Is Article Marketing still profitable?

65 replies
For personal reasons I have been inactive for over four years. I am now in a position to start again. Is Article Marketing still profitable? Are article distributors like Ezine, GoArticles, etc. still good marketing tools? Many of my old domain names have expired and are at auction. Should I start anew?
#article #distributors #marketing #profitable
  • Profile picture of the author myob
    In my not so humble opinion, article directories such as Ezine, GoArticles, etc have never been good marketing tools except perhaps as ancillary article portfolio showcases.

    The highest form of "article marketing" has always been to submit articles to online/offline publications which already are targeting your reading audiences and prospective demographics.

    My recommendation is to start anew, using classical article syndication practices. An excellent tutorial with timeless best practices (ie "old school") is "Turn Words Into Traffic", by Jim and Dallas Edwards.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170446].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author C A Perez
      Thanks for your response, myob. I'll have a look at your recomendation.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170456].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author mentat47
      Originally Posted by myob View Post

      In my not so humble opinion, article directories such as Ezine, GoArticles, etc have never been good marketing tools except perhaps as ancillary article portfolio showcases.

      The highest form of "article marketing" has always been to submit articles to online/offline publications which already are targeting your reading audiences and prospective demographics.

      My recommendation is to start anew, using classical article syndication practices. An excellent tutorial with timeless best practices (ie "old school") is "Turn Words Into Traffic", by Jim and Dallas Edwards.
      I've never used either of those services. I'm a professional writer. So, if I need an article for promotional purposes, I'll write my own. It's cheaper that way.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174137].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author robofx
      Banned
      Originally Posted by myob View Post

      In my not so humble opinion, article directories such as Ezine, GoArticles, etc have never been good marketing tools except perhaps as ancillary article portfolio showcases.

      The highest form of "article marketing" has always been to submit articles to online/offline publications which already are targeting your reading audiences and prospective demographics.

      My recommendation is to start anew, using classical article syndication practices. An excellent tutorial with timeless best practices (ie "old school") is "Turn Words Into Traffic", by Jim and Dallas Edwards.
      Do you actually believe this nonsense? And weren't you claiming back in 2012 that you were on track to make HALF A BILLION DOLLARS?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10179827].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DRP
    Article Marketing fizzled out years ago. Free traffic is largely useless, unless you are a narcissist who craves internet fame by blogging and whatnot.

    If you want to succeed in IM, you have to pay for your traffic. The dirty truth no basement warrior wants to hear.

    Anyone telling you otherwise is an idiot...or trying to sell you a shiny object.
    Signature
    I'd rather tell you an ugly truth than a pretty lie.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170465].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author essmeier
      Free traffic is largely useless, unless you are a narcissist who craves internet fame by blogging and whatnot.

      If you want to succeed in IM, you have to pay for your traffic. The dirty truth no basement warrior wants to hear.

      Anyone telling you otherwise is an idiot...or trying to sell you a shiny object.


      There's so much wrong in this post that I don't even know where to begin. I've been earning a living online for ten years and I have never paid for traffic.

      Some of us get our traffic from search engines.

      Charlie
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173207].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Zodiax
      Originally Posted by DRP View Post

      Article Marketing fizzled out years ago. Free traffic is largely useless, unless you are a narcissist who craves internet fame by blogging and whatnot.

      If you want to succeed in IM, you have to pay for your traffic. The dirty truth no basement warrior wants to hear.

      Anyone telling you otherwise is an idiot...or trying to sell you a shiny object.
      The people selling courses will never tell you to pay for traffic, because it's not what people want to hear.

      It isn't as endorphin inducing as using 'one little trick to rank number one in Google in one week or less'.
      Signature

      'I hated every minute of training, but I said, 'Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion'
      -Muhammad Ali

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173872].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author brada7x
        Originally Posted by Zodiax View Post

        The people selling courses will never tell you to pay for traffic, because it's not what people want to hear.

