Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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#1 2006-10-25 09:30:21Article Marketing - a Dave rant

TheGypsy
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Well, I am at it again... Mark and company were kind enough to post another rant of mine... on Article Marketing this time...

http://www.site-reference.com/articles/ … ntity.html

The main issue I was prattling on about was the lack of focus on quality with article marketing campaigns. Seems most folks just slap together 500 words of drivel and send it out to get the back links...and that's it.

There are so many other 'values' to article marketing that shouldn't be over-looked..

So I am starting a thread for anyone who feels like chatting about article marketing today ( North maybe?)

Later...

Last edited by thegyspsy (2006-10-25 09:31:21)

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#2 2006-10-25 09:49:57 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

MarkCCDC
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I have not yet delved into the world of article marketing. But, with so many sites out there where authors could publish an article, it has to be a good way to market - if done right.

As I said...no experience in this area....yet blinka

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#3 2006-10-25 11:49:32 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Well this is an issue that is near and dear to my heart. Although I no longer handle all the editing issues here at SR, I still do quite a bit of work with articles and see just how much drivel there really is. Admittedly, from time to time, articles find their way into our newsletter which do not deserve to be published - this happens for 1 of two reasons, either: 1) It is very late and I simply make a mistake, or 2) there is really so little available content that we are forced to published what we can.

Initially I was going to work with Dave on an article similar to this (or was it this article, Dave?), but alas I found out that he works 10x as much as I do. All I can say as someone who reads literally hundreds of submitted articles per week is this:

Quality will get published!

Good article...

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#4 2006-10-25 12:00:39 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Ha ha ha... yeah that was the one M.... ( Mark was originally to put a Publishers take on things... but alas.. there is only 32hrs in a day)

I talking with you and just some common sense it seems to me that quality will rise above. I haven't gotten into distribution channels, but it is another important considerations. Having your piece on 5-10 no-name article repositories isn't nearly the exposure of a more focused source ( SR in this case)

Targeting authority sites with a limited distribution can often be a better way of going. Let me go harass Bill (Platt.. has some article background) and try and drag him in..... I tihnk Northie is in the article marketing gig... or at least one in his Sig is....

I am curious as to distribution.. do you think it is better to;

1. Submit to avery article repository that you can?
2. Target authority sites that publish articles and seek to get on as a writer/publisher?

All factors considered though, organic traffic, back links etc.....

I have MY thoughts... what about everyone else?

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#5 2006-10-25 12:11:04 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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So, I got my newsletter, scanned down clicked every article link (as usual) and started reading.

I got to this one which really tickled my fancy!

By the time Id finished sentence 2 I thought "ah thegypsy!!" Lol

Its a good article mate, very easy reading. Almost like an informal chat really. Its struck the chord Im sure it was supposed to strike and Im seriously considering how I can capitalise on article marketing.

Something Ive gotta ask though. its all about writing a quality artcle, then getting it edited and proof read before you go distributing it, right?
So why are there typos?

Ok, so thats the only critism, If i didnt find anything to moan about, Id just keep quiet!!

#6 2006-10-25 12:19:29 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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ha ha cause that one never saw a final edit... my bad..

It started a month or so ago when Mark and I were chatting about some things and decided to go dutch on a piece... well the long and short was we both got busy and it collected dust...

I resurrected it last week, finished it off (without Mark..lol) and passed it upstream.... why my 'Editor' and head Brewmaster didn't catch them... well... late nights like he said... certainly my responsibility

I am usually more concerned with getting my point across (ranting) than editing.... fortunately those who follow my rants, know I am a bit of an ass and don't mind the slip ups ( I hope hee hee )

As far as writers I use them for areas I am clueless in. I have clients from weightloss and coin collecting to diabetes... I am just not that creative. So I comission them from writers I use.... it comes back to quality part. To get the most 'eyes' possible, I figure it's worth it (around $25 for a 1000 word piece)

Last edited by thegyspsy (2006-10-25 12:20:39)

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#7 2006-10-25 13:01:06 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

mark
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griffinsbridge wrote:
Something Ive gotta ask though. its all about writing a quality artcle, then getting it edited and proof read before you go distributing it, right?
So why are there typos?

Ok, so thats the only critism, If i didnt find anything to moan about, Id just keep quiet!!

Yup, that one's on me. We changed out the person who goes through all the article submissions, and much to my surprise this week I've been doing a good amount of the work (unexpectedly). The result? Sloppy work on my part.

Normally stuff like this should be caught...

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#8 2006-10-25 13:08:31 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

mark
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thegyspsy wrote:
I am curious as to distribution.. do you think it is better to;

1. Submit to avery article repository that you can?
2. Target authority sites that publish articles and seek to get on as a writer/publisher?

All factors considered though, organic traffic, back links etc.....

I have MY thoughts... what about everyone else?

Oooh! Oooh! Let me answer that one!

From personal experience, I'll take option 2.

I haven't written as many articles as other people have (about 50 or so total) and have used both methods. I've done the mass distribution and I've done the laser targeted thing as well.

