Understanding the basics
CPA, or cost per action, is basically a type of promotion in which the affiliate marketer gets paid when the visitor completes a desired action to include doing a survey or filling in some other type of form. Those not familiar with this type of marketing should first look at CPA affiliate marketing, which covers all the basics, and CPA network, which also covers some of the basics and introduces different networks.

Choosing the right offers
In order to make as much money as possible with CPA marketing, one needs to know and understand the niche. It is vital to know how different offers work. For example, one offer that converts like crazy for some CPA marketers will not be suitable for another person’s traffic sources. Higher quality, targeted traffic should be directed to the most involved and specific campaigns. If people are looking for a particular product such as a wrinkle cream, it is much easier to get them to buy than people looking for general information.

Leave the bulk traffic for low-involvement campaigns, such as email or zip code submit (these are explained in more detail here). While conversions will not pay as well, they will add up if there is enough traffic.

Establishing authority in a niche
The expert CPA marketers design sites that include basic or revolutionary information about the products, not giving away too much but creating interest. These CPA affiliate sites usually feature reviews, basic product information and testimonials.

You need to make sure that you build your traffic sources carefully. One more advanced method is to offer something for free, related to the CPA offer, such as an e-book, report or video. After the person has downloaded this and signed up for the marketer’s email list,(see squeeze page building) a relationship can be started and many more offers sent to them. These lead capture CPA sites will have offers featured, but the content should be unique and not just a copy of the original landing page provided by the network.

YouTube marketing methods
YouTube is the most popular video site today, and many people are searching for videos instead of articles. How-to videos are increasingly popular, and they can be profitable if the marketer finds a topic many people are interested in. One secret to marketing with YouTube videos is to use social media during the campaign. Some of the marketers offer free downloads for sharing the content on Facebook or other sites. YouTube videos should be short and simple, include a call to action and personal opinion. These videos can also be posted on your own site.

Social media embedded in CPA campaigns
Facebook can be used for CPA marketing, and this does not require purchasing advertising. You can have your own group or app designed for various social media sites (mostly Facebook), which can boost the number of visitors signing up for the offer. You will also benefit from the free sharing and recommendations. Many advanced marketers use free apps or create their groups. If you have a number of free offers to promote, you can list them on your own Facebook page and ask people to share them. In the end of the day, there is nothing better than free offers. Of course, it takes time to design these offers (consider freelancers). It is also important to make sure that the sign up process is error-free and straightforward.

Simplicity is the secret to CPA success
Many advanced internet marketers say that simple sites and offers convert to sales much better. In the end of the day, if someone wants to enter their email address to win some free stuff, they want the process to be fast. You need to make sure that the visitor knows what they need to do step-by-step to take advantage of the offer.

The site needs to be checked for broken links. Link tracking is the best way to make sure that there are no expired offers featured on your site. When you get the notification from the CPA network that the offer is no longer available, you just change the redirect of the tracking link to point to another, similar offer. This way you do not have to set up a promotion for the new product and can save a lot of time while improving the visitor experience.

Advanced traffic generation for CPA
Many people set up complete systems that automatically work around the clock. The most challenging task within CPA marketing is testing the various offers (see testing campaigns). There are many free and simple tools you can choose from. Keep things as straightforward as possible while making sure the offers bring in more than they cost. However, keep in mind that many offers that will not convert at all, and experts often say they need to try at least ten different programs before they find a winner to promote.

As you become more proficient at CPA marketing, you will find that selecting campaigns will be easier. If you stick with the same niche, you can become an expert faster. The best converting traffic is still going to be coming from your email list, and this is the main reason you should design your site and content around building a profitable customer base.

Uploading digital products to give away
If you are uploading an ebook and other similar digital products as a giveaway to build an email list, then doing it can be pretty straightforward. Here is what you need to do:

1. Login to your WP Dashboard.
2. Click on the “Media” tab and expand it.
3. Click on “Add New”. You will then be presented with an option to upload a new media – in this case, a free ebook.
4. Click the “Select Files” button and find the ebook you want to upload on your computer.
5. Click “Upload”
6. After successfully uploading the ebook, you will see a unique URL. You will be using this in directing your subscribers to where they can download the product.
7. Copy this link and insert it into your posts, your blog sidebar or your newsletters.

