Okay, so a lot of you guys are struggling with driving free traffic to your websites, squeeze pages and affiliate landing pages and what have you. I’ve been recommending this particular way to drive traffic to a lot of people lately, first because it’s very very simple, second because it WORKS like gangbusters.

Okay so here’s what you do.

1. Find some good keywords to target. Preferrably less than 10k competing pages, and decent search volume (you decide what ‘decent’ is – how much traffic do you want?)
2. Write a short article on each keyword. Include it in the title and sprinkled throughout the body. Members of NicheChoppers have access to my ‘Article Marketing Awesomeness’ report where I go over how I get up to 50% CTR on my articles, but if you know just some basic article marketing stuff it will suffice.
3. Submit the article to EzineArticles and possibly a few other article directories. If you are at all familiar with Article Marketing you should be used to this… if you aren’t, well read up on the subject.
4. Build one LinkWheel with each article. While you’re waiting for the articles to get approved, build one LinkWheel with each article. So for example if you’ve written/outsourced and submitted 5 articles, you would build a linkwheel with each article (duplicate content is fine) so you’d end up with 5 “wheels”.
5. REPEAT!

That’s the basic strategy. Very simple, expand as much as you wish. Try using press releases and things like that, they will really add another dimension to the whole formula.

These 5 steps to traffic generation will coincidentally add 5 new traffic sources to your website.

#1 Direct article traffic. People browsing EZA. This alone could bring you hundreds of visitors.
#2 Web 2.0 properties ranking in the search engines, and in turn referring people to your website from them.
#3 Loads of inbound links to your website (with good anchor text if you’re smart) both from web 2.0 and article directories – which helps you rank in the search engines on your own.
#4 Articles ranking in the search engines. EZA ranks well, we all know that.
#5 Direct web 2.0 traffic. People browsing the web 2.0 sites…. not so much, if any traffic from here though :P

This is really as simple as it gets, and if you can’t squeeze a few visitors and sales out of this… maybe this isn’t the right business for you?

Enjoy, take action and have fun :)

Linus

And oh… if you want more awesome stuff like this from me, I release a lot of this stuff to the guys at NC where I’m a mod… So come hang out with me there!

So I was researching some niches today and I came across this while researching the somewhat obscure ‘how to grow taller’ niche:

Yeah, what you see there is the Article directory Gleez.com at PR 4 ranking higher than our beloved EzineArticles.com, even with a worse optimized title… And it’s got an indented listing too!

I took a look at some articles there and I saw straight affiliate links in some of the articles… hmm. Moderation probably isn’t too great, but that just makes it easier for us as marketers (no, I’m not saying we should spam them…) but hey, they seem to rank well.

Now they are not likely to become the ‘next EZA’ or take over the scene as the top article directory any time soon. I’m just saying they might be worthwhile as they appear to be ranking well. Haven’t used them myself though, not yet at least.

Maybe this is something to start using? Leave your comments below.

You got it…

This has been one of my “secrets” for a long time…it’ll literally double your CTR. I promise.

The secret is, as cleverly implied by the title of this article, making your resource boxes in two paragraphs. OK, maybe not full blown paragraphs but a sentence or three in each.

Basically, the idea is that if your reader doesn’t want to click through on your “first” resource box, you throw in a second one. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

So here’s an example:

Find out exactly how I XYZ and read my complete review of Product Name here:

–> http://yourpresell.com <–

Actually, in product name they teach you step by step how to do exactly what I told you about in this article, so it’s really cool. Again, here’s my review of the product:

–> Product Name Review <–

Not word for word of course, the idea is that you have a “double” resource box, and to further increase CTR make it weave in with the article itself, so it actually appears to be a part of the article.

End your actual article abruptly, and don’t use a conclusion, so instead of:

“Introduction

Article Body

Conclusion

Resource Box”

You have

“Introduction

Article Body

Resource Box”

Get it?

In a way, you could say that your resource box is your conclusion, but your reader should feel like something is missing, and they want to read more, and that’s the actual reason they would actually click any link in the first place.

There’s a rule on Ezine Articles that prevents you from doing this too aggressively, and I’ve gotten quite a few articles rejected because of this. They tell you:

“We do not accept teaser links or phrases that require a reader to click away or reference another source in order to receive the full benefit of the article.”

So keep that in mind.

