I’ve been marketing online for the better part of 20 years, and of all the methods I’ve used, articles are still the way to get traffic through return links. And for me, writing articles has become second nature. Why? Because I trust my past experience and pay attention to what the gurus say. The majority of these people’s opinions are that article marketing and feedback from outside sources are still two of the most effective free methods.
1. Dissemination of articles on the network.
It used to be that you could write a great article and then post that same content to as many article directories and blogs that you could find. That is no longer the case. Google and the other search engine giants are now specifically looking for original content. By original content, I mean unique articles. Some use the method of spinning the articles. Spinning is the process of replacing words in content that have the same meaning. This can be effective to some extent, but not in most cases.
Now, to have original content, but use the same basic article, you need the “in other words” approach. In other words, rewrite the article IN OTHER WORDS. And this is not a really difficult concept if you really think about it. You already have a format ugly in its original. For instance; An article entitled “What comes in springs” could be re-titled “What blooms in April.” There is your beginning. The next step would be to rewrite each paragraph in another way with the same meaning. Like I said, it is a simple process if you think about it.
Now that you have recreated your article as unique and original content, the next step is to start promoting them where you have posted them. If you post one on EzineArticles, please Tweet with the EzineArticles.com URL. Do the same with your Google+ and Facebook account. On Facebook, maybe even improve the post. I’m sure EzineArticles would love the extra traffic and except for the Facebook boost if you decide to do that it won’t cost you a penny and your article will get the promotion you want.
Forums (message boards) can also be thought of as a place to create a mini article. Did you ever think about that? There are tons of forums that are looking for more and more members and posts. Why not take advantage of that information and put some of the ideas from your articles in these forums to start conversations? There is something called a signature area on message boards where you can put a billboard of sorts on every post you make. The advantages of this are (a) your content is being read by more and more people, (b) you have links to your website that are placed in front of everyone who reads and comments on your thread. Talk about a win / win scenario.
Create your own blog. Put original content on it and, as often as allowed, submit it to the major search engines for indexing. Get social on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, StumbleUpon, etc. Whenever you update content, please re-tweet it just in case.
2. Ask for comments on your articles.
Search engines buy it and add credibility to content with comments from as many sources as possible. Ask your friends on Facebook to read your article and then post a comment. Most blogs and some article directories allow it. See if there are any groups exchanging comments with you. Fiverr.com is a good source of feedback if you can’t get a friend to help you.
If handled in the right way, your articles can be a great source of traffic to your site.