For example, if you want to display your free ebook permanently on your blog’s sidebar, you can use a text widget and link it to your product. To do this, click on “Admin” > “Appearance” > “Widgets” then fill in the appropriate code linking to your product.

An example of the text in the widget could be as follows:
<a href=”http://example.com/downloads/ebook.pdf”><img alt=”download ebook”

Then, place the widget where you would like the link to appear in the sidebar.

Uploading digital products to sell on WordPress
WordPress started primarily as a blogging platform, but it has evolved into an effective tool for e-commerce. So, if you want to sell your digital products online, the simplest way to do it is to install a shopping cart plugin that will automate the process for you. There are both affordable paid and free WP plugins to choose from.

Installing plugins
Basically, here’s how you go on installing your e-commerce plugin:

1. Login to your WP Dashboard and go to the “Plugins” menu.
2. Click on “Add New”. (Note: You should have already downloaded your chosen plugin onto your computer. If you have not, you need to search for a plugin as this point and install it from the plugin site.)
3. Once the “Install Plugins” box appears, click on “Upload”.
4. Click on “Browse” and select the plugin you want to use. Click “Open”.
5. Click “Install Now”.
6. Click on “Activate Plugin” once the plugin has been successfully installed.

Some of the most popular shopping cart plugins used by internet marketers and online business owners today include WooCommerce, Cart66, Shopp and WP E-Commerce.

Editing plugins
After installing your plugin, it is time to edit your settings. While this may vary from one plugin to another, here are the basic steps you may need to follow:

1. Click on the plugin you have just installed under the “Settings” tab.
2. Fill in the appropriate fields with the correct information. You need to set your PayPal email address, the currency you will be using and some other shopping cart details, including the shopping cart title, the text that will be shown if the shopping cart is empty, the “Add to Cart” button or image and the URL where the customer will be redirected after a successful payment.
3. Depending on what plugin you are using, you may also need to fill in the details of your product in the “Add New Product” page. Basically, you will need to input your product’s name, the price (remember to use two decimal places), the product description, and thumbnail image and digital product URLs.
4. If you are using a plugin that also allows you to sell physical products but you are only selling digital products for the time being, you will have to disable the shipping options on your site. You will usually find this under the “Shipping” tab.
5. Click on “Update Options” to save your settings.

Adding cart images
There are also some plugins that allow you to create an “Add to Cart” button or image for your products. If you want to put such buttons or images into your posts, here’s what you should do:

1. Go to your “Pages” tab and click on “Add New”.
2. Use the trigger text to add a product to a post or page where you want it to appear.
3. Provide a title for the page and a short introduction for the product you are selling. Click on the “HTML” tab and enter a shortcode to create your “Add to Cart” button.
4. Click “Publish”.
5. Click on “View Page” to see how it looks.

Clicking on this button will take your customer to a PayPal page where they can either choose to log into their PayPal account or use a credit card to make a payment.

As you can see, adding downloadable digital products to your WP site and offering them on sale can be quite easy, especially with the various third-party shopping cart plugins that are continuously being developed by WP’s open source community.

Article Submission Service 101
Basically, an article submission and distribution service is a web-based service that helps you submit your articles to various directory sites. Most services have an in-house editor who pre-screens and edits your articles to ensure that they meet the standards set by the publishers.

However, by joining such sites, you will have to pay for your monthly or annual membership fee whereas you only have to pay a one-time purchase fee for article submission software.

Top Online Article Submission Services
If you would like to see how each one stack against each other, here is a rundown of some of the top online article submission services today.

Unique Article Wizard
With the Unique Article Wizard (UAW),  you can submit a completely unique version of your article to more than 20,000 top article directories, ezine publishers and niche blog networks in less than a minute. UAW guarantees spun articles will be high-quality and not the gibberish that comes out with some article spinning. Additionally, it gives readers a unique version of the article they are reading by simply clicking on a link, thereby allowing for better syndication of your articles.

