Ryan Moran

Step Five: Write Articles

For some people, it’s the first step that they take, but for me, I use article marketing as a way to scale my campaign once it’s shown to be profitable.

Before we dive into step five, here are the others to catch you up to speed:

Before You Start: Elbow Grease
Step One: Get To Know Your Niche
Step Two: Finding Affiliate Products
Step Three: Build A Basic Website
Step Four: Test the Market w/ PPC

With article marketing, I get a two-fer, and I rarely go through the process with only half of the benefit in mind. By correctly implementing this article marketing formula, you not only funnel insane amounts of traffic back to your websites, but you also dominate the search engines by building links back to your pages.

I’ve become known as a bit of an SEO authority over the years, and it has come not by my own claims, but from other people noticing that I can dominate almost any term that I target. To be honest with you, though, I don’t know much more of the “technical” side of search engines than the average person. My real expertise comes from generating a ton of links… and the majority of my links come from this article marketing strategy.

I call it the Affiliate Funnel, and here’s how it works:

1) Find 25 terms that I can easily dominate (I usually use Micro Niche Finder).
2) Write or outsource articles to be written about each key term.
3) Post the articles on EzineArticles.com and HubPages.com
4) Link the articles to one another.
5) Ping them at PingOat.com
6) Submit them to RSS feeds at FeedSubmitter.com
7) Bookmark them at SocialMarker.com
Submit them to Article Marketer and link back to the source.
9) Put them through Unique Article Wizard and link back to the source.

Basically, I follow Travis’s Bum Marketing Method, but I do it very aggressively, because I build a bunch of backlinks to each article. In fact, if you followed only up through step seven, you’d still be able to dominate most bum marketing terms that you target.

The reason that I go through this entire process is two-fold: first, it gets my articles onto the front page of Google for its key terms, and second, it elevates the quality of the backlink to my site.

In reality, I don’t really care if I dominate the front page of Google unless those pages have links back to my website, because my ultimate goal is to drive traffic to my website and have it be in the top three listings of Google for my “money” terms. And because I’ve already tested the market with PPC, I know which terms are going to be profitable.

Following this method, I build a pyramid of links: my RSS feeds and pings draw attention to the articles, and the Article Marketer submissions build links back to the original source. The bookmarks build high PR links back to the article, and the article links to my money page.

This is best outlined in this image that I totally ripped off from Todd at LongTailTreasure.com:

Following this method (and mixing in pings, bookmarks, and submissions to other directories), it is easy to achieve front page listing on Google for a long tail keyword.

I then “funnel” that traffic back to my money page and use a keyword-rich link to guide them there. In this way, I get on the front page for my 25 terms and “funnel” the traffic back to my money site.

And of course, I get my two-fer in the fact that all 25 articles link back to my original site, helping it climb the ranks of the search engines.

After one round of article promotions, you can rank all over the place for your selected terms, brings tons of traffic back to your web pages and affiliate links, and start making sales. I usually see a jump in sales after completing this process, but I don’t stop until my web page is at the top of the search engines.

I caught word this week that I’m the #1 affiliate for a very popular Clickbank product. You wanna know how I did it?

A month ago, I was seeing a big drop in sales and decided that I had to get my web page to the top of Google. I ran the Article Funnel strategy on it THREE times, and I’m now at the top of Google for my terms. This month, my sales are up almost 50% for this product, my advertising costs are down, and I’m their #1 affiliate.

This month, I’m also seeing a 50% jump in my best selling, most profitable affiliate promotion. You know why? I ran the Article Funnel on this campaign, bringing lots of traffic to my articles, and my web page now has a double listing on the front page of Google.

I could go on and on about the benefits of using article marketing, but all you really need to know is that it will get you traffic to your web pages, and linking back to your sites will increase its Google ranking.

But it simply isn’t enough to write ONE article and wait. Please don’t do that. Do not agonize over a campaign and then stop and hope for the best. No, you need to write and write and write and build and build and build. Once you’ve tested a market with PPC and have found key terms that convert, you need to build that sucker until he’s on the front page of Google. You need to write articles on long-tail keywords so that you can capture those visitors and turn them into sales.

