Start Writing (and Earning) Today!

Have you gotten "on" your butt and started writing your articles yet?

If you are still stuck with where you should start, let me try help jumpstart your article writing groove.

I have been doing article marketing for years now, earned a few thousands so far, and have messed with different article marketing techniques to find one which suits my capabilities, time constrains, and expectations.

I won't say the method I am using now is a long-term business model. To me, a proper business model should include building a proper site, working to get it ranked on Google or any other search engines, and then let it run on auto-pilot (earning money without you doing as much work).

What I am doing now takes effort. Daily effort. To come up with new articles each day, write and submit them to EzineArticles, and hope someone out there is interested in the offer I plant at the end of every article. Not something I would love to continually do for years to come!

But it does bring in money. Bags of it.

I would say this particular business model is great to get you started on something. For me, it is perfect for me to build up my reserves in the bank before I finally say sayonara to my boss!

You can adopt the same strategy too. From today!

Here is what you should do...

1) Get a product to promote

Ask yourself what you should be promoting. Check out Clickbank (for starters) and find a product decent enough to make you buy the product itself. That should generally give you the instinct that the product sells. So use Clickbank to create the hoplink for you first.

2) Get a domain name

You would want a domain name to cloak the ugly hoplink you just created on Clickbank. My tip is to get a ".com" domain which sounds similar to the product website. For instance, if the product site is MakeMoneyOnline.com, try getting a domain name in the likes of MakeYourMoneyOnline.com.

Get the idea? A domain name serves 3 purposes - to cloak the link, to make you appear professional, and to setup a direct domain forwarding from your EzineArticles article. And you can get one from GoDaddy.com for about $11 for a year!

3) Write your articles

How do you start? Do a little bit of research. Here's a trick: get all the info you need to write about just by reading the product website and other already published articles on Ezine. Ain't that stupidly easy?

Once you get all the facts, start writing! Don't worry so much about writing a perfect article. As long as it makes grammatical sense, you don't have to sound 100% professional in your writing. In fact, you SHOULDN'T. Be more human-like in your writing, and sound as if you were writing an advice for your dear friend.

And as I said, just start and continue writing. In time you will develop your own style, you will get fluent with your writing, and you may end up only spending 10 minutes to write a 400-word article! It just takes practice.

4) Create an appetizing resource box at the end of your articles

Don't just go "Click here to get Product XYZ". This is your chance to go wild and creative! A little bit of temptation to your reader goes a long way. The best way to learn how to write a good resource box is by reading all the fancy ads in the newspaper and magazines. They are the masters at promoting - learn from them!

That's it! Or at least that is what you need to get your feet wet in the article marketing business.

I will try to elaborate each single point above at a later post to help you advance even further. But for now, I hope you get my advice.

Taking action will bring you results. Analyzing won't. And once you get the momentum going with your writing, don't stop to give your brain that chance to go dry - keep your creative juice flowing by continuously writing!

Article Marketing Basics (Revision)

Ok, so what is article marketing again?

Let me put it simply. Remember those ads you see on your daily newspaper? What do they do? They provide you information on a particular company providing this and that service. And depending on what you were looking for when browsing the classifieds, you may be tempted to contact/visit the business advertised there.

How is that similar to article marketing?

The Internet is one HUGE classified ads. Research shows a major percentile of people surf the Internet looking for information. It is always useful information that people are looking for online.

The trick with article marketing is... it virtually costs you nothing to "advertise" online! You can easily submit articles to free directories online which would publish your writings onto the web for the whole world to see.

And if what you are writing is THE information a particular group of people are looking for, then your article will be read.

But how do you gain money out of that? Add a link to your article to recommend a certain service/product to your reader!

Say you are writing about how to cure hair loss. Give your potential reader some tips they can try from home. And then, lead them to a product which could help speed up their cure and stop their hair from dropping the soonest.

Get it?

The concept IS really that simple for starters. I will go more in depth the next time, so that you guys can jump start your affiliate marketing career and see success like (or even better than) me :)

December End Of Month Sales Report

Hey guys, so sorry for the late update. I have been extra focused on my business lately that sometimes I forget I still have a blog to maintain!

Okay, here is the screenshot of my December earnings. Well, I didn't hit my target of US$2000, but I'm not complaining with the US$1555 there :) In my currency, it's about S$2175 anyways!

This Jan has been a bit slower than usual though. I put the blame on myself though, because I'm experimenting with how to do my business effectively. In the process, I change what is already working and hence experience no-sales days :( But hey, I learn something from it.

