How to make the most of ezine articles

I'm sure there'll be a million people pop in to give you some lame advice or one sentence nonsense that will lead you nowhere. The forum has been inundated lately with lame duck knuckleheads trying to spout of jibberish as advice for one self serving reason or another.

Since it's the holidays I'm gonna be frank, the search function here will lead you to a wealth of information on Ezine. There has to be thousands of useful threads already on the subject you're looking for - every question you have will be answered within those threads. So here you go... Warrior Forum Search

Type in EZA and have at it mate, and Merry Christmas!

Yes, adopt this mindset.

Focus on a target market. Keep the market in mind before writing an article. Each piece of work should cater to your niche.

Build each article around a keyword. Set aside time to craft a compelling title.

Take your time. 1 well-written article which places well in search engines is worth more than 30 poorly penned pieces.

RB

James, since it appears you want to focus on views and clicks, there are two things you need to work on...

First, getting views. Your title is the main thing here. You have to blend your SEO with actually getting people to want to read the article. Which usually means you need to either tease or make a promise.

Getting clicks comes down to the resource box. Readers need a compelling reason to click that link rather than any of the myriad other choices available, especially on EZA.

It's a progression.

Your title sells the open.

Your article sells the resource box. Or at least draws the reader to it.

Your resource box sells the click.

After the click, it's up to you.

One thing you may want to consider, though. You may want to put part of your efforts into producing articles other publishers want to publish. Doing this successfully multiplies the number of opportunities for gaining views and clicks - just not from EZA.

James,

This is a classic case of quality over quantity. However, although quality trumps quantity if you combine the two together it would be a killer combo.

In terms of getting very little views and click throughs, I have a good feeling that it's because you haven't done proper keyword research or may have done the research but for a highly competitive keyword.

Here's what you do:
1. Take your 80 articles and among them pick out your top 5 or the ones you know most about that will help your target audience to start out with.
2. Then start with one and find the keyword with the lowest competition that relates to your article topic. Go on Google's Free Keyword External Tool and search for keywords that are relevant to your topic and have a search volume of over "3,000″. Then search for your keyword in quotes (" ") on Google; I always search for competition 30,000 or less because then you have a much higher chance of showing up on the first page of Google.
3. Put that keyword in your TITLE and in your first paragraph. Also, try to place your keywords, 3 to 4 more times in the article, but remember to follow the "Keyword Density" Rule.
4. Write the article. Write an article with a solution. Make sure your article delivers on your title's promise.
5.Write a killer resource box. Really sell your offer. Remember the MAIN point of your article is to get a reader to click your link to go to your site.
6. Submit 1-2 articles a day to Ezinearticles FIRST (like you've done)
Then, paraphrase the article (just a bit) and submit it to GoArticles and Articlesbase.
7. Be Consistent and Keep Going! Continue submitting 1-2 "quality" articles a day (meaning low competition, highly searched keywords and that provides a solution).

Hope this helps.

If you're still confused, just shoot me a pm.

Sonam

Sonam, you're entire post up until the point quoted was some very good article marketing advice. Here however, you are suggesting that he place his article on EZA first, which is 1. not necessary, 2. wasting time while awaiting EZA approval, and 3. offering ownership of the original work to EZA. Where an article is indexed originally is considered as having ownership of said creative work in any dispute.

NEVER place your original work on EZA before indexing it on your own site first, or kiss it goodbye should the time come for you to prove it's yours. That may not mean much to some - except perhaps when an article starts to net them hundreds or thousands of dollars per month in sales. Then you would see my point clearly.

At the point said article has been indexed on your own site, you need not change ONE WORD, a point that has been proven countless times, on this forum, and by the experience of many. Directories accept verbatim articles because directories are syndication portals for your work, nothing more. All they need to know is that it is your own original work, which can be proven because it [should] already exist on your own site, under your name. Unless a directory is paying you directly to secure exclusivity, they have no grounds to even suggest you reword an original piece. And they don't.

Changing a well written article is both a redundancy and a time waster. It can also be destructive to the inherent quality of the original creative process, causing a "reworded" watered down version to make his/her audience think much less of what was perhaps a quality piece of writing.

I love Ezine Articles. That said, they're only one part of the IM puzzle... they can never be the complete solution. I'm sure someone somewhere is making hundreds of sales just by posting articles on EA, but I haven't met anyone who's doing that. It takes more than articles on EA.

BUT... Congratulations on getting 80 articles there, it's a HUGE achievement. If you can do that, you've got what it takes and can definitely start making money.

Please know that you CAN do that. Here's how: go back to basics.

The absolute bottom line of any marketing is the MARKET itself. So, who's your market? Who are you targeting with your 80 articles? Do they want what you're selling? Why? Can you prove that this market needs (is slavering for) whatever you're selling?

An aside; many marketers use personas as a shorthand for their market. For example, let's say you're selling a weight loss program for new mothers. Visit the advertising page of any large site visited by the moms to get an idea of who they are. The sites give demographics: how old these women are, how much income the household earns etc.

Once you've got a description of your perfect customer, give that ideal customer a name: "Betty" for example.

Now you have the market (Betty) firmly fixed in your mind, it's time to consider your product -- whatever it is you're selling, using the "4Ps" -- Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

Go and visit some forums Betty visits (if there are no forums, get another product), and find out what matters to Betty.

The more you understand Betty, the easier it will be to make sales.

Here's what I'd do in your position:

* Find my "Betty";

* Find four products to promote that I'm sure Betty will love;

* Set up a small site ($10 for a domain name, $5 a month for hosting) using WordPress;

* Compile six of my articles into a free report and set up an autoresponder;

* Edit the articles on EA to promote my report;

* Add the best of my articles (already on EA) to my WP blog...

This is a simple solution which builds on what you already have.

James, you've already done the hard work. Now go and make money. :-)

Happy holidays to you and yours.