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I have been reading a couple of ebooks about article marketing lately and the main conflict I found is that they sell article submission as a great marketing tool for your site and at the same time they say that using authored material will not be good for your reputation as an expert in your niche. So… if it is not good for you, why should be good for others? It is not very coherent, is it? Let’s go back to the basics: how do we define an expert? In simple words, and to be able to go on with my own idea for this article, let’s say that an expert is someone who knows enough about something as to have a trustable voice, that is, if he/she tells you something worth your time you give it a try. To recommend something wrote by others does not go against your reputation if the articles are really good and deliver what they promise. The selection of articles in your website should talk with your own voice and provide information you are proud to endorse. If that is the case, to display information written by others is not working against you. On the contrary, it actually works on your favor. A word of caution There is a main drawback about publishing articles written by others: through the infobox you are delivering in silver platter your hard earned visitors to the author as targeted prospects for free. That is no good… The second drawback is that in the mind of that visitor you will be endorsing the products or services the author offers and if there is a problem your reputation as expert will be hit. Looking for solutions always open new doors How we put everything together in a way that works for everybody? Here is what I did in GolferArea.com: 1) Start looking for great articles, 2) Go to the author website and have a look, find out what product he is selling, if it has an affiliate program and if you would be willing to promote it as affiliate. If the answer to all this points is yes, go on, if the answer is no, learn from the article and write your own with the same core information. 3) If the product the author is selling worth the promotion, contact the seller and ask if you can change the link in the infobox by an affiliate link. Most of the times the answer will be a YES in capital letters (print out the emails with full headers and keep them in your records just in case). That is, problem solved… you give him/her what she wants and get your share. The author is happy, you are happy, the customer is happy and you grow your reputation as expert recommending other people expertise with their own promotional articles. Pushing it to the next level This is probably one the best ways to push an affiliate if you have a Newsletter. It is easy and effective. Add the article with the infobox relinked as featured article, let it marinate. In this case you are adding good info and an offer in the package in a way that will not fix you as pushy in the mind of your customers, but as great info provider, with no extra work. Changing the Article Directory rules for your Success Well, after all this is a site by and for affiliates, so in base of this idea I changed the rules of the Article Directory. Every person that submits articles here needs to have an affiliate program and accept that the link to his site will be changed by an affiliate link. |
Affiliate Farm is a private project to understand and organize the information about the affiliate jungle. Hopefully, you will find what you need to start, run and keep yourself updated in the affiliate and marketing world.