Here's one tiny field test.

I've received 7 visitors in 30 days from this article on EzineArticles, half of those visits being from EzineArticle review staff. In other words, waste of time.

http://ezinearticles.com/?computer-repair-problems...

Does the article stink?

I dunno. Something does.

[No, your article definitely does NOT stink. It's really good. Great heading. Interesting idea. I noticed a typo "Took" instead of "Tool" in a very important place, your resource box, but I doubt that's the problem. The real problem may be that the service you're offering in your resource box is not closely related to the topic of your article. You've encouraged people to think about one thing and then at the last moment you're trying to get them to switch and think about something else. That's a tough challenge. It would work better if your article was like a slippery chute which led them to the link in your resource box. What you could have done is split your article into two parts. The first part on EzineArticles could have convinced people that it makes sense to buy very cheap second-hand computers. In your resource box, you could have linked to a second article on your site that told people how to buy very cheap second-hand computers. However, that wasn't really your goal so here's a better idea that suits what you want to achieve... Your article on EzineArticles could have discussed 10 ways to get links to a website, and in your resource box you could have linked to a faster, more effective way to get links to a website - free. Try that. Also, I think Dan would advise not just writing one article but a steady stream of them. Allan.]

Thanks for sending this out, Allan.

I hope anyone on your list who is serious about making money as an affiliate takes the time to read it. I know we're all busy and that the interview is a bit long.

But, taking that extra effort to learn is what separates the eventually successful from the others.

To Everyone: no matter what niche you're in, I truly believe article marketing is the fastest and cheapest way to get *targeted traffic* online. Of course, my emphasis is on targeted because that's the only kind that matters and makes sales.

I've tried a lot of methods in my 7-8 years online and in these recessionary times, article marketing is especially powerful because it only costs your time.

I know time is money, but let's face it, in these recessionary times, people have more time to 'spend' than actual dollars.

And article marketing therefore represents one of, if not the best, place for someone new to start (or someone who isn't making $1,000 dollars in passive income per month).

Lastly, I know in the Chris Knight interview and above it says I have received over 300,000 clicks. That's true.

But the number is much closer to 400,000 than 300,000.

How many sales could you make if you got 400,000 targeted clicks to your affiliate sites?

Answer: A lot. :)

My best,
Dan

Hi - I just downloaded the referenced .pdf but am unable to open it. I get a message that the file is damaged and un-openable. Could it be something at your end?

[I just tested the file, successfully downloaded it and opened it. Do you have the latest version of Adobe Reader? If not, I recommend you download Version 9
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/
If that doesn't work, try using a different browser - IE, Firefox or Google Chrome. Good luck! Allan.]

Hi Tom,

That is very odd. Like Allan, I tested it on multiple browsers. Not only did I test it, I had two other people last night test it on multiple browsers. When it comes to stuff like that, I'm "paranoid".

I also just tested the link again here that Allan has put up and it's opening.

If anyone else is having problems opening the PDF like Tom, please post here so we know it's not an isolated case.

However, since it's working for me, Allan, and others, it might be your version of Adobe like Allan said.

This may sound crazy Tom, but since you can't open it, and for some reason I feel a bit guilty about that, if you live in the US, email me at

dan @ mosaicinternetsuccess.com (take out the spaces) and I'll offer you a 10 minute free consult on anything business or article marketing related.

I know that sounds crazy since I'm very very busy, but hey, if you can't open it, that's something I can maybe help you with off the top of my head.

Regards,
Dan Ho

Hey Allan, many thanks for your detailed review of my article (first comment above). You make some good points. Yes, the article could have been more relevant to the link, agreed. Typos, ouch....

Honestly, I'm still not convinced making the changes you suggest would result in a substantial improvement in traffic, but I would sincerely like to be wrong. Article marketing could be great for somebody like me.

Proposal: You or Dan write an article using the strategies you suggest.

Use me as an independent outside observer by using a tracking link in your resource box, that I'll set up in a domain on my server. (I can register and pay for a domain of your choice that's relevant to your article.)

After X days you can report the results, if they are to your liking.

After the test is over, remove my tracking link, and replace with yours.

If it makes the story better, I'm willing to publicly play the role of the clueless critic :-) who was proven wrong, and given an helpful education, in your article about this test. If I am indeed wrong, that's good news for somebody who enjoys writing as much as I do.

[Phil, If you've read the transcript of Dan's interview, you'll know that Dan and Chris don't place a lot of importance on ONE article. To them, the important thing is to produce a LOT of articles. So a fair test of what they are recommending would be to do the sort of keyword research they discuss and then write a few hundred articles. That way, instead of producing an anecdote, you'd produce real evidence. Allan.]