Whenever I target my publishers, I see a significant increase in traffic over the mass distribution. I also see a lot more honesty in reprints (people giving the proper credit, keeping links alive, etc). The mass distribution thing lately tends to end up on spam blogs and no-name article repositories. The traffic from these is so insignificant is makes it no longer worth my time or effort. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule...

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#9 2006-10-25 13:29:17 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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I actually run over 20 article sites, and here's my take on it all

Writing articles for backlinks has become a craze, so soon it'll die.

Actually, that's a bit harsh - it's like any type of link building - it's got to be done right. The quick-fix, spam the world to death approach will soon be over.

Quality over quantity.

I can see this starting to become a bit like MFA sites. In the beginning you do a search and found a few sites with ads on that linked to what you were looking for. Now you don't touch an MFA site with a barge pole. Searching the net one may come across a relevant article. It may even have some useful information in it. How many times have you found an article that is just an example of padded out keyword stuffing, with a link? Many times, I guess. My point here is that users/searchers are going to start to shy away from article directories, like they did with MFA sites and reciprocal linking directories.

If you feel you've written something worth shouting about, tell people - but don't shout at them.

Find niche (that's nee-sh not nitch, as I've heard it pronounced) sites that cover your topic, disseminate to a few places - but not all.

If you want to send your article out to many places then write different versions (so that all versions are totally unique) and send each copy to just one or two different places - this also allows varying back-link anchor text.

If you're doing it for SEO purposes remember this -

Search engines make their money from giving the user the best possible experience
If your SEO plans have no arguable benefit to an internet user then it will only hurt you, given time.

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#10 2006-10-25 15:04:56 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Well thanks for hopping in there North...I was hoping ya would. It is now a post worthy of The Fire Horse Trail (lol) and I even gave U a yummy BL as an ‘Article Marketing Guru’ …. Ooooo… aaaahhhhhhh

A good post for the ages .. fame awaits thee…… ha ha ha ha…..

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#11 2006-10-25 16:00:28 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Is there any resourse like directory of directories, but only for articles?
It would be good to look at them sorted by popularity.

Sincerely, Denis Kochnev
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#12 2006-10-25 16:33:06 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Last edited by thegyspsy (2006-10-25 18:44:12)

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#13 2006-10-25 18:16:38 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Heh heh gypsy -- before too much longer, you may be able to add my new Article Directory to your list...*groan*...

#14 2006-10-25 18:19:07 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Oops -- almost forgot ... your link shown here -- http://www.cyberprosper.comhttp://www.Digital Women.com -- doesn't seem to work very well... glad

#15 2006-10-25 18:33:16 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Nice job on the article thegypsy.

What's the best way to experiment with the article submission idea for generating traffic if one doesn't write particularly well and doesn't want to be responsible for inane drivel?

I'm basically just looking to experiment with one or two of everything (site promotion) and emphasize that which is productive. I am set up to track results pretty well. Everything about inbound traffic and some on site.

I'm actually even open to the idea of paying someone to help, unless that's not appropriate for the forums in which case I'm not...

My site's about a month old, so I have no idea what's going on. Just that, "If you build it, they will come..", was more about animals or baseball than websites...

Gary
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#16 2006-10-25 18:48:36 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

TheGypsy
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travelagent wrote:
Heh heh gypsy -- before too much longer, you may be able to add my new Article Directory to your list...*groan*...

Sure man... I tihnk I shall copy this list into my TOOLS section of the personal site.... have a site ya want added?

Oops -- almost forgot ... your link shown here -- http://www.cyberprosper.comhttp://www.Digital Women.com -- doesn't seem to work very well...

Fixed....tnx

What's the best way to experiment with the article submission idea for generating traffic if one doesn't write particularly well and doesn't want to be responsible for inane drivel?

Like I said... In only write business dev or SEO articles really... stuff for my actual SEO work (clients) I have professional writers bang out for me.... I figure the invesment is worth it...

There are plenty of Freelance Writer sites.... even general freelancer stuff.... I interviewd folks that way.... then tried a few.... those whose articles syndicate the best..get more work from me :0)
We have a Looking to Hire Board now as well ya know ...

Last edited by thegyspsy (2006-10-25 18:49:26)

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#17 2006-10-25 19:07:54 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

bill.platt
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thegyspsy wrote:
I am curious as to distribution.. do you think it is better to;

1. Submit to avery article repository that you can?
2. Target authority sites that publish articles and seek to get on as a writer/publisher?

All factors considered though, organic traffic, back links etc.....

I have MY thoughts... what about everyone else?

Hands down, I will go with #2 everytime.

I have actually written a number of articles on this topic, and I have been pounding hard on the same idea in forums. Successful article marketing is about Quality Over Quantity.

I pulled up a list of my own articles related to this topic and I will include them here for those who want some additional reading on the topic. I am not listing these additional takes in any particular order, just so that you know.

