Is Article Marketing Still Effective?

[makie]

I am thinking of getting 20 articles written for a niche and I was wondering if
this is still a good idea?

If so what method would I use to get the most out of the articles?

[Randall Magwood]

Post on your site and article directories. Not sure how much traffic you're going to extract with only 20 articles though - if you plan to submit to the article directories. Do what works for you. If you want to do traditional article marketing... you need more like 2000 articles to see some impact.

[makie]

Do you recommend any of the fiverr gigs that provide spinning and distribution?

[Farish]

I did some experiments with article marketing about a year ago. The highest traffic I actually got was submitting my articles to stumble upon. YMMV

[himanuzo]

Top 10 article directories are still effective for generating traffic but you need to write plenty of articles daily then submit all articles to them to see good results. The top 10 are based on Alexa.com.

e.g: 20 articles per day.
20 articles x 30 days x 10 article directories = 6,000 article submissions

For safety on Google, I suggest you to spin each article for submission to 10 article directories.

Few article directories accept original and unique articles which never submitted to elsewhere before. e.g: EzineArticles.com, Buzzle.com

[writeaway]

It depends on YOUR NICHE, THE SUBNICHE YOU'RE TARGETING, how you plan to monetize, and the quality of your content. There are too many variables. Please supply more details so the community can help you out. Also, look up Alexa Smith, she's the resident article marketing maven here.

[iPresenceBizSolutions]

Originally Posted by makie

I am thinking of getting 20 articles written for a niche and I was wondering if this is still a good idea? If so what method would I use to get the most out of the articles?

Looking at your question above, I'd say that content writing, per se, is always and will always be a good idea. Perhaps, you meant to ask, "Is article marketing still a good idea?" I'd recommend you to use the "Search" feature of this forum using the search term "article marketing" or "content syndication." Don't be surprised if you'll see lots of contributions by Alexa. It will consume too much space if I will enumerate all factors that contribute to a good article marketing technique here.

Originally Posted by makie

Do you recommend any of the fiverr gigs that provide spinning and distribution?

Makie, you can chisel it on the stone. You'll get what you pay for unless you are willing to pay $5.00 to spin a 50-word content. Okay, I may be contradicting the content writing services I have in my business but here's the truth: no one wants to read something that they already read. If your purpose in spinning content is just to come up with another version of an existing content, tell your writer (or you yourself) to re-write by keeping the core of the story and cite different examples. Don't re-write it in a sentence or word level.

I do hope that makes sense to you, Makie.

[denysapu]

Originally Posted by makie

Do you recommend any of the fiverr gigs that provide spinning and distribution?

I not sure you'll out with a good result by using spinning articles & distribution.
All efforts will result in commensurate.

[KenThompson]

Originally Posted by makie

Do you recommend any of the fiverr gigs that provide spinning and distribution?

No, and an emphatic hell no. Seriously, waste of time and $5.

Alexa's gonna yell at you in the morning.

[writeaway]

Originally Posted by makie

Do you recommend any of the fiverr gigs that provide spinning and distribution?

No. The link value you get from dozens of junk sites is worth less than the link value from one solid site. Don't use Fiverr for massive link building. Talk about an 'unnatural' link footprint...

[trade4861]

I capitalized on about 10 keywords for my niche (all similar keywords) with roughly 20 articles. Received some PageRank too. All submitted to article directories. One unique high quality article for each directory, roughly 10 keywords on first page of Google. Also paid the 299 to get into Yahoo directory. Never submitted to any of the "top 10 article directories," except for goarticles. Just submit one article per directory, just my opinion.

[makie]

Its a sub-niche of the health market I plan to submit articles and have the links point to a sells letter. I downloaded articles from the vendor and I plan to have them rewritten.

[iPresenceBizSolutions]

Originally Posted by makie

Its a sub-niche of the health market I plan to submit articles and have the links point to a sells letter. I downloaded articles from the vendor and I plan to have them rewritten.

