Give Up Just As You’re Getting Started: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #5

This is Part 5 in the 10 part series How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing…And What To Do About It!

We all LOVE immediate gratification, don't we?

This is why we start workout programs, hit the gym hard for a few days in a row, and then look in the mirror expecting to suddenly look like:

a) Arnold Schwarzenegger back in his "Terminator" days OR

b) Linda Hamilton back in her "Terminator 2" days (remember her arms?)

And then when we see that we still look very much the same way we did at the beginning of the week, we get frustrated, think "Ugh, this is taking too long!", and then promptly eat 3 slices of pizza and a hot fudge sundae.  

Yes, most of us (myself included!) do have a tendency to want to see immediate results with anything we do, and this includes article marketing.  

One of the most common reasons why folks don't see the results they were hoping for with article marketing is giving up too soon after expecting results immediately.

I just want to be up front with you about what you can expect with Article Marketing as far as the time frame goes:
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The Last Minute Resource Box: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #4

This is Part 4 in the 10 part series How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing…And What To Do About It!

I think it's safe to say that we've all been there–

You've just finished writing your article.

You're excited to get it submitted and out to the publishers.

You login to your account at SubmitYOURArticle.com and start entering your article into the article submission page (or you go to an article directory to manually submit your article there), and lo and behold you're asked to fill in the Resource Box field.  At this point many folks think:

"Doh! I forgot about that part. It's just a little author bio–no biggie. I can just come up with a Resource Box on the spot and get that part out of the way so I can finally submit my article."

Then, as I have done in the past, and as many others have done and are still doing, you throw together a Last Minute Resource Box and proceed on your merry way toward the "submit" button.

HALT!!!!

STOP!

Wait a sec!

Little do you know that you've just sashayed over perhaps THE most important part of your article submission–and it's not even part of your article!
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Bombard Publishers With Your Articles: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #3

paperwork
Originally uploaded by tlong

This is Part 3 in the 10 part series How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing…And What To Do About It!

Remember how we said that when you're article marketing the first person you need to please is the publisher?

That's right–lots of times when we're trying to accomplish goals for our business, our focus is on ourselves and what we can get out of a situation. We try to get what we want first, thinking that if we don't then we may be left out in the cold.

Well, article marketing doesn't work like that.

In order to accomplish your ultimate goals with article marketing, you need to first please 2 other groups of folks–

1) The publishers and

2) Your target readers 

Now, let's embark on a very educational daydream. Let's take a journey into the mind of a publisher…

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Act Like a Salesman: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #2

Day 15 Death of a Salesman
Originally uploaded by hey_rabbit

This is Part 2 in the 10 part series How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing…And What To Do About It!

Who would have thought that article marketing could teach you how to be less self-absorbed and to put other people's needs before your own?

Sounds like a pretty profound teaching coming from an internet marketing technique, huh? 

But it's true–when you're submitting your articles, you need to remember that there are 3 players involved whose needs must be met:

1) Publishers

2) Your target readers

3) You 

Notice the order of these players–there are two groups of folks that come ahead of you, but don't fret that your needs are going to be left out in the cold. Actually the cool thing is that if you aim to please the first two groups on this list, you will in fact be meeting your own needs in a spectacular way.

You may think that in order to meet your own needs with your articles that you need to shove ahead of everyone else and create articles that are all about you, you, you (or your business, website or products), but that is totally not the case.

Article marketing is actually one area where you can be quite gracious, putting the needs of others first, all while knowing in your heart that to please your publishers and your readers you are actually doing yourself a good turn as well.

But let's go through these players just to be sure you know the reason why you're in the #3 spot:

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SubmitYOURArticle.com Update: Resource Box Manager now integrated with ArticleLeverage™

Following the recent Resource Box Manager feature that we introduced to SubmitYOURArticle.com, we have now integrated it into ArticleLeverage™ so that our users can easily select from previous resource boxes and increase the efficiency and ease-of-use of using ArticleLeverage™.

This update is actually the result of a contest we rean with members, and this winning idea came from James R Kobzeff, of ProAPOD Real Estate Investment Software.

His company produces real estate investment software for rental property analysis, allowing you to create cash flow, rates of return, and marketing presentations for investment properties at your fingertips in minutes.

As the winner of the contest, we also sent him a complimentary bottle of champagne.

Thanks to everyone else who entered, we had some great suggestions coming in that will also feed into future development of the site.

Lack of Submissions: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #1

hint, hint
Originally uploaded by whisperawish

This is Part 1 in the 10 part series How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing…And What To Do About It! 

This has happened more than a few times:

Someone writes in to say, "I've been doing article marketing for the last 6 months, and I don't see any difference! What gives?"

Then I look at their submissions to try to help them figure out what the deal may be. Indeed, I see that they did start submitting articles 6 months prior, but guess what?

Over the past 6 months they submitted only 3 articles.

Hmmm, I wonder why their results are less than they hoped ?

The Solution 

There is a delicate balance with article marketing–submit too many articles and publishers won't appreciate it, but submit too few and you won't make enough of an impact on Google to see much of a difference.

The solution is to submit between 1-8 articles every 30 days (this is what we recommend at SubmitYOURArticle.com). 

That is a moderate article submission schedule, and if you stick within that healthy range you'll have the best chance of seeing optimum results.

