Article Marketing ??

Hi Brekat,

I think you need to set up your own website. I would create your content and put it on your own website and stop posting your unique content to ezine. Post it on your site and then have it rewritten and submit to ezine. At least this way if you could sell your site when you're done with it.

I would also do some additional keyword research. Find products with better traffic and less competition. This will get you ranking for lesser products but then you can promote your big product as your product of choice.

Does this make sense?

P.S. I would also set up a facebook page and youtube page. Start promoting your stuff there as well. There are more ways to get traffic than straight SEO.

Here's another idea, check the WSO from Bryan Kumar, he's promoting a PLR package for your niche, buy a domain, modify the package with your name and details.

Then change all the links in your articles signatures to your new domain and instead of making a commission from clickbank products, now you have 100% of the sale and your first product ready

As stated above, make sure you write articles to put on your main site first, then re- purpose it to spread around the net. You can also turn your articles into videos to put on Youtube for more massive exposure.

Sorry to hear that you are beginning to feel discouraged, but keep at it and eventually thinks will "click".

As already suggested, you should create your own blog/website. A blog is quite simple to get going and will be great for your niche. Unfortunately, all of the unique content you have posted to EZA is unable to be re-used in the new blog your create. However, good news is that you must have enough knowledge on this niche to where you can create much more unique content.

Make sure that you publish content on your blog before submitting anywhere else. Once the content is indexed in google (showing up in google results), then you can submit it to article directories.

Do a lot of keyword research and find "long tail keywords" that are less competitive but yet get a decent monthly search.

SEO your blog for these specific keywords and keeping on working!

Directly linking an affiliate product from EZA articles is not going to cut it. You have been working on this for a long time, so why don't you put all of your hard work into something that you will benefit from for a long time.

Oh, and create tons and tons of backlinks on relevant websites. Maybe try participating in dating/relationship forums giving good advice and placing a link to your website in your "signature". Each post will count as a single backlink, so if you are very active in these forums you should be able to build lots of backlinks.

Hope I could help.

I fully agree with the comments here. Get a high quality website built for you. Also, be sure and post original content to your blog first. Please note that you may have a tab that allows your website/blog to link to each other. This is just one possibility. There are definitely some good options for you regarding this. Best wishes to you.

Hey, I'm about to re-launch my dating blog (and a sister blog that my wife will be running)...I would be interested in promoting your product. PM me with more details! :-)

Hi Brekat23,

I recommend building your own business, instead of spending time growing the business of someone else. You don't have your own website and aim to earn affiliate commissions from your EZA articles and nothing else, because you believe this more "simplified" approach could be beneficial for you?

Think again. Time is the most valuable resource, and your own time is the most valuable resource for you and noone else. Imagine this:

Say a corporation, yes -- A large group of people who develops and testts and reformulates and improves business workflow systems, processes, standards and goals for the main objective of increasing their profits, stock value, brand value and assets ---, pays you $50 for an hour of your time. That's also how this group of people value what you can do for their main objective, with an hour of your time. You're growing their business for them, in exchange for $50 per hour of your time...

Now, for the situation you outlined:

Say you earn 100% more of the $100/year you mentioned ($200 for 2 years, you said) by growing EZA and helping your chosen merchant market their products. That's $200/year. Say you write and submit 5 articles to EZA at least once a week. Say you spend five hours of your time each week doing this, four times a month. That's 20 hours of your time each month...

That's 240 hours of your time per year. That means your paid less than $1 for your time. Say EZA earns around $10 per hour from CPC, while your chosen merchants $2 per hour from the traffic you funnel from your EZA articles to their sales pages. Say you stop writing and submitting articles to EZA and also stop promoting the products of others. This won't matter to EZA and those merchants. They have their own businesses to mind. Some would think this won't matter to you, since you only lost less than $1 per hour, right?

Wrong. That's still your own time, time you could've spent growing a more profitable, long term business, a business which would've earned you resources enough to give you the privilege of not spending too much of your time on your own business, because those resources would've helped you do 90% per day, all year round, of everything that it takes to give you the life you want for yourself and your family, not to mention the opportunities you could've provided others. Think about it, man...

Target your niche in google keyword tool

1. Pick one that has a lot of visitors or use them in a catchy name and write the articles based on the google keyword tool research.
2 Build a website and create 5 posts and one sales page for a blog look or create 5 pages with one blogpost.
3 install the right plugins for your wordpress blog All in one seo or seo by yoast, google xml sitemap .
4 try to write some articles with the targetet keywords
5 get traffic from as much as you can do

Thank you to everyone who responded, all of this feedback is giving me alot to think about and decide on...


