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Big Bucks From Article Marketing? Really?

by John Taylor
28 replies
So, you want to build a six figure article marketing business?


First of all some advice on picking niche markets. Now I know
that a lot of people will tell you that you should choose the
"Desperate Buyers Only" market; and that can be very successful.
However, rather than go for a one off sale, I prefer to seek out
products and services that pay out a recurring income.


Secondly, there's no point in choosing a niche market where the
are low search volumes and a high number of competing pages in
the search engine ranking pages.

It's not just about the number of competing pages, it's also
about the "authority" of those pages.. Beating Amazon or
Wikipedia to a number one ranking takes more work than it's
worth. So, you must invest time in doing proper keyword and
competitor research.


One more important consideration.. It can take just as much
effort to make a $10 sale as a $500 sale. So, don't limit
yourself to Clickbank. There are other affiliate networks out
there and many of them contain real gems that are worth looking
for.


OK, some numbers..

Target Annual Income: $100,000

Average Affiliate Commission: $30

Target recurring sales per month: 43

Assuming that the typical merchant's copy converts at a
conservative 1.5%, then you would need to generate approximately
3,000 unique visitors per month to achieve 43 sales.

43 sales at $30 will give you $1,290.

But remember, these are recurring sales so you'll get $1,290 in
month two onwards.

Again, assuming that you can generate 3,000 additional unique
visitors each month, your annual income will be $100,620.

So, how many articles do you need to research, write and
distribute to generate 3,000 unique visitors per month?


Well, I'd be very disappointed if one of my articles failed to
get 100 click throughs. So, that means, if I write just one high
quality article with a strong call to action each day, I should
reach my target.


If I use my resource box to link to my own site, I can increase
my conversion rate by doing some additional pre-selling, I can
encourage visitors to opt-in to an autoresponder sequence and I
can make additional income by making relevant alternative offers
to my growing subscriber list.


And, it doesn't stop when you've distributed your article to your
directories of choice. You need to promote your article by
leveraging social bookmarking and you can "spin" your article and
use it to create Lenses, Hubs, Blogs, Wikis, etc. to leverage the
authority of the most popular Web 2,0 properties.


Yes, there are a lot of assumptions, ifs and buts in the above
outline. Some articles will do better than others. Some people
will cancel their subscriptions. I've missed out a lot of detail..
some of which is obvious and some of which I'd prefer to keep
to myself.


Now consider scaling this to more than one article per day.


John
P.S. Can anyone explain the significance of the number 78 in
the context of the above?
#article #big #bucks #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author Okane
    I feel like having a déjà vu right now...

    Guess, the next thread then will be "how to make 5 figure with article marketing"
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    • Profile picture of the author Ken Strong
      Originally Posted by Okane View Post

      I feel like having a déjà vu right now...
      Well, please go right ahead then

      I'm still trying to figure out the mystical significance of the number 78...
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    • Profile picture of the author ExRat
      Hi John,

      Can anyone explain the significance of the number 78 in
      the context of the above?
      If the figures all stayed as they are presented, that's how many months it would take (minus the first month) before reaching 100k per month.

      100k/1290 = 78 (ish)

      But the main thing you would have to factor in is that it's unlikely that the earlier articles will consistently continue to pull in the 3k visitors per month.

      Also @ 30 articles per month, you would have 30 x 78 = 2340 articles out there all (presumeably) promoting the same thing which might be a little issue, especially with spinning each one and using web 2.0 sites which would massively increase the number. The new ones might end up bumping the old ones down in the SERPS due to keyword crossover.

      BUT, if natural syndication took place, that would give you more reach, due to more copies of the article being out there, without any extra effort.

      IF someone actually tried this, of course it depends on the type of product, but if it were an information product membership, after a year or so of an article a day and the spinning etc. you would really expect the person to -

      a) have learnt enough

      b) be earning enough (12 x 1290 = 15480 per month)

      ...to be able to replace the affiliate program with their OWN recurring program of a similar nature. The point being - building someone elses business is a good starting point to gain knowledge and finance, but ASAP an entrepreneur should be looking to sell their own product, and using others who are going the affiliate route to promote their business exponentially, by giving them a payment, but crucially, at no time-expense to the seller who is then free to build another business.

