Looking at my EzineArticles stats this morning, a flash of inspiration hit me.

I have submitted a lot of articles to EzineArticles now, but the success rate of people visiting them and clicking through to my sites varies a lot.  However, there is something of a pattern forming.

The first thing to say is that my rubbish articles do rubbish.  Few people read them, and virtually nobody clicks through to the underlying web site I am trying to draw attention to.  OK, fair enough.  I must not write rubbish.

It gets more interesting though..

The next class of articles are those that are what I would call self-contained, where you read it, and you have everything you came for.  A good example is the safety guide.  You know the thing “Steam Iron Dangers – Don’t Fall into These Traps”; or “Folding Snooker Table – Avoid These Hidden Hazards”.  The thing about these is that once a reader reaches the end, your invitation to “visit folding-snooker-table-today.com for more information and some amazing bargains” is pretty empty – because the reader found your article by searching for safety tips – probably.  He has all he needs thank you very much, and has no reason to visit your site.

This brings me to the third class of article.  This is the one I am aiming for from now on.  It’s the sort of article that’s a real “hook” or a “teaser”.  I have found that things like “Folding Snooker Table – A Beginner’s Guide” have worked well for me, assuming of course that the object in question is something that people are interested in.

The point is that this sort of article is giving people a start in the subject; giving them the information and confidence that they need before they can choose and buy a product that perhaps they have not bought before.  Having read such a “primer”, it’s a very natural step for the reader to capitalise on this new-found confidence and click on the link to see some examples of the product on your niche site.

In a nutshell, it’s about sowing seeds rather than giving a bouquet.  Seeds are a starting point; a bouquet is the end.

Oh dear.

Back in November I wrote a post entitled “I Really Don’t Know Life At All” – and since then I have received a lot of people here who are looking for the lyrics of this great song by Joni Mitchell, properly called “Both Sides, Now”.

So, if that’s what you’re here for – there’s a link to the lyrics below so you don’t feel cheated, but why not have a look around while you’re here?

I Really Don’t Know Life At All / Both Sides Now Lyrics

…to quote the Barbara Dickson song.

Well, to be honest, January was OK and February only brought a small dip in the TV sales, so can’t complain really. Total commission down to £68 from £73.

So, February was the first month of my self-imposed challenge to ramp up my Thirty Day Challenge-style web site production.  How did I do?  Well.  Pretty well, actually.  My target was 20 web sites in a month, and I did 19.  So that’s 19 on top of the, erm, one successful microniche site I had at the start of the month (we won’t mention the eight failed ones).  Of course, I also have the long-term project – the yet-to-rank-for-any-keyword, no-traffic travel niche site..

But I have more exciting things to report from February:

When I took my month-end look at sales and traffic, I found that of these 19 new sites, nine were already receiving some traffic.  More than this – of these nine, no fewer than FOUR sites had produced a sale – and this within a month of going live in each case.  On analysing the conversion ratios, all four sites have had around 50 unique visitors each, of which about 50% clicked on the affiliate link and one bought!  So that’s 1 in 50 visitors buying – and on each of four different sites.  I only hope that ratio continues!

So, I have to consider the first month of my “90 day project” as I’m calling it, pretty much a success.  I’ve made a slow start in March, with just one more site added so far and it’s already 3rd March, but I am committed to adding another 15 sites this month.

There are also other pressures coming into play now.  My other half has just come to the end of a temp job which was not even paying the bills as it was, but now there’s nothing coming in apart from the affiliate commission.  Let’s hope for more than February’s £68 in March then..