Bum marketing has been used by most Internet marketers that use article marketing. This technique has been referred to as a mindset rather than a method. The first point of bum marketing is to do what you are doing for free and to create profits while doing it.

Most Internet marketers that use bum marketing begin by deciding on a product to promote. This could be an affiliate product or the Internet marketer’s own product. I do some quick research to determine keywords to target and then I begin writing articles. The same principles used for other article marketing are used during the writing process. The difference is that the writer will write more articles than is usually done to promote an item.

Most marketers begin a campaign by writing from 30 to 50 articles on the product. These articles are written over a short period of time and submitted as they become available. By the time 30 articles have been submitted the writer is likely to be seeing profits.

As the article mentioned in the beginning, this method is related to doing your promotion for free, or in effect, creating something from nothing. You do not need a website or a product of your own. In fact, when I begin bum marketing for a new campaign I set up a blog, naming it something similar or related to the product I will be promoting.

My first post is an article that discusses a problem related to the subject, one that the product will solve. My article will present the problem and discuss what an ideal solution would be. I might decided to compare the product I am promoting to one or two others, pointing out how this product solves the problem in the best way.

My second post is always a review of the product. I go through details of what the product offers and how it will be valuable. It may be a time-saver or it may save money, or perhaps it simply makes things easier. Of course, the best products do all three. Time, money, and ease of use are points that people seek.

My posts will include links to the sales letter of the product. Additionally I will include an opt-in box. There the enticement for sign-up will be a free report related to the subject. This allows me the opportunity to not only build a list, but if the reader does not click through to the sales letter but does sign up I can continue to market to him.

My free report will always have links to the product in it and sometimes additional affiliate links. Many times I add an autoresponder email series along with the free report. The more information I share with the readers the more likely they are to trust me. By developing a relationship with the reader they may choose to purchase from me in the future.

After the initial article blitz I then continue to write at least two articles per week to use for promoting the product. If no sales are made after submitting approximately 40 articles I move on to another product. I will continue to occasionally write an article for that first product but most of my efforts will be applied on something else.

That is part of the reason that it is best to have more than one product campaign going on at any one time. If one fails or the sales dry up you can always move your focus on to something else. In other words, don’t put all your eggs in one basket!

Article marketing can improve your traffic, conversion rates and page rank. Here are a few different ways you can use articles to boost your business.

Article Marketing with Keywords

The biggest mistake people make when using articles to market their website is not using relevant keywords in the title of the article and in the body. For example “Blast the Fat Off” is a great title for a weight loss article but nobody uses that phrase “blast the fat off” when searching for weight loss. A better title would be “Tips to Lose Weight Fast and Blast the Fat Off.” People do use “lose weight fast’ or “tips to lose weight fast” when they search.

The point of using articles is to get a high ranking in the search engines for the article. People click on the article, read it, and then click on your website in the bio box link.

The second biggest mistake made when using articles for marketing is a boring bio box. Every article directory allows a short bio or credit box. Don’t put Jane Doe is the author of “Fantasy Romances.” Her website is XXX Use something like “If you’d like more tips on how you can spice up your romance visit Jane Doe at XXX

The third mistake is boring articles. You have about seven seconds to snag a reader’s attention. Use it wisely.

Article Distribution Service - Isnare or ArticleMarketer

Isnare distributes articles primarily to newsletter editors and websites for use in their newsletters. Articlemarketer distributes to online article directories. Use both services. Neither is very expensive and you hit two different targets. It’s great to have articles you’ve written included in newsletters. It gives you credibility and will generate traffic to your site. You also want your articles appearing in online article directories because that gives you back links. The articles will include a link to your site. The more links you have to your site, the higher search engines will rate you.

Articles and Guest Columns in Newsletters

Search for newsletters that focus on your topic. Write a brief article and include a short credit at the end. Email a request to the editor of the newsletter and ask if they would like an article on your topic sent to them each month. The editor will most likely say yes since they’re always looking for good material.

You don’t have to write a different article for each newsletter. Most of the time the subscribers won’t overlap.

It happens to be that what has proven to be a means to generate income for any business is to create a list of potential clients who on their own subscribe or sign up for a newsletter or further promotions. There is interest in the product or service that you deliver and they want more information.

When you generate such a list it has income generating potential but it is also a way to exchange something with them and to provide them with what they need so that they will rely on you for further products and services in the future thus expanding your business. Show them that you are interested in their success and not just in taking their money.

Give them more than they would expect you to give them, be in good communication with them and earn their trust. Always look at it from their viewpoint. Put yourself in their shoes. What would it be that you would want to receive if you were them that would make you want to come back and purchase more from the site or would make you inclined to tell someone else about it.

