P.S. Thanks to Rita Cartwright who wrote a helpful reply to the New Coach Connection group about changing the embed settings in YouTube.
Article marketing: Where is the best place to submit your articles?
An Idea Generator reader asked, "How can I manage my article marketing efforts? Specifically, what are the best sites to post on and how do I monitor what’s working/not working so that I can determine where I am getting my best ROI and focus my efforts on posting to those sites or writing about those topics?"
There was a wonderful and vibrant discussion about this topic earlier in September on the New Coach Connection (NCC). If you join today, you can search the discussions for "EzineArticles" and read all of the posts.
Kathy Mallary, a consistent, generous and wise contributor to the NCC list and blog, shared a link to this post on the Copylicious blog, A tale of two article submission sites. In it, Kelly makes some excellent points that really had me pondering the future homes of my own articles.
This was also around the same time that one of my articles was flagged by EzineArticles, "because it contains a link which promotes a mass article generator, which we do not allow." Of course they were referring to my Top 10 Article Generator, which I promote in my author resource box. When I followed the instructions to get it cleared up, I got no response and had to follow up again.
Eventually the article was released, but I must say the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. And as many of you know, I've been a long-time fan.
Regarding ROI and statistics, when reviewing EzineArticles' robust statistics, I discovered that I actually have a very LOW click-through rate from my writing and editing articles. People are reading them, and even sometimes emailing them and publishing them on their own websites and newsletters, but they're not clicking the link in my author resource box. At least not as often as I'd like them to.
I haven't done a thorough analysis of why the author resource box wasn't working for me, but I did rewrite it so that my new articles will hopefully get more click-throughs. I haven't yet gone back to change the articles I've already published (sounds like a job for my VA!).
Whatever stats are available to you, review them regularly to see which articles get the most interest, AND which articles lead to actual results for you.
I've often suggested that people submit to both general and targeted article directory sites. For a new article directory site that is laser-focused on helping coaches find clients, check out Coach Spotlight.
Article marketing: From a small splash to a big ripple
In response to my birthday request for article marketing questions, one Idea Generator reader asked, "How will splashing free content all over the Web generate money for me?"
Posting articles online can have a huge ripple effect on the growth of your business. It starts with traffic back to your website, when members of your target market stumble upon your wise words as they search online for solutions to their problems.
Back at your website, they hopefully find a pink spoon (yes, more free content), that goes into greater depth and provides more insight into their problem (and how YOU can solve it).
Now that person is on your newsletter list, having signed up when they downloaded your pink spoon. Your newsletter includes articles (yes, more free content) about the specific topic they are interested in. Only now you're sending the articles directly to them by email, they don't have to go out and find them.
Your newsletter also includes personal notes and questions, both of which help to express your concern and understanding about the challenges your readers face. And this helps you grow your relationship and deepen the sense of trust between you.
Occasionally, you'll send out a notice about a product or service, designed specifically to address the very problem you've been writing articles about. And because your reader has grown to know, like and trust you, they will be far more likely to consider your offer than if it was from a stranger.
From the small ripple of a free article, to a solid relationship with your ideal client. That's the power of article marketing!
Article marketing: Drafting and writing, what’s the difference?
In a previous post about finding time for article writing, I mentioned that there are several different tasks that you need to make time for. I started with brainstorming, and here are three more of them.
Drafting time
I like to write a minimum of two blog posts per week (and some of those will be full-length articles, but certainly not all of them), and I usually start the process with a drafting session. When I’m drafting, I develop my ideas into outlines or rough drafts of my articles, without too much concern for flow, grammar or readability. I really just want to get everything down – like a “brain dump.”
For more clues about the best way to start drafting your articles, check out this post about writing structures.
Writing time
My writing sessions are more about refinement and detail – clarifying my main topic, checking the overall structure of my article, finding the links to previous blog posts, etc. I prefer to have a day or two between drafting and writing, so that I can get some space and perspective on the topic before I come back to the article.
Proofreading time
Sometimes I proofread at that point as well, though ideally I will do that a few hours later or the next day – again, a little space does wonders to help me be objective and put myself in my reader’s shoes. In my proofreading session, I look for common writing, grammatical and typing errors.
When I choose to borrow (or hire) another set of eyes to help with proofreading, I have to plan extra time for that in order to meet my delivery date.
Article writing may seem like magic, but it just requires a series of specific and deliberate actions. Be sure to block out time in your schedule for all of these important article writing tasks.
Clearing the way for creativity
Well, I could relate to this cartoon more than I liked to admit, but it actually came my way after I'd already asked someone to come over and help me with my messy computer cables. Yesterday we got down to it, and the situation is much improved!
See for yourself:
Before my computer-cable-clutter-clearing session
After my computer-cable-clutter-clearing session
Hmmm, the photos really don't do it justice. You'll just have to trust me when I say I feel much more breathing space around my desk, where I do most of my creative work.
I've written quite a bit about clutter and creativity, and you can take this Clutter and Creativity Quiz for Artists if you suspect that your own article writing creativity might be hiding under a pile of clutter.