Need some help on article marketing

34 replies
Hey all

I'm currently doing some article marketing for my software, but I'm a bit nervous about how my idea is going to work out SEO wise.

I'm thinking about writing 1-5 articlet on invoicing for a specific small business type. (this could be pool cleaners, carpenters, retailers etc). these articles should cover some of the most basic invoicing principles that are more or less in common in every business.

When I have written these articles I plan on rewriting them for a bunch of different businesses (this way 5 articles times 100 types of business = 500 articles)

What I am very worried about though is that these articles would recieve some sort of penalty in the SEO department since the contents would be very similar but targeted very specific audiences.

Would I be digging my own grave by going down this route?

Should I invest more time/money in writing very unique content for the various types of business (it is difficult to come up with 500 variances of how to write a proper invoice)

Any suggestion is much appreciated

Kind regards
#article #marketing #seo
  • Profile picture of the author spennyc
    Get yourself a good spinner and just make enough variables so they all spin out at least 75%-85% unique and you'll have no problems.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623171].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
      Originally Posted by spennyc View Post

      Get yourself a good spinner and just make enough variables so they all spin out at least 75%-85% unique and you'll have no problems.
      I was under the impression that most spinners make the text more or less unreadable to humans (though quite ok for SEO purposes)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623182].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author TheBusinessNomad
        I would strongly recommend not spinning. There is no way that software can simply "spin" an article 500 times and still give you content that is useful or even readable by a human.

        This means that you will only be able to get your articles published on a site where content is not first moderated by a human admin. Any resulting links will be literally worthless and you will simply be wasting your time.

        From an SEO point of view it would be far more worth your while writing 50 unique articles and getting them published in respected blogs in your niche. You can base the 50 articles on a selection of similar topics, but write them all by hand. It's a lot of work, but your results will be better in the long run.

        I would also suggest that once you are done with the initial 50 or so, aim to write another 3 or 4 a week and keep getting them published on new sites. You will gradually build up a strong network of links.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623272].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
          Originally Posted by TheBusinessNomad View Post

          I would strongly recommend not spinning. There is no way that software can simply "spin" an article 500 times and still give you content that is useful or even readable by a human.

          This means that you will only be able to get your articles published on a site where content is not first moderated by a human admin. Any resulting links will be literally worthless and you will simply be wasting your time.

          From an SEO point of view it would be far more worth your while writing 50 unique articles and getting them published in respected blogs in your niche. You can base the 50 articles on a selection of similar topics, but write them all by hand. It's a lot of work, but your results will be better in the long run.

          I would also suggest that once you are done with the initial 50 or so, aim to write another 3 or 4 a week and keep getting them published on new sites. You will gradually build up a strong network of links.
          Actually I quite agree with you but I have one problem here though.

          I sell invoicing software a product and topic where I quite frankly have trouble finding even 20 unique topict to write about.

          this is why I was hoping I would be able to write about the same 5 topics and then differentiate them by targeting them towards several different consumer groups. this way the contents will still be unique within the target group, but I would need to rewrite them due to google duplicate content rules i would imagine
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623313].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author smcnowland
        Originally Posted by HenrikPoulsen View Post

        I was under the impression that most spinners make the text more or less unreadable to humans (though quite ok for SEO purposes)
        If you use sentence variations then the spins can be decent. This, of course, requires significantly more time than simple synonym variations.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623296].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Abhik
        Originally Posted by HenrikPoulsen View Post

        I was under the impression that most spinners make the text more or less unreadable to humans (though quite ok for SEO purposes)
        You heard it right. Don't use a Spinner.
        Handcrafted articles do much better than those crap spanned articles.
        Signature
        WSO SPECIAL!! [$29 Limited Time] → Comments+ WordPress Comment Enhancer Plugin

        Professional Blogging Model | ItsAbhikDotCom
        Discover the formulas that are bringing in more than $10,000 per month for me from simple Affiliate Marketing mixed with Professional Blogging.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631418].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author FredJones
      There are a lot of good spinners around. Alex's Magic Article Rewriter is a good one. I have heard good things about TheBestSpinner also. Read reviews and buy one of these, then generating the 500 articles should not be a big deal at all.

