I'm Sorry Your Article Marketing is Dead - Mine Isn't!

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I read a post today on the WF declaring that article marketing was dead. If you've been on this forum for a while you've seen this declaration multiple times before. The Warrior said it used to work years ago, but there is no sense in using this outdated bygone strategy today.

Let me ask you - do people still read articles online? Of course they do and these articles are the lifeblood of some of the most popular web sites on the planet. All publish articles that have outgoing links to further information or the author's web site. Here are some examples:
  • News Sites: Mashable, TechCrunch, cNet, Wired, ZDNet, etc
  • Business Sites: Forbes, CNN Money, MSN Money Central, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Motley Fool, CNBC, etc
  • Celebrity Sites: TMZ, E Online, People, Gawker, Hollywood Life, Wet Paint
  • What about health sites, sports sites, job sites, political sites, tech and gadget sites, travel sites, magazine sites and on and on?
Articles are not dead by any means. And if articles aren't dead, the marketing of these articles is not dead either!

Sure, it may be difficult for a small solo business owner to publish his own articles on some of these huge popular sites (although it has been done before.) That's OK. These big sites are not the home of the audience that most small business niche operators should be targeting.

Why can't you market your articles on smaller niche authority sites? What about at niche portals, niche news sites, niche directories, niche authority blog sites, in niche forums, on product and service sites in the niche? Notice I'm not talking about article marketing at FFA sites (free for all) and general article directories. I'm talking about sites in your niche that would love to have your original, relevant, helpful article content available for their readers.

Well I'm sorry that your (name withheld) article marketing is not producing for you . . . but mine is doing just fine and continues to bring me subscribers and sales regularly.

Maybe the problem is with your approach. I write a number of articles in several niches every week and I certainly wouldn't continue that effort if it wasn't paying off.

A number of things go into successful article marketing including the choosing of appropriate topics, research in the marketplace, actually writing the article, setting up landing pages and autoresponders to receive incoming traffic, and distribution of the articles to hand-picked sources. I thought I'd share some tips about creating your articles. We will deal with other important aspects of article marketing in other posts and threads.
  1. Write about one very specific topic per article. Don't generalize. Keep to the topic and don't stray. Your focus can be to inform, to motivate, to teach, or to entertain but have a reason for writing.
  2. Be original. Don't just read what has already been written and summarize. This doesn't mean you can't quote others or comment on their ideas. Way too many writers just rehash someone else's thinking. Do your own thinking. The more you know the subject well, the easier being original in your writing becomes.
  3. Research the topic and include sources of your information as links in your article. Don't plagiarize - but do include short quotes or snippets from authorities in the niche if that helps fulfill your purpose.
  4. Try to make the length around 1,200 -1,500 words give or take. This is just a suggestion or goal but not a hard and fast rule. You need this length to go into some detail on most subjects. If you can cover a subject well with fewer words, do it.
  5. Add an interesting, curious, or keyword phrase title (or a combination). Focus on making the viewer want to stop his/her browsing and read further. Be creative but truthful. Often, including the top idea/benefit/result is effective. Make a swipe file of top headlines that motivate you to read further . . . then repurpose them for your own articles.
  6. Add one - three graphic images that are relevant. Using images that have people in them is a good idea - we relate to others' human experiences. (It goes without saying that you need to have a license or permission to use any image.) Keep the images fairly small so they don't "overpower" the text ideas you're writing about. However you format the article, keep the image to about 1/3 the total width of your text. (Imagine that your text is divided into three columns across the page - the image would fill one of those columns, usually placed right or left, not center, with text wrapped around.)
  7. Write in conversational style - you will develop your own "voice" over time. Write as though you are giving information or advice to a good friend but don't be "preachy" or condescending.
  8. Very important: don't be self-serving. Don't make your articles seem like a sales letter for you, your brand, your product/service, or your personal agenda. This type of "article" is really more of an infomercial and most authority sites will reject it.
  9. Take a stand and be decisive. This may sound counter-intuitive because some might be offended by your position and heaven forbid you offend anyone! No, it's okay to take a stand. Most people who read articles for their value (not grammar Nazis, fault finders, or those who look for opportunities to argue) will appreciate being exposed to both sides of a controversy. Be civil in your arguments or talking points and accept the fact that other intelligent people will take the opposite stand.
  10. Caution #1: Don't be verbose (too wordy). Fluff, fat, filler, you know - the writing that is often included in an article to make it appear more comprehensive - don't add it in to your article. It cheapens and lessens the value of your writing for the reader. Be honest - which would you rather read - a two page article or a four page article, each saying exactly the same thing?
  11. Caution #2: It is said, the #1 sin in copywriting is to be boring. Obviously, your readers will ultimately be the judge. If you bore your audience, it will be nigh impossible to engage with them in subsequent conversations (think of subscribers to your email list). Bored people don't have time to hang around for more boredom.
  12. Do have a call to action in one or more places in your article. Be careful that it doesn't come across as a "salesy pitch." When you're a business person, you need to sell things. Many sellers don't take advantage of the opportunity to direct an article reader to their web site or their list, not as a hard sell, but more as a friendly recommendation so the reader can learn more about the subject if desired.
Try some of these tips in your future article creation and see if they don't help you to be more successful in your article marketing.

