All-In-One: All About Article Marketing

I use Articlebot from Big Mike at Incansoft to distribute my articles -- it's not perfect, but for the small price it does a great job and saves me a lot of time. Well worth it for me.

Hi Jeremy,
Can you please elaborate, what do you mean build a list? Automation to submit articles, or something else?

Thanks

What do you mean by that if you don't mind my asking?

1) Make sure you write articles in good English or get it done from native English speaker.

2) You should write articles using long tail keywords which has less competition to get on the first page of search engines and provide extremely targeted information. You can get those keywords from Google keyword tool.

3) Articles shouldn't be too long, shorter articles like 300-450 words get more views.

4) Don't reveal all the important information in the articles. You should hide some important details to make sales.

5) It is better to put a link of a squeeze page in the resource box with strong call of action to collect the leads.

6) You can bookmark your articles and share it with your friends on Email, Facebook, Myspace etc.

7) If you participate in forums, use the article link in signature file to get more views.

Good Luck.

I can't speak for him, but I think it depends on how you define "keywords"...

If you're writing the typical short teaser piece for backlinks or clicks, and you are targeting a single keyword, 5% would likely render the piece unreadable.

If you have a main keyword, 3-5 related keywords and a handful of semantically related words, and you are writing a longer article, 5% may be fine.

It's ALL about the 'Resource Box'.

Spend time, tweak and test to come up with the most killer "About the
Author" resource box with a compelling offer that gets most readers to
click-through to your site.

Then direct the 'flow' of your article to get the most readers to stay
with you until they see the 'Resource Box' - and click to visit your site.

Next come correctly targeting your audience by using keywords and
crafting an eye-grabbing article title - but even those are 'wasted'
without a great 'Resource Box'.

All success
Dr.Mani

great idea....thx

How to Write Articles That Pull in Readers.

Choosing topics: The easy answer is to choose topics that are the same as the website/blog you are promoting. Narrow down the topic so it's manageable in 350 to 400 words. That may sound like a lot if you aren't proficient in writing but the words will fly by.

Write as if you were talking with a good friend and answering her/his questions. For example: If you have a dog care website one question you could answer is "How do I know how much protein is in dry dog food?"

Handle one question or topic per article. Go to yahoo answers for ideas for questions. Go to article directories and see which categories have the most entries. Leaf through hard copy publications to see the topics of their articles.

How to use keyword phrases in your article
Use the keyword phrase in the title as the first few words of the title. Use it once at the end of the first paragraph and again in the last paragraph. Don't use it more than 4 or 5 times throughout the article. There used to be a rule that a good article, one that shows up on the first page of Google, uses the keyword phrase as a total of at least 10% of the article. That would mean that for a 400 word article, natural dog foods would be used 13 times. That rule, also known as keyword stuffing isn't relevant any more.

Duplicate content penalty is a myth as far as articles are concerned
Google penalizes for duplicate content but not in the way that affects articles. The penalty is for the same, or nearly same content, on a website or blog that is used to manipulate the search engines. The same narrative is used on different pages within a website with the only difference being the keyword phrase.

Duplicate content penalty doesn't apply to articles of blog posts. If it did, newspaper syndication companies, like the Associated Press, wouldn't use it. Here is what Google says about the penalty.
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Demystifying the "duplicate content penalty"

3 different methods of writing

Sitting and staring at a blank computer screen while you struggle to get started on your article can be frustrating. Here are three methods that work.

1. Tell them what you're going to tell them. Tell Them. Tell them what you told them. In the first paragraph state what the article is going to be about. Make a list of 3 bullet points that will be covered in the article. Write a paragraph to explain each bullet point and why it's important. The final paragraph is a summary of what has been covered in the bullet points.


2. State the problem. State why the problem is important to the reader. Provide a general solution. Provide a specific solution.

3. Introduction of the problem. 3 or 4 tips to solve the problem. Conclusion

Spelling and grammar are important

Using correct spelling and grammar is a courtesy to your readers. While just about everyone except perhaps, your high school English teacher, forgives a spelling error or two, articles loaded with mistakes take away from the content of the article. The mistakes get in the way of the information you want to convey.

Take the time to proof your articles. One way is to let the article sit for 24 hours and then go back to it with fresh eyes. If you're terrible at proofing see if someone else will do it for you. A clean grammatically correct article shows you value your reader's time and that they are important to you.

The importance of the author bio box

You've incorporated a killer keyword phrase in the title of the article, creatively used it throughout the article and given your reader critical content. Don't lose them at the author bio box.

Most article directories allow the author to use a credit box at the end of the article with a couple of live links. A good way to capture the reader and motivate them to click on your link is to offer a teaser of more information through the link. Another way is to offer a free report on the same topic as the article.

Spend a little time on your author bio box. Use it to establish your credibility as an expert. Be friendly. Build trust with the reader.

Conclusion

So what are you waiting for? Get writing those articles.

Agreed John.

Great way to save a boatload of time and get the job done without having to think too much.

TD

I am a big fan of PRLog.Org.

One of the reasons is because they let you post YouTube videos right in the article.

This is a VERY cool feature.


