Make Money with Affiliate Programs Using Ezine Articles

Most people realize they can use ezine articles to promote a product or service, or their favorite affiliate program. But many of them don’t know how to best use ezine articles to promote their offers.

They know they are supposed to write an article, include some kind of clever offer in the text or in their resource box, and convince editors to publish their article.

But, there is a *very* clever way to use your article to promote like you've never seen before.

And I'm going to share it with you right now.

There are only five steps.

Step 1: Choose the product or service you want to promote.
This one is kind of a no-brainer. It all begins with deciding what you want to promote. Is it your own product or service? How about your favorite affiliate program?

We're not talking about your newsletter -- we're talking about an actual offer you want to present that you'll earn profits from when readers of your article make a purchase.

Decide what it is that you want to promote through your free ezine article. And then move on.

Step 2: Determine your "useful, but incomplete" approach.
I love to use what Jimmy D. Brown has coined as the "useful, but incomplete" approach when using freebies of any kind. (Ezine articles, free eBooks, reports, eCourses, etc.)

What he means by that is simply this: You provide your reader with "useful" information (something they find of value and are able to actually apply) but make certain that it is "incomplete" in that they can better use the information by making a purchase.

That's "useful, but incomplete." And it works like a charm.

The idea is to use your content to build up to your desired response. You provide the reader with content, and then you make an offer that allows them to fully utilize the content, gain extra insight from the content or maximize the content in some additional way.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say I wanted to promote Aweber in a free ezine article. This is a service that offers unlimited autoresponders, tracking and all kinds of other stuff for one low price.

So, how could I use an ezine article to promote the service?

By writing an article that explains how to benefit from using autoresponders or mailing lists. My article explains different uses of autoresponders and how the reader can profit from implementing the ideas.
And, naturally, they will need an autoresponder service in order to put the ideas into practice, right?

And I just happen to know of a great service they can use.

OK, so that's an example of how to promote a SERVICE offer with your ezine article. What about a software product or an eBook?

Want some examples?

Good, because I've got two...

TO PROMOTE A SOFTWARE PRODUCT: Let's suppose you want to promote Armand Morin's eCover Generator. How can you do it?

-- Write an article outlining how important presentation of your offer is, and how creating a cover graphic can increase response rates by up to 1300%.

-- Write a step-by-step tutorial article for "do-it-yourselfers", explaining how to design your own graphics from scratch. And then promote the software as a
super-simplified way of doing it.

TO PROMOTE AN EBOOK: Want to promote Jimmy D. Brown’s ListProfitSystem.com?

-- Write an article that covers the "basics" of building lists, and then promote Jimmy’s product as the "advanced" tactics.

-- Write an article on how to profit from a list, and then promote Jimmy’s eBook as the "how to build the list."

See how easy this is?

That's how it works. Determine what your "useful, but incomplete" approach will be, and then...

Step 3: Turn your approach into a tips list or tutorial.
Let's use my example again. I decided that I would describe various uses of autoresponders and how the reader can actually profit from them. What kind of tips list or tutorial could I create?

"How to Generate More Subscribers, Sales and Profits With Automated Follow-Up Messages"

"7 Powerful And Profitable Ways To Use Autoresponders To Skyrocket Your Sales and Subscribers!

"Want to Increase Your Online Profits And Leads? Here are 7 Ways to Do It..."

That's all you need to do. Determine your end result. Decide how to get there with your "useful, but incomplete" approach. And then develop a list, or even a step-by-step tutorial for your article that leads the reader along.

With each new "idea" or "way" or "tip" or "step" or "strategy" that you share, you can further direct the reader towards realizing their need of your upcoming offer, and lay the foundation for them to accept the offer.

Step 4: Expand on each point to build your content.
Here's more of the easy part. Just "fill-in-the-blanks" to complete your article.

Write 1-2 short paragraphs for each of your points. Make them good. Provide quality content. The offer you will soon make will see poor results if your information isn't useful.

Remember, you are trying to presell the reader on the idea that they are going to need your offer. If you don't provide them with quality information that they WANT to begin using immediately, then why will they want to buy what you are promoting?

Light a fire in them. Motivate them. Challenge them. Give them such nuggets of gold that they want to keep mining until they hit the mother lode!

Step 5: Put on the finishing touches with the "five pillars."
There are five things that you should always do to finish up your ezine article. Don't skip any of them. They are all critical...

1. Polish. Re-read your article. Does it provide information that really is "useful" to the reader? And yet leaves them wanting even more? That's what you want. Polish it. Put on the wax and make it shine. It has a very specific purpose -- make certain it has the means to achieve it.

2. Promote. Use your resource box to promote your offer. This is why we've written the article, right? Remember step one? It's time to put it into play. Give the reader what they (hopefully) are wanting...a way to maximize the information you gave them.

3. Proof. Don't do this yourself. Have a trusted friend, relative or co-worker check your article for grammatical and typographical errors. The last thing you want to do is present a poor image after sharing some high quality information.

4. Publish. Zip your new article out to your favorite list of publishers. Submit it to the announcement lists and the ezine directories. Don't forget to publish it yourself in your own newsletter!

5. Profit. If you've covered all the bases that I've mentioned, then profits are almost certain to start coming in when your ezine article is published. You deserve it. Be proud of your accomplishments.