Spoiler:

This is a fun little thing where I was talking to someone who stated that reaching only a few people at a time was a waste of his time:
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_conte … ting.shtml

This is called 14 tips for writing articles. It addresses how to write an article to get the best results from it. Of course, most of the tips focus on how to write a quality article:
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_conte … tips.shtml

This article deals with the things to be very careful about when hiring an article writer from places such as Elance:
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_conte … ters.shtml

These next two articles deal specifically with the issues from the standpoint of someone who actually operates an article directory.

The first one is about why an article directory manager may or may not accept your articles:
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_conte … -faq.shtml

This second one is more of a look at the profitability of running an article directory, and how it might affect the publication of your articles:
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_conte … here.shtml

And finally, this one deals with the importance of why you should prefer to be published only on quality sites, and why you might not want to be published just anywhere:
http://thephantomwriters.com/free_conte … inks.shtml

I had another article to share, but then I realized that you may have already read it here on SR: http://www.site-reference.com/articles/ … eRank.html

Additionally, only a small portion of the article actually pertains to this topic, so I will only highlight the small portion of that article.

All article pages start their life at a PR0, although the homepage of the site where they reside may or may not carry a high PageRank. While PR might be important to your search placement within Google, it is not the be-all, end-all of article marketing. In time, many of those webpages where your article appears may carry some significant PR, although many will always have a PR of 0-4.

To me, the PR of the page where an article appears has little or no significance in the grand scheme of things. My main website has served 100k unique visitors and one million page views in the first nine months of this year. 41.4% of my visitors arrived from Google, and 47% came from links on other webpages - via links in forums such as this and the actual pages that carry my articles. These numbers only reflect traffic that did not arrive via bookmarks or emails.

Those external pages that have directed traffic to my website in the first 9 months of 2006 -- forum posts and article placements -- number in the range of 12k pages.

My profits are rooted in the actual number of people who visit my websites. PR links do not pay my bills, although they might help in my placement inside of Google. Of course, if you read the article listed above that appeared on SR, you might get the idea that PageRank is not as important as you might think in the grand scheme of getting page one results in Google. ;-)

In order to get real people to visit your website from an article or a forum post, you must absolutely provide real value to the people who read what you write.

If you provide real value to your readers, you can get placed on high-value websites such as SR and others relevent to your industry. One of my clients even had his health related article placed in WebMD.com... If you are in the business of selling health related products, you cannot top WebMD for creditibity!

Those people cranking out tons of junk articles are providing no real value to anyone. And in providing no real value to anyone, they are ending up on junk sites with all of the other junk providers. These article placements might carry some value in the Google rankings today, but you should not count on that value to live forever. Eventually, those other listings will disappear, either when the webmaster who accepted the junk articles goes out of business, or when Google finally tags that site as a junk website.

The funny thing is that if you write a quality article that gets placed on a quality website, the chances are solidly in your favor that you will continue to receive search placement value and human visitors from that webpage for many years to come. I still receive traffic on articles that I wrote and were posted in 1999. That is 7 years worth of free advertising from one quality made article.

If you are posting junk articles and your article survives one, maybe two years, on that junk site with search value attributed to it, then I would have still gained 3 times more value than the person who used the junk article to promote their site, because my article survived 7 years instead of 2 years. And once more, I received human visitors in addition to search placement value! So, let's say that I gained 4 times the value that the junk article promoter gained. ;-) And my article is going to last 7 more years most likely. (You would have to ask any successful webmaster, or Mark at SR for that matter, if he intends on being in business for another 7 years or not...)

So at this point, only 7 years into the life of my quality article, I have gained 4 times more value than the junk article promoter. So, maybe quality really can make a difference to someone's business --- even if that someone had to pay 4 times the money to get a quality article written for them. This is even more so when you are writing your own articles. The difference between a junk article and a quality article is 15-30 minutes to create a junk article and 1-2 hours to write a quality article. ;-)

Now here it is. I am telling you that if you spend an extra hour and a half to write a great article, instead of a junk article, then you can benefit from that extra 90 minutes for several years or decades instead or the few short months or years that you would gain with a junk article.

I will leave you with one final question. Given what you have seen with my own successes in article marketing, does it make more sense to write one great article, or a couple junk articles?

You be your own judge.

Rock on.

Last edited by bill.platt (2006-10-25 23:20:31)

Bill Platt
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#18 2006-10-25 19:20:03 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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thegyspsy wrote:
travelagent wrote:
Heh heh gypsy -- before too much longer, you may be able to add my new Article Directory to your list...*groan*...
Sure man... I tihnk I shall copy this list into my TOOLS section of the personal site.... have a site ya want added?

Yessir; you have my email -- I'm still working on it and will advise.

#19 2006-10-25 19:21:28 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

TheGypsy
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Thanks a whole bunch there Bill.... great stuff and has been NOTED with link (targeted text of course)

( I think Bills post was longer than my original piece..lol..leave it too the professionals folks...lol)

It has turned into a great post. Hurraah!!!

:0)

Last edited by thegyspsy (2006-10-25 19:29:12)

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#20 2006-10-25 19:27:11 Re: Article Marketing - a Dave rant

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Whew -- long posts make my eyes and fingers tired... storstark