I submitted one article yesterday and made $1,505 so far...

[chris_surfrider]

...but not to EzineArticles.com, Article Marketer or any of the other "usual suspects".

No, instead, the place where I submitted my roughly 250-word article was on a site called:

Aweber.com

More specifically, it was a quick, relevant promo that I decided to send out to one of my small/medium-sized lists on a whim.

It performed decently.

Not amazing, but decent.

There's actually been times where I've seen ONE single email broadcast generate over $15,000 in profit. And there's a bunch of other similar results that I've managed to fairly easily generate in the low to high 4-figures.

Just by "submitting an article". To my list.

Now, I know that list-building takes work.

But you know what?

Slowly but surely, it just starts to add up and build.

Even sites that I've long since forgotten about are still generating a few opt-ins a day - and those lists are now in the THOUSANDS.

That is how it happens folks.

One subscriber at a time. Or maybe a few subscribers a day. It ADDS UP.

Yes, there's ways to accelerate the process and all that stuff, but really, for the amount of effort I see folks on this forum expending on "Article Marketing" and all that stuff - where all they're doing is just handing over their hard work directly to a MERCHANT - doesn't it make sense to actually build some kind of leverage?

Yes, the initial results will be "small".

But everything can be scaled.

A list of 1,000 can quickly turn into a list of 10,000 by a combination of any of the following:

* creating products and recruiting some affiliates (with some initial launch traffic from your own subscribers), where list-building is a part of the fulfillment process

* Doing co-promos with similar-sized list owners (easy to do)

* scaling up whatever's working best on the front-end traffic portion of your business

* viral things like software, videos on youtube, free reports, etc.

* creating contests and events that are newsworthy so as to drum up traffic FROM your list (and their sites, etc)

And so on.

This is how it happens.

And sooner or later, you'll start seeing why people say "the money's in the list".

DO NOT IGNORE THIS BECAUSE IT "SEEMS" HARD

It is not.

Yes, it can take time.

But doesn't it also take time to start seeing any reasonable results with BUM marketing?

And what about Google's ever-changing algo's, EZA's ever-changing rules and whatever else?

Don't be held hostage by factors you don't control or own.

And I'm not saying that "list building is the answer".

What I AM saying is that you need to start building something if you want to see real results.

Imagine being able to whip up thousands of dollars (or tens of thousands or more) in a matter of hours - on demand - just by sending out a short, relevant and useful promo to your list?

This isn't a pipe dream.

But it DOES depend on what you do, and what you build.

Starting today.

Just some food for thought.

-Chris

[George Wright]

Chris,

Thanks for putting a new spin on "article writing." I like your thinking.

George Wright

[Lynn Stivers]

Hi Chris,

That's an interesting way to look at it. And it makes sense too since it would be giving your subscribers good quality content like everyone says you're supposed to do.

Thanks Chris.


Lynn

[peoy]

Good reading

[sparrow]

So true the key here is not to abuse your list and they will respond

Ed

[chris_surfrider]

Originally Posted by Lynn Stivers

Hi Chris,

That's an interesting way to look at it. And it makes sense too since it would be giving your subscribers good quality content like everyone says you're supposed to do.

Thanks Chris.


Lynn

It's more about the leverage.

Quality content is crucial, yes - but it's this approach in general where instead of depending on "new" traffic all the time from articles, search engines and even advertising, this is effectively like a "traffic savings account".

From which you can make endless withdrawals.

Think about it this way:

You have a site (or a promotion) that gets 100 visitors a day.

Not hard. Maybe it makes a sale or two a day. Very good.

Let's say it earns you $40/day on average or $1200/mth.

So that's about $14,400 a year. Excellent.

Now - if you've been building a list on that site as well - in addition to your primary monetization method - and let's say even 10% of your overall traffic joins that list, then even by 6 months you'll have a list of roughly 1800 people. And in a year, 3600 people.

You now have a very targeted traffic source that you can "tap" any time you want.

