Are PLR (Private Label Rights) Articles Worth Using?

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on March 5, 2010

I will give a non-committal answer. It depends. Private Label Rights come in two varieties, exclusive rights and non-exclusive rights.

Non-Exclusive Rights

The most common are the non-exclusive rights. These articles are sold in packages and you can do whatever you want with them. You can resell them. You can publish them “as is” or you can rewrite them and add your own voice to the content.

If you decide to use them “as is” and publish them, you run the risk of almost certain duplicate content labeling by search engines. That is not the best use for PLR articles. Most PLR packages contain a wide variety of niches. The articles vary in length. They can be anywhere from 300 to 600 words long. Some packages include a list of keywords.

Packages can be sold individually as a one-time purchase or you can buy into a monthly membership. Individual packages sell for as little as $5 and up. Monthly memberships run under $50 per month and on up.

There is an old saying I know that you are familiar with, “You get what you pay for.” That is most certainly true of the PLR market. Much of it is garbage. Unfortunately, you don’t know it until after you buy the package and review the contents. So, be very careful who you buy from and check around the internet forums for any comments or references before you buy.

Please remember that many of these packages are sold. They are all floating around the internet.

Exclusive Rights

Exclusive rights are those rights that give you ownership of the contents. That includes the claim of authorship and the copyright to the material.

PLR packages with exclusive rights are rare. Maybe even non-existent. If you search the web for ‘exclusive rights PLR’ you get a myriad of hits. If you look closely, you will find that they are not truly exclusive. Most give you the right to claim authorship but hold back the copyright. Without the copyright, you do not have ownership. Depending on the conditions of PLR package you can resell it, give it away, or put your name on it. They are no different than the non-exclusive PLR packages mentioned before.

So, what are exclusive right PLRs? If you hire a writer to write articles for you, upon acceptance and payment, you own the article. You have the copyright. You paid for it. It is yours. There are reputable companies that provide this service. Elance is the most popular. You have to scour through the internet and search since there are many to choose from.

Using PLRs

On occasion I use PLRs. I always rewrite them. I use them when I know very little about the subject I am writing about. It educates me and gives me ideas on what to write. I use them if I have writer’s block. They jump start my creative juices and I am off again.

I use them for fillers on my blog, but I always rewrite them. You can use them to create a PDF file for an eBook. You can use them to make comments on blogs and forums.  PLRs have their place and should not be discounted. Just remember, it is not original content and act accordingly.

Category Categories: Article Writing, General  |  Tag Tags: , , , ,  |  Comments 1 Comment »

Building an Authority Website

Posted by James Pruitt on February 23, 2010

Building an authority website is going to be critical to your success long term. But, what makes you an authority? Today, I want to share with you the truth about creating authority within your niche. I want to show you how to make yourself stand out, no matter what niche you are in.

First, you have to understand that there is a difference between being an authority and being an expert. Most people try to create authority by pretending to be an expert. This is most obvious in the “make money online” niche. I see people every day spouting off about their expertise, yet they have never made a dime from their own websites.

So, what is an Authority Figure?

An authority figure is anyone who can give you guidance and direction within the topic of choice. They do not know everything about the topic, but they know enough to help you get started, and they know how to find the real experts.

Think of the authority figures in your offline world. A police officer is not an expert on every aspect or definition of the law. They know enough to know if you are breaking it. However, they may not know all the fine points and details. They leave that for the lawyers.

If you are building an authority website, think of yourself as a traffic director. You are there to provide valuable advice, and point people in the direction of the experts. You do not have to fix everyone’s problem. Your job is to build interest, give them a few tips to help them get started, and point your visitors to the experts who can solve their problem.

Affiliate Marketing on Your Authority Website

Now that you understand what makes an authority, how can you direct that traffic and be paid for it? The easiest way is through affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is where you get a commission for referring sales to a product or service. The best way to do this is to build up a site with around  30 articles about your topic. Focus those articles on the most common problems within your niche, why people need to solve this problem, and what they need to learn how to do. Then, give show them an affiliate product, which will show them how to solve the problem you discussed in the article.

Over time, you should continue adding more articles to your website. Start a blog, or your own forum. By doing this, you will add the ability for your users to create content for you. An authority website usually will have around 100 articles, as well as some social aspects, where your readers can join in a discussion about the problems.

This will take a long time to build up. I recommend starting out with the 30 articles, and getting your website known within the niche. Then, you can test the profitability of the niche, without wasting months of work building up a site that never makes any money.

Using Social Media to Establish Authority

As you build up your authority website, you need to start driving traffic as early as possible.  After all, if you do not market your website effectively, you will fall on your face. One way to do this is by using social media. Social media is simply any website that allows readers to join in the discussion by posting comments, and building up a conversation.

Use social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace. Meet people interested in your topic, and start up a conversation. You will be amazed by how hungry these people are for the information that you have to share. Remember, you do not have to know everything in order to be successful. Be honest about your knowledge.

Do not just spam these sites with promotions. Get to know the people there. Create relationships, help people, and then promote your website. This will give you readers who already know and trust you before they even see your website.

Building your own online business is a rewarding experience. If you are taking that first step to financial freedom, then you deserve congratulations. Focus on how you can build an authority website in your niche starting today. You will the success you want, which eludes most people who try to start their own online business.

Are you still confused about how to build an authority website?  James Pruitt is the owner of  IMRelations.com, where he teaches people the wonder of creating  customer satisfaction online. He owns several websites in various niches, is the author of several e-books. Learn more about James Pruitt, and how he can help you ease  into your marketing business today.

Category Categories: Home Based Business  |  Tag Tags: , ,  |  Comments 8 Comments »

Article Writing- Can’t Decide What Comes First, Title or Content?

