A Little Note for Beginners About Articles.

25 replies
Don't blow off article marketing!

I put out 25 articles, on ezine articles, I'd had outsourced for my blog initially.

And added 2 of my own writing yesterday, 1 still pending.

The result:

306 views,
7 profile views,
2 ezine publisher,
6 url clicks,
Click rate 2%

And I've got 2 subscribers for the 6 url clicks.

That's in the space of about 3 weeks. It's now just a matter of scaling up.

Now if anyone would be willing to suggest ways to boost the click thru rate, I'd be very grateful. I don't know if that's a good click thru rate as I have no point of reference, it could be awful for all I know!

I just wanted to post a post for people who'd just thought "UUUGGGHHHH!" at the thought of writing articles for traffic.
#articles #beginners #note
  • Profile picture of the author sunnyinoz
    I am fairly new too - but I suspect you must add value and dont make it sound too obvious that you are trying to get them to click. There should be some obvious value alluded to that makes them want to click. Most of the article sites now prevent you from adding too many links or any obvious affiliate links so your click phrases need to fit in naturally with the copy.
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  • Profile picture of the author A.Green
    Hey, great job! Congrats!

    The "2 ezine publishers" suggests your articles are good enough that other people want to republish them, so that's good. A 2% sig click-through seems rather low, though. It really depends on the topic--some topics just don't get very high click-throughs.

    To boost that CTR, though, you might try not having a conclusion on your article and putting the conclusion in the sig section instead, along with a call to action. So your sig for an article about "blahblah" in dog training might read something like "Blahblah is an important factor when training your dog, but it's not the only thing that matters. Discover the esssential keys to successful, stress-free dog training in this free report." And have "dog training" link to your homepage and "free report" link to your freebie sign up page.

    Just some thoughts. That's how I usually do it and I've been able to get 10% to 40% sig CTRs. Again, though, it varies by topic, so 2% might be perfectly good for the topic you're working with.
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  • Profile picture of the author JCorp
    I believe all forms of marketing have their advantages and we would be good to tap into them ever so often, diversifying marketing strategies is definitely the way to go. Good for you for taking action and getting some actual results...hopefully you're monetizing on those.
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    • Profile picture of the author MattVit
      Hm... Let's break this one down a bit. 25 articles, let's say 300 words each, that's 7,500 words. A lot of words to write - and if you want to do well, the articles need to be well-researched and well-written. Not an easy task.

      This has only converted to 6 clicks (according to yourself) over a 3 week period... To put it lightly, that's horrendous!!

      Think about it - paid advertising with, say, AdWords, would have cost maybe 50 cents ($0.50) per click. It would have been instant.

      Would you rather pay $3 and get 6 clicks instantly... or write seven thousand, five hundred (7,500) words and get 6 clicks over a slow, delayed 3 weeks?

      I know what I'd prefer...

      Just my two cents! (or, $3 dollars..!)
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      • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
        Originally Posted by MattVit View Post

        This has only converted to 6 clicks (according to yourself) over a 3 week period... To put it lightly, that's horrendous!!
        My thoughts exactly. You would have been better off spamming Craig's List or Yahoo answers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robbie B
    You will hear different things about the CTR. You just need to be consistent with article marketing. Some will bring you traffic, while others will be a hit and miss. At least that's what I've experienced. I'm sure some others will have sussed out how to get traffic consistently this way.

    If the articles are evergreen though, that's going to be free traffic to you forever.

    I think myself it's more about building up a portfolio of articles that drive traffic. I've some that bring 0 traffic and others that bring hundreds of folks over to the site.

    Stick it out but don't get caught up on stats. I used to check them out every day before writing. The problem there is that if you have articles in there that aren't performing, it's going to put you off writing that day. I found I was more focused when i just started doing the stat checks on a Sunday. Then do a bit of keyword research to get the keywords for the coming week.
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  • Profile picture of the author vivi62
    Newbie85
    its great that you got sign ups,I myself have written an article on this subject on my blog and it is always the subject the gurus come back to when creating their own websites.
    Regards
    vivi62
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  • Profile picture of the author TopKat22
    You are so correct. It is very valuable. I use Qondio.com and ideamarketers.com and you can't put live links in either one but when you write just one or two really good articles and they get syndicated with your bio with your url in it, you get a lot of great backlinks and immediate traffic.

    So worth the effort.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Crooke
      I have a killer resource for creating articles. No worry, this is the direct site - Better Than Private Label Rights @ ArticleBuilder.net.

      I got this at $197 and now Jon Leger has it at $297. All my articles were approved by ezine with NO issues.

      Richard
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      • Profile picture of the author 1byte
        Yeah, that looks interesting (ArticleBuilder.net), but it's pretty expensive, and still uses PLR content. Not sure how it can generate unique and original content since it uses snippets from PLR, but maybe it does somehow. Might be worth checking out if it saves a significant amount of time in the long run...


        Originally Posted by Richard Crooke View Post

        I have a killer resource for creating articles. No worry, this is the direct site - Better Than Private Label Rights @ ArticleBuilder.net.

        I got this at $197 and now Jon Leger has it at $297. All my articles were approved by ezine with NO issues.

