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Article Syndication Help Needed!

by tazmania
21 replies
I'm fairly new to internet marketing and have spent hours reading through all the threads (Alexa, I am your new fan). My question is about Article Syndication. This is the strategy I'm about to embark on and need a BIG nod from all you experienced marketers out there to tell me if this is the RIGHT way to syndicate articles.

Step 1 - Write the article (500-1000) words, longer the better and publish it to MY SITE first.

Step 2 - Let Google Index the article (how do I check to see Google has done this?) and then submit my article to article directories like EZA, Goarticles, ArticlesBase etc. Do I need to do this manually or can I use software like Article Marketing Robot, or Article Post Robot to do this for me? Should I submit to the top 5-10 article sites only?

Step 3 - Use iSnare to mass publish the articles (is this necessary if I use Article Marketing Robot?) Do they both essentially do the same thing?

Step 4 - Check Google Analytics to see where I'm getting most of my traffic from and continue submitting articles to those directories that are sending most traffic (after of course publishing them on my site FIRST)

Please let me know if I'm missing anything (or if I am completely off-track!) and if this is a good way to get started with article syndication.

Many thanks in advance!
#advice #article #marketing #needed #syndication
  • Profile picture of the author RAMarketing
    You don't need to mass submit, but you are missing a few keys. First of all, check to see who is publishing your articles. To do this, just google one sentence from your article in quotes. If someone comes up with your article but the links are gone, email them and ask them to put the links in; offer them free content.

    Keep track of all of the sites that publish your articles in a spreadsheet along with their email addresses so that you can build your own private syndication list.

    Isnare is well worth the $2 or whatever it is to distribute articles, though if they are very high quality I've heard the phantom writers are good as well. You'll find over time that your google rankings matter less and less.

    Anyway, Alexa will probably be along later to correct me and give you more information in a much longer post, read it thoroughly :-)
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    • Profile picture of the author tazmania
      Originally Posted by RAMarketing View Post

      You don't need to mass submit, but you are missing a few keys. First of all, check to see who is publishing your articles. To do this, just google one sentence from your article in quotes. If someone comes up with your article but the links are gone, email them and ask them to put the links in; offer them free content.

      Keep track of all of the sites that publish your articles in a spreadsheet along with their email addresses so that you can build your own private syndication list.

      Isnare is well worth the $2 or whatever it is to distribute articles, though if they are very high quality I've heard the phantom writers are good as well. You'll find over time that your google rankings matter less and less.

      Anyway, Alexa will probably be along later to correct me and give you more information in a much longer post, read it thoroughly :-)
      Thanks RAMarketing for the advice!

      Quick question - do you think its a good idea investing in software like AMR to get the article out to all those sites in the first place? Or will iSnare do the same thing?

      So basically write the article, publish on my site, post to isnare, and then follow your advice!

      Yeah - really hoping Alexa sees this thread
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  • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
    I'm sure Alexa will be along soon!

    I think, however, that you are missing the point about article syndication. The aim is to get other people to republish your article. When they do that your article (and its link to your site) will be viewed by a targeted audience. In turn this will generate traffic to your site.

    Article syndication is not done for backlinks or SEO

    You will probably get some valuable backlinks from this method - but the idea is to get targeted traffic, any other benefit is a welcome side effect.

    So when you talk about mass publishing, and checking where you are getting traffic from it looks like you are missing the point.

    What are you trying to achieve here? Please tell me so that I can help.
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    • Profile picture of the author tazmania
      Originally Posted by Nicola Lane View Post

      So when you talk about mass publishing, and checking where you are getting traffic from it looks like you are missing the point.

      What are you trying to achieve here? Please tell me so that I can help.
      Hi Nicola,

      Thanks for the clarification! What I am trying to achieve is to get targeted traffic - I want to drive traffic to a page on my site for a specific keyword.

      Here's what I figured - I have a site with a blog attached. I write articles with that keyword (first post them on my blog) and then use them for article syndication to link to pages on my site with the SAME keyword. So essentially when I submit these articles there would be anchor text and links in the resource box back to the page on my site with the same keyword.

      What do you think? Thanks!
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

        I want to drive traffic to a page on my site for a specific keyword.
        Here's the thing: one wouldn't want to get potential customer traffic coming to one's site from an article directory (we all lose a lot of that traffic, because nobody has a 100% click-through rate from an article directory). Those aren't the people we're trying to attract via article directories, and that isn't the purpose of an article directory. Those are people we want coming to our own site and not going to an article directory (and that's part of the reason why we publish on our own site first).

