How to Increase Ebook Sales with an Article Marketing Blitz
Last week’s post here talked about how I increased my ebook sales by 166% by submitting an article a day, for 30 days, to article directories. This week, I wanted to expand upon that, as it’s something I plan to keep doing.
To that end, following is a step-by-step article marketing blitz you can use to promote your ebooks, teleclasses, freelance writing services, etc.
A Step-by-Step Article Marketing Blitz Plan
1. Article Marketing Time Frame: All I mean by this is figure out when you want to go on your blitz. FYI, summer is a slow time for the editorial industry.
Many are away on vacation and/or simply in vacation mode. This can cut two ways. Either you can look at it as a time to saturate the market when there’s less competition, or you can view it as planning time. During planning time you tackle all the behind-the-scenes work to prepare for launch when things pick up again.
2. Number of Articles in Your Article Marketing Campaign: Once you’ve got your time frame down, figure out how many articles you want to write. If it’s one a day, three a week, four a month – whatever it is, write it down.
One of the hardest parts of article marketing is actually writing the articles. Not because they’re hard to write, but because you have to squeeze this task in with everything else that’s probably on your plate.
3. Choose Your Article Marketing Keywords: Once you know how many articles you want to include in your article marketing blitz campaign, figure out key words for each one. Of course, your key words will depend on what you’re promoting, so choose wisely.
4. Write Articles in Bunches: What I mean by this is, sit down and write two, three or four articles at a time. This may mean writing on the weekends or late at night. The reason you want to write more than one article at a sitting is that you want to be sure that you have enough to complete your article marketing blitz campaign.
Having even one ready-to-go article will keep you ahead and on track. That way, you won’t miss a beat.
5. Submit to Article Directories: Submit each article to at least five directories. I found a great list of the Top 50 Article Directories, which is more complete and thorough than the Top 10 Article directories I previously listed. FYI, some overlap. The key is to present articles to highly trafficked article directories.
EzineArticles is by far the best, but submitting to them can be a pain. They have so many restrictions. Two basic things to remember about this directory: nominal and/or no self promotion, and at minimum, only one link in the article. Their rules say two, but I did that once and got flagged. As soon as I removed the extra link, my article was accepted.
You can find a list of my articles here on EzineArticles. Read through some of these to get an idea of how your article should flow.
What about the Duplicate Content Penalty?
“You say submit the same article to at least five different article directories. But, what about the duplicate content penalty?”
I’ve read many different accounts about the duplicate content penalty. This article on duplicate content penalty is one of the best explanations I’ve read on the subject that makes sense to me – and that I’ve seen with my own articles. So, that’s why I say, submit your article to at least five different directories.
Read more on this though and decide for yourself.
6. Rinse and Repeat: Whatever schedule you adopt for your article marketing blitz, if you can keep it up beyond the date you’ve set — do so for even better results. At a minimum, I think you should submit at least one article a week to article directories. Over time you will start to see an increase in traffic.
The Best Article Marketing Blitz Campaign
If you really want to see a jump in traffic – quick, submit 1-2 articles a day to at least five different article directories. Or more if you can handle it.
Some obvious things I’ve left out were: (i) write articles that pertain to your niche; and (ii) make them informative (eg, don’t just throw together general information). Good writing will inform, educate and move people to action.
Bad writing will just make them dismiss you.
As I wrote to one reader who commented on my post here last week, “I pride myself on putting out information that I think others can use and is from first-hand experience, not just general info that can be found all over the web with no persona experience attached. And, I think that’s why article marketing has worked so well for me.”
Answer to Last Week’s Article Marketing Brain Tease
Last week I asked the question, “How many articles do you think you have to write and submit to article directories to make one ebook sale a day?”
I parsed some of my own numbers and came up with a very general answer. Remember, this is by no means scientific. There are so many variables to be considered that if I had stopped to think about it, I wouldn’t have even put the question out there. But since I did, I feel compelled to answer. So here goes.
Based on my ebook sales, I’d say you have to write and submit at least one article every 1.5 days and submit it to at least three article directories. Then, you have to wait at least 30 days to start selling at least one ebook per day. Why do you have to wait.
So that the articles can start to be circulated, eg, getting picked up by ezine publishers, webmasters and other article directories.
Now, the reason I say take this with a grain of salt is that I’ve been around a while, so I have many articles in many article directories on the web. I also am very niche focused, write from first-hand experience and have an in-built audience via my website and blog.
