a while to get sales, reputation and trust is really important on the internet.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by JackPowers

My experience with article marketing (on all platforms) is that it really is much easier, much more time effective to skip the quality content and just go straight into hyping and selling?

My experience is different from yours, then ... but it's possible I haven't done enough of the "straight into hyping and selling" method for my results to be very significant on that question.

Originally Posted by JackPowers

My results with delivering 'expert content' in particularly money niches, have been pretty bad.

So have those of some of my early attempts, and those of the early attempts of some of my clients. This is a different matter, though. It doesn't necessarily relate to what's above at all.

Originally Posted by JackPowers

I mean, once you set out to be an expert and deliver real expert content, you really have to be an expert, right?

You have to be either an expert in the subject or perhaps a real expert bluffer, yes. Otherwise your plausibility is the same as that of all those new members who wander in here from other forums asking the very most basic, beginners' questions about making money online while displaying their "Absolutely guaranteed $10,000 per week" in their sig-files.

Originally Posted by JackPowers

If you pass yourself of as an expert, then if you don't deliver expert advice, you're not going to get those clickthrus. On the other hand, be a marketer, just learn the buzzwords, promise the world in 250 words and drop your hoplink. That's going to scare away some people, but it will attract those who want to feel like their worries are over. "Thank god I found this, now I can stop working tomorrow" people. Market to them with realistic and honest advice and they'll click the back button before ending the first paragraph.

I know, I'm skipping expert and going straight to hype.

Ah, now I understand where I disagree with you so much: you're monitoring things in terms of clicks-through. I don't actually care about clicks-through: I measure only according to sales. The correlation between the two, in my experience and that of my clients whose figures I track, is actually very much smaller than everyone seems to imagine.

[TLTheLiberator]

Quality content that actually helps, enlightens etc. people, will help you in the long run vs. just dumping second rate content out there.

Have you looked at content marketing vs. only article marketing?

I Don't Care What Anyone Says...Content Marketing Rocks!

Is the IM niche the only niche you're involved in?

I caution you and everyone else to not judge their online business career by what happens to them in the IM niche.

There are tons of other lucrative niches that IMHO are easier to make an impact and money.

All The Best !!

TL

[JackPowers]

I should probably have added "(RANT)" at the end of the title, but thanks for your replies, yet I still think you misunderstood me.

I am not trying to target the IM niche, but the forex niche, which is very competetive for sure.

The problem I have is that going 'expert' means competing against sites with HUGE budgets. I can't see how it would be possible to compete on quality of content with those guys. I would imagine it would be similar for a lot of other niches (like IM).

That's why I see the best solution as not going for established traders, who are likely to already visit those high profile sites, and instead selling the dream to the get rich quick people?

My stats over 100+ articles very clearly shows that short and hypey beats long and serious.

Forex robots also beat quality forex courses. And forex robots don't work.

So, really, why go for quality content if the market wants something else?

[David Chung]

I'm sure there are people who are succeeding in the forex market. Find them, interview them, find out how they're doing it (if they have their own course they'll be glad to have the opportunity to push it) and serve it up as content. They get 'expert status' your visitors get value, and you get the commission.

[talfighel]

I personally have tried article marketing myself and written well over 24o of them. My own experience with it is that it is not worth it at all. I guess that if you find a niche that has low competition and write a good amount of articles, then it may work.

For me, I will never write anymore because for me, it is a WASTE OF TIME.

Tal

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by JackPowers

The problem I have is that going 'expert' means competing against sites with HUGE budgets. I can't see how it would be possible to compete on quality of content with those guys.

Well, it depends what you mean by "going expert", I think? I do certainly take your point about not wanting to compete with people with huge budgets. For myself, that's part of my reason for prefering to choose low gravity products to promote as an affiliate, and for generally avoiding "high competition niches" (which, for me, are usually the ones with products I don't think much of anyway). By the way, sorry if I misunderstood your earlier post at all.

Originally Posted by JackPowers

My stats over 100+ articles very clearly shows that short and hypey beats long and serious.

Well, I can only say my experience (over a far bigger number) is the opposite. I suspect, though, that we're both right, and what that actually goes to show is that this is a niche-sensitive phenomenon we're discussing.

Originally Posted by JackPowers

Forex robots also beat quality forex courses. And forex robots don't work.

That's for sure!

[Wham]

Either way could work

half the internet is retarded

the other half actually uses their brain

hype doesn't usually work on people who use their brains, guess it just depends on the niche though. Someone may be more weary about purchasing a money making system then a world of warcraft guide or something


I just starting doing articles but I don't hype, I spend most of the article informing, then the last bit identifying the problem and stating a solution in my resource box.

Even if you aren't an expert on a niche you can easily study it a bit and learn enough to at least sound knowledgeable.

I'll suffer making no money before I try to get peoples money through hype and empty promises.

[ForeignProfessor]

Originally Posted by Wham

half the internet is retarded

the other half actually uses their brain

I like this "statistic" =) I think there is a lot of truth in it haha.

[bahnsurf]

Hi,

Well, you really do not have to be an expert in that field. You will need to learn what your audience are talking, those kind of sentence like us in IM, you probably been hearing about AFF, HOPLINK, MASK, etc etc.

If you can relate to them on this, well, you will be seen as an expert in their eyes, together with your quality articles, bam, you are the winner.

Hope this helps.

[marciayudkin]

half the internet is retarded

the other half actually uses their brain

hype doesn't usually work on people who use their brains, guess it just depends on the niche though.

I'm not sure I would go so far as to use the word "retarded" but if you are trying to reach intelligent clients it does you no good whatsoever to write mediocre articles. Someone in that category can be researching you and then if they find something you wrote only to get some clicks to your web site, they will lose interest and hire someone else.

For one of the services I offer, I see a competitor whose articles appear to rank very well in EzineArticles. But the articles are very junky and he is trying to pass himself off as a language expert. This does him a huge disservice. Perhaps he is laughing at me all the way to the bank, but I am certain that this is losing him some potential clients.

Marcia Yudkin

[Marhelper]

Originally Posted by JackPowers

Talking strictly article marketing here and results..

My experience with article marketing (on all platforms) is that it really is much easier, much more time effective to skip the quality content and just go straight into hyping and selling?

Why not deliver both?