Do You Have A System And Is It Working For You?

Paul Myers brought up an excellent point about writing systems that I
think deserves to be expanded on and presented in a manner in which
hopefully, each person will get something else out of it depending on where
they're coming from in their personal development as a marketer.

I want to touch on 3 different systems in this thread, all revolving around
writing but all slightly different in their approach.

System 1 - Writing For Affiliate Marketing Purposes.

This system is fairly simple.

You first research a niche that you want to tackle to determine if that
niche has a demand for a solution that people are willing to pay for.

Once found, you look for a product at whatever marketplace you choose
to work with...Clickbank, PayDotCom, whatever.

You buy the product and read it.

You write a comprehensive and unbiased review of the product. If you
don't like the product, refund it and tell your readers why you don't like
it. If you do like it, keep it and tell your readers why you do like it.

You'll post the review on your blog. The review itself will be structured a
certain way. How you structure it is immaterial. What matters is that you
keep your reviews consistent so your readers know what to expect.

One way would be with the following outline.

1. Introduce the product
2. Tell what it does
3. Tell what you like about it
4. Tell what you don't like about it
5. Give your final thumbs up or thumbs down with a possible star rating if
you like.

Place the review on a blog that you specifically start for the purpose of
reviewing products for that niche.

Then, to drive traffic to that review (which will contain an affiliate link to
the product at the end if you like it) write a series of articles on the topic
and submit them to article directories.

The end result is that people see the articles, read them, and then go to
your blog via your resource box.

You can easily crank out 2 or 3 sales each week for each niche you tackle
in this manner and it won't cost you anything other than what you spent
to buy the product. And, if you write to the owner and ask for a review
copy (there are ways to do this) you can get many of these products for
free.

End of system. Simple, no muss, no fuss.

System 2 - Writing For Forums

This one requires nothing more than observation.

Go through the forum of your choice, see what people are talking about
and see where you can add to the discussion, either through replying to
posts or starting your own threads if you feel that you have something
to add that isn't directly related to any questions out there, but related
enough to warrant the start of the thread.

Use your judgment here.

For replies, most of your posts probably won't be too long unless the
answer requires a detailed explanation, but the key here is to answer the
question asked. If you don't, and start rambling on about things that
are no related, you may incur the wrath of other members.

For threads that you start, you have more latitude as you're starting
with a clean slate. But try to keep the thread on topic and try not to
wander off into too many areas.

Everything should flow smoothly.

This is a possible system for participating in forums if you have the
knowledge to make it work.

System 3 - Writing For Your Blog

Here is where you simply take the forum system, seeing what people are
talking about, and applying that system to your blog.

However, there is one very HUGE difference.

With forums, there are rules you have to follow. Therefore, some topics
may be off limits or there may be things that, if you write about them,
you are almost certain to start trouble.

With your blog, you can write whatever you want. Nobody can tell you
what to do. Therefore, you can maybe be a little more controversial than
you can be at a forum.

In either case, know your audience and be aware of the boundaries.

There you go...3 simple systems that anybody can follow.

Now...for those doing these, or systems similar to these, are they working
for you?

Are you keeping track of your results?

If you're doing affiliate marketing using system 1, are people reading
your articles and clicking through to your blog review? If not, something
in the article writing part of the system isn't working. It could be your
article itself or it could be a poor call to action in your resource box.

If they're getting to your review but not clicking through to the sales page,
it could be that the review isn't believable enough, or maybe you didn't
make the product attractive enough.

If they're clicking on the affiliate link and not buying, it could mean way
too many things to get into here.

Point is, you must look at your system and see where it's failing you.
Otherwise, you're wasting your time with the system IF you continue
doing it the way you are now with no changes.

See, it's great to have a system, but if it doesn't work, it's pointless.

Same thing with the forum system.

If people aren't reading and responding to your threads, then you're not
capturing their attention and interest. You therefore have to look at what
kind of threads you're starting. Also, if all you're receiving is flack for each
post, then maybe you're not behaving the way the majority of the
members would want you to behave. Sure, you'll always have those who
don't agree with you and get on your case, but if everybody is doing it...
then there's a problem.

With your blog posts, if traffic doesn't increase or if people are bouncing
off your page like rubber bullets, then your articles may just be of no
interest to people. In that case, you need to examine your writing.

The bottom line to all of this is simple.

Don't waste your time doing something that isn't bringing you results
the way you're doing it.

Always look to see where you can improve your system.

And this applies not only to writing but to everything from traffic generation
to how you track your sales.

This is why when marketers say Systems work...people fail I say
hogwash.

Systems only work if they're conceived and implemented correctly.

So, do you have a system and is it working for you?

If you do, maybe you'd like to share it with the others.