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Got Writers Block? How to Get an Avalanche of Ideas for Your Articles Without Burning Your Brain

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Who else finds writers block to be a BIG obstacle to creating the sort of community you crave?

Do you have inspired ideas and piles of passion but find when it comes to actually putting them down on paper (or pixel)……. you end up staring at a bare, blank and blinking screen for minutes, hours or even days on end?

Do you obsess over ignominious online issues like duplicate content penalties….wondering how to squeeze every last ounce of exposure from each article, blog post or social media submission you cram out of your creaking, leaking creative “flow”?

If you’ve read the “Enlightened Entrepreneur 2012 Challenge” PDF, I hope you are already familiar with the idea of creating a “Content Cornerstone” for adding STRUCTURE to all of your niche knowledge…..before you even begin to blog or write about what you love most.

The truth is, if you do it the right way, you’ll literally have an evergreen avalanche of ideas for your articles, blog posts, and even social media submissions.

(as you can go back in time and simply re-purpose THAT content anew in your social media streams, much the way I’m starting to do now with much of my own)

Don’t forget another GREAT way of re-purposing your existing content is to CLIP IT, much like I’m doing here, with an article I wrote and submitted earlier today to Ezinearticles on this exact topic.

Why?

By “borrowing” a bit of my article content on the directory itself I get “extra” UNIQUE content to add to THIS blog without it penalty, the article itself gets a NEW incoming link, my appearance of “expertise’ is extended for new readers who are visiting for the first time, and now have a second source for content I’ve created….etc.

Most importantly – if you are building a new business in a new niche and find yourself running out of ideas straight away…...I CHALLENGE YOU to apply the “Content Cornerstone” concept in your own business and watch how many more inspired ideas you come up with….and FAST!

You can read the full article at the link immediately following the excerpt below..:-)

Is article marketing time consuming? Is it easy to run out of ideas before you really even get out of the gate? How many times can you really say the same thing, anyway?

Doesn’t it get redundant, or repetitive to create content in the same niche…day after day, week after week or month after month? If you are anything like most of the people I speak to about the challenges that face most article marketing mavens, the BIGGEST concern most admit to is the writers block, or the sudden lack of ideas that always sets in once you get a little bit of momentum, right?

I mean, even if you love your niche, and have tons and tons of personal passion, at SOME point you’ve got to run out of things to say, right?I say WRONG! If you set up an article marketing campaign the right way from the outset, you can literally create copious amounts of killer content for weeks, months or even years on end, without running out of things to say.

Article Marketing Basics: How to Write MORE Articles in Less Time (Banish Writers Block Forever)

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Quick And Easy Keyword Research Tools? How to Get Quality Competitive Intelligence for Free

February 14, 2012 By 6 Comments

What is the best way of doing free keyword research?

Which keyword tools are best?

This question has come up a bit over the last week or so since the last “Enlightened Entrepreneur” PDF went up, and several of you have asked why I didn’t recommend a specific tool anywhere in the material.

The truth is, while I know most people disagree (especially the affiliates who make a living promoting them) and claim that keyword research is super duper important, I disagree…..and think if you know your niche, and focus on creating killer content around what you know – you’ll know the right keywords AND the right language to use to target the traffic that is most meaningful to you as well.

You DO have to do some keyword research obviously……but not in the way that most traditional niche marketers recommend.

The ONLY real keyword research I pay for is Spyfu – (both because I like it and they give me a significant discount over current rates) and I’ve used (and like) Ispionage a lot as well.

Mostly these tools just help you look at the competitive landscape a bit, and get a bit of a headstart by seeing opportunities that may not be obvious to you going in, or if you are advertising using PPC, a great way to “steal” the campaigns that appear to be converting for your competition already.  (and both tools can be really, really fun to use and addicting….which is ironically why I don’t really recommend spending too much time doing research….when you could be creating content, or building your community, etc)

A great tool that has LOTS of free functionality for quick and easy competitive intelligence is http://Quantcast.Com – and you can check out Alexa.Com as well – as each has some unique features that will tell you things about a site, or a market, or a keyword that is really revealing to have so readily available.

(Quantcast will tell you not only how popular a site is, but how it’s trending, what the general user base is like, what other sites their readers are likely to visit (great for affiliate ideas that are “wide” or outside of the obvious association we may make about what folks are likely to buy) and even how “addictive” or how likely it is that users will KEEP coming back after an intial pass.

(another great feature for affiliates, and for creating content, and communities that are compelling for your own readers as well) For example, in the screenshot below, they’re telling us that visitors to Ezinearticles.Com are 21 times more likely than the average web visitor to ALSO visit funadvice.com.