        It isn't as endorphin inducing as using 'one little trick to rank number one in Google in one week or less'.
        There are plenty of WSOs, ebooks, and courses that teach people to pay for PPC ads and media buys... your point is irrelevant. Free traffic is far from useless.
        Signature
        Need Quality Content without Breaking the Bank? LET'S CONNECT! DM me for details.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173911].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author pietjeplukt
    Article marketing has become pretty much useless in my opinion,
    Who still reads articles? nobody!
    Video marketing would be a better way to go, nobody reads a word online anymore, everybody just wants to watch and listen to a video

    Listbuilding should be your primary goal, and how to get the traffic?
    YES paid traffic is absolutely the most efficient way to go about it...
    if you have an optimized funnel in place and know exactly what you are doing and what your returns are per lead.
    Free traffic still works, but it is a lot of work, costs a lot of time, so it is not actually free!
    you either invest yout time, or your money, in both cases you need to have an optimed funnel in place, build a list, and know exactly what you are doing to be as optimal and efficient as possible,

    good luck!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170521].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author @tjr
      Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post

      nobody reads a word online anymore...

      ...Listbuilding should be your primary goal, ...
      Where you'll have to email them, and they're going to have to read at least a few words to see
      • The Sender
      • The Headline
      • The Written Content
      • The Video/Audio Description (because they want to know what they're interacting with and why they should care)

      So...hyperbole much?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170528].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author pietjeplukt
        Originally Posted by @tjr View Post

        Where you'll have to email them, and they're going to have to read at least a few words to see
        • The Sender
        • The Headline
        • The Written Content
        • The Video/Audio Description (because they want to know what they're interacting with and why they should care)

        So...hyperbole much?
        You are missing the point...
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170579].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author @tjr
          Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post

          You are missing the point...
          Useless rambling to hopefully expose your sig? Nothing was missed. You said a lot of words without saying anything.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170589].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author pietjeplukt
            Originally Posted by @tjr View Post

            Useless rambling to hopefully expose your sig? Nothing was missed. You said a lot of words without saying anything.
            luckely we have you to bring us a lot of usefull information?!?!

            pot calling the kettle black much?
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170729].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author @tjr
              Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post

              luckely we have you to bring us a lot of usefull information?!?!

              pot calling the kettle black much?
              I don't pretend to know what I don't sweetheart. If you've got something useful to say on article marketing, we'll talk. Thus far, you've pointed out that no one reads on the Internet (setting a tone of ignorance) and then throwing list building buzzwords hoping you'll sound smart (confirming the ignorance).

              Don't let the join date fool you into thinking I don't know the game. You ain't doing anything revolutionary here hopscotch.

              There are thousands of internet users who go to ezinearticles.com to search for specific information, instead of going to Google.com - for an instance!
              Go ahead and back this statement up whenever you're ready.
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170752].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author pietjeplukt
                Originally Posted by @tjr View Post

                I don't pretend to know what I don't sweetheart. If you've got something useful to say on article marketing, we'll talk. Thus far, you've pointed out that no one reads on the Internet (setting a tone of ignorance) and then throwing list building buzzwords hoping you'll sound smart (confirming the ignorance).

                Don't let the join date fool you into thinking I don't know the game. You ain't doing anything revolutionary here hopscotch.



                Go ahead and back this statement up whenever you're ready.
                dude, if you are looking for a fight, go to the kindergarten, maybe you will find an equal opponent there.

                until now all you did in this post is for some reason picking on me, blaming me for not being constructive about the topic at hand, while you yourself are doing that exact thing, you have said 0 things that actually help the OP with his question.

                so if you don't mind i am going to ignore you from now on little girl

                good luck!
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170765].message }}
                • Profile picture of the author @tjr
                  Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post

                  so if you don't mind i am going to ignore you from now on little girl
                  Ok byyyyyeeeee
                  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170766].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
      Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post

      Article marketing has become pretty much useless in my opinion,
      Somewhere there is a man pretending to be a woman with a strong desire to write a 5,000 word essay full of bolded, underlined and italicized text to tell you how wrong you are.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170568].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
        Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