George

I have a few approved articles with ezine articles. Can I now put those same articles on my site for additional content or will Google squash me for duplicate content? I can spin these articles if needed or combine them for a longer version of all the articles. I just don't want to be pushed further back in google (page 2 and climbing for my link, but I know that I need more content for my site).
Thanks

David

Can there be potential problems with so many links coming from lower authority directories like these?

I'd disagree with this one - I put the CTA up front in the resource box but then I finish up with a sentence about me and what makes me qualified to discuss the topic. I get a higher CTR on bio boxes with the 'about me' sentence than those without.

A great submission strategy is to:

First, post article on own site. (Wait a couple days for it to get indexed)

Second, rewrite it slightly and submit to main directories. "Article Submit Auto" works great for this.

Third, Mass Submit with "Magic Article Submitter" (Signups up to hundreds of directories in minutes). Drawback is that only about 80-100 directories actually review the article and post it.


If you want to spin articles and use spun articles, "Magic Article Rewriter" is the best I have found.

Okay, see all these tips that everybody has been giving you (and I'm sure
many more to come)?

Test them.

Do not take ANYTHING as gospel.

Niches are different.

People are different in how they respond to things.

You have to know your audience as far as what writing style they respond to.

A person interested in hip hop is NOT going to respond to the same
style of writing as you would write for an article on gall bladder trouble.

Know your market.

Know who you are writing for.

Put yourself in THEIR shoes. Start thinking like a prospect and NOT like
an article writer.

There is no one size fits all for this business, no matter what anybody
says to you...including me.

Absolutes in article writing will get you killed.

Believe it or not, I found a niche that responds to those boring resource
boxes that go like this.

"Steven Wagenheim is a blah, blah, blah."

There aren't many of them, but they exist. If you try to sell to these
niches with your call to action rah, rah, rah, resource boxes, you will
drive them away.

So test...everything.

Find what works for YOUR niche.

And if you do Bum Marketing and tackle multiple niches, don't think what
works for one will work for another...it may...it may not.

Not everybody wants your free report. Some people just want to go right
to the sales page and buy the damn thing...especially if they're in certain
niches where the prospects are just plain nuts. Those of you in those
niches know what I'm talking about. They will buy just about anything
related to it. Sure, you can build a list for them. But the selling point
for those niches should be...

"Be the first one notified when <blah, blah, blah> comes out"

You'll have a mob riot on your hands keeping these maniacs away.

Again, John Doe suffering from asthma does not have the same mindset
as Johnny Cool who is looking for all the hot new MMORPG's out there.

Test, test, test.

Don't be a sheep following what some guy tells you to do just because
you THINK he knows what he's talking about.

Hopefully, somebody will get what I'm trying to say here.

I am for a moment assuming, that you where serious (if that isn't the case do not read on).

It is worth training this software! The amount of time i have saved in the last few months using it is simply incredible.

Write "articles" specifically for video sharing sites and social bookmarking sites...

Every niche is different, but I have found that in certain niches this can actually be more effective than submitting to article directories! (Hint: think along the lines of entertainment... games, music, comedy, etc). To minimize the time spent on this task while at the same time maximizing your results, do this...

1) Use your favorite keyword research software or technique to find good keywords in your niche. Focus on keywords which target not just "info seekers", but also "BUYERS", which have plenty of monthly searches but little or no "Web 2.0" competition (in other words, when you type the keywords in to Google, you want to see little or no presence from video sharing sites or social bookmarking sites on page 1 of the search results). Google loves certain "Web 2.0" sites like YouTube, Squidoo, Digg, etc., and it is often not too difficult to get on the first page of the search results by using them, even in niches with strong competition!

2) Write (or outsource) 1 very good original article, which contains the keywords you want to target.

3) Use a good article spinner or service to get several *quality* variations of the article. 40 to 50 variations is plenty.

4) Create a simple "slide show" style video. All you need is some free stock images, a simple video editor (like Windows Movie Maker or Sony Vegas Movie Studio), and a little creativity. If you are not comfortable doing this though, just pay someone to create one for you. There are many services on the web, and even here at the WF that will create this kind of video for you very cheaply. Important: At the end of the video, make sure you use a compelling "call to action" (ie one that promises something of value for free at your website).

5) Submit the video to 15 or 20 of the top video sharing sites. At each site use a different video title and description. Use your spun article titles for the various video title variations, and the spun article body for the various video descriptions. Then use your keywords from step 1 for the video tags/keywords. Video submission services such as TubeMogul can save you a lot of time with the submission part, but they only allow a single title and description for each video, so if you use their service, make sure to go in and randomize the titles and descriptions for each video after they have been successfully submitted (using your spun article variations). Video sharing sites are great for backlinks AND for live targeted traffic!

6) Now, using your remaining article title and body variations, go submit a different variation to 20 or 30 top social bookmarking sites (use the article titles for the social bookmarking entry "titles", and use a random paragraph from the spun article body for the social bookmarking entry "descriptions"). It takes a little time to sign up for accounts with several social bookmarking sites, but you'll only have to do this once. Programs like Bookmarking Demon can save you a ton of time with both the sign-up and submission process. In my opinion, social bookmarking sites aren't quite as good as video sharing sites for live traffic, but they are VERY good for backlinks! (which can of course boost your page rank and send you more organic search engine traffic over time).

