Whats the secret of writing articles?

I have responded to this question so many times I should probably
bookmark the link to one of the posts.

Getting articles to perform come down to the following things.

1. Properly researched keywords so that the people looking for a solution
to their problem will actually find your article.

2. A killer title to make them want to read the article.

3. A well constructed article (intro, meat of article, summary) that keeps
people engaged.

4. A well constructed resource box to get people to go to your site.

This is extremely condensed as I could write a chapter on each of the
individual bullet points.

My suggestion is to pick up a good book on article marketing (one that
is recognized as good) and read it.

The secret is....

There is no secret

Go here:

bummarketingmethod.com

Sign up.. for FREE...

Let that man do the business TO you.. and follow.... expand and scale as you become more aware of how/why you are doing things...

Combine this with a solid business plan and action plans, short, medium and long term goals...

You will make it work.. seriously..

Forget all the hype and hooplah and do this, buy me, buy that...

Follow one single plan and execute until you hit homeruns.... Travis (Bum Marketing Guy) is probably the most trustworthy dude in this industry... he will open the door

Peace

Jay

Steven' guidelines are a very good start. Dean's stuff has been killer, in my experience.

There is one element to article writing you cannot buy: talent. All you can do is buy articles from talented writers!

Use the Tao of Steve:

1. Be desireless
2. Be excellent
3. Be gone

Be Desireless - Write an article, not a sales pitch.

Be Excellent - Write something that's fun to read and that's useful. Jimmy Brown uses the pagrase 'Useful but Incomplete' which I think sums it up. Don't waste people's time and attention with articles that tell you nothing. Solve a small problem and hint at the way to solve a bigger one.

Be Gone - Keep it as brief as possible. Don't pad an article to get to an arbitary length. but don't cut it down so much that it's useless either. Make your point and get out. Speaking of which...

You can't really fault Josh's ebook because he was providing what works for him. Steven's products provide what he does and Dean's products show how he achieves his results.

Having read something from each of those distinguished article marketers I can tell you that everyone (myself included) has different ways we go about making our article marketing campaigns work. The directories we submit to may be different, our resource boxes may be different, our writing styles different, the tools we use may be different and naturally, our own special techniques are different but they all work.

With that said, here are some of my suggestions:

1 - As Steven already mentioned, a killer title is important. I consider it close to being the most important part of the whole article marketing equation because you need the right keyword phrase in your title for it to generate interest.

2 - Decent content within your article body - should be natural flowing using paragraphs/sub headings, bullets and about 350 - 500 words long. You want to lead your reader from the start of your article to the bottom right into your resource box.

Try to have your keyword phrase in the first sentence, maybe in the middle and definately at the end of your article.

3 - Your resource box needs to be a call to action. I've been doing some experimenting and have determined that the first link to your website needs to be in the first sentence of your resource box for maximum effectiveness aong with a link in the last sentence.

4 - Submit to the directories where the traffic is and where Google is showing some love - You can easily determine that by running a keyword search with Google using your selected keyword phrase.

As Steven mentioned each of these tips could have a complete writeup and even a video showing how to do them properly but I think you can start to see a picture from what everyone has posted.

Regarding outsourced writers - I've used many over the years. Most started out small and got so good they went on to bigger and better things so I've had a revolving source of writers.

Here are 2 I currently use and a third I will be adding (all are Warriors)

Currently Use:
Aritra Basu
Justin Jordan

Intend To Add:
Paul Viner

Hope this helps...

Respectfully,
Tim

I agree 100% with what Steven says. I fear crappy articles like I fear the plague, and I wouldn't post one anywhere for any reason. Regardless of whether you are running a blog with adsense or selling a product, if people see your name associated with bad content it only hurts, never helps.

I am not saying that you can't spin an article and make it quality. When I do rehash content, I favor putting it on squidoo lenses or other avenues, as I agree that submitting to most lower tier article directories is just a great way to get no traffic and get your content ripped off.

To answer your other question, I have 3 writers and I use them for everything. Once you find good ones, keep them!

There are no secrets. Take a look at the most viewed articles -- and try to copy them (their style/format). The most important element -- is the headline, poor headlines get no attention. Look at the headlines, see which articles get the most views.

Then look at the opening paragraph, does it peak the interest? Do remember that articles need to provide info-- and not hard sell in the body copy. You use the resource box for all your advertisements.

All your answers are right there, just see how others craft their articles.

Cheers,
Magic

The secret lies with the seeker

Seriously - it's good keywords+talant

I agree with everyone's comments about submitting decent quality articles, whether written by you or someone else.

I would add that an absolutely key element to successful article marketing is to keep doing it! Posting 5 articles and expecting a lot of business isn't realistic. You need to be posting new articles to the top dozen or so article directories - in the proper categories - every week.

It's helpful to develop a system to help you do it regularly. I usually write a blog post on Monday and re-purpose it on Tuesday to submit to article directories.

If you write decent articles that are of interest to your market, and you do it consistently, you will attract more traffic. And they will be warm prospects since they're already interested enough to click through after reading your article.

Good luck!

Hi

A lot of article directories actually explain how you should write articles.

As they are the people you need to list your articles, it makes good sense to follow what they are showing you?

Hope this helps - you can do it!
Ian

you can increase your click through rate, by not using conclusions,

simply just end your article suddenly, then in the resource box tell them they can get the rest of the article or learn more by clicking your link


the job of the article is to sell the click not the product

People are attracted to you article when they found an answer they are looking for. Most people on the internet find answers, so giving them the precise answer would be able them to click and read your article. Write an article that is with a great content and not beating around the bush. It is better to be straightforward than giving more flowery words, it does sound annoying at times.

