Writing articles can be an easy way to promote your site and affiliate programs. It is by far one of the easiest things that nearly anybody can do and see results. When you write articles and submit them to article directories and ezines you not only get valuable back links. You get the chance to put your material in front of more visitors than you normally could your self.
Like most things in Internet marketing you first have to find a topic to write about. In this case though we are not going to search for keywords that are easy to rank in. You are going to determine the topic of your article by choosing a product to promote.
Preferably this topic should have something to do with your site's or blog's main topic. If you do not have a site or blog don't worry. You can either start up a blog to post them on or simply skip posting your own articles at all.
People out there have been know to make money by promoting affiliate programs in articles without even having a site of their own. It is highly recommended that you have your own articles posted on a related blog or site but it is not necessary.
Now that you have a general idea about what you are going to write about you need to find a product to promote in it. The easiest way to do this is by using clickbank dot com. It is completely free to signup for an affiliate and you will find products on most anything you can think of there. To find a product simply search for your main keyword or browse the category your topic belongs to.
You should not have to hard of a time finding a product. In fact you may find several products. To narrow it down to just one though you will want to choose one with a high gravity or near the top. These products sell better than other ones that are similar. The main reason for this is because they simply have a better sales page. These products should give you better results.
At this point you should have a topic and a product to promote. It is now time to start writing your article. If you know about your topic this will be allot easier. If not don't worry you can find the information you need online. The best place for you to search is on Google for "Main Keyword Forum" with main keyword being your topic.
You will find literally tons of information on forums. These are by far the best places to look since you will also see what questions people are asking. If you can write an article on a common problem in your articles topic market and how to work around it or solve it that would be great. You know that people are looking for the information so your article should get some good attention.
After you are done browsing around the forums you should plenty of good information to write about as well as knowing the target markets main problems. Now all you have to do is start putting all of that new found information into your article.
You don't want to just throw a bunch of information together. You must follow the outline of an article to ensure that it gets picked up by several sites and blog's (more on this later).
The object of your article is to be informative and entertaining. It is hard enough to get a person to look at a banner or classified ad. You want your article to be inviting and interesting so that your viewer will read the entire thing. If your article looks like a big advertisement people will quickly hit the back button and not many sites will publish it.
There are five main types of article styles that you can use. The first of which is the how to. This is by far the most popular and the easiest way to slip in an affiliate link or two. It is easy to sell something that makes the process you are writing about easier or quicker.
Do not be bold though, this will turn people off. Simply say something like "If you have The Great Product skip steps 3 - 5. For now we will just assume that you don't though". This is subtle and one of the best ways to pull in results.
The second type of article is the opinion based article. No matter what industry or business you work in there will be new developments, and products. This is a good chance for you to tell the public more about this product or service and slip in your affiliate link. You can easily find something to write your opinion about. Try to write an article about how said product will effect the industry or how it effects your business.
The third type of article is a personal story / inspirational essay. Human interest stories like these are another popular format. You can simply write about your experiences being in your industry or why you started your business. Perhaps throw in an affiliate link to a product that helped you. If possible try to make it humorous or inspirational and if you can pull it off make it both.
The fourth type of article is a book excerpt or condensation. This is the best kind of article to write if you own the product you are promoting. You can simply make a chapter into an article or two to give as a teaser or write a condensed article based on the ideas discussed in the product.
The fifth and final article type is a top ten list. It does not really have to be a top ten. It can be a top seven list or whatever you want but a top ten list article is the most popular. You should easily be able to write an article on the "top five must have TV features" and then make a recommendation towards the end.
Now that you have a good idea of what you article will look like and what information it will contain it is time to start writing. Every article must follow a very basic outline. If you fail to skip over this simple step your article will not get picked up or read.
You will want to keep your articles paragraphs small. Three to four lines should be plenty with the occasional one sentence paragraph. This makes your article easy to read. Most viewers will simply skip over or skim any big blocks of text you have in your article.
The first part of your article is your headline. This should be very much like you would see on a sales letter. The sole purpose of the headline is to grab the readers attention and to stir up curiosity. If your headline is poorly written the rest of your article will not even get looked at. This is by far the most important part of your article.
The second part of your article is the opening paragraph. This paragraph should give a brief overview of what you will discuss and help pull the reader in even further. It should be interesting and leave the reader with some questions in which you will answer in your article. This is the second most important part of your article. If you can keep them interested through this they will most likely read the rest of your article.
The third part of your article is the body. This section will contain the bulk of your information. You should constantly keep throwing valuable information to your reader and avoid any fluff and filler. Your article should be as long as it needs to be and no longer. Keep it short, to the point and simple.
The fourth part of your article should be the conclusion. This section should be one or two paragraphs and review what the reader learned. You should also finish off your article with a call to action or some inspirational words. You always want to end your articles on a high point. This will give your readers the feeling that they did not waste their time.
The fifth and final part of your article should be the authors BIO. This is the place that you will put information about yourself and your place your affiliate link. When putting your affiliate link use something like "To Learn More About Great Product Please Visit - Affiliate Link". This does not look like blatant advertising and will get you more clicks.
At this point you should have an informative article that promotes a product through your affiliate link. So the next thing you should do is prep your article for submission. In addition to what you have already wrote you will need a summary and some keywords.
Your summary should be about three sentences long and give an overview of your article. Make sure that your summary is interesting and pulls the reader in. Often times your headline and summary are the only thing shown when someone is searching so make them count.
Now make a list of keywords that are related to your article. This will help search engines find your article and help it get better rankings. You are now ready to submit your article.
There are several article directories to submit your article to. I will leave it up to you to find directories to submit to. If you simply type in "article directories" you should get a list of hundreds. I suggest that you submit to the top twenty or so to get good coverage. The more directories you submit to the more chances you have of sites publishing your article.
Most all article directories are the same. You will have to first sign up for an authors account. Then you can start submitting as many articles as you like. It can take as little as an hour and as much as a month to get your articles approved. Keep in mind that these people have tons of articles to go through. So instead of wondering when they are going to get reviewed write another article.
Article writing is one of the easiest ways to make money promoting affiliate programs. Once you get into your article writing groove it will take less time to write and submit each article. Like with most things the only way to improve is through practice.
Keep writing articles on your chosen topic until you think you have covered all the topics basis. Once you are done with that topic move on to a new product and a new topic. If you continue to do this you will eventually find affiliate sales coming from all directions.
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