        Somewhere there is a man pretending to be a woman with a strong desire to write a 5,000 word essay full of bolded, underlined and italicized text to tell you how wrong you are.
        Lol. I feel like I'm one of the few remaining warriors who gets that joke.
        Signature
        Want a REAL Online Business That's Fun to Run?
        CLICK HERE FOR INFO
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170625].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author nmwf
          Originally Posted by wolfmmiii View Post

          Lol. I feel like I'm one of the few remaining warriors who gets that joke.
          Oh, I think a bunch of people here get that joke!
          Signature
          Write comprehensible articles on *any* topic in seconds with First Draft...
          First Draft's: Download | Add-Ons | Templates | Purchase | Support | Affiliates
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170650].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
        That's funny! I know exactly who you're talking about.
        Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

        Somewhere there is a man pretending to be a woman with a strong desire to write a 5,000 word essay full of bolded, underlined and italicized text to tell you how wrong you are.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173967].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author deebee23
        You mean Alexa Smith. Lol

        Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

        Somewhere there is a man pretending to be a woman with a strong desire to write a 5,000 word essay full of bolded, underlined and italicized text to tell you how wrong you are.
        Signature

        [

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174134].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author robofx
        Banned
        Originally Posted by DubDubDubDot View Post

        Somewhere there is a man pretending to be a woman with a strong desire to write a 5,000 word essay full of bolded, underlined and italicized text to tell you how wrong you are.
        Why was Alexa Smith/Tim Nagley/Yuliya Miranova banned? Any clue?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174174].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author nmwf
      Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post

      Who still reads articles? nobody!
      Video marketing would be a better way to go, nobody reads a word online anymore, everybody just wants to watch and listen to a video
      That's not true. Good grief! If it were, every news website would be out of business by now!
      Signature
      Write comprehensible articles on *any* topic in seconds with First Draft...
      First Draft's: Download | Add-Ons | Templates | Purchase | Support | Affiliates
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170651].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author M3C
      Originally Posted by pietjeplukt View Post


      Who still reads articles? nobody!

      Thousands of millions of people , per day, every day.

      The point about video popularity is solid. Throwing the baby out the with the bathwater is not.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171260].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author st0nec0ld
    I agree with Johnny but it is not that people do not read articles anymore, it is just that video marketing is more appealing now. I mean who spend their times browsing on article directories than on youtube? It is just my opinion and preference but I believe majority of people do the same.
    Signature

    12BET | Live Casino Malaysia

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170617].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author FreedomBlogger
    I would say, Article Marketing is still a good way to get free traffic to your websites online.

    I don't why someone would say it was "never" a good way to market online. They just didn't do it enough, and are looking for fast results! lol

    I have gotten a lot of free traffic to my blog from ezinearticles.com alone. Imagine sharing articles on 10+ good article directories!

    The key is in sharing very unique and valuable articles VERY consistently!!!

    And I'm talking about a large amount of unique articles being published on popular article directory sites, on a daily/weekly basis.

    What most people do not realize is how many people use these article directory sites to search for information!!!

    There are thousands of internet users who go to ezinearticles.com to search for specific information, instead of going to Google.com - for an instance!

    That fact alone tells you that you can get free traffic from these article directory sites. You just have to learn the right way to do it!

    I hope this helps! ..

    Welcome back, by the way!
    Signature
    At the beginning, I thought making money online with a blog was super super hard. Not anymore. Learn the art of making money online blogging - step by step - HERE.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170706].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Easy Cash
    Submitted an article in 2009

    Still driving traffic and still converts to sales.....
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170808].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author PedroKing
    Depends on how you are using article marketing, if you are creating your own blog, putting an article there and promoting it to educate your audience and for lead generation, then that's exactly how some people are making insane amount of money! It's content-marketing.. more evolved version..
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10170892].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author C A Perez
    I want to thank those of you sharing constructive insights. I will do some more due diligence work and decide what I will do. Again, thank you for your responses.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171002].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Milesgeek
    Article marketing can be effective if the articles comprise of informative content and if they are published on good article submission websites. The article content should provide value to the people, only then they will be interested in liking and sharing it further.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171008].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Seymour
    It still is profitable but it's not like before and it's definitely a lot harder.

