20 Unique Articles...Whats the best strategy?

This is pretty much what I would do in your situation. I would make sure to wait a few days after you submit your articles to your blog to submit them to ezine.

Another use out of these articles is to compile them into a short report(would involve some additions and a little rewriting), set up a squeeze page, and give the report away for free in order to build a list.

You could then add the link to your squeeze page along with your article directory submissions to get traffic there(although I do not know if Ezine allows 3 links as I only usually use one).

Who is going to read them? Over and over I see the write a bunch of stuff then try to link it up.

How does that appeal to actual users, you know the people who have the credit cards you need in order to make money?

The Web is full of crap already.

I'm no expert and I've only been doing this for a little while but it's produced some positive results.

Post your original articles (let's call them group A) to your blog (two a week). I don't know what your niche is, but for examples sake lets say its relationships, breaking up.

Write 20 more articles (group B). These articles will be devided into groups of four, and each group should be related to your best 5 blog articles in a way that compliments them. For example, if article 1A is about how to save a long distance relationship, article 1B - 4B might be tips on keeping a long distance relationship alive, and potential pitfalls of long distance relationships etc. Use relevant keywords for each article title. You now have 5 groups of new articles

Post one article in each of your five groups to EzineArticles. Link back to your blog post and your main page in your bio.

Now use 1 of your remaining articles in each group to create a hub page. Link to your ezine article, but not your blog.

Now use another of your remaining articles in each group to make a squidoo lense, weebly site, blogger blog or wordpress blog. Link to your hub page.

With your final article in each group, take them and submit them to your other article directories and have them link to your ezine article, and your main blog.

This creates non cyclic link chains which then form the backbone for a link web. You should compliment each step by syndicating your content, social posting, and getting good PR backlinks (Bev Clements has a great backlink package service which gives you 30 high PR links a month). Use the best ones on your main blog or ezine article.

Most importantly, this sort of chain needs to be developed over time. If you whack it all together in a few days it will probably raise flags with Google. Again, I'm no expert but I've tried it both ways and with automated social posting etc I've had sites slide off into the wide blue googleyonder. Although you can syndicate your RSS quickly.

This all takes some organisation. I have a few spreadsheets where I record my link structure, the words I have used to link, the article details, and then another sheet where I record where I have generated backlinks. Once you have a system up and running, its not nearly as time consuming as it sounds (you can outsource a lot of it quite cheaply, I have some freaken awesome ukranian kids I found on rentacoder who I constantly have to send bonuses to because they work so hard for next to nothing, just be very clear on what your expectations are).

I think it was Travis Sago, but one of the warriors did this great video about how people do article marketing and keep swinging and missing, and when they finally hit, they don't stop and develop the article, they just keep on swinging. In other words, when they get a cracker article that generates interest, they just go on to the next one instead of marketing it properly. Using the above helps to make sure that your hits stick. You can add to the chains, extend your links, and then do the same for your other blog posts.

Also, even though most of the later articles are really for backlinking purposes, because your content is related rather than repetitive, it allows people to follow the natural progression to your own site. Granted, there will be attrition along the way, but at least its quality, rather than the crap InternetMarketingIQ is rightly concerned about. If you start seeing returns at this point, you can continue to build on it.

I know this works. I managed to get a site of mine in a health niche on page one with two primary links to my main site (SILO SEO is the bomb). They tend to flitter from top position or position 2 depending on how my competition is going

I hope this helps, I'm sure there are others with far more ability than me who could refine this technique or even suggest a better one, but best of luck!

Doesnt Senuke do the above function for you? I think they refer to it as link wheels or am i mistaken?

Ben,

Awesome post. It really is a good thing that we have such a huge variation in the value of money worldwide.

Michael

magnus,

That sounds like an excellent strategy overall, but I wouldn't post the same articles that you've got on your blog to Ezine. First of all, Ezine won't want them if they detect duplicate content. Second of all, Ezine will most likely outrank your blog for the content...which really isn't desirable. Hope this helps.

Thomas

Hi All,

As posted above, I thought I would create a diagram covering Ben's strategy. Ben - Let me know if this looks right.

Attachment 3541

I presume for the last article, there is no need to spin, we just submit the same article to as many directories as possible?

Thanks
Steve

I have been studying Article Marketing and have a real good feel for what am about to say. Beware of Google's Search Engine dup content robo cops, you must consider the fact that nobody wants to pay the ticket price for what I would call "Content Spam."

You're better off writing different content for your Blog. Also, keep in mind the Articles you submit to Article Directories are far more powerful, because, they can earn you Back links and high page rates which means more traffic.

I hope that helps!

Have you thought about using twitter and other social networking sites to link to the articles, you could use a brief summary that would peak interest, and with twitter you could get followers pertaining to your subject.

Hope this helps, There is also a new social networking site that is gaining in popularity, they are actually sharing advertising revenue with their members, a unique idea!! Send me a message for more details.

Good luck!!

Don't forget to convet your articles into a .pdf files and submit to Scribd Tons of traffic from this site. Ranks well too!

Magnus, nice diagram! You've got it spot on. The only other thing I do is that I won't always have a hub page at the base level of the chain linking to my ezine article, I'll mix it up a bit, and maybe have hub-->blogger-->lense-->ezine article. But for the purposes of having a mind map you nailed it.

I have something similar in word format (although i may start using yours now ) where i record my keywords, urls, and other details its easy to forget so i can always have a clear picture of where the project is at.

