Affiliate marketing depends on website traffic. Article marketing is one of those ways to funnel great amounts of free traffic to your website.
Writing articles, submitting them to article directories, and then waiting for people to read them is still a great way to deliver quality content to the masses. The articles are indexed by the search engines, and – if your keyword research has been done right – it will be ranked relatively high. But, that all seems a bit archaic today. Sure, it still works. I write tons of articles every month for clients and submit them to article directories for free traffic. But, there is more to article marketing than just the basic write/submit routine.
Getting More Affiliate Traffic From Your Articles
I have always believed that the true beauty of online marketing is the creative aspect of it. There are no real limits to what you can do with your marketing – this is so true for affiliates. Affiliate marketing is more than landing pages, PPC campaigns, and writing articles. Affiliate marketing is really about creativity. How to get your message, or a certain product, out to as many people as you can for as long as you can.
In my business, one of the things I have always strived to be is in the forefront of creativity. All of the marketing materials, consulting sessions, and advertising campaigns that I have put together are based upon this one principle… creativity.
Article marketing is a great way to keep the creative juices flowing. Of course, article marketing is also a great way for sustained free traffic. A lot of people think that this will mean spending long hours writing hundreds of new articles. And, it does. I do not want to make it sound like writing articles does not take any time. (This is why outsourcing your article marketing needs is a big benefit!). However, you can get more use out of one article than just submitting to an article directory. Here are 15 ways that you can do that.
1. Create A Video From It – Creating a video for affiliate marketing is a great way to get further free advertising. It is pretty simple to do and can be quite fun. Use your article and create a video on that article. You can read it into the camera, but it probably will not be very popular. But, if you spend a little time rehearsing your presentation, you can turn that article into a video.
2. Develop A Short Report – Articles for affiliate marketing work the best when they are within the 400 to 500 word range. Short, concise and easy to read. Expand on that article a little more and create a downloadable report. This can contain more information, more tips, special newsworthy items, or other things you feel are important. You can host this report on your own site, on a landing page all its own, or on a site like Scribd.com or Docstoc.
3. Rewrite Article Different Ways – I have an older post about this way to get extra mileage out of an article. The idea of this is to create three different articles, based on one, and submit to other article directories.
4. Tweet It – Twitter is a great way to get your message out. One way to be creative in your article marketing is to send a series of “tweets” that cover your article points. You only have 140 characters to use at a time, but you could break up the different points of your article into smaller bite size portions.
5. Create A Longer Squidoo Page From It – Squidoo is a place you can create a “lens” on the topic of your choice. It is like a blog only in the respect that you can write about what you want. You monetize each lens through different affiliate links an Adsense. Use your article to create a Squidoo lens. You can reword it a little if you want, add more content, embed videos, and other cool things to make your article more interactive.
6. Develop Autoresponder Series – You can do this either with one article, or with a bundle of articles all on the same topic. Create a short email series that breaks up a longer article into different main points, or uses a series of articles.
7. Use Article In Teleseminar – Setting up a teleseminar is a pretty easy thing to do. And, you can host your own teleseminar for free. The amount of people who can attend is limited, but usually there is not a problem. Host a teleseminar on the topic of your article where you can simply read it over the course of the seminar. Pause for questions or remarks, and even invite a special guest. If you have several articles, then you can have a series of seminars on all of them.
8. Get Article In Someone Else’s Product – Getting extra exposure for your article will help you gain more traffic that you might not have gotten otherwise. This extra exposure can come from other website owners. This tip will take a little digging on your part, but it is worth the time. When you find out that someone is writing a report, a course, an ebook, or some other type of product, strike up a conversation with them about the topic. From there you can introduce them to an article you wrote. Ask their permission to send a copy and maybe they will include the information – and your byline – in their new product, on their website, on their blog, or mention it somewhere else.
9. Use As A Facebook Note – Facebook has a great feature called Notes. This is where you can write down different information in the form of short articles. You can even connect the notes to your blog posts. Reprint your article within your Facebook notes and your connections will be notified of them.