        An article directory is a "list of content freely available for publishers to syndicate". Those are the people for whom we're putting our work in one (or maybe two) article directories.

        My articles are in EZA for people searching for content in EZA. Those people are not my potential customers - they're people on whose circulation/readership/subscription lists my future customers are.

        When people search in Google, those people find the copy of the article on my site and come there. That way I don't lose the majority of them. (This was always easy to arrange, but the effects of Google's "Panda update" earlier this year have now made it even easier, by making sure that those people looking in Google don't find an article directory copy. ).

        Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

        Here's what I figured - I have a site with a blog attached. I write articles with that keyword (first post them on my blog) and then use them for article syndication to link to pages on my site with the SAME keyword. So essentially when I submit these articles there would be anchor text and links in the resource box back to the page on my site with the same keyword.
        You're looking at it all in SEO terms, Tazmania. This isn't what article marketing is about, really ... and it isn't part of the equation with which article directories can help you (and of course that's not what they're there for anyway, and it never was).
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

    Please let me know if I'm missing anything (or if I am completely off-track!) and if this is a good way to get started with article syndication.
    I'm afraid - to be blunt - you are really completely off-track, and what you're asking about isn't really connected with what article marketers call "article syndication" at all; sorry.

    What you describe is what most of us would call "article directory marketing", not really "article marketing". It relates to attempt to use article directories for their own traffic and/or their own backlinks. This is really neither advisable nor typically very productive at all.

    I think the best thing to do is for us to offer you a few threads to read through, which will explain the basic differences, and their significance?

    These few recent threads are worth a read-through, to appreciate the current position with article marketing, including "how to use article directories". (Where you find references to "automated submission" and "mass submission", those are talking about what you're thinking of using AMR for, above.)

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ifference.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...mith-myob.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...e-wonders.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-articles.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-articles.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-articles.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...explained.html

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-question.html
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    • Profile picture of the author tazmania
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I'm afraid - to be blunt - you are really completely off-track, and what you're asking about isn't really connected with what article marketers call "article syndication" at all; sorry.

      What you describe is what most of us would call "article directory marketing", not really "article marketing". It relates to attempt to use article directories for their own traffic and/or their own backlinks. This is really neither advisable nor typically very productive at all.

      I think the best thing to do is for us to offer you a few threads to read through, which will explain the basic differences, and their significance?
      Ahhhhhhhhhh....Now I GET it. THANK YOU Alexa! Obviously I missed quite a few relevant threads. So just to see if I deserve a pat on the back or a kick in the *ss for finally getting this :p - this is what I now understand:

      I can use article marketing robot and submit to top directories, and use that "as a stepping-stone to syndication."

      Like MYOB says: Article syndication is submitting your article to "websites/blogs, ezines/newsletters, and offline publications such as magazines, trade journals, newspapers, etc."

      So now here's the pressing question I have, how do I find sites that want content in my niche, what exactly do I search for? Do I just go out there and email blog owners that I can give them an article for their blog - if they link back to my site doesn't this bleed link juice from their site?

      Sorry for the many questions - I think I'm getting there
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

        I can use article marketing robot and submit to top directories, and use that "as a stepping-stone to syndication."
        That's the right use of article directories, but there's honestly no point in using AMR to do it.

        People on the other side of your stepping-stone, the ones who are looking in article directories for content to syndicate, are looking in Ezine Articles. 99.9% of them, I think. It's the best-established, biggest, most famous, best quality article directory, and everyone wanting content knows that, and instinctively/routinely looks there for content.

        In spite of having used more than 1,000 article directories in the past (), more than 99.8% of the passive syndication I've had from article directories has been from EZA.

        I admit I do submit each article to either ArticlesBase or GoArticles (deciding which one according to the niche) as well, but that's just because I don't want to be inconvenienced too much if EZA happens to go out of business tomorrow (it's not going to happen: I'm just ultra-cautious!).

        But there's no point in submitting to hundreds of article directories: you won't get any more passive syndication (I know because I did it for a long time, myself, before I understood any better! ). All you can gain from it is some non-context-relevant, PR-0 backlinks (and as the saying goes, about those backlinks, "100,000 of them and $3.50 will buy you a cappuccino at Starbucks") which are just about "the lowest of the low" in backlink terms.

        You don't need AMR, in my opinion. It's very nice and it does its job a lot better than most other, similar software, I think ... but its job is simply one that doesn't need to be done and doesn't actually help.

        Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

        how do I find sites that want content in my niche, what exactly do I search for? Do I just go out there and email blog owners that I can give them an article for their blog - if they link back to my site doesn't this bleed link juice from their site?
        Not everyone is a marketer. Your direct competitors aren't often going to syndicate your articles, anyway.

        What about all the people scouring EZA for content to put on their sites with the author's backlinks ... they're clearly not concerned about "bleeding link juice", are they?

        Article marketing isn't intrinsically about SEO. It's true that successful article syndication to relevant sites can produce some brilliant off-page SEO, which truly shows up the "automation" and "mass submission" approaches for what they are, but that's just a side-benefit of article marketing, not the primary purpose, which is to get well-written articles in front of highly targeted traffic. Try not to think of article marketing as "part of SEO".

        There are lots of suggestions in some of those threads listed above, which may help you. Also these may assist ... (excellent, but not free, I'm afraid)

        Turn Words Into Traffic

        Directory of Ezines
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

        So now here's the pressing question I have, how do I find sites that want content in my niche, what exactly do I search for? Do I just go out there and email blog owners that I can give them an article for their blog - if they link back to my site doesn't this bleed link juice from their site?

        Sorry for the many questions - I think I'm getting there
        If you have a five page micro site, bleeding link juice might be a problem. If you have a 1,000 page authority site with hundreds or thousands of incoming links, a couple of outbound links in payment for good content is no big deal. In fact, I've seen sites using syndicated content where people will link to the copy on the authority site, more than making up for any 'juice' passed on from the resource box.

        So how do you find these sites willing to publish your stuff?

        You start with the articles on the directories. You can either search for a text string from your article, using exact match (in quotes), or you can set up a Google alert for that same string and get an email from Google when someone uses one of your articles. If they used one, they may want more - especially if you offer to send your new articles to them before posting on the directories.

        You can also put your research skills to work. Start building a library of search strings that show you the kind of site you want. Here's a couple to get you started...

        [niche keyword phrase] +"write for us"

        [niche keyword phrase] +"author guidelines" or "writer guidlines"

        Then it is pretty much a matter of doing what makes sense. If they have a submission form or process, follow it. If not, and you can see that they use outside content, use whatever contact method you find on the site - it might be a contact form. Don't just send articles unless invited to do so.

        Which brings up a secondary use for EZA. Use the author page for your name or pen name as a list of available articles and a portfolio of examples of the kind of article you write.

        Keep building you private syndicate, and someday you can say "Google, Schmoogle..."
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  • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
    Hi Tazmania,

    You are confusing traffic from a search engine with targeted traffic.

    First let me explain what I mean by "targeted traffic". People who are interested in my niche and are willing to spend money.

    It is the whole "spending money" bit that is crucial - after all if they don't spend any money how will I earn anything? LOL

    Traffic from a search engine is all about keywords, and even when it is a "buying" keyword, the actual traffic can be very hit and miss. But the biggest disadvantage to search engine traffic is that you are one algorithm change away from losing all your traffic!

    When using the syndication model we are not concerned with search engines and the associated keywords.

    We write our articles with the intention that someone else will re-publish it. Think about all the big websites, blogs, magazines (online and offline) that need articles - we offer them a good article that they pay for by sending their readers to our websites.

    That is what article directories were made for - so that people who need that content can find it, and that is why we use them - so our articles are there for them to be found!

    We can also look for people who need this content and offer it to them.

    There is a lot more that can be said on this subject - Alexa has given you some great links. If you want to know more please have a look at those threads - then feel free to ask more questions - there are a few of us who will be happy to help you out with this particular model.

    Addition (as you have replied since I started typing this!) (And now Alexa has replied as I am typing this - so there may be some cross over!)

    Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

    I can use article marketing robot and submit to top directories, and use that "as a stepping-stone to syndication."
    You can if you want - but most of us don't see the point. When people are searching for content most of them will use EZA, there are very few people who look at any other directory.

    My advice would be that if you already have the software - then put a few articles through it and see if anyone picks your articles up from any other directories. If you don't already have the software - then don't waste your money! Stick with EZA and a few others if you want.

    Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

    So now here's the pressing question I have, how do I find sites that want content in my niche, what exactly do I search for? Do I just go out there and email blog owners that I can give them an article for their blog - if they link back to my site doesn't this bleed link juice from their site?
    Finding more sites and publishers is worth a whole post on its own - I'll come back to you!