      Did that help you?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623191].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
        Originally Posted by FredJones View Post

        There are a lot of good spinners around. Alex's Magic Article Rewriter is a good one. I have heard good things about TheBestSpinner also. Read reviews and buy one of these, then generating the 500 articles should not be a big deal at all.

        Did that help you?
        It did indeed I'll chech those out

        is it really possible to spin 1 article 100 times (with only a few changed keywords (pool cleaning --> carpenter etc.) is the english language really that versatile?
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623207].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author glassextreme
    spinners are software meant to help you. you can either be lazy, and use the auto function and perhaps come up with unreadable stuff, or be more hardworking and QC your results. Or, you could be super hardworking and smart by rewriting it by hand, then use the auto spin function, check the outcome, make changes then export into 1000 copies with the best spinner.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623222].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author glassextreme
    When you spin, you don't just spin at word level. spin at paragraph level, with different subheadings, use point form, bullet points, numbered list, mix the paragraphs around, rewrite in different styles etc, and you have the same content written in hundreds of ways.

    do you plan to manually submit the articles or use software?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623233].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
      Originally Posted by glassextreme View Post

      When you spin, you don't just spin at word level. spin at paragraph level, with different subheadings, use point form, bullet points, numbered list, mix the paragraphs around, rewrite in different styles etc, and you have the same content written in hundreds of ways.

      do you plan to manually submit the articles or use software?
      Ahh I see, i was thinking mostly at word level. Thanks...

      considering software for the submission as well, but haven't decided yet
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623237].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author glassextreme
    Oh yes Henrik, you don't have to use synonyms all the time. Even if the meaning is not the same, but the new word/phrase makes sense, you can use it too.

    thebusinessnomad: if you just do autospinning without what I've mentioned above, you do get junk.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623332].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author TheBusinessNomad
      You can just start off with 5 topics. If you write an article about each of the 5 topics, and then the next day write another article about all 5 topics... Always write the article from scratch and it will come out totally different to your first attempt.

      I could write the same article for my blog 10 times and never get exactly the same content. It will always come out slightly differently.

      The key is to write each one from scratch. Trying to copy the text and re-write it will lead to awkward sounding sentences and duplication.

      Ps. Once you start writing, you might be surprised at how many new ideas you can generate.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623352].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author wilsonusman
        Originally Posted by TheBusinessNomad View Post

        You can just start off with 5 topics. If you write an article about each of the 5 topics, and then the next day write another article about all 5 topics... Always write the article from scratch and it will come out totally different to your first attempt.

        I could write the same article for my blog 10 times and never get exactly the same content. It will always come out slightly differently.

        The key is to write each one from scratch. Trying to copy the text and re-write it will lead to awkward sounding sentences and duplication.

        Ps. Once you start writing, you might be surprised at how many new ideas you can generate.
        Toushe' I would do the same thing.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2632009].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
      Originally Posted by glassextreme View Post

      Oh yes Henrik, you don't have to use synonyms all the time. Even if the meaning is not the same, but the new word/phrase makes sense, you can use it too.

      thebusinessnomad: if you just do autospinning without what I've mentioned above, you do get junk.

      Thanks

      I think I will start on the writing and see how many topics I can cover without repeating myself, and then try my hands on spinning to see if I can get some nice articles out of this.

      One more question, should I put the articles up on my own blog and havethis indexed before publishing them around the web?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623362].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mistermint
    Hi, you can also spin images, lines(colours also) etc for web 2.0 purposes, just remember to remove images for article submissions...If you copyscape your article and it looks good, submit your original to ezine first..get it approved then send the spins to others..

    Hope it helps
    Signature
    www.make-cash-flow-forecast.com

    Make cash flow forecasts in openoffice.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623386].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author glassextreme
    Yes. put on your own blog first.

    the ones you rewrite on your own, post to article directories.

    the ones you spin, submit to web2.0 sites.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623390].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
    Naturally I can write my first many articles by just writing about the invoice rules for individual countries.

    for instance (things to consider when writing a tax invoice in australia----get the paperwork straight when dealing with canadian businesses--- etc..) this should be able to yeild a few different articles
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623392].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author TheBusinessNomad
      As long as each article you write is helpful to the people reading it you should be fine.

