Is article marketing a waste of time?

by 74 replies
84
I see this forum is big into article marketing. My question is a result of the 30 day challenge thread. I read the thread, and there were only a few sales posted in the thread. There was traffic, but no sales.

It seems like that is a lot of trouble to not get any sales.

But, my marketing plan was to create 6 niche blogs. I have already researched them. I am going to set them up on my own domain, no free sites.
I plan on writing articles for the blog, articles for ezine, review pages, and other pages for each keyword in each blog. I also plan to bookmark each article as well as build a squidoo lens.

My question...Is all this work going to pay off? How long before I start seeing a good amount of sales? Im talking $2000 per month or more...

Please set me straight. I was all hyped up before reading the 30 day challenge thread. Now I am bummed
#main internet marketing discussion forum #article #marketing #time #waste
  • There is a WSO right now from Amy Bass. She offers a 3 day free trial. Check the site, learn and apply the knowledge. Also for article marketing you can use Article Post Robot.
  • Article marketing is great, but why not set your sights a little higher... viral marketing is where it's at.

    - Jared
  • Article marketing is not a waste of time. It just takes a little
    bit to get going and a little getting used to how to do it right.

    As long as your landing page/pages are good and the product you're
    going to promote is a good converter, you should be able to make
    your goal easy.
    • [2] replies
    • Once you make that first sale you'll see it's all good.
    • Not only is article marketing not a waste of time, but it doesn't take a whole lot of effort either, if you do it right.

      I set up a brand new clickbank account and am letting about 200 people watch as I took it from $0 to about $800 with only 13 days of active promotion.

      If you just start doing "things" without having a good game plan you'll find yourself frustrated. However, if you lay out a solid plan and just work it you can make a ton of money.
      • [2] replies
  • What 30 day challenge thread are you talking about?
    • [1] reply
    • It's only a waste for those who take a half-a**ed approach to it.

      If you put some effort into it you will see returns from it. We have a company we took from nowhere to a public offering with mainly article marketing.

      JUST DO IT!

      Gregg
  • Nobody can tell it better than Gregg who has published and profited from hundreds of thousands of articles. It requires patience and a game plan as most have suggested.
  • Article Marketing should be a part of your SEO strategy.

    A long term business model would be to create your own Membership Site or product of your own. The key is to have a continuity income paying you every month.

    Again there are many pieces that you need in place. Article Marketing is going to take you some time before you start seeing $2k per month unless you have a ton of Articles that were written by Ghostwriters and are high quality content... Don't use PLR articles unless you want to get slapped.

    Bryan Dulaney
    Fit Rich Life
    • [1] reply
    • ok this is the part i dont understand, u say its going to take some time before u start getting results, but in just a few posts above jeremey says he has made $800 in just 13 days, this is where newbies get confused and lose focus, they hear one thing and then another, does this come down to game plan? i think jeremey is best qualified to answer my question

      thanks
      • [2] replies
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  • I find that article marketing works even better if it points towards a product of your own. Best long term strategy is to have your own products.

    TomG. - Blog Flipping Fool!
  • Article marketing is one of the most powerful long-term techniques. Why would it be a waste of time?
  • create a bunch of 'autoblogs' to promote your 'real' blogs - this will give them a quick boost in the serps. There's a bunch of ways to do that.
  • I wouldn't think so,i think article writing is a pretty good way to promote ones site,provided that article is well written and not overly concerned with selling of any sort,and is properly backed up by efficient Linkings.
  • Article marketing, Good method to update your knowledge too...
    • [1] reply
    • In my opinion article marketing is the most effective ways to get targeted traffic. But you need to now that people gone thru different phase before end up buying something. Maybe they got good info from your articles but maybe not in buying mode yet. So you got to take this consideration before evaluating any of your campaign.
  • Well I added an extra $1500 a month to my earnings as a result of the 30 day challenge so I wouldn't say it was in vain. In fact it was worth alot more than that to me because I found a few great products to promote that will make me money for a long time to come. You can see my results here. I haven't done anything to those articles or sites since and the sales still continue to come in.

    Just because there weren't alot of sales reported in the first 30 days doesn't mean people didn't make sales as a results of the challenge - if it's your first time doing article marketing you can't expect huge results straight away.
    • [1] reply
    • Yes, article marketing does work. However, you cannont just start writing articles and expect them to produce large amounts of revenue. Selecting the right niche, writing an article that leads to a well written resource box, etc.. are all important considerations.
  • Problem with article marketing and submissions is that you are creating GOOD content for other sites Another problem is if you don't create unique content (which takes a lot of effort / money), you end up submitting same article to 100s of article directories and duplicate content penalty kicks in.
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    • [1] reply
    • not at all...there is alot of money in article marketing ..it just takes time to write articles
  • Article Marketing Works! I am in Jeremy Kelsall's Internet Marketing 30 Day Bootcamp and he told us a few strategies to use when doing article marketing.

