Contacting newsletter/website owners for article syndication

4 replies
After reading the advice of a number of respected Warriors I have started to send emails to newsletter and website owners telling them about an article or two I have written related to their subject matter. This is actually the first time I have done this after previously relying on EZA to get people to syndicate my articles but to little real success.

Okay, my questions...

1. Should I include the article in the initial email? Or merely tell them about an article and ask them to reply if they are interested?

2. What other pieces of information should I add to that initial email or is it best to keep it short and simple?

I want to include here an example of an email I sent today (bits excluded for keyword protection reasons). Is this style of email okay?

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Dear Sir or Madam,

I recently discovered your monthly newsletter (beep beep beep) which features articles and caregiving tips catered for those giving assistance and care to elderly relatives. From reading some of the back issues, it is clear that you offer very helpful advice.

I have recently written a few articles on the subject of (beep beep beep). One of them I feel would be perfect for inclusion in your newsletter and thus I have included it within this email as a document for you to look at.

Yours faithfully,


(name)


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Any advice would be much appreciated.
#article #contacting #newsletter or website #owners #syndication
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by beamkiss View Post

    This is actually the first time I have done this after previously relying on EZA to get people to syndicate my articles but to little real success.
    Please don't take this the wrong way. You're clearly doing the right thing. It's not a good idea to depend solely on passive syndication from EZA. But ... if you're not getting your articles syndicated from EZA, don't expect a dramatically different outcome from what you're about to try now, either. I think that would be very optimistic, because if they're people who "need content", you can be fairly sure that at least some (maybe many) of them will be looking in EZA anyway. That's what article directories are there for, after all, and people who need content know that, and know that EZA's one of the "biggest and best".

    I'm trying politely to suggest to you that the problem may be partly with the articles rather than the location.

    On the specific question you ask, some will prefer one way and some will prefer the other. There isn't a "single right answer" to this. You just have to choose one and go with it, and see what happens. In the long run, it won't make much difference: what matters is whether people want to syndicate your articles.

    But "Dear Sir or Madam" is definitely not right: much too stilted and formal for email. (Not to mention that it also stresses that you don't know who you're writing to.)
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    • Profile picture of the author beamkiss
      Hello Alexa, thanks for the reply. You are in fact one of the Warriors I've gleamed a lot of helpful information from.

      You're right. In the recent past I wrote articles that were aimed more at search engines than people and so were mostly 400-500 words that were rather bland. I'd taught myself (through reading some 'experts') that the article directories were there to push people to my website via the author box and that nothing more could be gained from them. I left my best content on my websites, which were longer and more interesting.

      Realised recently I was wrong with this course of action. Thanks again to your input to this forum, I now realise I can also place the articles I spend more loving care on to EZA after they have been indexed on my own site.

      Nowadays, it's not so much the fact my articles don't get syndicated, they do. It's the fact most don't include the author box link. Out of the last 17 articles, I had 36 republishing my work but with the above problem. From another thread, In realise that's probably because of an overly salesy author box.

      That's the main reason I'm rather hesitant to post to EZA and preferring instead to go the more direct route.
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      • Profile picture of the author NicoleBeckett
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        But "Dear Sir or Madam" is definitely not right: much too stilted and formal for email. (Not to mention that it also stresses that you don't know who you're writing to.)
        Yup! Alexa beat me to it

        Your letter screams "form letter". Instead, it should come across as a genuine email from someone who really does appreciate the blog/newsletter. The last thing you want is to feel impersonal. If you do, the person you're emailing may assume that your writing is also impersonal - or, that you simply try to get the same article published on every website you can find.



        Originally Posted by beamkiss View Post

        Nowadays, it's not so much the fact my articles don't get syndicated, they do. It's the fact most don't include the author box link. Out of the last 17 articles, I had 36 republishing my work but with the above problem. From another thread, In realise that's probably because of an overly salesy author box.
        If *you* feel that your resource box isn't effective, that's one thing. However, it really doesn't matter what site owners think of your resource box. If they're syndicating your articles, they are *required* to keep it in there (along with keeping any links you have). If they don't, they're violating your copyright and EZA's terms of service (or virtually any other article directory out there).

        I see articles of mine get re-published where the site owner doesn't include my resource box or my links. Or, in some cases, they'll take my name out entirely and act like they wrote it themselves I politely ask them to publish my article in its entirety (including all of the links). If they refuse to do so, I file a DMCA against them - and it works every time. No one has a right to steal your work (and by publishing it without giving you full credit, or by disregarding the terms of the directories, that's exactly what they're doing)
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        • Profile picture of the author beamkiss
          True Nicole. It does seem too formal looking back on it. I need to work on getting the right semi-formal tone.

          As for the missing links, I'll take the DMCA action after a warning email. Thanks for the tip.
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