Posted by Admin on February 18, 2010

Article Writing

Some claim that beginning an article by selecting the title first is best.  The title should grab your potential reader and customer. Advocates of starting an article by thinking of a title first, argue that unless you have a good title in mind, the body of the text will not flow naturally.

They believe that your focus will ramble and so will the body of the article. They argue that your content will skip from topic to topic without a logical flow. Consequently, your readers will loose interest and leave.

The title must be SEO sensitive and therefore keywords and keyword phrases are the first thing one should focus on.  Search for keywords and phrases that a customer will likely type in a search. Only after you have found good keywords, do you formulate the title. After that you can create the content and populate the content with keywords and phrases.

Others suggest that you create content first. They argue that you can be walking down a park lane and see a worm.  Out of the blue or maybe out of the dirt, you get this crazy idea about the possibility of selling something to do with worm farming.

Learn the craft of Article Writing CLICK HERE.

Ideas come from everywhere and anywhere. If you carry a notebook, you jot down some ideas. If you don’t carry a notebook, you promise yourself that you will remember the great ideas that came to you.

You rush to your computer and the words come pouring out. Now you have several hundred words of wonderful sales worthy content. You find key words and a product that fits your content.

Still, you have no title. After you have the content and said all that you have to say, you select the title again based on keywords or long tailed keywords.

Which method is better? Does it matter?  No.  So long as you ultimately submit an article with good content and SEO optimized, you have done the work.

I prefer to concentrate on the content first, and then I select an appropriate keyword title. My logic is that I choose a topic I want to promote, do the research (dig in the dirt, so to speak) and while fresh in my brain, I write the content.

I then do keyword research and modify my content to accommodate the keywords. Only then do I give my article a title. Others do it differently.

No one way is the right way. What matters is that you complete the task of article writing. Whatever way works for you.

Just do it!

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , ,  |  Comments No Comments »

Article Spinning – What You Should Know!

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on January 30, 2010

I am fascinated by spinning articles. I have made some observations that I would like to share with you. I think a good article rewriting software tool is a smart tool to have, but I also think some newer article marketers may expect the tool to do their writing for them. They may not be aware of some its limitations and how it works.

If you decide to use one be aware that many on the market are useless. They replace words randomly with synonyms or with a thesaurus and generate gibberish. If you choose to use article rewriting software make absolutely sure that you have complete control of the output and the input.

Maybe this will help explain what article spinners do and what some of their limitations are.

Let’s take a simple example. One original article with three paragraphs (1, A, and X). If your reword each of the paragraphs with two rewritten versions, you now have two additional articles with reworded paragraphs (2BY and 3CZ).

Article #1:  1 A X

Article #2:  2 B Y

Article #3:  3 C Z

You can now swap paragraphs, keeping the order of the pargraphs to make new articles. For instance, I can create an article with paragraphs 1, B, and Z and it would make sense.

But, I cannot have an article with three paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 because the article would consist of the first paragraph of each of the three versions saying the same thing only in different words.

I couldn’t create an article with paragraphs1, B, and C because the second and third paragraphs would be the same second paragraph from versions #2 and #3 using different words. Make sense?

New Articles:

1AX,1AY,1AZ,1BX, 1BY,1BZ, 1CX, 1CY,1CZ
2AX, 2AY, 2AZ, 2BX, 2BY, 2BZ, 2CX, 2CY, 2CZ
3AX, 3AY, 3AZ, 3BX, 3BY, 3BZ, 3CX, 3CY, 3CZ

A total of 27 new articles including the originals! The number of possible combinations is the number of articles you create raised to the power of the number of paragraphs in the article. In this case, 3X3X3 = 27. If you had 5 paragraphs and you changed all 5, then the number of possible articles would be 3X3X3X3X3 = 243 articles. NOTE: This formula only works if you change all of the paragraphs in your article.

The problem, of course, is determining the uniqueness of the article content or, in other words, how much duplicate content exists in these articles.

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We know that we have three 100% unique articles because we created them. What about the other 24?

We know that none of the 24 will be better than approximately 66% unique or 34% duplicate content of the original article (1AX). Why? Because there were only 3 paragraphs changed. None of the articles can have more than two different paragraphs. Two of three paragraphs equals 66%.

If you had only 2 paragraphs to change in a 2 paragraph article, none of the articles would be better than approximately 50% unique. If you had 10 paragraphs and changed all 10, the percentage would reach about 90% uniqueness. The more paragraphs the greater the uniqueness. I say approximately because the software algorithms used to compute uniqueness varies.

Another word of caution, the uniqueness of the articles is measured against the original article,1AX, NOT among themselves. So, which ones are unique and which are not? You need an article content software tool to tell you. Content comparison software is available that allows you to choose how many consecutive words, sentences or paragraphs you want to set as a minimum.

In the previous example of the 24 spun articles you will find that around half of them are 70% unique or better, if you set the measurement at 3 consecutive sentences. I choose 3 sentences because most of my paragraphs are that length.

70% is pretty good. Depending on your intent you may want to check the spun articles against one another. But again, depending on your intent that may not matter to you. When you consider that many people submit the same article to multiple directories, what’s a little duplication?

There is only one Article Spinner that I know of that delivers what it promises and it’s cheap! Click on that link and find out why!

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , , , , ,  |  Comments 4 Comments »

Website Content Writing – 4 Pitfalls to Avoid

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on January 27, 2010

You have chosen article writing as your profession. You have taken the plunge and you have learned about keyword research and niche research. You are comfortable with English grammar and style.

Yet, there are subtle pitfalls that new and seasoned website content writers and blog writers overlook. This article identifies four pitfalls to avoid when writing good quality content.

As an article writer you cannot just write whatever you want. As an article  writer, you must be aware of what the reader wants to read when they go over the article.