I'm happy to hear from some of you guys telling me how my recent success is inspiring you to start doing affiliate marketing too. You should start taking action soon! I'll try to make time between maintaining my business to update this blog with various useful information to help kick-start your AM venture, alright? :)

Previous Month: US$1208.66

Current Month: US$1555.98

Next Month (target): US$2000

November End Of Month Sales Report

It's December already, where I am. And it is time to recap the commissions I earned for the month of November.

And there it is... USD1200+ for a month of sales. Not bad for myself, considering I am still working in a fulltime job. And this is also my highest amount of sales in my 2 years of affiliate marketing :)

My aim now is to double that figure for the month of December. Quite a high bar to reach, but that's a target I am willing to work for!

Hey guys, I hope this serves as a motivation or inspiration, or whatever you may call it. I have a dream of leaving my dead job and working fulltime on affiliate marketing from home. And I am working towards it and seeing some encouraging results.

Let me know if I can be of any help to realize your dreams of working from home and earning nice figures each month too :)

Previous Month: n/a

Current Month: US$1208.66

Next Month (target): US$2000

My Article Writing Process

Many people have been asking me how I manage to write numerous articles within a short span of time. I used to think that to myself too back when I was still starting out and wondering how the other guys could come up with so many articles quickly.

I have to say it all boils down to practice. The more you write, the better you get. It still happens to me today - I find it slow to get off the mark after laying off writing for a day or even a few hours. So the key is to keep on writing, and your flow of words will just take over from your brain to your fingers.

In terms of article structure, I follow the same 'guideline' for all my articles. An attention grabbing title, an exciting intro paragraph, factual body, and a closing which points back to my intro.

Title

Want to get the best ideas for article titles? Look no further than tabloids! Or even those magazine columns. Honest and dull titles just simply do not make it here.

Intro

Use challenging sentences here. Challenge your reader to try your solution in order to solve their problem. Yes, you start mentioning about your product here! Get your reader excited to know there is a solution to their problem, and lead them to read your article further.

Body

Just write your stuff here. Remember to include excitement every now and then. Don't just write facts - give hope to your readers!

Closing

I always end my article with a sentence that points back to my intro. Say your intro excites your reader about "start doing xxxx to cure your yyyyy problem!"... end your article with something in the likes of "with xxxx, there is no reason for you to live with yyyyy anymore!".

What about the resource box? Again don't waste your chance here. This is where you get all 'salesy' and promote your product or website! Write up a story about how you manage to solve your own yyyyy problem using xxxx, and how the reader can do so too.

But to sum it all up, again it boils down to practice. So start writing your first article today!

It Starts With Persistence

In the world of affiliate marketing, especially when you are just starting out, it is always easy to get discouraged by the lack of favorable results. That is where 85% of budding affiliate marketers drop and say "this stuff doesn't work".. while the remaining 15% bog down and persist, and end up champions.

I would like to think of myself as a newbie still. I haven't reached the stage of consistent results. But I can be proud of one thing - my persistence. See, I have made it a commitment that affiliate marketing will be THE career for me till I retire (early). And for the past 2 years I have faced little success and much failure.. and I still move forwards.

Let me tell you one example. Recently I have been getting this string of great sales results. Never before have I experienced many $100 days within a span of days! But yesterday.. I had zero.

To tell you the truth, I was disheartened. I had wanted the pattern to go along nicely. I did not want to see a $0 day.

Some people may view it as a turning point, where you start doubting your results. I very nearly started thinking the past few days were just a fluke.

But I remembered the word persistence. Instead of losing focus, I worked harder. I started writing articles after articles, which helps me get my mind off the $0 day.

This morning I was welcomed by 2 new sales amounting to US$67.80. Which I wouldn't have achieved had I slowed down or even stopped working after being disappointed by the $0 yesterday.

So remember, if you want to make it in affiliate marketing, it does not really start with all the lessons or tools you can buy out there. Start with yourself. Make a change of attitude, stay positive, and keep your focus laser sharp.

Good luck guys!

What IS My Strategy?

In affiliate marketing, there are a lot of ways to go about with your campaign. For one you can either go for paid advertising using PPC, or like miserly me go for free marketing using online articles to drive traffic.

Even in free marketing, there are a number of strategies to follow. I didn't follow any mainstream ones taught by any guru or school. It is so simple I'm pretty sure you'll be laughing at me.