    Damn, it used to be so easy back in the day...ah...miss those days. haha
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171020].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ebizman87
    I spent hours in writing and publishing the articles to 100s of directories but it didn't really made me much money. I quit it eventually but the articles are still out there. Maybe if I'm lucky I may still get traffic from those articles
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171220].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author KevL
    Originally Posted by C A Perez View Post

    For personal reasons I have been inactive for over four years. I am now in a position to start again. Is Article Marketing still profitable? Are article distributors like Ezine, GoArticles, etc. still good marketing tools? Many of my old domain names have expired and are at auction. Should I start anew?
    I don't believe that writing and submitting articles was ever all that profitable as a singular activity.

    It was at one time a popular method mainly for gaining back links, as one part of an off page otimisation strategy - but in and of itself I don't believe that article marketing was ever "profitable" - it was just one method of offpage SEO.

    For instance if you invested a hundred grand into article marketing on Ezine articles, Go articles and the like, I think you would be very lucky to get back your 100k along with a profit - either now or 5 years ago.

    The same could be said of any individual element of SEO though, if you spent 100k on on-page SEO and did no offpage, then you'd be lucky to get any return, same if you invest all your dough on offpage and generate traffic to a terrible website which has zero chance of converting.

    I agree with some of the comments which suggest that if you're looking for profitable marketing look at paid channels rather than organic (look into Facebook dark posts for example) because this is more straight forward in terms of dollars spent vs dollars earned, and it's quicker.

    SEO is a longer game, it can take months to start seeing a profit from organic search engine optimisation. I disagree with anyone who says it's not important though and that you should only focus on paid search and ignore organic, I think if you ignore SEO in the long-term it will be to the long term detriment of your business.

    If you're asking if article marketing in this sense of the word, using the tactics that were being employed up until a couple of years ago, is still an effective and important part of SEO - then the answer would be a huge fat NO.

    Before anyone screams at me by the way, I'm not saying that there is no benefit at all to submitting content outside of your own website. I'm talking about article marketing in the traditional sense, using the tactics that most people were using up until a couple of years ago (which mainly entailed getting terrible content written, spin the heck out of it so it makes as little sense as possible, and blast it all over the web - or to just post the same duplicate content all over the place).

    There is benefit to writing high quality content to be published on relevant, high authority websites to link back to your website, both in terms of direct traffic and for seo purposes. From what I have seen though you would be better off targeting niche specific sites that are important within your niche, rather than article networks - as article networks don't score so well on relevance or on authority either now most of the time

    That being said, I disagree with some of the comments that have been made along the lines that words are no longer effective and all that matters now is video, etc. That's about as true as...something which isn't true.

    Go to Google - search for something, what do you get? Mainly textual content with imagery. Video results usually account for roughly 5-10% of the result on page.

    The web is still mainly about text content, most people still love to read content especially when it concerns a transaction of any kind.Yes video is an important media of course and it will grow in it's importance, but textual content is still the most important form of content for marketing and I believe it always will be.

    If you're using the web for marketing - selling stuff - whether that stuff is physical products, digital products or services of any kind, then you want transactional traffic. That is, visits from people who are intending to make a transaction - people who are looking to buy your stuff.

    Video content is mainly viewed for entertainment purposes. Think about it, how long will you sit and watch a video purely for entertainment? So yes people sit laughing their asses off watching fails compilations, wins compilations, trailers for the latest season of Game of Thrones - but this isn't transactional traffic, these people are in entertainment mode, they have popcorn in their hand, not their credit cards...

    For effective marketing we need people who want to buy stuff, and the people who usually want to buy our stuff will search for a specific search term, and then will want to read about the product and get the required info. I'm not saying that you shouldn't include video on a page along with content, I do agree that video has it's place - but video does NOT replace content, not for anyone who want to use their websites to get new business.