If they see things that they find to be inappropriately placed in the article, they will most likely scrap it and move on to find another that better fits their expectations.
Avoid these four simple oversights when writing your website or blog content:

*Poor Research

Make sure that any fact you publish can be verified. You have promised your reader that you have the information he is searching for. Don’t let him down. Do your due diligence. Research your material.

*Poor Outline

Do you want your reader to feel lost? If your article jumps from one topic or idea to another, your reader will soon tire and go elsewhere. His brain will go on overload trying to make sense of an incoherent article. I’m sure you would not want that.

Learn  how to become an expert article writer Click Here!

*Poorly Constructed Sentences

One of the basic skills of a writer is, of course, sentence construction. This means that a writer must know how to create sentences, spell words and observe parallelism.

Sentence parallelism refers to mixing word forms and phrase types that confuse the reader. Here is an example of a lack of parallelism, ‘Dave loves to ski, to bowl, and hunting.” As opposed to, ‘Dave loves to ski, to bowl, and to hunt.’

Sentence construction is important, as it is the main tool in getting the message across to the readers. If in the first few sentences, the structure is already difficult to understand, the reader will find no use in reading the entire article.

*Using $10 Words

It is in our nature to want to impress others, but using big words in an article only intimidates and alienates your reader. Samuel Johnson, British author and critic, said, “Do not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.”

Besides that, do you want the reader to move away from your article to pick up a dictionary? I doubt he will do that. More likely, he will leave and read a different article.

There are many other things that a reader would not want to see in an article. Try avoiding the problems listed in this article and increase your readership.

If you want to learn how to best get your articles written and how to get more readers, visit this sales page. It is by far the best article writing coaching course on the market.

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , , , , ,  |  Comments 23 Comments »

Article Marketing – To Spin or Not to Spin

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on January 11, 2010

Article Marketing – To Spin or Not to Spin

To spin or not to spin, that is the question. I am relatively new to internet marketing. I chose article marketing as my method of marketing because I like to write. That sounds logical enough.

In the course of writing my articles, I soon discovered two things. One, I am too particular about my writing. I edit and re-edit and re-edit. I know that there are article marketers that whip out ten, twenty, or more articles everyday.  To this day, I am not sure how they do it. I can see slaving over maybe ten articles per day.  But, more than that everyday?

I mean quality content articles, articles that provide information, that say something. Now I am not knocking those that can pump out twenty or more articles of good content. But, just how many of those authors are out there.

I mean really writing solid articles with usable information. Take this article, so far I haven’t said much. I have spouted about my disbelief. Have I truly relayed to you any useful information? No, I didn’t think so. I have almost written 200 words and have yet to give you, the reader, useful information. Maybe, this how and what those authors write to get such volume.

The second thing I discovered is that although content is king, volume is his kingdom. Content without volume is like a king without subjects. Without a kingdom, there are no revenues and the king goes broke.  The kingdom (volume) provides subjects (traffic, readers) which in turn provide revenue.

I concluded that there are at least four ways to increase your writing;

  1. Write more.
  2. Hire writers to write for you.
  3. Buy Private Label Right (PLR) articles and rewrite them or attempt to publish them as is.
  4. Spin your original articles.

 

I have already dismissed the first one for reasons I stated earlier. I am slow. The second way is too costly for me now and I fear that I would be overly critical and end up rewriting them any way. The third method I reject for the same reasons as the second. I would end up rewriting the article.

Besides, what I have seen of PLRs, the best they can do is give you ideas for articles. We are left with spinning your article. That authors spin their articles always had me wondering. Why not just write another article? Surfing the forums you hear horror stories about automatically spun articles that put out un-intelligible garbage.

Why take the time and money to input an article into a spinner only to have it come out reading like alphabet soup? And, besides all that, you are cautioned to make sure that the spun article does not exceed 30% duplicate content. Doesn’t that sound like a complete re-write? I have never been an advocate of spinning articles. It seemed to me that I would just be rehashing the same stuff over and over again.

Many article directories will accept previously published articles. Some do not. Submitting previously published articles is like a writing a syndicated column for newspapers. The same article appears in many different newspapers. Why not do the same with an article marketers article?

There is a difference. One day I was re-reading one of my articles that I came across while surfing the internet. I clicked on the link at the bottom just to make sure the link was working properly. The link worked all right, but it went to one of my blogs. Can you guess what the first post on that page was?

Yep, I had just read the same article. I found that to be annoying and, well, poor taste. I think a reader would quickly bounce off the page and go elsewhere. So, I decided to re-write the article, but I remembered that the same article was appearing in many other directories. I would have to write many different versions of that same article to give the reader some uniqueness and still convey the original message.

It was then that I became a convert to article spinning. A word of caution, most article spinners are not worth the price, free or otherwise. Be very careful, only select a spinner that allows you full control of the output and then check each spun article for uniqueness.

There is only one Article Spinner that I know of that delivers what it promises and it’s cheap! Click on that link and find out why!

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , , , ,  |  Comments 18 Comments »

Newbies, Before You Submit to Article Directories – 3 Proven Steps to Increase Sales

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on December 14, 2009

3 Proven Steps to Increase Sales

The popularity of the internet and its inexhaustible searching capabilities is a boon to article marketing. With the onslaught of article writing as a marketing technique has come a multitude of mass article distribution sites and automated article distribution software.

This technology makes the drudgery of manual article submission as simple as the push of a few buttons. In minutes, your article is exposed to hundreds of publishers. Have you ever felt that even though you submit to hundreds of article directories or even just a few, you still do not get the sales you expect?

What good is exposure in hundreds of directories without readers? I think you would agree that an approach based solely on the quantity of submissions is wasted effort.

In some circles exposure, the numbers game, is king. It is one of the most important ingredients in getting traffic and ultimately sales. The more you publish, the more money you will make.

As an article marketer, you know that there is truth in that philosophy. Unfortunately, article submitting software and mass distribution directories make it easier for article marketers to forget why they write articles.

