Bum Marketing Explained

Unfortunately, that doesn't work so well anymore. Many article directories - in particular, the "king", Ezine Articles - no longer allow putting affiliate links in the bio box. You have to have a website of some kind, and you must link to that.

So the term "bum marketing" doesn't mean what it used to, and in fact, is being replaced by the more accurate "article marketing". But in reality, it isn't all that different, because you can still market without having to put up a cent.

The two easiest ways of doing that are to have Squidoo lenses and/or blogs on a free host, such as Blogger. The article links to the site, and from the site to the products being promoted.

This is a big advantage, because you can do a better job of pre-selling with a website than you can with just a few articles. Squidoo is especially good for this, because you only have to make one page, and it doesn't need to be updated as much as a blog would.

Another benefit is the ease of changing affiliate links. If the product turns out a loser, if it goes off the market, if you find a better one - just make a few tweaks to the page. All the links in your articles are still valid, because they point to your lens, not the product itself.

The key to success is writing articles with content that webmasters want to pick up, and that will impel readers to click through to your lens for more information. And the articles themselves can rank high in the engines, bringing more traffic.

It's always best to begin with a subject you know about. Writing will be much easier that way. So make a list of everything you have some experience with. For instance:

• Hobbies & Crafts - Knitting, sewing, woodworking, gardening, cooking, photography, etc.
• Collecting - Coins, stamps, antiques, etc.
• Outdoor Activities - Hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, sailing, etc.
• Travel - By car, plane, train, ship. Cruises, special destinations, etc.
• Fitness/Health - Diet, exercise, weightlifting, etc.
• Pets - Cats, dogs, birds, fish, specific breeds. Health, training, and too many more to mention.
• Automotive - Car buff? Motorcycles? SUVs? Buying a new or used car. Repair and maintenance.
• Video Games - For the PC, PSP, Nintendo DS, PS2, PS3, Xbox, Nintendo Wii. Tips, cheats, techniques, etc.
• Children - From babies through the teen years. Many people have experience with this one ;)
• Parties & Entertainment - For kids. For teens. For adults. Planning, menus, decorations, etc.

Okay, that's just a very small list to get you thinking. Take your time, and write down everything that comes to mind. Then re-organize your topics, beginning with what you know most about and going down to what you know least about (or think you know least about).

This was the easy one. Next is the tough one: research. That's vital; you have to gauge interest. Remember, this is all about giving people what they want.

Research is grunt work, but it can bring nice rewards. There are two things you're looking for here: a large enough market, and long-tail keywords.

A "long-tail keyword" is actually a phrase, a phrase that real people use when searching for information. They work well for getting a high ranking in the search engines, which is what you want.

So how do you know? There are several places online that have free search tools you can use. These are mentioned in the "Bum Marketing Resources" section later on.

For now, let's say you know a lot about running parties for kids. So you would go to several keyword search sites to see if there's interest. Always use more than one tool; don't depend on just one site.

As your seed, you decide to try "kids parties". The seed only needs to be a couple of words; you will get back far more in the results. Put the seed in quotes if it's more than one word.

The free Wordtracker tool, for example, displayed (among others) "kids birthday parties", "birthday parties for kids", and "games for kids birthday parties".

The Checkrankings site returned "birthday kid party", "game kid party", and "birthday game kid party", among others.

Each site actually gives you 100 terms per search, so there would be plenty more to examine. Of course, you'd be more interested in the results at the top. By the way, expect to find some peculiar phrasings, as well.

You should also consider synonym searches. For instance, you could also try "childrens parties" or "child parties".

After you've done the searches on several sites, compare results and choose about 10-15 phrases that look to be getting a high number of hits. Now it's time to see if this is a good market.

Finding out if a market is worthwhile is easy. You check your keywords on Google. Head there and try your first phrase, in quotes. Look at the right-hand side and see if there are any ads. No ads is usually a bad sign. It means no one is bidding on that key phrase, and there's little or no money in it.

Regardless of how many pages are returned, an absence of ads shows that searchers are looking for free info; they aren't interested in buying. Exception: if your other phrases turn up ads, then you may have been VERY lucky in coming up with a phrase no one else is using yet. That could be a little gold mine. But, don't count on it.

Should there be some ads, then the next thing to look at is the number of pages returned. That's your competition, although your real competitors are all there on page 1.

Visit the first five or six. See what's actually on those pages. How often the key phrase shows up. What information is being presented. Take notes on what you find. Remember, you'll have to do as well or better.

Check all your key phrases this way. If it turns out there are few or no ads for most or all of them, then there aren't many buyers for that information. Drop that topic, and move on to the next one, following the same steps.

Once you've found a subject people are willing to spend money on, your next move is to locate products to promote.

Buzz over to Clickbank. If you don't have an account, create one. There is no charge to sign up as an affiliate. Log in.

