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Article Marketing and SEO for Ecommerce Site

by Neiltrino3
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
*Reposting in the correct area*

Hi everyone,

I have spent the last week reading hours of posts on article marketing and would be interested in learning this process in the context of ecommerce and SEO.

My understanding is that article marketing in it's own right is a marketing strategy, not necessarily something that sits under SEO which I follow. From what I've read, summarising what I've read by Alexa, Paul and others the steps include:

1. Create article
2. Post on own website and wait to be indexed
3. Syndicate article to relevant publishers who will post the article

Rule: Don't appear to sell or promote on the article and write for real people

The benefits of this include:
a) Generate traffic through people clicking on the links in the signature and content (if any exist)
b) Articles syndicated indirectly creates a backlink to the site which helps for SEO purposes

My questions are based around b) and how this actually works and how it can be improved.

Question 1 - My understanding is that by creating content with relevant anchor text for the keywords linking back to the site is more powerful. But considering the rule that you cannot sell/promote how can this be achieved for an online shop?

Question 2 - If article marketing is not carried out for SEO purposes then to what extent do you think about keywords? If it's only backlinks from relevant sites you are looking for then I'm guessing keywords is not an issue - this feels like it's missing the SEO side of things and surely we can kill two birds with one stone unless I'm missing something

Question 3 - would the article that's syndicated be pointing to the homepage or blog page through the signature, I'm assuming homepage?

Overall, I'm hoping someone can give me some advice around how article marketing strategy can be used in a way that also helps for SEO purposes to help it rank for specific keywords.

Apologies for the long winded post, but hope it's clear!

Thanks
Neil
#article #ecommerce #marketing #seo #site
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    I have spent the last week reading hours of posts on article marketing
    Well, this must have kept you off the streets.

    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    and would be interested in learning this process in the context of ecommerce and SEO. My understanding is that article marketing in it's own right is a marketing strategy, not necessarily something that sits under SEO
    This is certainly right.

    Article marketing isn't an SEO technique. It's a traffic-generation method in its own right (which happens to have some potential off-page SEO benefits as a side-benefit, when done correctly).

    Your summary's very good.

    Bear in mind that to all intents and purposes only backlinks from relevant sites (note: not "relevant pages"!) have any measurable value for your site, and that the websites that will syndicate your articles (assuming that they're written for syndication in the first place, and that you approach them correctly) are relevant ones (otherwise they wouldn't want the content, clearly).

    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    Question 1 - My understanding is that by creating content with relevant anchor text for the keywords linking back to the site is more powerful. But considering the rule that you cannot sell/promote how can this be achieved for an online shop?
    I don't know. I hardly know anything about online shops. All I can suggest is keeping all mention of the "shop" in the resource box only, and hoping for the best. Mentioning it in the article is going to preclude syndication to websites, I think. You might get it into ezines, by paying, of course. And ezine subscribers, being highly targeted just by virtue of the fact that they are subscribers, could be great traffic for you? The same may be true (maybe even more true?) of offline publications, of course? But none of these has anything to do with backlinks.

    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    Question 2 - If article marketing is not carried out for SEO purposes then to what extent do you think about keywords?
    I often put one as the first word of the article's title (note: "Keyword - 5 Things You Need To Know" is a good title for SEO. "5 Things You Need To Know About Keyword" is almost useless, by comparison.)

    Apart from that, not at all.

    I never count keyword density (but if I did, it would be to make sure that I have it under 1%).

    I'm "particularly not interested" in what some people call "LSI keywords", which is just another way of describing "all the vocabulary you couldn't possibly avoid in an article on your subject, even if you tried".

    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    If it's only backlinks from relevant sites you are looking for ...
    It is. And it's ok to put your hands over your ears when people (normally those selling backlinks!) talk about "link diversity". :rolleyes: :p

    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    Question 3 - would the article that's syndicated be pointing to the homepage or blog page through the signature, I'm assuming homepage?
    I don't know quite what you mean by "blog page".

    I always link to the landing-page of my website. (My websites all happen to be built from blogging software, though their visitors don't know that, so you could call it a "blog page", technically, if you wanted to?). The page with the prominently incentivized opt-in, anyway. (The purpose of my sites is to get the opt-in, because unlike you, I think(?), I'm an affiliate marketer, so I can't really make a living without doing that - or wouldn't want to, anyway).

    Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

    Overall, I'm hoping someone can give me some advice around how article marketing strategy can be used in a way that also helps for SEO purposes to help it rank for specific keywords.
    Lots and lots of people can give advice about that. And they will (probably).

    The potential problem is that the more interested people are in talking about SEO in an article marketing context, the less likely they are actually to understand what article marketing is and how it works, and the more likely they are to have it confused with "article directory marketing" and so on. So I'm not sure how helpful it'll be to you, really.

    I might be able to say much more if I understood exactly what you're trying to do and exactly what the site is to which you're trying to attract targeted traffic through article marketing, Neil.
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    • Profile picture of the author Neiltrino3
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      I might be able to say much more if I understood exactly what you're trying to do and exactly what the site is to which you're trying to attract targeted traffic through article marketing, Neil.
      Hi Alexa,

      Thanks a lot for your response! Ok so it's in the context of an online gift store hence why I refer to a blog page and then the home page and the category pages. Gifts will include e.g. candles, baby gifts, gadgets, etc.

      So I'm trying to figure out how I can use article marketing strategy in this context?

      Also, to your answer to question 2 earlier, around making sure the keyword exists in the title of the article that is syndicated - you're saying that an article that is syndicated elsewhere (and does not have a link in it) is actually helps your site rank for that keyword? Just checking I understand this

      You can tell I've been reading loads with my summaries ...and that's without copying it from your posts!

      Open this up to anyone else that has experience of this or any other great strategies in the e-commerce space.

      Thanks
      Neil
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      • Profile picture of the author Dawna
        Originally Posted by Neiltrino3 View Post

        Hi Alexa,

        Thanks a lot for your response! Ok so it's in the context of an online gift store hence why I refer to a blog page and then the home page and the category pages. Gifts will include e.g. candles, baby gifts, gadgets, etc.

        So I'm trying to figure out how I can use article marketing strategy in this context?

        Also, to your answer to question 2 earlier, around making sure the keyword exists in the title of the article that is syndicated - you're saying that an article that is syndicated elsewhere (and does not have a link in it) is actually helps your site rank for that keyword? Just checking I understand this

        You can tell I've been reading loads with my summaries ...and that's without copying it from your posts!

        Open this up to anyone else that has experience of this or any other great strategies in the e-commerce space.

        Thanks
        Neil
        Hi Neil,

        You've done and impressive amount of research! I just wanted to clarify, that in order for your syndicated articles to help your site rank for a keyword, they would definitely need to link back to your site.

        I typically write a blog post for by blog, and then syndicate well rewritten copies of the same article, with a link back to the original post. It's important to use only high-quality article directories. The key here is high-quality sites, especially since Google came out with "Disavow Links." If you're going to use an article submission service, be sure to choose one that is being updated and submits to good directories. I'm currently using Unique Article Wizard, but there are other good ones out there.

        Also, be sure to vary the anchor text you use to link back to your site, so that Google doesn't see your site as "over SEOd" and penalize you for it.

        One last thing... Google seems to be placing a much higher value on social factors since the last update, so the more social sharing that gets done on your posts the better. I've been using TribePro for social syndication and getting great results.

        Hope this helps!

        Dawn
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        • Profile picture of the author Neiltrino3
          Originally Posted by Dawna View Post


          Also, be sure to vary the anchor text you use to link back to your site, so that Google doesn't see your site as "over SEOd" and penalize you for
          Thanks Dawn - reading your post helps me to decipher what my issue actually is...I'm in a catch 22, how do I get other websites enthusiastic about publish my content which links back to my e-commerce site?

          I think I am comfortable if it is not keyword specific i.e. it is pure article marketing for article marketing purposes and so there would just be a link in the resource box. However if I want to kill 2 birds with one stone then ideally I would want an anchor text link using a specific keyword which is what I'm having trouble with

          Any useful strategies would be great!
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  • Profile picture of the author hostking
    I would also recommend using something like Tribepro or Onlywire to help market your website even faster.
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  • Profile picture of the author Harrysmith
    When it comes to an eCommerce website, it is crucial to perform search engine optimization on a regular basis. For getting complete benefits through SEO, you must ensure that the eCommerce website is full fledged with informative product pages. It must be easy to navigate as well. Select the most appropriate keywords for promoting the eCommerce website and focus on getting authoritative backlinks for them.
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