I hope this further improved you CTR, I haven’t told anyone about this before, but after further “investigation” I found that it was one of the reasons I can get my 50% CTRs. You should be able to find my other article on how to further increase your CTR as a related post below.

See ya,

Linus

I wrote a short post on DigitalPoint about how I get my 50% CTRs on the articles I write, and I shall use my wondrous copy & paste skills right on the blog…

(the thread was previously talking about what a “quality” article is, so I put up MY definition of it, from the perspective of a bum marketer)

When I say quality I don’t mean providing useful content…
Lol.

My tips would be to keep ‘em short, most of mine are closer to 250 words than 300, though some are over 400 but don’t perform nearly as well.

First I do KW research and find long tails with at least 10-20 searches a day. You can usually mutliply that number by 4-5 and it’s more accurate in my experience.

Write an article with the KW as, or in the title.

Scatter the KW out in the article.

Make it short, and then comes the almighty resource box.

I like to make it blend in with the article, so it’s not like “Hey in this article I’m gonna tell you how to …. do this, do that… BOOM, Buy this product and you’ll be infinitely awesome!”…

Just try to keep it smooth…

I like to keep that short too, and make it something like “You can get a free report on XYZ and read my complete review of ABC (“abc” is hyperlinked anchor text) on my website. To check it out just click this link www.URL.com (hyperlinked)”.

Boom, there’s your 40%+ CTR. I’ve gotten over 50% too.

The actual content in the article is most often pretty useless lol. I usually spin it off one fact I found on the first result in google. Doesn’t matter what you say really. Just make it a bitching long introduction to the article, tell the fact, boom, resource box.

Hope you liked it!

Linus

Image via Wikipedia

A lot of people seem really focused on what they’re doing… sure, that’s a good thing but you’re leaving money on the table.

What I’m talking about, more specifically, is methods of marketing – whatever – on the internet.

As I hang out on the DigitalPoint Forums, (in the CB section)
a lot of people are totally focused on… wait for it…

EzineArticles.

Seriously, it’s all so narrow minded. EzineArticles isn’t the end-all be-all solution to article and bum marketing on the internet. Read the report to find out the difference between the two… Definition of a Bum report.

Alright, I admit… the other ARTICLE DIRECTORIES aren’t perhaps that important and I don’t really use any other directory too much.

But guess what?

There’s more than article directories.

HUB SITES!!!

Yes it’s seriously worth a triple exclamation mark.

What’s a hub site?

Well, I’ll tell you a few, and we’ll see if you get it.

• Squidoo
• HubPages
• Blogger
• WordPress.com
• LiveJournal
• Tumblr
• Xanga

Yes, I know you’ve probably heard of… well at least the first four?

If not you REALLY SHOULD HAVE!

Just because some of them are blog platform doesn’t mean you have to use ‘em like that.

A single post could be enough, actually a single post is all you want in some cases.

All these places rank well in the search engines and that’s all I need to know.

Imagine a site, where you could place whatever freaking kind of content you wanted to… for free… and no pesky *coughexpertcough* reviewers… instant approval… bitchin’ high PR… sometimes a 12 hour google indexing.

Seriously, the last wordpress.com blog I set up was indexed (and brought immediate traffic) in less than 12 hours.

Sure, EzineArticles is great, I use them all the time… but DIVERSIFY!

Seriously, what would you guys do if EzineArticles were your only source of traffic, and one day they maybe got in legal trouble, or had to close down for any other reason?

It’s not too likely, but is it a completely crazy idea?

No, it really isn’t so “out-there”.

Now I don’t think that it WILL happen, but I’m not saying that it won’t.

This was pretty much the entire point of me coming online to make money, in a long term sense anyway.

To not be dependant on one source of income… to not be dependant on one source of traffic… to not be dependant on anyone else for any reason!

I really hope I got my point across in this post, so you EA fanboys can have something else to occupy your time with.

Also, I’ve heard that people said “I’ve tried using Squdioo, it didn’t work!”.

You know what?

Some of the most popular marketers on the planet use Squidoo… Squidoo was the place where Bryan McConnahea from Players With Money generated a $6000+ affiliate payday with no website, no list and no money.

And to say that Squidoo don’t work would be the craziest thing I’ve heard when it comes to bum marketing. Complete and utter bullshit.

They rank in the Big G and other search engines just as well, if not better, than EA.