Use their search engine and some of your shorter keywords to find products. View the "pitch page" to see that it looks professional and not over-hyped. Scroll to the bottom and look for an "affiliates" link. Often this takes you to a page where you can get graphics and other material you can use on your lens.

Also click on the "buy" button. That takes you to the first page of the sales process, where you can see the current price of the product. This is a new window, so you can shut it when you're done looking.

Now examine the numbers under the product. They will look somewhat like this:

$/sale: $20.76 | Future $: - | Total $/sale: $20.76 | %/sale: 50.0% | %refd: 82.0% | grav: 93.51

The most important ones are "$/sale" and "%/sale". The first one shows how much you will make per sale, and the second is the percentage of the price being offered to affiliates. The example above is for a product that retails at $47.

Now you must do some arithmetic. Clickbank takes a cut from all sales. Currently, they grab 7.5% + $1 per sale. The affiliate commission is then calculated on what remains. So:

$47 x .075 = $3.525 + $1 = $4.525 which we'll round to $4.53. This is what Clickbank keeps, so the net price is $47 - $4.53 = $42.47.

The commission is 50%. Therefore: $42.47 x .5 = $21.23

However, the payout is $20.76. Why the difference? Refunds. You can calculate the refund rate by dividing the difference by the net price and multiplying by 100, like this:

(.47) / (42.47) = 0.01100 x 100 = 1% (approximately)

That's phenomenal. The refund requests are only about 1% of sales. Any product under 15% (10% is better) is a good bet.

However, keep in mind the above is only an indication. Some merchants have multiple products on Clickbank, and that can skew the numbers. So don't rely on them alone.

If at all possible, buy the product. That way, you can see for yourself if it's really a quality item and lives up to the pitch on the sales page. Otherwise, try looking around the 'net for any reviews.

Put +"product name here" +review into the search box. The plus signs tell Google the results must include both the name and the word "review". Read any reviews carefully; sometimes, they're no more than puff pieces from affiliates trying to make a sale.

When you've settled on two or three products, create your hoplinks. Open notepad, type in the name of the product, and put the hoplink just under it, so you know which links lead to which products.

The research phase is finished; now comes the hard work.

Important! Clickbank holds back 10% of your total payout to cover refunds and chargebacks. This money is returned to your account six months later.

Okay, this part too simple for words: reserve your lens, using the best keyword phrase that fits. Right now, you're only interested in making sure you can get a lens with a good title url.

If it's been taken already, try a variation. For example, if someone already has "bestkidsparties", maybe you can get "best-kids-parties".

Otherwise, go on to the next keyword phrase, and so forth. You'll be coming back to your lens in a little while. The important thing is to reserve the title before someone else jumps on it.

Now you have to decide: how many articles to write? Since you're just starting out, I recommend five for submission to the directories.

That's enough to get started, and you can do more later. Besides, you will want good content for your lens. To avoid problems with Google's "duplicate content" filter, it's best to have different material on your lens. Don't post the same articles you sent to the directories.

Each article should be based on your long-tail keywords, and each one should cover a different aspect of the topic. So for "kids parties", one piece could be on menu planning, another on decorations, a third on party games, etc.

Most "bum marketers" recommend having the long tail in the title, in the first sentence, and in the last paragraph. You may be able to get away with it once more somewhere in the middle.

But never, never try "keyword stuffing" by putting it all over the place. Your article will probably be rejected, especially by Ezine Articles (EZA for short), and you very much want to be in there.

All submissions to EZA are checked by human editors. You can't fool them with keyword stuffing or junk content. So write clear, concise, informative articles. They don't have to be long - the average is between 300-500 words - but they have to be good.

Always use a text editor like Notepad or similar to write your material. Do not use a word processor. Proofread your articles, or better yet, have someone else do that for you. And be sure to run all your material through a spell checker.

Should You Use a Pen Name?

There's nothing wrong with using a pen name. Many who write on a variety of topics have different names. There are two things to keep in mind. First, always do an author search of the article directory to see if someone else has that name. If so, choose another. Keep in mind, even your own real name isn't unique; someone else could have it, too.

Second, if you plan on doing a lot of lenses on different topics, they should not all belong to the same lensmaster name if you use different pen names in your articles. However, should you be using the same name (your own or a pseudonym) for all your articles, it doesn't matter.

Now that the articles are written, you can plan out your lens. The most vital thing is to stay focused on the main topic. Remember your goal here is to encourage visitors to click through your affiliate links.

Don't fill up your page with pretty but irrelevant stuff like Flickr photos or Youtube videos. DO use affiliate materials provided by the merchant if they fit in.

For instance, there may be photos you can add that show off what can be done by following the instructions in the product. A few of those sprinkled through the lens can be very helpful.

