One of the things you should do before you begin cranking out a lot of articles is to be clear about what you want to gain from article writing. Are you interested in promoting other products and websites (affiliate marketing) or are you going to focus on your own products and site?

The reason I ask that question is because these two methods need to be approached in very different ways. If you are writing articles that are going to call for the reader to be directed to another website or product then you will need to have the author resource information worded differently than if you were promoting your own product.

If you are going to be using the article to drive targeted traffic to your own product or website then using the resource box and a good call to action within that information can be very valuable. You need to keep in mind that
however you do this, once the article has been published, it is almost impossible to make any changes to the articles.

Since your articles will be used in different ways it is a good idea to make minor changes to the article for each directory that it will be submitted to. With some article submission software, you have the ability to do so within
the software, but in most cases, I would recommend manually submitting the articles. This may sound like a lot of work, but really it should only involve editing 3-5 submissions since these articles will be picked up by different ezine publishers.

Once you have a few articles published in the niche you are writing about, you will begin to be recognized as an expert in that area. That’s exactly what you are looking for. You want people to perceive you as someone who is
knowledgeable in the subject that you are writing about.

In order to retain your credibility it is always a good idea to write the articles in the same ‘voice’. In other words, if you are paying a ghost writer to do the work, you will want to proof the material before you just start submitting willy nilly. Depending on the article directory you are submitting to and how well they screen the material that is being submitted, you may end up being  ‘penalized’ for duplicate content if the writer you have hired is doing work for other marketers in the same niche. That’s why it’s a great idea to research your topic deeper and, if you can, write your own material.

One thing you don’t want to do is start writing articles in different niches and using the same author resource box for all of them. If you are doing that you will tend to be seen at as someone who may be trying to find that sweet spot instead of focusing on one or two niches and targeting them. If you are using the same information in your author resource box, not only will the links back to your sites not be optimized, but the search engines will tend to rank your articles lower because you are not sticking to relevant subjects.

As I mentioned in the previous posts, there is no need to make your article perfect in language, grammar or literarily, in order to be successful in article marketing. Just write it the way you feel about it. That’s your ‘voice’.

Although posting your articles to several article directories on various sites will give you a higher chance of the article being republished, which in the long run benefits you, you should be a little selective before posting them
anywhere you get a chance to do so. Article directories that have high rankings and a lot of traffic should be your priority.

Be mindful of the length of the articles you are writing. Most directories suggest ones that are between 450 and 800 words. The longer you make your articles, the better chance that your readers will lose their attention and start surfing elsewhere, and you don’t want that.

If you find yourself in the position that the articles(s) that you are writing are going longer than 850 words, you may want to start combining them into a short report and give them away as a bonus for joining your newsletter.

HEY, there’s a novel idea!

So now you have some great ideas about how you should be writing and where you should be targeting your article marketing efforts. There is one more thing that I would like to go into next time. That is the different types of articles you can write, so be on the lookout for that in the next few days.

Until then, if you are having a shortage of brain ideas, or the brain for some reason just won’t get any traction for your article writing efforts, I invite you to check out Teri & Doug Champigny’s Easy Articles Pro site. As you are finding out in my series here, to succeed online, you need laser targeted traffic. To get that traffic, you need relevant content. Only articles targeted to your specific niche will provide that traffic and in turn fatten your wallet. Teri & Doug’s Easy Articles Pro provide 125 plr articles each and every month, so there is bound to be something for you, or maybe it will jump start the brain waves for you to find a new niche. Get Easy Articles Pro.

Just a reminder….click on the Giveaway Events tab at the top of the page, there are some outstanding giveaways going on right now….your chance to go pick up some fantastic gifts.

Til next time,

Here’s to YOUR Online Successes,

Ron

Here we go with Part 2….

The newbie may have a killer info product. He or she may have it listed on Clickbank or PayDotCom and it is selling well. It may have a sales page that converts fairly well. Newbie is making some money.

So he goes about sending emails to the big guys that he ‘knows’. This email with the joint venture proposal may highlight a higher than normal commission and great incentive package.

Guess what? It’s still possible that it may be deleted without a second look by the guru that it has been sent to.

Why? Simply because the newbie has no credibility.

The newbie Info Marketer most often fails because he or she doesn’t realize the importance of establishing their own credibility before they even begin to approach the top guns with joint venture proposals.

They haven’t done their homework and they haven’t paid their dues.

Newbie hasn’t had any articles published. Hasn’t posted to blogs or forums. He may have a list, but it’s not very large and probably isn’t too responsive.

They haven’t taken any of the steps required to even begin establishing their own online credibility…and then they wonder why the guru’s aren’t interested in a joint venture.

The Powerful Benefits of Having Credibility

Think about credibility like this: Would you personally hire someone to babysit for you who had several references and lots of experience or a kid down the block who will be babysitting for the first time and has no track record that you can check?

Wait…don’t decide yet!