      Of course, you already know this...
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      Roger Davis
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      • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
        Roger,

        Originally Posted by ExRat View Post

        If the figures all stayed as they are presented, that's how many months it would take (minus the first month) before reaching 100k per month.
        Unless you chose to promote a service, for example
        hosting, in which case you'd get repeated commission
        in months 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12.


        But the main thing you would have to factor in is that it's unlikely that the earlier articles will consistently continue to pull in the 3k visitors per month.
        Sure, it's unlikely, and that's why I chose relatively
        conservative figures in my calculations. I didn't really
        take into account the initial surge in traffic from the
        initial distribution. That's the problem with averages.

        you would have 30 x 78 = 2340 articles out there all (presumeably) promoting the same thing.
        I didn't say promote the same thing with each article.
        However, I would suggest that folks try to build a
        portfolio within a general theme. Sticking with the
        hosting example, there are lots of options including
        reseller, VPS, Dedicated, etc.

        Of course you can also reach out into other themes.

        BUT, if natural syndication took place, that would give you more reach, due to more copies of the article being out there, without any extra effort.
        Yes, and that's a huge benefit.

        IF someone actually tried this, of course it depends on the type of product, but if it were an information product membership, after a year or so of an article a day and the spinning etc. you would really expect the person to..

        ...to be able to replace the affiliate program with their OWN recurring program of a similar nature.
        Yes, however that's beyond the scope of my original
        post.


        The point being - building someone elses business is a good starting point to gain knowledge and finance, but ASAP an entrepreneur should be looking to sell their own product, and using others who are going the affiliate route to promote their business exponentially, by giving them a payment, but crucially, at no time-expense to the seller who is then free to build another business.
        Some people don't want or need to step up from article
        marketing and, when choosing recurring income systems,
        it's possible to build up a significant income without any
        customer service hassles.

        John
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        • Profile picture of the author ExRat
          Hi John,

          You lost me with this one -

          Unless you chose to promote a service, for example
          hosting, in which case you'd get repeated commission
          in months 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12.
          I was going on what you said - a recurring income, so assuming no-one cancelled -

          end of month 1 - 43 new customers

          end of month 2 - 43 recurring plus 43 new = 86

          After 78 months - 3311 recurring plus 43 new = 3354

          3354 x $30 = $100620 per month.

          What does the 78 relate to then?
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          Roger Davis
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          • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
            Roger,

            Originally Posted by ExRat View Post


            What does the 78 relate to then?
            It's the sum of the numbers 1 to 12 and, therefore,
            if you divide your annual target income by 78, it
            gives you the "new business" needed each month
            to achieve your target income.

            John
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            • Profile picture of the author ExRat
              Hi John,

              I see, thanks. I was sidetracked by a strange coincidence.
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              Roger Davis
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            • Profile picture of the author Roger Mayne
              Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

              Roger,



              It's the sum of the numbers 1 to 12 and, therefore,
              if you divide your annual target income by 78, it
              gives you the "new business" needed each month
              to achieve your target income.

              John
              That's a great formula, John, again assuming that all the income is being generated through recurring residual monthly income.

              I read Peter Jones (Dragons Den) Tycoon book and he says that he breaks everything down into really manageable chunks. Rather than look at the whole big picture (which is important to have in mind), he would focus on each daily target, perhaps even hourly, to see whether his final goal was actually achievable.

              It all makes real logical sense when you look at it.
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  • Profile picture of the author George Wright
    As XRat said 100,000 ish the ish is 620 so 78X1290 is 100,620, your exact figure.

    It's late and I'm brain dead so I will return tomorrow to digest this.

    Thanks for the breakdown,
    George Wright
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  • Profile picture of the author rlpruitt
    This all sounds nice but unfortunately, real life doesn't fit in such neat packaging.

    The numbers are great for setting goals and evaluating progress, but that's about the extent of it.

    Ralph
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    • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
      Ralph,

      Originally Posted by rlpruitt View Post

      This all sounds nice but unfortunately, real life doesn't fit in such neat packaging.
      Did anyone say it was nice and fitted neatly into
      a package?