    And anyone who thinks that web marketing should be done with a video that starts playing when I get to the page, and virtually no other content on the page whatsoever other than the sign up / buy now link, leading to a one time offer if I close the page - AGGHHHHH. That's all I have to say to you. These kinds of websites are to be sworn at, not to be sworn by...

    Anyway getting back to the point, what I would recommend personally is that you look at content differently. Instead of thinking about writing articles and submitting them somewhere - write great pages of relevant valuable content and put them on your own website, and also write great content to be published on other high authority relevant websites which results in a link to your site.

    Whenever you're writing content of any kind to be published off your website, I think you're better off focusing on generating direct traffic from such content. Focus on sites which are likely to have a lot of visitors who would be interested in reading your content and who would be likely to follow the link and end up on your site, rather than focusing on SEO and thinking of traffic as an afterthought.

    Still though, this is only a piece of the puzzle, not the be all and end all.
    Signature
    SEO Kev
    Small business SEO / Web Marketing Tips.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171316].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author C A Perez
      KevL,

      I am indebted to your succinct insightful comments. I was beginning to think, from some of the comments, that Article Marketing was a thing of the past. I completely agree with your assessment. When I was writing four- five years ago article spinners bludgeoned article directories and the internet with their garbled gibberish.

      I am not against re-writing an article. After all, you can say the same thing in many different ways. I am against robotic generation and primitive word substitution.

      It has always been my intent to provide quality content in my websites and in directories.

      That you again for your very constructive comments.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10171804].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Tom Dean
    A little nostalgia...

    Haven't seen him around but Steve Wagenheim was very passionate, to say the least, about article marketing I think that was his full-time method of income. Old timers will surely remember him. Years ago you would login back when the post had a folder icon and folders with a lot of activity had little animated flames coming from them. Find a flaming post and you would almost always find Steve in there putting in his dollars worth. Quite the character but he knew article marketing.
    Signature
    Rush PBN - PRO PBN SETUP - 10 PAGE SITE !!! Premium Theme
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10172011].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author extrememan
    There is way more effective traffic strategies now.. Geez, I didn't even know people are still looking into this form of advertising anymore.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10172184].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Originally Posted by extrememan View Post

      There is way more effective traffic strategies now.. Geez, I didn't even know people are still looking into this form of advertising anymore.
      If you're talking about this so-called "marketing" method of spamming article directories with massive quantities of semi-literate text posing as articles for gaming the search engines, then you are quite right.

      But the concept of article marketing has been used by professionals for as long as mass print has been available. The internet has made this form of advertising perhaps the most leveraged of any other marketing method, bar none.

      For any given commercially viable niche, there are thousands (in the most competitive niches - perhaps hundreds of thousands) of online/offline publications suitable for article marketing. There is an increasingly insatiable demand by publishers for quality content.

      However, a persistent bone-headed concept of article directory marketing has unfortunately been a plague here on the Warrior Forum for the last few years primarily due to nefarious special interests selling their article spinning software and related "services".

      Such crippling marketing practices were the direct result of some spectacular crash and burn failures by even some of the formerly very prominent members of this forum (including Steve Wagenheim) when Google began making its algorithm changes.


      Originally Posted by Tom Dean View Post

      Quite the character but he knew article marketing.
      No he didn't.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173223].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MMartin89
    I have came in touch with this amazing guy named Justin brooke , google him, he uses article marketing in a really clever way..
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173215].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    It can be if you re-purpose your articles. Turn the content into podcasts, videos, blog posts, email newsletter messages, document sharing sites, and articles on your site. If you have other re-purposing usages.... use them too. Just make sure the usages work.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10173828].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yogibeezy
    yes they are still working and you can see them for branding your keywords. Just make sure you submit unique articles to each of those websites
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174049].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    keep your articles on your site or in your email funnel.

    bum article marketing for do follow backlinks and piggy backing on high article authority sites is not working these days.

    lets take a moment of silence for those article sites of old:

    Ezine Articles
    Go Articles
    Buzzle
    ArticleAlley
    Hubpages
    Inforbarrel

    Signature
    >> 2018 Money Making Method Video Guides [NO OPTIN] <<
    80% Of These Proven Guides Are Free... ]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174158].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Omarkenawy
    I think that article marketing is still alive and if it`s done properly it will be separate you from your competitors and get you a smart position among your niche.