I would like to take the advice you all have to offer, I hope you don't mind I ask a few questions from a few of you, based off of the feedback you've offered:

@PhiladelphiaSEO:
Please correct me if I am misinterpreting this - so you are saying that you'd suggest I do keyword research to find a longtail keyword with less competition and better traffic, then build a site/blog around the long-tail KW I choose - but then promote the love/relationship product that I am currently trying to generate an income from? - Certainly something I believe I could do...

@tjc 348:
I plan on redirecting my resource box link to a site I create, though I still wouldn't be able to post an article to my site that I have already posted on EZA?

I understand that if the keywords were to rank for an article I had submitted to EZA first and then to my blog - the visitor would be directed to the article on EZA, rather than my own site. However, why can I not post them to my site regardless? Would it not be beneficial to do so for internal link-building?

I'm still learning the ins and out of everything, but that is what I had always thought...

also,

On the same token, when I build my site, am I trying to rank my articles in google, or the one long-tail keyword I structure my site around?

To my knowledge, I will not rank in Google with my site or my articles since I am new to this and have no authority. There is a lot of competition for most all niches nowadays unless you enter a long-tail sub-niche, then it gets easier.

So, do I want to do keyword research for my niche > find a long-tail keyword for my niche > buy a domain as closely resembling that keyword as I can > build a site around it with SEO, content, and list-building > then write several related articles, using my long-tail sub-niche keyword as well as related keywords to eventually, over time - rank my site/blog for my long-tail sub-niche keyword? (hopefully sooner than later)

Is this not the correct process? Am I missing something or do I have it all wrong? I'm really not sure anymore, I have heard so many different methods and bologna that it's hard to understand which way really works and is a straight/efficient path.

@Laura James
Do you have anything or anyone you would suggest? Would you happen to have a link I could look at? I don't have the best of budgets to work with so something somewhat affordable yet still quality and easy to work with?

I would still like/need a site that I can post content too, such as the articles I have been writing - do I not?

@tolxeaquaris:
Your response was more 'direct' and to the point which helps me out alot - I hope you don't mind that I have a few questions for you tho as well,

- These are based off of the list you had made me (thank you)
1. "or use them in a catchy name"? - are you suggesting, (as what I had somewhat explained to tjc 348 above) - is to target a long-tail keyword in Google Keyword Tool for my niche, one that has less competition and considerable traffic, then build an entire site around that ONE long-tail keyword for my love/relationship niche?

Are you also suggesting that I then write articles for that one keyword , though I can use my keyword 'in a catchy name' for the titles? That is what I have understood from the #1 suggestion on your list.... please let me know if I am correct

2. & 4. I would like to go with creating posts and a sales page. I would like to use wordpress, would that suffice? I would also like to link visitors from outside sites to a sticky sales page that is primarily an optin for my email list - is this the correct way, or would this be allright to do? Lastly, why only 5 posts? Can I not post all of the articles that I have currently written, and all future articles as well - or would that be mostly a waste of time, as once I start making money with this, I could perhaps begin another site targeted around another long-tail keyword phrase?


Once again everyone, thank you so incredibly much! With every question I ask and every answer I get in response, the closer I get to actually understanding some of this and trying to develop a strategy...I really want to make this work for me, I am determined.

I look forward to hearing more responses, they help SO incredibly much, thanks again!

Hi Bre,

That means that out of every 10 people who find one of your articles in EZA, only one clicks through and becomes a potential customer. To put it in very, very simple terms, you're losing 90% of your traffic.

This is one of the two biggest reasons why it's so important to have your own site, and not to try to use an article directory as your own site, as you've been doing so far.

When a potential customer finds one of your articles by putting one of its keywords into a search engine, the last thing you want him to find is an article-directory copy, because you lose most of that traffic (we all do). You need him to find the original copy, the one first published and indexed on your own site before it was submitted anywhere else. On your current figures, you'll have ten times as much traffic, that way, as you can see! That might help, no?

Even doubling your CTR, on the other hand (which wouldn't be easy!!), will hardly help at all: you'd just be losing 80% of the traffic instead of 90%, wouldn't you? That's why a fresh approach is needed, rather than a sticking plaster. Sorry.

You've been trying to use article directories for their own traffic, and for their own backlinks, and this isn't what they're there for.

