Is Article Marketing Still An Effective Method For Traffic And Sales?

Yes, it is. Large and increasing numbers of Warriors are currently using it as our primary traffic-generating method, and doing very well with it.

Beware of people telling you stuff like "After all Google's updates, article marketing isn't as good it was, any more" ... needless to say, those people are thinking of "article directory marketing", rather than "article marketing" (but it's a widespread mistake, around here!). :p

Article marketing itself, of course, has nothing much to do with SEO.

If it helps you, here's a little one-post summary of "how article marketing works".

And if this helps, too, here's a little one-post summary of "how article directories work".

Nope. "Not so much" would be the answer, there.

First and foremost, of course, should always be your own site (and nowhere else until they've been published and indexed there).

After that, anywhere that's specifically relevant to the subject of your niche, so that you can attract targeted traffic from the readers/visitors of those sites.

Suggestions on "how to find those sites" are here.

And some suggestions on "how to ask them to publish your article/post" are here.

(It's very much less important, of course, but even the backlinks from those context-relevant sites are also worth something to your site, just because of their relevance - Google values that. But of course all you can ever get from Google is "search engine traffic", which tends to be of limited value and is often temporary, too).

Don't forget ezines, as well as websites. Their traffic can often be highly targeted and responsive, and their subscribers pretty attentive.

Also, offline sources (magazines, even newspapers) commonly re-publish articles, and these can produce real floods of traffic (acceptance is generally more difficult, and there's more work involved and a bigger learning-curve, but the benefits can really be dramatic!).

After that, it's also worth mentioning Ezine Articles (but we're kind of down to "afterthoughts", now!). That's the web's best-known article directory, and can be used as a way of achieving some additional, "passive syndication", i.e. when publishers look there for content to re-publish (that being the purpose of article directories). It's only an afterthought, compared with everything mentioned above, but it can be a good and helpful afterthought. (I submit all my articles there - after they've been extensively published elsewhere, of course - and I do sometimes benefit from it, a little. It's free, anyway).

In contrast, it's not worth mentioning any other article directories, and for all the reasons explained in this post, no article marketer would want their potential customer traffic coming to their sites via an article directory anyway: that isn't how article directories work, isn't what they're intended for, and isn't a benefit they can provide, either. This thread explains how to use them: How do Article Directories work?

Very last on the list, and the "lowest of the low" are probably "Web 2.0 sites", which tend to come with all sorts of problems and disadvantages for article marketers, and very few (if any) additional benefits, for all the kinds of reasons explained here.

The rule of thumb (and it's a pretty good and valid one) is that anywhere where you can just "submit your own content" without any sort of editiorial approval/acceptance process probably isn't going to be of any real benefit to you.

Here are a few other threads which include a big mixture of comments on the subject of "where to submit articles" ...

Best way to submit articles?
What is the Best site for Posting Articles
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-articles.html
Article Writing & Syndication Explained?
Really dumb article SYNDICATION question

Lloyd,

You've missed a lot while you were gone. Fundamental selling techniques and human nature regarding buying don't change all that much. But tactics, methods, and systems change all the time.

Yes. Articles are still a top method of drawing traffic to your site. You must insist upon quality in order to differentiate your articles from the mass of regurgitated junk that so many think is "content." But really, top quality original articles are still a wonderful way to get eyeballs to your offer and label you as an authority.

I think the "more likely place" is anywhere that your targeted audience will see your articles. I personally think it's best to try to get your content on niche sites (in your niche of course) rather than exclusively in article directories and link farms.

Again, you want to put your content in front of targeted prospects that will be anxious for your content and much more of the same (following your link to your own web site.)

I would also say, be sure to post your articles to your own site and get them registered in the search engines prior to sending your content out to various niche sites.

The very best to you,

Steve

You can still get traffic from article directories but not like you used to.

If you are hoping to write a spun article and hope it will get on Google for SEO reasons. No.

If you are trying to fresh content, you want to focus on the main article directories (Traffic)

Article directories since Google Update aren't like they used to be, but they are still a source for traffic.

http://www.warriorforum.com/member-c...ndication.html

You tell me...

Yes article marketing so much effective now

Article marketing still works, but not the way it used to in the past. You can still get decent traffic from article marketing if you focus on writing quality articles.

Article Marketing has always been one of the most prominent way of gaining traffics & retaining visitors in your site.
However, yes indeed with Google Updates, Article Directory marketing is not as widespread as it was earlier as bulk submission of article is banned from Google prospective.
Article Marketing form the baseline of providing new update regarding your products & services to your customers & users.
It even provide a platform for marketing the products & services as it attract customers to your site through indirect mean.

Yes this still works great, if you have a good list for article submission, then you are going to get good targetted traffic quickly.

OH YES . Article marketing still works very well.

There are many directories but of course you
want to publish in the respectable ones.

In regards to Hubpages, it's a really cool
community and your (well written) content
will get noticed both with in the community
AND on search engines.

The one downfall to publishing on Hubpages vs.
the usual article directory is the lack of a
resource box. You can create a makeshift box
by adding an About the Author text widget to
the bottom of your articles, but be careful.

Hubpages also frowns upon self-promotion.
But your consistent valuable content will pay
off on the site...not to mention ad revenue.

There is no doubt you get multiple benefits i.e traffic and search engine ranking from article marketing if you use it properly.
Following are the some rules.
1- Always write a unique, informative and interesting article. Don't use spun articles.
2- Post your article on reliable and high pr directories only.
3- Post your an other article on Squidoo pages, hub pages and link back to your money site and article page.
4- Share your article links on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus etc...

Hope you fill find it helpful

If you really can write, why bother with the little stuff? Write a good book. A real book. Can you name one single writer whose claim to fame is "I'm among the top ten article market writers"? Can you name any of the top ten book writers?