Article Marketing Going Extinct?

I will differ with you a bit. I have build clients site to rank on first page even after the post Panda from article submissions with little trouble. Its not a sweep stake as many now look at it, expecting to get instant results. You need to work up your ass, but at the end is worth it.

Article reproduction can backfire, but article writing can never go extinct.

Alexa will be here in a minute

interesting.....

I personally doubt Google would kill of article marketing of high quality articles.
After all, it wants quality content.

The problem is so many articles are far from quality.

Perhaps Google will be able to distinguish between the two in the future.

Forgive me, but when you make assertions like that - especially after all the times people have been over it with you before - it's pretty obvious the sole purpose of this thread is to stir up an argument.

I say argument, not a debate, because you cannot debate with those who dismiss outright whatever evidence or convincing input you provide to make your point; nor with those reluctant to be convinced of the merits of real article marketing because of some unexplainable emotional (or entirely transparent financial) investment in railing against it, no matter what.

My question is this: why do you care?

What you do isn't even article marketing by the traditional definition. Since you don't do article marketing, why do you care if it dies? You stand to lose nothing.

Or is it because you know deep down that the game you play with SEO and/or article directory marketing is actually the most fragile and unsustainable one, and being unable/unwilling to make real article marketing work leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth?

Interesting video - makes sense. Sending out a huge bunch of low quality spun articles may have worked at one time, but as the web matures and Google and others make their changes, quality will win out over mass produced junk in the long run. People complain because their sites fall in the rankings and their earnings drop, but take a look at who is at the top, and why.

After reading the article i am convinced james martell knows little about article marketing and how it works.

Duplicate content penalty?

how many times does google have to SCREAM that there is no such thing. If you are talking about duplicate content penalties, it is hard to take you seriously as an seo expert.

schttrj, you've provided a viewpoint on article marketing, but what are you saying? What things are Scary? And who are Them? Why isn't Article Marketing the real deal?

schttrj, next time you create a thread: I recommend providing examples to support your statements.

ramone_johnny, thank you for providing the Matt Cutts YouTube video Do you recommend article marketing as an SEO strategy? - it is a must-watch video for anyone participating in Linkbuilding, or article marketing.



Richard Van, I am confident your breaking a Forum Rule. I wonder if you would say that to Schttrj in real life, especially if he looked like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock). Your post also sounds like nonsense, considering your just insulting another Warrior Member, and indicate your better then us all, but your not prepared to provide a logic retort against his viewpoint.

Now to the question at hand, is Article Marketing Going Extinct?

I believe it is alive, but Article Marketing no longer lives in White-Hat St. It has moved to Grey-Hat St. with Google engineers still deciding whether it should be placed in Black-Hat St. - This is evident from the Panda Update, the recent algorithm change and Matt Cutts video on Article Marketing.

In SEO circles, Article Marketing is primarily used for Linkbuilding. Google is aware of this trend, and be honest with yourself Article Marketing evangelists, resource box links are not editorial and should have little to no PageRank value, which seems to be Google's belief. I am programmer, and Google has already created the technology, without a doubt, to reduce link significance based on location on page, and relation to other content.

Poor SEO Decision might hurt your website, so use Article Marketing, but don't over do it. Don't believe poor SEO decision can hurt your site? if so, watch: Can I flag spammy links to my site that I didn't create? By Matt Cutts that states '...we removed the language that it's impossible for a competitor to hurt another competitor and replaced it with language along the lines of its very hard...whenever we write an algorithm for example that looks at incoming links we do think about, ok, what if a competitor tried to hurt someone else, and we try to put in code to make sure that is not easy to do'

Finally, Google acknowledges a trend were most Article Marketing is evil, or poor quality content. In closing, I think Article Marketing is OK, just do it in moderation, just like most things in life.

p.s. Things always change, and those who do the wrong thing eventually get caught out, and good people like Alan Bleiweiss are evangelists for a better Internet Experience, and they tell Google how to improve, and Matt Cutts and Co. listen, See Alan Bleiweiss Comment

I do a lot of article posting but my site does not effects. Why?

I will personally take this as a good tip. I have read James Martell article, and he is right. Article marketing is a weak short sighted marketing model.

Hi schttrj,

In my book article writing is definitely not dead...not by a long way.

I say that from experience in several different niches and with client websites. Watching the video may discourage some people but the key to my mind was the originality comment.

Throwing out spun articles does a little to help but a few unique articles to the top directories goes a lot further. It is the age old "quantity v quality" argument.

Personally I use articles in such a way as...

1 they are original
2 not all links point to my site (they point to another same topic article that does point to my site)
3 take or make RSS feeds of the articles and submit those to RSS aggregators

Bearing in mind this is only one part of a marketers arsenal, it is then up to the individual if they want to use this or not. For me it is one key part of my SEO strategy for all my sites.

