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Article syndication problems

by dogsun
18 replies
Hey everyone,

I'm about to start an article marketing campaign for my new website. It's for an offline location-specific business that I own and by using footprints in google (i.e. "niche" "submit an article") I've found a couple hundred prospects. The problem is, almost everyone of these sites want "unique, previously unpublished" content, and I'm certainly not going to write hundreds of unique articles for these sites. I've even tried copy and pasting snippets from Ezinearticles into google, but the vast majority of publishers are just taking the content and stripping the links. Anyone have any other ideas of finding sites that aren't demanding unique content? I've heard about the directory of ezines, but it seems like most of the publishers on there are selling solo-ads and not so much interested in content for their sites (I could be completely wrong about this,) and as I'm looking for the seo benefits of article syndication, solo-ads won't apply. Also, my niche is fitness related, and I don't know if there are alot of fitness related publishers on the DOE. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
#article #problems #syndication
  • Profile picture of the author autumnsmith
    Hi dogsun,

    Article marketing campaign is a subject that cannot be learned overnight. There are lots of things we need to know more to better understand and execute the process properly. And i think you made a good start by sharing your thoughts and concerns about this subject. So where should we begin?

    Perhaps, browsing more article marketing-related threads is another good step to take. To start with, let this thread let you understand How do Article Directories work? - it gives you insights and explanation why these Article directories (where your articles are submitted and syndicated) want unique content.

    On the other hand, this thread will help you better understand how Article Syndication works and how they work wonders .

    Article syndication works for its purpose (we are talking about Article Marketing I suppose :p) while its SEO benefits will just naturally flow on this approach. Another tip though, there are lots of experts in this forum whom you can follow as most of their comments/posts will help you deeper understanding of the entire process, just be careful whom to follow though...
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      It doesn't surprise me a bit that the sites you are finding are asking for original, unpublished content. It's one way of discouraging people looking at article marketing as a SEO method (i.e. 'backlinks'). It's easy to get buried in the kind of keyword-stuffed digital manure you still find on article directories that haven't gotten the Panda memo yet.

      And most of those 'publishers' you found with the stripped-out links actually scraper sites and autoblogs, not legitimate publishers.

      In your place, I would (and have) contact those publishers who have shown some consideration for the quality of the articles they've accepted. Tell them that you have articles that, while not 'previously unpublished', have not been blasted out to the universe. Include the text of one of your best articles as a sample, along with permission to use it. Ask if they would like to be notified when you have more content available.

      Some will say yes. Some will say no. Some won't answer at all. And some will give you some blather about "duplicate content".

      When they say yes, pat yourself on the back and add them to your own personal syndicate. The ones that say no or give you the old dupe content myth, forget about. The ones that don't answer at all, put on the back burner and recontact them later.

      Then start the whole process over again with another batch of possible partners.
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    Another thing to keep in mind is that you really just need to get your foot in the door at first. So giving people exactly what they want may be what you need to do in some cases.

    Once you get a reputation with a publisher and they realize that you are not blasting the content out to thousands of places, they very well may accept content that is not completely unique.

    As John mentions, you are going to get a lot of "no's" and "non responses" when contacting these publishers.

    If you already have a few articles written you could indeed offer the first wave of ten publishers truly unique content. Then once you wait a short time and figure out that 9 of those first ten are not interested. You would still have 9 truly unique unpublished articles to offer the next 9 potential publishers.

    It may slow you down a bit on contacting these guys, but that may not be a really bad thing at first. As with anything you will get better with time and practice. So going a little slower at first may be a blessing in disguise when it comes to making a great first impression with new potential publisher partners.
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  • Profile picture of the author goindeep
    They want unique quality content, no...

    Excuse my arrogance...

    Of course that is what they want.

    Why would they publish crap and risk their sites being de-indexed and just as worse having people leave in droves because of the crap that is published?

    People have to learn that the web is evolving and it's not like ten years ago, hell it's not even the same way it was two years ago. More and more it is becoming regulated for quality just like radio, print and TV.

    If you notice the big money makers on the web are those that either publish or curate quality content. Or those that offer a unique tool/solution (i.e. social networking). It is simple.
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    • Profile picture of the author dogsun
      Originally Posted by Andrei Rotariu View Post

      They want unique quality content, no...

      Excuse my arrogance...

      Of course that is what they want.

      Why would they publish crap and risk their sites being de-indexed and just as worse having people leave in droves because of the crap that is published?

      People have to learn that the web is evolving and it's not like ten years ago, hell it's not even the same way it was two years ago. More and more it is becoming regulated for quality just like radio, print and TV.