Butthere was a measurable difference from May 15th through June 15th in my ebook sales. May 15th was when I started my most recent 30-day article marketing campaign. I’ve missed days here and there, but have religiously submitted 3-5 articles a week to article directories, which I think accounted for the uptick in sales.
Good luck in your article marketing efforts!
Alex the Freelance Twin | July 16th, 2008 at 11:24 am #
After I read your post last week I kicked myself for not joining you in the 30 day challenge. But I was so impressed with your results that I started my own 30-day article marketing challenge for 3 of my brand new blogs. Just to show you can (or can’t) promote a new blog simply through article submissions.
Thanks for the motivation!
The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 16th, 2008 at 11:46 am #
@You’re welcome Alex — and good luck. I’d be interested in hearing back from you in 60 days on how it went. As you have new blogs you’re promoting, you have to give articles enough time to really start circulating, so that’s why I say 60 days instead of 30.
Again, good luck!
Yuwanda
Ed Hubert | July 16th, 2008 at 2:33 pm #
Great post on the benefits of article marketing. I especially like the encouragement to “write in bunches” I’ve always felt this to be good advice and I appreciate the reminder to do so.
Mikael | July 16th, 2008 at 5:24 pm #
Very good post.
Much more informative than the drivel I posted on my blog today.
Even Church Billboards, Bert & Ernie Are Going Gangsta:
http://theweirdnewsblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/even-church-billboards-bert-ernie-are.html
Mikael
http://shatteredparadigm.blogspot.com/
Todd Andrews | July 17th, 2008 at 12:50 pm #
I like to save time with some article-generating tools. Definitely better than manually writing from scratch.
The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 17th, 2008 at 1:01 pm #
@Todd: I respectfully disagree. While you may be able to write articles faster, the articles are not as in-depth and useful to the end user. In my opinion, good articles pr-sell prospects on your product/service. To do that, they must “ring true”. This comes from writing from the heart (ie, writing from scratch).
So, while article generating software might help you turn out more material, in the long run, site owners who will be profitable for years to come will be those users trust to provide valuable, insightful information.
Many are new to the web, but it is progressing to a point where a lot of these general informational sites will disappear, and the ones left standing will be those chock full of the in-depth, helpful information.
Thanks for weighing in,
Yuwanda
Ken Nickless | July 18th, 2008 at 1:30 am #
Seems like an awful lot of work to sell one e-book a day. How many books in total would you expect to sell from one thirty day article blitz?
The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 18th, 2008 at 9:43 am #
@Ken: You have to take the long-range view. My best selling ebook sells for $39.95. That’s $1,200 a month from an hour or two of work per day (writing then submitting articles to the article directories) at most.
I also have a line of ebooks (about 10 to date), with plans for many more. Over time, users will come back to buy more, subscribe to my newsletter, etc. In a few years time, all I’ll have to do is write and submit one or two articles a day to drive my marketing campaigns. Making $200-$300/day is $6,000-$9,000/month for working 2-4 hours/day, five days a week (or less if I “bunch write” as I talk about in the post).
When looked at like this, I think you’d agree that it’s not too much work, but a sound plan for creating passive income for years to come.
Yuwanda
Missy | July 18th, 2008 at 6:47 pm #
I have yet to finish my 1st eBook, but realize that i would rather take my time with it, and make it a solid book, then rush through it, to get it done.
As i keep reading about the eBook market, i also realize, that certain things need to be in place, way before a projected launch date.
I will bookmark this post, and refer back to it, when i’m ready to begin the promo blitz with my book.
Lots to do, besides the actual writing of it. Thanxs for sharing your experience with article marketing and eBook sales.
The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 18th, 2008 at 8:03 pm #
@Ken: You’re very welcome.
@Missy: Good luck with finishing your book, and you’re right, planning up front will make marketin so much easier . . . and hopefully bring in sales that much quicker.
Yuwanda
Theresa Nixon | July 26th, 2008 at 2:03 pm #
Great article and terrific site, Yuwanda! I’m really glad I found you. I just started submitting articles to Ezinearticles.com this month and have already seen a significant increase in traffic to my blogsite, several of which have gone onto my ebook landing page. I’m taking your advice and getting my articles submitted on other sites, too. Thanks for sharing your expertise!
The Freelance Writer's Blog | July 27th, 2008 at 3:06 pm #
You’re welcome Theresa. Thanks for chiming in and lending proof to the fact that article marketing does work — if you do it consistenty.
Good lcuk with your ebook and blog.
Yuwanda