I sign up for lists RELIGIOUSLY. I spend lots of nights looking at stuff being sold or pushed by people who do the same sort of stuff as me……and it always amazes me at the mindless, mediocre mental midgetry that’s out there – masquerading as "marketing magic". (I’m a big fan of M’s)
It’s STUNNING the amount of stuff out there that’s being "sold" for big bucks that really should be simply given away for free, in my humble opinion. (and I’m a died in the wool capitalist – but please…….I simply wouldn’t feel COMFORTABLE insulting your intelligence by putting a price tag on a "title template" or how to write a 5 point list and submit to an article directory..:-)
I spent a few hours on Twitter today. (which I rarely do – just because there is a new season of good reality Judge shows on afternoon TV and I hate to take time off at the beginning of the season as most of the more difficult cases are adjudicated in the early episodes- and so far I’m batting 17 for 20 on rendering the proper verdict before it comes in officially from the Judge)
The amount of pure bullshit being parroted out there by no nothings is truly astonishing.
And the biggest "lie" you are going to hear about making money online is that CONTENT is king. Content is GREAT to have…..and the more of it, the merrier.
But CONVERSION is all that really counts.And content, by itself, is reasonably meaningless.
And while article marketing is only a small sliver of what most of us do online – there is NO better example of this lie than this.
10 articles written by you – and 10 articles written by me - may have VERY different results.
The content – I dare say – can be EXACTLY the same.
But the titles – and resource box - which I consider the "conversion" components – are ALL that really matter to me.
A 10% click through rate – and a 50% or 60% (or higher) CTR is the PRIMARY difference between quitting your day job and doing this stuff full time….versus working your ass off for a boss you hate in a "box" you abhor and slaving away at this stuff when you could be watching "Sons of Anarchy" re-runs every night at 10pm. (the best new show on TV if you’re a be born to be wild but not quite tough enough to be biker wannabe be like me)
I want to share with you a few ways to IMMEDIATELY sell more stuff from your resource box. But it’s NOT going to be magic. And it’s not going to be a "trick". And it’s NOT going to be an "insider secret". And it’s NOT going to come without effort. And it’s NOT going to cost you a thing.
I’m going to show you the EVOLUTION of exactly how I test my resource box conversions – and how I recommend you do too if you are serious about building a business online. I’m not going to give you the words I use in MY resource boxes, simply because my stuff has been plagiarized on here so often, by people I’ve helped freely and without precondition, that I’ve learned, unfortunately, there has to be a limit to how much "sharing" with the group is smart.
But here is the secret.
And Don’t let ANYONE ever tell you it’s any easier – or harder – than this, because they’ll be lying.
You MUST test multiple resource boxes that have a completely different tone, tenor and tempo for EVERY niche.
I write – literally – because I’m a bit nuts – about 10 resource boxes for EVERY niche I publish in. (because I pay EZA for the premium service they allow me more options – I think everybody is allowed 5 or 6 or whatever it is)
Use them ALL.
Just do it ONE time and do it first.
- Yes it’s a pain in the ass.
- Yes it takes some time.
- Yes it’s work.
And yes, EVEN if you think you’re a pretty damn fine communicator like I do – you are going to be SUPRISED at which boxes convert, versus which ones don’t. And as you’ll see below, the key to this whole process is TESTING multiple variations of everything you do, and picking the best, and discarding the rest.
When you find a resource box conversion, like the ones I illustrate below – you KNOW it’s going to speak to your market in the exact INTERNAL Tone, tenor and tempo" that they want to hear to click through.
It means your
- TWEETS should mimic (or copy) this exact pitch
- Your PPC ads should be formulated around
- Your BLOG Posts and Titles
- Your Landing Page Headlines & Call’s To Action
- Your Link Bait
- Your Forum Signature
- The Tattoo you get on Your A*S Once You Get Super Successful
The BEAUTY of all of this is it becomes PREDICATABLE.
I’ve said this over and over and over again…..writing copy that converts becomes a function of simple math. Look at the numbers below – they become scalable, and predictable and very PORTABLE very quickly. A resource box that converts ONCE at 80% and then drops back to 10% the next article you use it for?
An anomaly.
But a resource box that converts at 80% and then continues to convert at the same outrageous levels for other submissions?
A Winner.
This ONE resource box – written in early September - STARTED at 100% CTR for the first 2 or 3 days. (but on far too views to matter – under 50….but I was officially paying attention..:-)
A few days later – over 100 views – it was at about 85%.
When it hit 200 – as you’ll see……still at about 80%. (and without naked pics of paris hilton – which I only use if I’m desperate..:-)
And today – as you’ll see in the last screen shot – it’s dropped a bit overall – maybe about 65% or so – but now closer to 1000 views where it’s significant.
BUT – the key here is not the one article – it’s that I’ve replicated the same CTR, on subsequent submissions….ALL getting almost exactly the same basic variation. (60-70%)
And…..the people on the landing page itself….are clicking through THERE at a rate pushing 85% - which is truly what makes me sing in the shower in the morning with swimming self satisfaction, which makes my voice rather melodic and inspiring, even though I’ve been tone deaf since 1996. (another story for another time)
And remember – VERY important: This is ONE niche amongst many that are scaled the very same way.