    I implemented it and after a few tries, I manage to get the "timing" correct and got a whole lot of traffic to my site.

    The only problem is my landing page is not convertng. Still need to work on that.
    • [1] reply
    • It seems we have one of these posts every few days...

      Article marketing is worth the time and effort. That being said, it's not a short-term oriented approach either. Sure you will see some traffic right away, but you won't receive the truly targeted traffic right away. It takes some time to get fully indexed.

      AM instead should be part a longer term plan. Get indexed, get back links, optimize landing pages... this for the most part, is not a 30-day plan.
  • Almost none of the reasonable methods people use to make money online are a waste of time... but I do think article marketing is one of the hardest, and most potentially disheartening ways for newbies to start out, especially given that they won't understand most of the concepts.

    There are easier, quicker and more long term ways to drive traffic to a site.
  • For your $2000 a month, choose a profitable niche.

    The niche you choose can make the difference between $300 per month and $2000.

    Franck
    • [1] reply
    • Here's my take on article submissions:

      1- Submit unique articles (not published on your blog/site) to several article sites as this increases the chances of an authority site picking them up. If an authority site picks them up you may get a nice SERP boost from your resource box links as this happened to my site.
      2- Article backlinks count for rankings. Duplicate content is a filter, not a penalty. Just submit articles to those submission sites that are not on your site. If you publish them on your site and submit them, be the 1st and wait some time until the search engines pick up your article then submit to the article sites.
      3- You may become an article expert if your articles become popular. I got a nice coffee cup from Ezineartciles and "Platinum" status. Not real important other than my articles get preference for editorial review and quicker publishing and I get a nice "Ezine Platinum" logo for my site which is nice advertising.

      All in all, article marketing/submission is a longer term link development strategy for boosting SERP so you can get targetted traffic in the long term. If you have an article that is "awesome" you may get the viral buzz and get an immediate traffic burst but I don't see this happening too often. Just my 2 cents.
  • Article Marketing does work and will work to various degrees based on your efforts. I have ONE article that has consistantly made me $200-300/month for about a year now, and a slew of others that make a sale every month or so ($20-30).

    The key is to focus on what you want to accomplish with your article. Many people think if they get just one article view per day, it's a failure. But articles are forever. One view per day is over 350 views per year. If it converts 1:75, you're looking at 4-5 sales for 20 minutes of work.

    I am working on a product, which will probably never see the light of day, tentatively called "With Just an Article". It's a pretty good jumpstart for people getting into article marketing, to show them how to effectively leverage just ONE article. Many people puclish an article at eZineArticles and that's it. There is SOOOO much more you can do.

    Jim
  • I wanted to add to my post that a lot of Article Marketing Newbies tend to have the "Get Rich Quick Mindset." Article Marketing will not work for you.

    As others have said, Article arketing can be a great step and tool in building a longterm, solid, stable online business, but it's rare that sales pour in the first day!
  • There's no reason why article marketing cannot take anyones current business and literally blast it to the next level and beyond. It works!

    And I'm not saying that because of what I do...I base all of my posts here on cold hard facts. I've seen it happen over and over, again and again. You just have to give it time and realize what you are doing.

    Allen Graves
  • Just to be clear: at what point is it "safe" to put the article on your site?
    Thanks, all.
    • [1] reply
    • Ben

      The best thing to do is to rewrite the article a bit to be sure that you are credited with the original content.

      I wrote an in depth article in 2006 about getting indexed in all the major search engines in hours. I posted it on a new blog and because it wasn't ranked at all yet, other sites at first were given prevalence, even though I posted it first.

      That is something to always keep in mind, the Google algorithm seems to favor higher page rank sites even over the original contributor of the content.

      Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmm


      Gregg

      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • It's definitely not a waste of time. It just isn't that fastest way to get visitors to your products or affiliate products.
    • [2] replies
    • No, the fastest way is PPC marketing, but then, as they say, that's a horse of a different color.

      Gregg
    • Just wanted to join the camp that says article marketing works!!!! I'm not saying it's not a lot of work, but it is very rewarding. Once you learn how to do your keyword research and how to insert your keywords, write compelling titles, have good content, have a good resource box, and so on....