10. Send To Mailing List – When you write a particularly good article, make it a special mailing to your email list. This does not need to be in the form of a newsletter or an ad. Simply a personal letter with the article in the body, or a link to it on your site.
11. Combine To Make Ebook – After you have several articles on the same topic, you can combine them into an ebook form. With a little rewriting, rewording, or editing to make it all go together smoothly, you can even sell it for a small fee.
12. Use Article To Answer Question – Participating in forums is a powerful way to get extra traffic. Combine your forum activity with your article marketing only creates double exposure. When someone asks a question that is directly related to your article, you can either repost the article as the answer (if this is allowed by the moderator) or direct the forum readers to it through a link to your site where it is hosted.
Article Marketing Creatively For Extra Free Traffic
Writing articles for affiliate marketing does not have to be a dull activity. Use these different methods to get extra mileage out of your current, and future articles.
Take a look at the articles you have now. Can you do anything else with them besides sitting on a webpage? Choose some of these tips, or come up with your own creative uses for your articles. Doing so will give you extra mileage – or more free traffic – from the articles you have already written.
Have fun!
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on affiliate marketing
- How to Burn Niche Markets Through Multiple Streams of Affiliate …
Your Daily Kick is my daily commitment to deliver solid steps for you to take in your internet marketing journey. Today’s kick is one we have visited before, but something you should do now…
Drop A Comment
Commenting on blogs is a method of attracting targeted traffic for a few years now. When it first started, the comments were something like, “Great blog! Check out my blog too!” Oddly enough, it worked. You would not receive thousands of new hits to your own website, but you would begin to receive new traffic. Today, this type of comment does not work. In most cases, it will not even be approved by the moderator. So, dropping a comment on a blog is not a quick process.
Comment Today
Before you travel to your favorite blog and begin dropping comments, there are some things you should first keep in mind.
1. Always keep the comment on topic.
2. When commenting on a blog post you have two choices; agree and expand on the point being made, or disagree and offer a civil rebuttal.
3. Comment on blogs that you want to be a fixture at. What this means is that you are willing to join in several of the conversations that are happening on the blog.
4. Only place a link in your comment if it is relevant to your point. Other readers will find your blog by simply clicking on your name.
5. Commenting on blogs is not a place for overt advertising. It is a relationship bridge.
Find Five Blogs To Comment On
Your task today is to find five blogs that you can leave a comment on. Make sure that they are all relevant to your own website. Follow the five steps outlined above and you should start to see some traffic from it. After you have done your commenting, do not let it stop there. Continue to build up a list of other blog sites that you can visit on a daily basis and see what is now.
The easiest way to do that is through RSS feeds and Google Reader.
After The Comment – Added Marketing Power
Here is a little tip to give today’s daily kick a little more marketing power. After you have found five blogs to comment on, and after you have left your great comment; go social with it.
If you have a Twitter account (and if you do not, start one!), then Tweet the blog post to your followers. This will not only help the website owner get a little more traffic, but also expose your comment to more people.
So, there you have today’s assignment. Give it a try and drop me a comment about your results.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on Blogging
- Latest blogging Auctions | moneyfiles.com
- Earn Money Blogging, Get Traffic Without SEO, True Or False?
- How Can One Earn From Blogging? How Do I Start My Own Blog? | Make …
New Year’s Resolutions are a dime a dozen during the change from the old year to the new one. Of course, they are usually the same old ones. Lose weight, quit smoking, be more giving, be a better spouse, and on and on. One of the things that most resolutions have in common is that they are ill fated to last.
Why?
Mostly because there is no real commitment to it. It is just something that is made up on the spur of the moment to make sure you have done the “resolution” thing. Coming into 2010 I did not make any New Year’s Resolutions. Rather, I made New Year’s Commitments. These commitments are birthed out of desire and necessity. Instead of going into a long ramble about what I am doing, I thought I would put down the main points of the ten most important new year’s commitments that every internet marketer should make.