The very best to all of you,

Steve
#article #dead #i’m #i’m #isn’t #marketing #mine
  • Profile picture of the author makemetricky
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by makemetricky View Post

      is that true? i am feeling sad
      Is what true?

      Did you even bother to read the post, or did you just drop a one-liner in response the to subject line to boost your post count?

      Steve, excellent post.

      The only thing I'd add is to not disregard off-web opportunities like email newsletters and ezines or print publications, ranging from printed niche newsletters and industry publications to checkout-counter magazines. More and more of those are using content gleaned from the web. And you don't have to have the same tired "duplicate content" discussion.
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  • Profile picture of the author johnben1444
    Aside all what is mentioned be Steve B, the competition is stiff and pose a lot of problem for starters who have no idea how all these works.

    In the past, whatever you write will get lots of counts and views.
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  • Profile picture of the author lindseysan494
    Good tips, I can speak from my own experience that article marketing is not dead, at least in the area I'm targeting. Despite there being the typical news websites (MSN, CNN, etc...), there is a huge market for alternative news. I forget the poll numbers, but I believe the public's trust in the mainstream media is at its lowest in decades, around 33%. There are millions out there looking for odd news stories and stuff you wouldn't hear in the regular news.

    Cathy headlines and articles that aren't just straight up conspiracies are still very attractive.
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    Solid content Steve. I agree with you,article marketing is far from being dead. Article marketing will always work because it's marketing driven by content creation.
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  • Profile picture of the author JosephC
    Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

    Articles are not dead by any means. And if articles aren't dead, the marketing of these articles is not dead either!
    Crappy article marketing is dead. Quality article marketing is alive and well! I remember the days when people would just be able to BS an article and somehow get it republished across the web.
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Steve, you really are talking article marketing; they are talking article directory marketing. They mean, publish an article on an article directory and get a link. If you're lucky, someone's going to take that article from the directory, say Ezinearticles.com, and paste it, with link, on their site, and you get another link, and, maybe, a visitor or two.

    In their version, the article did not need to be great, what mattered was getting a link from the directory.

    Still a lot of people out there who consider article marketing to be the same as publishing something in a directory for the purpose of getting a link.

    I am seeing you, a year from now, five years from now, coming across the same Article Marketing Is Dead posts/articles. And for the same reason: the people who write those, do not understand what article marketing is.

    Don't believe me?... Search for some Alexa Smith threads / posts on this forum.