And depending on how much your list trusts you, the results can range anywhere from zero to phenomenal.

I have a list that's barely over 3,000 people in one market where it generates in the low 5 figure range monthly in profit. Think I care about Google rankings anymore with that particular project? Not really...

I'm not guaranteeing anyone the same results, but what I AM saying is that instead of always depending on the front-end, why not make EVERYTHING you do translate into an asset that you can profit from whenever you want?

And believe me, the compounding effect here is crazy.

This is how sites that only make occasional sales from their front-end traffic can, over time, become six-figure businesses on the backend.

Very few people see this.

Many full-time marketers often have LESS daily traffic from Google, articles or wherever than a lot of newbies who are just sending their traffic directly to a merchant.

It's just that they've been "storing" their traffic and leveraging their efforts.

And there comes a time when it begins to pay off in ways that most people would never even think possible.

-Chris

[johntan]

Building good relationship with subscribers by providing is the way to go. I myself are tired of getting no content by promotion emails from marketer.

[kkchoon]

Hey Chris,

Thanks for this nice tips! Totally agreed with you, not building a list a just "waste" of traffic and leaving a lot of money on the table!

If anyone having difficulty monitizing their blog or website, try to build a list, give good content and recommendation, people will buy, eventually.

[Richard Odell]

Hi Chris - many thanks for very sound post, good to read something positive for a change, rather than all the bitching about Ezine Articles and Article marketing in general.

This game is all about long term gains and many folks just don't have the patience to see it out to the end; which is a real shame, as many give up just as the ball starts roll, not realizing that it has.

Folks it all takes time to build, but the long term rewards are totally worth it.

Worked for me!

Rich

[MeTellYou]

Yeah. Great thinking I never looked at it this way

[tommen]

I agree,building a list is the way to go.The hard part is to create an outstanding freebie and the follow up messages.You cannot send just "money-emails", you have to send valuable information as well.How to find the correct ratio between "money-emails" you send and the information emails? Get it wrong and you will see a lot of unsubscribers.

[rondo]

And there's no waiting 5 days for it to be approved!

[tomw]

"Don't be held hostage by factors you don't control or own."

Great piece of advice for life...not just business or listbuilding.

Thomas

[Fuad Tolieb]

You are totally right!

You can save yourself a lot of time and money if you establish a good list.

The key is to really connect, start a realtionship with a subscirber.
Dont push on the GREEDY button but push on the PATIENCE button.

You got to believe in the LAW OF THE LEAST EFFORT!

[chris_surfrider]

Originally Posted by tommen

I agree,building a list is the way to go.The hard part is to create an outstanding freebie and the follow up messages.You cannot send just "money-emails", you have to send valuable information as well.How to find the correct ratio between "money-emails" you send and the information emails? Get it wrong and you will see a lot of unsubscribers.

It's actually quite simple:

1. Discover what it is your subscribers want (study the market, then survey them)

2. Give it to them

3. Share genuinely cool things with them whenever you can. Stuff that is actually really cool. Things that you would email a friend or associate that you know on a personal level.

Some of those cool things will be free, and some will cost.

Everything is a sequence of "promise and deliver", and results will either build or decrease according to how well you match those things.

This includes the relevency of your subject line to your actual email content (or whatever the thing is you're broadcasting about).

Something I find that works really well is summarizing results in the subject line, and then directly following up with that in th email/offer.

For example:

"I lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks by simply doing this..."

Or,

"New site makes $700 in just 2 weeks. No list, $0 on ads. Here's how..."

And so on.

Direct, factual and completely relevant.

Apply this process to everything you do, and you will establish trust.

See - this IS "hype" in its own way.

It's just that it's more believable and there's zero guesswork as to what you'll be sharing with the reader.

I know that sometimes curiosity can work wonders (ie. "Bad news"...), but there's definitely a shelf-life on its effectiveness if used too much.

-Chris

P.S. Also, keep your emails short and get to the point. People appreciate that, too.