Internet Marketing Commitments For A New Year
1. Define your goal! Whatever you do, do not head into this new year without a sound, detailed goal on paper. Be as specific as you can be and plan out your entire year. This is not a list of things you would like to accomplish – more, it is a list of what you will accomplish. Many people think it is good enough to put down a wish list. What they would like to do, if they could. I believe there is much more power when you write a list of the things you will accomplish. Sure, it is still a wish list, but you have a different mindset about it.
2. Make A Schedule! Every successful internet marketer has a set schedule that they adhere to very rigidly. There will be times when you will have some distractions – this happens at any work site – but, you must have a schedule of when you work, what you plan to accomplish, what you do on specific days, and even when you will participate in social media and networking.
3. Make Social Media A Priority! Following on the heels of the last point, social media, and social networking, is the way that marketing it moving to at a very rapid pace. If you are already involved with social media marketing, that is great! But, you will have to step it up in order to keep your brand, your website, your services, your product, you yourself in front of the millions of eyes that are out there. The real important part is not to be just involved with Twitter or Facebook, but to expand your horizons with YouTube, and becoming very active specific niche sites.
4. Do Something New! One of the worse things you can do with your online business is always do the same old thing. Believe me, I know. The first few years of my business I didn’t want to try new technology, or new ways of doing things. I wanted to stay with what was comfortable. Today, it is much different. I make it a point, every day, to learn a little bit about something new. To catapult your business much farther than ever before begin doing something new. Make videos, do a podcast, go to seminars, set up your own webinar, it does not matter what you do, just do something new.
5. Create New Content Each Week! Content is still what is going to win the day as far as organic search traffic, viral exposure, and winning the hearts and minds of the people of the Internets. Every week should have some time set aside for creating new content. This content does not have to always be in the form of written. It can be videos, audio, email series, ebook, or anything else that people can grab, use, and give to someone else (or let them know about).
6. Focus On SEO! While you are out doing your socializing with social networking, you must also give SEO (Search Engine Optimization) a major part of your attention. Learn about what makes the search engines love your site and work at it until you get higher and higher rankings.
7. Start A Newsletter! We have all heard that many people think that email is a waste of time. However, many big name marketers are starting to run a separate email newsletter besides their RSS feed. By integrating a newsletter into your marketing efforts you have another platform from which to give out your content. It is not just an advertising medium. It is a content medium. Start and build an email newsletter for a much larger Internet footprint.
8. Focus In On Mobile! This is a two part commitment. We can not deny the fact that the world is going mobile. Mobile phones are no longer just for making phone calls. Accessing the web, answering emails, sending pictures, and making videos are all done with mobile phones. If you want to stay competitive you need to be available anywhere, anytime. Focus on how to move your business towards being more mobile in this new year.
The other part of focusing on mobile is to make your website more mobile friendly. This is one of the things I am working on for my websites now. You can either add a plug in for your Wordpress site, Wordpress Mobile Edition is a fairly decent plug in, or you can have it built into a downloadable application. The plug in would be much easier. 
9. Commit To Building A Business Instead Of A Quick Buck! The one thing that I have seen the most is that most of the people who are getting involved with internet marketing today are looking for a quick dollar. They join one MLM after another in search of the one BIG opportunity that will earn thousands of dollars each week. However, always looking for the ONE BIG THING will not work in the long run. Building a business – a brand – will. Commit to this year of building your authority, your brand, and a long time online business.
10. Have Fun! Least, but certainly not in importance, is to have fun with your online business. Uptight internet marketers who walk around with a scowl on their face, stressing out about their business, and just not being very friendly to anyone are just not fun to be around. Look at your internet marketing like a journey, or an adventure. I look at my online business as an Indiana Jones movie. I never know what will happen next, what treasure will be uncovered, or who I will meet. I have a lot of fun. Probably more than I should. Make it a commitment this year to have fun with your internet marketing adventure!
Internet marketing is more than just throwing up a few banner ads and buying some PPC ads. Much more. Commit to these ten things and you will a drastic improvement in all areas of your online business.
And remember… have fun!