    Still, I'm hoping at least a handful of people will read your post and get it.
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  • Profile picture of the author William Waltham
    It's true. The directories used to work very well, but haven't been useful in several years. I wouldn't bother with directory marketing now. But, the type of article marketing you describe is very alive and well. In fact, the vast majority of the SEO services I perform for clients are based around creating excellent content for them in the form of articles.
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  • Profile picture of the author rimam1
    Kindle publishing is the way to go. Make money promoting your content as a book. Yeah, it's gotta be a little longer than a blog post, but you get paid for every book you sell. AND you can build an email list over time.
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    • Profile picture of the author William Waltham
      Originally Posted by rimam1 View Post

      Kindle publishing is the way to go too.
      Definitely. I've had a good amount of success there.
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  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    great and powerful tip thread, and i agree with almost everything the OP said...

    however 'article marketing' is dead, the way it was taught in the early days I mean!

    ..the method of going to an article cemetery like ezine, hubpages, squidoo etc... where ANYONE (FFA) can bury their keyword 'rich' content in hopes that it ascends to the heavenly first page of google... is dead... (I know the OP already mentioned this but I want to repeat it again for ppl who missed it)

    that being said, posting content on exclusive sites is the move, and we should try to get on those sites on a regular basis. I urge you to use these sites for that:

    https://www.helpareporter.com/

    Content Marketing: Create Epic Content and Get Cited | MyBlogU

    Free publicity for expert sources and PR professionals - connecting journalists, reporters, bloggers and writers with sources.

    Plus, i want to add:

    to number 5 - yes an intriguing keyword title is key to your post's CTR. A good template I got from Neil Patel that has improved my CTR is number or trigger word / adjective / keyword / promise.

    it would read something like this:
    5 Astonishing Kitchen Hacks You Can’t Live Without!

    to number 6 - yes, images and video are really important to deliver post related information in a whole new way, this in turn drives your bounce rate down.

    however, whether you use small images to the left or right of a paragraph or large images in the center should depend on your niche.. I get more pinterest shares with large images in the center of my posts.

    a great resource for this is canva:
    https://www.canva.com/

    and the end of the day is comes down to testing..

    to number 9 - yes, be decisive ....and if your post stirs up controversy, even better... There is a great post about this on the 4 hour work week, it's by guest writer Ryan Holiday:
    The 5 Top-Performing American Apparel Ads, and How They Get PR for Free (NSFW) | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

    anyways great thread.

    -Ike Paz
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
      Originally Posted by aizaku;10863423

      however 'article marketing' is dead, the way it was taught in the early days I mean!

      ..the method of going to an article cemetery like ezine, hubpages, squidoo etc... where ANYONE (FFA) can bury their keyword 'rich' content in hopes that it ascends to the heavenly first page of google... is dead... ([I

      I know the OP already mentioned this but I want to repeat it again for ppl who missed it)[/I]
      This....don't know the thread Steve is referring to but article marketing as taught by quite a few people a few years back was using sites like what you mentioned. I don;t see anyone saying content marketing is dead just article marketing and if they are referring to the practice of building up posts at those sites then yeah --- it sucks now
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      • Profile picture of the author aizaku
        Originally Posted by Mike Anthony View Post

        This....don't know the thread Steve is referring to but article marketing as taught by quite a few people a few years back was using sites like what you mentioned. I don;t see anyone saying content marketing is dead just article marketing and if they are referring to the practice of building up posts at those sites then yeah --- it sucks now

        yea i know.

        i just wanted to restate that point

        -Ike Paz
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  • Profile picture of the author yellowmedia
    This is a cool reminder to those who have become comfortable just writing on their blogs and distributing it in social media, to also try reaching out to 'niche sites' to increase your audience reach.

    Just make sure that the niche site has enough readers to justify your efforts and that they are a good good match for your website. The landing page you link to from your article should also be focused on building your subscribers list (for example through a free checklist/ebook offer or access to video training).
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  • Profile picture of the author shaunybb
    Hey steve


    Excellent post thanks for the information!


    Most people I find lack drive and when it doesn't work for them they just say it doesn't work!


    I know people who never give up, they never earned any money for 18 months from their content or blog or whatever but pushed through


    and now make GOOD MONEY!!


    Thanks steve!
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  • Profile picture of the author thegreatamazing
    OF course article marketing is still alive and kicking and will never be dead.. look at Neil Patel's blog .. This guy's pumps out long articles every single day.. Can you believe that dedication if article marketing don't work anymore?

