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Is BUM marketing still a viable model to start my IM journey?

by trerog
23 replies
Hey guys! This is my first post, so please don't jump on me too bad.

I want to start my IM career and I was attracted to the bum marketing method due to the low barrier of entry and low risk. However as I was searching other forums and blogs I noticed much of the info pertaining to bum marketing was at least a couple of years old. Really no new post or info to speak of.

Which brings me to this question- Is BUM marketing still alive? If not, what other methods can I start today that resemble BM? What kind of income is possible through BUM marketing/article marketing?

Any advice from you more successful guys would be greatly appreciated.
#bum #journey #marketing #model #start #viable
  • Profile picture of the author Chris Sorrell
    Squidoo lenses are still pretty well liked by google and provide an easy way of getting ranked for low to medium competition keywords. I've still got a lens near the top of google (targeting keywords related to things I was selling as an amazon affiliate) nearly two years after setting it up with minimal backlinking so yes, some of the methods are definitely worth getting into.
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    • Profile picture of the author joymarino
      Originally Posted by Chris Sorrell View Post

      Squidoo lenses are still pretty well liked by google and provide an easy way of getting ranked for low to medium competition keywords. I've still got a lens near the top of google (targeting keywords related to things I was selling as an amazon affiliate) nearly two years after setting it up with minimal backlinking so yes, some of the methods are definitely worth getting into.
      I have to agree here... I still get a decent amount of traffic to my squidoo lenses even though I haven't done much with them for the last few months.
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  • Profile picture of the author RichardF
    Yep, Squidoo seems to be one of the few places that's still ranking well. Of course you need to build a few links to see any decent results. Who knows how long it's going to last though, but right now it's a decent option.

    As far as income potential, I'd say that while you CAN make a lot of money this way, it's not exactly the fast lane to millions. It's a great start though that lets you learn tons without wasting money on domains and hosting. All you need is time.
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  • Profile picture of the author trishworks4u
    I am surprised it still does - with the value placed on backlinks now. Not sure who would really want to invest time (and possibly $$) in building backlinks to a property that they don't own and that could vanish at the whim of the site owners.

    Guess it would depend on the niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    Hubpages is still doing pretty well too. I never had much like with squidoo.
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  • Profile picture of the author H.Miller
    Bum Marketing still works. However, you have to put out way more articles these days to get decent results. But as long as you are writing quality articles that provide value to your readers, you should have no problems generating traffic and eventually turning that traffic into sales.
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  • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
    Bum marketing can still work, but it's not necessarily the most effective method of promotion or traffic-generation, nor is the most "secure".

    You are, to a great extent, at the mercy of other sites' good standing in the search-engines. The collective quality of users' work there is ultimately what determines how favourably the search-engines look on these sites. Clearly, if you run your own site, you determine its overall quality-level and therefore assume more control over its destiny insofar as the search-engines are concerned.

    Not to mention that when your traffic is coming through someone else's site, à la bum marketing, you're inevitably going to lose a good proportion of it to their advertisements and other distractions. When your traffic comes straight to your own site, that isn't an issue.

    I would honestly advise setting up your own site and posting your articles there. The costs involved in doing this can be absolutely minuscule (think: ~$3/year for a domain + free or low-cost web-hosting). It can even be done entirely for free.

    If you're building a business (as opposed to just trying to earn some money), you want to be in as much control over it as you possibly can be. And it's not much of a business if you don't have any assets, or someone else controls them.

    In my opinion, the negatives of "bum marketing" far outweigh the positives.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      I've noticed in this forum that ...

      (i) people using the expression "Bum Marketing" are doing so with two distinctly different meanings;

      (ii) their incidence is about 50/50;

      (iii) both groups think that "they're right" and that others using the phrase differently from them are "wrong".

      It's worth knowing this, because it helps to interpret what would otherwise be many instances of people talking at cross-purposes. I'm just mentioning this to you, Trerog, because you said it was your first post here, so you can't possibly be expected to know this or to take it into account when you read your responses!

      Half the people discussing this are referring to "direct-linking only" (i.e. not having a site at all, not even a one-page blog, in-between the article and the intended promotion/hoplink/whatever), and the other half are referring to directing the traffic to their own little site (with/without trying to build a list there).