Well, that's pretty much it! It is a little bit of work, but you can outsource and automate pretty much all of it. One good thing about this method is that many video sites and social bookmarking sites have a fairly small character limit for what you can put in the "description", so there's no need to write articles any longer than 200-250 words. It's usually pretty easy to write articles that short!

You can direct the traffic from the video sites and social bookmarking sites to pretty much anything... your own offer, or your affiliate link for someone elses offer. But I've gotten the best results directing this traffic to a squeeze page using a free ebook or video as a bribe (the free ebook/video soft-sells the main product, as does the multi-day autoresponder series that they just signed up to).

One thing to note is that some video sites and social bookmarking sites aren't keen on you linking directly to a product sales page, so with some of them it's best to just link to an informative article on your site (which pre-sells and links to your main offer). Also, it's a good idea to "mix up" your bookmarks a little at each social bookmarking site (in addition to your "money" bookmarks, also try to bookmark various other subjects and websites). If you have a bunch of very similar bookmarks at a particular SB site that all link back to the same salespage, they will likely get deleted (or you will get banned).

Again, this can be a killer strategy in some niches, but not so great in others, so there ya go!

You'd be seriously well advised to change what you want, then, Rick.

In general, doing that will be chasing about 10% of the potential income you might produce, and ignoring the other 90%.

However you look at it, selling affiliate products steadily boils down to three main things ...

(i) You have to select the products wisely: without getting this part right, it doesn't much matter what else you do;

(ii) You have to pre-sell effectively to well-targeted traffic;

(iii) You have to build a list and form relationships with the people on it, so that they'll buy on the strength of your recommendation. Without doing this, your conversion-rate will typically be somewhere between "very low indeed" and "non-existent".

These things aren't optional: you really do need to do all three of them, otherwise you're probably chasing 10% (if that) of the possible money and ignoring the other 90%. There's a huge turnover of affiliate marketers trying to use article directory marketing (it's not "article marketing" though some imagine it is) and "direct-linking" (no website) and mostly not being too successful, but I think the above is pretty typical of those who make steady money from it.

Two of those three things (no, not just the third) can't be done properly without your own site.

The "site you build" can be a one-page blog, which you can build in an hour, but if you don't have one at all, bear in mind that your competitors (who get anywhere) all do.

Just being realistic.

Steve,

Please read this thread... it should answer all your
questions:

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...eza-first.html

Asher

So often I see articles written that provide the reader with too much information. The author appears to be driven by the need to inform and educate the reader.

However, the purpose of the article goes beyond that - from the marketer's perspective it is a marketing tool which will hopefully generate clicks through to the website contained in the link that has been provided in the resource box.

It is tempting to provide information in an article which contains the details you expect to find in a catalog. This needs to be resisted.

Provide Useful Information That Is Incomplete.

When the reader's appetite has been whetted and they are eager for more details the resource box tells them how to get what they want - by following the link it contains.

Control the reader's flow of interest all the way to your website.

Ivan

It stands for Dragon Naturally Speaking - it's a great piece of speech recognition software. If you go to Shopzilla.com and type in the name it will compare prices at a bunch of websites and give you the lowest price. I've also picked up copies on eBay, Fry's Electronics, and Best Buy......just shop around and you can almost always find it on sale. Oh yeah, TigerDirect too.

Also if you have Vista it has a decent built in speech recognition program. I've used it recently and it's actually pretty good. It's not at DNS's accuracy level, but it definitely does the job. I don't know if Windows 7 does.

RoD

For beginner or advance article writers - there are few things that you can explore in your article marketing:

Create a Title that people that would like to read:

In the beginning, start performing a basic keyword research before you start writing an article.
Once you've compile list of high-competitive keywords and long-tail keywords, select a keyword phrase and include it in your title. Here's some basic "templates" for your title creation:

• How-to related titles - How to Create a eBook that Sells, How to Find a Reputable Loan Provider...etc

• Negative-form titles: How to be the Worst Hairdresser in the World, Ways to Lose your Business to Your Competitors, No. Steps in Becoming America's Worst Parent, Ways to Fail Your Entrance Exams

• Cause-and-consequences-like titles: 5 Bad Things Would Happen If You Don't Listen to Your Partner, Will I Get an Ultimatum If I Don't Buy Her Flower - Tips to Make Her Happy

• Facts/Reasons/Must-know titles: 6 Important Facts about Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle, 5 Reasons that Make Her Cry, 6 Must-Know Tips about Dog Training

• Top/Best titles: Top 4 Ways to Earn Extra Money, Best 4 Dog Training Schools in Mississippi

• For beginners, if you can't think of any titles - you can get some ideas for your titles from top EZA authors that write articles related to your niche. Subscribe Google Alerts

Warning: If you're submitting articles to EZA - please don't include the product name/model no. in your titles or else, your articles will be rejected by EZA.

Based on my own sales tracking, you are leaving money on the table.

Regards,
PCRoger.