    Btw, thanks for your post, Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Hersh
    Article marketing has always been and is always going to be one of the most effective ways to drive highly targeted visitors to any website or blog. The reason is people see you as an expert, and that happens, there's much higher chance that they'll buy from you as well. Sweet post!
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  • Profile picture of the author EPoltrack77
    hahahaha, yeah very good. Its the Internet. Content. How can article marketing ever be dead except for those who don't research and do what the successful people are doing and turn around and say its no good. ;-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Catherine Bueno
    Good day, Steve.

    Thanks for this insightful post. It reminds us all that QUALITY, ENGAGING AND VALUABLE articles can never be dead. Never.

    Best of luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnVianny
    Article Marketing OF COURSE isnt dead!

    It's DEAD the generic article posting: as Al Ries says in Focus, it's time to focus on a niche and talk about it. Just concentrate all your effort.

    Be redundant: post everything realted to your topic and assume a non-intuitive and controversial point of view: say the brutal truth!

    So people who follows you will become FAN of you, and people who dont will be against: but as Dan Kennedy says, it's a problem if you dont make anyone angry for the 12 pm with your posting!
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  • Profile picture of the author BrittanyViki
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  • Profile picture of the author amd128
    Just imagine article marketing dead and the search engines have nothing left scrap and all SE bots would retire. .... aha the next thing you here is video marketing is dead. LOL !
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  • Profile picture of the author mjoet3324
    this is a great OP. any tips on how to approach site owners or other mediums to get your articles published?
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by mjoet3324 View Post

      this is a great OP. any tips on how to approach site owners or other mediums to get your articles published?
      1) Don't fall into the "more is better" trap, sending out generic pitches to scraped lists of publishers. It's well known that many people sort their mail over a trash can. What's also true is that most publishers I know sort their email with one finger on the delete button.

      2) In the same vein, don't spam comments on publishers' social media accounts or blog posts in an attempt to get their attention. You will get their attention, but it's not the kind of attention you want.

      Not being a pain in the ass is a very good start, and will put you ahead of 80% of your competition.

      The actual mechanics of reaching out are pretty simple. It's been covered here extensively on multiple occasions, so I'll leave that part to you for homework (the search function is your friend).
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Originally Posted by mjoet3324 View Post

      this is a great OP. any tips on how to approach site owners or other mediums to get your articles published?

      Foremost to keep in mind is the fact that you want to get your articles published on sites that are relevant to both your article topic and your business niche.

      Further, you're not just looking for any niche site, but those that can be a source of traffic and exposure for your business which means you want to publish on sites of authority and popularity.

      One of the ways to find those sites is through the search engines. Use your targeted keywords (in both the article you want to publish and your overall business) and search for the web sites that you find at the top of the search engine results (SERPs). These are web sites that are getting niche viewers and most likely their owners or writers are thought leaders.

      Another way to find great sites for your articles is to go to Amazon and look for top authors in your niche. Most will have web sites. These are good targets for your articles. Site owners are often open to publishing great content in the niche, even if it is not their own content.

      A third idea to try is to visit niche forums, hubs (portals), and social media sites in the niche. Notice the web sites and platforms that people are talking about or that show up on these sites. Again, you're looking for potential traffic so join these sites and enter into the conversations in the niche. You will have the opportunity, in many cases, to put a link in your signature back to an article or your main web site.

      There are many other things you can do to approach the top sites. As John (above) says, search the forum and you will find other ideas to help you locate the best places to publish.

      Good luck to you and others that want to distribute your articles!

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author brettb
    My boss has a book out. His article on a major news site got 700 comments in a single day.

    So article marketing is NOT dead!

    I do much smaller scale stuff, but I have seen a few niches where some little guys have given up due to the difficulty in running a site these days. I love these niches!
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  • Profile picture of the author cynthiaSEL
    Yes! Content marketing is very much alive. Straightforward, indeed. But? It's not easy. Often that's why folks say something's bad or dead or other negatives.
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