      I know that I have learned a lot just by doing it and also by reading the posts here and asking questions. Put forth your best effort, learn from your mistakes and never give up!! Also - you don't have to learn everything the hard way if you open your mind up to all the ideas that the successful article marketers are using.

      Good luck
  • Gregg,
    Thanks, that's what I'll do. Enjoyed your post.
  • Pay per click advertising definitely gets traffic faster. A campaign I set up in just a few hours now gets 200+ visitors per day for $0.08 average per click. Not bad.

    In terms of scalability, article marketing is not as fast, but you can scale it up too. Just think 'more' and 'better'.

    Fabian
  • If it is, then it's absolutely the best waste of time I've ever did. Something that makes good money can't be synonymous with "waste of time". As others have noted, as long as you do it right..
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  • Article marketing helps you test your product's marketability, the effectiveness of your landing page and it helps you to learn a new skill.

    Waste-o-time?

    I think not!
  • I believe article marketing is the best way for a newbie and of course for anyone who doesn't have the money for a PPC campaign. Article marketing can help even the experienced test the waters before investing the $$$.
  • I made my first sale from article marketing so it's not a waste of time IMO. I will continue you to do it as well.
  • A lot depends on the niche. For some niche, within a few hours after my article got published in ezinearticles I got 2-3 sales. In other niche, even many days after the article was published I got no sales.
    • [2] replies
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    • I haven't read all the replies here (too many) but here's my take on it:

      Article marketing works ... OVER TIME. It is a slow process that builds up very gradually. DO NOT expect immediate results with it! But as a newbie it is necessary to build a solid foundation.

      I'm at the point where I probably don't need to continue writing articles, but I do anyway ... here's why:

      First: Keep my SEO up over the long term. Granted, natural traffic brings me very little despite being on top of my #1 search term (AdWords brings in the real money) but my SEO ranking figures heavily into my AdWords quality score and that matters. The better I rank SEO-wise, the cheaper my AdWords costs.

      Second: Content creation. I have a lot of content out there and it's easy to hit a wall and run out of content. Article marketing solves that. I write a good article. I then have a script for a YouTube video (which brings me a TON of traffic). I do a short podcast, maybe even reading the article verbatim. I can then expand on that concept and create info-product content that I can sell at a later date. And on and on....

      In other words, writing fresh articles makes you THINK and gives you ideas for more content and new products! Having tons of content to fall back on is especially important if you want to survive in the world of membership sites.

      That's my .02 on it. Yes it works - for different reasons - but it's not a shortcut and is a slow and long process before you see results.
      • [1] reply
  • Your plan sounds great.

    It's a method I use myself and it's worked for me for... um (thinks)... four years.

    Your will work, and long as you put it into action: it all depends on YOU.

    Cheers

    Angela
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Wow, Angela Booth responded to my thread! I am a huge fan, but had no idea you were a member of this board! If you say my plan will be successful, then I have no doubts.

    I stumbled into freelance writing last December. Since then I have had an up and down career writing articles and website content for people. I wish I knew the secrets to getting consistant, higher paying jobs (By higher paying, I am talking .04 cents per word).

    Thanks for all the responses to this thread. I am going to give it a go and see what happens. The way I see it, people are paying me $10 per article. They must be getting a larger return if they are willing to put that cash out there.
  • Article marketing can never be a waste of time. It is here that you get more traffic and are paid more. Any intelligent and attractive article marketing does influence people to buy it and get you money. But a shabby work cannot take you anywhere. So your target should be the right niche, selection of right keywords, and the way it is all presented.
  • I think it depends on whether you like writing and can write.

    I haven't written a single article and probably won't. It would be a waste of my time. I don't want to work 15 hours a day/ I work 2 or 3 and make 5 figures per month.

    I use other methods to drive traffic that work very well.

    There is another thread in here that expounds on that.
  • The thing with article marketing is that it takes time to get to 200-500 visitors per day. At the least, it will take months.

    With PPC, you can set up a campaign in hours and get 200 visitors per day at click prices of below $0.10, if you have the right keywords.

    But you'll want to do both just to increase overall traffic.

    Fabian

  • Article marketing, in my experience, is a great strategy for long-term traffic and possibly sales. If you want instant income, run an ad in the newspapers. My conversions off the newspapers are ENORMOUS ... of course it will depend on what it is you're selling, but the bottom line is they will visit your site because they WANT to genuinely check out your product or opportunity. Surfers, on the other hand, tend to browse more. I will never in a million years top my offiline conversion rates online. Try it! And there's no better time to promote in the papers than now ... as the rates are going down to entice customers who've migrated to the net back.

