Benefiting Articles - Step by Step Guide
"Content is king" - that's a given, no debate. But how do you get the content? Like most projects, breaking it down into bite-sized, easily digestible pieces makes the process realistically achievable. By creating articles, you can create and develop this content.
How do you benefit from articles?
Personally, I find that the best way to approach the "process" of making money from articles is to work backwards! That is, identifying your end goal and then figuring out each previous step that leads to it.
Example:
The ultimate goal - to sell an e-book
Previous step - The subscriber reads the recommendation in a small series of 5 parts
Previous step - Reader of articles visits the name press page and subscribes to a mini-series
Previous step - prosepct reads your article on someone else's website/blog/ezine
Previous step - Publisher picks up your article from the directory
Previous step - The article has been submitted to the directory
Previous step - You produce the article
And try to keep one focus for each step. For example, you want people to subscribe to the mini-chain - then the email capture/name compression page should just give them that option!
Don't put too many other links on that webpage that would give the visitor alternatives to subscribing to the mini-chain. Keep it tightly focused - keep the goal in mind.
So the tasks (for the example above), would be, in the following order:
1] Create the eBook - search and write - or outsource through elance.com, guru.com, etc. - your product to make money. If you are not sure how to write an eBook, just write it in MSWord or wp of your choice and convert it to a pdf document with password protection. Upload it to your web server.
2] Create a single webpage that submits, recommends, and places orders for your eBook. Include a PayPal, StormPay, or other shopping cart link to order the book.
3] Write 5 short emails as a mini-series (which includes a link to the e-book order page) and put it in the autoresponder.
4] Create a single webpage with a compelling copy of why the visitor should sign up for your 5-part mini-string and include the web form that links to your autoresponder.
5] After these three things above are in place, you now need to write the article(s) that include a link in the resource box of your name capture webpage.
6] Finally, use ArticleAnnouncer to submit your article to directories (see resource box for link).
Important note: You don't need big, flashy, and complicated websites to benefit from articles! A simple persuasive page that directs them to the answering machine. From emails in a/r, you can send it to a simple order page for your e-book or you can send it to an affiliate product page. Bottom line - keep it simple!
If you're sending them directly to an affiliate page (I think capturing their email first is better but I'm listing this as an option) from the article resource box, you don't need to do step 1, 2, 3 or 4 above.
If you're sending your reader to an affiliate page after capturing their email, leave out steps 1 and 2. Step 3 might be a 5-part mini-string, or you might just want to submit it to your ezine that you publish (which recommends your affiliate product) or submit it to an article Another great one (or part 2 of the article) is stored in the answering machine.
But you will need to give them a reason to give you their email address!
Articles are a very effective way to attract visitors to a web page and ultimately generate 'sales'.
Readers of your article have already established a "know, like, and trust" relationship with you, and are therefore more willing to buy from you.
They are the ultimate in targeted traffic - and therefore the most profitable visitor! Get your articles and let them do their work silently and effortlessly.