Are you going to compete with your vendor's keywords?
Does that vendor have a well-established ranking already?

[Auctiondebteliminator]

If you're putting articles ON site and making your site relevant with GREAT, original, content, then yes!

Traditional article marketing?

Not a chance.

[writeaway]

Originally Posted by makie

Its a sub-niche of the health market I plan to submit articles and have the links point to a sells letter. I downloaded articles from the vendor and I plan to have them rewritten.

You may want to use article marketing the way it's supposed to be used: as a respository of high quality articles people will use to syndicate content on their sites. Do a search for Alexa Smith so you can check out the links she uses to explain the process. As for rewriting articles, you might be better off with getting 100% original materials instead of simply rewriting an existing package. Some of the top article sites are sticklers for quality nowadays after Panda laid the smack down on a few of them.

[makie]

I am going to use some of the keywords he supplied and do my own research on Gkeywordtool toward the market I am talking to.

His site is at about 300,000 on Alexa.

[writeaway]

Originally Posted by makie

I am going to use some of the keywords he supplied and do my own research on Gkeywordtool toward the market I am talking to.

His site is at about 300,000 on Alexa.

300K on alexa is pretty weak. You can easily beat that if you have the right kw strategy and you use multi-channel traffic. Again, it boils down to your content and also the TOOLS you use to convert temporary traffic into a permanent pool of traffic. I am, of course, talking about building a list.

[makie]

Originally Posted by writeaway

300K on alexa is pretty weak. You can easily beat that if you have the right kw strategy and you use multi-channel traffic. Again, it boils down to your content and also the TOOLS you use to convert temporary traffic into a permanent pool of traffic. I am, of course, talking about building a list.

So are you saying I should build my on blog or site and try to beat him?

[trade4861]

If you want score a good Alexa ranking then just target SEO related keywords and rank for them. Thats what I did and now in the 80K range and getting lower daily. Alexa ranks is just for bragging though cause it won't do anything for your site. Well, unless people link to you just because you have a good Alexa rank.

[makie]

Originally Posted by makie

Its a sub-niche of the health market I plan to submit articles and have the links point to a sells letter. I downloaded articles from the vendor and I plan to have them rewritten.

I apologize when I said sales letter I meant the Vendor's Sales letter. The vendor's site.

[talfighel]

Originally Posted by Randall Magwood

Post on your site and article directories. Not sure how much traffic you're going to extract with only 20 articles though - if you plan to submit to the article directories. Do what works for you. If you want to do traditional article marketing... you need more like 2000 articles to see some impact.

Randall is totally right.

If you are going to get into a niche that has a lot of competition in terms of articles written then you need to have that much (2000) to see some great results.

I know some people who have a lot more then that and get anywhere between 100-500 visitors per day.

20 articles in not going to do you a whole lot in my view.

[iPresenceBizSolutions]

Originally Posted by makie

I apologize when I said sales letter I meant the Vendor's Sales letter. The vendor's site.

You are an affiliate of that "vendor," aren't you?

[makie]

So if I decide to start writing articles, is it useless just to post them to article directory sites and point them to the vendor's sales letter?

The question is if I am going to start an article marketing campaign, then its in my best interest to create my own blog on the product?

[makie]

Originally Posted by iPresenceBizSolutions

You are an affiliate of that "vendor," aren't you?

Yes, but some of the answers were implying that I was creating my own sales page.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by makie

Is Article Marketing Still Effective?

Yes, very much so. More so now than at any time since I've been online, anyway (since 2008). Large and increasing numbers of members here are making our full-time livings from article marketing.

Appreciate very clearly, though, that "article marketing" and "article directory marketing" are two totally different things. Article directory marketing died in about 2009/10, and all Google's 2011 updates were only the last nails in its coffin-lid. (That's not to say that you should never use an article directory, but you should use it only for its intended purpose, and that has nothing to do with SEO at all).