      If you notice the big money makers on the web are those that either publish or curate quality content. Or those that offer a unique tool/solution (i.e. social networking). It is simple.
      Maybe I should submit a cheap $10 "content by Andrei" article, then surely they'll post it, regardless of its uniqueness
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  • Profile picture of the author Taniwha
    Andrei, so you consider a high quality article that has been sent out to 5-10 targeted blogs useless?
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  • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
    I would stop and ask yourself whether submitting hundreds of articles, unique or otherwise, to generic, worldwide directories is the best way of promoting a location specific site.

    Ask yourself who your potential clients/customers are and where they will be looking to find out information on your fitness topics for their locality.

    I'm guessing you run a gym or fitness classes of some kind.

    How do you expect that people to find you? It shouldn't be too hard to get to the top of the search engines for, as an example, "zumba classes in MyTown".

    Where else will people be looking? Think local freebie publications, local noticeboards, shop windows etc. There is still an offline world (just!!!). And Google Places.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Instead of searching for "submit an article", try instead focusing on where to find your audience.

    People want good quality relevant content, so they make a habit to go to reliable, authority websites and newsletters to get that content.

    Follow your audience to find where you should publish.

    Ask yourself when you are looking for great fitness content, where do you go? Ask your customers where they go to find reliable fitness content. Use search tools like Google and Quantcast to find the important websites in the fitness niche.

    Then navigate through those sites where people are already spending their time to find trustworthy content, and contact those publishers to see if they would be willing to accept your content for publication on their websites.

    If their audience is already large enough, then unique, never-before-published content might be acceptable, because after all, you are looking for a large number of eyeballs for your content.

    In the end, if you follow your audience, you will never have a problem syndicating your articles to the right places.
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    Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      This thread interests me greatly. My instinctive reaction to the OP was one of surprise that someone would be trying to use article syndication as a way of promoting an offline, location-specific business, and the feeling that the first way I'd want to try to promote that type of business would be (as so many of the local realtors and other offline, location-specific businesses regularly and reliably do, where I live) by leaflet-drops (it works for them). I didn't reply, because I didn't know whether this would have been a sensible or relevant observation.

      I still don't know that, now! But although there's clearly plenty of wisdom dispensed above, I do still find myself thinking that. Apologies if my comment's unproductive and unhelpful.
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      • Profile picture of the author dogsun
        Lots of help in this thread, thank you for that. I plan on using article syndication for the SEO purpose of getting relevent and quality backlinks from sites that are in the fitness niche. While most article marketers syndicate their content to receive the targeted and direct traffic that will be coming from these sites, this won't really apply to me because my business is location specific and the traffic won't be targeted (although I do plan on guest posting on local blogs in the cities I operate in which will provide targeted traffic.)

        I currently have a website that targets 3 locations in the state I live in, and article syndication has made up the bulk of my SEO strategy and has worked brilliantly. I have 4-5 publishers who readily accept my content, but with the new site I'm putting up I will be expanding into about 30 locations across the country. In order to scale up my business to this magnitude I will need a larger number of publishers who are willing to post my content.

        In response to Alexa and Rosetree, I do have some offline marketing strategies that I use but to be honest the majority of my business now comes from organic search and also PPC. Google Places, unfortunately, is not an option as with the nature of my business I won't have an actual physical location in each of these cities.

        Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and submit unique content to each of these sites. I'm willing to do the work, it's just frustrating that these webmasters have a misconception about the difference between syndicated and duplicate content.
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        • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
          Originally Posted by dogsun View Post

          .... it's just frustrating that these webmasters have a misconception about the difference between syndicated and duplicate content.
          Are you sure that's their reason? Maybe some feel that if they are going to host your link for you for free they at least want an article that stands a chance of ranking in Google and bringing traffic to their site.

          Unless their site is highly regarded by Google a syndicated article could be less likely to achieve that than a genuinely unique one.
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          • Profile picture of the author tpw
            Originally Posted by rosetrees View Post

            Are you sure that's their reason? Maybe some feel that if they are going to host your link for you for free they at least want an article that stands a chance of ranking in Google and bringing traffic to their site.

            Unless their site is highly regarded by Google a syndicated article could be less likely to achieve that than a genuinely unique one.

            I actually answered this question in another thread. Here is what I said:


            Originally Posted by tpw View Post

            There are two types of bloggers in the world. Those who:

            1. Think the only way they will succeed is with Google's blessing; and
            2. Those who understand that more important than Google is their audience.

            The first type will require exclusive content.