      Yeh I would definitely publish a few articles on your site. What order you publish them in shouldn't matter as long as you are not publishing duplicated content anywhere.

      Duplicated content is basically ignored by Google, so there is no point doing that anyway.

      But yeh, start out writing by hand, keep trying to think of new topics and write a few different articles around the same topics and that should get you started.

      If you start to run out of ideas for articles, check out some blogs, forums etc in your niche. Do some reading and get some new ideas.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2623422].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author molsted
        Hi!

        A very valid question indeed.

        If you just want to change one word you could easily use a syntax spinner like powerarticlerewriter - it comes with a free 15 day trial. I like it a lot!

        It spins articles very well if you just put some thought and quality control into the mix...

        Unique articles are always the best but not always what's the most efficient nor the most effective. It all depends on the reason for using the articles: SEO, Humans or Both?

        Clear as mud... huh?

        Lykke til!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2630968].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author raviv
          If you want to go down the path of writing articles from scratch, you can look at easy-article-rewriter.com

          You have to rewrite sentences manually and create different versions of the article. THen you can spin the words within to match synonyms and you can get a few more unique ones out of the whole process
          Best
          Raviv
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631052].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jamespitt
    There's too much crap circulating on the net...For me, nothing beats a regular dose of fresh, and original articles coming in the website. Ratings are best to climb up organically and with pertinent and informative articles.
    Signature

    Get your totally free outsourcing guide here..

    Send me a PM if you want to hire top-calibre outsourced staff.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631190].message }}
  • Originally Posted by HenrikPoulsen View Post

    Hey all

    I'm currently doing some article marketing for my software, but I'm a bit nervous about how my idea is going to work out SEO wise.

    I'm thinking about writing 1-5 articlet on invoicing for a specific small business type. (this could be pool cleaners, carpenters, retailers etc). these articles should cover some of the most basic invoicing principles that are more or less in common in every business.

    When I have written these articles I plan on rewriting them for a bunch of different businesses (this way 5 articles times 100 types of business = 500 articles)

    What I am very worried about though is that these articles would recieve some sort of penalty in the SEO department since the contents would be very similar but targeted very specific audiences.

    Would I be digging my own grave by going down this route?

    Should I invest more time/money in writing very unique content for the various types of business (it is difficult to come up with 500 variances of how to write a proper invoice)

    Any suggestion is much appreciated

    Kind regards
    Hmmm... I'd establish one website with a blog under each target business type, have a dedicated author name under each site and under each blog, package my software product differently for each target business type, considering specifics re: visual impact, navigability and accessibility of my software product to each target group under each target business type, write 5 articles and 5 blog posts for one target business type, spin it manually by targeting different keywords and reader groups, rewriting each paragraph 3 times, rewriting each sentence in all 3 paragraph versions thrice and rewriting at least one phrase in all 3 sentence versions thrice. Then, I'd publish the first set of 5 articles on my site under one author name and the first set of blog posts on my blog under the author name of the blog, with each site and blog targeting one business type . Afterwards, I'd submit all 5 articles under the same author name to multiple directories, except those which don't accept content already published elsewhere like Buzzle.Com, and submit the same blog posts under the same author name to blog networks. If I have time, I'd rewrite the titles, first 2 paragraphs and the resource box content, target keywords and links to avoid the supplemental results of Google. Based on my tests, no duplicate content here because content syndication is totally different from duplicate content. Why would the work of the same author, published by the author himself or herself across different online places, be considered duplicate content, when in fact the author of the content is just maximizing the exposure of his or her content and links through content syndication and content marketing? Why would your content being included in the supplemental results of Google for different search terms be considered the Google Duplicate Content penalty when Google places some of the same content on different online places in the supplemental results because your same content on other places most likely ranks higher for the specific search terms, and your content previously in the supplemental results could rank higher than the ones previously excluded from it because the content and those online places possibly rank higher for the other specific target terms? Duplicate content is different from syndicated content. Duplicate content is the work of another author, an exact duplicate, published elsewhere under a different name and without the consent of the original author. Syndicated content, on the other hand, is content of an author published across multiple places, the exact copy or rewritten versions of it, under the same author name. Syndicated content is also unchanged content, including resource/bio boxes of the author, published on places owned by other people. Article directories have content syndication members. These people publish the exact same content including the resource box content on their sites. The most published list of a lot of article directories is the section where they list down the content published with the most number of people on their sites, unchanged, including resource box content. Plagiarism is most likely, based on what I've observed about content marketing especially online, has somewhat been defined differently than its text book definition – "uniqueness" comes to mind than "non-plagiarized" content.
    Signature
    • Deep Learning & Machine Vision Engineer: ARIA Research (Sydney, AU)
    • Founder: Grayscale (Manila, PH) & SEO Campaign Manager: Kiteworks, Inc. (SF, US)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631370].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author HenrikPoulsen
      How about creating several small blogs as you suggest but have them link back to my main site?