UAW also allows you to use multiple pen names and lets you schedule your submissions the way you want to. It organizes all your articles so you can instantly see which ones have been published and where they have been published. It even offers a nifty plugin for your blog so you can provide updated content to your site without having to do it manually. By signing up for their service, they promise your articles will be indexed by the major search engines within 48 hours, and you will be getting about 200 backlinks to your site within one to three weeks.

SEOLinkVine
With SEOLinkVine, you have to submit at least one article into the system, provide three relevant backlinks for your article, set how quickly you want to have your links generated and let the system work for you. Blog owners who want to get unique, high-quality articles can simply create a free account, and they will automatically receive free niche articles directly to their blog. As a result, you will create free one-way backlinks to your sites from different IP addresses.

The service also spins your articles automatically and allows you to drip feed your content to avoid raising any red flags with the major search engines.

Magic Submitter
With the Magic Submitter, you can automatically create and verify your accounts at hundreds of article directory sites, video-sharing, PDF-sharing and press release sites, social and micro blogging sites and forums.  It has about 2,000 sites in its database so you can expect to generate thousands of one-way backlinks for every submission. You can even add hundreds of websites to the list should you choose to do so.

Magic Submitter automatically spins your articles and allows you to drip feed your articles all over the web. It can also solve all captcha verifications using any captcha service provider you choose and provide you accurate reports for your submissions. Using this service, you can even ping, bookmark and spin your links.

Linkvana
Linkvana is one of the more expensive article submission services out there, but it guarantees to create thousands of quality one-way backlinks for your site from its network of high PR blogs, high authority forum sites and social networking and bookmarking sites as well. It offers a “time-released” system to make your link-building campaign look more natural and optimize your backlinks to ensure that you will get better results over time.  As long as you are able to submit unique, good-quality articles to the system, Linkvana promises to help you create quality backlinks in a matter of days.

Aside from submitting your articles to its vast blog network, Linkvana allows you to track all of your link-building projects under one easy-to-manage dashboard. It also offers a keyword tool and tracks the performance of your keywords. It allows on-site and off-site research, affordable content outsourcing services and lifetime free upgrades.

Linkvana offers a 5-day free trial so you can try how it works before deciding if this article submission service is the right one for you.

Remember, using an article submission service can help you achieve your goals, provided that you choose one that will keep you from being penalized by the major search engines and use it properly. For best results, choose one that offers to drip feed your content and submits equally to sites having low and high PR. In addition, limit the number of articles submitted for any one site and vary the anchor text and pages linked. Mass submitting articles falls into a gray SEO area and needs to be used with caution.

The answer – use an article submission software. To help you choose the right article submitter that fits your needs, you may want to compare the features of the top article submission software in the market today. Here are some of them:

Article Marketing Robot
Article Marketing Robot (AMR) is considered by some online marketers to be the most effective submission software for article marketing. Using this program, you can:

• Automate the task of creating and confirming author accounts. AMR reportedly has one of the highest success rates when it comes to account creation. Moreover, you don’t even have to worry about filling in all those captchas – AMR can take care of it automatically.
• Submit your articles to about 2000 article directories. As a result, you will get a lot of backlinks and generate more traffic to your sites. AMR also updates its article directory database regularly so you don’t have to worry about outdated links.
• Drip-feed or blast your articles all over the internet. AMR allows you to schedule when you want to submit your articles. This can be very valuable in view of the recent changes implemented by Google with regards to link velocity. As you may know, Google now gives more value to backlinks created over a period of time rather than those that are created in one go.
• Come up with unique versions of your articles. AMR has a built-in article spinner so you can spin your articles prior to submitting them to various directories. It can spin articles on synonym, sentence and paragraph level so you don’t have to worry about it being discredited by Google.
• Upload your articles to all your WordPress niche blogs.
• Easily find your published articles with its live URL reporting feature.
• Convert your links to RSS so you can submit them to various RSS directories.

AMR comes with a 60-day 100% money-back guarantee.

