Niche Article Marketing Tips
In many ways Article Marketing is Affiliate Marketing in it's most basic form. It's usually free to do (but you pay with your time), relatively easy to generate traffic from and not difficult to do, once you understand the basics and that is what this lens is all about.
However, there is considerable controversy over Article Marketing: How best to use it? ; Multiple Article Submissions; Article Spinning and related software, etc
We don't claim to have all the answers, so let's get some of the debates out in the open, right here on this lens!
Don't worry, we're also including some basics on Article Writing and Article Submission as well.
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Article Marketing Basics
What's it all about...
In it's most simple form Article Marketing involves writing an article around a niche topic (or more specifically, a niche keyword phrase). The article is then submitted to one of the various Article Marketing Directory Sites. Your article contains links back to the merchant page or your site, blog or lens and you therefore receive traffic from people who read your article and want to find out more.Simple, right? Well, I'm afraid it's no longer as easy as that!
Before we move on let's get a feeling for what you use articles for at the moment...
Article Marketing Usage - Poll
What do you mainly use Article Marketing For?
You can use Articles in many ways. Let's find out the most popular...
Article Marketing - The Big Debate!
To Spin or not to Spin... That is the question!
OK, let's get straight into the big debate!It's pretty much a two corned fight this one. But it's a key debate on how you approach Article Marketing in the first place.
In the Blue Corner - Submit unique single articles to a quality Article Directory site, such as Ezine Articles, optimise your articles around a long tail keyword phrase to get them ranked highly in Google and then get your traffic from there. (More on this later.)
In the Red Corner - Submit your articles to as many Article Directory sites as possible and then get your traffic from there.
In the Black Corner - (hang on a minute, we said it was a two cornered fight, right?) Well, the problem with multiple submissions is you may run into duplicate content issues with Google and the other search engines. (That's another debate! LOL!)
So, what you do is 'spin' (or re-write) your articles and then submit them to multiple Article Directory sites. The best of both worlds? Maybe... let's find out!
Single or Multiple Article Submission? - Duel
Which works best for you? Let's fight it out!
So, which works best for you? Single or multiple article submission? Maybe you do a combination of both. Do you spin your articles? Do you use software to help with article spinning?
Let's hear about it!
Just to be clear... if you sit in the 'black' corner and spin your articles, pop your comments in the Multiple Article Submission section, OK?
In which corner do you sit
Fetching blurbs now... please stand bySingle Article Submission
ideas-for-marketing says:
The article is always a means to and end - traffic to your site. Most people arrive at an article site via a search engine result so it makes sense to submit to the sites that perform well in Google - and that means ezinearticles and a couple of others. Google knows that the content is reviewed and that Ezines value their brand, so poor quality content doesn't get in. The principle applies across other sites - where content is reviewed or voted upon by internet users, Google is more likely to give it weight.
Submitting to hundreds of article sites therefore makes little sense. Google doesn't trust the quality (because it is unchecked self-promotion) - the sites will never rank and if they don't rank nobody will see the content. The great thing about ezines (and Squidoo and HubPages) is that people may actually stay and browse - in other words my article may not be what brought them to the site. I can benefit from the expertise of others.
Posted July 08, 2009
LPogue says:
I have tried both. I get 20 to 40 views in EZA for every one view I get with any other article directory when I submit to more than one.
I prefer just using EZA, since it takes enough time to resubmit an article to several places as it does to write it in the first place. By writing instead, I have more content. And for such a poor return, submitting to the other sites just isn't effective.
Posted March 30, 2009
NicheReaper says:
Those are great results jnslssn1 !!! Awesome work. $10k from just one niche... think about it people... I'm sure you don't need me to do the maths for you!
Posted March 29, 2009
ArticleWiz says:
I tried multiple submission software, and got nothing out of it except a bill. Single Article submission is the way to go for sure, IMO. Unique submission has worked for me, but it takes a lot of hard work.... EZine is the best site, but US Free Ads and Go Articles have shown some success for me as well.