      The numbers are great for setting goals and evaluating progress, but that's about the extent of it.
      If that's what you want to believe then you're
      doing yourself a disservice and limiting your
      opportunities.

      In 1992/3 I built a successful hosting business
      from scratch using a very similar strategy. I
      sold that business to one of my competitors
      for a six figure sum.

      Maybe if a few more people on this forum took
      the time to take their dreams seriously they'd
      have something positive to share instead of
      trying to make excuses for why something won't
      work for them.

      John
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      • Profile picture of the author R Hagel
        Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

        In 1992/3 I built...
        I originally read that as 1923. I was a little surprised that you were online back then, but not at all surprised that you were doing business in the 1920's. :p

        Cheers,
        Becky

        p.s. Thanks for presenting the numbers, John. As Jay said, they're encouraging. I've done the same thing as him (i.e., crunch numbers to see what I had to do to get where I wanted).
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  • Profile picture of the author epsilon97
    I don't get the point of these posts. They are just mathematical formulas with a lot of assumptions.

    John, have you implemented the above strategy? Are you on pace for hitting this?

    I hope so. And, if you are, I would love to know what you have learned in the process. What works? What tips can you give to make each article more effective? Have you insight on niches that work vs. niches that dont?
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    All the politics aside...

    I have to stress the importance of such numbers when looking to move your business forward.

    A few years ago now, I was (unhappily) holding my fathers business together for him whilst he jetted off around the world, pissing the profits up the wall... At the same time, I was also managing my own home business, which was people oriented and very task focused.. little leverage etc..

    I was desperately in need of I.M. to allow me to dissolve my own home business and to get rid of the chain around my neck that was my father.

    I can honestly say, without any doubt.. that writing down calculations like the ones above is what gave me the encouragement, nerve, passion, strength.. I don't know what you wanna call it.. but whatever it was, calculations VERY similar to those above moved me into the action I needed to replace my income from leveraging the power of the WWW.

    I would sit up until 3,4 and 5am working out exactly how much traffic and sales I needed to replace my current income (which was very large, I should add) and profits.

    I need XYZ sales to cut this section down... and then I scale that up into ABC sales to manage these bills.

    So, on that basis and at % conversions, I need XYZ traffic to achieve the numbers..

    You get the point..

    Seeing it in black and white is what made me move..

    And let me tell you.. if I'd have known then, that the actual numbers would far surpass my conservative, yet still highly profitable estimates..I'd have aimed even higher in that first year....

    I.M. saved my soul.... all because of crazy numbers on one little notepad at my desk back then...

    Sheesh.. I still crack a smile when I think of how my Mother laughed when I showed her that notepad... she was so sure I was going crazy.. maybe I was, but it worked

    Peace

    Jay
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  • Profile picture of the author yves
    Whats with all the article marketing threads in the last few days??

    Maybe this is normal and I have missed them before.

    Anyway, great post, thanks for the motivation and stuff
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
    John,

    Not disputing your numbers, just going to add another part of the sequence that usually throws some folks off and that is whether one sends the traffic directly to the vendor as in a re-direct or have the traffic stop for some pre-selling.

    When someone gets the 3000 to the vendor at 1.5 % which is as you say is conservative, (I think the industry average is at 2%), then the 1.5% of 3000 is there.

    But, if one stops the 3000 at their site for a pre-selling and unless your warm up does 100% conversions you no longer have 3000 sent to the vendor.

    You now would have whatever percentage you were able to convert from the original 3000.

    This is the missing piece for some folks and they don't figure this in to their computations. So they end up thinking that the vendor is converting lower than expected.

    Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author Justin Jordan
      Originally Posted by Matthew Maiden View Post

      John,

      Not disputing your numbers, just going to add another part of the sequence that usually throws some folks off and that is whether one sends the traffic directly to the vendor as in a re-direct or have the traffic stop for some pre-selling.

      When someone gets the 3000 to the vendor at 1.5 % which is as you say is conservative, (I think the industry average is at 2%), then the 1.5% of 3000 is there.