Blogging is still something that many people find difficult to make any money from. Many internet marketers know that they should have a blog, but do not really know the exact steps to starting one – and then making it profitable. Finally there is a step-by-step guide that shows you the exact steps you have to take to make your own blog and start making an income. Right from deciding upon a niche that sells, to choosing a domain name to making your blog quickly indexed and also very secure to making money.
And it’s all clearly explained in a step-by-step approach with screen shots and videos. You simply cannot go wrong.
It has not been around for that long, but people are already praising this new free blogging guide…
“I downloaded the free guide yesterday. Today, my blog is up and running. Excluding the wait for the hosting to be set up, it took me 38 minutes!”
“You guys are absolutely brill. I was just about to throw my computer out the window when I came across your free guide. I still have a long way to go but I now have my blog and I can now learn how to use it to my full advantage, cheers you’re brill!!!”
“Thanks for that great guide and you didn’t even charge a dime!”
“It was my first try and the blog was up and running in no time! Thank You SO MUCH!!”
“Love the new guide. You go into great detail on some of those tricky points, especially around downloading and installing WordPress, and with plugins. Thanks again for the fantastic advice.”
“I’ve had my domain for a while, I hadn’t managed to get my head around wordpress installation. Following your very clear instructions, I’ve installed the blog myself in about an hour. So, that’s exciting, and impressive, I reckon.”
Contained in this blogging guide are some essential tips for the things that you must know. When I first started with a blog it was a lot of hit and miss. It still is! I wish I would have had something like this blogging guide when I started. The learning curve would have been much less – and much less painful! This guide tells you how to…
- The 2-step process you need to choose a proven money-making niche…get it wrong and you’ll never make any money
- The 3 golden rules of keyword analysis…get one rule wrong and ALL your future efforts are wasted.
- The exact step-by-step methods to find the best domain name for your blog …99% of bloggers miss this crucial “Search Engine Optimization” step
- How to install WordPress in under 1 minute (as long as you choose the right hosting company)
- Step-by-step guides and images of each ‘must-have’ plugin you must install on your blog (plus all the tweaks necessary – it is not just a matter of installing)
- The 2 steps you need to take to get Google to index your blog…and don’t believe all the hype…they take no more than 10 minutes to complete
- Don’t be one of those blog owners whose blog is ‘hacked…follow these 6 tasks that keep 99% of hackers at bay
- How to add pages, posts and images the right way, to pick up Google “link-juice” and without being penalised for duplicate content
- To launch your blog, what’s the optimum number of blog posts you should have? The answer may surprise you.
- How to write blogs posts so that your visitors think “I like this person, they know what they are talking about. I wonder what else they have to say” …and return time and time again
- How to write a good title for a blog post and why “Here are the top 20 tips for XXXX” is a no-no.
- The 5 quickest and easiest ways to start making a blog income…including the step-by-step approach
- How to split your working day into the 3 crucial elements of making money via blogging
- The 3 traits of a successful blogger…do you have them?
Then grab the free guide by clicking here:
Article marketing for website traffic is one of the most powerful – and used – online marketing tactics used today. However, sometimes writing the articles can get a little difficult at times trying to keep the content fresh and inviting.
I have a list taped to my desk that I use when I get bit by the brain block bug. Sometimes, the ideas just are not there. You know you want to write something, but can’t seem to put the words on the screen, or on the paper.
There are times when I am writing articles for clients that I sit there tapping the keys and nothing happens. No words are formed. No earth shattering phrases. Just a blank screen.
That’s when I begin to scan the horizon for the ideas. There is something that I learned a long time ago from a seminar I paid $1,000 to attend. I’m going to let you in on it for nothing.
When stuck, get a new perspective.
If you are having a hard time coming up with something to write about, move around, get a new outlook, change your environment, go somewhere. This can be both in terms of physically or mentally. Either way do something different.
10 Quick, No-Fail Ideas For Writing Articles
One of the other things I do is look at my list. This is a simple list of 10 ideas that help get the creative juices flowing and articles being written. It has gone through several different stages during the last 13 years of writing web content, but for the most part it has stayed the same. Here are the 10 article writing ideas.
