How to Use Associated Content for Article Marketing

A popular form of online marketing for people just starting out is article marketing, also known by some as "Bum Marketing." It's popularity is based on the fact that it is more or less free to get started, and also that it works! Many people have their first success online through this method, and that helps spread the word through positive word of mouth and an endless fountain of new resources on how to make this method work for you.

One of the most promising recent developments in article marketing is Associated Content. It has changed the logic of many internet marketers because of its model of immediately rewarding quality content with payments to the author's PayPal account. Other article submission sites either do not pay at all, or only pay once certain thresholds have been met (like a specific number of page views, etc.)

Simply put, Associated Content rewards authors for writing good articles. Poorly written articles will not serve the community well, so the author won't get paid well, either. Well written articles (especially articles that are rich in popular keywords) benefit the community, and are duly rewarded with higher pay.

While "Bum Marketers" have traditionally accepted no pay for the articles they write to promote their products, they now have another choice. You can write a quality article and submit it to Associated Content, which will review the piece and make an offer within several days. If you accept their offer, which tend to range from $5 to $20 but can be significantly higher for outstanding pieces, you will be paid via PayPal soon thereafter.

Articles can be submitted either exclusively or non-exclusively, which gives you the option of getting a slightly higher offer (through exclusive submission), or having the opportunity to publish the article elsewhere through normal article marketing channels (through non-exclusive submission). When you submit an article non-exclusively, you can receive a decent paycheck for the article while still having all of your options available to promote the article in other ways. It's definitely a win-win situation!

Associated Content, like any article directory, has its own rules and guidelines that must be followed. If you submit an article exclusively, you should be sure that it hasn't appeared anywhere else before and that you won't be submitting it anywhere else. There is a strict link policy for within the text of your piece, so try to leave important hyperlinks to the resource boxes that you have at your disposal and your personal biography box, which is linked to in each article you publish.

If there is a disadvantage to Associated Content, it's that the process is sure to take a few days, as opposed to the instant gratification of submitting articles and receiving immediate approval from other directories. However, in the long run this is a positive feature, because each article is reviewed by a human editor, which keeps up the site's standards and makes it more reputable overall.

Associated Content also takes audio and video submissions, which can be a great alternative for avid marketers that simply don't like to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You don't have to be the next Hemingway to benefit from Associated Content; put your material into a mutimedia format, and it will surely find an audience at Associated Content!

With all of these advantages, it is easy to see why Associated Content is becoming a standard destination for internet marketers. You can set up a free account anytime, and have your first articles up and running within just a few short days. Now you can avoid the frustration of waiting weeks for your Bum Marketing efforts to pay off by getting paid right away for your quality articles.

Of course this information is provided from my own experience and does not constitute legal advice from Associated Content. Make sure you read the rules yourself, and then give this great marketing vehicle a test drive!