Writing articles is a very effective way to get one way links to your site as well as to have people learn more about your website or service. However, there are ways to do this that can make you more successful versus have your articles be overlooked and not considered.
Shane Pearce has written the Lazy Man's Guide to Article Writing which outlines some helpful tips. I was first impressed with his tip that when you submit your article to an ezine publisher or a webmaster, that you can offer him to use his own affiliate link in place of your own. For instance, if you have written an article on motivation and have a link to a clickbank ebook on motivation and goals, you can offer the publisher that he use his own affiliate id instead of yours. What this means is that the ezine or website publisher will be getting a free article already written with a link that may give him some monetary income. You still would have your own information in your resource box at the end, so people can click to your website as well. Think about what the website publisher you write to will get out of the exchange and find a way to make his or her life easier.
Other tips he gives are to read frequently asked questions to find out what people want to know about in terms of popular topics. Shane discusses how to make a viral ebook based on a faq niche that can be passed around. If there are frequently asked questions on a topic that is a sign that the topic has an interest as well as the fact there may be an interest in some guide or tutorial.
Also I like the sample autoresponder examples he uses as well as different ideas for a signature file at the end of one's article. I think he is very good at showing how to integrate a couple of affiliate links without being pushy. He recommends sending people to opt-in to a mailing list as part of your signature file.
Another section I found useful discusses how to create checklists and use them both for your website and in articles that lead back to your website. People like checklists. Shane discusses how to use these. They also help break through writer's block or paralysis because you can have a list of steps .
There are ideas given about utilizing both 2-tier affiliate programs and residual income programs that will help you keep you earning as your articles circulate around the net. Shane gives some interesting suggestions on types of sites that work for this.
I also like that Shane gives an example of a flop he did of an unsuccessful attempt at marketing. He analzyes it and compares it to something someone else wrote he feels was better expressed. It is a very interesting study covering various ways to get your articles noticed and published. I publish articles regularly but learned some valuable tips from this ebook.