1. Top 10 List – This never fails, which is why it is at the top. I simply write down 10 things about a topic and fill it out from there.
2. Watch A Video – YouTube.com has millions of videos ready for watching. Sometimes it just takes watching any video to get some ideas. However, watching something that is topic specific helps immensely.
3. How-To – When people are looking for information it is mostly in a how-to type of article. Find something that you can explain and write about it.
4. Visit Forums – When you are stuck travel to some of the online forums. I am a member of several forums where I see what is being asked, or talked about.
5. Read Other Blogs – My Google Reader is full of blogs and ideas just waiting to be written about, or expanded on. I will look at the title – without reading the post – and get a lot of ideas that way.
6. Learn Something – I have found that the more I learn about a topic, the more I can write about it. When writing for clients, I take some time to learn the topic before I begin writing. This helps come up with new angles, ideas, and information.
7. Write Something Personal – We all have stories in our lives. Use those stories to write about the topics you want to put down on paper.
8. Use Current Trends – This is easiest when working with marketing articles, but can be done with any topic. Remember that people want new information, not old. Keeping up to date, or just doing a quick search, with current trends will give you a lot of ideas.
9. Product Review – I don’t do this a lot. However, it is a good idea when you are stuck. I mostly do this for my own article writing. Client articles are mostly informative or how-to. A great example of product reviews, and how they are done is, Lynn Terry of ClickNewz.com. She writes great reviews of the products that she recommends.
10. Write About Experience – This doesn’t mean tell all about your life experiences. You are doing this is tip #7. If you have done something recently in your niche, then write about how it went – either good or bad. Darren Rowse, of Problogger.net is a master at this. HIs most recent post is a great example of writing about experience.
Bonus Article Writing Idea Tip
Other than the ten that are listed, I have one more at the bottom of my list. It says,
“Just Write Something!”
Some of my best articles – either for myself or for clients – are the ones where I just start writing. Sometimes I completely change the entire thing, but out of all that writing comes a brilliant idea that I can frame my article around.
So…
What are you waiting for? Write your next article using one of these tips. But, get started by at least writing something.
]]>
Article marketing is something that many people just do not understand. Writing an article to promote your website is a very powerful marketing medium. Unfortunately, it is also something that is done rather poorly.
The state of article marketing today seems to be taking a turn towards the rushed. A bunch of articles that are what I call “google rewrites”. This is where the topic is simply googled and the article is a rush rewrite of something that is already written. For example, if the topic is something like use of solar panels you would simply google the term “solar panels”, find a suitable article and then just rewrite it by running it through a some type of rewrite software. All that does is change some phrases and words around making it sound a little different.
However, the information is still the same.
What article marketing is missing today is new information. There isn’t any real research going into the article or any real “defining” moments in the articles today. It is like people get caught up in the keyword instead of the actual words.
Article Writing Is More Than Keywords
Most of the time when I write an article for a client, I am given a list of keywords. That is fine, but I do not rely on the keywords totally for the article. While the search engines like keywords, people do not. They want real information that will help them with a…
There is nothing worse than trying to find something, go to a web page where an article is and see that it is simply for getting higher rankings for that page. There is nothing of valueto be found, or worse yet, it is the same information you’ve already seen!
What Is An Article?
An article that is used for article marketing purposes is something that must add value to your webpage and/or to the person who is reading it.
Did you get that? Here is my definition of an article again.
An article for article marketing is a writing that adds value to your webpage and/or to the person who is reading it.
Do your articles do that?
Writing Your Next Article
Before you open up that word processor, text editor, or Wordpress interface, make sure that you follow a few things first.
1. Design it around what people need. Don’t just rely on keywords. Write for people.
2. You are not writing a book. People on the web do not have hours to sit and read your lengthy dissertation. They want to find the information they need quickly. Keep your article between 300 to 500 words in length.