The ease of article submission has fostered an idea that the quantity of articles is what matters most. Here are three proven steps to improve your sales before you submit to article directories.

1. Information

Aside from the desire to profit from your article, what is the purpose of writing an article in the first place? What is the primary goal of an article? I think you would agree that it is to inform.

2. Content

Be aware of your content. Content is not just information. It is information directed to a specific audience. Is the content what you promised the reader? If your readers read only the first few sentences of your article and then they move on, where is the value to your effort? Article directories love good quality content writing.

3. Copywriting

Finally, combine good informative quality content writing with good copywriting skills. Informative content will get your reader to read the article. But, will it sell the reader? Learn the basics of copywriting and your sales will jump dramatically.

Learn the art and skill of copywriting click here.

Quality content writing does not imply best-seller prose. It is, as mentioned earlier, presenting good information. You do not have to be on the New York Times bestseller list to write good informative articles.

Are your articles not getting the traffic you expect? Maybe you do write good content, but the traffic is not there.

Perhaps you should consider learning the art and skill of copywriting. Quality content writing will inform your readers. Applying the skill of copywriting to that content will close your sale.

Category Categories: Copywriting  |  Comments No Comments »

Article Writing – Passive Voice is a Good Choice Over Active Voice – 3 Reasons Why

Posted by CA Perez on December 4, 2009

You must be asking, “What in the world is he talking about?” In article writing the rule is active voice over passive voice, always. Well, that is a good rule. Yet, we overlook the fact that passive voice has its place and sometimes is a good choice over active voice. Passive can be a preferable construction.

Besides being sometimes preferable, passive voice can also be profitable. Here are three reasons for choosing passive over active voice.

  • Variety
  • Emphasis
  • Keywords

Variety

Active should be the predominant verb voice that you use throughout your article. It does help the reader understand what you are trying to say. It forces sentences to be more concise.

However, an article that uses active voice exclusively can be too staccato and sound like a monotonous drumbeat. Inserting an occasional passive voice sentence in your article writing will add some variety. In fact, in some situations, you may not have a choice or it would be awkward to use active voice.

Example (passive): “It is written, ‘Thou shall not use passive voice’.” I do not know if anyone has ever written that statement or not.

To change it to active would be awkward. “God, Shakespeare, somebody wrote, ‘Thou shall not use passive voice’.” The passive sentence has a certain mystique or quality that the active one does not have.

Emphasis

Another opportunity to use passive for emphasis is this example. Suppose you are writing an article on reasons why active is the preferred voice to use. One reason could be:

Example (passive): “Visuals are created in the reader’s mind by active voice.” Here the emphasis is on the reason, visuals. To change it to active: “Active voice creates visuals in the reader’s mind.” It is your choice.

Keywords

Here is where using passive is most profitable. As you know, emphasizing keywords in your article writing is critical to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). As in the previous example, in the passive voice, you can bring those keywords to the forefront in your titles and in your opening paragraphs to capture the reader’s attention.

Example: Let us suppose that your keyword is “apple jelly”. In a title (passive): “Apple jelly is made from good apples.” To change it to active: “Good apples make good apple jelly.” But your keyword, “apple jelly”, may not be read because it is not at the forefront.

Do not abandon passive voice just because your teacher or some computer program tells you it is not the voice of choice. In some cases, it may be the voice of choice.

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Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , , , , , ,  |  Comments 6 Comments »

Article Marketing – Write One Well Researched Article – Really?

Posted by CA Perez on November 9, 2009

I came across a novel idea at one of the blogs that I visit. It is an article marketing method not taught by most article writing coaches and teachers. This blogger’s opinion is that article marketers should write one well researched, information filled article. Write one quality article instead of writing many on the same topic to get traffic to their sites. Marketers would then promote their one article to as many sites as practical.

The theory being that because of its quality content, more people would read it. That it would or could become viral. That is, it would become like a virus spreading all over the Internet. That is a good idea. The concept is certainly worthy of a place in an ideal world. I like the idea of writing good quality content. It makes me feel that I am contributing to the knowledge base of the internet with tidbits of information.

The problem is that we are not in an ideal world. A book author writes one book at a time on a subject and then moves on to write another book on a different subject. A magazine article writer most often pre-sells his article idea or topic to a magazine editor before he actually writes the piece.

You might argue that if it works for a book author or a magazine article writer it should work for article marketing as well. Not so, the difference lies in compensation.

A book writer sells his work to a publisher. For every book sold, the author gets a royalty. Compensation for his work is up front. Upon acceptance, a free-lance magazine writer sells his article to the magazine publisher based on the amount of words in his work. His compensation is up front.

As you well know, the article marketer is not paid for his work. His compensation is totally dependent on traffic to his article or website. He may write fifty articles on the same subject but only one of those catches the eye of the internet buying public.

The blogger’s opinion mentioned at the beginning of this article fails to account for the public’s whims. Writing one article regardless of the quality of the content will more than likely be lost in the sea of cyberspace.

Whereas, writing several pieces on the same subject written in different ways may be the difference that the public is waiting for. No one knows which of the several articles will strike the public’s fancy.

The article marketer does not have the benefit of a high paid editor and sales force to market his words and create a best seller of his work. And, unlike the magazine writer, the article marketer has no way of knowing if his work will generate income. The magazine writer gets paid up front.

An article marketer must test the waters with his articles until one of them is written in such a way that the internet public will make it a “most read” article and the trickle of clicks from his work filters down to a product, producing income for the marketer. Writing just one article is not a good idea for the article marketer.

Are your article marketing sales suffering? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles. Click here.

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , ,  |  Comments 5 Comments »

Newbies, What Are You Waiting For? An Opinion

Posted by CA Perez on October 17, 2009

What are you waiting for?  Do you think that studying all those methods, secrets, and techniques is going to make you money?  I have had to answer that question for myself again and again. Have you?