Once you have that core skeleton in place, its just a case of adding to it and ramping up the link love. I always try and produce unique and interesting content. It really can help.

Just as an example, i have two niches I started marketing in around the same time (about 12 months ago). They are similar in terms of competition. Now, there's always different factors which come into play so I don't claim this is anything like a split test. Anyway, with the first niche I just kinda used a shotgun approach. Totally unrefined, just blasted stuff all over the place and hoped it would stick. Why? Because I was being lazy really, just hoping it would work. However, in the niche where I used this technique I have about 25k article views (10 articles at ezines) with a 20% CTR (which is a little low) versus just over 5k with a slightly higher CTR in the first niche. Conversion rate is similar, but overall the difference to the bottom line has been pretty significant in that sample. And that's traffic from just one source, article marketing.

The thing is, its not like I worked flat out on this niche over those 12 months. I worked on it occasionally, adding an article here and there. There were a couple of months I did nothing at all.

The main keyword I currently rank for has 332,000 exact match competition, and the links on page 1 (1st and 2nd) is not one of my ezine articles, its to my main site (where of course, all the chains ended). For me that was pretty cool. I had to pip a couple of government health sites as well, which took a bit. The difference in Google and Yahoo traffic between being in first or second spot also can't be underestimated. I did some more link building recently and experienced the good ol' Google dance, which plonked me at the bottom of page one for a couple of days. The organic traffic was reduced 10 fold! Now we're back in business.

I'm tackling some new bigger projects now so I'll let you know if I have similar success, or whether I hit pit falls along the way.

Put them on your site, put them on EZA and a few feeder sites like weebly, blogspot, hubpages etc. Build backlinks to them all and take all 10 spots in google for their related search keyphrase. I do this all the time and is a staple to my business model.

Duplicate content is the most overrated myth on the net today, even SEO "guru's" get it absolutely wrong. If there were such a thing and google actually penalized you for it, my paypal and bank account wouldn't be where it's at today.

Some people try to "future proof" their content and make sure none of it is duplicate in fear that google may one day put the duplicate slap on, but I like to go for what works today and makes the biggest difference with the least amount of effort.

Oh, and I'm not sure if it was already stated but you can put duplicate articles (that are already on your blog) on ezinearticles as long as the pen names match up. Try it out.

that is a pretty good basic plan.
make sure the articles that are linking to blogs and such are different then the articles you are submitting. nothing is more aggrevating then thinking you're getting more info and then reading the same thing. be careful of article spinners because alot of times they are so close to the original article it;s just that, you are giving them the same info in almost the same words. other than that good plan

Welcome to work overload.

I have been using Niche Profit Classroom for the past 6 months. Really good and managed to get 2 sites up and running from nothing. The way they teach us in the videos is to submit articles, one per day for 21 days to the article directories.

They teach us to duplicate the same article to multiple directories. This works well and I have not seen any penalty. Each article will target a keyword that is know as the moneyword. They show you how to select the best keywords to target for the highest ranking.

I would however not copy another article, I submit my own unique article, but to multiple directories.

That's a good plan, I just have a few things to say about it:
first you should submit your original 20 to the top 20 directories .(if applicable because some times the directory asks you to not submit things that have already been placed in different directories)
second unless you are buying one of the extremely good article spinning softwares I don't recommend using a spinner. They seem to give you the same article with very specific words or phrases changed and in googles and most search engines view it will be recognized as the same article. but like I said there are good spinner products that do much more than that.
Also third make sure that the articles people are reading and being lead to your website or blog are NOT the same as the ones you have posted as content on your blog or site. It will be looked at as duplicate content most times and even if it's not the reader themself will realize they are reading the same thing and not want to continue and in most cases simply exit out.
Also (sorry I ramble on sometimes) if you are generating decent traffic to you site or blog you may want to introduce a squeeze page, not to sell something but to get the person's information. email address so you can continue to send them info, offers and links to you or for you.
I have learned that article marketing will take a little bit to get going and continue to bring traffic but I do know your efforts are right on and once they pay off they will pay off big time.
Make sure to keep up on your content and articles you don't want to submit a hundred SPUN articles, keep it mostly original.

Hey magnusmora,

In the niche I referred to I have around 50 articles. All are unique and I've made sure (like Ryan suggested) that I'm not duplicating content in any one link chain. Its not so much a duplicate content issue, I just don't see the point in directing traffic from one article to another they have already read.

Obviously its hard to say how much will do it, it depends on the niche and how competitive it is. I have 10 articles on my site that I've promoted with the chains, and they all rank pretty well for their keywords. The other articles I have on my site which I haven't yet promoted only do ok. It's really about developing the backlinks to your one article, or the main site, to the point that you rank for the keyword you are targeting.

For example, blog post 1 might related to a keyword with high competition. You might need to build several longer link chains to get that post to rank in the SERPS than say blog post 2, which has lower comp. Treat them as individual projects and that way it doesn't become overwhelming, and it also helps focus your attention where it needs to be.

I also find using varied backlink methods helps. So doing forum posts, comments, knols, news feeds, widgets and the like all help to add dimension to your backlink chains. Keep track of them with Google's webmaster tools or one of the other analytic options.

It can be high maintenance, so if you want to start seeing some results try focusing on one article on your site, but spread some of the link love around your site so it doesn't look to unnatural.

Hey Steve,

No probs! Definitely build backlinks all along the chain if you can, it will add to the 'link juice'. I do tend to reserve some of the better backlinks for the main blog and ezine articles, but it all counts.