    Hope that helps,

    Anthony
  • The trick with article marketing is consistency. If you just blast 5 articles out to the directories and sit back and wait for the money to roll in then you are going to be very disappointed.

    It's worth remembering that the articles will bring you traffic over and over again put the work in, reap the rewards over time.

    Thanks
    Pete
  • I believe the important thing with article marketing is that you gotta do it regular. Keep creating some unique content at regular intervals.

    If one of your articles get featured somewhere, then boom your traffic will explode.
  • No, article marketing is not a waste of time. Articles can create your PR. Article Post Robot is good for this.
  • I really believe you've got to examine the profitability of the niche you're in.

    I've found some niches are almost EASY to make money in with article marketing. And others just don't convert, no matter how hard you work
  • Article marketing has always worked for me, the key is to find a niche and write good quality articles that provide the reader with some good information they actually need without giving everything away. Your resource box should then lead to the product that they are actually looking for.
    • [1] reply
    • Articles definitely drive instant traffic. For me it's the most straight forward FREE way to drive targeted traffic and get backlinks to my various niche review blogs.

      Does anyone point their resource box directly to their affiliate link (via a paid for top level domain)? I see some people doing it, and wonder if it converts..
  • The most important thing to consider is whether or not you have a specific game plan. Is that plan based on theory, experience, free information you picked up, or expert coaching?

    It is very easy to say "Yes, all the hard work is going to pay off..." -- or, "You'll start to see a good amount of sales in 30 days..." -- but, without knowing exactly what you are doing, how can anyone, that has successfully reached the goal you are seeking, give you an honest answer?

    Many of us come to this forum because we are seeking help. The fact is, if you want to be successful, find out what the successful are doing, and follow their lead. So, coming here is the first step.

    Now that you are here, find the most successful article marketers and do what it is they do. Follow people that have a specific plan for achieving success in article marketing.

    If your budget will allow you to purchase their best product, do so. If not, find the level you can start at (purchasing information) and as you begin to earn, use a portion of your profits to upgrade your training. Yes, this is very basic, but you may be surprised how few people actually do this.

    To this I will add ... there is an article you may find helpful by Yaro Starak. Just do a Google search for -- article marketing -- the title ... "Is Article Marketing Worth Your Time?" (currently in the number two spot on Google).

    He is an article marketer that has found some success blogging and may have some helpful information in his article, along with some tips that may help with your blogging in order to reach your financial goal.

    The bottom line is simple ... find those that have succeeded through article marketing and "copy" their blueprint for success.

    Hope something here helps,

    Kelly
  • It works without a doubt! Good, quality content has been and will always be devoured by the SE's.
    Most people don't like article marketing or have a negative opinion about it because they're lazy. (oops, did I say that out loud?)
    It takes a little work, but it does pay off.
  • Your plan sounds great looking forward for it
  • Yes working on these approaches and they work.
  • I make almost all of my income from article marketing alone. It's an incredibly powerful technique if you know how to use it right and understand it completely. Trust me - I made a lot of mistakes along the way and learned a lot in my journey with article marketing. Now, I understand how to achieve success with articles, as well as know that it takes time to see it work.

    Eventually, if you do it right, you begin to see a snowball effect over time.
  • Article marketing works, and is residual if done correctly. I just took a 3-4 month break from my IM stuff, and still pulled in the numbers you are talking about above. It is all in how you structure your business and marketing efforts.

    Mike
  • Article marketing is certainly not a waste of time, provided it is done in the right way. Articles enlighten surfers on the usefulness of your product and thus enhance their interest in it, thereby increasing chances of purchase.
  • i personally think i cant get enough articles out.

    I actually have to hold back, article marketing, press releases == Great.

    Of course, dont only focus on A/M...but its only one factor and i think its important.
  • I guess you need to really be producing quality articles that add value and work on perfecting the headlines, so people actually click on it.
    • [1] reply
    • Title is REALLY important. Get that wrong and you are wasting the rest of your time writing the article. Look at the most viewed articles and model your title after theirs. OOPS! Let another secret out

      TomG.

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  • 84

    I see this forum is big into article marketing. My question is a result of the 30 day challenge thread. I read the thread, and there were only a few sales posted in the thread. There was traffic, but no sales. It seems like that is a lot of trouble to not get any sales.