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How exactly does article syndication work?

by tjc348
10 replies
I've been told that article syndication is an effective way to get quality backlinks. I understand how it works for the most part, but not entirely.

From my understanding: write a quality article that is more than the bare minimum of words,and do not use SEO in the article.

If someone picks up my article and posts it on their site, then I get the credit(considering I publish it on my website first).

What I don't understand is: what do I put in my resource box? And when someone publishes my article on their site, they need to include the link to my site, correct?

But how do I ensure that this would happen?
#article #syndication #work
  • Profile picture of the author Mike Mendell
    In your resource box, you include a brief description of who you are and what your product/website/service/business is about.

    Example:

    If you've enjoyed this article by John Smith, check out his website at http://www.YourSite.com for more tips on Your Product/Service.

    Any webmaster that picks up your article and posts it on their site MUST include your resource box and give you full credit otherwise it's plagiarism.
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  • Profile picture of the author tjc348
    Should I also add that my article is open for syndication, or is that not necessary?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Mendell
    Not really. Most article directories publish syndication guidelines to webmasters on how they may use the content that's posted to their site.

    Just write a killer article/resource box and you're good!
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Mike's given you solid answers, as far as they go. But he's just scratching the surface, talking about what might be called 'passive syndication'.

      A more active form of syndication means seeking out relavant blogs and authority sites, as well as newsletter publishers (both online and off) and offering them your content. Same rules - resource box with live link (obviously, 'dead-tree' publishers need only provide the link).

      In this form of syndication, the link value is actually a bonus. The main value is being able to put your content in front of targeted readers/listeners/viewers you might not be able to reach otherwise.

      If you're personable and diligent, it's quite possible to build up a list of such publishers. When you create a new piece of content, you publish it to your own site and get it indexed. Then you offer it to your private syndicate. Finally, you publish it to whichever directory or directories you favor.

      A variant that can also yield quality, targeted traffic is guest writing or guest posting, where you actually give the publisher original content to use on their site or in their publication.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by tjc348 View Post

    From my understanding: write a quality article that is more than the bare minimum of words,and do not use SEO in the article.
    You can use some SEO in the article. But if it's "crawling with keywords" it may not read too well, and if it doesn't read too well, nobody but yourself will syndicate it.

    Here are five more little things it may help you to know about "writing for syndication".

    Originally Posted by tjc348 View Post

    What I don't understand is: what do I put in my resource box?
    You have to strike a balance between getting people who read the syndicated copies to click on the link (so that you get targeted quality traffic rather than just quality, relevant backlinks) and not looking so salesy that nobody's going to want your resource-box on their site.

    Originally Posted by tjc348 View Post

    And when someone publishes my article on their site, they need to include the link to my site, correct?
    If they take it from an article directory, yes - because that will be part of the article directory's terms of service.

    But don't rely solely on people syndicating your articles from EZA etc. You need to "get busy" yourself, identifying and contacting people who may be looking for content, and offer them content. When you do this, you just do a "content for backlinks" deal with them, in effect.

    There are also huge numbers of ezine publishers always looking for content, and you can find them in the Directory Of Ezines (it isn't free).

    Originally Posted by tjc348 View Post

    But how do I ensure that this would happen?
    You can't ensure it'll happen.

    You can make it likelier that it'll happen, but not using an "overtly advertising" style of resource-box.

    In any form of article marketing, at some point, some people will take your articles without the resource-box. It isn't a big deal at all. (And it clearly isn't a reason not to syndicate articles!! In any case, the prospect of people stealing your content without attribution/links is (a) not intrinsically connected with whether or not you're using a syndication model, and (b) trivially easy to deal with anyway: you have two pre-written emails and you just send them out as and when appropriate.).

    The "secret" (in so far as there is one) is to deal with it very quickly and very efficiently, so that it takes up as little of your time as possible. It's actually really easy to do.

    You can always get them removed, by serving a DMCA notice (which you have ready to go out) on them, with a copy to their registrar, their host, and Google. You just "fill in the blanks". This takes less than 2 minutes to do, so ignore anyone telling you that it's some sort of "big problem". :rolleyes: :p

    But when I find copies of my articles without the resource-box, my primary objective isn't normally to "get the content removed" but to get my resource-box added to it: described here.
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    • Profile picture of the author tjc348
      Thanks guys.

      When I content other blog owners, offering them my content, is it okay to give them an article to post on their blog that I have already submitted to ezine (as long as the content is published on my site first)?
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by tjc348 View Post

        When I content other blog owners, offering them my content, is it okay to give them an article to post on their blog that I have already submitted to ezine (as long as the content is published on my site first)?
        Yes, certainly.

        But, there's another "situation", too ... when you're contacting someone in these circumstances (whether you've just "found" them on your own or because they've syndicated one of your articles from EZA) you can also offer them "further articles on very similar subjects not yet submitted to Ezine Articles". When they say "yes", you then add them to your list of "syndication sites" and with future articles, you publish on your own site first (always - of course), and then send them out to "syndication sites" and only then submit them to EZA and anywhere else you're using.

        (It reminds me of an entertaining conversation in another thread, when someone said that EZA was "the last place he wanted his articles to be submitted". It's the last place I submit mine, too ... but still very useful! ).
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        • Profile picture of the author tjc348
          Thanks Alexa, you've been a lot of help.

          One more question; how many article directories should I submit my articles to? In the past I would send them to about five different (top rated) article directories. Is this okay(obviously after my content is published on my own site first)?
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by tjc348 View Post

            how many article directories should I submit my articles to? In the past I would send them to about five different (top rated) article directories. Is this okay(obviously after my content is published on my own site first)?
            It's ok ... I used to use 5 or 6.

            I use fewer, now. Just EZA (always) and ArticlesBase and/or GoArticles, according to niche, (and the only reason I use those two is that I'd feel stupid if EZA went under tomorrow and I hadn't submitted them anywhere else).

            I've seen other Warriors saying they do regularly get work syndicated from ArticlesBase and GoArticles, but I can't honestly say that I do, very often. (I do check, and I have a way of identifying the source reliably - but in reality it's almost always EZA).

            For traffic, and backlinks, it's not really even worth the submission-time. :p

            But for about a year I used 5 or 6 - and I don't see why not, really.
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  • Profile picture of the author saseos
    unfortunately you cannot make sure that your link is posted, some people just do use your content without asking and exclude all the links that are meant to be there. But your post is spot on as to how it all works.
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