Article marketing is seen by some as a dead art; something that’s simply not worth the time. If done using the traditional methods, this is incredibly true. Traditional “article marketing” is simple: write as many short articles as you can, link to your home page a few times in each, then submit them to 50 or so article directories and hope to build traffic and links doing so.
This method was extremely popular just a few years ago, and is still popular among thousands of internet entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, the results are starting to slow down in several ways, and thousands of internet marketers have given up altogether.
Is Article Marketing Dying?
Once you try something that doesn’t work, it makes sense to move on. But actually figuring out what does with internet marketing can be difficult, considering one only has one ranking for dozens of marketing techniques. However, among the reasons given for the abandonment of traditional article marketing are the following:
- Few Organic Visitors — Article directories are usually flooded with lower-quality articles, meaning that fewer and fewer people are reading the articles just to read.
- Low Google Juice — Article directories allow dozens of other webmasters to republish the content. Once you send your article to 50 directories, it will be listed on Google at least 50-75 times on various web pages. Google will instantly discredit the value of all of the links considering it is duplicate content, meaning you’ll be generating extremely low-value links.
- Future Penalties — Google is constantly modifying its algorithm to make sure that “quality websites” are given appropriate rankings based on backlinks. As time goes on duplicate content continues to become worth less and less, meaning that those websites originally founded on article marketing are nose-diving in the rankings.
In a nutshell, many internet marketers are concluding that it’s just not worth the time to attempt article marketing. But rather than dump the concept as a whole, a better approach would be adaptation and simply pruning our article marketing strategy.
Article Marketing for Web 2.0
I must admit, I used the phrase “Web 2.0″ just because I’ve always wanted to. But still, in order to adapt to the changing internet market, one must adapt one’s strategy. Below are several ways to build lasting high-quality links that will make money in the long run.
- Write Fewer Articles — Rather than write one or two per day, cut your article quantity in have, and increase the quality and length. What you market in value will eventually build into more valuable links to your website.
- No Duplicate Content — It might feel a little depressing, but it will help you in the long run. Only publish your articles once, and then never again. As this one web page builds in Google authority (especially if it’s long and is valuable enough that it gathers its own natural links) you’ll gain an extremely powerful, relevant link.
- Use Paid Sites — By marketing on websites that pay for valuable content (Helium.com and AssociatedContent.com are great examples) you can earn revenue directly from your articles. You’ll gain both links and money, with both short term and long term impacts. Win-win.
- More Guest Posting — Article marketing consumes both your writing time and article topic ideas. Using these resources to publish guest posts instead of traditional articles means that you’ll have the industry leaders linking to your website.
Not surprisingly, this marketing strategy is based on the old-but-true expression that content is king. Well, if it isn’t now, Google and other search engines are working to make it that way. More and more emphasis is placed on link quality to the extent that it’s just bad business to ignore it. You can’t afford to not build quality links, even if that means fewer links overall.
The Secret to Building Traffic Is…
There is no secret to building traffic through article marketing. Simply market your website smarter than the competition, and you’ll beat them at the rankings. It’s that simple.
Once you have your website and monetization system up and running, you have only two real activities that should consume your time: Write Great Content and Building Links .
Is your website even getting results? If not, something is amiss. Building an online website business is simple once using simple principles and guidelines. Read more about Why Some Websites Fail .
EDIT: Hey guys, I just found a great website that actually goes through explaining what the article marketing secrets are. Check it out.
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