Write for Free Publication Versus Getting Paid

In my recent attempts to try Affiliate Marketing, I've read, that many people recommend that I submit my written articles to a number of different Article Publishers. I admit that I have a hard time, accepting the concept of allowing much of my writing to go for free publication. If I submit my articles to as many publishers as possible, apparently that will help to increase my by-name recognition. I don't understand how that will later lead to my earning money, either through the writing of my blog or from those published articles.

My blog is new. So far, I'm promoting other people's products or web sites. I don't have any products of my own to promote, except for my writing ability. Though I've downloaded many free ebooks, that I've read to learn more about how all of this works, I think I would have to start my own web site, in order to list some of those ebooks, as giveaways, or things I'm trying to resell to anyone who might pass by. I don't think it would work too well, if I placed them on my blog.

Starting my own web site, intimidates me. I put off starting my own blog for quite some time. It took me several hours to get it up and running and get the colors, fonts, and layout the way I wanted. That could be more about my difficulty in making up my mind. Then one day I clicked on a link, that changed the look of my blog to an older style, and I had to start all over, with my preferred text and background colors. With my lack of knowledge about html, I could be spending days trying to get my own web site going.

"So what does that mean for that article you wrote and submitted to 50,000 publishers... It means that it did just that - it was submitted to 50,000 publishers. You do not know who it was submitted to, whether they are a respected website, whether they actually have any reasonable amount of traffic, or even if they will publish your article without your permission. You have no control over what happens to your article."

Mark Daoust, of http://www.homebiztools.com/marketing-method.htm goes on to say that this is not what publishers want from the writers who are submitting to them. He indicated that it is not in the writer's best self-interest as well.

"The idea of submitting an article to as many publishers as possible is obviously contrary to what a publisher is looking for. At the same time, though, it is also, contrary to what you should be looking for. The secret to writing successful articles starts with a simple concept: you want to control who publishes your article, and you want to help promote that article. If an editor chooses to publish an article and sees that it was well-received (and brought in a lot of new traffic), they will be more inclined to publish future articles from you...A properly written, distributed, and promoted article can be far more effective than any other form of marketing, and far more cost effective."

A web site owner might need content for their web site, but he or she, might not want that content to be circulated all over the Internet. Publishers prefer that the same specific article from a writer, is not being submitted and published by many other publishers. I've read that Google can penalize you, if it suspects you're guilty of placing duplicate content in many different Article Directories.

My promotional article might be viewed by some people, as nothing more then a longer written advertisement. Many Article Publishing sites don't allow the Affiliate Marketers or writers to place direct links to the items we're promoting, within the body of the article itself. The writers are allowed to include a link to our blogs or web sites, within the Author's Resource box at that publication site.

I feel like I'm making my potential customers take extra unnecessary steps. First, they are hopefully reading my article about whatever web site, product or service that I'm promoting. Then they're supposed to travel back to my blog. Once they get there, they need to find the link in my blog to the product I'm promoting in my article. Then when they click on that link, they'll finally be getting their first look at the product I've been trying to promote to them all along. Who knows how many other links they will have to click on once they get there?

It seems like I've sending my potential customers on a longer scenic route, with a few extra detours thrown into their Internet Highway travels. By the time they actually get to look at the product I'm promoting, they may no longer have any interest in reading anything more about it, let alone buying it from me.

If it's dark outside or they got lost on this round about journey in their Internet travels, by the time they get to their destination, they'll probably expect me to put them up for a night or two, and to feed them as well.

Many people recommend submitting my articles to multiple Article Directories, as a way to increase my earnings, and I believe them. But it seems like there's something I'm missing here. How does it go from submitting my promotional articles to free publication, to actually earning money from them in the future? I want that Instant Gratification, of getting some form of payment, or recognition, from my article, immediately after it is accepted for publication.

Why would publishers later be willing to pay me for my written articles, if I've already previously agreed to submit my writing for free publication? If they don't see any monetary value in my writing now, why would they change their mind down the road, and suddenly be willing to pay me money for my written articles later on?

While my writing will hopefully improve as I do more of it, and I actually see it published, I can't see that my basic writing style will drastically change all that much. I don't understand how it goes from something that I'm supposed to give away for free now, to something that people will be falling all over themselves in their willingness to pay me for my writing efforts in the future.

I'm willing to try to things that those more experienced than I am, in Affiliate Marketing, are recommending. I just want it to make sense to me.

Source: "The Misunderstood Marketing Method" by Mark Daoust,
http://www.homebiztools.com/marketing-method.htm