Here are two recent posts which will help you to understand the difference between article marketing and article directory marketing ...
How do Article Directories work?
Your article writing ISN'T working! This is why:

Originally Posted by makie

If so what method would I use to get the most out of the articles?

Here's what I do, if it helps ...

1. Write articles that other people want to publish and share with their already targeted traffic.

2. Always publish them and have them indexed on your own site first - don't give an article directory (or anyone else) the initial indexation-rights to content not previously published.

3. Get your articles re-published as widely as possible in places that already have the traffic you want (an article directory is a stepping-stone toward doing this, and has no other purpose at all, so don't try to use it/them for mass backlinks, nor for customer traffic, because those are both potentially expensive mistakes that can actually damage your business). Article marketing isn't about putting articles only on your site and then finding people to come along and read them: it's about taking your articles to where the people you want to attract are already looking. It isn't about how many articles you have: it's about who reads them.

4. Never spin anything.

5. Understand really clearly how article directories work and why it would be such a big mistake to try to get customer traffic from them.

And good luck!

[Chris Donne]

Article marketing is a fantastic way to get residual traffic, do the work once, get paid over and over. When i satarted out ,all I did was article marketing, because funds were low, when $$$$ started coming in I moved into other forms of marketing , and today I outsource my article writing, and it still works

[James Andy]

Article marketing is very beneficial for your site because it generates good traffic plus increase PR as well. I have been this for a while and I have a good response from this process.

[Chris Donne]

When you have your articles ready head over to fiverr.com and get them sydicated

[tagalog]

This thread has insipred me to get back to writing articles as I had stopped due to Google slaps.


Ok, ok, I know I should never give up but being human.......L-)

[goalswithinreach]

I believe the real question would be - Why limit yourself to just an article? In other words, if you are taking the time to write the article, why not leverage that article into a video as well?

Even something as simple as a slideshow, text-driven video with some background music is still better than nothing if the content is of high quality. Spread these videos around the web with a particular focus on YouTube and you'll have a nice flow of traffic you'd have otherwise missed out on.

Reserve yet another batch of your articles to send out as Guest Posts on other popular blogs and you have yourself one heck of an action plan.

[DR0832]

Hi I don't want to hijack the thread but I have a question for Alexa that I think others may have as well. Are you saying I post a unique article on a on a page on my website like www.mywebsite.com/stocks and then also post the article to one of the top article sites like goarticles and google won't penalize me?

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by beatstockpromoters

I have a question for Alexa that I think others may have as well. Are you saying I post a unique article on a on a page on my website like www.mywebsite.com/stocks and then also post the article to one of the top article sites like goarticles and google won't penalize me?

(I strongly recommend Ezine Articles in preference to GoArticles. Especially in your niche, actually.)

Yes, this is correct. Google won't penalize you.

(And it's not "duplicate content"! ).

Like many professional article marketers, I have a very large number of articles in Ezine Articles (and some in GoArticles too, to be honest), all of which had previously been published and indexed on my own site before being submitted there.

But do so understanding what an article directory is and why it exists and what uses you can/can't get out of it: don't try to get customer traffic coming from an article directory to your own site (that's not a good thing!), and don't imagine that the backlink will help you! All explained in this post: How do Article Directories work?

[Shane Natan]

Well, as Alexa put it (very well indeed) ... Yes, article marketing is effective, if you know what you're doing and how to do it!

As the general consensus goes, I also agree that 20 articles isn't going to "make or break" your business, but it's a start. You have to start somewhere and that puts you 20 articles ahead of those who haven't started their article marketing campaigns yet.

Best,
Shane

[H.Miller]

Article marketing is without a doubt still effective. However, you have to write more than 20 articles if you really want to get results. Article marketing is as much about quantity as it is about quality.

[proptiger123]

Posting 20 articles per day is good but only on that are working and create traffic if it is done on the good pr sites...

[katec]

Is Article Marketing Still Effective?