3. Keep it on point. This is the hardest thing for me to do. I like to open with stories and a lot of background detail. But, if I am writing for article marketing purposes, I keep it on point.
4. Give new information. Please. Instead of stating the same obvious information. Give a new angle, a new opinion, or even go against the grain and do something entirely opposite.
5. Use correct writing principles. I’m not saying that you need to have a grammar degree. What I am saying is please have your article edited, or proofread by someone else. While you can go over it yourself, you will not pick out all of the mistakes.
6. Use Spell Check. Besides using correct writing in your article, run it through your spell checker. It might not catch all the misspellings, but it will catch most of them.
7. Have fun with it. It isn’t going to do any good if you dread writing your articles. Most of the time, this is because we put too much pressure on us to write great articles. They do not have to be great, but they should be decent enough to read. When you have fun with it, you will write better articles.
Article Marketing Is That Important
Content, no matter what anyone else tries to say, is still king. You need it. Article marketing is extremely important to your overall success that you should spend the majority of your time with it, or find someone else that can do your article marketing for you.
Remember what an article actually is, and then go write a few.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on Article Marketing
- The Most Popular Article Marketing Websites
- Funtastic Feeds and Articles Blog » Blog Archive » Article …
- 7 Successful Methods to Get One-Way Back Links
While this is not really a site on blogging tips, keeping a blog is a very powerful marketing technique.
With a blog you can easily keep a fresh supply of articles posted without worrying about them being declined by some article directory. You can include as many links as you want while also being very personal. However, many people are intimidated by the thought of starting a blog. You don’t have to be if you remember one HUGE blogging tip.
Keep Posts Full Of White Space!
You have probably heard by now that people on the Internet skim the various posts and articles they find. The sad thing is that so many people do not adhere to this. They smash in 24 sentences in one paragraph and follow that up with a longer one. No one is going to read that.
The reason for this is pure psychology. If your blog posts are all mashed together your brain will say that it is too hard to read and want to move on. If there is enough white space, though, it will look easier to read.
Cut your paragraphs into smaller, two to three sentence, paragraphs. Doing this will help the reader move at a constant pace down your post. Once they have read it they will not feel like the life has been drained out them and click on a few of the links.
Have a blog? Thinking of blogging? Use shorter sentences with a lot of white space. That, my friends, is the best blogging tip ever.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
- Related posts on Affiliate
- Wealthy Affiliate Success – Make Money
- Mass PPV Traffic Review – The New Secret To Revolutionized …
- What Is The Best Affiliate Program Available? | Easy-Million.com
- Related posts on affiliate marketing
- Art.com and AllPosters.com are great for affiliate marketers …
- Anniehoakley'sBlogReviews :: Annie Oakley's Review on Affiliate …
- Mass PPV Traffic Review – The New Secret To Revolutionized …
- Related posts on articles
- [WTS] 15 " DISEASES " Articles | 400+ words | CS Passed | 100 …
I can’t get over how many people are still trying to churn out content for their websites that is just, well… crap. Recently I read two posts in my Google Reader that really stirred up the ‘great content‘ issue. The first is one by Joe Hall talking about creating great content or to hardcore porn. I love the in your face way that Joe talks about creating great content for your website.
That was followed up by another great post by Nick Stamoulis over at Search Engine Optimization Journal about writing great content or go out of business. And I love the way that Nick explains it.
“But, seriously, if you are so lazy and cheap that you’ll use a free service to ask someone for free advice on how you can get more traffic to your blog with less work and less-than-great content then you don’t need to be producing content. Imagine a business owner planning to start a laundry service in his neighborhood asking the home owners in that area, “How can I build a great laundry service without great laundering machines?”
Great Content IS Your Site’s Lifeblood
Anyone who is thinking about a new website or blog needs to think about the content they are going to be putting on it. It needs to be good. Maybe not great, but at least readable and enjoyable. There is way too much content on the Internet today. Every affiliate marketer is overloading places like EzineArticles.com with short articles that really don’t say anything. And they want this stuff to send traffic to their site?
