Why I Use Articles To Build Links and Traffic
Jason McGovern wrote:
Hi Brandon -First off, I love your blog. Second, I was reading your link building in 2007 post, and wanted to request an expanded post on article submission. I would love to get your thoughts and ideas on this when you get a chance!
Thanks for the email Jason! Articles. One thing I always wish I had more time for. However, also something I can’t ever justify outsourcing.
For me, article marketing plays a crucial role in two ways. Whenever I decide to try out something new like Build a Niche Store or ClickBank ideas I always start with articles to test the waters.
When starting a new site in a niche, articles are one of the first parts of my marketing plan. The reason behind this is that you can get a few easy links and some easy traffic. Once those articles are spread to the thousands of crappy article sites, the value of the link degrades, but you’ll still see some traffic every month in my experience.
When I write articles, I try not to target a flooded market, or the main keyword. I like to write my articles with a focus on a long tail keyword. Once you can lock in a good position with a long tail keyword, it’s easier to build traffic and a following. Think of it like a snowball rolling down a hill, all you need is a little push (article) and you collect more snow (rankings) on the way down!
In addition to building links and testing the waters, articles can actually convert to sales. I used to have a Squidoo lens and 99% of my marketing for that lens was with articles. Consistently I sold about one ClickBank ebook per month. The net revenue was not much, but neither was the time commitment.
All in all I still like articles as much today as I did 2 years ago. I do however avoid owning article directories. Too much work without enough reward.
Thanks again for the question!
Rice Blogger said
March 1 2008 @ 2:22 am
never tried that…any good place to submit those article?…other than squidoo
Travis T. said
March 4 2008 @ 9:32 am
I use article marketing as one of my biggest tools for getting traffic. I think it is a good technique but I haven’t found it to bring in loads of traffic. Perhaps because I don’t have enough articles out there. However, I have found the traffic to be quite consistent which is nice.
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Article submissions as a traffic-building strategy | ChillyCool Web Digger said
March 5 2008 @ 3:25 am
[…] Why I Use Articles To Build Links and Traffic When starting a new site in a niche, articles are one of the first parts of my marketing plan. The reason behind this is that you can get a few easy links and some easy traffic. Once those articles are spread to the thousands of crappy article sites, the value of the link degrades, but you’ll still see some traffic every month in my experience. […]
seo woot said
March 9 2008 @ 4:25 pm
I must admit i have never really concentrated on articles for link building. Might give it another shot.
BABYKITTY said
March 9 2008 @ 10:20 pm
just found this page. good thoughts!
easiest place to find article sites–Google! Just Google–best article ezines. a list of top rated ones comes up and you’re off and running from there.
i’ve used articles a LOT–getting pretty good traffic and it’s free. also setting up blogs and using older articles and variations of my articles is getting results.
hope this helped!
Flimjo said
March 12 2008 @ 8:08 am
I heard that ezinearticles.com is a good place to submit articles.
seoreef said
March 13 2008 @ 5:57 am
I only use ezinearticles these days.
SEOPR said
March 19 2008 @ 10:44 am
I think I need to take a second look at article marketing.
PS3 said
March 23 2008 @ 3:55 pm
Do you find that writing articles comes easily, or do you ensure it is a topic that you are fairly well versed in?
Rice Blogger said
April 1 2008 @ 7:08 am
thanks…do you use any article submission software or what site is good to submit?
seo woot said
April 1 2008 @ 7:44 am
Whats really funny is that i have recently checked one of my sites that i have sold around 6 years ago and all those backlinks i developed using articles are still there and growing.
Ralph said
April 24 2008 @ 2:15 am
We also use articles to market our sites but as you say, so many of the article sites are crap… but still it is a good way to get links over the long run.