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Articles - Guest Posting vs Syndication

by Liam Hamer
10 replies
In one of my niches, I have decided to take a much more conscious and focused effort to get my content out there, and in turn to get(hopefully) some targeted traffic to my site, as well as some SEO benefits.

I have of course read some great information from Alexa and many others here at the WF about this subject, but it's only now(yes, silly, I know ) that I've finally decided to really give it a go. Although I have made good(what I consider good, anyway)money through other avenues over the last year, I am at a point where I really need to get refocused and stop being so inconsistent.

I decided a couple of weeks ago that I was going to write 3 quality articles for this site per week, then submit them to EZA(and Articlesbase and Go Articles too) once they are indexed on my site. I wrote the first one, which was over 1,200 words in length and which I felt was of a decent standard. I published it on my site then submitted it to EZA....then....nothing :rolleyes: I've been struggling to get in the right mindset recently, but I now realise, I just have to. I am now determined to get together a plan, and stick to it. This particular site has made money over the last couple of years, but nowhere near as much as I want it to. I want to change that.

OK, now for my question - I'm looking at sites and blogs in my niche where I can offer them some of my content and have found a few, but I'm unsure of whether I should be offering them content I have already published on my own site and elsewhere, or original content written specifically for them(both with a link to my site at the end, of course). Does it depend on their site? Maybe some would be happy to syndicate my content, but maybe some would prefer completely original content. Should I just contact them and ask them? Maybe in my E-Mail, I can attach an article I have already published myself and offer them it. I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking all this

Any help and advice much appreciated
#articles #guest #posting #syndication
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

    I wrote the first one, which was over 1,200 words in length and which I felt was of a decent standard. I published it on my site then submitted it to EZA....then....nothing :rolleyes:
    Well, as I was just saying in another thread, this form of passive syndication, although it can suddenly be dramatically successful, is also typically hit-and-miss, with a lot of luck involved, and some unexpected results, and it can be slow-moving, and it can be unreliable.

    It's primarily affected, I think, by three things:-

    (i) The quality/appeal of the articles (obviously);

    (ii) The "need for content" in the niche (I do try to take this into account with niche-selection, which you can do by (a) investigating the relevant ezines and (b) looking around for niche sites other than those owned by direct competitors, but there's still some guesswork in it);

    (iii) Quantity and time (in the sense that the more articles you have sitting inside in EZA for publishers/webmasters to find with EZA's search function, and the longer they're there for, the more likely they are to be picked up and published).

    However, one wouldn't want to rely only on this "passive syndication".

    Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

    I'm unsure of whether I should be offering them content I have already published on my own site and elsewhere, or original content written specifically for them (both with a link to my site at the end, of course). Does it depend on their site?
    I've rarely offered anyone any content which I haven't already published myself, first. And never for a website - only for ezines/newsletters.

    They're (usually) not "competing marketers". They're usually not people who care whether it's already been published on my site. They don't check. They don't ask. If they're willing to publish content from EZA then they're happy with syndicated content. If they've never been approached like that before, it won't occur to them to ask.

    Here's the point: they're not publishing it for the SEO value at all - they're publishing it because it's "content they want to use to fill their space and share with their readers". It really is as simple as that. Usually.

    I don't think anyone has ever asked me if an article is "previously published".

    Sure, there are some ezines and magazines which will publish only content that's "not previously published", but that's not a big deal at all. You can give it to them freely, and (as long as they don't expressly prohibit this) you can still be the first to have it indexed and get the SEO credit. So, you don't have to ask them ... but don't "mess them about" if they really do disallow that and say so, otherwise they may never take anything from you again.

    Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

    Maybe some would be happy to syndicate my content, but maybe some would prefer completely original content.
    Unless they have a formal set-up in which they say so, openly and clearly, it doesn't occur to them and they don't care, and you don't need to raise the subject yourself.

    Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

    Should I just contact them and ask them? Maybe in my E-Mail, I can attach an article I have already published myself and offer them it.
    I'd advise you, if you do it that way, not to do so as an "attachment" but just to paste it in to the body of the email. The inbox-delivery-rate's better that way, and some people don't like opening attachment-bearing email from people they've never heard of.

    Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

    I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking all this
    These are all perfectly valid and relevant questions, of course. But you may be over-thinking the "previously published" question, because most people don't care about that - and quite rightly, too, of course, for the purpose for which they want it.

    These are helpful resources ...

    (i) Directory of Ezines

    (ii) Turn Words Into Traffic
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    • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
      Thanks Alexa, really appreciate it I have some more questions, but don't have time to ask them right now, but will do so later
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    • Profile picture of the author GoodnightSweetRatRace
      Hey mate,

      I'm in a very similar situation to you, and fairly new to Article Syndication myself. I decided to take a more aggressive route, as well as still posting my articles on Ezine and Articlesbase.

      All I do is look for articles on ezine that are in my Niche, and then I look for webmasters who have already syndicated content.

      Go into Google and type.. Your keyword "www.ezinearticles.com" and you'll get a list of published ezine articles. Once you find an article, copy a portion of it (around 10-15 words) and paste it back into Google with quotations marks. This will show all the other websites which have used this article. All you do then is contact each webmaster individually, and ask them if they would like high quality content for their blog. I have found that most webmasters don't reply, but if you send out enough emails, you will get responses. I've got a prepared email that I just copy and paste, to make it a little quicker.

      Although it's pretty tedious, it's working for me. I just set a target of sending 50 emails per day.
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      • Profile picture of the author TiffLee
        Originally Posted by GoodnightSweetRatRace View Post

        Although it's pretty tedious, it's working for me. I just set a target of sending 50 emails per day.
        ... and if only ten of those pan out a day, you will seriously be cooking with gasoline. Good, aggresive approach. I like it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
          Originally Posted by GoodnightSweetRatRace View Post

          Hey mate,

          I'm in a very similar situation to you, and fairly new to Article Syndication myself. I decided to take a more aggressive route, as well as still posting my articles on Ezine and Articlesbase.

          All I do is look for articles on ezine that are in my Niche, and then I look for webmasters who have already syndicated content.

          Go into Google and type.. Your keyword "www.ezinearticles.com" and you'll get a list of published ezine articles. Once you find an article, copy a portion of it (around 10-15 words) and paste it back into Google with quotations marks. This will show all the other websites which have used this article. All you do then is contact each webmaster individually, and ask them if they would like high quality content for their blog. I have found that most webmasters don't reply, but if you send out enough emails, you will get responses. I've got a prepared email that I just copy and paste, to make it a little quicker.

          Although it's pretty tedious, it's working for me. I just set a target of sending 50 emails per day.
          This sounds like a great approach, thanks

          Originally Posted by TiffLee View Post

          ... and if only ten of those pan out a day, you will seriously be cooking with gasoline. Good, aggresive approach. I like it.
          I don't know what a 'good' percentage is with these things, but I'd certainly be happy with 20%
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      • Profile picture of the author travelerjim
        Originally Posted by GoodnightSweetRatRace View Post

        Hey mate,

        I'm in a very similar situation to you, and fairly new to Article Syndication myself. I decided to take a more aggressive route, as well as still posting my articles on Ezine and Articlesbase.

        All I do is look for articles on ezine that are in my Niche, and then I look for webmasters who have already syndicated content.

        Go into Google and type in the ezing articles web site address in quotes and you'll get a list of published ezine articles. Once you find an article, copy a portion of it (around 10-15 words) and paste it back into Google with quotations marks. This will show all the other websites which have used this article. All you do then is contact each webmaster individually, and ask them if they would like high quality content for their blog. I have found that most webmasters don't reply, but if you send out enough emails, you will get responses. I've got a prepared email that I just copy and paste, to make it a little quicker.

