Question about sending out articles

[jeffw]

Hi everyone! Been monitoring this sight for awhile now...LOVE IT!!! My first post!
I have had an affiliate account now for little over a year. I dont think I'm doing too bad. Right now I have made around $5000. But I know I have greater potential I just need more traffic! I average around 50 hits on my links a day.

Been getting alot of pointers here...seems like submitting articles is a must. I am writing several up as we speak. This may be a stupid question But... I know I want to give information and such within the article...
Do I want to convey in my articles to visit my personel site itself via my website link or do I just insert my affiliate link itself within my article. What do I do?
Thanks,
Jeff
Also any other info anyone can give me I would greatly appriciate it!
I'm really starting to get into this as far as devoting ALOT more time to it!

 

[frugalwench]

I can only tell you what I'm doing. I find several affiliates from one subject, and then post related articles on that subject, and link to each affiliate somewhere in the article. I've found it's best to use something like "Learn More Here" or just highlight and link a phrase in a sentence. Don't make it look spammy. I have flagged lots of articles that have the affiliate link just slammed in there several times in the article. Also, don't make the article a review of the product. For instance, if the product is a book on making legitimate money online, you could do an article on how so many scams are out there, blah, blah, blah, then tell how you found this really great program that isn't a scam, so you're going to share it with other folks who don't want to get scammed. That's just an example, because it's been done a million times already.

With my articles, I use some of my affiliate links like sponsor links, with pictures and announcements of sales, etc. in the side frame. That seems to look a lot less like affiliate links, and brings more clicks. People are more likely to click on a "sponsor" link than an affiliate link.

As long as your articles are well researched, and contain valuable information, you shouldn't have a problem with being flagged or reported on any site.

 

[jeffw]

So basically just slightly mention my merchant where it fits in on my articles. Sort of like "Oh, btw I found this blah,blah,blah. Correct?
So pretty much all the time I have links straight to my merchant in my articles. Never any other situation as far as using my site links?
Also my merchant offers me text links and small pic links, what do you find more success?

 

[jeffw]

forgot...another thing, whats a good word count on an article? Are long ones better than short ones. When I enter them into directories what are they looking for as far as length? I mean if I can get something informative across to the reader I'm ok right.
Thanks so much
Jeff

 

[Linda Buquet]

Text links convert better than banners.

I don't do any article marketing but somehow I got the impression some of them don't want affiliate links in the article. Maybe I'm wrong. The few articles I read I typically just see an about the article paragraph at the end of the article which goes to the affiliate site and they do the selling on their own site.

If you do add affiliate links in the article I would assume the more natural sounding the better.

Example: "Many arthritis sufferers say MSM provides noticeable relief
and is lower cost than other arthritis nutritional supplements."

You don't have to say click here to learn more if the product is highly relevant. The key is to make it sound so compelling, without sounding like you are selling, that people just naturally want to click through.

So just read the TOS for each article site. I assume each site also has an FAQ that answers the question of article length.

 

[Darwin]

Jeff,

You have to be sure and read the rules at the directories you submit articles to. Some like ezinearticles.com do not allow affiliate links at all. You can have a link to your website in the resource box. Links are only allowed in the body if they are part of the article, such as, "according to dr expert in the new england journal of medicine...... " then link to the article.

GoArticles.com allows affiliiate links in the resource box. If you have a premium account at usfreeads.com you can post articles with affiliate links and also use graphics.

Travis Sago has built his business around article marketing. He calls he strategy the BumMarketingMethod you can get a mini-course from him at his website BumMarketingMethod.com, no charge except for name and email address.

Hope this helps some.

 

[jeffw]

q

I have just finished writing 3 different articles.. Same topic just reworded entirely different. If I submit all 3 at the same time to each directory will that send up a red flag? in other words will the owner see this and reject my articles? If so how do I get them out? Should I stick to just one?
Thanks

 

[Darwin]

500-700 words is the recommended count. In fact ezinearticles has a minimum requirement of 500. Other directories have different requirements. If you shoot for 500 you are safe.

 

[Darwin]

I have just finished writing 3 different articles.. Same topic just reworded entirely different. If I submit all 3 at the same time to each directory will that send up a red flag? in other words will the owner see this and reject my articles? If so how do I get them out? Should I stick to just one?
Thanks

Ezinearticles.com actually recommends submitting more than 1 article at a time. But if it is basically the same article just rewritten it would be better to submit each one to a separate directory. 1 to ezinearticles, 1 to goarticles and one to searchwarp or ideamarketers.