What is it that holds us back? Fear? I think fear of the unknown is what holds most of us back.

We are afraid that our website will not compare well against the thousands if not millions of websites and web pages floating in cyberspace.  Well.  Get over it!

We fear that our writing will be criticized by our readers.  So what!   Are you afraid of some unnamed critic without a face?  Your high school teacher is not watching!

Newbies, unite!  Why do so many newbies fail?  There are many reasons.  You get discouraged because you don’t make a sale in the first few weeks.  You hear all the gurus telling you that you can or will make thousands of dollars, maybe hundreds of thousands, within days of using their secret formula.  Most of those gurus have been at this for ten or more years. How long have you been at it?

Do you remember your first car? Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, it was probably a clunker.  Were you proud of it?  Did you take your girlfriend or boyfriend for ride? Did that old clunker get you from here to there?  Were you afraid of what others would say about it?  No. You were on the road. You had freedom. You were moving.

When did you upgrade to a newer hotter car?  Probably after, you started making some money.  What is the difference between your old clunker of a car and your clunker website?  None.  You have to start somewhere.  The point is YOU have to start.

We fear that our readers will criticize our writing.  Are you afraid someone is going to send you an “F” for poor composition or grammar?  I do not mean to say that you should throw grammar or composition to the wind.  I am saying that you can express yourself much more freely than when you were in school.  Besides, that is what editors are for.  (Note the “for” at the end of that last sentence.  I think it is called a dangling preposition.  I would get an “F” for that.)

I just received an email a few minutes ago from a fellow internet marketer, David Saeger  (The Home Biz Guy) on the same subject!   Here is what he said, “Ready, FIRE, then aim … This is the operating philosophy you MUST adopt to succeed with a home based business. That’s backwards for most people who like to aim before they fire.”

In Internet marketing, that is a good philosophy.  You have to start.  You have to move.  The Internet changes daily.  What you learn today, what works today, may not work tomorrow.

Most businesses struggle their first year before they see a profit not to mention the initial monetary investment to start the business.  In internet marketing, you don’t have that concern.

Give it a year.  If after that time, you still are not making money maybe you should reconsider.  However, that assumes that you have really done something other than study and read about it.

Take action! Just do it!

Read this review of “Conversations With Travis Sago“,the 4-Day Make Money Blueprint.

Category Categories: Opinion  |  Tag Tags: , , , , , , , ,  |  Comments No Comments »

Article Publishing and Article Writing

Posted by CA Perez on October 22, 2009

An author writes for many and varied reasons, some altruistic,  some selfish, some a combination.  He writes to express himself, to educate, to make money (earn a living), to convince, etc.  In the end, either he submits his work for publication or he locks it up in drawer.  By definition, the latter can hardly be called an author, except maybe posthumously.

In any case, the author is compensated in money or some other non-monetary gratification. A publisher accepts and publishes an authors’ work for the same reasons that the author writes. He chooses and/or rejects the authors’ work based on self-serving criteria, as does the author submit his work. The criteria for publication vary from publisher to publisher.

The criteria obviously depend on the publishers’ mission statement.  Nevertheless, unless the publishers’ assets are unlimited, the publishers’ overriding concern is profit, profit to continue publishing and to make a living.  That is not a bad thing. It is just a fact. I have met many poor authors and I have yet to meet a poor publisher.  Many poor authors have altruistic mission statements, consciously or unconsciously.

Just as a SCI-FI author would be foolish to submit his work to a home and garden publisher, so would such a publisher be foolish to accept it.  The publishers’ mission statement and policy dictates what is accepted and rejected based on the publishers’ assessment of profitability.

I believe these assumptions are valid online and offline.  The only difference that I see is that the online publisher delivers no hard copy to the public.  The author receives no up front compensation for his work.

The publishers’ responsibilities to the author are to state, outline, or dictate his mission statement or policy. The authors’ responsibility is to determine if his work fits the publishers’ criteria. If it is mutually beneficial, then both profit.  If it is not, then the publisher rejects the authors’ work or the author finds another publisher much like in the offline world.

This whole issue is complicated by the marriage between marketing and article writing. Marketing and writing are not necessarily mutually exclusive. All authors and publishers need both marketing and writing to exist. I am not referring to copywriting. To me that is another form of writing. Copywriting is advertising. It is not article writing.

So what is the emphasis and who determines the emphasis between writing and marketing? Both, the publisher and the author make that determination by choosing to participate in one another’s mission statement.

So what’s the problem? If an ezine directory sets certain policy, either I adhere to it or I find another directory. It has to be of mutual benefit to both the publisher and the author.  If the directory/publisher  does  not fit your style of writing, just move on and find one that does.

Are your article marketing sales suffering? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles.

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Home Based Business – Make Money in Affiliate Marketing/Article Writing

Posted by Admin on October 24, 2009

Many claim article marketing to be the most effective long-term marketing tool for the affiliate internet marketer.  It is ideal for the home based business. The basis of article marketing is naturally article writing. Now, that makes sense. Anyone can make money in affiliate marketing/article writing with some basic knowledge and training.  It is a learned craft.  It is not a natural talent.

Can you think of a business that has access to over 3.5 Billion potential customers? You guessed right.  Internet marketing is the answer.  Never mind language barriers, many browsers now have translators that will translate text in their browsers.  That makes for one heck of a potential market.

Is it easy? Before I answer that, let me ask you a couple of questions.  Is working nine to five for a boss easy? Is sitting in some office pushing paper easy? Is lifting a pick and shovel easy? You get my drift.

Article marketing is effective because it does not cost you, the marketer, any money to advertise. Wouldn’t you like to advertise across the World Wide Web free? Sure, you would. Imagine reaching out to the billions of internet users with your free advertising.  Wouldn’t you like to own a business and have a potential customer base of over 3.5 billion customers? Of course, you would.  Who would not?