        Although it's pretty tedious, it's working for me. I just set a target of sending 50 emails per day.
        I have played a little bit with this idea and think its great. I put into google the ezine url link and then in quotes my key word focus, like "yellow submarine". You get a list of sites back that have taken eza articles with that key strong in them. That becomes a solid list of sites to focus on for that article or key term selection.

        What I really like about that is that I can outsource it out through odesk. Clear process, not too many steps, email out an article, add the site to a list with appropriate key terms etc., for the next article etc.

        Very nice. Thank you. I'd be interested to know if there are any other ways to work with this concept....
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        • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
          OK, so this week I'm really putting the wheels in motion and have a couple more questions.....

          Is offering older articles to webmasters/bloggers OK? I'm looking through some of them and have a few that I feel are of a good enough quality to pitch them but they are up to 2 years old. It's an evergreen niche, so there is no issue with the information being out of date or anything.

          To make some articles more suitable for other webmasters/bloggers I will edit them a little, is this OK? This could be altering the titles, taking out references to products and any branding from my own site. I was thinking that when I paste my article in the E-Mail, I also link to the original so they can see it for themselves. Is this a courteous thing to do, or does it not matter? Doing this means they will see that I have published the article myself first of course, and also when I did so.

          Any help and advice much appreciated
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

            Is offering older articles to webmasters/bloggers OK? I'm looking through some of them and have a few that I feel are of a good enough quality to pitch them but they are up to 2 years old. It's an evergreen niche, so there is no issue with the information being out of date or anything.
            Yes; absolutely fine.

            Unless it's some specifically time-sensitive niche, nobody will ask when they were written (and you don't need to volunteer the information that they're "older").

            Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

            To make some articles more suitable for other webmasters/bloggers I will edit them a little, is this OK? This could be altering the titles, taking out references to products and any branding from my own site.
            Yes, fine ... (yes: you'll almost certainly want to take out references to products, to get them syndicated - at least, I would).

            Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

            I was thinking that when I paste my article in the E-Mail, I also link to the original so they can see it for themselves.
            I've never tried it. I must say, instinctively, I wouldn't dream of it. It's like saying to them "This has already been published".

            Originally Posted by Liam Hamer View Post

            Is this a courteous thing to do, or does it not matter?
            I see more potential downside than upside, I have to say.

            Of course, you and I both know that the fact that it was previously published has no relevance to them at all and doesn't reduce its value to their readers one iota. Many of them would appreciate this. But there may also be some who wouldn't.

            As you can see from this forum, some people believe all sorts of nonsense about what they (entirely wrongly) imagine to be "duplicate content", and however misinformed and ill-advised those people are, you may write to some of them and I'd say there's absolutely no point in alarming them unnecessarily.
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    • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
      OK, so I'm going to continue finding relevant sites and blogs in my niche, contact the owners and will paste an existing article I have in the E-Mail and offer it to them

      Alexa - you mentioned EZA's search function. Is there any ' correct approach' to the keywords you type in for EZA submissions? I ask this, because up until now, I have always just typed in 3 or 4 keywords per article. One will be based around the title of the article, there'll maybe be another variation and there'll be a couple of broad terms that relate to my website. Should I be typing in more? If it will increase the chances of webmasters finding my articles, then it's useful, I suppose. Or am I over thinking things again? :p

      I know about the Directory of Ezines(and was actually on Charlie Page's list), but am not a member, maybe I should take the plunge soon. Will look at Turn Words Into Traffic too.
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    • Profile picture of the author Chetan Patil
      [QUOTE=Alexa Smith;5063424]Well, as I was just saying in another thread, this form of passive syndication, although it can suddenly be dramatically successful, is also typically hit-and-miss, with a lot of luck involved, and some unexpected results, and it can be slow-moving, and it can be unreliable......

      Hi Alexa !

      You have given answers to my question partially which actually I was searching for here .

      I expected someone to answer it there itself yesterday when I posted it!
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