Article Demon
Article Demon works in almost the same way as AMR does. It allows for automated account creation, lets you add your own article directories into the database, retrieve live URLs of your published articles and save them in a .CSV file, ping your links, and even allows for contextual linking.

The software also allows you to choose the most appropriate category for your articles, lets you submit your articles over a specified period of time, and choose your submission speed. Additionally, Article Demon comes with its own article spinner and rewriter so you can submit unique articles to each directory you choose. Article Demon also comes with lifetime free upgrades and a 60-day money-back guarantee so you can be sure that you have your investment well protected.

Brad Callen’s Article Submitter
Brad Callen’s Free Article Submitter comes in three versions – Free, Gold and Platinum. The Free Article Submitter gives you access to more than a hundred article directory submission sites while the Gold version grants you access to about 700 article directories.

However, while the free version comes at an unbeatable price ($0), it is still not yet fully automated. You have to manually select the directory you want to submit your article to and then hit the ‘Submit’ button after you are satisfied that the submission fields are all completely and accurately filled up. If you are using the Gold version, you basically have to go through the same process, but you will have more article submission sites at your disposal. On the other hand, the Platinum version is fully automated so you can submit your articles to hundreds of article directories with a single click of your mouse.

Instant Article Submitter
What can Instant Article Submitter do to help you with your article marketing campaign? Much like AMR, Instant Article Submitter (IAS) facilitates one-click account registration, allows for scheduled article submission, and gives a detailed report on your submission status. Additionally, IAS also offers the following features:

• Image verification support. This feature allows you to submit your articles to directories requiring captchas without having to fill in any codes.
• Category selection. The software allows you to choose the appropriate category for your articles to increase the chances of having them accepted.
• Directory selection. IAS lets you choose the directories you want to submit your article to. It currently has 206 directories in its database, but you can add your own directories if you want to. You can also save the directories you selected and retrieve them whenever you want.
• Resource bio inclusion. If you are submitting your articles to directories that do not have an author’s bio section, IAS will automatically add it at the end of your articles.
• Instant Article Creator. IAS comes with Instant Article Creator, a software that can help you write good quality articles in less time.

While some naysayers claim that article marketing is dead, especially after the implementation of the most recent Panda updates, article marketing remains to be an effective tactic that can help improve a site’s ranking. In fact, with the crackdown on black hat SEO methods, article marketing will prove to be

Find a niche
Choosing a niche is the first and very important step in affiliate marketing. While there obviously needs to be products for the niche, the most important factor is that the niche be something that you can take an interest in or have knowledge about. Remember, you will need to provide useful info and assistance to people.

Finding digital products to market
Sites to include ClickBank and Paydotcom offer a great variety of products to choose from. In fact, the sheer number of products can be overwhelming at times. With so many out there, there are obviously going to be a percentage that are not very good. This necessitates careful screening to ensure you choose quality products.

The process of selecting products is detailed more in choosing ClickBank products.  There are a number of factors to consider including competition, reviews, related and cross promoting products and or course ClickBank gravity. Both your reputation as well as potential sales are at stake, so it is important to choose well. This will eventually save you both time and money.

Regardless of the product or network, the overriding principle needs to be skepticism and careful selection of what you choose to market. Make sure the vendors sales page is credible and offers some kind of social proof. It should have testimonials that show that others have used the product and had good results.

The best method is to buy the product or get a review copy to learn more about it and create better content. In you do not interned to use the product personally, contact the seller and ask for a review copy. Be honest and positive about your intentions. Many will give you a copy if you appear legitimate, and they have faith in their product.

Create web properties
While it is possible to use free online publishing platforms for some content, marketers also need to build their own sites.   WordPress affiliate website covers the entire process of using free WordPress to create sites, and more possibilities are offered in site building software.  Creating landing pages should be considered when making landing pages either as part of a larger site or those that stand alone. Web properties should always be built with the principles of on-site SEO in mind.