I honestly don't see how an Alexa Rank below 22650000 would help him any more. Alexa Rank is an indication of nothing except how many people with the Alexa Toolbar installed on their computers come to your site, in relation to others. It says nothing about overall traffic levels, earnings, authority, or indeed anything else that really matters at all. :confused:

Interesting article, thanks for sharing.

I just finished reading the entire article and watched the video. What's funny is that he's describing only one aspect of article marketing and fails to mention any other kind of article marketing. I saw nothing in the article about distribution channels, establishing relationships with webmasters / authors, effective syndication, etc.

It's like me saying that internet marketing can back fire on you because Google can suspend or ban your Adwords account. Well, that's true if you only rely on Adwords for 100% of your traffic and you don't follow Google's guidelines and terms of use. That's only one very, tiny aspect of internet marketing.

So I agree with him on how he describes article marketing, which the way it was done in 2005, but disagree with him that it's a "short-sighted marketing model" because he's only describing one very small aspect of it and fails to cover the whole gambut of article marketing strategies:



But what he fails to mention is how article marketing can be very effective in 2011. And he doesn't know this because he hasn't done it or practiced it himself; so he's giving a misinformed opinion. Quoting Matt Cutts only proves his point, weakly I might add, on one way that article marketing is done and how he defined it (which was defined incorrectly so his premise is already flawed). So I actually agree with him on that very specific point. There is a lot of misinformation out there about marketing by using articles and he does point that out.

When people write content in the form of articles, they can submit them to article directories, but that's only one very small aspect of it. They can also submit press releases. He doesn't mention that at all. They can create short reports and submit them to ebook directories. They can create podcasts and videos and submit those as well. He fails to mention that as well. Articles are not limited to the written word.

They can create a network of their own blogs and submit their content on their own blog network. It's also the distribution of that content that is very important, something that he leaves out in his article. So on one hand I agree with him that the way he describes article marketing is not the way to do it. But I disagree with him that it's ineffective because he only described one aspect of it.

As long as people want content on the Internet, article marketing will be around for decades to come; however, the manner on how it's implemented and incorporated in marketing funnels will definitely change. It's definitely changed a lot in 5 years and people who have kept up with those changes have benefited tremendously. Sheesh, it's changed in the past year!

Even in the article he admits that he doesn't know the future of article marketing and decides to make a "prophecy" that it's not "worth the risk." Well, he is certainly entitled to his opinion as I am mine. I've been reading about the "death" of article marketing for years. I remember ten years ago when several experts predicted the death of e-mail marketing. I think the bigger point he should have made should have been to not put all your eggs in one basket.

That would have made more sense to me. And that's my opinion based on over a decade's worth of marketing with articles, which is only one way of many on how I get traffic to my websites.

I found his article to be quite short-sighted and incomplete.

RoD

I still get a ton of traffic from my articles written over the years.

Also, the article referenced in the OP may be a bit biased as James Martell offers a very expensive guest blogging membership that consists of all the things the article talks about. Then again perhaps this is really the way James feels about article marketing and that's why he started the guest blogging membership. I used to follow him quite closely actually and I thought he used to be really big on article marketing.

As for the Matt Cutts video, you have to kind of take what they say publicly over at google with a grain of salt and do your own testing.

Thank goodness the authority on article marketing has enlightened us that article marketing doesn't work. Does that mean I really didn't grab over 3500 page one rankings in the last 12 month using only article marketing? I thought for sure it was working too! Who do I send the $500k back to that we collected in the last 12 months from article marketing? Inquiring minds want to know.

Or maybe...just maybe article marketing doesn't work for the op so he concludes it doesn't work for anyone.

Maybe I said.

I doubt Google will ban someone from their services because they submitted a bad article to a low value site.

It isn't Google's website.

The solution, which seems to have escaped Google, is to simply not index a site once it deems it of low value.

If there is junk in Google's index, whose fault is that?

.

A couple of quick points...

Just because there hasn't been a doop penalty in the past, doesn't mean there won't be one in the future. Plus, I'm not too sure there isn't one now. It's possible this is part of the Panda updates.

And, do Martell and Cutts have links to spinner software in ther sigs? Sure sounds like they are (indirectly) promoting them.

Article marketing hasnt gone extinct; In fact I've learnt that no technology ever goes away totally! What happens is that the creators of that form of technology change something to adapt to the industry requirements which keep fluctuating and so also those involved in the same (in this case those who use article marketing to promote stuff online) have also to adjust.

Its an excellent adapt or die situation; you choose the side you wanna be!

Blog networks prove their is no such thing as a duplicate content penalty.

Is the only reason to ever consider doing article marketing for the purpose of influencing Google?

Does Google hold all of the cards as to the power and effectiveness of article marketing?

NO and NO.