Article marketing/article writing has a learning curve but you can easily learn to turn your words into money.  It is not just about writing an article with good content. It is also about writing with persuasion.  Article marketing is a craft. You can learn it. It’s not hard. It just takes knowledge and practice. As some say, “It’s not rocket science.”

It is effective because it stays on the Internet indefinitely.  Years later, your article will be there. It will continue to generate income.  Even your heirs can benefit from your work.  Assuming of course, you hire a good lawyer to draw up a good will.

It is effective because the search engines in their infinite wisdom catalog your article and rank your article. With proper training and experience, you can have your article appear on the first page of a search engine’s catalog.  With that kind of exposure, called “organic” advertising, you are sure to have a large amount of traffic going to your own site or your product site and you will make more money. And, it’s FREE!

Affiliate marketing/article writing offers you an opportunity like no other.  You can own your own business without the hassle of inventory, employees or customers and make money.  You can get started with a very small investment; under a hundred dollars maybe even less.

It will cost you, mostly your time and energy. Best of all, the potential for financial independence and freedom is near unlimited. You owe it to yourself to try it.

Do you want to start a home based business and make money as an article marketer/writer? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles.

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Submitting Articles Directly to Ezines

Posted by Charlie Page on October 26, 2009

A lot of people don’t know that submitting articles directly to ezines is a wonderful way to supercharge article marketing efforts.

It makes perfect sense, but somehow this article marketing method is grossly overlooked by beginners and gurus alike.

Here’s the logic of why submitting articles directly to ezines is a powerful and effective strategy.

When you submit your article to an article directory (and you should) you are one of MANY other articles on the site.

Maybe your article will be found – maybe not.

But when your article appears in an ezine it is the ONLY article in that ezine.

So, every reader of that ezine can read YOUR article without the distraction of a million other articles all screaming “read me!”

Don’t get me wrong, article directories are great. But if you are marketing with articles, or want to, and are not submitting directly to ezines you are leaving money on the table.

I know that’s true because I’ve been there. When I was first a member of the DOE (Directory of Ezines) I submitted articles as often as I could. And it worked.

Effective article marketing is a BIG part of how I went from being a member of the DOE to owning the company.

How can you find the right ezines for your articles?

The DOE of course!

Between our database of ezines and the personal consulting I offer it’s the best value online.

Visit Charlie Page at his Directory of Ezines.

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Comments No Comments »

Article Marketing – Newbies, What Comes First, Article Or Marketing?

Posted by CA Perez on November 1, 2009

What comes first, article or marketing? Yes, you are right. It is the word article. It is not only because it the first word in the title, “Article Marketing”. There is an even greater reason that it comes first. Let me explain.

Article marketing is the marriage of writing and marketing. There seems to be some confusion among many writers and marketers about this tool. Marketing takes many forms. As you know, it is advertising. You can advertise in different media like video, audio, or writing. You can do it on TV, on the radio, newspapers, and you can do it on the internet.

Advertising usually requires a written script. You know that its primary purpose is to convince you to buy a product or an idea. You know it when you watch a TV commercial or read a billboard. That is what you are expecting. Copywriting is the art of writing advertising copy. It is a highly paid profession. It takes great insight and skill to persuade people using words.

Articles, on the other hand, are for the most part informational. Yes, I know they sell something as well. They educate, inform, and even may attempt to convince you of the attributes of a given subject. In that sense, they too are advertising.

The difference lies in what the reader of an article is expecting to read. Imagine reading this in an article about prostate cancer: “BEWARE! CANCER KILLS! You must see your doctor annually and check it out. Take XYZ pills and relieve your future suffering NOW!” That isn’t the best of copywriting, but then I am not very good at it. I think you get the point.

As a reader of an article, wouldn’t you expect something more like: “Medical studies have undeniably shown that cancer kills. Physicians advise and recommend that men over 40 have an annual check up. XYZ pills may provide some relief, but first check with your doctor.”

I am sure that you see the difference. The first piece obviously and blatantly is selling you XYZ pills. The second piece is also selling XYZ pills, but it at least gave you one piece of information, men over 40 should have an annual check up. You are reading an article, not watching TV.

Article marketing is unique to the Internet. It is a method used to inform and to sell (advertise). As an article marketer, consider the readers expectations and that is an expectation of information. The buzzword is “content”. Provide the reader with content. Copywriting has its place even in article writing, but content reigns supreme.

Article writing is not copywriting. Its main purpose is to inform; its secondary purpose is to sell. That is why the word “article” is first and the word “marketing” is second in Article Marketing.

Are your article marketing sales suffering? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles.

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Article Marketing – Copywriting vs. Article Writing-What is the Difference?

Posted by Admin on November 3, 2009

Electing to use article marketing as a source of driving traffic to your business is the most stable form of advertising.  It requires a basic knowledge of two disciplines, copywriting and article writing.  Just what is the difference between the two?

Copywriting

In its simplest form, copywriting is nothing more than using your words to convince a reader to buy your product.  It is consumer psychology 101. Unconsciously we use it verbally everyday. It comes naturally to us.  We use it with our friends, our enemies, and our families. It is a simple technique.

Have you ever asked anyone to choose between two items? You probably have. What you have done is create a picture in the person’s mind of the two choices. Most often that person’s brain has focused on those two things and on no others.  You have controlled the outcome of his decision by limiting his choice to one of the two items.

That is just one of the many techniques that you can use to motivate readers to take action. Other examples include offering pleasure vs. pain, gain over loss,… As you can see, copywriting stirs emotion.  You use words to paint a picture in the brain that evokes an emotion.  The emotion then converts into action.  You, the copywriter, direct that emotion to buy your product.

Can you be a copywriter? Of course, you can.  It is a writing skill. It is a learned skill. With practice, you can accomplish anything. Remember, you use it naturally in your everyday speech.

