This post was better before I deleted it... A shorter version of a masterpiece... Quality writing and affiliate marketing sites...
I just finished writing a wonderful blog post for today. It started with an article I encountered on a blog explaining just how easy it was to be a successful web content writer. After satirizing and belittling the poorly written freebie article, I discussed the blog that was using it.
My original post lambasted the article and discussed how the "anyone can do it" idea denigrates professionals and encourages people who can't handle the work to enter the field. Of course, that often ends in trouble, which gives the whole web writing community a black eye.
My original post was also critical of the blogger who used the article. Free articles from repository sites can be used effectively and legitimately, even though they can never compare to having custom-written, unique content. However, the value of free articles is undermined by a lack of sufficient vetting. If you are going to use a freebie, read it first and make sure you are giving readers something of value. That is, of course, if you care about the readers.
You see, the site that ran the offending article is one of about ten blogs that all exist in order to help promote a website whose sole function is to get people to buy info products like "The Rich Jerk" via the site operator's Clickbank ID. The blogs, which are part of the same domain as the site itself, serve as mini content warehouses, designed to boost SERPs. The reader experience isn't at the forefront of the operator's mind. It's all about getting people to the "product reviews" via Google which results in them visiting the sales pages, which then leads to sales (when things work out).
I am not going to go overboard criticizing that business model. If it works, so be it. I will say this...
If you want to use a blog to boost SERPs and to drive traffic toward bigger sales, there is a different approach. You can build a blog with a great deal of user value through unique content that will naturally attract its own audience while carrying a healthy cache of credibility (and that can only help your sales).
That system will cost more than filling ten feeder blogs with free articles, tossing up a fistful of glowing "reviews" and sending folks to sales pages via your affiliate link. It will, however, produce results if done correctly.
I know that because I have been writing two such blogs for internet marketers with an orientation toward superior site quality and higher conversion rates via well-written unique content that is specifically targeted to the right demographic. Oh, and that content is actually pushing SERPs up like crazy.
Which brings us back to the beginning, where we were talking about the fact that not everyone can write the right content.
If you get the writer you need and are willing to make an investment in quality, however, you can do alot of business. And you won't have to crutch on cruddy reprints, cookie cutter blogs and other shallow strategies that encounter much more consumer resistance to produce sales.
Well, this re-write of the first post communicates most of the same ideas. I swear, though, the first version was better than this one!
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