Bottom line: article marketing is a super-fast way to get your content in front of the market and take advantage of search traffic. You can funnel all of your article readers back to your websites, which contain your affiliate links. And over time, building links back to your site will increase your Google ranking, which will skyrocket your profits.

This stuff takes time, and it isn’t mindless work. You need to HUSTLE. You need to hustle your articles to the top of Google, and you need to hustle to get a lot of them out there for their link juice.

People want to know where you can get free traffic… well, this is how. Put your stuff out in front of the market by writing on topics that they care about. How do you know what they care about? Find what they’re searching for. Don’t know what to write about? Hire somebody to do it, or pick a different niche that you CAN write about.

Put something valuable in front of the market, and they’ll come back to your site and get connected… whether that be with a product, with your character, or your email list… but that is for next week…

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My first $1,000 day was unconventional from most internet marketers, because I didn’t earn it as an internet marketer. In fact, it was my $1,000 day that inspired my internet marketing career. It was the biggest influx of cash that I had ever seen… and it came on the day of my high school graduation party.

The $20 and $50 checks from family members and family friends all added up, and most of my friends blew their grad money on guitar amps and parties…

Unlike them, I bought a website hosting package and invested in PPC.

I clung onto that money as tight as possible. Heck, my limit on Google Adwords was only $5/day, but I made it profitable until I felt comfortable to spend more.

Once, I posted in a forum that I had a major problem: my ROI was so high that I was running short on cash to pay my Adwords bill before my first Clickbank check came in. The replies went something like, “Ha! Nice PROBLEM you got there, Ryan.”

And when the checks did arrive, my mother asked me what type of illegal activity I was involved in.

Today, PPC is still the single most profitable investment that I make on a daily basis, and my strategy has barely changed.

There’s two ways that I approach the PPC game:

When I am testing a market, the conversion ratio of a product, or just don’t have a lot of money to blow on a certain project, I only bid on product names. This makes it easy to write very specific ads, make very specific landing pages, and achieve high conversions. When I first followed the method of bidding only on product names, I had my first $100 day in only four days.

When I’m scaling a project, I bid on more general keywords, and I actually lose money until I eliminate the terms that do not convert and optimize my click through ratio enough to get my costs down. You should avoid doing this unless you’re prepared to lose $500 before you start to see a profit.

Here is what has made the difference in my campaigns, and I ALWAYS follow these tips:

1) Create very small ad groups with only a few keywords. Do not attempt to target more than a few keywords with the same ads. Your click through ratios will suffer and it will be harder to track your progress. Focus on a few keywords in each group and monitor their CTR and conversions.

2) Always split test different ads against one another. I recommend having two to three ads rotating at a time to test their click through ratios. I often have one ad that serves as my constant, and I test one to two ads against it. When you find an ad that beats your constant, you can ad it to the mix or use it as the new constant. Always strive for higher click throughts on your ads.

3) My most valuable, profitable PPC tip that I can possibly provide: Do what others aren’t. For a long time, I did very well with ad headlines that said, “Do Not Buy This Program.” This got crazy high CTRs and made me a lot of money, but the market caught up to me, and soon there were a ton of ads that looked just like mine. As a result, my CTRs started to drop, and I had to find a new highly-profitable ad.

You’ll often hear it said that you should get the keyword into your ad as much as possible so that it is bolded and stands out from the other ads. I’ve found this to be true only when other people aren’t doing it. If your ad is bold and other ads aren’t bold, then you stand out. But if all the ads are bold, and yours isn’t, then your ad also stands out. Remember, you’re in competition for clicks, and you need to stand out from the other advertisers.

Strange as it seems, you don’t always need to have a profitable campaign in order to consider PPC a success. The key is to see which keywords are bringing in sales, and to see if the market is buying at all. Even if you are reaping a loss, it is a very good sign when you are seeing sales, because the campaign can be adjusted as time goes on.

