Article MARKETING vs article DISTRIBUTION quesiton.

8 replies
Okay, I've bought roughly a half dozen programs praising the virtues of writing hundreds of articles and posting them in various article directories, and they are all wondeful, with spot-on ideas, and wonderful results, I'm sure. But while I can see the point of writing lots of articles, I can't see the immediate major benefit of posting them on an directory vs posting them on my own site, with each article on an SEO-optimized page.

One benefit of the directory posting DOES seem to be that you can drive the traffic to a squeeze page and not give them any other info on how to get to your "main" site until they opt-in. Seems like a good process.
However, some of those article marketing gurus (Sean Mize for one) love to post similar (or close to similar) articles to multiple directories, and there seems to be a time coming soon where SE's will be smart enough to give you one SERP entry for your efforts.

I'm asking the following question in context of using lots of different methods to get traffic and not using article marketing as the ONLY traffic source.

So with that in mind, the question is, is my effort better suited to putting lots of articles on my own web site. Since (theoretically) I can rank for the article only once, I have lots more selling opportunites if they come to my site to visit vs forcing them to do a two-step.

Don't get me wrong, I love article marketing and do see the benefits, it's just the effectiveness of the "directory distribution" strategy that I'm trying to get some input on as far as weight vs effort involved.

Thanks to all who contribute, and have a good day, everyone,

- Paul
#article #distribution #marketing #quesiton
  • Profile picture of the author Mgwolf
    From my own experiences I would rather read quality well written articles, that hundreds of junk articles. And I would actually click on a related ad if the article peaked my interest in that ad catagory
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    • Profile picture of the author TheAngelGuy
      Hi,

      Thanks for replying.

      But would you rather read them in some article directory, or on the author's site directly?

      Thanks again,

      - Paul
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  • Profile picture of the author vansterdam
    The advantage of submitting the articles to article directories is that each article directory allows you to place 2 - 3 links in the resource box. So submit that article to hundreds of article directories, and you quickly have several hundred relevant backlinks using your desired link anchor text. While the article is published on an article directory, any website owner can republish that article and add even more backlinks. I find that the link benefits outweigh the direct traffic from the articles.
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  • Profile picture of the author Franck Silvestre
    Do both:

    1. Add articles on your own websites (and make sure to monetize them)

    2. Submit to article directories to get traffic and backlinks to your website. You just need to submit to the top 10.

    Franck
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
    It's quite simple really.

    Article directories have 3 major benefits:
    1. You get to leverage from their authority. Meaning that as they are already well positioned and most of them have a high PageRank (EzineArticles is a PR6), it's easier to rank for specific keywords with them.
    2. That also means you get link juice from that authority via the ability to create an anchor texted related backlink pointing towards your site.
    3. Article directories all have incredible amounts of traffic, EzineArticles is Alexa 205 if I'm not mistaken. Meaning it is the 205th website most visited on the entire internet. In short, you get to leverage from that exposure as some of the visitors are likely to come across your article, especially if it's good.
    Now, with that being said, there are also huge benefits to posting the articles in your own VRE (Virtual Real Estate). You already mentioned a couple.
    1. You also have the ability to rank for specific keywords, but it's harder (not impossible) to rank for them if your authority is lower than that of an article directory such as EZA.
    2. It's a one page process. As opposed to the article directory distribution, the traffic lands in your site directly from the search engines (provided that you rank for a keyword people actually search for).
    3. Full flexibility and control. You make the rules, no editorial guidelines. You can make the articles however you want. Length, keyword density, number of links, blatant promotions, it's all up to you.
    4. You are actually building your own VRE and you are not depending on the traffic generated from other sources.
    5. Your traffic does not get lost in the third party article directory's advertisement (adsense, CPA, banners, other articles etc...). If anything, it gets lost in your own promotions.
    That pretty much sums it up, both have their advantages and disadvantages, I like to use both in my mix.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dgroce
    On this subject, what's the best article submission service?

    Rather than paying a VA to submit to the directories, I'm looking for an automatic submission service - I've heard that all you need is to go to the top 10-20, but it's costing a little too much and is a little too time consuming for a VA to do this -

    I'm thinking about just doing automatic submission w/ one of the submission services? Does anyone have a good automatic resource for submitting article>??

    If so, what service?
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  • Profile picture of the author domaingamer
    Most automated article submission services promise you they'll submit your article to hundreds of directories, but it's pointless as even if you're article gets accepted, most likely it won't get indexed and you won't get any link love. Stick with manual submissions or create your own article spinning/submission service. Either way, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
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    • Profile picture of the author Dgroce
      Okay, thanks domain - Yup, just had to let go a VA, this is frustrating -

      I know you say manual is better, but does anyone have any different opinions? I've been doing some pecking around for submission services and I've found the best (based on other warriors) are

      -Isnare.com
      -SubmitYourArticle.com
      -ArticlePostRobot.com
      -ArticleDripRobot .com (newer)
      -AutomaticArticleSubmiter .com (brand new)

      Looking for some unbiased feedback, trying to make a buying decision -

      For me, the final one is winning now as they're offering a one
      time fee rather than a monthly fee, perhaps b/c it's brand new -

      I'd love to hear thoughts from people that have used these services -
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