      But, if one stops the 3000 at their site for a pre-selling and unless your warm up does 100% conversions you no longer have 3000 sent to the vendor.

      You now would have whatever percentage you were able to convert from the original 3000.

      This is the missing piece for some folks and they don't figure this in to their computations. So they end up thinking that the vendor is converting lower than expected.

      Matt
      That's definitely true, but there's also a possibility (and indeed, this should be a goal) that the presell you send them to will increase conversions when they reach the sales page.

      So if 75% of your presell visitors clickthrough, but it increases the conversion from 1.5% to 3%, you're still seeing a gain in your profits.

      So you need to test that stuff out.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Matthew Maiden View Post

      John,

      Not disputing your numbers, just going to add another part of the sequence that usually throws some folks off and that is whether one sends the traffic directly to the vendor as in a re-direct or have the traffic stop for some pre-selling.

      When someone gets the 3000 to the vendor at 1.5 % which is as you say is conservative, (I think the industry average is at 2%), then the 1.5% of 3000 is there.

      But, if one stops the 3000 at their site for a pre-selling and unless your warm up does 100% conversions you no longer have 3000 sent to the vendor.

      You now would have whatever percentage you were able to convert from the original 3000.

      This is the missing piece for some folks and they don't figure this in to their computations. So they end up thinking that the vendor is converting lower than expected.

      Matt
      Matt, you also have the other side of that penny. Sending that traffic through a pre-sell allows you to capture the contact info needed for repeat contacts. The repeat contacts will generate at least some sales you would not have gotten had you sent them straight through.

      In a mathematically perfect world, the two would just balance each other out.

      On the other hand, if you have that list that was interested in, say, hosting (since that's what Mr. Taylor mentioned), they may also be interested in a shopping cart, autoresponder, download protection, PPC management, etc. All of which can up the lifetime customer value...
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  • Profile picture of the author Superior
    Banned
    Thanks for you nice tips for article marketing. As I am newbie in Article marketing these tips will help me lot. Can you please tell me that in resource box may i have to add links to my website or my product??? Please explain.
    Thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      The numbers are great for setting goals and evaluating progress, but that's about the extent of it.
      If you don't define your goals - and don't evaluating your work along the way to make adjustments as needed - you're walking a path without a map or compass. If you reach your 3000 visits and your conversion is 1% rather than 1.5% - evaluation will show the need for more visitors to reach your goal or that the goal will take longer than expected.

      John's post is a more realistic version of yesterday's high flying thread. No plan of action will fit into a neat box, no plan will proceed without needing testing and evaluation and changes along the way. No plan will give you every detail of what you need to know.

      At some point, it's important to realize you can take away info from threads like this and apply it to your own efforts. That's more productive than arguing that one point or another "won't work".

      John - The first thing regarding "78" that came to mind was the "rule of 7/8" as it applies to lending.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
    Matt,

    Yes, I agree, when you send traffic to your own
    site rather than through direct linking to the vendor
    there is another step in the process and than can
    diminish the overall conversion rate for that one
    product.

    However, in my experience the fact that you can
    capture the email addresses of those visitors, add
    them to your list and present them with other offers
    generates more income that what's lost in the lower
    conversion.

    But then, there's an additional cost in autoresponder
    fees and the content for the autoresponder messages
    too.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author Matt Bard
      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      ...you can
      capture the email addresses of those visitors, add
      them to your list and present them with other offers
      generates more income that what's lost in the lower
      conversion.
      You can also increase that initial 1.5% by establishing a relationship with them.

      And it is not difficult to convert 30% - 40% to an opt-in with the right offer.

      So, original 3000 to vendor at 1.5% and immediate payoff, or 3000 at 30% - 40% build relationship which many times will increase the 1.5% at vendor.

      Not only do you end up making more sales by being patient, but you also have more opportunities to sell more products to more of the original 3000.

      So, the moral of the story is, not only is patience a virtue, it's profitable too.

      Matt

      p.s. was writing this while Justin and John were posting so didn't see you guys until now.
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    • Profile picture of the author btl1
      Originally Posted by John Taylor View Post

      Matt,

      Yes, I agree, when you send traffic to your own
      site rather than through direct linking to the vendor
      there is another step in the process and than can
      diminish the overall conversion rate for that one
      product.