[richpeck]

Hey Chris - congrats!

Another little tip I use for subject lines to make them little news bulletins.

Normally, I just glance at the subject and if it's worth looking into, I open it up.

When I "glance", I don't want to read LOADS of content just in the subject line... so what I do is just post the shortest bulletin possible. Stuff like:

"2 weeks. 15lbs lost."

or

"New site. $700. 2 weeks."

or

"The economy is bust"

or

"Why you aren't married yet..."

I used to write tons for any email promo that I did - trying to get all emotional and stuff - but most of the time, people just want to be informed about stuff and make their own decision.

That's why I just send out little promos now I know you do too.

Well in,

R

[arilestariono]

Thanks Chris for sharing, in facts building list in my opinion also not easy just like building your downlines on multilevel marketing, same like driving traffic to your new site, any idea Chris on how to drive tons of traffic to your site in couple of days.

Well, i have done my homework :article marketing, SEO on /off page, blogwalking, answer on Yahoo getting feed back on quality links, commenting blogs,

Please advice if I'm missing something

Cheeers
ari

[John Piteo]

I agree with you that if you do what you are recommending effectively you will make much more money than with article marketing, but in my opinion it's not necessarily the best way for everyone to get started. I'm talking about for the total newbie.

It's my feeling that everyone with at least an eighth grade education and fluent in the English language should start with article marketing. It's a much easier way to break the ice and actually get started.

It will help them develop some of the core skills of Internet marketing such as writing for example. Persuasive writing is a powerful skill that they will use throughout their entire Internet marketing career.

They will learn about niche and product selection and start to get a feel of what people are buying. Then after finding a profitable niche to work in they can start learning about list building and other forms of traffic generation.

At that point they can also outsource their article writing and that will give them time to focus on doing all the things you are talking about. By the way, I'm not talking about article marketing as an entire business model, I'm talking about it as a starting point.

Speaking from my own experience when I was a total newbie I tried creating my own products and found it completely overwhelming. I bought dozens of ebooks and courses and I couldn't get anything to work until I tried article marketing.

Then I finally started making money online. That changed everything. Now, because I've developed my core skills in writing, research and marketing I found it easy to create and sell my own product.

So personally If I had it to do over again, as a total newbie, I would start with article marketing for 2 to 3 months and then start getting into list building, product creation, and JV's.

[chris_surfrider]

Well said, John.

However, not many people know that they can progress from "Bum" to an actual marketer.

There is a point at which the "newbie" needs to start building their own foundation.

-Chris

[Zachary R. Skinner]

So basically work hard, focus, and eventually you will get results. It's easier said than done but damn it if it doesn't work.

[James Schramko]

Good highlight.

A business is for attracting and retaining clients. The best sales are from the ones who have already bought from you before.

[chris_surfrider]

So basically work hard, focus, and eventually you will get results. It's easier said than done but damn it if it doesn't work.

Sort of...

It's about working at what works BEST.

Working smart, in other words.

I know some very hard-working, focused people that make a fraction of what others do who simply have leverage from working smart.

The 80/20 rule applies, especially in this business.

I think it's more like 90/10, actually, where 10% of the things you do will account for 90% of your results.

It's the people that focus on that 10% that will make the lion's share.

Hint: Building responsive lists and structuring leveraged systems (like your own affiliate program or self-growing, user-driven web assets) are examples of "10%" activities.

-Chris

[David Jolley]

Good Stuff, Chris;

People spend a LOT of time creating great content, and then simply toss it out into the ether, hoping it will stick somewhere. Focusing that content on a "captive" audience (your list!) can certainly bring much greater rewards than mxing it up the Article Directory "salad bowl"!

[ajk100]

Chris,

Thanks for the post. I am new to this whole internet marketing thing and need all the help I can get. My list is small only about 25 right now and I use Get Response and have auto-responders set up.

I will definitely take a look at your post more carefully and see how I can use it.