Article Writing

I am sure you are familiar with this form of writing. In its purest form, it provides nothing but information to a reader. It solves a problem, gives instructions, or it may just spout an opinion. Article writing is much less a form of advertising than its brother, copywriting.  The author is selling his information to the reader, not necessarily selling a product.  Readers of this form of writing, for the most part, do not expect buy something after reading the article.

Article writing is also a learned skill. You are not required to have the imagination of Jules Verne or F. Scott Fitzgerald. Have you ever written yourself a “to do” list? Have you jotted down a reminder note to yourself?  Sure, you have.  Well, then, you can write an article. If you can read, you can write an article.

The Difference

Perhaps, now you see the difference. Copywriting sells. Article writing informs. When we combine the two skills we have a very powerful tool, article marketing.

Do you lack copywriting skills? Now you can learn how to use copywriting and create articles that are more profitable. Are your article marketing sales suffering? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles.

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Rewriting Your Articles – Some Tips

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on January 15, 2010

If you have ever searched the Internet  on a given subject, read the information and then clicked on the link provided only to find the exact same information, you have experienced a sense of frustration and a waste of your time.

I would leave that site quicker than the flicker of wind blown flame. Why? Because the author of the article or site is lazy and not really interested in providing me with useful and unique information.

Here are a few tips that you should consider when writing an article for publication to an article directory.

  • After writing the article consider rewriting several different versions of the article.
  • While it is fresh in your memory, it is easy to reword.
  • Start with the first paragraph. Use synonyms and rearrange the rewritten sentences.
  • It is best to go through the entire article. Rewording each paragraph.
  • Create at least two versions for each paragraph.
  • Limiting your rewrite to words, phrases, or sentences undermines the uniqueness you are trying to create.
  • Rewriting your articles and submitting unique articles to different directories increases your search engine exposure.
  • Do not use rewriting software that arbitrarily or randomly uses synonyms to automatically generate articles. It is a waste of your money and time.
  • If you do decide to use article rewriting software, make sure that you have complete control of the input and the output.
  • With two or more versions for each paragraph and a good rewriting software you can easily generate 10 to 20 unique and quality articles.
  • Rewriting articles not only improves search engine optimization (SEO), it reduces the bounce rate to your site. Thus, more sales!

Article rewriting can be time consuming without some automation. Nevertheless, it is well worth the effort. How would you like to go from one site to another and find the exact same article? I think not.

I personally know of only one piece of software that allows you complete and total control of the content of your rewritten articles.

Please read this review and decide for yourself. I think you would agree that rewriting your articles for multiple submissions makes sense.

Category Categories: Article Writing  |  Tag Tags: , , , , ,  |  Comments 8 Comments »

How to Write Articles That Sell – Learn the Skill of Copywriting

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on December 22, 2009

Article marketing is one of the most effective techniques in targeting customers to specific sites and getting them to buy product. Yet, many article writers do not know how to write articles that sell.

Do you have the copywriting skills necessary to convert your articles into sales? You can learn to write better articles with just a few copywriting skills. This article suggests learning the skill of copywriting to skyrocket your sales.

Here are three tips you can use to get you started.

Emotional Words

Use emotional words. Use words that excite like ‘fascinating’ and ‘electrifying’, words that fire images of romance like ‘passionate’ and ‘magical’,  and words that paint visions of pleasure like ‘ecstasy’ and ‘gratifying’. These are just a few of the categories that will motivate your reader to continue reading. I am sure you can think of other types of words that will create images in your reader.

Leading Questions

Ask leading questions. Ask the reader a question and answer it for him. “Do you want to make money, now? Of course, you do.” That is an example of a question and answer. Raising a question prepares the reader for a response. By answering it immediately, you have given him a response confirming what he already knows. It directs him to your logical conclusion, which is to buy your product.

Alluring Titles

Write an alluring title. You have just a few seconds to capture a reader’s attention. You can have the greatest content and the best copywriting techniques at your disposal, but without a captivating title your article will go unread. Use those emotional words mentioned in the first tip. If you can combine emotional words with your keywords, not only will your reader want to read your article, but the search engines will tag your article and you will get even more readers.

Gain the skills you need and learn more here.

This short article is not at all exhaustive of the techniques and tips used in copywriting. If you are serious about making money with article writing, Don’t delay in learning the art and skill of copywriting. Learning this skill will dramatically increase your sales.

These three tips alone can improve your sales, but there are many more.

If you are serious about improving your writing skills, and I expect you are, because are reading this, I suggest you owe it to yourself to use a training and coaching course on copywriting  and begin your copywriting journey.

Learn how to use copywriting in your articles, gain the knowledge you need to quickly increase your sales,click here.

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How to Use MS Word to Write Better and Improve Sales – 3 Tips

Posted by A blog for Newbies about Internet Marketing on December 22, 2009

Would you like to write better and sell more? Sure, you would. You can. You can use MS Word to help you. This article will show you three simple yet often overlooked tips using MS Word to help you achieve clearer, better writing and make more money.

Here are three MS Word tools to improve your articles.

1. Check your spelling – This seems obvious. Still many do not use their spell checker. If you use a plain text editor to create your articles, you can easily overlook even the most common of spellings.

Simply copy your text from the plain text editor, like notepad or word pad, and copy it to your word processor and do a spell check. You will be surprised at the misspelled words you may have overlooked.

2. Write at a fifth to seventh grade level. – Use the MS Word Spelling and Grammar checker found under the Review Tab at the top of the MS Word page to determine the age level that you are writing for. After selecting the spell checker and completing the spell check, it will ask you if you want to continue checking the rest of the document.

Respond with yes and a box will pop up called Readability Statistics. At the very bottom of the box is the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score. You want that score to be between fifth and seventh grade level. Most of your readers will read at that level. If it is a higher grade level, edit with simpler words.

