Does Anyone Write Articles For Traffic Anymore?

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Back in the day, online marketers used to write articles and then submit them to places like Ezine articles.. They did this in hopes that someone would come along, who's looking for free content for ther blog or website, and would post the article on their platform. The more articles you write with high quality content, the higher the chance of your articles getting selected.

To speed things along, a marketer would buy article spinning software to whip out 10 brand new articles from 1 article. Fast forward to 2019. Are people still using this form of marketing? I don't hear much about it anymore.
#main internet marketing discussion forum #anumore #article markeging #articles #promotion #traffic #website content #write
  • It's a flash in the pan. Long gone are the days of the thrill
    of churning out tens of variations of the original article.

    Dead duck.
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  • That worked back then because the internet needed content however now the internet has so much content that you need to bring out fresh and uniqueness to attract the reader.

    I recommend around 2,500 to 3,500 words in a content rich and easy to read layout.
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  • I remember writing out ezine articles! That was a while back.

    In my opinion now it's all about video marketing and how good you can convey your message. Of course textual content has it's place, but for convenience, quick and easy delivery video has become the top way to connect with your audience.

    As someone else mentioned, if you are writing text, it has to be content rich and engaging.
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah, I remember those days! I used to write and syndicate my articles trying to spread it around the internet as much as possible. I don't write articles per se anymore. I think blogging has pretty much taken over. At any rate,I believe good content is still the name of the game.
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  • Great points! In the end, we just need to create what our audiences want to consume and in a way that works for them at each and every single time.
  • That was an old form of marketing that doesn't exactly work too well nowadays. It's best to write those same articles for your site/blog, rank them, and then transcribe their form to be used in other forms of different media (youtube video, podcast, document site, viral ebook, etc).
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  • Google killed off that particular form of marketing. They decided that people were submitting fairly low quality articles, so places like EzineArticles all-but disappeared in their rankings. You can still do "content marketing", but you're better off doing it on your own domain.

    As for article spinning, I suppose it could have its uses, but it doesn't really build you up as an "Authority" in your niche. Plus, you're always playing a game with Google, and hoping they don't spot that the content is similar.
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  • The old method of article marketing does't work so well anymore due to Google changes. Now the focus has to be on focusing on your own domain, networking with other established sites and maybe some effective social media marketing.
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  • You just need create unique article for each submission and submit it to high page rank site and share the same article on different social media websites.You are the right place, here in this article. we discuss top 5 high-rank article submission websites that you should use.
    1- Hubpages
    2- ArticlesBase
    3- Sooper Article
    4- Articlewarp
    5- Articlecity
  • Hi Adrianne

    The answer is YES. But we're not writing articles for traffic.

    We writing content that is a solution to a problem.

    So many people just write articles without putting real thought into it.

    A lot of research goes into writing an awesome blog post.

    You need to figure out what people in your niche need help with. Solutions to these problems make for awesome blog posts. Because it's focused towards genuinely helping your audience.

    You want people to read your articles and feel like it helped them.

    This will encourage them to join your email list too.

    Building your email list of loyal subscribers is the core asset in your business.

    Mozie
    • [1] reply
    • ^^ This was actually the "old" article marketing method, long before Google or the internet. And it still works better now than ever before.

      For any given commercially viable niche, there are thousands or tens of thousands of relevant online/offline publications which can be leveraged for massive convertible traffic.

      This extremely powerful marketing method was butchered and ba$tardized by self-anointed "gurus" who made millions selling their "systems", spinners, and spammers to unsuspecting victims. And many marketing amateurs are still learning that search engine robots are not buyers; people are.

      Nearly 90% of my traffic has always came steadily from article syndication in magazines, newspapers, newsletters, trade journals, blogs, websites, etc for more than 20 years.

      Publishers and bloggers are always hungry for quality content for their reading audiences. This type of advertising is perhaps the most formidable model especially within the most hotly competitive markets, particularly where it may be impractical or perhaps impossible to consistently rank profitably in the search engines.
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  • Gotta figure there be stuff spat out so many times you gotta wonder how vomit can manifest itself ovah an' ovah without nowan gettin' sick.

    Troo content keeps bellies full is all I know.

    Nourishment you wanna chomp on as feeds healthy bones an' teeth.

    That is why people gobble it up & hold it down.