Instead of working hard finding keywords, trying to rank for those keywords with low competition, keeping score of my keyword density etc, I just keep writing. And writing and writing!

I don't care about how many people are searching for a particular keyword. I don't mind the tough competition (hey, higher competition means better sales prospect don't you agree?). I just use the best tool ever made for affiliate marketing - the brain.

Instead of coming up with googley woogley titles that try to rank my keyword, I just use my brain and think up a very eye-catching title. Of course your title must be relevant to your article and the niche you are attacking, else it won't make sense.

And that's it! And I just keep writing as much articles as I can each day, and publish them on EzineArticles solely. I would have published the same articles on ArticlesBase.com too, but they don't accept articles of my niche :(

Another thing... I don't use any landing page. I buy a domain name similar to the merchant, set it to forward to my affiliate link (with my ID), and lead my article readers straight to that domain. Why?

One - it hides the ugly long affiliate link and looks more professional

Two - EzineArticles does not accept affiliate links

Three - in case your reader goes to the merchant site and is not ready to buy yet, he/she can easily remember your domain name the next time she wants to spend

So in essence, my strategy looks like Article -> Merchant site (with my domain)

Try it. It beats the countless hours mulling over keyword searches and density placing. Makes the whole process much more fun :)

The Basics Of Getting Quick Success In Affiliate Marketing

Yes, after months (even years) of rumbling around trying this and that, I have come up with some points which could help almost anybody to start seeing success in affiliate marketing within a short time.

Note, there is a difference between success in a short time and enormous success. To me, getting that first sale is already a success if you are starting out. So don't expect to suddenly earn hundreds in one day!

So here they are:

1) Desperate and evergreen market

I know what they always say - aim for a small market that has little competition. It is true if you want to dominate that particular market, but what if it is not profitable - and that is why there is no one else doing it?

Always look for a market where people are looking for urgent solutions any time of the year. And one where they don't mind spending money of course! Weight loss is a good market, but it's somewhat seasonal. Keep your eyes open and you will find the urgent needs of men and women which you can address.

2) Focus, focus, focus

Don't be tempted by the many offers from 'gurus' that want to show you their way of doing things. Just do the basic, stick with it. And once you find a niche to target on, just concentrate on that one! Your loss of focus could very well lead to your loss of profits.

Make a schedule or timetable for you to stick with. Let's say you want to write 2 articles a day - then set a time after work to do it. Trust me, without a timetable, procrastination is king.

3) Stop looking at stats

I know how everyone of us likes to see how well we are progressing. But don't overdo it! Maybe tell yourself you will only check your stats 3 times a day (morning, aft, night). And that's all.

If you keep looking at your stats and seeing the dreaded zeros, it will only diminish your determination which otherwise could have led you to success eventually.

4) Always stay positive

Never go about thinking "I don't think I will earn anything today". Don't even go hoping that you may earn a sale today. What you need to do is say out loud you want to earn at least 1 sale today, and you will.

It is something to do with the law of attraction. And it works if you put your belief in earning that sale. If you don't, don't be discouraged - do the same tomorrow, and the next day, and so on!

It's Been A Long Journey...And Continues To Be A Beautiful One!

I finally am confident enough to post again on my blog. For a couple of months, I have been tweaking stuff, trying out things, and experiencing failure after failure. But you know what they say - real success only comes after failure, even in the dictionary.

Recently I have started focusing all my energy on a simplified way of doing affiliate marketing. And it's bringing me results! So sometimes it is true how we tend to over complicate matters when the simple solution is just right below your nose.

Here is a screenshot I took this afternoon of my Clickbank earnings..



It is not that fantastic, but I am still grateful to see the progress I'm making. And I hope in some ways it inspires you as well, no matter how little.

Take care all!

Updates Updates Updates!!

I have to keep reminding myself to update my blog more frequently. Not just so that you will know what's the current happs in my life, but also for me to keep track of where I have been.

Ok, it's June already and the school holidays are here!! Not for me though. I'm abstaining myself from any travels for the time being. I'm keeping myself contented by watching Discovery Travel & Living though haha

Oh BIG news - for those of you who are curious about what Wealthy Affiliate is all about, and whether it is worth to spend on the subscription fee, here's a green light for you!

Wealthy Affiliate is offering a 7-day full access trial for a recession-friendly fee of $1!

That means with just a dollar, you can have 7 days to explore the site, make use of the bundles of lessons inside, take part in the forums, and mingle with the super affiliates who have MADE IT.

So take up this offer quick. It only happens between 1st June and 8th June :)