Growing your list is what you are trying to do and to do this there are standard actions you can take such as putting out a newsletter on a weekly or a monthly basis and article marketing. Getting articles out to many directories can be very beneficial in making your list grow.

A large list is a good leveraging tool and is something you can exchange with others that have a significant list as well. You can offer something to their list in exchange for their offering something to your list so there is a mutual benefit from this exchange. In this way you can significantly expand your business.

One other tool you can use, which may not be as effective as it used to be due to its being abused, is an email campaign. These emails should go out to people who have shown an interest in the type of service you offer and not just a spam blanket email service. This email can be sent out to many interested people but there is no guarantee that you will get any response.

There are services available to track and send out autoresponder messages. Aweber is on such service. They charge a low monthly fee for their service and their system puts in a lot of order into your lists and the contacts you make to your lists.

There is also a squeeze page which is a landing page where it entices people to sign up for your list. They do not usually have much content.To build such a list does not occur over night. Persist in using the tools to get your message out and your list should grow and so should your income.

The concept of article marketing is not new. Whether it has to do with printing of yesteryear or todays online business, its purpose is still the same in marketing, advertising, selling and distributing your product by getting it promoted. And do not count out offline promotion of your site using articles as a potential for more traffic to your site as this can still be a part of your marketing plan.

Articles can tell people who are looking at your site about your product or the service you deliver. By distributing your articles to directories you are making yourself known and with time more and more people and potential customers will find their way to your website.

The articles that you present to the directories should be of some value to those who will read them. They should be long enough so that they give adequate information that a potential client can use. You need to grab the readers attention, so the headline
needs to draw them in. They can not be bland with no life. They should make the person question in their mind or desire to find out what this could be that you are writing about.

There are tremendous quantities of directories for your article marketing and the more that you use the more exposure you will have and the more likelihood of traffic to your site.

Make sure your articles link back to your site and you may want to include a copyright to help stop unauthorized use of your articles. If you have enough articles you can create an eBook and sell it at low cost or give it away as a promotion. Also if you have affiliates you can send them articles to help you to promote them.

If your articles have original content and your keywords are well planned, and not over saturating your pages, then with routine actions of article marketing you should see your business continue to grow.

Do not expect it over night. Give it some time.

Recommended is finding a article content membership site to supply you with the content you need on a routine basis.

Once you have your articles then there is the magic of putting them to work. You can do it manually which will be your lifes work, which means to really do it you will spend too much time. You can purchase software that can be used to broadly distribute
your article. Or you can go to membership site who for a monthly fee will get out articles for you to large distribution lists. The best ones offer unlimited articles allowed for submission. Personally I find the membership concept the best and easiest to deal with.

Putting your website URL in the resource box is the key to getting the interest and traffic you are generating to your site and not to somewhere else.

See the resource box of this article for more information.

There are many uses for articles these days. For those involved in internet marketing and driving traffic to their site there is still a need for good repeating website content.

What do you want though? Cheap articles. This is the most sought after keyword on my list of website content related keywords. Cheap in terms of cost, however I do not believe anyone wants cheap in terms of quality. In the long run that is not going to get you very far. You can however have both low cost and quality articles.

I have stated this before but writing them yourself is like walking to and from work when you live 10 miles away from your job. You can get there and back perhaps but you have no time for anything else. And besides you are dead tired. Is not your time and energy more valuable than that?

And free is too cheap. That is like belonging to a swimming pool that is free to the public but if you want to swim you can not because it is too crowded all the time. Better to look into a low cost membership so that you can swim, as only by swimming can you get to your goal which in the case of article marketing or a high quality content website is unique fresh content at low cost that helps drive traffic to your site by being friendly with the search engines.

You want traffic driven to your website or do you just want it to sit there looking pretty? It does not happen by creating the website. That is only the first step. You have to actively promote your website. You can pay a lot of money for a multitude of services or you can get yourself educated on the various steps to take to promote your website such as article marketing getting your articles into various directories, using articles on blogs, getting your articles on RSS feeds or just having high quality content websites which are properly search engine optimized.

There is a lot of bad or worthless information out there about this subject but there is also a lot of good information. The trick is to tap into the good information.

Doggedly keep at it day after day an hour a day or whatever you can spend and you will make it over the hump and start to get repeated traffic. These are not get rich quick schemes as it takes work, persistence, knowledge, a good idea and a desire to success to make a good income on the internet. You are welcome to contact me for any tips.

To your success.