      However, in my experience the fact that you can
      capture the email addresses of those visitors, add
      them to your list and present them with other offers
      generates more income that what's lost in the lower
      conversion.

      But then, there's an additional cost in autoresponder
      fees and the content for the autoresponder messages
      too.

      John
      And if you send it to your own site you are building a business asset, you can build up backlinks to this site and channel the traffic to your own site which in my opinion is a more sustainable business model...lets say the company whos affiliate offer you are promoting goes under, or the offer starts converting at a lower rate, or a better offer comes out ..then your in a situation where all the articles that you had created and released on to the internet are promoting an offer that doesn't exist or has a lower conversion rate (these are just two examples) where as if you send it to a website first for a presell, especially if its a website that is on one niche topic, with some articles and a few affiliate offers, you can just swap out that affiliate offer for a new one.

      Also like John mentioned with a presell you can build a list, and possibly even sell the site at a later date if its generating on going monthly income.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeorgR.
    It's 100% possible since ONE sale per day is easily doable with just a few articles/daily and on EZA alone.
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  • Profile picture of the author rondo
    The other reason to use your own landing page is that the backlink juice from all the articles soon kicks in, and you start getting bonus traffic to your landing page directly from Google.


    Andrew
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    • Profile picture of the author John Taylor
      Andrew,

      Originally Posted by rondo View Post

      The other reason to use your own landing page is that the backlink juice from all the articles soon kicks in, and you start getting bonus traffic to your landing page directly from Google.
      That's an excellent point.

      It's worth mentioning that even if you use what's
      know as the "direct linking" approach it's worth
      setting up your own tracking script on your own
      domain.

      That then allows you to manage the link in the
      event of changes made by the vendor, if you want
      to change vendors or, more importantly, if/when
      you decide to create and sell your own product.

      There's nothing worse than seeing your articles
      driving traffic to a competitor when you have your
      own product in the market!

      John
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Somebody asked John if he had done this and if these were the numbers
        he was getting.

        I can say absolutely, that this is EXACTLY what I have done since I
        started article marketing 3 years ago. Had I actually started a list back
        then, I would be doing even better than I am doing now. But I didn't start
        building my list until a year later.

        Many of the opt ins I get from article marketing not only buy one product
        but many products. I can honestly say I have about 100 customers who
        have purchased no less than 10 different products from me.

        You know who you are.

        So if anybody is doubting John's strategy for even one second, don't.

        Naturally, I also wrote articles like a fiend. I don't expect anybody to
        write as many as I would crank out in a day, but even following John's
        plan, you can get to the point where you are writing, maybe just 1 article
        a day, which is pretty much where I am now. Actually, some days I don't
        write at all...like today. Had central air problems I had to take care of.

        Point is, John has presented a plan that I can attest to working.

        Thanks for a well presented post Mr. Taylor.
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  • Profile picture of the author rapidscc
    This is a great thread. I've learned a few more tricks that I can keep, and I've decided to share what I've picked up reading the post:

    1. For us people to have faith that a task is DOABLE break down GREAT TASK into it's component. Then it becomes manageable.

    2. Going for recurring income products is more profitable in the long run.

    3. Think out of the box. A lot of IMers are focused on the IM niche even though there's a lot more profitable niches out there. John gave the the hosting example, I was thinking of licensed downloadable movies and music (since new ones comes out often), are there recurring commissions for these things? Or maybe new website templates membership site.

    4. The Number crunching is there TO PREPARE OURSELVES FOR CONSISTENT ACTION.
    why do we need to know how much traffic per month? how much new business per month? how much we want to make per month? SO THAT WE WILL BE PREPARED TO CONTINOUSLY ACT to reach our goal.

    Bookmarking this thread now..

    Thanks people!

    oMar
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  • Profile picture of the author rondo
    I agree it should be very possible. I don't have 360 articles out there (I don't like writing articles very much) but for the articles I do have my rates of return are similar or better than those described above.


    Andrew
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