3. Passive sentences – That same box will also give you the number of passive sentences in your article. You want to keep this at a minimum. You should keep passive sentences to no more than two or three for every five-hundred words. There is nothing wrong with passive sentences and there is no hard fast rule to the number of passive sentences you should use. But, you do want to make your sentences action oriented to help the reader move easily throughout the body of your article.

Learn more about copywriting here.

We have looked at three tips that you can use to improve the quality of your articles and ultimately salability of your articles. Keep in mind that content is king and no tools can create unique quality content like you can.

Quality content and good copywriting skills are necessarily a must. Let MS Word do some of the work for you. Use the three tips and your quality will improve.

Are you writing good content and still not getting the traffic you need to make sales? The solution is in copywriting. Add copywriting  skills to your quiver of techniques and your sales can go nowhere but up.

If you are serious about improving your article writing and maximizing your sales learn the art and skill of copywriting.

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Newbie Article Marketers, What is Quality Content?

Posted by CA Perez on December 15, 2009

It seems like everyone and his uncle tells you to write quality content. Content is king. But, few bother to define it. Just what is quality content? If you do a Google search for it without the quotes, you get over 200,000,000 results. Do you think there may be a few different definitions in that search?

Let’s restrict our Google search ‘the same phrase + writing’. That limits the results to a little over 33,000,000. That is much better, but still a number that will give you a mind-boggling list of definitions. Since we are article marketers, we will restrict our search even further to ‘quality content writing + for article marketers’ now we get a mere 1,450,000 results. We are definitely getting somewhere.

Bear with me. I will make one last stab at this search. Searching for “quality content writing for article marketers + definition’, we get a measly 107,000 returns. Do you think there might still be a vast assortment of definitions in that search? You bet!

Reading over some of those definitions everybody has an opinion. I’m sure you have an opinion for the definition. You have an opinion because you have published articles and they are examples of what you think the definition should be.

That is the point. Definitions for ‘quality content for article marketers’ are subjective and relative to the conditions in which you apply them. Does that make sense? You define it by the content you write, the audience you want to attract, or the publisher who may or may not define it for you.

Are there standards? Yes, there are. We will assume that grammar is not an issue, that your articles are grammatically correct. Here are some questions you should ask yourself, as an article marketer, when attempting to write good quality content.

  • Does your article contain good information that is relative to the audience you are addressing? You should know who your audience is.
  • Have you researched the subject or topic of your article to the degree that the information is current and accurate? Are you writing from experience? If you are, you must still check for timeliness and accuracy.
  • Are you addressing the issue raised by your title? The reader is expecting to read about the problem, the tips, or the solutions raised in the title. Do not mislead your reader.
  • Finally, as an article marketer, what is your goal in writing this article? I am sure you will agree that ultimately you want the reader to buy your product. You must learn the skill of using words that motivate. Use words that motivate your reader to action imbedding them in the content without detracting from the quality.

As you know, there are many opinions as to what quality content is. Yet, you can read an article and very often agree whether the content is worthwhile.

Click here to learn more about copywriting.

Do your articles inform and motivate buyers? Learn the art and skill of copywriting for article marketers. Motivate you readers to take action and maintain quality content Click on the link.

You owe it to yourself to, at the very least, read this review at http://copywriting.newbie-info.com/ that can dramatically increase your sales

Category Categories: Copywriting  |  Comments 4 Comments »

Article Writing – Passive Voice and Word Processors

Posted by CA Perez on December 1, 2009

Have you ever written an article in MS Word or some other word processor and that little squiggly line appears under the sentence? It alerts you that the sentence is “passive voice.” Does that annoy you? Well, you are not alone.

Most word processors are programmed to alert the author whenever the verb is passive. It is not a bad thing. If you write technical papers and articles, it is acceptable.

If you are an article marketer, the passive voice gets a bad rap. Do you know that there is nothing wrong with passive voice? Allow me to explain.

In case you are not sure, let me first show you the difference. Active voice uses the subject of a sentence to do the action. Passive uses the object of the sentence to receive the action.

Example:

  •  Bill threw the ball. (active)
  • The ball was thrown by Bill. (passive)

(Note: I am using MS Word. Guess what just popped up. Yes, you guessed it. That little squiggly underlined that whole sentence. You just cannot get away from it. Don’t you just want that little squiggly line to disappear?)

In most cases, active voice is preferred. Active voice is better in the body of your article. Why is it better? It allows the reader to read easily through the body of your article. Active voice makes it easier for the reader to visualize what you want to communicate. More importantly, it gets him to the resource box quickly.

When is it acceptable to use passive voice? Let me show you two cases.

1) When you, the author, do not have a specific subject in mind or you want to emphasize the word or words affected by the action use passive voice.

Example: “Article marketers are not paid for their articles.” That sentence does not identify who it is that does not pay article marketers. The emphasis is on article marketers.

You could change it to active voice: “Publishers do not pay article marketers for their articles.” With this sentence, the emphasis shifts from the article marketer to the publisher. You may not want to do that. But, then again you might.

2) You may want to be vague or politically proper. You can use passive voice.

Example: “The critical remark was made by the wrong person at the wrong time.”

To change that sentence to active voice: “Tom made that critical remark at the wrong time.” Or, “The wrong person made that critical remark.”

In both cases, MS Word will alert you that the verb is passive. So what?

In the first, you want to emphasize “article marketers“. You want to emphasize the fact that they do not get direct compensation for their work.

In the second, you do not want to name names.

Do you see the difference?

Just because MS Word or some other word processor implies that it is wrong, it is not necessarily so. Before you change the sentence, make sure it does not change what you meant it to say.

Do you want to learn how to write, publish, and market your articles? Learn how to write, submit, and market your articles. Read this article writing review.

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