Based on the questions I'm getting, a lot of you are very new to internet marketing, and article marketing in particular. So I'm going to take things in smaller doses in this newsletter.

I say all that to say, I'm going back up a bit. In the next two to three issues, I'll get to the topics I promised in the last newsletter, but today I want to walk you through how to choose keywords for articles you might want to write to promote affiliate products.

How to Write an Effective Article to Market an Affiliate Product

If you do the following every time you sit down to write an article to market your affiliate product, before long you'll have a well-rounded body of articles that constantly drive traffic to your affiliate site.

Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Step 1 -- Formulate an Idea

I generally have some idea that I want to write about as it pertains to the product I'm promoting. And, these can come from anywhere - a story in the news, an article I read online, a question sent in by a reader, etc. Now, once I view my keyword selections (discussed below in just a sec), it may change, but generally, I find keywords to support the idea I want to write about.

Once I have the idea, I then select my keywords, which brings me to the next step.

Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Step 2 -- Log on to Google's Keyword AdWord Tool to Conduct Keyword Research

As I was going to write an article to promote the backpage ebook, I typed "make money online quick" in the "Find Keywords" box, as indicated in the graphic below.

When I did, a whole bunch of results popped up.

I chose the keyword phrase "how to earn cash" because it has 18,100 monthly global searches, and not a lot of competition, as indicated by the partially shaded green box. Note: You want to choose long-tail keywords that don't have a lot of competition because they tend to drive qualified, "ready to buy" traffic. Read the linked-to article to learn more.

When you get to the Google Keyword AdWord Tool page, click on the "Column" box to the far right under the "About this data" heading. Once you do, it'll open up and you'll see the following:

As indicated here, I check three boxes, ie, the Competition, Global Searches and Estimate Avg CPC (cost per click).

If you're not familiar with this tool, spend some time getting to know it. It is your best friend when it comes to writing copy to promote your affiliate products.

Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Step 3 -- Check the Competition Using Google's Toolbar

I have the Google toolbar installed on my computer. So at a glance, I'm able to get an idea of how competitive a site may be for the keywords I'm trying to rank for.

What do I mean?

If you have the toolbar installed, it will tell you a site's page rank (ie, PR) at a glance via a shaded green box (see arrow pointing to green box in the graphic below). The more shaded a box is, the harder it will be to outrank this site for the keyword phrase you select.

Let's walk through this.

Say I want to write an article using the keyword phrase "seo writing." So, I go to Google and type that phrase in. A whole bunch of sites will pop up. I start clicking and when I get to 7^th result (as of this writing), it's SeoWritingJobs.com (one of my sites).

"PageRank is Google's view of the importance of this page (4/10)."

Because some article directories (eg, EzineArticles.com) have high PRs. So if you submit an article to them with the right keyword phrase, you could very easily get on the first page of Google. FYI, this is why you see so many results from sites like hubpages, ehow, AssociatedContent and others on the first page of SERPs (search engine results pages) by the way.

Even though these sites aren't "article directories" per se,  they have a lot of the same characteristics, ie, fresh content, from different authors, all the time. Hence, they are spidered by search engines a lot and results pop up in results quickly.

I've submitted articles and had them returned in SERP results within an hour - really!

Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Step 4 -- Write Your Article

Write good, informative, keyword-rich content.

If you do the above, but turn out crap in this step, while you may show up in search results, you won't make a sale. So, spend some time writing a useful article. My goal is always to dispense one little nugget of information readers can take away with them.

A lot of information on the net is regurgitated garbage. Don't write stuff like this. In the long run, it won't serve you well. That's why I advise choose affiliate products and services you are invested in. This way, you'll promote them for years and every article marketing piece you turn out will serve you well - for years.

And, this what passive income is built on.

Using Article Marketing to Promote Affiliate Products: Now, What Do I Need to Do Again?

So to recap:

Formulate an idea

Do your keyword research

Check out the competition

Write

In the next issue (sometime next week), I'll will write that article for you to "spin." And the issue after that, I'll give a list of tips for marketing effectively on backpage.

Have You Sent Me an Email?

If you've sent me an email over the last couple of days, I've probably received it. I've been crazy busy lately, so bear with me. I'll get to it over the next week or so.

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Note: At some point, I do advise that you learn how to design simple websites and learn what hosting, URL, domain name registration, etc. is all about. Be sure to sign up to the Internet Marketing for Novices newsletter to find out about stuff like this.

If you're a regular reader of my sites (http://InkwellEditorial.com, http://SeoWritingJobs.com), you know that  I tend to be extremely detailed, and this newsletter is designed to explain - in painstaking detail  and plain language - concepts just like this. I also give free gifts from time to time.J

To sign up, simply go to http://FreeAdsSell.info and scroll down to the very bottom of the page. You'll see the signup box there. Be sure to read the first issue (sent out on 9/23/2010) to see exactly what you can expect from this helpful newsletter.

I look forward to having you as a reader as we traverse the internet and affiliate marketing waters together.

P.S.: Don't forget to follow me on twitter to get updates about internet marketing for novices at https://twitter.com/IM4Novices