Article Marketing Today

Hi Susan, there appears to be a lot of conflicting information on this subject, partly because so many people confuse "article marketing" with "article directory marketing". When they say "article marketing doesn't work so well any more these days" they're actually talking about "article directory marketing" (which was already declining quite a bit before those Panda and Penguin updates, and is stone dead now). So they're right in what they say - they just have the name wrong, usually because they're unaware of the difference between the two.

Article marketing itself is actually thriving at the moment. Large and increasing numbers of Warriors are successfully taking it up and making their livings from it.

Of course, it's a skill-set all of its own, and a learning-curve, just like most things.

If it helps you at all, here's a one-post overview of what article marketing actually involves: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5035794

I don't know.

I don't touch video, myself, and (as a full-time affiliate marketer) won't even send my traffic to pages with video on them because my subscribers and customers across such a wide range of entirely different niches tell me they dislike and avoid it so much. http://www.warriorforum.com/off-topi...o-content.html

I know nothing about social media and don't use it. My impression (which may be entirely mistaken, simply through lack of experience!) is that those would be potential subscribers/customers/visitors whom I might - to some extent - have to "interest" in what I'm promoting rather than people who are already interested in it, of the "pre-qualified" type whom article marketing on specifically relevant sites naturally attracts.

SEO is certainly something I'd urge you to stay away from, as much as you reasonably can. Personally, I'd advise you not to put too much of your time and effort into trying to attract "organic SERP's" traffic, for two main reasons: first, it's very precarious and makes your business Google-dependent, and any business that's Google-dependent is no more than one algorithm-change away from a potential accident (or even a potential disaster), as so many Warriors have been finding out over the last year or two, some of them to their very great cost; secondly, for me, search engine traffic has been uniformly the worst-converting traffic out of everything I've ever tried in 8 entirely different niches over the whole of the last 4 years - search engine visitors to all my websites typically stay the least time, view the fewest pages, opt in the least often and actually buy anything by far the least often. I admit I do get tons of search engine traffic to all my main sites (just because of all the high rankings I've got, incidentally, from article syndication to relevant sites) but I'd certainly hate to have to make a living from that traffic! Google rankings, in short, are not really much of a "traffic-generating plan" at all: that traffic's very poor quality and often temporary, too. Just reading the forum will convince anyone of that.

Here's my take...

Is it worth pursuing a strategy that connects you to the exact people you want to connect with, and helps filter out the ones you don't?

Article Marketing - putting valuable, quality content in front of people (not bots) who resonate with that content, and offering a chance to continue that experience via the links in your bio - does exactly that.

Video Marketing can do the same thing, it's just a different medium requiring a slightly different skillset.

What Alexa termed "Article Directory Marketing" is an entirely different animal, one the Google menagerie did not play nice with. ADM is the practice of dumping keyword-loaded content anywhere it can be dumped for the purpose of gaining backlinks and impressing an algorithm which has proven itself to be the definition of fickle for marketers.

One of the side benefits of Content Marketing is the accumulation of very high relevance backlinks simply due to the nature of the beast. Your link profile looks natural because it is natural.

Two caveats are that this strategy does take time and it does have a learning curve. Whether it's worth it to you to invest the time and make the climb, only you can answer...

Question: are you trying to generate online traffic or real world clients? Is your USV (Unique Selling Value) related to a commonly recognized service or an uncommon one? Are you marketing knowledge products? Are you trying to create a community, a personal brand or affiliate funnel? A personal service?

In general, content marketing works better when there is a demand for learning - assimilating knowledge - from your target readers. If your prospects are more interested in purchasing or promoting their own enterprises, or fulfilling local services, you may be better off prioritizing other marketing channels. Content is for research. Is customer research important to your online goal?

I'd suggest to start with the key customer demand and then determine your optimal channel. Content for its own sake may not be enough, no matter how well-written.

For example, you could start with a Google Search auto-complete phrase to find out what your market is searching for. More detail about your market might give you greater focus. Good luck!

Content is not dead. Post-Panda, elements like keyword-density & word count only describe the magnitude factor in the magnitude x value equation.

Value of content may be described by Google factors such as those described here:

I think you've received some very good advice above - speaking for myself, I believe article marketing is still well worth while and video marketing is definitely something to take on board - and as mentioned above it does take a whole different skill set to get it right and not everyone feels comfortable in front of a camera - but of course, this can be overcome with the use of slide show videos etc. until you feel more at ease with it.

I really don't go overboard on SEO, as in the past I've found it a waste of time and as stated above the quality of traffic does not warrant the amount of time spent on it.

I think you have to look at what you are promoting - if you are dealing with small Niche Sites then those usually work by looking at Search Numbers v Competition so in those cases then SEO will probably be applicable.

Thanks for the great advice Warriors!!!