    That said, you should focus only on creating and developing high quality content and publishing them on the highly relevant article directory niches websites to get the most from your article marketing campaign.

    As in my point of view, guest posting may replace a little bit the article marketing strategy these days.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174326].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author aizaku
      Originally Posted by Omarkenawy View Post

      I think that article marketing is still alive and if it`s done properly it will be separate you from your competitors and get you a smart position among your niche.

      That said, you should focus only on creating and developing high quality content and publishing them on the highly relevant article directory niches websites to get the most from your article marketing campaign.

      As in my point of view, guest posting may replace a little bit the article marketing strategy these days.
      you gotta time machine to go along with that opinion?

      listen fella, do yourself a favor and stick to video, writing on your own site and your social channels.

      here is google on article directories and guest blogging, you gotta be extremely careful:



      Signature
      >> 2018 Money Making Method Video Guides [NO OPTIN] <<
      80% Of These Proven Guides Are Free... ]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174407].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Azlan.MY
    If you were in 2007, then article marketing worked like a charm. However, this year, lots of article websites are de-indexed and even if your articles are indexed, it won't ranked high. The best way to get traffic from Google is by creating an authority blog. You can build backlinks via Fb and forums.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174653].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HDRider
    By the way, GoArticles is shutting down so what does that tell you.

    I was surprised when I logged in for the first time in years and read that. You can still download all your articles if you want to, before they shut down for good.
    Signature

    ~ Ultra Fast Product Creation - Creating your own products is where the real money is... Let me show you how in this step by step guide.

    ~ Get Your Mind Right and Everything Else is Easy! Law of Attraction States...You Attract What You Think About.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10174743].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author robofx
      Banned
      Originally Posted by HDRider View Post

      By the way, GoArticles is shutting down so what does that tell you.
      And good riddance to them. Hopefully ezinearticles is next.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10176928].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Originally Posted by HDRider View Post

        By the way, GoArticles is shutting down so what does that tell you.

        Originally Posted by robofx View Post

        And good riddance to them. Hopefully ezinearticles is next.
        ROFLMAO! There's still millions of blogs and websites, hundreds of thousands of ezines, newsletters, and newspapers, and tens of thousands of magazines to go before article marketing "fizzles out".
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10176982].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author discrat
          [DELETED]
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10177085].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author robofx
          Banned
          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          ROFLMAO! There's still millions of blogs and websites, hundreds of thousands of ezines, newsletters, and newspapers, and tens of thousands of magazines to go before article marketing "fizzles out".
          The OP was asking about article marketing as in posting articles to worthless content farms like Goarticles & Ezinearticles. Not getting articles published in the New York Times.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10179805].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author hometutor
        Originally Posted by robofx View Post

        And good riddance to them. Hopefully ezinearticles is next.
        Ezine articles made things so difficult when I was posting articles with their keyword ratios I finally stopped posting with them. That was years ago and haven't posted to them since so I don't know if things are any easier. They also wouldn't let me use my title Sensei (at that time) stating only doctors could use a title in front of their name. I replied our senators and president will be disappointed.

        Rick
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10179871].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author myob
          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          In my not so humble opinion, article directories such as Ezine, GoArticles, etc have never been good marketing tools except perhaps as ancillary article portfolio showcases.

          The highest form of "article marketing" has always been to submit articles to online/offline publications which already are targeting your reading audiences and prospective demographics.

          My recommendation is to start anew, using classical article syndication practices. An excellent tutorial with timeless best practices (ie "old school") is "Turn Words Into Traffic", by Jim and Dallas Edwards.