    Question is ... is Google the provider? The arbiter? The reactionary follower?

    All I know is ... my dootifully savant braino can't know close to jack frickin' shit per cent 'bout evrythin', an' like all hoomans here, ima dependent on others for skills & knowledge I don't have gonna shortcut conundrums.

    Less'n articles are jus' reuurposed garbage, gotta figure they condense expertise for the avrage Joe & turn 'em on smarter real quick.

    That's how libraries worked back in the day.

    Only the presumption back then as evrywan sat down real quiet an' thumbed through Miraculous Grimoires Dusty was kinda it all troo an' intrinsically useful.

    Problem we seein' rn with internet "content" generally is how you gotta be choosy 'bout what you chomp on for succor.

    That is mebbe why real incisive smart stuff still packs value.

    Cos it don't have to run with the strapline

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    • The thing that has always befuddled me on this forum for years is why writing keyword-embedded gobbledygook ("back in the day") to feed robots was ever effective. Now, feeding good stuff to real people is considered to be "new". There's been a whole lotta whacked out ideas here displacing common sense.
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  • I think the keyword here is content, in whatever form resonates with your audience. I run a Q&A via my music niche WhatsApp group where a lot of the questions I already have answers to published on my blog, and so I would simply provide the link. And if there's a topic I haven't written about, I'll quickly write an article to address the question and I'll share the link.
  • That technique may have worked back in the day but it was shortsighted. It's best to develop a marketing plan and figure out how content fits within it. Submitting content to high profile websites such as Medium, Forbes, and LinkedIn are good examples of where to start.
  • Yes, many of newbie in seo still write article and submit their article to article submission site to get more traffic
  • Video has taken offer content marketing from Article (text) marketing. Who would have thougth that youtube would be the second most popular search engine in 2019?
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    • Totally right.

      I have written 100's of articles between 2006-2009 and can tell you that this strategy is not worth it anymore.

      Paid ads in the right places still works really well. You just have to find these amazing places to place your ads. (Twitter ads, YouTube, Bing, Google, instagram). Just to name a few.
      • [1] reply
  • Google's algorithm updates change so many things. I can only see someone using this method to increase their backlinks. And that might not be too reliable
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  • Hello myob

    I think most internet marketers are too tied up with internet marketing. They ignore all the old ways like direct mail and print media which have been proven to be effective for the last 100 years or more.

    Though some would not understand this, we use a huge amount of direct mail to promote our online services. A direct mail piece (usually a letter with brochure/flyer/postcard) or a print magazine will usually gain much more attention and reading time than an email, and with so much less competition for their attention then the 1000 or so emails that hit their box that day. lol..

    Another example of how we use your "implied endorsement" is that we seek out companies who have influence with our target market (So might be accountants who are dealing with small business's) then we want to run a regular column in their newsletters. Most love this idea, less work for them finding monthly content themselves.

    We will even do a free redesign of their newsletter if it's obviously dated, or even design and layout their newsletters for them in exchange for advertising and article space. We can also profit by offering list management services, autoresponder services, or print/mailing services.

    Cheers
    Lindy
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    • I agree. I simply do not see the "old I.Ming" ways a as a good method anymore. Spammed to death. Go back to phone/ face to face, direct mail"

      If i see someone face to face and get my message across they are all ears. If i out an article out.....nothing. It's as if most people have tuned out to info. on the Net. I guess they simply class everyting as a scam/lie until proven otherwise?
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  • It used to work. But let's be honest, a lot of what was on sites like Ezine was basically garbage.

    Writing to drive traffic still works but it's more in the context of content marketing now. Creating content to provide value for your customer, establish yourself as an industry leader, and direct them to your funnel.

    The old way of doing things always felt kind of sneaky some how. At least now, with content marketing, you can be a little more direct about your message and your intentions.
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    • Actually, "the old way of doing things" is now the "new way of doing things". The proven concept of writing for commercial marketing goes back to 3500 BC in Sumeria. And since the Industrial Age, multi-media content marketing (including article syndication) has evolved into the most powerful promotion media of all time for offline and online formats.