When you realize that the key is putting keywords in your title that have very little competition, then you also realize that your content should be on your own domain. Article sites offer no advantage unless you absolutely do not want to, or don't have the skills to, run your own site or blog.

I'm writing this tongue in cheek with all things being equal (meaning correct article marketing methods are used)...

What do you call an article marketer that only writes and submits content to the top article directories with links pointing back to their website - Wealthy

What do you call an article marketer that regularly adds new content to their website while at the same time writing and submitting articles to the top article directories with links pointing back to the new content they previously added to their website - Very Wealthy

Respectfully,
Tim

Thank you Tim for pointing out the difference between what works and what works very well! I guess on some level I knew this, but never knew it could really work. Is this the secret to your success?

Warmest regards,
Helena

I think it's all in your title. It's kinda like a headline to a salesletter. You should really make sure that people read the rest of the article after reading the headline. You can use curiousity or scarcity or a how to headline and it should work ok.

Sebastian

Make your article informative, but not so much that the reader has no reason to click on your link

Write about your niche, then in the bio box, tell the reader about xyz product and link to your page, where they can get more info

The secret is that the writer should know what he/she is really doing so that the article would come up a nice quality. And it should be more realistic and more direct to the point with what is the title is all about. It is okay that its shorter unless the article posses the "convincing to the readers".

Quality>quantity If u write a good quality article u can get nice CTR
Before U write it Research about what are u going to write

You answered your own question. "A few months ago I tried writing a few articles..."

A few articles won't do anything!

You must submit tons of articles, and you must do it right:

1) You must submit articles on an ongoing basis to break through the 'ceiling' one day. There are competitors out there that submit tons of articles in your niche. If you just submit a few yours will get buried.

2) It depends on the niche but on average you must submit an absolute minimum of 30 articles, in many cases 50-100 articles, before you can say anything.

3) You must write an enticing title to draw in visitors

4) You must provide good reasonable content

5) You must write an enticing author resource box that gives the reader a reason to click on the link. Offer something where it is hard to say no, for example the answer to his problem or a freebie.

6) Do long-tail keyword research and use the keyword in the title and as backlink to improve your organic rankings over time

7) It's a fact that most articles just get about 250 readers or less in 14 days. A CTR of 10% is great but most of time you get less. Live with it. Just another reason to submit even more articles.

Gunter

Wow, there are a lot of hidden gems in this thread.

A lot of things above will do you some good, but a lot of them won't help you at all...and still some may or may not help.

Like emulating the "most viewed" articles - some of them may be "perfect" articles that are getting the organic, buying traffic, while some may be getting all their hits from Digg and SU, which equals no CT's or sales.

This only goes to show that (I think someone said it above) you need to pick system and stick with it. Once you have it down, start tweaking and testing. It will take some time, but damn is it worth it! I think all of the serious article marketers will agree with that.

And remember, the true guage to rating an article marketing campaign is total gross sales - not article views.

AL

Remember, content is king. Everything else doesn't matter. Follow the rules of the game and you will succeed.

I contacted him recently and he'll be shuttling in
and out of town for the next 2 months... so I don't
think we'll be seeing/hearing much of him pretty
soon.

Asher

Write a good article, submit it on ezinearticles.com, that is about 2-3 clickbank sales. No niche or keyword research necessary.

Well you've gotten tips from a lot of top article marketers...

One thing I want to add is that what works well in one niche won't in another...sometimes you really just have to trial and error and continue on..and remember that the internet and the demographics of the niches evolve and so too will your article marketing efforts..unless of course you want to be left behind.

It's a constant testing process..you can take a bit from every article marketer and still fail...knowing that what works for one may not work for another and that the only thing that will work for you will be something specific to you...as your writing style may not coincide with a certain top tip...or it may not work with your niche..

The most important thing is to just keep trying...writing a few articles and saying this sucks or doesn't work is just you failing to try and you won't succeed in internet marketing if all you do is give a half hearted attempt at each way and then say it doesn't work...once you have truly given a method a real chance and you can't get it to work then you can say...it doesn't work for me...not that it doesn't work.

Just my thoughts,
Sylvia

Here are three strategies that have worked for me.

1. Great title - make it interesting - like using a question as a title.

2. Just enough content to show you can help but makes them want more.

3. Use your resource box to lead to eclass or sign up for a viral giveaway they sign up for. In other words, get their email address. Depending on your niche more than one 'visit' will be necessary to get them to buy your product.

Hope this helps.
PW

This thread is definitely a keeper!!!

I tried to Go here:

thebummarketingmethod.com

and it wasn't there, so sad

Otherwise, wow, what a thread. Fantastic tips and Steven's guidelines are always a great read!

I agree that it is very important to have
A killer title to make them want to read the article.

I think that makes or breaks an article for sure

As many pointed out already, there are several factors. That being said, AM is far easier than designing websites or trying PPC/Affiliate marketing, in my opinion. My biggest problem is really to find good writers respective to move my *** and write articles myself.

I can tell you that from 20 writers from whatever forum for hire, 19 will deliver utterly horrible articles - despite their claims how "perfect" their english and grammar is, as they usually will tell me at initial contact. And the fact that i myself despise writing articles, kind of.