Al

[Chris Lockwood]

In your example above, are you factoring in lost sales from adding the optin form? Some people who would have bought will opt in instead, so when talking about adding 3600 subscribers a year, you need to factor in lost sales upfront to make it a fair comparison.

[chris_surfrider]

Chris, that may be true in a very small way.

But all it takes is one change in Google algo's to completely nullify any short-term advantage, either.

This isn't a question of which is better or more effective. I think the answer to that is obvious.

It's a question of "why aren't people doing this?!"

-Chris

[cullenpowell]

Originally Posted by chris_surfrider

Even sites that I've long since forgotten about are still generating a few opt-ins a day - and those lists are now in the THOUSANDS.

Too true! I checked a site the other day I had on the back burner for a little over a year and it too now has a fresh, untouched list in the thousands. Good times.

[JonathanBoettcher]

Yeah... I've just been learning the exact lesson you're teaching here. Without a list, you don't really have a business.

[microjob]

Thank you for sharing
microjob

[JasonParker]

Originally Posted by chris_surfrider

...but not to EzineArticles.com, Article Marketer or any of the other "usual suspects".

No, instead, the place where I submitted my roughly 250-word article was on a site called:

Aweber.com

More specifically, it was a quick, relevant promo that I decided to send out to one of my small/medium-sized lists on a whim.

It performed decently.

Not amazing, but decent.

There's actually been times where I've seen ONE single email broadcast generate over $15,000 in profit. And there's a bunch of other similar results that I've managed to fairly easily generate in the low to high 4-figures.

Just by "submitting an article". To my list.

Now, I know that list-building takes work.

But you know what?

Slowly but surely, it just starts to add up and build.

Even sites that I've long since forgotten about are still generating a few opt-ins a day - and those lists are now in the THOUSANDS.

That is how it happens folks.

One subscriber at a time. Or maybe a few subscribers a day. It ADDS UP.

Yes, there's ways to accelerate the process and all that stuff, but really, for the amount of effort I see folks on this forum expending on "Article Marketing" and all that stuff - where all they're doing is just handing over their hard work directly to a MERCHANT - doesn't it make sense to actually build some kind of leverage?

Yes, the initial results will be "small".

But everything can be scaled.

A list of 1,000 can quickly turn into a list of 10,000 by a combination of any of the following:

* creating products and recruiting some affiliates (with some initial launch traffic from your own subscribers), where list-building is a part of the fulfillment process

* Doing co-promos with similar-sized list owners (easy to do)

* scaling up whatever's working best on the front-end traffic portion of your business

* viral things like software, videos on youtube, free reports, etc.

* creating contests and events that are newsworthy so as to drum up traffic FROM your list (and their sites, etc)

And so on.

This is how it happens.

And sooner or later, you'll start seeing why people say "the money's in the list".

DO NOT IGNORE THIS BECAUSE IT "SEEMS" HARD

It is not.

Yes, it can take time.

But doesn't it also take time to start seeing any reasonable results with BUM marketing?

And what about Google's ever-changing algo's, EZA's ever-changing rules and whatever else?

Don't be held hostage by factors you don't control or own.

And I'm not saying that "list building is the answer".

What I AM saying is that you need to start building something if you want to see real results.

Imagine being able to whip up thousands of dollars (or tens of thousands or more) in a matter of hours - on demand - just by sending out a short, relevant and useful promo to your list?

This isn't a pipe dream.

But it DOES depend on what you do, and what you build.

Starting today.

Just some food for thought.

-Chris

Thanks Chris for the best post I've read on WF in a long, long time.

I feel sorry for any Warrior who doesn't think like you.

To put another spin on e-mail marketing like you did with article marketing... you could say the best way to generate traffic is through e-mail marketing because you click "send" and drive traffic to wherever you want like a God.

[Jeff B]

You've obviously mastered headlines/subject lines my friend, great thread title.