      The "original" version of Bum Marketing, from Travis (who often posts here, and may well see this thread and reply himself, by the way ), I think, referred to "no website"/"direct-linking". I think we can all agree that, by all accounts, that was certainly a lot easier 5 years ago than it is now.

      My answer, taking the first description, is that it depends what you're selling/promoting.

      Maybe for CPA offers it's perfectly viable? (I have almost no experience of this).

      But don't try it as a way to promote - for example - Clickbank products: you need to build a list to do that with any reliable results worth talking about.

      Having your own website (even if it's a one-page blog) is so easy, these days, that it's difficult to see much "advantage" in not building an asset-based business, rather than simply doing a constant "rinse-and-repeat" and depending on other people's sites for your traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author trerog
      Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

      I would honestly advise setting up your own site and posting your articles there. The costs involved in doing this can be absolutely minuscule (think: ~$3/year for a domain + free or low-cost web-hosting). It can even be done entirely for free.
      Can anyone recommend a free or low-cost hosting service like DireStraits mentioned?
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      • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
        Originally Posted by trerog View Post

        Can anyone recommend a free or low-cost hosting service like DireStraits mentioned?
        Byet Internet Services (and I know this is also likely to be the one that Alexa - who posted just after me, above - also mentions/recommends ) offer a 100% free, full-fledged hosting package, and are quite highly recommended.
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

          Byet Internet Services (and I know this is also likely to be the one that Alexa - who posted just after me, above - also mentions/recommends )
          Absolutely.

          You can install Wordpress there, or do whatever else you want with it. You don't get an "advertising button" placed on your site by the host, or anything "unprofessional-looking" like that. It's very well-established, safe, professional hosting. Unlike many free hosts, they use the high quality/reliability of their free service to try to sell you add-ons later.

          The other approach, if you want free hosting with a built-in site-builder included, is to try sites like Weebly (very good and very underrated, in my opinion), Yola or Blinkweb. I believe I'm right in saying that all of these will put a button saying "Build your free website with ... " on the bottom of your pages, though, unless you pay them $10/$20 to take it away (so, arguably, they're not really "free", if you want to look professional about it).

          The important things are:-

          (i) not to use Blogger/Blogspot, or wordpress.com (hosted version of Wordpress), because neither would be safe/reliable at all for what you're looking at.

          (ii) to use your own domain-name (costs very little indeed, prices from $1) and register it somewhere other than where you host your site ... for example, if hosting/building at Weebly, don't also register your domain-name through them, even if they have a "special offer" and make it look very attractive to do so, because in future you may well need your registrar and your host to be two different companies. This matters!
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike McAleer
    i agree with saying that squidoo is great.

    I have many great lenses there and that is how I started with IM. Who knows whered I'd be if I stuck with it? You won't be a millionaire with bum marketing but it does work.
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  • Profile picture of the author O0o0O
    Bum marketing is still a great place to start, but I would suggest moving towards your own websites so that you will have some control.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Save yourself the headache of relying on services such as ezinearticles.com, squidoo.com, etc. Instead, build your own keyword rich mini sites based off of your research. Once these become successful you'll be happy that you're not at the mercy of a third party service.
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  • Profile picture of the author mikeroosa
    I still have plenty of EzineArticles getting traffic and converting on CPA offers with direct links.

    Most of the newer articles I write get sent through a squeeze page but these are still getting traffic as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Backlinksboy
    BUM marketing takes huge time, you have to spend lots of time writing and posting articles.
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  • Profile picture of the author ryanzona
    To me its labor or money. If you have the time, and can write, it works. If you have money to buy writing of others, its much more efficient and faster. It does work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shane Hale
    Latest Google update lowered article marketing directories in the Serps. I would create a blog and provide awesome content around your niche keywords and add some social media plugins to it. I think you will be surprised on how well you do!
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  • Profile picture of the author makingiants
    Somebody call Travis Sago, the original "Bum
    Marketer" and see what his take is on this issue.

    I'd be very interested...
    Vince aka makingiants
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    • Profile picture of the author Richest
      Recently I was attracted to Bum Marketing, but after browsing the internet to find out more information about it, I think this is not suitable for a person who need money in rush :p
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    for me is it not just about bum marketing.

    What if it fell off the map tomorrow...what would you do then.

    Do not put all your eggs in one basket.

    Build a list, blog, comment on high traffic blogs, do banner ads, do PPC see the options are endless. Diversify and make more money.
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