            The second type will require great content.
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            Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
            Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          This thread interests me greatly. My instinctive reaction to the OP was one of surprise that someone would be trying to use article syndication as a way of promoting an offline, location-specific business, and the feeling that the first way I'd want to try to promote that type of business would be (as so many of the local realtors and other offline, location-specific businesses regularly and reliably do, where I live) by leaflet-drops (it works for them). I didn't reply, because I didn't know whether this would have been a sensible or relevant observation.

          I still don't know that, now! But although there's clearly plenty of wisdom dispensed above, I do still find myself thinking that. Apologies if my comment's unproductive and unhelpful.

          Few people do use article marketing for local purposes, for the very reasons you stated.

          If someone is doing SEO -- even Local SEO -- article marketing can be effective. And it can be extremely effective in Local SEO, since so few people are willing to do it for local.

          You and I create content for the sake of creating a lot of direct traffic from our articles. And for most people, that is the appropriate strategy.

          But consider the SEO value for just a moment. Imagine getting a site like Oprah.com to link directly to your local cauliflower store. Can you imagine the credibility and link juice that this could provide to your local store?


          Originally Posted by dogsun View Post

          Lots of help in this thread, thank you for that. I plan on using article syndication for the SEO purpose of getting relevent and quality backlinks from sites that are in the fitness niche. While most article marketers syndicate their content to receive the targeted and direct traffic that will be coming from these sites, this won't really apply to me because my business is location specific and the traffic won't be targeted (although I do plan on guest posting on local blogs in the cities I operate in which will provide targeted traffic.)

          I currently have a website that targets 3 locations in the state I live in, and article syndication has made up the bulk of my SEO strategy and has worked brilliantly. I have 4-5 publishers who readily accept my content, but with the new site I'm putting up I will be expanding into about 30 locations across the country. In order to scale up my business to this magnitude I will need a larger number of publishers who are willing to post my content.

          In response to Alexa and Rosetree, I do have some offline marketing strategies that I use but to be honest the majority of my business now comes from organic search and also PPC. Google Places, unfortunately, is not an option as with the nature of my business I won't have an actual physical location in each of these cities.

          Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and submit unique content to each of these sites. I'm willing to do the work, it's just frustrating that these webmasters have a misconception about the difference between syndicated and duplicate content.

          During my last SEO incarnation, I was using a strategy that could be very effective for you to rank those thirty local-sites.

          I set up a blog to be the receiver of half of my link juice.

          From each article syndicated, I would link to the client and to my blog.

          From my blog, I would place unique, exclusive and quality content, with the goal to build the site as an authority website.

          As the blog grew in authority, I would place links from each article in the blog, pointing to each location I wanted to strengthen.

          In my case, I was linking to articles I had syndicated on behalf of the client, pointing to the articles on other authority websites (which in turn linked back to the client site). And I linked my authority blog to the client.

          You could use a variation of this strategy to support the dissemination of link value to your 30 sites, without forcing articles pointing directly to all 30 sites.
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          Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
          Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
    Originally Posted by dogsun View Post

    the vast majority of publishers are just taking the content and stripping the links.
    I'd be interesting in knowing who is doing that.

    .
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    • Profile picture of the author dogsun
      Originally Posted by kindsvater View Post

      I'd be interesting in knowing who is doing that.

      .
      I think it's mostly like John said, autoblogs and scraper sites.
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      • Profile picture of the author kindsvater
        Originally Posted by dogsun View Post

        I think it's mostly like John said, autoblogs and scraper sites.
        Then that isn't a problem related to your initial post about having problems finding good syndicators ...

        I've found a couple hundred prospects
        That's a general web problem. Scrapers scrape everyone - especially EZA.

        .
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  • Profile picture of the author David Keith
    I guess its also worth mentioning that in most local communities there are lots of places to possibly syndicate content. Article syndication has a connotative slant to being online only.

    That's far from the truth. Content syndication got its start in the offline world. As Bill (tpw) points out.

    Originally Posted by tpw
    There are two types of bloggers in the world. Those who:

    1. Think the only way they will succeed is with Google's blessing; and
    2. Those who understand that more important than Google is their audience.

    The first type will require exclusive content.

    The second type will require great content.
    Many smaller reaching but more local publishing outlets may have as much affect on your business as online publications of far greater size.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by David Keith View Post

      That's far from the truth. Content syndication got its start in the offline world.

      Many smaller reaching but more local publishing outlets may have as much affect on your business as online publications of far greater size.

      Indeed.

      By working with local publishers, we can transition the online version of "here is a free article, if I can advertise my business" to offline publications.

      While those local publishers may have lower circulation, certainly they have the most perfect audience for your local offerings.

      Just like online publishers, offline publishers love the idea of free content that appeals strongly to their readers, and leaves readers with the feeling that the publication has added value to their lives.
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      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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