If you think the only reason to do article marketing is to get ranked in Google, then stop doing it.

We old-school article marketers will keep using article marketing as a promotion method, because we don't do article marketing to impress Google. We do it to drive targeted and relevant traffic to our websites.

We were doing article marketing when Google was still barely a blip on anyone's radar. And we will keep doing article marketing after Google is gone.

If Google kicks me out of its search engine, because I do article marketing, I will only lose 1/3rd of my traffic.

And 2/3rds of my traffic will continue to come, because I have never done article marketing to please Google.

Using article marketing as a tool to influence Google has only been a major "school of thought" since circa 2005.

I was doing article marketing for 5 years before then. And I will continue doing article marketing, even when Google is telling me to stop doing it. Funk Google!!!

So long as you continue to believe that Google is the only source of traffic worth having, you will continue to shoot yourself in the foot.

And if you decide to give up on article marketing because Google doesn't like it, then hurrah! Because I will have to compete with fewer schmucks to get the recognition I want for my articles.

I honestly think the only reason why certain people are being hit by the panda update to articles is because they almost relied on them solely for all of their traffic. I know this from experience because someone I was working with at the time constantly threw articles up on directories while at the same time ignored putting any up on the sites themselves or for that matter doing almost anything else seo wise. So in essence the articles were getting all of the focus and not the site itself. Articles may push sales, but unless you have a site that is indexed and ranking eventually your going to get burned putting all your eggs in one basket.

So article marketing is still alive... but it obviously cannot be relied on like it once used to be.

I think the last few replies just proves the point I made in post #44 on page 1. There isn't just one way to do article marketing. Some people use it for SEO and try to get high in the SE results, others use other distribution channels, and others use a combination of methods. The permutations on how it can be implemented are almost endless.

In any case, the article in the OP was way off base, because it only covered one aspect of article marketing. It's apparently clear that James Martell was only focusing on one article marketing tactic and did not bother to bring up any other.

So article marketing is still alive... but it obviously cannot be relied on like it once used to be.

Marketers who have not succeeded in article marketing would like you to believe that because they're usually pitching you some Word Press plug in, their own blog network, or some other product. Hey, in some instances, you should be adding that to your marketing efforts anyway.

So, no, the way article marketing was described in the article in the OP cannot be relied on. It's an ancient formula that, while it still works, is not a long-term viable solution. But article marketing will be around for decades to come. More and more people are reading their content on their Kindles, iPads, some other tablet or mobile device, and smart article / content marketers will adapt to that.

And websites and blogs are not going away anytime soon, neither will publishers hunger for content.

RoD

I see many people including Richard Van are suggesting bypassing EZA and contacting webmasters directly and building a content sharing relationships with them.

Is this how article marketing actually works? NO! This is called guest posting.

And in regards to what Kurt said, I would still remind you that Google Panda update is still in the beta process. There are changes still being done.

Thanks for sharing the resource . Still, I wouldn`t believe everything that I catch up from authors. Actually, I can put in my word that articles are still worth the effort. About 20% of my unique articles rank first page and get decent free targeted traffic from google. I put the weight on quality, keyword optimized articles and have never had major problems so far.

Dennis

Oh Gee - whatever will we talk about in this forum if it does?

POPCORN!!!!

Chris

Article marketing still works. I've known what it's like to get good, unsolicited votes, inquiries from interested people, and page 1 rankings with appropriate keyword densities should that be my intention. No search engine update will ever stop humans from reading and buying into quality content. Try it and see it for yourself.

Quality article marketing still works, and will always will. As long as you engage a good readership, you would stand unaffected by any search engine's updates. And that's the truth.

that is a great article by james martell
sheds a whole new light on my marketing and where i should not be wasting my time

Nice big thread (and very informative too, read it entirely newbies) from an article that someone wrote .. and one of his keypoints is: duplicate anchors can be problematic

ROFL for the videos

Schttrj,
The real damage from this thread are the two or three newer IM's that have read that article and dont have the experience to know it is pure crap. A few have posted here stating they will likely avoid article marketing.

You have now led a few newer (I assume they are newer to IM and if that assumption is wrong I apologize) marketers down a path tht makes their success journey more difficult.

You say you are well versed on SEO, fine then you should use your experience to see through the garbage in that article and provide context for newbies so they do not get led astray.

So, Where from we collect backlink? From Mars? or Moon?

@Dracoboar

Read from this post on-wards in this separate thread Ronald started about article marketing;

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post4197787

Ronald does not know as much as he thinks he does.

Chris

Well i dont know exactly ... but article marketing is alive for some people ..

most of the internet marketers are trying articles marketing for getting targeted traffic ..

ITS WORTH IT

Articles generate traffic for us, contrary to popular opinion i don't think article marketing is dead. It's obviously not as effective as it used to be, but it still brings in customers and provides a sense of authority.