[Amira]

Hey, good thinking. Thanks for sharing

[clint48]

Chris, you must be talking about a buyers list. I have never had a regular list make anything close to what you make. I am lucky if 20% of my regular list subscribers even open the email.

Clint

[chris_surfrider]

Clint,

A good portion of my list are buyers, yes.

But it honestly has a lot to do with what they come to expect from you.

Buyers will always outperform reg subs, but in the same way, it always comes down to offer, trust and relevance.

Master those three things and you can do well with almost any kind of list in profitable markets.

-Chris

[Mary Green]

Great post. I am adding to my personal swipe file. Im actually looking for some good examples of squeeze pages. Do you send people straight to a squeeze page, or do you send them to a regular landing page with an optin form somewhere on the page? I guess the difference would be the amount of content...

Thanks,
Mary

[Neil S]

Hey Chris,

Good stuff, I have a question for you. Do you recommend have an opt in for our conduit websites? Or do you create separate websites to use this opt in method. With the conduit sites the #1 strategy is to get the customer to the merchant webpage. When using an opt in this may severely effect your conversion rates. What do you recommend?

[Mark Alexander]

Chris

Great post, thanks for sharing this, I have unsubscribed from many marketers newsletters, as all I was getting was, Buy, Buy, Buy emails all the time, a bit of free useful stuff everynow and then goes a long way to remaining loyal and satisfied.

Thanks
Mark.

[AndrewCavanagh]

You know the site was originally called

"EZINE" articles.com for a reason!

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh

[nazrida74@yahoo.com]

that sounds interesting....

[Kay King]

Chris -

Good info - but it's important to view your list building as a "plan" and many marketers I've noticed aren't doing that.

Recently I've noticed an increase in marketers sending almost daily email blasts with a few lines just promoting one product after another. Others are sending an email every time they make a blog post clearly trying to generate visitors to their blog. They try every trick they've read about - sending "I goofed" or "oops - bad link" or "did you get my email" to re-promote time and again.

It's clear you are populating your lists with those who WANT to be on it - not forcing people to sign up. I've also seen your emails and you send some good info rather than the "buy this, buy that" over excited blurbs.

In this business, a responsive list is priceless.

kay

[Jessica Lynn]

Thanks for sharing your results. I too have noticed so many products being pushed without any helpful content in the past few weeks...

It's nice that some marketers are still sharing good info.

[Alminc]

Chris, what you say in this post is so true.
Building a list of REAL subscribers is a slow process,
since the 'real' subscriber is someone who values your
work found on the Internet and wants more information
about that speciffically from you, not from others.

So list building actually starts with building anything of
value online that people can find and connect with your
name. The key is you must have some valuable property
online. Then puting a subscription box on it is the easy
part...and they will subscribe.

If you build a website that offers some real value it's
easy to collect about 500 subscribers from that site
during 1 year period. If you build 2 websites you can easily
collect 1000 subscribers during 1 year. And those are
best possible subscribers you can have because you
didn't condition them to subscribe in any way, they want
to hear from you and learn from you.
You must treat such list as a gold and diamonds, always
give them the best content, point to the best resources,
answer all questions.

Now when we are talking so much about article marketing,
why not promote your ezine by posting articles to EZA
and other article directories?
Why not use the resource box to write something like:
' If you want to know more about xxxxxxxxxxx yyyyyyyy
go to this page and subscribe to my free newsletter'

You can promote to them later, when they know you better
through your emails and when they trust you more.

[gareth]

I started with getresponse. I will start paying for traffic soon. My optin page gets 30% so it will grow pretty fast.

I like to be in control of my efforts.

I give them a free ebook upfront which is high quality.

But I havent started broadcasting to them yet. I dont want to make any offers yet - I want to give them more cool free stuff so they dont unsubscribe, next freebie is a giant manual i have prepared.

I want to try CPA offers too. Really if you focus on high quality content, list building and management and quality traffic systems thats enough work for anybody.

But sometimes I get crazy ideas in my head and go off track - that sucks.