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Syndication articles vs guest blogging articles

by fin
21 replies
Sorry if this has been covered; it's pretty hard to find.

I'm wondering if the way you write your articles effects whether or not they are syndicated.

I've been reading a lot of stuff about guest blogging lately and picked up lots of gems. Things like checking out the structure of the blogs you want to write on and writing your article as such.

A lot of stuff gets written on the basics of psychology, things like readers only checking the first few sentences, etc.

As an example, if you read Copyblogger you'll know they always start with single sentence paragraphs to hook the reader. The structure might also be different to what you might call a "typical article".

Places like EZA ask you not to do this: to generally use sub-headings and 4/5 sentence paragraphs underneath.

When you're shooting for Ezine syndication what do they prefer? I'm guessing it's the same as EZA, which is why I'm asking.

I'm going to write content for the reader, a la Copyblogger, but is it worth submitting my articles to Ezines or totally restructure them?

I know what I'd prefer, but then it ain't up to me.

What do you think: go with psychology or go with EZA?
#articles #blogging #guest #syndication
  • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
    Articles are a little different. EZA is working to get ranked in the search engines again, and blog readers tend to have very short attention spans.

    You want to know how to get your articles published in high quality ezines? Become an avid reader. Subscribe to your target ezines and read every newsletter they send. Subscribe to real, high quality magazines and read those articles.


    The more high quality writing that you read, the better your writing will be.
    You will slowly begin writing the way publishers like to publish.
    That's why I've always "Thanked" more than I've posted.
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  • Profile picture of the author jessiepadgal
    Use EZA as a last resort, and instead search out where you'd like to be syndicated. Studying their content and applying that structure to your content is the way to go!
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    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
      Banned
      Originally Posted by MikeTucker View Post

      Articles are a little different. EZA is working to get ranked in the search engines again, and blog readers tend to have very short attention spans.

      You want to know how to get your articles published in high quality ezines? Become an avid reader. Subscribe to your target ezines and read every newsletter they send. Subscribe to real, high quality magazines and read those articles.


      The more high quality writing that you read, the better your writing will be.
      You will slowly begin writing the way publishers like to publish.
      That's why I've always "Thanked" more than I've posted.
      I'd hope that EZA isn't trying to get ranked again, as the system has been set up to work against them. That is not the point of an article directory anyways, as you wouldn't want your article in a directory ranking over the same article on your site (or a partner's site).

      The rest of your advice is solid though for those who are looking to improve their writing. Learn from the ones who are already doing what you want to do.

      Originally Posted by articlesforim View Post

      Use EZA as a last resort, and instead search out where you'd like to be syndicated. Studying their content and applying that structure to your content is the way to go!
      Exactly, posting to EZA is just trying to have your articles passively syndicated. It will work; but not quickly or consistently enough to build a business on. You have to be proactive to build a sizable network.
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
        Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

        I'd hope that EZA isn't trying to get ranked again, as the system has been set up to work against them. That is not the point of an article directory anyways, as you wouldn't want your article in a directory ranking over the same article on your site (or a partner's site).

        The rest of your advice is solid though for those who are looking to improve their writing. Learn from the ones who are already doing what you want to do.
        Yep, but the rep that is answering my queries said that they did indeed lose a lot of revenue, not only from AdSense loss but also paying members who are upset they cannot get their content on the first page of Google anymore... The simple fact is that the vast majority of people are not familiar with more effective syndication methods-- I only just learned about them, less than a year ago.

        One thing I do find interesting is the relatively new myEZA, which seems to be taking adding a social networking spice. I'll have to play around with it sometime.
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    • Profile picture of the author Devin X
      Banned
      IME, guest blogging is far more powerful than syndication. Blogs are hot with a lot of people and the communities you can reach via blogs are much more likely to be shared and engaged with over articles.
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      • Profile picture of the author tylerherman
        If you are willing to write great content and put in the time to write a lot of it don't do anything other than guest post. The links are far, far better. You are getting links from actual authorities with some Rank behind them. Not to mention getting your name in front of a lot more eyeballs and hopefully some traffic in return.