You will NEVER make a living on the effort you see above if you are ONLY article marketing.
So never buy into the 2 hour workday myth.…..ESPECIALLY if you are ONLY article marketing and just starting out - it’s was never true for me, and most likely – it ain’t gonna be true for you. (key takeaway is ALWAYS scale out your strategies……AND your stuff!)
You can also see – that the OTHER articles in the group – even the ones with the better overall views – are stinking up the joint in terms of CTR.
Which means that without testing this stuff….had i stuck with JUST that one or two varieties going in – I would have quit 2 or 3 days in. (and no shower singing at all)
So….HERE is the key.
Write a bunch of resource boxes.
Save them in your author profile.
Use a DIFFERENT box for every article – up to your allotted amount.
Watch VERY, very carefully…….and when you get a winner, you scale UP and out, across as many different mediums as you can.
Here are the 3 basic approaches I find that work the best:
- MAKE A TIME DRIVEN, URGENCY ORIENTED OFFER
- ASK A QUESTION (who’s answer lies on the other side)
- and – very effective………
- CHALLENGE a conventional, or commonly held belief – put a NUMBER on it – and make it as outrageous as you can……..and people WILL click through.
(this was the approach on this winning box here – and working wonderfully well in most niches – VERY fast..:-)
Enjoy!
Note to Self:
First of all, another great job! And – I have no ideawhere you get the energy for all this.
But, you know – if you went to bed occassionally before 3am – you’d probably be happier in the morning. And need less coffee to get up and be a normal human being.
And the rest of your life would probably be more in balance. I mean – how many other guys your age slept in their clothes and have bed head at 11.25am?
Not many.
And so what that no one ever really comments on these things?
Sure it’s hurtful. But you do it for the love – not the recognition, right? Ghandi wasn’t really appreciated when he was blogging either.
Go brush your teeth and take a shower, and watch the David Letterman scandal on Youtube again
You’ll feel better. (and change your socks today, please)
I keep nude pictures of Paris for that same reason*!
Your posts are always good, your blog is the only one I read EVERY time you send a mailing.
* “that same reason” may not be the same reason.
Thank You Brian – I appreciate it – nice of you to say! (and Paris told me to say thanks too – she wants her pictures to bring joy – and whether that’s an 80% Click Through Rate – or some other sort of less noble pursuit – it’s all about spreading the love..:-)
Ian, although I have never commented before, I always read your posts, and always learn something very valuable. Your excellent content, mixed in with your sense of humor and great talent for writing, make your content head and shoulders above most of the other nonsense advice out there. Keep it up, please, you DO have a following! Thanks, G
Thank you Gerrit – I appreciate it!
Ian, thanks again, your words are worth thousands and all the gurus should be very angry with you, because they sell “advices” that are so much inferior to yours for big money, and you give brilliant ideas and strategies away.
). Thank you so much for reading this. Sorry for not being concise.
Having said that, I have a question that been wanting to ask you for a while. My girlfriend has some wonderful ideas that could generate awesome content. It involves fashion, dating, relationships and so on. Stuff people care about and seek information about all the time.
By the way, she’s a journalist and super smart.
I’ve been thinking, why sell some really crappy affiliate offers I don’t really believe in, if she and I together could create some powerful stuff that actually would help people? What is your advice on how (in what form etc.) and where to sell that content? Should we start several blogs, but then what’s the best way to monetize them?
Is making ebooks on Clickbank would really work, or is it a thing of the past? Any other platforms out there I should know about?
I mean her ideas are brilliant and it could definitely attract wide readership; it would make enough material for consistent publishing and recycling for years.
You’ve been talking a lot on how to sell other people’s stuff through article marketing, I’m wondering whether it could be more profitable and more fun to actually sell your own stuff, which is good and free of intellectual midgetry (love this term
Hey Vlad – Thanks!
The BEST stuff to sell is always your OWN stuff…..so yes, that’s actually the best path to take to not only make a profit, but to sort of stay true to what you are passionate about as well.
And those are great topics for Clickbank – and article marketing for sure – and blogs – and short reports that you can sell/giveaway to build up blog readers – or even offer for affiliates who can sell to build your list.
(ala the “seven dollar report” style stuff which works really well for those niches – you just contact people who are publishing in those spaces and have large lists – and simply offer them a 100% commission to sell your first report – in exhange – you build a huge list – hyper fast with the traffic they send)
Relationships -dating – etc – is a great niche – and I’ve not only worked in those myself as an affiliate – I’ve helped a few peopl launch products in that space and have an interview coming up in the next few weeks that I’ll post on here with a Sex Therapist who is working in that space now a little bit (just from another angle) so hopefully that will have some good ideas for you.
(but yes to everything you asked above – creating your own stuff is far better, and blog building/content building/listbuilding etc is the best way to start)
Hi Ian,
Great article post. It’s real timely for me. You see, recently I had this ah-haa moment that bio/resource box is all-so-important in my article marketing efforts. I went ahead to test it.