      But it seems there was a short period of marketing madness just before all the Google animals came out. Silly marketing notions replaced solid business practices. Centuries-old proven article marketing concepts were tossed out by some in favor of trying to sneak through Google algorithms by writing nonsense sprinkled with keywords. However, even though the Google robots have been getting smarter, many "content marketers" even now are not.
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  • Banned
    For as long as People need information/advice/etc. ― and for as long as articles are a medium for that -- article marketing will always work.
    For me People posting to eZine Articles (etc.) was more of a "money maker" than a Business.
  • Article marketing is spam until you figure out how to make it be about something other than link building. You have to make your articles important to the readers, not to the machines and published on sites related to your article topic.
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  • It still works for me and I've been working online since the year 2000.
    I have around 100 or more articles there and they still drive traffic each month.
    In this game you have to go your own way and not pay too much attention to what's said.
    The amount of people that jump on bandwagons amazes me.
    Spread your content around as much as you can.
    Not just on Ezine, but the big doc sharing sites like Scribd and Slideshare.
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  • I think it has changed even beyond good/meaningful content.
    Back in the 90's early 2000's people searched for information..but that has changed now. With so much false information out there most simply gave up.
    You still get you I.Mer's and opp seekers but serious business seekers do not got searching around the net anymore for information.
  • I remember we used to write articles for traffic only and used to generate sufficient traffic from them. But I don't think that anyone is writing articles for traffic only, it's worth is more these days.
  • Things have changed. Even though, content is still the king. A website without articles is like a car without an engine. But the quality of the article matters a lot. Also, having your articles published on websites such as Hubpages, article city and many others is critical. It ensures that you get the required backlinks to bring more traffic to your website.
  • Spinning is dead but writing HIGH QUALITY GUEST POSTS and getting them published on high authority sites with lots of TRAFFIC still works.

    You win on 2 levels: direct traffic and SEO
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  • yes people still write articles
    Nowadays you need a very good marketing strategy to PROMOTE that content in a right place, right time
  • Writing article is important part of SEO strategies. But do remember, write an article for human, not for search engine. If you want to target any keywords, you can optimise the keyword inside your articles. Of course, should be match with SEO guideline.
  • There are still people who write articles for money. Of course, you need to develop a specific strategy for writing and publishing. Writing high-quality, relevant articles raises blog traffic. Only your content should be unique.
  • I do not agree that writing content is already outdated. Now the quality and the most important content attracts more subscribers. There are people who can write content for money.
  • Writing unique articles, no copy and paste or plagiarism, that provide solutions to problems will still work. Submit to places such as hubpages.

    Also start a social media strategy to get links out there to your article. Start a FB fanpage, if B2B Linkedin is good to use. Pinterest is also a great one if used right, lots of good videos on Youtube on how to setup and use Pinterest properly.

    Speaking of Youtube it's also good to use, make a short video highlighting the points of your article then a link to the full article. Lots of videos on Youtube on how to set up your account and post videos.
  • Contrary to what MYOB pushes -- the facts say otherwise. Plenty of offline publications now only publish online, have gone from monthly to quarterly, etc, etc. The whole industry of offline publication has been shrinking for 20 years. You can fact check that. Facts are real. Forum personas are not.
    • [2] replies

    • Hello 1Brian

      I think you have absolutely no understanding of what "MYOB pushes", or what either of us have said in our posts.

      Yes, the offline publishing industry has been shrinking, but if you would like to go fact check your statement, you will find this is mainly consumer magazines and the newspaper industry.

      What does that matter anyway? We are mainly talking about writing articles for trade publications, newsletters and so on. MYOB also mentioned writing articles for blogs and online publications.

      I have first hand experience with online publications, we still do some affiliate marketing and even though it is a small part of our business now it brings in from US$2.6 to US$3 Million in commissions each year. Our only means of promotion is via our own monthly online flip page magazines. We publish a number of magazines for different niches, averaging 40 + pages of content including ads for our online superstores plus other related affiliate offers.The superstores mainly contain Amazon stores but also other large affiliate stores as well. Our largest magazine is one for online dating, with over 120,000 subscribers and returns over US$1 Million in affiliate commissions on it's own.

      As far as our Agency goes we publish a monthly print magazine that goes to all our clients and an online version that is sent to prospective clients. Guess what we waste our time putting in them - ARTICLES and Ads relating to the articles.

      Another point you seem to miss is that ANY article that we get published, in ANY publication, is FREE Advertising/Promotion for us. Even a one page article in a trade magazine could be worth thousands of dollars if we had to buy that advertising space, but we are getting that exposure for free, and often on a recurring basis.