If (and only if) you bought the product, post a review. Keep it short, but cover the main points, what you learned, and if there was something you didn't like, include that, too. Your piece will be more credible.

Be sure to include short articles with additional tips on the topic. Remember you want to inform your potential customers, but keep them wanting more. These pieces are where to post any photos you have, provided they illustrate what you're writing on.

The title of every text module should include a long tail keyword. Also use your keywords in the lens tags.

Keep your affiliate links to a minimum. Visitors will only be turned off if you stuff them everywhere. I'd say no more than 2-3 links to the product, depending on the size (length) of your lens.

However, if you're promoting more than one product on the lens - because each covers a different aspect of the topic - then one link per item in the appropriate place is enough.

When you're done, hit publish, and check out how your lens looks. Fix up any problems (like overlooked typos). Rearrange modules if necessary. Okay, you're almost done. One more step remains.

Return to to the articles you're submitting, and write up the "bio box". This is the short part at the end that tells a little about you, and contains the link to your lens. It could be something like:

****************************************
Ann Onymous is a mother of three with years of experience planning kids parties. For more great tips on holding a fun and successful party, visit her site now at Great Kids Parties
****************************************

Note that the blurb is in third person: "Ann Onymous", not "I". It establishes credibility by mentioning "mother of three" and "years of experience". The "offer" is "more great tips" and the hook is "fun and successful party". The call to action is "visit her site now", followed by the link (the above link does not work, of course; it's just an example).

Take your time over the blurb. It's really the most important part of the article. It must be interesting enough, or exciting enough, to induce readers to click through to the lens.

If you need help or ideas with this, visit one of the article directories, browse some of the pieces and see how those bio boxes are written.

It's time to submit to the article directories. Before doing anything else, read the Terms Of Service (TOS) for each one. I can't emphasize that enough. You must know the rules before you sign up or send in your work. Otherwise, your stuff will probably be rejected. And yes, you do need to open an account with each directory.

So now you send in your material. And wait. It will take awhile (a few days usually; varies by directory) before your articles show up in the listings. After that, it will take some time before the articles and your lens show up in the search engines. This is too variable to give any estimate. Just check once a day, starting about a week after you go live, using your key phrases.

Yes, there is a "dark side" to article marketing. You could do everything right, follow the most advanced techniques, and still come up short.

Why? Because the net is variable. Because you never know what Google is doing in the background to tweak their engine. Because some people are thieves.

You should expect that some webmasters will take your articles and cut off the bio box, pretending they wrote the material. Worse, they could leave the box in, put their names and links instead, and make money off your hard work.

There isn't much you can do about that. Sure, you can protest and send them angry emails. Most likely, you'll be ignored. Complaining to the directories probably won't get you anywhere, either.

My suggestion: don't bother about it. I know, easy to say, hard to do. But obsessing over content thieves will only distract you from getting on with your own work. Not everyone out there is dishonest.

There are many ways to promote your articles and lenses, but those are beyond the scope of this basic guide.

THIS is the most, THE most important thing: Get Started! Review the material in this lens. Sit down and start working. Nothing will happen until you begin doing the work. Good luck, and may success be yours!

You could spend a lifetime tracking down information on the net. That stops a lot of people: too much information! They're paralyzed and confused by it all.

So, I've chosen the important stuff to help you get started. The article marketing steps above and the links below are all you need to begin.

Clickbank

Clickbank - The official site.
Clickbank Guide - Harvey Segal's site with tips and information for both affiliates and merchants.

Free Keyword Search Tools

Wordtracker
Checkrankings
Website ToolBox Pro
Google's Adwords Tool (see note at end)
SEO Chat
Keyword Discovery
SEObook Keyword Tools

Note: The adwords tool is mainly for those using Pay-Per-Click ads. However, anyone can use the tool (be sure both cookies and javascript are on), and it can be helpful for seeing both the previous month's search volume and the average search volume for the past 12 months for a variety of related keywords. Definitely use this when researching!

Article Directories

Ezine Articles The number 1 directory.
Go Articles - Also very popular
Find Articles
Articles Factory
Article City
Articles Hub
Article World
Search Articles
Article Alley
I Snare

Tips For Lens Builders

Common Newbie Squidoo Mistakes
Basic HTML For Lenses
Advanced HTML For Lenses
The Free Squidoo Guide

Learn Much More About Article Marketing And Squidoo

Article Marketing Domination! - Take your article marketing to the next level. Goes beyond the basics to give advanced tips and techniques for success.

Squidoo Queen V2.1. Squidoo Meets Bum Marketing - Dominate Them Both! - Get those lenses working for you. The Squidoo Queen shows you how article marketing and lenses can make you money.

30 Minute Article Writing System - Having a hard time with writing articles? Is that blank screen staying blank? Then you need this guide to give you a hand to start pumping out articles.