Posted on Saturday 24 February 2007
Anyone who has spent even a few brief weeks in the Internet Marketing business knows that one of the techniques used to promote your website(s) is article publishing. There are literally thousands or article directory sites on the Internet, although I only publish to about 50-60 of these since quality does matter. I will list some of the sites that have provided me the best results in another blog entry. For now, I just want to encourage everyone reading this entry to seriously consider writing and publishing articles.
Publishing articles is highly effective at accomplishing several objectives. First, it will assist you in becoming known throughout the Internet based on your area of expertise. Whatever your particular niche might be, becoming a known expert in that niche will not only help drive traffic to your site, it also serves as a significant factor in your efforts to “brand” both yourself and your products/services. Just look at the success someone such as Willie Crawford has had. If people who read your articles are interested in what you have to say, they will often click the link in your Bio section to visit your site. That is targeted traffic at its best.
Article publishing will also provide your site(s) with one-way backlinks. It is generally accepted by SEO experts that one-way backlinks are much more valuable than two-way (reciprocal) links. Depending on how many sites you submit your articles to, once they are published you now have those one-way links back to your site. Such one-way links indicate “popularity” to the Search Engine spiders. Popularity is one of the factors the SEs used to determine page ranking (PR).
Using my own experience, when I do a Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc., search for my name, that search produces hundreds of results. The majority of those results stem from the articles I have placed in the various directories. Doing a search with keywords related to one of my niches may not produce as many results, but they are there.
Of course, writing a well thought out, informative article is key. No one wants to read through a rambling discourse, nor are they likely to clickthrough to your site in that case. Before you publish, let a few friends read your article to solicit their opinions. Make changes if you have to. If all else fails, consider using a ghostwriter. It may cost you a few dollars, but it will be worth it.
Finally, if you plan to post to a large number of article directories you might want to consider purchasing one of the submission programs or services available. I use ArticlePostRobot. I’m not affiliated with APR in any way, other than as a customer. I just like what it provides, and the time it saves me. But as I said, there are other good programs/services available.
In closing, I will once again emphasize that article publishing can be a powerful component of your overall site promotion strategy. Many of the top gurus in the Internet Marketing utilize article submission. There is a reason for that.