“Maybe it’s not the car, maybe it’s crap behind the wheel” as we like to say here in Sweden.

The only thing that prevents Squidoo from working is yourself. Hell, they even allow affiliate links!

Actually, I’d say that Squidoo and Hubpages are better than any article directory.

And you know what?

This does not only apply to article and bum marketing. It applies to any way of marketing, whether it’s PPC, email marketing or whatever you do. Think about it…

Now I’ve been typing for way longer than I had intended to, so I’ll just end it with this next period.

Hey I just got an email from Gary Baker, as I’m on his list. The email is definitely about bum marketing, though he doesn’t mention that particular word.

So, it’s directed at newbies and it went like this:

Hi there Linus.

If you are short on money, here’s the best way to
start a free online business and do it quickly.

Before you get started…

Just because you’re starting a free online business
doesn’t mean you have to take a back seat to all the
other businesses who have snappy websites and great
products.

You can do the same thing and do it without any money
out of your pocket. Now you will still need to invest
something, and that something is your time.

So let’s get your free online business off the ground
and making you some profits.

You’re going to be selling affiliate products. These
products are created by other people. You will get a
commission on each sale you make.

And the best part about this is you have a free online
business so each sale you make is pure profit.

First you will want to go to…

http://clickbank.com/marketplace.htm

There you’ll notice thousands of products that you
can sell and make some nice profits from. Take some
time to search through them.

Even though you have a free online business you now
have an endless supply of products to make money on.

Pick out a minimum of five products that get’s you
excited.

Make sure to sign up for your free affiliate account
while you are there. You’ll be paid every two weeks
by check for all sales you make.

Once you have your five products ready, you want to
sit down and write five articles on each product for
a total of 25 articles.

Yes you have a free online business and you need some
advertising if you’re going to make sales. Articles
are a great way for you to get thousands of dollars in
free ads.

Anyway, your articles should be around 350 each and
contain useful and helpful information on your product
topics.

Now go to http://goarticles.com and sign up for a free
account there. This is where you will submit your
articles.

You will use your “resource box” at the end of the
article as a small advertisement for your product.

Just include your affiliate link in the resource
box and submit your articles. Within a day or two
you should start seeing some traffic to the
affiliate products that you wrote on.

You are now running a free online business that will
eventually start bringing you in profits.

All you have to do is keep writing and submitting
25 new articles each week and your free online business
will become a real money maker.

Talk to you soon,
Gary

I was like… is it really that simple?

And when I thought about it… I thought, Yes, it really could be. In fact, that would be a great way to get started. Not only will you make money, but you’ll learn how to write good articles and good copy and most importantly: how to sell.

It’s a brilliant way to get started, and this is essentially what I do, except my system is like a hundred times more complex and advanced, hehe.

And, I hang around at the DigitalPoint Forums if you didn’t know that, and there’s people there that make 5 figures every month using only free methods, meaning that it’s all profit and no expenses…

How does 10 big ones of pocket money every month sound?

No, I’m not there yet but it’s something I’m working towards.

So if you’re looking to get started making money online, I’d suggest the Gary Baker bum method.

//Linus

Yep, it’s called AffSphere, and I reckon it’ll be pretty big soon. It offers 8 income streams just through this article directory.

So that’s an overview of how this AffSphere thing works. I’ll be sure to use AffSphere a lot in the future, and the Ad Credit thing is really cool too.

So yah, go check out AffSphere right now.

AffSphere

2009 update… the dude isn’t really that awesome. Last time I checked he was an idiot. Blocked me on msn because of my age, real mature right? He’s just a bodybuilder dude who thinks he’s better than everyone else :)

A guy over at the Digital Point Forums, namely “Supper” is now my friggen role model, or something. I hope that makes you happy Supper, as you’re probably reading this.

The dude has been pumping out like 30 articles a day for months now, which is just insane… but profitable. He’s got $500- something in his clickbank account right now. He made me realize something, which sure, I knew this, but I hadn’t really internalised it… The more work you do, the more you get as a result… If you don’t take ACTION, you will get no results, or no money in our industry.

While I have tried to educate myself and have been trying to know as much as possible, I’ve kind of gotten caught up in that and I haven’t taken a whole lot of action. Sure, I get a sale here and there, but almost entirely from my other blog, Lemonarian Life.

Sure, I now know a whole lot more than the average individual about making money online, but that will make me no money.