Let’s say that the babysitter with the references and the experience charges twice as much as the one with no experience. Hmmm…you’d probably still opt for the experienced one, right?

OK, let’s say that the kid with no experience as a paid babysitter has been reading everything he could find about babysitting and has taken a babysitting course. This kid doesn’t have references as such but he does have letters from prominent people stating that he is a responsible and mature person.

He has written articles for the school paper about the responsibilities of baby sitting. Remember, the inexperienced one charges a lot less. Now the choices are getting a lot more even.

At this point, you might remember how hard it was for you to get your first job and, because this kid has taken the steps to gain credibility by reading, taking courses, and writing articles you decide to give him a shot.

The above example is very much how the world of Information marketing works. The websites are full of experienced marketers who have a ton of references. One of the few ways that newbies have at breaking into the market and getting a joint venture with an established marketer is if he/she is willing to put in the effort to establish some credibility.

Yes, it’s true that a joint venture with an established marketer can and does provide a new marketer with some credibility, but more than likely it isn’t going to happen if the new marketer hasn’t already established some credibility for himself.

How’s your ‘Cred’ rating? Get my Knowledge-Application-Results newsletter (with some cool bonuses for subscribing) and I will give you some ‘inside’ info on how you can raise your rating more quickly. Sign up in the upper right hand corner of the page….

OH, and before I forget….the Thanksgiving Giveaway launches on Monday and Santa’s Giveaway launches November 20, so there is still time to get in as a contributor and start to build YOUR list! I highly recommend upgrading in both if you can because that will allow you to download all of the gifts you need to continue to build your ‘cred’ ……

Until next time…

Here’s to YOUR Successes.

Ron

How’s your online relationship building going?

NO, I don’t mean dating sites or things like that, I mean your Information Marketing relationship building.

Did you know that to make any real income with Information marketing you not only need to establish a relationship with your readers/subscribers/customers, but also with some of the big gurus? The guys who have already made a name for themselves and can generate a tidy sum in their bank account in a matter of hours or days.

Did you know that the big guns in the Information Marketing world are extremely busy people?

You know the guys and gals that you want to eventually joint venture with?

I don’t think they haven’t been sitting around waiting for the day that you and your info product land on their doorstep (or inbox). Do you?

They all work long hours and their quitting time is when they just can’t seem to keep the eyelids open anymore, or go one more step, or answer one more question until they grab a few hours of sleep.

Believe me, I chat with a couple of them on a daily basis and still have a hard time comprehending the hours they keep.

And you thought the Information marketing world was full of glamour? Work a couple of hours a day, make a couple hundred bucks? Do whatever you want the rest of the day.

Seriously, that really is the way that most of the top guns work. They have a phone stuck to one ear and another call on their speakerphone most of the time. Follow some of them on twitter and find out what they are doing daily

Their inboxes are flooded with joint venture offers as the song says… once a day… everyday… all day long.

Those who don’t work like that are not on the top of the hill.

In order for a newbie to get the attention of one of these top dogs, not only must they have a great product and a great package of commissions and incentives to offer, they must have developed some credibility themselves or their offer won’t make it past the first cut.

A newbie sometimes tends to think that because he or she has been blessed with a boat load of charm and the ability to be able to sell icemakers to Eskimos that they pretty much have it made in the world of Information marketing.

Boy are they in for a rude awakening!

Unless you are an expert copywriter, your charm, engaging smile, firm handshake, and honest face (remember, you’re online) mean less than nothing in the biz.

Those characteristics might make you your mama’s little darling and the apple of your daddy’s eye but they aren’t worth squat on the net.

Credibility is all that really matters when you get right down to the nitty-gritty of Information marketing.

Without credibility, the newbie marketer will quickly turn into another statistic. A skeptic that will be barking in the forums that Information marketing doesn’t work.

So many times newbies enter the world of Information Marketing with guns ablazin’, fully believing that the only thing that he/she has to do to make their first million dollars is to persuade one of the guru’s to promote a product (a joint venture) with them.

Well, newbie has one part of the equation right.

Getting a top Internet marketer to joint venture with him/her would surely help… I’m just not so sure about the ‘million’ part.

Say this 3 times fast: ‘get a top Internet marketer to do a joint venture with me’.

Sounds pretty easy, right?

Well, it ain’t.

First off, as I mentioned earlier, the top guns are extremely busy people, as well as, having their inboxes overflowing with joint venture proposals every day.

Second off….well, they’re very busy…nuff said for now.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of ‘What’s YOUR ‘Cred’ Rating’ tomorrow.

For now, go and pick up a copy of ‘Three Steps to Newbie Success’ as a ‘thank you’ for signing up for the ‘Knowledge-Application-Results’ newsletter. You’ll find the form in the upper right hand corner of this page. I share many more ‘insider’ tips on how to make this wacky world of Information Marketing work for you.

Til tomorrow….

Here’s to YOUR Successes!

Ron