This is one of my favorite topics because I have built my business writing articles - using content. At the time of this writing, I did $11000 in online business last month, and am on target to do at least $12000 this month. Those revenues were generated almost exclusively from subscribers who opted in to one or more of my lists after reading one or more of my articles.
Now, it did not happen magically or overnight, or while I was sleeping at the beach, as some internet marketers might try to tell you. I have not ‘gotten rich quick’ by any means. I work 180+ hours per month, and at the time of this writing, I have over 1400 published articles online. So when I tell you to write a lot of articles, I am telling you because that is what I have done. I have written a lot of articles.
Some days it is easy – I am creative and the words just flow. Other days I am quite tempted to quit for the day. But I cannot. I tell myself how many articles to write and then I just write them. Some days I write 15 articles. Some days I write 20 or 25. I think my biggest day was nearly 40 articles. None of this is to brag – I just want you to understand that this is work – nothing short of work.
So, why do article marketed subscribers buy more from me?
Of course, I do not know what goes through each person’s mind. But I can give you a fairly decent approximation of what I think occurs.
To set the frame, let me ask you this. Given the choice between a prospect (otherwise known as a visitor) who has had 3 seconds reading a pay per click ad of yours and a visitor who has taken 5 or 10 minutes to read an article of yours, which would you choose? Which of these two visitors is going to more likely to want what you have on the squeeze page?
You see, when some reads a text ad of yours, they have read about 3 lines about your business – and if you are a good ad writer – they are curious. So they click through. What are the odds that that person actually needs or wants what you have on that squeeze page, let alone connects with you, your style, well enough to give you their name and email address?
But what happens when someone reads your article and actually clicks through to your web site squeeze page?
There is an entirely different mindset, and entirely different psychology that goes on. You see, if some one reads your entire article, odds are they liked what you had to say. Many times, people will click out of your article after the first few lines, if they do not connect with you or they are not getting something out of the article. So just the fact that they have read the entire article means they have more of a connection with you than someone who read a text ad somewhere.
At the end of the article, this visitor has a choice – either to click out or to click over to your web site to get more information from you.
If they click into your web site – they are very interested in you and your information! You see, they have had ample opportunity to back out, to not click through – there is no impulse clicking here as there might be with a text ad.
Once they click into your squeeze page, assuming that you have also written the copy for your squeeze page (and I recommend that you write both the squeeze page and your articles so that there is a continuous flow of personality there), it is as if they are still reading your article – and are desiring more information from you. They are just as interested in your free gift as they were in checking out your web site. It is my opinion that at this point, about the only people who do not opt in are people for whom the offer is not strong enough to overcome their hesitance to give out their email address and name, or you have not done a good job of tying the article in to the squeeze page (I am going to cover that later).
So what happens next? Now they are on your list. They were more interested in your web site and in your squeeze page offer than the average person who stumbles on your site via a search engine, and they were more interested in your web site and squeeze page offer than someone who has been seduced into clicking a link…and they will continue to be more interested in you and your information, as long as you continue to provide strong information in your email campaign.
I also recommend writing your own emails, because this allows you to maintain a continuity of personality in your campaign. You see, people are not just opting in to your list because you had a great offer, they are opting in because they developed a connection with you as they were reading your article, then your squeeze page, and now they are growing closer to you as they read your emails.
Another comment on this. Sometimes I think that people will pay someone to write their emails for them because they don’t think they can. The thing that's important is not that your email be perfect, but that it maintain the same tone and personality as your articles and your squeeze page. You see, the business of building a list online is not about building a big list so you can slam people with offers and hope some buy. It is about creating a genuine relationship with people – and then offering them things that will genuinely help them. Internet marketing is about relationships, not emails and sales pages. Sure, emails and sales pages are some of the tools we use – but the relationships are what really build the business.