There are many places where we can read about an affiliate marketing business, but there aren’t many places where you can find someone to do some of the hardest work for you.  Well, I may not have found that elusive source of free labor, but I know that I have unearthed what is probably nearly as good.

I sell my own digital and physical products, but a sizeable chunk of my income still comes from affiliate marketing, where I began.  My online business is made up of a number of traditional sites and blogs.  I am a firm supporter–make that “enthusiast”–of SEO for traffic generation, but that is a long term process; good search results take time to build.  In some cases, I have used PPC for affiliate products with success, but more often I am lucky to break even. 

So, for me, as for all Internet marketers, traffic is a very challenging part of my business.  Especially difficult are those times when I have to pass on a new affiliate opportunity because none of my websites are optimized to bring in targeted traffic for the product, so I face the age old question:  How do I send my traffic to the vendor’s site?

My approach to directing traffic to the vendor’s site is just like many other affiliate marketers, I bring the visitors to my own site initially for an introduction to the product or, perhaps a comparison of competing products.  I hope they’ll click the link that will take them to the spot where they might actually buy the product that will earn me my pittance.  I have always wished that I could cut out part of the middle of that process.

I use article marketing extensively for all of my sites.  I employ that strategy primarily for its SEO value but also for the direct visitors that are sent my way.  However, especially for an affiliate marketer, there are two major problems with traditional article marketing.  First, the major article directories don’t allow contextual links within the body of the articles.  Instead the links stand alone in a section that they call the author’s resource box, but which screams, “Commercial!” to our readers.  Second, the major article directories do not allow affiliate links or even links to redirected pages or domains.

Finally, there is an article distribution service that solves those two problems and allows direct linking using our affiliate links which can be placed contextually within the article.  Yes, you will be able to join the affiliate program of the amazing My Article Network once you become a member of the service.

My Article Network is like a consortium for article marketers and content publishers.  (The link goes to some specific information about My Article Network on one of my sites.)  It’s another of those Callen projects that most of us who hang around online business for any period of time have come to know so well.

Since I am writing for affiliate marketers, I’ll cut short the presell message and let sales page of My Article Network persuade you on its own.  I’ve been using it for less than two months, and I am a complete convert to the system.  In fact, I even set up four new niche blogs to make use of the free content that my colleagues provide.  {(Go ahead.  Click the link, you know you want to.)(Do it!  You know you want to click the link.  Come on…don’t you think I deserve it?}