Create good content
While SEO principles to include finding long tail keywords should be considered when creating content, the needs of the potential customers need to come first. Try to put yourself in the shoes of visitors and meet their needs. Some common types of content when marketing digital products include:

• Product reviews: As discussed previously, it is best to obtain a copy of the product. Some areas to cover in any review include its purpose, features, advantages and disadvantages and some kind of conclusion.
• How-to articles: This kind of article will start with a problem and give a solution.

Creating good content will require research for you to understand the problem and offer a solution. While the articles need to be informative, be careful not to give too much away, as this may eliminate the need or curiosity the customer may have to buy the product.

Videos and other extra features can make any page much more engaging and attractive.

Attracting traffic
There are a number of ways to increase the number of visitors to a site to include off-page SEO, social network marketing, video marketing, article marketing and pay per click advertising.

However, to really make money marketing digital products, measures that go beyond simply attracting traffic to a site are required. Some of these measures are discussed in ClickBank promotion methods.  The most important of these is email marketing, which starts with list building. Basically, the marketer uses methods to include free giveaways and squeeze pages to build an email list and start establishing a relationship with potential customers.     This process, of warming of visitors until they purchase, is outlined more in hot and cold traffic as well as in email marketing tips.

Analyze traffic
Data measuring online marketing efforts needs to be constantly collected and analyzed to see what is working and what is not. Testing ClickBank campaigns covers using split testing and other ways to track and analyze data.

Other digital marketing tips
The three basic types of pages used in digital marketing, squeeze, pre-sale and landing pages, and how to use them, are discussed in maximize ClickBank commissions.

In addition, building a ClickBank affiliate business offers more information on selecting niches and products and expanding your business right. Finally, ClickBank affiliate marketing mistakes covers those things you need to watch out for to avoid costly errors.

When to show the pre-sales page
If you are using paid traffic or pay per click campaigns as an affiliate marketer, you must create your own pre-sales page before sending the traffic to the offer. Advertisers do not like different affiliates sending traffic to paid offers. In addition, these pages will help you create initial interest in buyers, capture their email address occasionally (with a squeeze page) and personalize your offer. If you are promoting a very popular product, chances are that the visitor, who has a strong interest in the topic, has come across the product multiple times before. However, if you can capture the interest and highlight the major benefits of the product, answering the main question the customer has in mind when clicking on your link: “what is in it for me?”, you can still make them buy. Therefore, the pre-sales page is shown before the visitor can see the full details of the offer. Even when sending your existing customers to a pre-sales page, you will see more conversions and better targeting results.

Advantages of pre-sales pages
You will find that pre-sales pages can help you differentiate your offers in many ways. You can personalize your offer, add your own testimonial, conclude what the sales letter says about the product and help your customers make informed decisions. Pre-sales pages can stand alone, or they can be embedded in your website. A pre-sales page might also be designed simply to create interest and introduce the benefits of the product. You can create a video overview, which can be the perfect solution when selling software or downloads online.

How to build a pre-sales page
You can find plenty of free pre-sales page templates on the internet. You can use a simple bullet point structure when you list the main benefits of the product. You might also share your experience with the product, telling the visitor the solution it helped you to achieve. For example, in case of a weight loss product, you can write down all the achievements, to include: cutting inches of your waist, feeling more energized and so on. The final line of the presell page will include a call to action, and without this part, you are never going to earn commissions. The call to action will simply ask your visitors to see the web page that offers the solution to their problem. A link that leads to the sales page should be included either in the text or as a special button. Make sure that you do not include too much or too little information, so you can maintain interest without giving away the solution itself.

Types of pre-sales pages
You can create a short article on your blog, and if it is written in a form that it will make people check out the affiliate offer, it can be considered as a presell page. Some people prefer video pre-sales pages, and these are usually product tours or reviews. For example, if you are trying to sell software to people, you could purchase it yourself and list all the features in the video. Make sure that you only give out the basic information and get people to try to find out more by clicking on your affiliate link. Qualifying visitors initially is the main purpose of pre-sales pages.