So anyone who’s reading this, I hope this has motivated you to start taking more action, whatever you do.

And a huge thanks to Supper, who’s the awesomest article marketer ever.

2009 update… no, I’M the awesomest article marketer ever ;)

Top Seven Ways Writing Articles Can Explode Your Business

In today’s highly competitive internet universe, the importance of attracting highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be overemphasized. Routing web traffic to your site can be your only means of survival, especially in the cutthroat world of ecommerce. Getting a high search engine ranking can be very difficult. Fortunately, there is plethora of website promotion strategies you can use to drive traffic to your website.

There is a wide variety of strategies you can adapt, from paid advertising to affiliate marketing. However, most of these techniques require payment. Nevertheless, there are ways to promote your website and increase your web traffic without spending anything. Writing articles is one of the best web site promotion strategies you can use, and they can be very effective. How, you may ask, can writing articles help improve your web traffic? Here are the top seven ways in which it can help explode your business.

1.Reach more people

When you write good articles, it would be a shame not to share them with other people. You can post your articles in your website or you can submit them to other sites such as e-zines and online publishers. By submitting your articles to these sites, you give exposure not only to your ideas but also to your website. Simply include a link back to your site or include your information in the resource box. With this, you get exposure and free advertising as well. Submit your articles to popular e-zines and take advantage of their popularity. Other sites who find your article relevant may also link back to you. Thus, you increase your link popularity, which is one of the most important strategies in the internet world. Remember that most people are looking for information online and by filling this need with your quality article; you may reap the benefit of more exposure and higher web traffic.

2.Free Advertising

Submitting your articles to other websites presents an opportunity to advertise your website without paying exorbitant fees. Although you should avoid marketing language in your articles and make it informative and useful to your readers, you can always include your site’s link in the resource box. In addition, by making your article relevant and helpful to your readers, you are making a good impression for your website, which could ultimately lead to a visit and hopefully a purchase. Good quality content in an article is far better and more effective than a few lines of ad space. You have a very special opportunity to presell your product or service to your prospective customer.

3.Gain High Search Engine Ranking

Create a new web page for your article in your website. Optimize your article to make it search-engine friendly. Use top-ranked keywords and Meta tags that can give your website a high search engine ranking. As soon as you upload your new webpage to your server, search engines will spider through it and you can gain an increase in search engine ranking. Remember that search engine optimized content is a very effective strategy to gain a high ranking in search results.

4.Increases Link Popularity

Instead of looking for other sites who would want to establish reciprocal links with your site, you can simply submit an article to other sites. Just do not forget to include a link to your site in your resource box. When these websites pick up and publishes your article, you automatically get a link partner. Try to get as many link partners as you can. Link popularity is one of the factors used by search engines in determining search engine rankings. Make your article especially useful and appealing, so that more websites will be encouraged to publish it.

5.Optimizes your site for improved search engine ranking

By making your site keyword rich, you can greatly improve the search engine ranking of your site. Remember that keyword density is one of the most important factors that search engines use when determining the search engine ranking of site. However, you should always provide relevant, useful and pertinent information. Avoid the temptation of overusing keywords just to gain a high ranking as this may turn off most web surfers. Relevance and quality is still the most important things to consider when writing articles and it will be doubly useful to your site if you make these articles search-engine optimized.

6.Establishes a Good Impression and Reputation

By writing excellent, original and relevant articles, you not only give your site exposure, you are also creating a good impression on your prospects. Encourage more people to visit your site and do business with you by establishing an impressive reputation through your articles. Be seen as an expert in the field and your will ultimately gain more customers eager to do business with you.

7.Enhances your credibility through references and testimonies

Certainly, your articles are going to receive feedbacks and testimonies when you publish them in e-zines and free article sites. Record these positive feedbacks and comments and use them as promotional material in your website or in any of your advertising efforts. Your credibility will be greatly enhanced by these feedbacks, as it will create a good impression on your prospects as well as your existing customers. In this highly competitive world, excellent credibility and trust may be the only things you need to attract new customers or make loyal patrons out of your existing customers. Original, relevant, useful and pertinent articles are important tools you should utilize to improve and explode your business

Wanna know more about HOW to actually write your articles… Really, really FAST Check out this amazing offer from Andrew Hansen.

Click: Article Speed Writing

Lol, sorry for the blatant promotion, but the system does work.

Thanks for reading,

Linus