How To Make Real Money With Articles
September 28th, 2008If you think of yourself as an online marketer, you will probably have tried to make money with article marketing. Whether or not you think of yourself as a writer, this is one of the simplest and most effective forms of making money online. The basic formula is very simple: just write an article on your subject area, add a hyperlink to your site, and submit to article directories.
But there are a few basic things that you must do if you want to actually bring in the dollars with your article. If you do not think about these points before you start, you could be wasting all of your precious time. And time is money, right?
The first thing to consider is why you are writing your article – from two very different points of view. Firstly, what is the article’s main point for the reader? And secondly, how is it going to make you money?
Maybe from your point of view, your only reason for writing an article is to be making money online. But if you do not appear to have any motivation that helps or informs the reader, they will be turned right off. The benefit to the reader must be very clear, and your make-money motives should be well hidden.
So keep in mind that the main reason for writing an article is always to inform or assist the reader. Nobody should have to guess what they are being helped with – this should not be hidden at all!
If you are selling information, you probably don’t want to give away too much. But it’s easy to pick out one point, perhaps something that you didn’t cover in your ebook, or something that is quite well known. It needs to give real value to the reader, so it should be both interesting and helpful in solving their problem or whatever need or wish they have that led them to read your article.
Keep in mind that there are some article writers submitting to directories who have no money-making motive at all. They simply want to put across their point of view. This applies particularly to people writing about subjects they strongly believe in, such as religion or politics. So imagine how you would write your article if you had nothing to sell. Then simply add a link to your site at the end.
However, do not try to stuff your article with all the information you can think of. This only confuses the reader. One point is enough if you can develop it well; three points is certainly all that you would need. Remember that the aim is to leave the reader wanting more.
Your money-making motivation for writing the article will usually take one of three forms: branding (getting your name known as an authority), lead generation (readers are directed to a squeeze page), or direct sales (readers are directed to a sales page). These can overlap but one of them will be primary.
So before you go ahead and submit your article, take a moment to think about whether it serves its dual purpose in the best possible way. Does it give readers what they want, but still leave them wanting more? And does it link to the most effective kind of page on your site – squeeze page, sales letter or a blog?
Some people make thousands from article marketing – so why not you? You are probably making some easy-to-fix errors. Before you write another article, check out Rosie Cottis’s free report, 5 Fatal Bum Marketing Mistakes. I’ll bet you’ve been making at least one of them!
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