| "How To Use Ezine Articles To Promote Any Product, Service,
or Affiliate Program You Choose in 5 Easy
Steps" by
Jimmy D. Brown
I bet you can't
tell me the best way to use ezine articles to promote your offer.
Go ahead. Give
it your best shot. Out loud. Say it. Whatever comes to mind, just blurt it
out.
I'm
listening.
You see, most
folks don't really understand how to BEST use ezine articles to promote
a product or service, or their favorite affiliate program.
They know they
are supposed to write an article, include some kind of clever offer in the
text or in their resource box, and convince editors to publish their
article.
But, there is
a *very* clever way to use your article to promote like you've never seen
before.
And I'm going
to share it with you right now.
There are only
five steps. And they are all super simple...
Step 01: Choose the product or service you want to
promote.
This one is kind of a no-brainer. It all begins with deciding what you want
to promote. Is it your own product or service? How about your favorite affiliate
program?
We're not talking
about your newsletter -- we're talking about an actual offer you want to
present that you'll earn profits from when readers of your article make a
purchase.
Decide what
it is that you want to promote through your free ezine article. And then
move on.
Step 02: Determine your "useful, but incomplete"
approach.
I love to use what I have coined as the "useful, but incomplete" approach
when using freebies of any kind. (Ezine articles, free eBooks, reports, eCourses,
etc.)
What I mean by that is simply
this: You provide your reader with "useful" information (something they find
of value and are able to actually apply) but make certain that it is "incomplete"
in that they can better use the information by making a purchase.
That's "useful,
but incomplete." And it works like a charm.
The idea is
to use your content to build up to your desired response. You provide the
reader with content, and then you make an offer that allows them to fully
utilize the content, gain extra insight from the content or maximize the
content in some additional way.
Let me give
you an example:
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I wanted to promote
Autorespondit.com in a free ezine article. This is a service that offers
unlimited autoresponders, tracking and all kinds of other stuff for one low
price.
So, how could I use an ezine
article to promote the service?
By writing an article that
explains how to benefit from using autoresponders or mailing lists. My article
explains different uses of autoresponders and how the reader can profit from
implementing the ideas.
And, naturally, they will
need an autoresponder service in order to put the ideas into practice,
right?
And I just happen to know
of a great service they can use. :o)
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OK, so that's
an example of how to promote a SERVICE offer with your ezine article. What
about a software product or an eBook?
Want some
examples?
Good, because
I've got two...
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TO PROMOTE
A SOFTWARE PRODUCT
Let's
suppose you want to promote Armand Morin's eCover Generator. How can you
do it?
-- Write an article outlining
how important presentation of your offer is, and how creating a cover graphic
can increase response rates by up to 1300%.
-- Write a step-by-step
tutorial article for "do-it-yourselfers", explaining how to design your own
graphics from scratch. And then promote the software as a
super-simplified way of doing it.
TO PROMOTE
AN EBOOK
Want to
promote Paul Myers' Amazing List Machine?
-- Write an article that
covers the "basics" of building lists, and then promote Paul's eBook as the
"advanced" tactics.
-- Write an article on how
to profit from a list, and then promote Paul's eBook as the "how to build
the list."
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See how easy
this is?
That's how it
works. Determine what your "useful, but incomplete" approach will be, and
then...
Step 03: Turn your approach into a tips list or
tutorial.
Let's use my example again. I decided that I would describe various uses
of autoresponders and how the reader can actually profit from them. What
kind of tips list or tutorial could I create?
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"How to Generate More
Subscribers, Sales and Profits With Automated Follow-Up Messages"
"7 Powerful And Profitable
Ways To Use Autoresponders To Skyrocket Your Sales and Subscribers!
"Want to Increase Your Online
Profits And Leads? Here are 7 Ways to Do It..."
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I actually went
with the middle title. I wrote my list of the 7 ideas that I wanted to share.
And I had the makings of a perfect article to promote an offer.
That's all you
need to do. Determine your end result. Decide how to get there with
your "useful, but incomplete" approach. And then develop a list, or even
a step-by-step tutorial for your article that leads the reader along.
With each new
"idea" or "way" or "tip" or "step" or "strategy" that you share, you can
further direct the reader towards realizing their need of your upcoming
offer, and lay the foundation for them to accept the offer.
Step
04: Expand on each point to build your
content.
Here's more of the easy part. Just "fill-in-the-blanks" to complete your
article. Write 1-2 short paragraphs for each of your points. Make them good.
Provide quality content. The offer you will soon make will see poor results
if your information isn't useful.
Remember, you are trying
to presell the reader on the idea that they are going to need your offer.
If you don't provide them with quality information that they WANT to begin
using immediately, then why will they want to buy what you are
promoting?
Light a fire
in them. Motivate them. Challenge them. Give them such nuggets of gold that
they want to keep mining until they hit the mother lode!
Step 05: Put on the finishing touches with the "five
pillars."
There are five things that you should always do to finish up your ezine article.
Don't skip any of them. They are all critical...
1. Polish. Re-read your
article. Does it provide information that really is "useful" to the reader?
And yet leaves them wanting even more? That's what you want. Polish it. Put
on the wax and make it shine. It has a very specific purpose -- make certain
it has the means to achieve it.
2. Promote. Use your resource
box to promote your offer. This is why we've written the article, right?
Remember step one? It's time to put it into play. Give the reader what they
(hopefully) are wanting...a way to maximize the information you gave
them.
3. Proof. Don't do this
yourself. Have a trusted friend, relative or co-worker check your article
for grammatical and typographical errors. The last thing you want to do is
present a poor image after sharing some high quality information.
4. Publish. Zip your new
article out to your favorite list of publishers. Submit it to the announcement
lists and the ezine directories. Don't forget to publish it yourself in your
own newsletter!
5. Profit. If you've covered
all the bases that I've mentioned, then profits are almost certain to start
coming in when your ezine article is published. You deserve it. Be proud
of your accomplishments.
And then start
it all over again! |