1. The Matt Cutts video is really hilarious because he's talking about a strategy that people applied about 3 years ago...

Yeah, they really are that behind.

Since then article marketing has evolved into something way more effective than its ever been.

2. I have done public case studies on 6 different syndication services and they all work to some degree or another.

3. To completely denounce article marketing and lump it into one big ball is just a huge disservice to the community simply because of how many newcomers are trying to learn off this forum.

4. To the OP, Schttrj, and the writer of that article, James Martell, PEOPLE WANT DATA BEFORE YOU MAKE BASELESS CLAIMS.

Here is my data - Final Results: UAW vs AMA vs AR vs FTS vs SEOLV vs SYA | Marketer's Center Blog

Where is yours?

OK so hubpages is now using sub domains after the panda update to survive. It is a way to weed out articles that are poor. Yeah, from the good stuff that they want you to use. Like wow, we gotta love hub pages.

My source is Wall Street Journals. Here it is.
Site Claims to Loosen Google "Death Grip" - Digits - WSJ

I prefer guest blogging than article directories. Popular blogs whether they are PR 4 or 0 if they have steady visitors it can make a traffic.

I have a local blog in anything goes niche that has 500 visitors a month and even after the Google Panda the traffic doesn't decrease because I work so hard for the content. I didn't update it for a month and still have stable visitors. maybe because of the content

Article marketing is far from dead, article directory marketing is though. The update actually helps out those of us who write our own unique content. Instead of having to fruitlessly compete against thousands upon thousands of crappy respun articles, content with quality is now given the upper hand. Do your writing, do it right, and there is more oppurtunity than ever to rank for those keywords!

Article marketing has definitely lost most of it's link juice since Panda and Panda 2.2, but it is still a viable option for long term sustainable traffic

yep i agree for its much more diff to get you article ranked now a days..

Article marketing has lost its link juice, but is still a viable way for some long term traffic

I couldn't agree with this. There is still ongoing Article Marketing since they need top quality articles for their site. I have to admit that there are what we call low-quality articles like the copy and paste articles, poorly written, and no-sense content articles which would a bit lowers the quality of the marketing. But I would say that it is not extinct as what you are trying to start here.
Let's not present a sense of discouragement to newcomers here. They might think that Article Marketing is really going to be extinct and would probably leave and look will look for alternative way to earn. Let their skills in writing top quality articles continue.

It is not dead, it has only changed, just like everything else in internet marketing. My view is to build a quality site, employ some basic SEO knowledge, quality backlinking and post your article to that site only. The spiders will find it, index it and you will rise above the rest.

There is still great value on doing careful article marketing, even if I now see that "my" Ezinearticles pages aren't at the top (without help) like before.

First of all, I can attest to the fact that the article directories are still working, because my clients are still seeing the same results that they always have.

However, I believe that what needs to happen here is that people have to quit submitting worthless material to the directories. On a personal level, it simply drives me nuts to see all this junk floating around when I work hard to create quality material. Besides, the back links from the directories would be worth so much more if people would quit being so lazy and start producing actual quality material. I hate spinners. I make a living from writing articles, and it just offends me when someone takes my business and turns it into a junk farm like that.

All Google wants is to be able to provide people with quality, relevant content. What is the point of trying so hard to get around that all the time? If you are providing material that is useful to the reader and is actually worth something, even "article directory marketing" will work. It's just that you can't be a lazy a** and put out crap expecting to get anything out of it.

Anything that is worth doing in IM is going to require effort and hard work. Once people quit trying to use stupid short cuts and start doing actual work, that's when the money rolls in.

And that is my humble opinion.

Everyone has a difference in their point of view,just take what you need from the article and leave the rest back.

I just want to know who wins in the "syndication" and "spinning" argument.

what is the panda update?

Article marketing will be going NOWHERE. People will always need unique content since Google is going against duplicate content now!

I will disagree with OP, Article Marketing is still a pretty big part of my business. Although there has been a slowdown, I believe it is still crucial, especially when it comes to SEO

When a sheep is on its back and is unable to get up without help, Yorkshire Dales dialect says it is "riggwelted".

This raises the question of what's to be done with a riggwelted forum thread that just cannot be righted despite earnest, persistent efforts.

Answers on a postcard addressed to nowhere.

Meanwhile, the proverb "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" provides me with a certain comfort.

I think article marketing still works but it should not be the main focus of your SEO efforts. It is just one piece of the puzzle.

I wonder if Alexa has a counter on how many times she has said this sentance:

"Article Directory Marketing is not the same thing as (Authority) Article Marketing"...



-DTM

Article marketing is not dead. However, the way the search engines find and rank the content has! It's quite simple actually, LEARN to write quality, keyword focused, relevant articles yourself, post them to a "keyword focused" website/blog and the search engines will find you.