Another method is to make a special offer in the presell page to include offering a discount, guidance or even complementary products. For example, you might be blogging about autoresponder services. You create a page telling your customers about the benefits of the one you are talking about. At this stage, you might offer to provide them with free training on building and maintaining a mailing list if they buy. Making the offer appear irresistible for potential buyers and complementing the message included in the original sales page is best done using presell pages.

It is also recommended that you add your own unique ideas while creating a page and sending traffic. Remember that creativity always stands out from the crowd.

What is cold traffic?
Cold traffic is basically visitors sent to a site who do not know or have any previous relationship with the blog owner or the person behind the offer. It is used by many affiliate marketers, and it can be paid advertisements like banner impression or pay per click. While cold traffic can be used untargeted, it can also be turned into warm or hot traffic. Cold traffic is sent to squeeze pages by many marketers to build mailing lists or sell low-input, low-commitment products. Although cold traffic is not considered to be the right approach for ClickBank campaigns, it can be very useful for email submit CPA offers or building lists. The targeting of cold traffic will determine the conversion rate, and greater success comes by segmenting and targeting visitors more specifically.

What is hot/warm traffic?
Warm traffic occurs when a visitor is returning to a site because they are either involved in a discussion, are subscribers, or were recommended to do so by a respected source. The strength of warm/hot traffic is based on the level of involvement of the visitor, and this is often based on reciprocity. If a person is the website owner’s mailing list and has already received free gifts, tips or just watched some tutorials on the site, more in-depth interaction can be expected from them. If the person they trust recommends a ClickBank product, the visitor will be more likely to consider it than as if they were recommended by someone they do not have an existing relationship with. This is the main reason why warm traffic converts better for ClickBank campaigns and why the refund rates are much lower. There is trust and an existing relationship to strengthen the motivation to buy.

How to warm up cold traffic
The most effective way of turning cold traffic into something more personal and build trust is through email marketing. For example, by giving away free and valuable information which has a high perceived value for the customer in campaign, the internet marketer can build reciprocity. Building on this reciprocity, they will find that their email campaigns will be more successful. Another method is to create blog post series or social media campaigns, where the marketer would publish new content regularly.  Since this is a type of a newsletter, there is no need for the customer to submit their personal details. By encouraging visitors to sign up for content and updates on the site either via email or through one of their social media accounts, internet marketers can effectively communicate ClickBank campaign updates, as well as news on the site.

Ways to build relationships with customers and increase conversion
To really build relationships with prospective clients, it is best to be present in their lives. Sending out occasional updates and emails is not good enough, considering that there is a huge competition in marketing digital products. Being personal is one of the strengths of building a relationship, so people know that there is a real person behind the posts and emails. Encouraging participation in discussion on a blog and creating surveys also generates a higher level of commitment. A campaign should be built up to make sure that the most common problems and questions are addressed, and people find value in what is given away by either free downloads, email newsletters or blog posts. Incorporating social media, such as Twitter and Facebook and posting regularly is one of the best ways to build relationships with potential customers.

Cold traffic campaigns
When affiliate marketers are just starting up and have no lists, they might consider setting up cold traffic campaigns (if they can afford them). These campaigns should be designed to build a list, since cold traffic might be wasted if it is directed straight to a sales page. However, some people choose to incorporate ClickBank products in their cold traffic campaigns. For example, after offering a free download in exchange for the visitor’s email address, they might redirect them to a one-time offer. However, there is a need to build a level of relationship and trust with subscribers before they are sent to a high-ticket (costing more than $100) item. If not, the traffic can be wasted. Some ClickBank affiliates have successfully managed to create profitable ClickBank campaigns with cold traffic, but this requires a wide knowledge of targeting.

Warm traffic campaigns
Warm or hot traffic occurs when the visitor knows and trusts the person who sends out the promotion and reciprocity is already built. A good example of warm traffic is mail campaigns to prospective customers have they have received useful information from the list owner. Authorities in popular niches can create a large amount of warm traffic by simply posting on their personal or business blogs. The hottest traffic is that from existing paid customers, who are satisfied with their purchase and think that the value they received is higher than the price they paid. Some marketers are able to achieve a 30 percent conversion on their mailings using this method. However, the general rule is that affiliates should first create a relationship, then send out freebie offers, and increase the level of customer involvement gradually.  High-ticket items after offering high-value, low-price products should only be offered after the relationship is built. Keeping the balance between selling and building relationships is the way to succeed in affiliate marketing.