If you place DO FOLLOW link it will harm you! Used to work before not anymore!
If you place a NO FOLLOW link you might get some traffic as long as your article rocks!
Consider only quality article directory that people actually reads!

[JohnMcCabe]

Originally Posted by H.Miller

Article marketing is without a doubt still effective. However, you have to write more than 20 articles if you really want to get results. Article marketing is as much about quantity as it is about quality.

I disagree.

20 of the right articles, placed in front of the right audiences, is a great start.

Unlike what Alexa dubbed 'article directory marketing', which really isn't marketing but a form of link building, article marketing relies on how many targeted eyeballs you can put your content in front of.

I'd much rather have a handful of quality articles placed on a bunch of highly relevant locations (websites, blogs, newsletters, etc.) drawing traffic to my site hungry for more than thousands of pieces of keyword gibberish scattered on thousands of directories, most of which will never be seen by human eyes.

As for the 'I never post on sites without X rank or Y PR', that's not always a wise move, either.

> Smaller, lower PR sites may have exactly the audience you want, and not care about search rank (heresy, I know...).

> Smaller, lower PR sites don't all stay small or low PR.

Create the content that adds value to real websites, blogs and other publications and makes your ideal prospects want more. Put it in front of as many of those ideal prospects as you can. Provide a way for those prospects to get more of what you offer.

[wariswar]

Originally Posted by jasoncamroon

Yes article marketing are still effective, with the article marketing you can get targeted traffic to your site.

Have you tried it? Got any success?
Dont post just yes or no answers , show some proofs.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by H.Miller

Article marketing is as much about quantity as it is about quality.

Strange, though, how many of the people who say they think that are the ones selling articles to marketers, who post in threads like this with their signature-files advertising that fact. The people like John McCabe and myself who are actually making a living from doing article marketing don't believe that at all.

Readers of threads like this can see for themselves that some people have a direct financial incentive of their own for marketers to imagine that it's about quantity as much as quality.

[seriousjake]

From what I've understood it's fantastic if you're actually committed to the art of writing and not um.. spinning.

[Nikita A Beriozkin]

Place them on your site. Index them. Put them on the bigger directories: Ezine, goarticles, sooper articles, etc. There's about 20 or so that get good traffic. Optimize. Make sure you have a catchy title, etc. You'll get some traffic... not tons. If you're lucky and your articles are top notch, they will be republished (syndicated) on other blogs.... that's where your traffic potential comes from.

Use all that content to kick start your SEO campaign. Find the right keywords that do not directly compete with brand names, or established authority that you have no chance to complete with.

Using submitters/services to blast your articles is a mistake. 99% of article sites are junk that no one but bots or submitters ever visits, that may hurt your ranking potential in the long run.

You want to see what happens to most article marketers? Go to Ezine and type any keyword you want, see all those faces with 50,60,100,200 articles up who don't post anymore? That's the graveyard of article marketers. No they're not sipping Margaritas on a beach somewhere, they just went on to do other (more profitable ) things.

There are exceptions (nobody get upset now), but it is tough to make it in just Article Marketing. Besides which, you should never be relying on just one source of traffic for anything you do in IM.

[misterkailo]

article marketing is a dead strategy that stopped being effective 5 years ago

[Shellyannr]

Yes, it does have its usefulness. I would advise you to use this but add images and graphics to your articles if possible. These will help with ranking the content. Submit the articles to Google plus for quicker indexing.

[Anton543]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Yes, very much so. More so now than at any time since I've been online, anyway (since 2008). Large and increasing numbers of members here are making our full-time livings from article marketing.

Appreciate very clearly, though, that "article marketing" and "article directory marketing" are two totally different things. Article directory marketing died in about 2009/10, and all Google's 2011 updates were only the last nails in its coffin-lid. (That's not to say that you should never use an article directory, but you should use it only for its intended purpose, and that has nothing to do with SEO at all).

