Sun Tzu's - The Art of Slippery Articles

[AndyWiltshireNZ]

Hiya,

I have a few queries in regard to article content/keyphrases/affiliate links, and was wondering if anyone had any links to 'quality' article writing tutorials/guides.

1. Is there a particular article structure that works better then others? I realise we are trying to create a 'slippery' , informative article with an affiliate link as such, but what is the best way without turning the article into cheese.

2. Sometimes it is a creative challenge to make the keyphrase 'fit' into the first sentence, main content and last sentence, let alone having one of those as an affiliate link. My question is, how 'legitimate' does the affiliate link need to be? I would have thought that, to not mislead the reader, you need to be clear that you are making a recommendation of the affiliate product, but after reading the vintageelectricguitarblog.com article, it's not exactly 100% concise that the link is for a product as such. So does anyone have any tips or advice how to best integrate an affiliate link/keyphrase without it being too 'dodgy' in context.

My focus for the article content, as recommended by Ed, is to provide the reader something, ensure that they benefit in someway, and I don't want to jeopardise their experience with some dodgy 'money-making' linking.

Which I guess makes me wonder, is it possible that because we are studying this process from behind the scenes that we are more attune to it when we see it on a site, and are the general internet browsing community relatively unconscious to the 'money-making' aspect of content, so I don't need to worry as much about the 'how'.

3. The videos regarding content creation in the training were pretty vague, I understand content sources/inspiration and the basics of structuring a good article, but not so much the 'sales pitch' integration. I have done the 2007 training as well, but would still appreciate some good 'quality' article writing tips/guides/tutorials/structuring advice.

Thanks in advance,

Andy

p.s. I guess I didn't need the numbering as it's really one BIG question

[BAMBI]

John Carlton would have to be one of the best copywriters around - a quick search on youtube will come up with lots of instructional videos you can follow.



OR....the other good example of copywriting would be the late great Gary Halbert

[AndyWiltshireNZ]

Thanks for the links Bambi.

I was also hoping for some more structurally indepth answers within the scope of the TDC training. A lot of what John Carlton is talking about is related to creating a full sales page, which in itself is useful, but blog articles are slightly different, at least a trimmed down version...

My pet hate is the millions of sales pages with a white background, black text and bold red headings offering the latest internet marketing tips or products that really don't add anything, as far as content, to the internet.

So... how to create an informative article with keyphrase optimisation that draws some aspects from sales pages leading towards an affiliate product without appearing as the latest greatest cheese factory?

[DerR]

Start here: Copywriting tips for online marketing success from Copyblogger

And study these: The Gary Halbert Letter (It's a tip I got from Ed)

Also, research popular articles on blogs and EzineArticles and notice what and how they do it.

[ivatel]

Hi

For Article writing you can do worse than create an account at ezine articles,
they will deliver lots of info by autoresponder for writing articles.

Also search the site itself there will be articles on there about exactly how to do it. Try other content directories too maybe even squidoo. Or just do a general search on Google.

Thanks
Lynne

[calison]

Articles of the type:

Lists: (eg "top ten ways to use your XXXXXX" , "ten tips to get teh best performance from your xxxx" , "The ten top xxxx's on the market ", "ten little known crochet secrets" etc

How to's: "How to use your xxxxx to earn extra cash" , "How to use your xxxx to yada yada yada" , "the 10 greatest vintage electric guitars of all time" etc

Both of these types of articles despite being tired seem to work very well

[AndyWiltshireNZ]

Thanks for the tips so far everyone, keep 'em coming.

[AndyWiltshireNZ]

I didn't really receive a response to the following question above:

My question is, how 'legitimate' does the affiliate link need to be? I would have thought that, to not mislead the reader, you need to be clear that you are making a recommendation of the affiliate product, but after reading the vintageelectricguitarblog.com article, it's not exactly 100% concise that the link is for a product as such. So does anyone have any advice on how to best integrate an affiliate link/keyphrase without it seeming too 'dodgy' in context.

Basically, is it 'ok' to just link to your affiliate product via your keyphrase anchor text without it actually stating that you are promoting a product?

[HendryLee]

It depends from one situation to another.

If you try to get many votes on Digg or thumbs up on SU, you should write comprehensive articles. The intention is to impress the visitors so they click on the thumbs up button.

For article marketing, my experience is that short and sweet format is the way to go. It almost has nothing to do with your writing skills at all, just a bit. Use list or how to format, just like Steve recommended above.

Create compelling title, get into the topic of the matter immediately in the opening paragraph, don't start slow. Give at least a reason for the readers to keep reading.

List a few tips or step-by-step information and close. You also want to make the transition smooth so the readers proceed to your resource box.

Concise articles work in this case and unless you write 10,000-word article, you don't have to be a great copywriter to keep the readers on the page.

The other benefit of using list is because the readers can scan through the content and still grasp the points you are trying to get across.

For Squidoo, it is different still, because you can insert your link inside the article. With article marketing, you could, but self promotional article may be disapproved during editorial review.

[Caro]

Originally Posted by AndyWiltshireNZ

I didn't really receive a response to the following question above:



Basically, is it 'ok' to just link to your affiliate product via your keyphrase anchor text without it actually stating that you are promoting a product?

When you write a post - generally you will be offering a solution to a problem - and that is what your affiliate product does.

For example in the VEG article(s) it's saying that it's important for a (would be) collector to be aware of what is available on the market place, and a great place to find that out is with the 2008 Price Guide.

So it is deliberately talked about in the article.

And then yes at other times it may go straight to it - people always have a choice on whether they click on a link - often you will for curiosity sake - and you are more positively disposed to exploring, if you feel good about the content you're reading.

So you really need to offer value in the article.

And then because the purpose of say the Web 2.0 entities is to provide a link back to our Main Ranking Vehicle (WPD Blog) it is about creating an anchor text link.

I think you're main focus needs to be on providing value to the reader - then what they choose to do with their cursor will be representative of how they feel about you/your content.

Caro

PS: Is the weather still wet & cold in NZ? Every time I talk to my family they mention how awful the weather is there - everywhere there by the sounds of it....