Great website content is the lifeblood of your entire marketing. It doesn’t matter if it is an article, a report, an ebook, email ad, or even social marketing presence – you need to have something good for people to read. It’s just that simple.
Create Great Content
Before you go ahead and hit that publish button, or submit your article, take time to read your article or post. Is it any good? Does it make sense? Will people want to read it? If not, then change it around, rewrite it, or hire someone else to do it for you.
Your content should do three things to be valuable as website content or content for traffic.
1. Inform – Your article, or blog post, should inform the reader about your topic.
2. Presell – This is where you article works for you. You need to write it in a way that will get the reader to want to visit your site, read more information, or buy your product.
3. Establish – With the content you write, it is not just for a one time shot of traffic. The content is to establish you as an authority on the particular topic.
Does your content do that?
Of course, the one piece of the puzzle that holds it all together is that your content must be good!
]]>
I had a sort of breakthrough this week that has huge implications for my online business. It is a week I made a stand. This week I put back the BIGGEST most important part of my online marketing and online business. That is passion.
I have been online for 13 years now and have gone through several different changes along the way. Learning new skills so I can offer new services, adding and taking away services as the internet changes, and then going for a spell of just freelancing. Throughout it all I had a great deal of passion for my online marketing (I even wrote about the importance of it in affiliate marketing before), but because of some recent life stuff that passion had a sort of ebb and flow until it began to deteriorate all together.
However, this past week I got it back full force. And it was kind of an eye opening experience. The largest part of your online marketing business is not the website, the traffic, or even the size of your mailing list or social media followers. It is without a doubt your passion for success and life.
Passion Is Fuel
When you have just put in a long day and there is still a lot more work to be done, you need to have your passion high in order to keep going. Lately I’ve been putting in 12 to 14 hour days just writing for one client. At first it was great, because the money I was being paid for it was pretty good. But, after about two weeks it was becoming very apparent that I was burning out. I didn’t have time for anything, or anyone else. My family was becoming second. That’s not why I started. So, I made the decision to make a big change.
Passion Keeps You Goal Oriented
When you are feeling good about what you are doing goals are a lot easier to keep in front of you and march along towards meeting them. Even the Big, Hairy, Audacious ones. But, when it begins to wain a little, the goals begin to fade away. You still want to reach them, but they seem harder, more distant, and even less important than before.
Every few years, as the Internet changes and evolves, I update my goals in order to keep them in line with what is happening now and in the future. Lately, that wasn’t happening because I was focused in the wrong direction. Now, I am back on track and can’t wait to unleash some new things. One of those is to build a larger business instead of a one man operation. That means hiring and looking for writers, advertisers, and other consultants.
Another big goal is to build a content empire. Ebooks, courses, and blogs for getting out great information on various topics for the sole purpose of both entertaining and educating. Because I have been working so much on just one project, I began to lose sight of the goals I had been working towards. Now, however, that passion is back and my goals are firmly encamped in front of my eyes.
Passion Leads To Overcoming
I have learned through the years, over and over again, that when it seems like the world is throwing everything it has at you, that your passion for family, friends, business, and life will bring you through it. The past few months have been progressively harder for my family and I. The reason for it… my passion was beginning to falter. Today, with new eyes, I am feeling great. Things are starting to turn a corner and I am believing in only good things.
Passion does that for you. It gives you a new breath on life and the energy to continue on.
Think About Your Passion First
Your internet marketing business is only going to be as good as your passion for it. If it isn’t there, your business will begin to suffer. However, if you take a day to refocus, catch your breath, and find your passion you are going to see a tremendous difference.
How is your passion? Is it there or has it been lagging lately?
]]>
I have come to know a lot of great people all over the world while helping them with their advertising campaigns. Of course, I have also met some less than desirable people. During the last several years of online marketing I have come to see that there are three distinctly different types of internet marketers.
Marketing and Sports
Being a coach, fitness fanatic, and personal trainer I like to compare everything to sports. In fact, if you think about it, there isn’t much in life that you can not directly compare with sports and athletics. Every time I work on a new campaign I think about a large sports arena with the advertising materials as my team and the internet target as the audience, spectators, and opposing team.