 

[jeffw]

Ok...I have my articles completed!
Question on submitting. I saw the top 50 article directories to submit to here @ this forum. But I came across other sites like this one in particular called Article dashboard...any comments?
I signed up but before I entered anything I started to think is this the best way to expose my articles? I mean whats the best way? I'm worried that I will be submitting multiple (copies) of my articles to the same place!
What the best way??
Thanks

 

[jeffw]

ok... after my last post I've learned a little as far as dup articles...but now I'm really confused...my articles are written with the actual affiliate link in the wording as was recommended earlier to me here and not linking to my website/blog thta has my pre-sale information. But now I'm realizing I'm not boosting traffic to MY site! Which way should I point my links

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry but like I said I don't do article marketing. I've been in this business for 5 years and have never submitted a single article.

I don't think most of our members focus much on article marketing either. A couple have done some articles and they may come by in the next day or 2 with some ideas for you, but I don't think anyone here has a primary focus on article marketing.

 

[MrCat]

IMO, if your site has more details about the product or service you are selling, place the link on your article.

There is nothing more better than to inform your target audience more about the product rather than just directing them to a sign-up page.

 

[jeffw]

Now I'm in the process of signing up w/all the article directories via the "instant article submitter" The articles I have wrote so far incorporate my link in the body of the articles. I was reading in their help section that you should insert you link in the bio box. What do you guys do? In the body of the articles or the bio box...or both?

 

[Darwin]

Jeffw,

People are searching for information, answers and solutions. If they see affiliate links in the body and get the feeling it's just a sales letter they will close it and look for another. Also many article directories do not allow affiliate links at all, much less in the article body.

I recommend you link from the bio/resource box to your blog or website. That way you can track how the articles are working for you. Also at your site you can provide more information to pre-sell and have an opportunity to collect names for an ongoing relationship.

 

[jeffw]

Thanks...
tracking my articles would be a good perk for sure doing it the wat you suggest!
But see.. my site is kinda unique though. I made my site with a "blog' look and feel to it...for a more personal feeling to it. It's just a "story" about an experience I had with a product (my merchant sells). In other words a "pre-sale" story. Well, the thing is my articles are set up the same way. So I really dont want to link back to my site...the reader will just be reading my story over again! I want to link straight to my merchant. I'm just looking at the writings of my articles being copies of my site exploided everwhere...if that make sense. Please comment

 

[jeffw]

So it must be a big issue to have a ling in the body of the article?

Maybe I should leave it in the bio box

 

[positivecarry]

You may want to attempt a redirect from a top level domain that you own to the merchant landing page for these articles if they are placed on ezine articles or elsewhere. That is, a redirect for the resource links.
If you are in one of the heavily saturated markets like weight loss, pills, etc, the article will just get pushed down by the tons of submissions coming in right after it, you may spend a good deal of time writing the article and it may only get 40 readers, 1 click to your url in the resource box, and 0 conversions. Submitting articles for backlinks is another story; submitting articles for direct sales is a bit tricky these days in highly saturated markets. I would just take this into consideration if you are writing and attempting to make sales from the articles immediately, time could be better spent elsewhere.

From what you are saying about your articles being comparable to mini sales pages, it sounds like these are designed to make sales on the spot. To do this you need to tailor an extremely catchy article title and make an extremely clever summary box that will appear below your title before the user clicks to read the whole article. And then, if you're on ezine articles, they allow a minimum of 250 words(which I would suggest for immediate sales), and here you can basically write a sales pitch, but not an explicit pitch, rather an intriguing, informative article that acts like a pitch. Then in the article resource box, you want to put one sentence with the redirected affiliate link in it. The resource box will format right under where the article stopped, so it looks like an extension of your article. You can try this, as it sounds like what you want to do, but this method has been beaten to death by some, so don't expect any outstanding conversions.

 

[jeffw]

Wow.. thanks for the input! I dont quite understand the redirect thing. Can u explain more. But what you said at the end of your post is right on target for what I want to do! I really feel that my niche is not that saturated. I really feel confident on the way I wrote up the articles...I'm not shoving the reader into a sale. Doesnt sound like a 'sales pitch" at all.. to me anyway. Gave it a very general feel of a buying situation I had with my merchant and the product I recieved and passing along my headaches I had with the product someone else sells and then being totally happy with my merchants product. (hope that made sense). Never even mention my merchants company until at the bottom... in my "bio" box like you mentioned. This is where I'm having a problem though... I'm using "Instant Article Submitter" I cant seem to get my merchant link in my bio box...there gotta be a way!
Plese explain more on the redirect though...
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[positivecarry]

For a redirect you need to contact your merchant to make sure that they allow redirection and ask them about making sure you get credit for the sale when using a redirection. Then you should contact your hosting provider to show you how to properly set up a redirect in your cpanel or whatever you may have. The article submitter you mention I am not familiar with, I have never used any submitter, so I can't really help you out there. But I would make sure that you do some investigating to see if you are wasting your time with it. And the type of article you're describing may have a hard time being accepted at a place like Ezine articles. They will not submit your article if it is too review oriented. And the guidelines for this seem pretty subjective. And like I mentioned before, you may be extremely disappointed with the results from the article marketing if your intention is the quick sale. It works, but only in certain niches, on certain sites, with certain writing.