I often tell folks that article marketing is a "less is more" situation, but don't take that too far and stop submitting entirely! You must submit a steady amount of articles (1-8 a month) to see lasting results.

9 Tips for Developing a Healthy Article Submission Habit  

Of course there are events in life that make it so we don't write as often as we had planned, but if you're finding that you are consistently not submitting articles even though you'd like to, here are 9 tips to help you get back on track: 

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10 Ways to Sabotage Your Article Marketing…and What to Do About It!

Have you ever in your adult years thought that you had a chance at someday competing in the Olympics? 

Well, I have for a while now.

Every time the Olympics comes around I just get a surge of "I could do that!" enthusiasm, and all the sudden my brain jumps from the thought "maybe I should workout more often" to "maybe if I trained really hard I could be a world class athlete!"  

I know I have a wild imagination , but does anyone else all of the sudden feel like starting an intensive workout program when the Olympics comes around?

It's the thought, "Maybe I could really do this!" that gets us all excited and gives us the energy and drive to start something new. 

At the beginning we're all excited, with visions of being totally buff, or perhaps winning a gold medal some day Then we follow a program for a week, maybe 2 weeks, and one day we wake up and realize we're disenchanted with what we're doing, because…

• The results are not coming fast enough.

• We're not even sure if we're doing this "getting in shape" thing right.

• We see other folks getting major results with (what appears to be) minimal effort, and we think there may be something genetically wrong with us that we can't spontaneously morph into a superb specimen of the human form.

Little by little, lots of times without even realizing it, a bit of self-sabotage keeps us from fulfilling our true potential.

We get off the program, we skip doing things that we know we're supposed to do, we have unreal expectations for results, then we shake our fist in the air and think, "Ugh! This isn't working for me!"

I've said it before and I'll say it again, undertaking an article marketing campaign is a lot like starting a workout program…

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The Fastest, Easiest Way To Write Your First Article…Starting From Square One

Starting line
Originally uploaded by Jon_Marshall

I can totally understand that when folks first get the idea to do article marketing that initially there is a "deer in the headlights" sort of feeling of:

"Oh no–now I'm supposed to write articles. Where do I even start?"

A lot of folks just aren't used to writing–after all, when is the last time you were required to write a professional sounding article?

Depending on what type of work you do, you may not have had any reason to write anything of any length since leaving school.

I even have a degree in English and knew I would love writing articles once I got the hang of it, but when I first started article marketing I did have an adjustment period where I was trying to get into the article writing groove. 

So, if you're considering starting article marketing or if you've already started and are still trying to get your sea legs, please know that what you're experiencing is normal–any time we start doing something we're not used to doing it's a bit awkward at first!  

You can rest easy that writing an article is not brain surgery–it is very simple when you break it down into steps, which is what I'm going to do for you. If you follow these basic steps, you will be well on your way to writing a very respectable first article!

A little warning though–this is by no means the "definitive" way to write an article–I just think this is a very easy way to get started writing your first article. (I also follow this method even though I've written tons of articles). 

Here we go… 

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5 Things To Do Before You Start Article Marketing…

Lucky number 5
Originally uploaded by Darwin Bell

From time to time I'll get an email from a person saying, "I've submitted several articles and I'm still not seeing results."

My first questions to them are always–

• What type of results are you looking for?

• What is your means of measuring your results?

• How long have you been article marketing and how many articles a month have you been submitting?

Sometimes the person's answer is,

"I don't think I'm getting any results because I haven't had very much of an increase in sales on my website, which is why I'm doing article marketing. I submitted 5 articles the first month, then I got busy the second month and didn't submit any, and this month (my third month) I've submitted a couple."

At this point I'm wishing that I had the ability to turn back the hands of time so that I could tell this person some very helpful tips before she started that would have eased her mind, helped her measure her results more accurately, and increased her success rate.

For anyone who has just stared doing article marketing, or is on the verge of starting, or who is considering starting, I've got 5 tips for you that will make your life easier.

Oh, and even if you've been submitting articles for a while now and didn't have these tips when you started–it is never to late to do these!

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Does Your Article Feel Like A Big Comfy Chair?

  Used Book Cat 
  Originally uploaded by trp0

Have you ever gone into a shop that was so welcoming and comfortable that you just wanted to spend all day there?

It had relaxed, friendly, knowledgeable sales people you could actually relate to who were focussed on helping customers rather than making sales.

There were big comfy chairs that just beckoned you to take a load off and relax for a while.

Perhaps there was even some complimentary coffee or tea and an offering of snacks to enjoy while you walked around the store. When you went into that store, you kind of felt like you’d found a home away from home, a place where you could be yourself and shop in total comfort.

Many times stores like this that offer specialized attention are Mom & Pop stores, those independently run gems where the folks who are working there take pride in what they do because the business is a representation of them and their family.  

I’ve been in numerous stores like this, and do you know what? Not only did I buy whatever I needed, but I also couldn’t wait to come back again!

To top it off I also ended up telling everyone I knew about the cool store with the wonderful ambiance and helpful staff. Stores like that stick in my mind, and I’m sure it’s the same for you.

What does this have to do with article marketing, you may be wondering?

Believe it or not, this has everything to do with marketing your website with articles!

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