The other big reason for not trying to sell this way, by direct linking, is that it's necessarily depriving you of two out of the three essentials of selling information products (and to be painfully honest, you've actually slipped on the third one, too).

However you look at it, selling these e-book products is all about three main things ...

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

(ii) You have to pre-sell effectively (that means "not just in an article"!) 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.

It's really a non-starter, Bre. You can't get to the next step, this way. Direct linking isn't going to work for you.

Especially not as you're selling some products with super-leaky sales pages, and apparently trying to rank for the words "click here" and some other really basic errors.

Sorry - I probably sound terribly critical; please excuse me - I'm trying to help. :rolleyes:

No; it definitely isn't.

It doesn't matter. Honestly, a fresh start, doing everything differently, will totally transform the entire experience.

No, you could outrank them, with some hard work and some good SEO based on quality and relevance, but I don't recommend trying, Bre ... really, I think you can do much better than this.

You're looking at article marketing entirely in terms of SEO, Bre. This isn't really what it's fundamentally about, and makes it a little difficult to make suggestions to you.

Trying to increase your CTR isn't the right thing to do here, at all.

I think a fresh start will help. I really do.

You need your own website to try to do this and get anywhere with it. You need to promote products with non-leaky sales pages, publish your articles on your own site first and build lists. This is the minimum you need to do.

What you're doing at the moment isn't "article marketing". It's only "article directory marketing". And it isn't working. You're trying to use directories for their own traffic and backlinks, and you're losing 90% of the traffic.

Just "keeping it real" ...

I'd second everything Alexa said.

If you do want to boost your CTR on your
EZA articles though, I've got a free report
in the War Room that shows you how to do
it.

Not that I do article marketing any more,
and haven't for a very long time, but I still
have hundreds of articles out there, and
some of them get clickthroughs above 50%.

Probably worth looking at, if you're going to
continue on your current path.

Good luck with it.

-David Raybould

You dont really NEED your own site, you just need to concentrate your efforts away from spammy article publishing sites. EZA may be one of the 'top ranked' article submission sites but when i analyze data for my clients websites the articles i submitted there even as far back as Feb/Mar are doing absolutely nothing.

I have just started using 'Squidoo' as there is so much more scope to add media etc. And if you publish a 'quality lens' and social bookmark it straight away within a month you will have a high authority page on a high authority domain. And its free. Plus you can also earn royalties on clicks through their own scheme, it does take a little while to understand how best to structure your 'lenses' to start earning money but ive just taken a look at your articles Bre and i really believe you would reap so much more if you sow the seeds in the right garden.

Thanks for your responses everyone - especially @Alexa Smith for making yours so easily understandable and honest, keeping it real with me is exactly what I want/need so no need to apologize ^^^ I greatly appreciate your advice, as I always have.

Unfortunately - all this new information I now have to do something different - is leaving me alil choked up.

If I may - after now having read all of the advice and suggestions on what I should do, I'd like to list the process that I feel I have understood from all of you - if anyone would please let me know what they think of my new process, and whether or not I am even on the right track with it (and if this will finally work for me to achieve my dreams) - I would be greatly in your debt!

1. Choose a hot niche
2. Choose a product that converts well (I have yet to read through your suggested link Alexa, which I will absolutely do!!)
3. Google tool research my niche for a long-tail keyword
4. buy a domain for the long-tail keyword
5. build a quick wordpress site targeted and structured to my keyword with seo
6. set my site up with an email optin list and write some original content for my keyword
7. then focus on backlinking with articles to sites like EZA, forum posting, youtube, etc.
8. Hope that I eventually rank for my one long-tail keyword
9. Rinse and repeat once I achieve success

- Do I have this fairly correct?
- Ughhh, I just don't know anymore....
- Exclude that ^^^, I am just feeling exasperated


I feel like if I were to do the process that way (which I could, as I've meddled with doing similar things before) - it would turn out the same as it has before. Whereas, my keywords never ranked, I never saw any traffic, and I never made any sales.

Then again - I do believe I was trying to target several keywords on one site. Am I correct in thinking I want to focus my entire site, all my articles, and everything around my one targeted long-tail keyword??

I feel like I'm sniffing along the right track here, but I still haven't found my bone - any further responses would be greatly appreciated, you have no idea - haha!

Talk with you soon

Wow, thanks again for the wonderful responses!!

My questions continue to surface however, the more I start to think about this - I hope that is natural, haha!

When I create a site and purchase a domain for it - should I purchase a domain that is a keyword for my niche (if I can miraculously even find one) such as; relationship.com - or should I get a domain that is focused to my niche, tho somewhat of a brand name.