I’m not sure if this is the way to go. I hope that you can shed some light on this. What I did was to write articles in batches of 10 and alternate 2 bio boxes between them which has the following characteristic
1) Ask user a question (ie, Do you want…… and What if……. type of question)
2) Point them to a solution where EVERYBODY is using it successfully
3) Call-to-action.
Now, the question here is – can I alternate 2 bio boxes and drop off the one that has lesser CTR and insert in a new one and continue testing?
Thank you for your time, Ian.
Best Regards
Jeff
Thanks, Jeff – and yes, you should be able to test as many different resource boxes as you want, up to the limit they allow. For example – if I have a few articles taht are getting TONS of views (i.e. – in the multiple thousands very quickly) but the resource boxes for those articles aren’t working, I’ll often swap them out for others that are.
(even though it requires a re-approval – which means that content is "pulled" from the search results while they are in limbo) I pay for the premium service – which means that this is not a time intensive process (often an hour or less) but if you DON’T, and have to wait 3 or 4 days, you may NOT want to do that.
But yes, overall, testing many resource boxes is the ONLY way I know of to quickly double or triple your traffic using articles in an efficient way that scales well to benefit the rest of your business to boot! (i.e. – if I know a particular "message" is a really good "match" for my target audience visa vi the conversion rates my articles are getting – my landing pages are going to be exponentially more effective as I can modify the headlines to "match" that message, I re-frame my thank you page language or offers, etc – it’s all sort of a complimentary strategy that sort of reveals layers of information about your market in a super simple and easy to understand fashion.
Your info is always great, Ian and yours are one of the few emails I read and then visit your blog to read your post.
Thanks alot, Jenny – nice of you to say and I appreciate it, too!
Ian, thank you so much. I’ll be following your posts for further insights on the matter.
Wow , Thanks
I read marketing thoughts every day and try different boxes for articles . I like your plan and will start working it . I’m very new to article marketing and need any help I can get .
Thanks Ian
You’re going to make a web marketer out of me yet, Ian.
I read your posts all the time, and look forward to them.
Time for questions and answers!
1. Should I be submitting my articles to other directories besides EZA, if so which ones? Can I use the same article or would I have to rewrite the article?
2. When outs0urcing articles do you or would you trust someone else to write the titles and resource box for you?
3. For premium members is there a best day and or time to submit your articles for maximum exposure?
4. Is it possible to have a low CTR with high conversions? Have you seen that before or is it usually higher CTR equals higher conversions? So like can the conversion rate of a low CTR be just as good as a high CTR? Isn’t your ROI more important than your CTR?
Looking forward to hear your thoughts on these questions! Thanks for all the great info!
Hi Ian,
Just wanted you to know that yours is one of the very, very few emails I get where I actually will go to read the blog. I appreciate your pearls of wisdom and thank you for not trying to sell us something a million times a week.
Keep it up, you DO have a following.
Thanks,
LC
Thank You, LC!
This is my first time to comment and you are one of the few Internet marketers that I really follow. Your tips are really useful and they’re worth more than the expensive IM e-books around.
I’m having a bit of an issue with my resource boxes. Can you please provide an example on how to challenge a common belief in making money online and how to put an outrageous number to it?
I’m really desperate and anytime soon I’ll have to use naked pictures of Paris to get some CTR! hehehe.
Thanks Ian!
Thanks Raymond – just take some number (like 3 or 7) and attach a LIE or something that “they” are laughing at “you” about – and use a big outrageous sort of adjective to exacerbate the fraud this group is comitting – and you have the basic framework for a killer resource box that compels, challenges and cajoles the reader to want to learn more. (in other words – just look at the latest “guru” launch – pick any random way that they are fucking over the average person – and you’ve got your enemy – and a whole bunch of illuminating ways to illustrate that as well)
If not – you can always use naked Paris Hilton pictures if you’ve got them. Although, any of the Kardashian sisters, at this point – are a better investment. Alternatively – if you just need a super small bump – getting your hands on some naked Mike Filsaime pictures might be best. (no pun intended)
HAHAHA!!! You’re really something Ian! Thanks a lot!
Ian, I made my way here via PotPieGirl’s eBook “One Week Marketing” (no affiliate link — just giving credit where it’s due) and found your writing style a breath of fresh air. The strategy of split-testing resource boxes is ingenious at the least and potentially a “killer app” at best. Funny: we get split-testing hammered into our heads when learning PPC, but I never thought to apply it to resource boxes. Kudos. You could have sold that strategy in a $47 eBook and felt good about yourself ; – )
Thank you, Blair – nice of you to say, and I appreciate it! (and while I’m a big fan of taking credit for stuff – in this case – lots of people have probably been testing resource boxes long before I started article marketing – although I’m definitely the first to recommend using paris hilton pictures when things get desperate..:-)
I’m thinking this is a winning formula not just for article resource boxes but also for ads.
I managed to achieve a 10% clickthrough rate once, now maybe I’ll be able to bump that up a bit.
Thank you.