Edward Weiss writes:

Martin, very few people make it online. It’s a hard business and success depends more on what you sell than how you sell it. I haven’t seen your E-book or sales page (if you have one) but even the best products with the best sales letters won’t move product or service unless it’s unique or there’s a high demand for it.

Article marketing can make you the “expert” in your field, but it can’t make people buy something they either don’t want or don’t feel they have a need for. There’s a LOT of hype out there. Especially from copywriters who tell you you just have to have the right copy and your product or service will sell like crazy. I wish it worked that way but it doesn’t.

Having said that, article marketing works very well on the internet because you warm prospects up with the best sales material of all – you!

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Lisa Sparks writes:

Martin,

Without knowing your situation it’s hard to give specific advice. I know how it feels to want online sales and you’re doing what you believe you should and what others tell you to and still no sales.

Keep this one thing in mind: Article marketing is one tool in your online marketing toolbox.

You also want to:

– publish an e-mail newsletter (capture the names and e-mail addresses of your Web visitors).

– give your newsletter subscribers periodic bonuses such as special reports or free teleseminars

– build relationships with others in your field and conduct joint venture projects to increase your sales.

These are just a few of the basics you may want to try.

Also, consider “launching” your product and building anticipation for whatever it is that you sell.

I hope this helps and I wish you great success in the future.

– Lisa

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Strephon writes:

I am just starting with podcasts and getting 2000 new listeners a week as http://www.strephonsays.com.

My question is how to convert the listener interest into sales.

You can’t sell podcasts. They are free and relatively short.

So I am starting to make auido books since there seems to be a large market of people who want to listen as the drive to and from work.

I follow the rule to have my audio books relevant to real people in a real world.

I wrote one article here and don’t know if anything happened with it, though I have gotten three or four mailings from the owner here. Would love to have comment on my article first before sending me all these mailings.

It takes time and effort to write an informative article. Writing hundreds when I could be producing audio books? I don’t know.

Where are the statistics for the articles and the return in terms of customers? What is the ratio of articles to driven sales to your site?

Libsyn, my podcaster host gives us good statistics, so at least we are rewarded with fairly accurate feedback for our efforts.

Our second feedback will be sales, which have started to come in since two weeks ago.

Still exploring this site though. As I say, no one responded to my good article from here.

Thanks,

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Strephon,

I looked at your one single article submission… and 1 article is like planting one seed in a huge forest of competitors.

My point: It will take dozens or at least hundreds of articles to make a dent in the current Internet climate of competition…

:-)

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Strephon writes:

My first article got approved! That encouraged me to do a new article on Holiday spirit which I am ready to submit. I already have a hundred ideas like from my podcasts.

I can look at it like I am writing an email to somebody, but then it has to be gone over for really good style.

I got discouraged when looking at another article directory site with a list of twelve other article sites. They all led to one page on something about nursing. This deception gave a bad taste in my mouth.

Article writers work hard to do a good job. We want the public to have a positive time of it searching for good information. So accepting deception on the Internet is difficult.

One wants to be safe. One wants to be good. One wants to communicate, to be recognized, to make an impact for the energy put out. So having editors here to assert excellence seems a good thing.

Maintaining quality standards for a site then is important.

I don’t worry about selling my product because as a writer and teacher my type of information has been tested in working with hundreds of real people. I know it works for a certain number of people. I sell only what I test works for others.

The Internet is for reaching the right people for your values and interest area.

The Internet is not selling but sharing information. When someone knocks at your door, you have got to let people into your house. They come in, but do they want to stay with you for a week and learn your values and what you have to offer?

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