Not a brand name for a product I am promoting, but a brand name for myself, my site, and the business I am trying to create? Such as; relationshipsahoy.com (random example)

That way, I can generate traffic, and try to eventually rank for certain long-tail keywords with the content I post to my site?

I realize you could potentially get organic traffic with a domain that IS your keyword - but that isn't always possible to get, unless I focus on something more long-tail.

Orrr...is it possible to get relationshipsahoy.com for my site, but also get something such as howtodevelopagoodrelationship.com - and use it as a parked domain, would I still be able to rank for 'how to develop a good relationship' if I do the appropriate work of course with my marketing?

That way I can have ONE overall site that I can try to rank all of my long-tail keywords for and not have to buy several different long-tail keyword domains and build seperate sites for each? Is this possible?

@Alexa Smith, your replies are a blessing, truly - I hope you continue to respond to my questions as they are greatly helping me clear things up. I am taking to heart what you say about trying not to worry so much about SEO, I do intend on promoting and marketing through other various means. I feel however, that my ending goal would be to rank my site for as many long-tail keywords as possible.

That is however, if my thinking is on track here and I am able to do what I have asked above ^^^^, I'm really not sure if it would work that way but if it can and DOES for others - that would be amazing.

I feel so all over the place with my thinking and my questions right now - I truly apologize for that and am incredibly grateful to anyone willing to deal with my random thought-process and ignorant inqueries.

Thanks again, X100,000,000,000!!

What a pitiful girl. Writing a new and creative article every day is not a easy work. And finally, we may few boring and at my wits' end, because there is no topic, we repeat again and again. So, keep moving and challenge yourself.

Wow. its all too much informative discussion. I really seek from here.

Thanks Everyone.

Zaheera

1. Basically, writing a content is not enough my friend.. You should look for an alternative way to earn more money. Have you tried to apply as an SEO copywriter? Anyway, If you are mainly focusing on your writing skills, you should have a blog site at least. Where you can be able to monetize your page/site.

2. If you are to begin with your own site, you CANNOT use your previously submitted content. But you can still use them for citations. On the other hand, you can still edit your submitted articles to ezine and provide a link for your new site.

Additional Info: Try to focus more on blogs.. try blog guesting, and focus merely on controversial and important topics. Try not to discuss more than 2 categories in your blogs..

But i post some article in different site but still now i didn't get more traffic whatever i expect.

Hi Alexa,

Let me ask another question... or three. As you described, during your first 4-5 months online you were trying a number of writing tactics that didn't work until you had this "aha!" moment or at least a general realization.

1. What made you realize the vision that gave you the direction you had decided to take in article marketing after 5 months of strife?

2. You also mentioned after your "moment of article marketing realization/revelation" it took you about 2 months until you hit a point of comfortable success. I understand that you write about 25+ articles per month recently, but how many articles did you write within your various niches during your first 2 months? And how many Aweber emails did you set up for your various niche lists at that time?

Thanks for sharing again and again. I'm actually quite taken aback (in a positive way) at the way your mind works. It's refreshing. (This goes for John McCabe and Paul M. as well.)

Gil

P.S. My apologies Brekat, I hope you don't mind me asking these questions on your thread. I hope they benefit you as well.

I love these threads. So much great info.

And Alexa...if you get a chance to look at my email =)

No worries quamguy, I appreciate your questions.

Still had a few of my own though as well; I'd really like to put together a daily plan to work at consistenly, but I find myself struggling as to what is best and proper for me to do as of right now.

I'd like to aim these questions at Alexa or myob as they seem the most knowledgeable in what I'm trying to start up exactly, though if anyone else can help in some way I'd certainly appreciate that as well;

((Alot of these are opinion-based questions, I already have an 'idea' of what I should do/be doing in the near future, but I'd like your opinion/advice/guidance nonetheless))

(1) I'd like to continue writing and submitting 5 articles a day to EZA. I chose this because I feel it would be the quickest option/way that I currently have to see any profit.

Why? (correct me if I'm wrong, please) Because EZA already has significant traffic. If I focus on increasing my CTR, quality content, and direct-linking - I should see better sales, as I have already made a few this way, albeit not many - but it does work.

I am doing it this way because if I were to completely stop doing this to focus on something else entirely (site creation/email lists/etc.) I would not see traffic and sales to my site for many months (certainly not as much traffic as I am getting through EZA to my articles)

QUESTION: Is this the correct way of thinking for someone looking to make the quickest profit online?!?