      this way the individual blogs can be used for lead gathering purposes in the individual target business type.

      this way I can create individual landing pages/blogs containing a minimum of information on invoicing etc. for individual business types and have them lead back to my main site. This way I can market the software under one name.



      Originally Posted by Marx Vergel Melencio View Post

      Hmmm... I'd establish one website with a blog under each target business type, have a dedicated author name under each site and under each blog, package my software product differently for each target business type, considering specifics re: visual impact, navigability and accessibility of my software product to each target group under each target business type, write 5 articles and 5 blog posts for one target business type, spin it manually by targeting different keywords and reader groups, rewriting each paragraph 3 times, rewriting each sentence in all 3 paragraph versions thrice and rewriting at least one phrase in all 3 sentence versions thrice. Then, I'd publish the first set of 5 articles on my site under one author name and the first set of blog posts on my blog under the author name of the blog, with each site and blog targeting one business type . Afterwards, I'd submit all 5 articles under the same author name to multiple directories, except those which don't accept content already published elsewhere like Buzzle.Com, and submit the same blog posts under the same author name to blog networks. If I have time, I'd rewrite the titles, first 2 paragraphs and the resource box content, target keywords and links to avoid the supplemental results of Google. Based on my tests, no duplicate content here because content syndication is totally different from duplicate content. Why would the work of the same author, published by the author himself or herself across different online places, be considered duplicate content, when in fact the author of the content is just maximizing the exposure of his or her content and links through content syndication and content marketing? Why would your content being included in the supplemental results of Google for different search terms be considered the Google Duplicate Content penalty when Google places some of the same content on different online places in the supplemental results because your same content on other places most likely ranks higher for the specific search terms, and your content previously in the supplemental results could rank higher than the ones previously excluded from it because the content and those online places possibly rank higher for the other specific target terms? Duplicate content is different from syndicated content. Duplicate content is the work of another author, an exact duplicate, published elsewhere under a different name and without the consent of the original author. Syndicated content, on the other hand, is content of an author published across multiple places, the exact copy or rewritten versions of it, under the same author name. Syndicated content is also unchanged content, including resource/bio boxes of the author, published on places owned by other people. Article directories have content syndication members. These people publish the exact same content including the resource box content on their sites. The most published list of a lot of article directories is the section where they list down the content published with the most number of people on their sites, unchanged, including resource box content. Plagiarism is most likely, based on what I've observed about content marketing especially online, has somewhat been defined differently than its text book definition - "uniqueness" comes to mind than "non-plagiarized" content.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631851].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Beverley Watts
        I use Article Traffic Pro to create different versions of the same article. This contains free article reviser software which automatically breaks your article up into separate sentences so that you're not just looking at changing words, but re-writing each sentence individually, creating a unique product that actually makes sense! It's very simple to use and I have to admit I find it invaluable
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631926].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author jacktackett
        Henrik,
        This is a link wheel and can be very effective - however, I would recommend NOT completing the wheel - ie having it link back to your main blog. The spokes can link to another page - but there is some evidence of penalties for completing the circle.

        The best advice is to test - but be careful.

        Also Sarah has provided a lot of good information for you to follow as have a few others here.

