Expert Author Case Study: Owen Jones
Today’s Expert Author Case Study introduces us to Expert Author Owen Jones, the manager of a variety of websites, who has developed a distinct strategy for promoting them.
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Owen sees article marketing as the ideal form of promotion. His strategy includes:
- Searching for a topic that is close to his personal interests or currently popular
- Designing a website with content focused on the topic
- Writing and submitting a set of articles to EzineArticles
- Analyzing the articles for the ones with the highest amounts of positive feedback
- Building on the strategies that work
The strategy works because Owen overdelivers on fresh content and article length during the launch and promotion of each website. He writes articles that enrich each niche.
As part of our ongoing Expert Author Case Study project, we asked Owen to share his thoughts on his strategy and any advice he could share.
- Owen, what sets you apart from other Expert Authors?
I do not feel different from other Expert Authors, but I do think that when you see something working, you have to stick with it. Many “ways of making money online” simply do not work, so if you find something that starts to [work], keep building on that. I find that it helps to plot every month’s earnings on a simple graph.
- What’s your secret to article writing and marketing success?
My secret to being able to write a good article is to find a good topic. I choose my topics in relation to the website I am promoting. So, first comes the website that I have created on an issue or subject that interests me. I always know something about the subject, but sometimes not much. Out of pure interest, I will research that website’s topic and ideas come automatically. Success is relative, mostly relative to hard work.
- How do you stay motivated to write articles?
I write articles on topics that arise after having written a website on a subject that interests me. I find that it helps to create a list of what you want to do to promote your website. So, for example, I write down the titles of the webpages and put a mark for the number of articles I want to write in order to get that web page ranking. When I have written the article, I publish it on EzineArticles, tick it off and move on. I like to see the page in my diary with lots of things-to-do ticked off.
- How do you decide what to write about?
My articles are always related to a website that I have written these days. I pick the subjects for my websites with one eye on what is popular at the moment and one eye on whether it interests me.
- How do you balance writing for quality and quantity?
I try to overdeliver on EzineArticles’ requirements. Their standards are good enough for me, so if I surpass their guidelines, it must be good. For example, they say 400 words, so I give 500. This is not difficult if you choose a topic that you are interested in.
- How has using EzineArticles affected your traffic?
EzineArticles has affected my traffic in a positive way by promoting my articles to new readers and providing backlinks to my websites that Google respects; they know that EzineArticles has high standards.
- How does article marketing fit into your overall marketing plan?
Article writing is the core of my marketing plan. I write a website, which I promote with related articles, which in turn get promoted by social bookmarking sites like Twitter, et al.
- What EzineArticles tools do you find the most beneficial?
The EzineArticles tool that I use most is the statistics page. I like to measure my success and see which articles have done well. It is not always the ones you expect.
- What advice would you give newbie article marketers?
Keep notes, track things, study what works for yourself and when you have an inkling of what works, go and look for someone who agrees with your line of thought, but who knows more than you do. Like playing one-on-one sports, always play someone better than yourself.
- Anything else you’d like to share?
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise men of old, seek what they sought” – Matsuo Bashu (1644 – 28 November 1694).
7 Pieces of Advice from Owen:
- Remember that success will take hard work.
- Have a plan when setting out to promote a website.
- Don’t write just to pass the minimum word count. Instead, write until you have fully explained the topic.
- Use the statistics page to learn which article topics are most popular.
- Track the success of your primary strategy to make future plans.
- Use personal interests to research potential topics.
- Find a mentor that can keep you on track for your goals.
See if you can incorporate any of Owen’s advice in your own strategy. And, as always, leave a comment for Owen. He would love to hear from you!
Hello Patricia,
Nice to meet you.
I want and like to help, if I can.
1] I usually create websites with five pages of content to begin with. Plus the contact us, about us and privacy pages. Then I write three articles per content page, so fifteen per site.
An average to take effect? I don’t really wait for that. I write two or three articles a day. I have had results within two days, more often within three days, but always within a week.
2] I nearly always know something about the subject of the website I am promoting, because they are always my websites. So, first I choose a topic (niche) for a website. Then I look to see how many others are interested in it; then I look to see how many others are covering it.
If I don’t know much about it, but I am interested, reading around the subject is a pleasure and sometimes, I have to stop myself and say: ‘Now write something!’.
I try to write three articles and one webpage a day, but hey, I’m my own boss and the plan is flexible.
3] You would have to be a genius to know which articles will get the most views. My top article is one called ‘The Signs Of Love’ and it got over 5,000 hits.
I do not think it was my best article, but who am I?
I think that the best articles pander to mass opinion, but I cannot write those yet.
I’m not even sure I can be bothered to try to learn to either.
I hope this helps,
Good luck,
July 19, 2010 at 2:15 PMOwen
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