Can article writing still earn money? Back in 2005 it seemed that the whole world was making huge amounts of money from simply writing articles and submitting them to article directories. But now, many people seem to be struggling getting the same kind of traffic from this strategy.
As with anything in internet marketing – if we want to stay alive then we need to adapt – article marketing is still a very effective method for traffic generation and can make you a lot of money, but only if you do it the right way!
In this article, I’m going to give you 5 of my top tips to making sure that you profit from article writing and don’t end up like the thousands of internet marketers out there who think that simply submitting to article directories is going to do the trick….
1. Go Directly to the Publisher
Article marketing to directories doesn’t work unless you are in a new niche that isn’t very competitive. If you are trying to get traffic for your web site in the cake decorating niche then submitting your articles to sites like Ezinearticles.com would actually be quite an effective strategy…
Why? Because it’s likely the articles would achieve a reasonably high ranking in Google. And that’s where your traffic will come from.
However, in more competitive niches you need to find your own publishers. You need to find high profile web sites in your niche that allow people to submit their own content – this is extremely important. This is the key point in me building lists quickly in hugely competitive niches. In fact, with this strategy, the more competitive the better!
2. Write Articles Packed with Value
If you’re going to go directly to the publisher then you’re going to need to make sure that your articles stand out above the rest of those that are submitted. You’ll find that the bar for publication is somewhat higher when trying to get published on a high profile site because each article is closely analysed for value – value to the readers of the site.
Each web site has their own rules for publication, but in general I’d recommend only submitting articles:
- that are over 500 words in length
- that are targeted to the audience of the site in question
- that don’t contain any affiliate links or self serving links in the body of the article (leave the self promotion part to the resource box)
- that have been thoroughly checked through for spelling or grammatical errors
3. Write a Compelling Resource Box
Every now and then I’ll see an incredible article and then a horrendously poor resource box that I know will only ever get a click through rate of around 5%. It’s such a shame that many authors don’t understand how to write a strong and compelling resource box.
The number one purpose of your resource box is to get people to click on the link so that they visit your web site. To do this, you need to give them a reason to do so – make your resource box focused around the reader, not yourself.
Here’s an example of a terrible resource box:
“Paul McCarthy used to run a hosting company before leaving to concentrate fully on his internet marketing business. He runs a blog at where he teaches how to make money online”
To be frank, nobody gives a stuff about me. Nobody gives a stuff about you, either. People only care about themselves, so talk about what you can do for them:
“If you want to discover the simple five step formula that anyone can do to earn a six figure income online then be sure to visit and you’ll be ready to earn in less than an hour from now”
You see how the second resource box is going to capture the interest of our audience. Typically you can get click throughs of 30% or more by using a resource box that is focused on a benefit that the readers want!
4. Back Your Articles up With Facts and Figures
There’s nothing more compelling than reading an article that is backed up with firm evidence rather than theoretical beliefs. Let me give you an example…
In the month of July so far I have generated 280 new leads (at the time of writing) to my new site completely for free by doing what I’m telling you about in this article. These 280 leads have come from a total of 10 articles that have been distributed to 8 different publishers.
By backing up everything with facts and figures you are providing real value. People want to hear stories of those who are on the front line, in the trenches, actively doing what they’re talking about – it adds credibility and provides hugely valuable and reliable data for the readership.
5. Track Everything…
If you’re an internet marketer this should be a given, but I’m going to force it down your throat anyway…
You really must track each and every article that you publish so you don’t waste your time sending articles to sites that don’t get you results. I know how many visitors every article I’ve had published this year has sent to my site – and I know how many of these visitors turned into subscribers.
With this data I can make absolutely certain that when I write an article I will always make a return on my time investment. If a site only sends me 10 to 20 visitors per article, then it’s not worth my time to write articles for publication. If, however, I know that each article I write will generate me 180 visitors then for me that’s a worthwhile investment.
This is Really Powerful…
The beauty of generating traffic with this approach is that competition simply isn’t a factor – you are simply leveraging the popularity of other web sites. It’s a win-win situation for you and the publishers – you get valuable traffic and they get fantastic content that will not only attract a greater readership but will also help bring in more traffic from Google.
This is written by guest author Paul McCarthy at paulmccarthy.co.uk. If you’d like to learn how to make a full time living working from home, then sign up at his site and he’ll teach you personally for free. He is a star guest blogger at QOT and you can read more articles by Paul. Get your own tag on our site by guestblogging here.