        People don't do it as much here, because it is hard and takes lots of time. You have to be a good writer, have good command of the English language, and actually know what you are talking about. You cannot buy a $6 dollar article and try to pawn it off as a guest post. You also can't spin guest posts either.

        Most people on these forums are looking for the cheapest easiest way to make money.

        There is money in cheap and easy.

        There is money in quality content (authority sites) as well.

        Guest posts give you one good link. EZA gives you bunch of ****ty links. Both work to an extent but if you ask Google they'll probably say go the guest post route.
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        • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
          Originally Posted by TheRealDudeman View Post

          IME, guest blogging is far more powerful than syndication. Blogs are hot with a lot of people and the communities you can reach via blogs are much more likely to be shared and engaged with over articles.
          Oh really? You can reach more people via blogs than through article syndication? I would be interested in how you do that... Maybe you can become a War Room member and post a WSO explaining your method, and I'll be one of the first to buy it!

          (by the way, guest blog posting is really just another form of syndication, and the OP was not really about which is better so much as the differences between writing specifically for each one.)



          Originally Posted by tylerherman View Post

          If you are willing to write great content and put in the time to write a lot of it don't do anything other than guest post. The links are far, far better. You are getting links from actual authorities with some Rank behind them. Not to mention getting your name in front of a lot more eyeballs and hopefully some traffic in return.

          People don't do it as much here, because it is hard and takes lots of time. You have to be a good writer, have good command of the English language, and actually know what you are talking about. You cannot buy a $6 dollar article and try to pawn it off as a guest post. You also can't spin guest posts either.

          Most people on these forums are looking for the cheapest easiest way to make money.

          There is money in cheap and easy.

          There is money in quality content (authority sites) as well.

          Guest posts give you one good link. EZA gives you bunch of ****ty links. Both work to an extent but if you ask Google they'll probably say go the guest post route.

          My guess is that fin has been around long enough to know that most people in the Warrior Forum do not consider article syndication to be about getting "links" from either blogs or EZA. I'm sure he also knows that we don't suggest anyone buy cheap articles and attempt to pass them off as blog posts... so when you say "most people here" I have to wonder just who you are talking about???

          Not to mention myob's explanation about "getting it in front of more eyeballs" and my own comments on the subject of the "hopefully" strategy in marketing...
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          • Profile picture of the author RnGWriter
            [QUOTE=MikeTucker;5942225]
            (by the way, guest blog posting is really just another form of syndication, and the OP was not really about which is better so much as the differences between writing specifically for each one.)[/QUOTE=MikeTucker;5942225]

            You are absolutely right on that one. If you think about it, the only difference is that a guest post is unique to a particular blog while a syndicated post can be posted to as many blogs as you like. Some blogs demand that their guest posts be unique while others do not. In my opinion guest posts are more plausible when you are talking about a particularly high ranking blog or a blog that is paying you to write for them. Syndication is more useful for getting high quality back links and getting organic traffic.

            On the other hand, you also have to consider your objectives. Are you trying to create a buzz in your niche? In which case guest posting is more effective and much less work. If you are trying to build back links, go for syndication. Effective but requires more work than making a guest post.

            In your author or signature box, just be sure of of using the syndication tags, so the the blog syndicating your content does not get penalized for posting duplicate content. As for using article directories for syndicating content, ALWAYS post on your blog first and do not submit to directories until they are indexed by Goolge. That way even if someone uses ezine publisher but removes your link, they can be penalized for using duplicate content. I am actually thinking of using the syndication tags in the resource box from now on. I think that way, it will not matter if I submit the same article to more than one directory. Just a theory though.
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            • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
              [quote=RnGWriter;5942328]
              Originally Posted by MikeTucker View Post

              (by the way, guest blog posting is really just another form of syndication, and the OP was not really about which is better so much as the differences between writing specifically for each one.)[/QUOTE=MikeTucker;5942225]

              You are absolutely right on that one. If you think about it, the only difference is that a guest post is unique to a particular blog while a syndicated post can be posted to as many blogs as you like. Some blogs demand that their guest posts be unique while others do not. In my opinion guest posts are more plausible when you are talking about a particularly high ranking blog or a blog that is paying you to write for them. Syndication is more useful for getting high quality back links and getting organic traffic.