Here are two recent posts which will help you to understand the difference between article marketing and article directory marketing ...
How do Article Directories work?
Your article writing ISN'T working! This is why:



Here's what I do, if it helps ...

1. Write articles that other people want to publish and share with their already targeted traffic.

2. Always publish them and have them indexed on your own site first - don't give an article directory (or anyone else) the initial indexation-rights to content not previously published.

3. Get your articles re-published as widely as possible in places that already have the traffic you want (an article directory is a stepping-stone toward doing this, and has no other purpose at all, so don't try to use it/them for mass backlinks, nor for customer traffic, because those are both potentially expensive mistakes that can actually damage your business). Article marketing isn't about putting articles only on your site and then finding people to come along and read them: it's about taking your articles to where the people you want to attract are already looking. It isn't about how many articles you have: it's about who reads them.

4. Never spin anything.

5. Understand really clearly how article directories work and why it would be such a big mistake to try to get customer traffic from them.

And good luck!

This may be a dangerous tactic for those of you want to get top Google rankings. It may get you some or even loads of traffic from other sites who have published your content, it also means lots of duplicate content. I know you are having it indexed on your site first but down the line Google's algorithm may start confusing whose content was the original.What if your site goes down and needs re-indexing? It will mean all your content will be considered duplicate.

Its a dangerous tactic.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by Anton543

it also means lots of duplicate content.

LOL ... it means no "duplicate content" at all, Anton.

As other Warriors have been trying to explain to you at various points over the last few weeks, you don't understand what "duplicate content" is. You've confused it with "syndicated content". The differences between the two are briefly explained in this post and this little article.

Originally Posted by Anton543

Its a dangerous tactic.

It's a hugely successful and very longstanding business model which existed before Google did, Anton. It's going from strength to strength. Warriors are increasingly making our livings and building our businesses from it. It's not intrinsically SEO-based at all, of course, but as it happens Google helps it out at every stage (and there are actually reasons for that!).

As you can see explained in the last paragraph of this post, article syndication is actually hugely beneficial to rankings (though they're only a side-benefit, admittedly).

You're just trolling, here - this wasn't even a current thread, until you bumped it to whine about what you mistakenly imagine to be "duplicate content".

[MyNewMama]

The most important thing is not all about the "quantity", but it's the "quality" of the article.
Google has been very clear: They want articles that actually help people. Spinning articles and things of that nature just for the sake of having a lot of articles won't help you much.

Just do a Google search of the top products or services in any niche and you'll see the difference in the content that they create and the content that others create/distribute.

You do need a certain amount of content, but the content needs to be epic content.

[MikeTucker]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

You're just trolling, here - this wasn't even a current thread, until you bumped it to whine about what you mistakenly imagine to be "duplicate content".

Hey, at least he didn't start yet another thread about it.

[Susan A]

Well, it won't be working if all your bullet is that few. You need more "bullet" to shoot the target, especially article directories where the target is very high. So I think you should prepare for daily submission, plagiarism checker, grammar proofreading ability, and writer, a lot of writer. The result can be seen after several months of doing, but it is just an options, keep and open mind and see another alternatives if you think it is too much works for you.

[Tanya E]

There are hundreds of posts about whether article marketing is effective or not. Why not have a sticky updated with current, factual information - maybe a thread with Alexa's inputs in it? :-)

[MikeTucker]

Originally Posted by Susan A

Well, it won't be working if all your bullet is that few. You need more "bullet" to shoot the target, especially article directories where the target is very high. So I think you should prepare for daily submission, plagiarism checker, grammar proofreading ability, and writer, a lot of writer. The result can be seen after several months of doing, but it is just an options, keep and open mind and see another alternatives if you think it is too much works for you.

1. Not to get into the gun violence debate, but if you need that many
bullets, it's not the ammo that is your problem, it is your utter lack
of accuracy.

2. You don't need a plagiarism checker if you aren't stealing anything.