          Originally Posted by robofx View Post

          Do you actually believe this nonsense? And weren't you claiming back in 2012 that you were on track to make HALF A BILLION DOLLARS?
          Yes on both counts. Through this simple marketing system, my company has become our competitors' worst nightmare.

          Originally Posted by robofx View Post

          The OP was asking about article marketing as in posting articles to worthless content farms like Goarticles & Ezinearticles. Not getting articles published in the New York Times.
          And as I have always maintained, posting articles to article directories such as GoArticles and Ezinearticles has never been an effective strategy for article marketing, with the exception as noted in my post. Marketing to directory readers or search engine robots was never the original intent of those directories.

          If your targeted audience reads the New York Times, then there is where you should be in marketing your articles. This is the no-nonsense method for making the big bucks. But for some inexplicable reason particularly here on the Warrior Forum, the whole concept of article marketing has been twisted into a convoluted and insanely persistent model of absurdity.

          According to the Roper Public Affairs, 80 percent of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus an advertisement. Seventy percent say content marketing makes them feel closer to the sponsoring company, while 60 percent say that company content helps them make better product decisions. GfK - We see the big picture
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10180398].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author robofx
            Banned
            [DELETED]
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10180409].message }}
            • Profile picture of the author myob
              [DELETED]
              {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10180435].message }}
              • Profile picture of the author robofx
                Banned
                [DELETED]
                {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181133].message }}
                • Profile picture of the author myob
                  Well, there is going to be over 80 sessions presented at this convention by the leading brand marketers, including content marketing directors of major companies from around the world that will be covering more new ideas than you can shake your limp shtick at.

                  http://www.contentmarketingworld.com/speakers
                  {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181287].message }}
                  • Profile picture of the author @tjr
                    Originally Posted by myob View Post

                    Well, there is going to be over 80 sessions presented at this convention by the leading brand marketers, including content marketing directors of major companies from around the world that will be covering more new ideas than you can shake your limp shtick at.

                    http://www.contentmarketingworld.com/speakers

                    So, what else you got about me, Alexa Smith, and Paul Myers?
                    That website is down. Aco-taco.
                    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181319].message }}
                    • Profile picture of the author myob
                      Originally Posted by @tjr View Post

                      That website is down. Aco-taco.
                      Keep pushing the refresh key. This site has been quite busy recently perhaps due to my most recent post. There are lots of eyes besides you watching this banter.

                      Anything else?
                      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181478].message }}
                      • Profile picture of the author @tjr
                        Originally Posted by myob View Post

                        Keep pushing the refresh key. This site has been quite busy recently perhaps due to my most recent post.

                        Anything else?
                        Still down.

                        A big bad website attracting the best content marketers in the world is incapable of handling WaFo referral traffic? This ain't like a mom and pop blog getting the Reddit Hug of Death from the front of /r/all.
                        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181503].message }}
                        • Profile picture of the author myob
                          Originally Posted by @tjr View Post

                          Still down.
                          A big bad website attracting the best content marketers in the world is incapable of handling WaFo referral traffic? This ain't like a mom and pop blog getting the Reddit Hug of Death from the front of /r/all.

                          It ain't just WaFo traffic watching all of this.

                          Keep on trying. Push that refresh key as fast as you can.

                          "Never, never, never give up."
                          ~ Winston Churchill
                          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181510].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Matt Pickstone
    From an SEO/Affiliate Marketing stand point... Article directories are showing up less and less in the serps because of videos are taking their spots but i still believe they carry "weight" as a backlink for diversity and trust.

    Video is definitely much better and easier way to go to gain more traffic if optimized correctly but from time to time I still post articles to article directories because lets face it people still like to read and it looks good in my backlink profile!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10175951].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author usmantech
    Article marketing is not as profitable as it once used to be because Google doesnt like it anymore. However, it still works in case of submission to article directories which accept unique articles and not spun or computer generated gibberish. Even their links have been devalued. It is ok to submit once a while but do not expect it to be magical like before.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10175979].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by DRP View Post

      Article Marketing fizzled out years ago. Free traffic is largely useless, unless you are a narcissist who craves internet fame by blogging and whatnot.