To get rewarded for all your efforts, you need to avoid the usual article marketing mistakes committed by most article marketers. Here are some of them:

1. Glaring grammar and spelling mistakes. To build credibility in your chosen niche, your articles should reflect authority and professionalism. This cannot be achieved if your articles contain grammar and spelling mistakes. So, do yourself a favor and check your articles before submitting them.
2. Ignoring article guidelines. Each article directory has its own guidelines in accepting articles and not following these rules may result in outright rejection. To make sure your articles get accepted, take note of the minimum word count required, the maximum number of links allowed both in the body of the article and in the author resource box and the overall quality of your article.
3. Being overly promotional. Most article directories do not accept articles that contain blatant promotional and/or commercial content. So, while your main goal for submitting articles to these directories may be to improve your bottom line, try not to write articles that mainly serve to promote your products or services. Write something that provides real value for your readers and keep your promotional links in your author resource box.
4. Poor formatting. Most internet readers do not actually read articles. They merely skim through it. So, make your articles more reader-friendly by using headlines, bullets and shorter paragraphs.
5. Submitting the same article to many directories. Some article directories will let you submit articles that have already published elsewhere on the web. While this may seem to cut your efforts considerably, remember that publishing the exact same article on many sites will likely be a waste of time.
6. Submitting articles that are not optimized for your primary keywords. For your articles to achieve higher search engine rankings, they need to be optimized using your primary keywords. As such, you must do a proper keyword research before attempting to write your articles. Try finding long-tail keywords with low competition and decent monthly search volumes and optimize your articles using these keywords.
7. Not using the author resource box effectively. The author resource box should do more than just inform your readers of who you are and what your expertise is. It should also serve as an effective call-to-action that will entice your readers to click on your links. So, consider what you will put in your resource box carefully. Do not take this for granted since this is the only place you can use to promote your business and sell yourself to your readers.
8. Using the same author resource box and links. To maximize the SEO potentials of your articles, make sure to use several variations of your author resource bio. You should also consider using a variety of anchor text links and URLs. By doing so, you can promote several pages at once using a single article.
9. Using only a few directories to submit your articles. Needless to say, submitting your work to just a few directories may not be enough to give you the results you want. So, the best thing for you to do is to choose a number of reputable article directories that you will use for your article marketing campaign. In choosing the directories, you may want to consider the directory’s page rank, approval turnaround time, relevancy to your topic and the tools available for you to use (consider widgets, RSS feeds, built-in social media tools and the like). In addition, keep in mind that certain directories are better for different niches. Top article directories is a good place to find the best directories to use.
10. Not submitting enough articles. Please take note that merely submitting a single article to several article directories may not be enough. You need to work on your article marketing campaign consistently to produce the effects you want.
11. Neglecting quality. While submitting a lot of articles to a number of directories may work in your favor, you should still check for the quality of each of your articles, especially if you use an article spinner. The best value in article directories comes when the articles are republished by others. Unless the articles are up to the same quality they would be on your own site, they will not be republished.

Now, do you know why your article marketing campaign is not producing the results you expected to see? Avoid committing these mistakes and you’ll get better results next time.

What to measure on your ClickBank campaigns?
When you first set up your promotion, you will need your own landing page for the product. It is not wise to send people to the merchant’s sales page right away; you need to pre-sell the benefits of the product. Tell people the answer to their question: “what is in it for me?” You can write a review, which is a common method, or just set up a teaser page (a short review with a link out for further info, usually used when a product is in pre-launch). Some advanced marketers create a squeeze page with a product they give away, and redirect the visitor to a related ClickBank promotion after the person has downloaded their free gift. No matter what you do, you have to measure conversions, the number of visitors, the source of traffic, the clicks through the sales page and the earnings per click.