Hi Tom;

Amie from Affiliate Article Writers here! Dan told me you were having some difficulty downloading the link so I've uploaded a copy of the PDF to our website:

http://www.affiliatearticlewriters.com/interview/?...

If you're still having trouble, I've included a quick email link so that you can send me your email address and I'll send you the PDF right back.

Sorry for the bother!

Kind regards,

Amie Colquhoun
Affiliate Article Writers

PS - to the post comment reader at Associate Programs - I'm a long-time subscriber and I didn't get this newsletter. The last one I received was number 419. Just in case there was something odd about the email . . . I subscribe via a hotmail account.

[Thanks. Did Hotmail filter the newsletter into your spam folder? If it did, please find it and label it Not Spam. Allan.]

I would love to add my input on this topic. I have been writing since September of last year and as time goes by, I am improving my writing skills and pinning down my keyword usage. Just last week, the 12th to be exact, I created 5 more articles and the least amount of visits I've received have been 40. The most has been 77. They haven't even been up a week and I've already made 2 sales. If you continue to learn and improve, you can drive people to your website through article marketing. It's the most fun I've ever had making a living on the internet.

Thanks for hearing me out and I really enjoy reading how others are doing.

Hi Phil,

What you're suggesting is something I've already done. And also done on scale with my students, which is also why Chris Knight decided to do the interview with me because we both think in scale.

Let me be clear.

I met a gentleman named Doug Burdon. Without giving him a big head, he's a very smart and brilliant entrepreneur with a long string of successes behind him.

He thought the nature of my service was, let's just say, very special. Special, that is, from a human nature standpoint because my team was willing to do so much work for the studnets -- literally almost all of it.

With only one exception: the student's responsibiity to make the whole thing work was being willing to write the content (in this case the articles) on a continual basis.

Stated differently, my service does not work if article marketing does not work since it's the only way we generate our targeted traffic in our service. Period.

Well, although Doug found the concept of my business model fascinating, he wanted to test it before he partnered with me on growing it to where he thinks it should go.

Doug's brother is a famous cardiologist, as it turns out, and they had developed a website (with some other doctors) on the numerous benefits of omega 3 fatty acids.

It's not important naming any more names or giving web site URL's.

Anyway, Doug wanted a little test done. The website they built was the equivalent of a landing page. A website with info on omega 3. Standard affiliate marketing stuff, right? I don't mean this to demean the content, by the way; it was great.

Coincidentally, they were promoting the same fish oil product that I had been personally using and promoting for years and years because their own analysis showed it to be the best on the market.

So, as a test, I started writing articles on fish oil related keywords, submitting them to EzineArticles, pointing them to their site, and we tracked the sales.

Keep in mind I am a VERY busy guy. I have 3 kids in my care all day. I run the training service catering to many students and other businesses and personal responsibilities.

So I didn't exactly have all the time in the world. The purpose of this little "case study" to Doug's mind, and to mine, was to prove two simple things:

1) You can get targeted traffic (and, MUCH more importantly, sales) FAST. I mean FAST. Not having to wait months and months like people usually do when they start a new web site from scratch.

Let's face it, people are impatient. And countless people have quit affiliate marketing on account of it.

2) To prove that you can make article marketing your SOLE source of targeted traffic if you wanted.

Their web site (the omega 3 one) was a perfect case study because it had JUST been built and wasn't pulling organic traffic yet.

The results (these are not exact, these are approximate from memory).

1) The first sales happened within the first 2 days of my first articles going live that were pointing to their site.

2) I wrote approximately 60+ articles over a month or so for this test in my spare time. Believe me, 60 articles is NOTHING.

Chris Knight says in the interview you should write 250-300 articles on your topic/niche to see some real traffic results before you decide to "write off" article marketing as a failed strategy. (Eventually you will get to a point if you keep writing articles that you can't turn the traffic off).


3) When I stopped the case study we had pulled multiple sales. I don't know exactly how many but it was about 7-8. These are lifetime customers as it was a lifetime income program.

Doug was now convinced of the merits of my service, and training.

Out of curiousity I went back and noticed that some of the original customers came back to reorder the fish oil when they presumably ran out of it as well. Proving out once again that lifetime income (work once, get paid forever) is the best way to go when you have that option.

My final remarks: the little tiny case study we did with Doug is exactly what we do with all of my students on a scaled basis.

Presell sites for lack of a better word. Presell copy on the site. Chosen affiliate programs that are lifetime income and proven winners. Site design. Now even videos being incorporated.