Or, 14 times more likely to visit answerbag.com.

Alot of online data is very rough….as is the above, too – but Quantcast is well worth checking out if you are trying to figure out what sort of content to create, or community to build, or what other sites in your marketplace “look” like right now, and is great for ideas, and inspiration, too..:-)

The screenshot below tells us that Match.Com users are passionate about the site, and their membership and check in often…..a good thing to know if you are an affiliate like me and want to know how likely it is that a free trial may ultimately convert into a full site sale, but NOT such a good thing to know if you’re a member like me and have sent out 14 emails to other members this week and none have responded.

(which you were hoping was because they don’t check in very often, which now looks statistically unlikely)

Quantcast also tells us that Ezinearticles.Com’s traffic ain’t getting much better since the big Panda punishment, and as a matter of fact…..is actually continuing to get worse. (although in fairness, I’ve seen a pretty noticable jump in my own niche traffic over the last month, it’s still way down from where it was a year ago)

It also tells me that my own blog doesn’t even really count at all on their radar, which hurts my feelings and makes me question why I even searched for myself in the first place.

Often, some of the best questions are those you don’t ask.

I heard that once in a Bruce Willis movie, and it’s advice I wish I listened to more often – especially around Valentines Day.

Anyway – the key takeway is, Match.com has a really engaged female user base, many of whom don’t find me an ideal partner.

And Ezinearticles better try something new if they want to afford that big mortgage for that beautiful new googleplex looking building they just built in downtown Greenbay.

And that this post probably could have ended 2 paragraphs ago and been far more useful.

And that you can do tons of great, competitive keyword research for free…do it super duper quickly and in the process, get access to genuinely insightful information that will help you build your blog, your brand and your business as well :-)

Filed Under: KARMA

How to Improve Your Article Marketing Campaigns Overnight (Without Writing an Extra Word)

February 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the biggest challenges we ALL face when creating a new content campaign is trying to get the maximum amount of traffic from the minimum amount of effort, right?

I mean…..no one wants to spend hours and hours writing new articles just to get a trickle of traffic, especially with so many new episodes of “Finding Bigfoot” on Animal Planet. 

(strangely and a bit naively, I still start each episode really believing I may be about to witness a historic discovery being made right in my living room)

The truth is, with so much competition in every niche….many people have difficulty stepping up and standing out, and creating content that gets you noticed in your niche.  In our last post, we quickly covered 51 words you can INSTANTLY add to your article titles to create curiosity….and gently compel, coerce and cajole folks to check out YOUR content over that of your competition.

Don’t forget to use the very SAME principles in both your resource box…….AND your landing page as well.

The key is, in my experience….CONTINUITY in the “conversation” between your content, and your community.

A compelling title may get opened with a frequency far exceeding that of your competition, but a lame, lukewarm resource box is a recipe for LOST opportunity.

(as if people don’t ultimately click through and visit your site…….you’ve gained NOTHING, even if they love your article)

The last part of the traffic triangle is your landing page.  Using the same conversational continuity between your directory content, and your landing page is critical….and “selling” something that’s 100% different on your landing page, versus what you previously promised leads to less than optimal actions once that traffic DOES arrive.  (which I’ve experimented with plenty of times in the past, most often with disappointing results!)

First time here?  Download out the “Enlightened Entrepreneur 2012 Challenge” PDF for a bit more detail on creating a community out of your content…….OR, simply read the article below at EZA which covers a few of the ideas above in a bit more detail…:-)

2 – Ferociously Focus on 2 Important Areas of Your Article

Your title, and your resource box. You should know the language and conversation of your audience, but don’t obsess or stress about keyword research. Worry more about creating highly engaging, interesting and attention capturing titles, and standing out in the sea of similarity that plagues most categories.And the resource box?

Reward your reader with the opportunity to get more information that will advance their understanding, expertise or enjoyment of the niche you are in. Don’t write about your personal accolades…..and simply focus on creating curiosity, and a compelling reason for your reader to want to learn more. (because if they don’t, you’ve often lost them forever)

3 Landing Page Continuity

This is crucial as well. Your landing page has to be looked as an extension of your article. If you “get the click” and your landing page isn’t consistent with the content they just read….and doesn’t continue the conversation, you aren’t going to convert those readers into subscribers.

It’s a simple thing, and a very small distinction, but in my own campaigns (and those of clients) I’ve seen incredible drop offs in conversion where I’ve tried to “change” the conversation on the landing page to something else I wanted them to buy or believe. (not smart…and a great way to waste alot of good traffic as well!)

3 Quick and Easy Ways to Optimize Your Next Article Marketing Campaign

Filed Under: KARMA Tagged With: , ,
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