Split testing and tools to use for analyzing ClickBank campaigns
Split testing is necessary to find the right campaign strategy. To do so, first pick different elements that you want to test. Create variations for headline, graphics, call to action, even buttons and graphics. Then, run these variations to see which bring the best results.

Google Analytics and Google Optimizer are free and some of the best tools for split testing. To use them, you simply need to create a Google Webmaster account and install a script or add a code to the page the promotion will be featured. There are videos and the step-by-step tutorials with Google tools if needed.  You can test the different variations of the page and use the tools to see how visitors respond. In the end, you will get a report of the conversion rate of the different versions.

For faster testing, many advanced marketers use pay per click traffic to get people to offers and see which one does best. This can save you time, increase your earnings and teach you a lot about your customers at the same time.

In addition, there is also advanced split testing software; however, if you are not a computer expert, you might want to stick with simpler solutions.

Use paid traffic to increase earnings
Once the testing is done, it is often a smart move to use PPC to drive traffic to offers that have good conversion rates and earnings per click. However, it is important not to get carried away by the opportunities in paid traffic and also utilize free methods, such as bulk traffic (less targeted purchased traffic) or organic search visitors. It depends on your budget, preferences and how much organic traffic the site gets. Learn more about purchasing traffic at PPC.

Picking and promoting a winner
It may take hundreds of visitors to find out which version of the landing page is the most effective, but eventually the one that earns the most needs to be selected. At that time, look closely at the sources of traffic and pick the most effective promotion method. For example, if you see that referral traffic from articles gets a 9 percent click rate, while video marketing has a 30 percent click rate, you can then work out how many of these visitors become paid customers and get you commissions. After you have done this, you have to keep an eye on the refund rates for each traffic source, as it can be much higher for cold traffic (traffic that does not know anything about the site or offer initially that comes to it through paid advertising) than organic or blog visitors.

Just imagine if you could contact highly targeted proven buyers with different relevant offers multiple times. Would it improve your earnings? That is why some of the smart ClickBank affiliates integrate list building in their strategies. If you are just starting out online, you might not know where to start this process. The article below article will give you some great tips on how to build your own list while making ClickBank commissions.

Integrating list building into campaigns
If you would like to take advantage of the ClickBank marketplace’s opportunities, you should know that many vendors are using their landing pages (sales pages) to build their own lists. Why shouldn’t you do the same? After all, you have no idea how much money the product owners are making years on after making those initial sales by placing the buyers on their lists. If you are planning on releasing your own product or marketing joint venture offers in the future this will require a list as well.

The simplest way of integrating list building into your digital marketing is to set up a lead capture or squeeze page that offers a free download. This can be simple video training, a private label rights product or re-brandable report, which all can be found online. There are many PLR sites you can join for free with relevant attractive products to give away to your visitors. You can choose to present the ClickBank offer to your visitors straight after their download, or – after building rapport through a series of emails –sending the offer out via email.

The power of e-mail ClickBank promotions
Selling ClickBank products through recommendations by email when you have already built a relationship with the subscriber will likely result in higher conversion rates than cold traffic methods. This is why you should be focusing on building a long-term business, instead of making some quick profit. Marketers who send relevant and useful information for their customers will have higher click rates on emails and up to 50 percent conversions.

If you can set up your own unique landing page offering a bonus for subscribers, you can give them a good reason why they should buy from you. This aspect is extremely important when a ClickBank product is in the launch phase, as there may be thousands of other affiliates jumping on the offer, trying to sell and pre-sell to the potential customers. The person you send the offer to may have already received a number of emails about the same product. You can only win if you have previously established your authority and a relationship with your audience.

Offer discounts and updates
Some people just write teaser reviews about products and ask their readers to sign up for updates while the product is in a pre-launch phase. When the Clickbank product is “ready to go,” the affiliate then sends out an email with their special bonus offer. As the customer already knows about the features and benefits of the product, there is a higher chance of making a sale.

If you can successfully set up offer pages that look better and offer more than the competition’s, and properly use your email list, you can win the battle for affiliate sales. Email marketing tips offers more information on how to do this.