Keywords are given to the students. And the instructions/training is simply on how to maximize the effectiveness of their article marketing that directs the traffic to the presell site.

We have dozens and dozens of successful students (believe me, the service isn't that big, so a very significant portion of the students are successful).

Why are some unsuccessful? The two *main* reasons are simply:

1) Didn't have the time to write articles consistently

2) Simply didn't do much, if any, of the work required.

Then again, these two reasons are going to prevent anyone from succeeding in any business, online or off, so it's certainly not specific to my service.

Who is going to ever succeed if they don't make or have the time or isn't willing to work hard? 'Nuff said on that.

So, in conclusion, if article marketing didn't work, my service wouldn't work.

Also, if article marketing didn't work, Chris Knight's site, EzineArticles, would not be one of the most successful web sites in the world.

Why in God's name would people keep writing, submitting, writing, and submitting, etc articles to his directory day in and day out if they didn't receive worthwhile benefits from it?

I know alexa doesn't tell you too much, but the fact that his site is alexa 197 DOES say something. 30 million visitors a month tells you something!

I hope this helps.

Not to sound rude at all to anyone reading this, but please don't ask for further micro-details and/or proof.

I was debating whether I should even write this message because I know it could open up an entirely new can of worms with a 100 other questions, each more specific than the last and I would get sucked into a black hole of defending article marketing or my training service.

Which I don't intend to do.

Regards,
Dan Ho

Allan, write a few hundred articles as a test? Apologies, that seems impractical.

How about this instead? Anybody selling article marketing services use an independent third party redirect/tracking service for their resource box links, and publicly share the login to those stats.

Article marketing is one marketing technique that is very easy to track. But, in a decade of discussing it we've rarely (if ever) seen real, live, fully credible third party data. Why?

Real numbers from an independent source could be quite compelling, and a much better pitch than any words any of us can type. Why not prove the success in the most convincing way possible?

Here's another anecdotal field test, which tends to support the good points you made. In this case, the article and resource box are better matched, and the click rate higher.

This article has received 24 clicks from real visitors in 30 days.

http://ezinearticles.com/?so-you-want-to-buy-a-squ...

Ok, I see some promise there.

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your detailed response.

I'm not requesting third party data as a favor that you do for to me and other readers. You owe us no favors.

I'm trying to offer a favor to you and Allan, by explaining how you can connect with at least this one reader, and close the sale.

I'm not qualified to know how many others feel as I do, but after 15 years of reading traditional web biz product pitch, I've become immune. I just can't force myself to focus on it any more.

But obviously, I am still interested, and there is a channel I'm still listening on.

Credible data.

I'm posting to invite you and other net business vendors to find me where I actually am, and sell me useful stuff.

My posts here really aren't about you or your offerings, other than that article marketing lends itself very well to the data I seek.

Yes, I know Chris Knight would like me to add a thousand quality articles to his site. I understand this completely, as I'd like him to add a thousand quality articles to my site too. :-)

And I'm willing to do what Chris wants. But I need much better data than my own limited testing to make it happen, and so far, neither you or Chris seem able or willing to provide credible independent third party data.

I'm just struck by how easy it would be to create and share this data, and how convincing that data might be.

Maybe this is helpful, maybe not, honestly, I really don't know, just how it looks from here.

Dang, I really should be tracking clicks from the articles I'm adding to this site. :-)

If it wasn't for article marketing, I think I would've given up by now. Not only has it brought visitors to my site, but it's also helped me acquire freelance writing opportunities that have brought in even more money. I don't know where this person has been marketing his articles - perhaps he needs to find somewhere else to market them - or maybe he needs to revise them.

There's nothing wrong with going back and making changes to your work - you can breathe new life into almost anything this way. Writing is always a work in progress because it can always be improved upon. Even I have to go back do this sometimes and I've been studying English for years.

Hook on phonics... I mean... article marketing worked for me!

Dan, some of my best training has come from my articles being rejected. Once you get pass the "ego" thing of rejection, then we can get to the issue of improving. The other thing I would like to share is article ideas for continuity (scaling).

I've learned to use keywords and medium tailed keywords to generate articles from. For example bankruptcy, you have a ton of articles about filing for chapter 7 and 13, but how about preparing? We can take this keyword and make 10 articles just from 20 different things you need to do in preparation to filing for bankruptcy.

Using 2 elements per article, you easily have 10 articles. The main thing is to keep trying, keep doing and keep improving.

Regards

article marketing is important in my opinion beside back links it can generate visitors.