(2) On the side of writing and submitting 5 a day to EZA, I will begin to prepare what I need to create a site around my niche and the product I am promoting. (domain name, quality articles, etc.), and build a site (probably a wp blog for me as it is easiest).

I am going to go with seemingly everyones suggestion on here, and look into having my own site/email list/everything else - as I understand this is the best way to do it for long-term high-end sucess.

However, in my opinion, it will take a lot longer to see initial sales and good traffic to my site (not even worrying so much about SEO, though still incorporating that) compared to EZA (^^above^^) - so this will be something I will begin to DO though not entirely do, as I still need time to write and submit to EZA.

(Any money made from EZA will be used to put my sites together, as well. Plus, once my site is up and running and I begin to see traffic and sales from my site, I will wean myself from writing and submitting to EZA. Or, still submit to EZA, but after my articles have been indexed on my site first)

QUESTION: Again, is my thinking for this correct so far, does it make sense and sound like it would work out if I do this new plan correctly??

(3) When I create my site, this is how I'd like it to be (please correct me, add suggestions, improvement, etc. etc. - but mostly, let me know if I am on to something, if this would work well, and if I have this whole IM knowledge somewhat down-pat haha)

(i) static homepage: I'd like my homepage to be a squeeze page that offers an incentive of some kind that will get visitors onto my email list. Perhaps I will one day incorporate a video to it that also promotes the opt-in. Then provide some really great content as well that explains what they will expect when they sign up and why they should.

(ii) Beside the homepage tab I thought it might be beneficial to have an 'Articles' tab - which would more or less take visitors to the blog portion of the site where I will post all articles before syndicating them elsewhere. Plus, there may also be the traditional 'categories' and 'archives' menu along the side, perhaps some adsense, etc.

Plus, beneath each article I would like to put an opt-in suggestion to also urge people onto my list

(iii)Basically, I wouldn't be promoting any products on my site - I would be promoting that people sign up to my list, where I will then strive to make sales.

Although, I didn't think it would hurt if I perhaps place another tab beside "articles' that was 'recommended products' or some such, where I could place the product and any future related products in a magazine style layout. That would be the only place on my site where visitors could purchase my affiliate products straight out (unless of course, they are viewing an EZA article that has a direct link)

Plus, once I make better sales through my site, as I said earlier about weaning off of EZA, I could change all of the direct links to the squeeze page of my site

QUESTION: How does all that now sound? Haha, I believe that is all of it, that is everything I have floating around in my head right now as to what would be best that I do as of right now, today - to start working on.

RECAP: I am focusing on generating instant sales right now (EZA & Direct Linking) - while at the same time, building an awesome long-term high-end success 'business' that I can call my own and build upon over time.

Once my site is up and ready to go, I will focus on marketing and exposure (facebook fanpage, squiddoo, youtube videos for my articles, twitter perhaps, forums, and of course SEO)

Sooooo, please let me know what everyone thinks. Am I on the right track, am I missing something?

Lastly, does anyone have any kickass links I could take a look at? I know that I'd like to go with Aweber for my email lists, but are there any links you can offer that have simple templates to use for wp, or anything similar, such as a checklist of sorts for what is needed and should be used for site creation?

Thanks in advance, you are all wonderful people!

Thanks for your reply Alexa! I've been taking notes on what I should and should not be doing thanks to your replies, so I hope you don't feel that they have been irrelevant, for they surely haven't been!

I am trying to get a sense as to what I should do is all, for I've tried many things that haven't worked out for me. From all that I've read from you, it more or less seems like you build your online business around a positive reputation. That is what everyone online should strive for, in my opinion.

I aim to strive for that myself, I was merely thinking that I could continue generating sales through EZA and directlinking, until I had everything properly set up so as to begin building my own online business/reputation, that is all. Once I had all that ready to go, I would then focus on nothing but that, and quit direct-linking and article directory marketing at all.

Anyways, I have alot to read and think about here so I appreciate your time and all the answers I've recieved from everyone here. It means more to me than I can even put into words.

Wish me luck I suppose...I have choices to make and hopefully money as well!! I shall see you all around the forums Take care!

Brekat23, i really seek too much from your this thread. Thanks

You really need to set up your own blog. You can post your articles to your blog first and then submit them to EZA. No matter how much competition there is you still can build a loyal readership and customer base. You should have all your articles pointing to your own site and from your site you can link to the products you are promoting. You can make money direct linking but you can make more if you have your own site that people can always go to to get valuable information.