        Richard
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  • Profile picture of the author commonjoe
    To increase your CTR's have a how to video or a free give away and let thereader know about it in your Author bio. Like one of the posters said make your autor bio be the conclusion. Do forget to tell them what it is you want to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author money fan
    Banned
    Thanks for the post got a lot of information! question, Should i hire someone to write articles for ezine or backlinks from blog comments? Thanks and please pm me with answer! Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author DebbieD
    First off, congrats for taking action! So many think so long that it doesn't pay, that they do nothing - and that doesn't pay for sure!

    This is what has helped me raise my conversion rates:

    1. As mentioned in posts above, I try to make the author bio sound like it's part of the article. I do it by continuing the article in the author bio section. It goes something like this: Also, if you blah, blah, blah... And then in the last paragraph, I write where they can click and what they'll get for clicking there.

    2. I try to write in a conversational tone, like I'm talking or explaining something to someone that's standing next to me. In my mind, I have the image of the person I'm talking to, i.e. my mother, husband, friend, grandma - you get the idea.

    I hope this helped you and good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author SeanSupplee
    I'm actually going to have to disagree here. The reason is I feel you benefit alot more creating your own blog and then adding those high quality articles to your own blog instead of having the article directory get the traffic. While yes I still use article marketing I normally do a spun version that's very unique but the one I write myself the best version goes on my blog.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Alexa usually makes this point on these threads, I'm surprised she hasn't yet. Whatever, I AM SWOOPING IN TO STEAL THE GLORY.

    She would always say something like how all of that traffic going to ezine is traffic that could have been to your site instead. Now, they'll probably ending up clicking a link to a different article (and thus away from you) instead of probably navigating to another page within your site. You see, you have no control over what they do on ezine (hence 6 clicks); but on your site they are either going to go to a different page on your site or leave altogether.

    Do I have that right? *Shrugs* Looks good to me.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Joe128139 View Post

      all of that traffic going to ezine is traffic that could have been to your site instead. Now, they'll probably ending up clicking a link to a different article (and thus away from you) instead of probably navigating to another page within your site. You see, you have no control over what they do on ezine (hence 6 clicks); but on your site they are either going to go to a different page on your site or leave altogether.

      Do I have that right? *Shrugs* Looks good to me.
      Impeccable.

      http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ries-work.html
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    • Profile picture of the author danr62
      Originally Posted by Joe128139 View Post

      Alexa usually makes this point on these threads, I'm surprised she hasn't yet. Whatever, I AM SWOOPING IN TO STEAL THE GLORY.

      She would always say something like how all of that traffic going to ezine is traffic that could have been to your site instead. Now, they'll probably ending up clicking a link to a different article (and thus away from you) instead of probably navigating to another page within your site. You see, you have no control over what they do on ezine (hence 6 clicks); but on your site they are either going to go to a different page on your site or leave altogether.

      Do I have that right? *Shrugs* Looks good to me.

      I don't know, Alexa always sounds a lot more emphatic to me. She uses a lot of bold words that practically force you to read her reply even though it's usually almost the same thing she's written elsewhere.
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      • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
        Banned
        Y-you guys didn't give me enough time to get into character! Yeah, that's it.

        Sorry for hijacking your thread buddy, let me say something semi productive. 2% isn't too great of a CTR, and made even less effective by the first statement I made above. So, get the articles on your site and work on upping the click through rate!
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Here is some truth...

          No matter how good your article is, some people will like it and some won't. You want to cater to the ones that do.

          You want clicks/signups/sales.

          The best way for you to connect the first to the second is to offer the people who like your stuff a way to extend the experience.

          Whether that means linking to an opt-in page, a sales page or another piece of content, you want them on your turf and you want them feeling good about the idea.
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          • Profile picture of the author JoeTavs
            I have read many different things about resource boxes and am still testing. But, I get the best CTR when I keep it short and have a call to action attached.

            For More Information Click XYZ for a Free e-book to XYZ. Act Now

            I get about 12% CTR on my articles. Note, still a work in progress.

            When I put a long Bio and a link I think it was about 4% CTR.

            Hope this helps
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      • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
        Originally Posted by danr62 View Post

        I don't know, Alexa always sounds a lot more emphatic to me. She uses a lot of bold words that practically force you to read her reply even though it's usually almost the same thing she's written elsewhere.
        It's funny you say that because when I read all the posts she's responding to, they all seem to fill me with an incredible sense of de-ja-vu too.

        Strange isn't it?
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  • Profile picture of the author timb98133
    Always try to remember the goal of your article is to solve someone’s problem, where the final solution is in your link at the bottom of the article.

    I also try to capture the reader’s interest then advise them to click on the link for more great ideas on the same subject. Many times I see people who write an article on one topic then have the link be about something unrelated! This is a big mistake
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  • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
    Newbie, if you really want to see how you're doing, take it one step further, and Google the titles of your articles or a few sentences. If your articles have been syndicated, the search results will show you where they've gone and what kind of links you've gotten as a result.

    If you want to take it another step further, politely contact the owners of the sites that have syndicated your articles, thank them for the exposure, and offer to send more high-quality articles their way. That way, you're not just sitting back and hoping that people come back and syndicate your future articles. Instead, you're actively building relationships with other site owners in your niche.
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    • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
      Excellent advice Nicole and that was how I got my first site that now asks me for content.

      Excellent article you wrote for me too, that was for one of my own projects but I'll send you an email with proper thanks tomorrow, I will be using you again.
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      Wibble, bark, my old man's a mushroom etc...

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