    "bleeding link juice" is really only of concern to small time affiliates! (sorry that was more snarky then I meant it!) You will be surprised at the amount of non commercial websites out there - people who simply want to share their hobby or concern - they don't care about link juice. And the "big time" people don't worry about it. (there are lots of good reasons - but that will also turn into a long post!)


    Hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author tazmania
    Thank you Alexa, Nicola and John for all your time and advice!

    Now I get that article syndication is not about traffic per say, but really about getting content in front of real readers that will convert.

    It's time to get the ball rolling to get there
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    • Profile picture of the author anthonyb
      Originally Posted by tazmania View Post

      Thank you Alexa, Nicola and John for all your time and advice!

      Now I get that article syndication is not about traffic per say, but really about getting content in front of real readers that will convert.

      It's time to get the ball rolling to get there
      Tazmania it is about traffic, one that comes from article syndication. Sometimes one could be mistaken in thinking that SEO = traffic, when in fact it is only a subset of traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
    This is the recipe for getting as much help as you need - and more!

    Read and respect answers - pay attention.

    Don't get upset or defensive.

    And the cherry on the chocolate fudge sundae - say thanks.

    (Or in other words - follow Tazmanias lead!)
    Signature

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  • Profile picture of the author keepgoin
    Excellent advice, as always, from these experts!

    Andy
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    Learning Fast Right Here :)

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  • Profile picture of the author creature
    Do those of you who have used this model successfully consider "Directory of Ezines" simply another useful tool, or essential to success?
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    • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
      Originally Posted by creature View Post

      Do those of you who have used this model successfully consider "Directory of Ezines" simply another useful tool, or essential to success?
      At the beginner level - too expensive!

      At intermediate level - another useful tool

      At expert level - essential to success

      At guru level - irrelevant! they are beating down my door!
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      • Profile picture of the author creature
        Originally Posted by Nicola Lane View Post

        At the beginner level - too expensive!

        At intermediate level - another useful tool

        At expert level - essential to success

        At guru level - irrelevant! they are beating down my door!
        Yes, BUT... I don't have a level-o-meter, so I don't know where I fall.

        I do have a high-traffic website that currently ranks #3 on Google page 1 (I know we don't care about Google traffic in this context), and have published many professional articles and a few books (including one that LonelyPlanet picked up) so i guess I am a proficient writer.

        So, what is my "level"? :confused:
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        • Profile picture of the author Nicola Lane
          Originally Posted by creature View Post

          So, what is my "level"? :confused:
          Maddeningly unhelpful answer:

          Either intermediate or expert!

          Slightly more helpful answer (Thanks Alexa!)

          I'd go with Intermediate.

          Start with your own research into possible re-publishers, and also use passive syndication from EZA. When it gets difficult to find good prospects on your own invest in the directory.



          I'm sorry I couldn't resist the unhelpful answer - it reminded me of a joke from a previous life when I was a theoretical scientist:

          A man was out hot airballoning one day when his map blew away and he got lost. So he descended and looked around to see if he could find someone who could help. He spotted someone pottering around and called out to them:

          "could you tell me where I am please?"

          "Certainly! You are in the basket of a hot air balloon, approximately five feet above a field, and twelve feet to the left of a country lane."

          "Thank you" said the Balloonist "Are you by any chance a theoretical scientist?"

          "Why yes I am!" the scientist exclaimed in astonishment "How on earth did you know?"

          "Well your answer was completely true, very factual, eminently provable - and totally bloody useless to anyone!"
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          • Profile picture of the author creature
            Originally Posted by Nicola Lane View Post


            A man was out hot airballoning one day when his map blew away and he got lost. So he descended and looked around to see if he could find someone who could help. He spotted someone pottering around and called out to them:

            "could you tell me where I am please?"

            "Certainly! You are in the basket of a hot air balloon, approximately five feet above a field, and twelve feet to the left of a country lane."

            "Thank you" said the Balloonist "Are you by any chance a theoretical scientist?"

            "Why yes I am!" the scientist exclaimed in astonishment "How on earth did you know?"

            "Well your answer was completely true, very factual, eminently provable - and totally bloody useless to anyone!"
            Excellent - I will have to relate that one to my colleagues
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Very nice summary from Nicola ...

        I started off without it because I'd never heard of it and barely knew what "ezines" were - just the little I'd managed to learn from marketers for whom I'd been writing articles. I suppose I was "at intermediate level" when I found out about it, got it and found it useful.

        Your level's probably "intermediate" really, in this context, Creature (we can only guess!) ...
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  • Profile picture of the author luigidomenico
    Excellent advice, Excellent Thread
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