              On the other hand, you also have to consider your objectives. Are you trying to create a buzz in your niche? In which case guest posting is more effective and much less work. If you are trying to build back links, go for syndication. Effective but requires more work than making a guest post.

              In your author or signature box, just be sure of of using the syndication tags, so the the blog syndicating your content does not get penalized for posting duplicate content. As for using article directories for syndicating content, ALWAYS post on your blog first and do not submit to directories until they are indexed by Goolge. That way even if someone uses ezine publisher but removes your link, they can be penalized for using duplicate content. I am actually thinking of using the syndication tags in the resource box from now on. I think that way, it will not matter if I submit the same article to more than one directory. Just a theory though.

              Thanks, but:

              1. Most (but certainly not all) successful article syndication marketers here on the Warrior Forum do not bother with publishers that demand unique content, whether they are on blogs or in ezines or anything else... There are two many other publications which allow syndication to waste your time writing something for just one limited publishing outlet, as explained starting in this thread here.

              2. Again, most successful article syndication marketers here on the Warrior Forum actually care very, very little (if at all... I certainly don't!) about backlinks. The goal has absolutely nothing to do with getting ranked in the search engines, which we have found to be lower quality traffic than leads coming from real people who actually read what we write. Here is an explanation from myob as an example.

              ...That's right, I said it: SEO traffic is "targeted", sure, but it is not high quality.



              3. Your comments about duplicate content are just not true, as described here, for just one small example.


              ...I almost feel lazy posting this, but I just do not have the patience that Alexa does.
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              • Profile picture of the author RnGWriter
                1) I agree with MikeTucker. I do not bother either but I was addressing the Warrior who posted the thread and was explaining the different options.
                2) I should have made my point more clearly. I think I quote Alexa when i say that a single link from a high authority blog counts for more than thousands of backlinks from directory submissions. I understand that directories are not meant to work that way and the point of it is to have an outlet for publishers who are looking for quality content. Anyone who actually writes their articles would like to have actual humans read them and not "just robots" .
                3) Your argument about duplicate content is based on submitting to different directories. I am not saying you would be penalized for submitting the same thing to different directories, I said, or rather meant to say that if you are publishing directly on other blogs i.e. there are no article directories acting as the middle man, you should use the syndication tags. You "could" use the tags in directories too and is just a theory I'm testing out. If you do not use them when submitting to article directories, there is no harm what so ever.

                @MikeTucker: You are not being lazy at all
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                • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
                  Originally Posted by RnGWriter View Post

                  1) I agree with MikeTucker. I do not bother either but I was addressing the Warrior who posted the thread and was explaining the different options.
                  2) I should have made my point more clearly. I think I quote Alexa when i say that a single link from a high authority blog counts for more than thousands of backlinks from directory submissions. I understand that directories are not meant to work that way and the point of it is to have an outlet for publishers who are looking for quality content. Anyone who actually writes their articles would like to have actual humans read them and not "just robots" .
                  3) Your argument about duplicate content is based on submitting to different directories. I am not saying you would be penalized for submitting the same thing to different directories, I said, or rather meant to say that if you are publishing directly on other blogs i.e. there are no article directories acting as the middle man, you should use the syndication tags. You "could" use the tags in directories too and is just a theory I'm testing out. If you do not use them when submitting to article directories, there is no harm what so ever.

                  @MikeTucker: You are not being lazy at all

                  OK, I don't understand how to use "tags" or any of that, so I'm just going to accept that we are more-or-less on the same page.