      The third point you miss is the fact that when our articles are published in magazines, newsletters and so on it gives us expert status, so much more effective than any ad could be.

      Now as far as your statement: "Facts are real. Forum personas are not." That's fine Bryan, take no notice of us "Forum Personas", that's your loss, not ours.

      Cheers
      Lindy
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    • Partially true, but in my view those little weany publications never were significant anyway for marketing . Many of the major offline publications have been growing an online presence for years in addition to their traditional offline components. The ones who haven't adapted either went out of business or were bought out.

      However, the offline publishing industry is by no means going away. It has been in transition, which means there is a lot of mergers by conglomerates. Put simply, people now have more choices than ever before about how information is consumed.

      For example, I'm still writing articles for metropolitan newspapers, trade journals, niche-relevant magazines, industry newsletters, etc. These are all generally available in both offline and online formats.

      Personally, I have not seen any significant decline in offline readership audiences. Get a copy of "Writers' Digest" and check out magazines.com. Doomsday has not arrived yet for physical publications. And online marketing is still a small fraction of offline transactions.
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  • In my opinion, it still works but you need to plan it properly.
    1. Do publish these write-ups in your website instead of third party small websites and if still want to target third party sites then choose those, which are ranking on top spots in Google.
    2. Write for users and not for search engines. Give solutions of their problems.
    3. Write more than 1500 words write-up with support of rich-content such as: images & videos.
  • Yes, it is still done but not the same modus operandi anymore. No more just submitting the article to www.ezinearticles.com and expecting the cash to start flowing in.

    What is in vogue is writing awesome articles and submitting it to bloggers and other websites to publish it.

    Aside that, the article can be on your blog or website and you drive traffic to it posting it on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms out there.

    Some apparently are making a killing from it. I'm not as I don't like writing articles
  • My experience is that great, long articles will not guarantee traffic. In fact, some of them will take weeks to be indexed, if they ever are.

    As so many have pointed out: Google is a pay or play proposition today. There is too much content and spam.

    Better off selling locally from a booth or pop-up office to real people in person than spending countless hours trying to create organic traffic with expert articles.

    That's my take. Too saturated and black SEO hat rules.
  • I mean doesn't work as good as it once used to, but that's a clear indication by SERPs to write content that is non-cliche, that isn't recycled, has something unique to offer.

    It's like Neil Patel or Brian Dean puts out a pillar content with an ample amount of uniqueness to offer, what bloggers in a similar niche do? They would just recycle their content.

    If you're a new blogger then write on Topics that aren't competitive & still has a decent search volume.
  • Hi
    For me article publishing still works well. The key success factors being the quality of the content that I publish and I spend considerable time and effort maximizing reach and salience through social media and other content publishing channels

    cheers
  • Publishers and bloggers are always hungry for quality content for their reading audiences. This type of advertising is perhaps the most formidable model, especially within the most hotly competitive markets.
  • Submitting articles to article directories do not work anymore in my opinion. A much better idea is to write unique, interesting, helpful content regularly on your own blog. Blogging is not dead, it is still one of the best ways to get highly targeted traffic for free.
  • If readers gain something out of your articles, it can still be very effective. The key thing here is usefulness. Many people talk about writing articles of 2,000 or more words. That is not necessary. If the article is that long, it can provide many benefits but it need not always be such long content. If you can present highly useful information and readers can take away many things from your article, even if it is less than 1k words, it can still be prove quite successful.

    As far as my own personal preference is concerned, I would anyday choose shorter articles over longer ones provided they provide value. If you can deliver valuable information in fewer words then it is much better in my opinion because it will save a lot of time for readers, and would definitely appeal more to people who have shorter attention spans or are just scanners instead of readers.
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  • 64

    Does Anyone Write Articles For Traffic Anymore?

    Back in the day, online marketers used to write articles and then submit them to places like Ezine articles.. They did this in hopes that someone would come along, who's looking for free content for ther blog or website, and would post the article on their platform. The more articles you write with high quality content, the higher the chance of your articles getting selected. To speed things along, a marketer would buy article spinning software to whip out 10 brand new articles from 1 article. Fast forward to 2019. Are people still using this form of marketing? I don't hear much about it anymore.