In sports there are three different types of athletes. The same thing goes for internet marketing. In the several years I have immersed myself in the internet world, I have come to see that there are three different types of internet marketers. And they are not all good.
What I mean by that is this; there are those who are hurting themselves by being one, or even two, of these types of marketers. It sounds harsh, but if you are not willing to step up and change the way you approach your internet marketing – you will fail.
Three Types of Internet Marketer
Before you take a look at the different types of marketers take a minute to think about how you go about your own internet business, or presence. If you take a very honest look at your business, you will most likely be able to pinpoint which type of marketer you are. And, be able to make some changes for future success.
1. Quick Hitter – Only In It For The Money (Glory)!
You know the kind of athlete that moves from team to team looking for a better deal? Today with free agency, many players jump ship at the sign of a more lucrative contract. By the end of their career they have played for several different teams. However, it isn’t only in the pro ranks that this type of athlete is found. I played men’s softball for several years and was amazed at the number of people who would join different teams each year because they had the “good” players.
In essence, these types of athletes want the glory – the accolades of either earning more money or being on a “winning” team. Internet marketing has this same type of marketer. They are in it for the glory, and most definitely for the money.
This type of marketer jumps from opportunity to opportunity, or plasters the web with quickly put together two page websites based on the “hottest” keyword. This is the perfect formula for failure.
The Quick Hitter is so wrapped up in keyword research, tweaking Adwords ads, optimizing landing pages, and leaving a trail of mini sites in their wake that they cannot possible focus on building a real business. They are in it for the quick hit.
2. Weekend Warrior – Plays On The Weekends But Believes They Know It All!
I’m sure you know about this type of athlete. Every town is overrun with these types. I know mine is. These are the guys who play a few pick up games of basketball, softball, or even volleyball at the local recreation center and think they know it all about sports. As a coach, these people drive me absolutely nuts. In the internet marketing world, this type of marketer is one that has dabbled with a few MLM programs, sold a few Clickbank products, and now gives out their “expert” advice.
This type of marketer is a step above the Quick Hitter in that they are more consistent with what they are doing. However, it is mostly very inconsistent.
3. Lifestyle Athlete – Dedicated To Lifelong Success And Growth!
I have been active all my life. In fact, I’ve been called “obsessed with sports”. I wouldn’t quite call it an obsession. Rather, I would call it a dedication. I love playing, coaching, and helping athletes reach past their goals and continually establish new ones. That takes a lifetime of dedication and passion.
Internet marketing, or building any business really, requires the same type of passion, dedication, and lifelong “obsession”. Anything short of this and you are missing the mark as far as what you can potentially achieve.
The first time I ever set foot on a field as a coach was on a soccer field. I love soccer. I’ve played it since I was about 10 years old. Even though I had a lot of experience, I was scared. I had never coached anything before. Now, I was going to be leading a team of middle school boys. I’d like to say we had a stellar season. We only won one game. However, the learning experience was invaluable. Now, I have gone on to coach several sports.
When I started marketing on the internet, I had a simple online shopping mall with banners to hundreds of different sites I was affiliated with. It did alright, but I knew I had to continue learning, growing, and stretching myself. So, I started copywriting, advertising, and consulting. It wasn’t a one time thing – it has been a life of learning and reaching.
Internet Marketing Is A Lifestyle
This has been made even more crystal clear with the advent of social media. You can see, in real time, how the most successful people have become that way. They live what they do.
The most successful athletes – from the middle school soccer player to the professional, highly paid athlete – live their sport. They practice, live healthy, and put all their energy into being better. Not just once, or every few months, but continually.
Marketing on the internet demands that same type of lifelong dedication. It does not matter if you are an affiliate, a service provider, own a retail website, consultant, or info publisher. You must live it.
Which type of marketer are you? Where do you find yourself? Are you the Quick Hitter, Weekend Warrior, or the Lifestyle Athlete?
]]>