        Finally, your goal is to become an expert in your field - and articles are a start. They can become the basis for a lot of other material. I'd recommend you think about creating each article on a seperate topic - as you've planned - and then combining them into a small book. Publishing this book on Amazon, Lulu or others will give you instant credibility. You can also then use the book as a giveaway to build a list - or a front end into your sales funnel for your software - and prove to folks it has a REAL value since they can see it costs $X on amazon - and they're getting it for free - in an electronic format - in exchange for a demo or their contact information etc.

        The articles can also form the basis of a webinar to help bring people into your sales funnel.

        Just some food for thought,
        good luck!
        --Jack


        Originally Posted by HenrikPoulsen View Post

        How about creating several small blogs as you suggest but have them link back to my main site?

        this way the individual blogs can be used for lead gathering purposes in the individual target business type.

        this way I can create individual landing pages/blogs containing a minimum of information on invoicing etc. for individual business types and have them lead back to my main site. This way I can market the software under one name.
        Signature
        Let's get Tim the kidney he needs!HELP Tim
        Mega Monster WSO for KimW http://ow.ly/4JdHm


        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2650224].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author blazr63
    I've manually rewritten articles in MS Word and used the built in Thesaurus tool to help with changing certain words.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631407].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Vishal Mahadik
    The best way to approach your issue is to write unique versions for every business and then simply rewrite them for different websites where you are going to post your articles.

    If you can rewrite your articles with 100% uniqueness then there will not be any kind of search engine ranking penalties for you. Rewriting is much simpler option for you right now instead of creating unique articles for every website.

    Again this is just my personal opinion.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631439].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
    I think you would greatly nbenefit from looking at this WSO:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/warrior-...make-stop.html
    Signature

    I like to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brains fall out

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631635].message }}
  • Spinning is great if you do it the right way -- by hand. Spin one article five times, give it 20 different titles, distribute to only the top 20 article directories. Wait for others to pick it up "off the wires." Watch the backlinks and traffic mushroom.

    If Google does not already, I'd be willing to bet it will soon penalize for links from poorly spun articles.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2631649].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author John Pawlett
    I would never use a spinner unless I was writing an article purely for back links (which I don't do these days as they are far easier ways).

    Here is an article I wrote on writing an article to make sure you get the click through you want.

    The Art of Article Writing or How to Make Cash Fast!

    My article writing top tips

    Writing articles is really easy once you understand the basic formula and the 3 objectives of the article, using this formula can lead you to build one of the most valuable assets you could ever own, more valuable than your home.

    The main objective is to get a click through from your article to your website, this is your main objective but not your first one, the first is to get the article opened!

    Objective 1:

    Write a catchy headline that also contains the keyword you are trying to rank and is relevant to the category you are placing the article in. The headline must also appeal to the reader's greed or fear (to get a better opening rate)

    Objective 2:

    Writing the copy, as a rule the shorter the copy (within the directories terms) the better, you aren't writing war and peace you are trying to get traffic.

    Always open the article with an open loop, this is promising the reader something ie a 'secret or tip' but not giving them the answer until just before the end.

    You should always add value in the article, this starts to build a relationship with the reader and increases trust.

    Then close the loop by telling them your 'secret' (adding value).
    Always finish the article by opening another loop that they can only get closure from by clicking through on your link.

    Objective 3:

    Getting the click through. Your resource box should have a click here ( if you are doing articles for link building then integrate your keyword) at the start and the end of the box.
    Forget all of the stuff about saying what a great guy you are, nobody's interested. Give them a great reason them click through.

    When you have mastered article writing I would send the traffic to a squeeze page this way you can start to build a mailing list, if done properly there is no greater asset than a well managed mailing list it can produce cash almost at will.

    There is a very simple way to build your lists quickly and profitably, so simple anyone can do it!

    Click Here For a free getting started guide, called 'The List Building Money Machine' a great resource for starting to build your own list and profit from it massively, so for your free guide Click Here

    Hope it's helpful

    John
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2632120].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Gary Pettit
    You might want to check out "Spin Distribute dot com" no affiliation to them. It's been an article marketing game changer for me. Can't recommend them highly enough.

    Best of luck
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[2650018].message }}

Trending Topics