“Is Article Marketing Dead?”

Oddly enough I see this question pop up every so often in popular online marketing forums. Sometimes I even see people get pretty upset about the answers they get, demanding proof that a person is making money writing articles. So I thought maybe it’s time to add my own two cents.

Yes, article marketing is all but dead if you’re referring to posting junk articles on article directories and expecting people to knock down your virtual door. Thanks to the changes in Google over the years, those days are over and done. Even posting an outstanding article on a site like Ezine Articles likely won’t garner you more than a few website visits a week at most – probably not enough to make it worth your while. Because if you’re writing quality content that people really want to read, there are far better places you can place your own articles.

For instance, you can place them on your own website. These days Google is rewarding sites full of quality information with better rankings, so why not fill your own website with your truly great articles?

What do I mean by quality information? First, it’s got to be material people actually want to read. This means you’ve got to have some basic writing skills or readers won’t go past the first paragraph. Second, the content has to be something that will empower them, improve their life or solve a problem. In other words, what’s in it for them to read your article?

Third, it has to be relevant. Offering up last year’s SEO techniques isn’t going to cut it, and in fact it will earn you some nasty comments and a hit to your reputation. Either know what you’re talking about, or find an expert who does.

Okay, so you’ve got some great articles on your own website – time to find other sites who are looking for your content. Ideally you want sites that get a lot of traffic but don’t post a ton of content. This way your article will stay featured for a longer period of time, plus it’s more likely to appear in the “most popular posts” section.

Once you’ve got some guest articles (or guest posts, if you prefer) out there, contact those site owners about possibly writing for them on a continuing basis. If you’re submitting an article a month to say, 10 different sites, that’s 10 sites sending visitors back to your site. And that can be far more powerful than Ezine Articles ever was.

Lastly, see if you can get articles published in real life magazines. That’s right – magazines like Entrepreneur and Wired. Sure it’s harder to break into those, but what a coup if you do!