PPC is the most profitable investment that I make in my business, and it shouldn’t be something that is feared. That is, of course, unless you do it carelessly. If you create small ad groups that stand out from the other advertisers, and your landing pages are targeted for the keywords in your campaign, then you put yourself in the best position to see positive results. And even in the scenario that you turn a profit, you can still refine it if there are sales.

Folks, we are building businesses here, and PPC has been the best money that I’ve spent into my business. If you ain’t nervous about it, then you ain’t growing.

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Before we begin, I have a very short, very blatant promotion: I’m selling one of my niche sites. (See how quick that was?) Now, let’s begin:

Every niche, every search term, every forum, and every crowd of hungry buyers has a list of relevant products that you can promote as an affiliate.

Once you have entrenched yourself into a niche via forums and social networks, and you understand the mindset of your prospect, then you are ready to give them exactly what they want and make handsome affiliate commissions in the process.

There are two ways to sell stuff to a hungry crowd:

1) You can pick a product and attempt to jam it down the throat of your market.

Or

2) You find what the market already wants and give it to them.

Both of them work; we’ve all been “sold” on stuff. But remember that people LOVE to buy, but they HATE being sold. Therefore, sales method #2 is way easier.

With that in mind, there are an endless supply of affiliate networks and programs to match you with something that will sell well to your niche.

The most obvious is Clickbank.com, but it comes with its own set of challenges and opportunities. Evaluating products is difficult without purchasing them (something that you should do when promoting a product heavily), and its strict stance on selling only digital products makes it difficult to promote to certain niches.

Nevertheless, there are millions of dollars to be made on Clickbank alone.

Recently, however, I have been working more and more with Amazon’s affiliate program. At a 5% commission, it can look like peanuts in comparison to Clickbank sales (unless, of course, you are selling high volume or high-ticket items), but it allows you to sell a host of physical products, and it allows you to sell a very trusted brand.

In other words, it’s easier to sell the Amazon name than it is to convince someone to purchase an ebook that they’ve never heard of.

In addition to Clickbank and Amazon, there is Convert2Media, CJ, Azoogle, Clickbooth, and a few dozen other reputable affiliate networks to choose from.

To make things easier, you can do a search over at OfferVault, which will bring up results from many different affiliate programs to match you with an offer for your niche.

However, here’s a little secret of mine:

I have had the best results with independent affiliate programs that are specific to one company or product. In other words, I dominate in-house independent affiliate programs. Since these are rarely listed on any affiliate search engine, the best way to find these is by using Google.

For example, if you’re selling bird cages, you’d search for:

“bird cages affiliate program”

Doing so will bring up a list of affiliate programs, some of which will likely be in-house. The reason I’ve had so much success with them is a direct result from working directly with the product owners, in addition to having fewer competitor affiliates.

Of course, there are full-time business dedicated to CPA offers, digital offers, physical products, continuity programs, and the like… and you should promote all of them as long as they are related and desired by your niche.

Finally, allow me to address a common concern:

“How do I promote a program when I don’t know if it’s good?”

There are two ways to answer this question:

1) Quit overanalyzing.
2) Buy the product.

If someone in a forum (or social network, or Twitter) reveals his desire for a Green Autococker Pro Paintball Gun for under $500, and I give him my affiliate link to a Green Autococker Pro Paintball Gun for $437, I’ve done my job. If there’s a problem with the order, it’s between the buyer and the seller. Quit overanalyzing.

Of course, as an affiliate, it is my job to make sure that the buyer is happy and is getting products that are going to make his life better. Therefore, if you have a product that you plan on promoting for a long time, or to a lot of people, or it takes a hard sales approach, buy the program and evaluate for yourself. It will give you insight to write better reviews and better answers to customer emails.

In the process of dominating a niche, finding affiliate programs should be the least of your worries. Find a hungry crowd, and the commissions will be there.

Next week, I’ll cover the next step in the process: building a basic website.

(Or, in the meantime, you can just buy one of mine )

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