I have a question I was hoping to get answered and it isn’t the best question ever. But it’s something that will help me get my article marketing campaigns going, which I’m sending to my blogs which sells my products.

How many articles do you normally submit to EZA for the niches you like to attack? Do you research 10 keywords and write 10 different articles? 20 keywords? 50? more?

I know it’s a bad question because I “should” do as much as I can, but I have about 20 blogs in different niches and I want to know how much time is necessary to spend writing for each one.

I was thinking of doing 5 articles per blog, but I would love to hear your approach!! Thank you!

The short answer is that you will make more money the faster, and more aggressively you promote an affiliate product. Many use the thank you page – or the first email – and each subsequent email, etc – and without question, the more aggressively you push a product, the more sales you will make.

I don’t do that here because I don’t feel comfortable with it – especially with stuff that’s associated with me – but at the same time, I don’t make money from this blog at all – (very little) so it’s not a good analogy. (I think I’ve made a few hundred dollars in nichebot commisions to use your example – and ironically – I’ve never even filled out the W9 that they require to GET the commision, so I haven’t even technically made $1 from that)

Although I do promote some different products I use here – and my own consulting services are the gist of what I’m ultimately trying to promote – so that IS the strategy, i.e. – I’m confident that someone like yourself who browses the cacophony of content I’ve created and who enjoys my style will pay me larger dollars to collaborate on their campaigns.

In general though – no – you wouldn’t use this strategy for YOUR blog – if you are selling affiliate products – as you won’t make many sales.

So – yes – you want to be aggressive – and as aggressive as you feel comfortable with – it’s a personal decision – there is no formula – other than “MORE” is more, overall – between frequency and “pushiness” and the amount of money you’ll earn. (although that seems to be shifting a wee bit in light of some of the “product launch” obnoxiousness) but overall, it remains the rule.

Let’s assume, for the time being at least, that I’m not using PPC to drive traffic to my squeeze page. If I’m strictly using “free” traffic-driving methods, is the blog still almost always worth the extra effort?

I’ve got two follow-up questions, but because they’re obnoxiously long, I’d like to lead off with a recommendation that I hope will help your blog — as a way of saying ‘thank-you’ for sharing your time.

Recommendation: Have you considered installing a WordPress plug-in that allows users to “subscribe” to get e-mail notification to follow-ups on their comments? I’ve used one before, and it had a HUGE positive impact on the blog’s ability to foster conversations. Without this functionality, it’s easy to forget to return to a blog post you’ve commented on. Here’s one such plug-in (no affiliate link ; – ) http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/

Questions:

The following question basically boils down to this: How soon is too soon to recommend a product that you’re obviously getting a commission on?

Explanation: You mentioned that after getting someone’s email from a squeeze page, your thank-you page will sometimes point to an affiliate offer (i.e. “Thanks for signing up. Now if you really want to see how to put the wisdom in that eBook to work, try this great product…”) Do you find that it works to point users to a hard-sales page at the very beginning of the ‘relationship’ that you’re about to build with them via email sequences, broadcasts, and blog posts full of useful content?

I mean, as a new user, I meet someone and them — BAM! — five seconds later he’s pushing something on me that he’s clearly getting a commission on. If that happened in the real world, I’d be very suspicious of such an offer.

So I’m honestly wondering how that works for you. Compared to, let’s say, directing users on your thank-you page through a more subtle sales funnel — like to a blog post with more great, targeted content. And maybe that blog page has a subtle affiliate link weaved into the bottom…maybe it doesn’t…

I ask because of the example that you, yourself, set. You don’t use this blog as a hard-sell sales-funnel. There are relatively few affiliate links to be found. And that’s why, when I do see one, I trust your recommendation. For example, you link to Nichebot on your sidebar. And you’re not obnoxious about it. So I’m gonna take a hard look at it.

Then again, I suspect that having users wander around a blog, in the hopes that they might, at some point, follow one of your affiliate links, may be far too”soft” an approach.

So I’m wondering what kind of calculus you run to strike the right balance when you’re creating your own niche sites (particularly the ones that you don’t have much native interest in). How soon is too soon to make a self-interested offer to someone who barely knows you?

My second question sort of follows that one:

2) In your experience, even if you’re not natively interested in a niche, is it almost always worth the effort to build a content-rich blog to accompany your squeeze page-email marketing sales funnel? I mean: Updating a blog whose content doesn’t interest you can be like pulling teeth, but if you have the right amount of automation and can bear to periodically inject some original content, does that type of sales-funnel usually make so much more money than a squeeze page-only funnel, that it’s worth the extra resources expended?

Thanks so much in advance for considering this Melvillian-length comment.

But, if you are just capturing names – and are NOT interested in building a site around the topic as well, (and only using free traffic methods like article marketing) putting up a simple squeeze page is all you really need to do. (and ignore the rest)

If you are doing PPC as well – for example – you are going to want additional articles/resources/blog/ etc – as you will get value adjusted down without other content for the visitor to read. (and it’s possible EZA and similar could eventually do the same – although I’m only guessing)

Also – please note – some of the stuff in that "blueprint" has changed over time (it was written a while ago) links in the resource box, some of the other EZA policies, etc are a bit more enforced now, than they were then!