      If you want to succeed in IM, you have to pay for your traffic. The dirty truth no basement warrior wants to hear.

      Anyone telling you otherwise is an idiot...or trying to sell you a shiny object.
      I'm not an idiot, nor do I have any shiny objects to peddle. One could also say that people who dismiss free traffic completely are idiots or have their own shiny objects to peddle.

      Of course, there are different types of "free" traffic. Or you could say that all traffic is paid, some just use different forms of currency. Some traffic is paid for with cash. Some is paid for with a quid pro quo, a trade of content for exposure.

      As for "article marketing" circa 2005, it is dead. Contrary to one of the opinions above, people do not go to article directories looking for information. Or if they do, one exposure to the dreck hiding the occasional good article cures them of the naive notion that these sites are good sources of information.

      On the other hand, "content marketing" is alive, well and thriving. That includes syndication, guest posting on relevant (meaning both topic-related and active) sites, social media posting, etc. Given the demand for good content, there are more good opportunities for content marketing than ever, even if it isn't quite as easy as the push-button manure spreader method.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10176148].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RTSteam
    Sad to say, articles are no longer as profitable as before because more and more people prefer videos over written content. However, this doesn't mean articles are out of the picture. You can still make profit as long as you know where or to whom you should put your articles. It wouldn't be easy but hey... who said marketing is really an easy thing!?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10180403].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author @tjr
    Sigh

    I know circle talk when I see it. I'm outta this thread.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181521].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author nmwf
    I bet every one of those directories would have been successful had they insisted on original content.
    Signature
    Write comprehensible articles on *any* topic in seconds with First Draft...
    First Draft's: Download | Add-Ons | Templates | Purchase | Support | Affiliates
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10181629].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Zarajohn
    Hello,
    Article promoting is the best approach to drive free, focused on movement to your site, online journal or item. Articles can be composed anywhere in the range of 500 to 1000 words. Articles that are utilized for article advertising have a tendency to be short, so they won't take you long to peruse or compose. learn more informatics content (article) marketing goals.
    Content Marketing Goals - Go to Market Strategy Templates | Four Quadrant

    Thanks
    Zarajohn@
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10182397].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Zarajohn View Post

      Hello,
      Article promoting is the best approach to drive free, focused on movement to your site, online journal or item. Articles can be composed anywhere in the range of 500 to 1000 words. Articles that are utilized for article advertising have a tendency to be short, so they won't take you long to peruse or compose. learn more informatics content (article) marketing goals.
      Content Marketing Goals - Go to Market Strategy Templates | Four Quadrant

      Thanks
      Zarajohn@
      Actually, recent studies have shown that articles over 2,000 words get the most search engine love, while 1,500-1,600 is the sweet spot for social sharing.

      (I can't find the links right now, but the first came from Neal Patel's blog and the second from Social Media Examiner. Both linked to the original source studies.)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10183116].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Tomas Lodén
        It really doesn´t matter how long or short your article is, it´s all about how good your content answer the search query. Forget about the "sweet spot for social sharing" or what Neal says...
        Signature
        6-fig affiliate marketer since 2003
        Free coaching to your first $100 dollars. DM me now..
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10190071].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author myob
          There certainly are exceptions, but short articles generally don't contain enough value to engage the reader for taking the intended action. A highly effective article involves a delicate balance of emotion and logic, which IMO is impossible to achieve in less than 800 words. Vague, abstract generalities are hard to relate to.

          But content that sustains attention with relevant, specific details has a much higher probability for conversion. Readers really do seem to have expectations of how long an article "should" be. I have always insisted my writers to produce articles in the range of 800-2000 words depending upon the niche and publication constraints.

          When a reader comes away with a feeling of experiencing the topic, rather than having merely read it, you have achieved liftoff. This effect would be very difficult to achieve with shorter articles, and longer articles most likely would not be considered for publication. In addition, a well-written article often has SEO benefits as a by-product.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10190501].message }}

Trending Topics