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                  • Profile picture of the author fin
                    Mike,

                    I'm going to sign up to a few big ezines and see how they are written. No idea why I didn't think of this before, lol.

                    Cheers
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              • Profile picture of the author fin


                1. Most (but certainly not all) successful article syndication marketers here on the Warrior Forum do not bother with publishers that demand unique content, whether they are on blogs or in ezines or anything else... There are two many other publications which allow syndication to waste your time writing something for just one limited publishing outlet, as explained starting in this thread here.
                Mike,

                I know that gets thrown about on Warrior Forum quite a lot.

                I've been studying guest blogging a lot recently and some things stand out that may not get mentioned:

                1 - For starters, there is only a small percentage of readers that will click through on your bio box. If you are regularly guest blogging for a big website, more people will click through when they keep seeing your name coming up.

                2 - When you build relationships with bloggers, they will be more inclined to link to you if they like something they want to share with their audience.

                3 - When you develop good relationships with bloggers - some who may have email lists of 100,000+ - you can ask nicely if they will promote your product to their list (good if you have, or are ever thinking about making a product).

                I love the thought of syndication and guest blogging, so I'll be using both. I think both could work quite well on their own and I don't think one is better than the other - it's how you use them to your advantage.
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                • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
                  Banned
                  Not really following the flow of your logic here...

                  Originally Posted by fin View Post


                  1 - For starters, there is only a small percentage of readers that will click through on your bio box. If you are regularly guest blogging for a big website, more people will click through when they keep seeing your name coming up.
                  Do you have numbers quantifying that a guest blog post will bring a higher clickthrough rate than a syndicated article? I would imagine they would be about the same actually. It comes down to the quality of content being good enough to make a reader want to click through. When done correctly, neither a syndicated article or a guest blog post will be all that different in quality.

                  Originally Posted by fin View Post

                  2 - When you build relationships with bloggers, they will be more inclined to link to you if they like something they want to share with their audience.
                  Syndicated content can not build that same relationship with readers? I'm not really following how this is possible. Same goes on the publishing level. It's not like someone who gets their articles syndicated just throws the content at their publishers and says "put this up, punk". Relationship building occurs there, too.

                  Originally Posted by fin View Post

                  3 - When you develop good relationships with bloggers - some who may have email lists of 100,000+ - you can ask nicely if they will promote your product to their list (good if you have, or are ever thinking about making a product).
                  Again, what exactly is stopping you from doing this with a syndication partner? Absolutely nothing.

                  At the end of the day, I'd say the only real noticeable difference between guest blogging and article syndication is that one allows you to use the same piece of work while another requires you to tailor your content specifically to one site/blog. There are different means to the same end, and one isn't bringing some radically different benefit that you cannot achieve with the other.
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                  • Profile picture of the author fin
                    Yep, either I didn't explain it good enough or you didn't understand what I was saying.

                    If you think syndication will get you more visitors, that's fine. Carry on.
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                  • Profile picture of the author myob
                    If I could perhaps interject some perspective here. The value of article syndication is that the resources expended in research, composition, editing etc can be amortized over many hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of outlets. Guest blogging can be just as effective, with the exception being where unique content is required. It is not cost effective to customize articles with the same quality as can be done with mass distribution. There are exceptions of course, but unless the blogger has a very large or tightly targeted audience, it seldom is as effective as the leveraging advantage of syndication. This is the reason why I refuse to provide "unique content". You may find as I have that such bloggers use this requirement only to discourage backlinking "spammers", and generally will be receptive to quality, relevant syndicated content.
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                    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                      Originally Posted by fin View Post

                      1 - For starters, there is only a small percentage of readers that will click through on your bio box. If you are regularly guest blogging for a big website, more people will click through when they keep seeing your name coming up.
                      Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

                      Not really following the flow of your logic here...

                      Do you have numbers quantifying that a guest blog post will bring a higher clickthrough rate than a syndicated article? I would imagine they would be about the same actually. It comes down to the quality of content being good enough to make a reader want to click through. When done correctly, neither a syndicated article or a guest blog post will be all that different in quality.
                      Joe, I think the key words in fin's post are "regularly guest blogging", where your name shows up as a regular contributor. The same effect can be built when you find a blog or site that regularly publishes your syndicated articles.

                      A single guest post may have a slight - very slight - edge over a single article given the nature of "guest posting", where the blogger invites the guest post. Semantics, but they can have an affect on perception.
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                    • Profile picture of the author fin
                      Originally Posted by myob View Post

                      If I could perhaps interject some perspective here. The value of article syndication is that the resources expended in research, composition, editing etc can be amortized over many hundreds or even hundreds of thousands of outlets.
                      I agree with what you're saying.

                      I think we've had this conversation before, but if someone has a couple of niches rather than 50+, they can probably write articles a lot quicker. I doubt research would take half as long.

                      As I said - I love the idea of syndication - so I don't want to take the side of GB on a "GB Vs AS" debate.

                      I'm just saying they both have advantages.

                      (This is only directed at you because I'm sure you'll know the fitness niche, so I'll use it as an example)

                      All of the big fitness blogs with huge following always promote other peoples products. If someone wrote for one of those people, with unique content, them they would build a good relationship. If they ever came to promote a product, then your "guest blog person" could ask his pals to promote it. Stuff like that probably isn't uncommon in syndication.

                      Anyway, that's all I have to say on the matter. I'll stick to both.
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                      • Profile picture of the author myob
                        @fin,

                        Suit yourself, but let me just say this for you and all. Especially in such competitive niches as health and fitness, it is rare to find any blogger who will publish an article that even appears to be promoting products. The concept of article syndication or guest blogging is not about selling "products" at all. Frequent guest blogging, similar in principle to having articles syndicated in niche-targeted ezines and offline magazines, may be perceived by subscribers as a publishers' endorsement to have your article accepted for them to read. Such an implied endorsement may seem trivial, but actually its subtlety is quite powerful, especially when your articles are published on a regular basis.

                        It is possible to achieve this advantage with guest blogging if done as systematically, but IMO it still cannot reach the full potential of leveraging for massive, multiple exposures as with article syndication. This concept really is article marketing at its finest, where you are building and establishing outlets for repeat publication of your articles. In this marketing model, such publication outlets are real assets; no less real than "brick and mortar" retail chain stores building new outlets within their targeted markets.

                        And as these outlets accumulate, you will achieve not only a wider regular reading audience, but also a growing reputation, credibility, and eventually may even become "authoritative" within your chosen niche(s). It is important to not only understand the power of words, but also the association of their source and context. In essence, your articles are selling "you", not your products. At this point you have risen above the competition, and "selling" has become a much higher conversion level - "recommending".

                        What is so often missed among writers is that choosing your publications is just as essential as choosing your words in articles. Especially in such competitive niches as this example of health and fitness, guest blogging would not be anywhere near among my choices. The upshot here is that top quality writing for top quality publications drives top quality traffic. It really doesn't get any simpler than that.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
    Very interesting points... And hey, if it's working for you, more power to you!


    You know, I've agreed to "First publish" rights with some publishers that I really wanted to get my writing into, which essentially (and obviously) means that I gave it to them to publish before anyone else... I wonder if you could negotiate something like that with your blog outlets, so that you could leverage your writing across multiple blogs rather than investing so much time on each one?
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    Okay .. a little food for thought.

    Instead of guest blogging or article syndication, take all the writing effort .. combine it into an ebook. Give the blog owner 100% of the profit from that ebook in exchange for a top (site wide) banner.

    The banner redirects to a squeeze and the first email series warms and sells the ebook for the blog /ezine owner.

    Instead of one article or blog post that disappears in time, if you have a converting offer .. the owner has real reason to keep the banner up for a long time.
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