Posted March 27, 2009
Multiple Article Submission
frans240 says:
Posted about 8 articles on different subjects to Ezine...have been promoted there so now i can add about 25 more...have about 10 articles up on Goarticles...not too much result there compared to the ranking and views on Ezine (8 articles 300+ views but only 30 click thtoughs ..mm 1 in 10 ) have some squidoo lenses but so far the views have gone down, just upped my guitar website and that alone hit over a hundred views in one day) also have 3 Hubs..so far still learning
Posted June 14, 2009
jnslssn1 says:
No answers yet in this corner. From my own experience duplicate content isn't a problem just as long as the article is published on different domains and don't link to each other.
Most often I firstly submit my article to ezine and once it is approved there I go ahead and submit to some more directories.
However I have very positive results from just publishing at ezine. 100 articles in one niche generating about $10k/year.
Posted March 26, 2009
Article Submission / Spinning Software - Vote
Which one is best?
If you use software for article spinning or submission let's hear about it. Give us the product name and a brief description.
We'll start you off with a single entry (because we don't use this type of software).
Convince us otherwise!
Note: HTML does not work in this module, so don't even try. OK?
Article Writing Tips!
That's what you're here for, right?
OK, regardless of how you use your articles or how you submit them, you need to write good quality articles. And the next few modules provide guidance on how to write what we call Ezine quality optimised artiles. Target the Long Tail Keywords
Drill Down...
To get our articles listed as high up in the search engine results as possible you need to target the long tail keywords.As an example for a topic I'll use 'sausages'.
So, our broad topic is 'sausages'.
A sub niche would be 'make sausages' (or 'cook sausages')
A sub niche of that would be 'make beef sausages'
A sub niche of that would be 'make german beef sausages'
And a good long tail keyword would be 'how to make german beef sausages'
Look for phrases that have a decent amount of searches but competition below 5000 when you place your phrase in "quotes" in Google.
You can use Google's own Keyword Tool or a really neat tool called Micro Niche Finder for this.
So, rather than optimising your article around broad keyword phrases like 'sausage making', where it is harder to get on the first page, we optimise around the more targeted phrases like 'how to make german beef sausages'.
Less searches but far easier to get on the first page. AND there are loads more phrases we can target! So, if we write several articles on more targeted phrases, we can still generate a high number of searches!
So let's look next at how we go about optimising out articles and the general layout template we use to do this.
Optimising And Structuring Your Articles
Very Important!
The most important element of optimisation for your article is the title. You must include your long tail keyword in the Article Title.Let's look at another example: Potty Training Your Baby
Simply title your article. "Potty Training Your Baby" or better still "Potty Training Your Baby - Five Easy Steps". (People love tips - so remember this one!)
Next, include your long tail keyword in the introduction of your article, in the conclusion and in your Author Bio. You can also include it once or twice in the body of the article but don't overdo it and don't 'force' your keyword in. The article must read naturally.
And that's it! If you follow that simple strategy your article will be fully optimised.
Article Structure
Remember with any article you are 'presenting' information to your reader and you must make your presentation compelling.
There is a very old but tried and tested method when presenting information to people. We use this method every time we write any article and we recommend you do as well.
1.Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2.Tell them it.
3.Tell them what you have just told them.
So right there you have the outline for your introduction, body and conclusion of your article.
In our example:-
Title: Potty Training Your Baby - Five Easy Steps
Intro: "In this article I'm going to give you five easy steps on potty training your baby..."
Body: "List the five potty training steps"
Conclusion: "I hope you enjoyed my five easy steps on potty training your baby...
Your Article Author Biography
The MOST Important part of any article!
This is the most important part of your article. Indeed, it is the ONLY reason for writing the article in the first place. If you don't write a compelling Bio - you might as well just write articles as a hobby!Most of the better Article Directories do not allow you to put links in the article itself, so it is in the Author Bio that you insert your links back to your lens, blog or website.
So what should you include in your Bio? Let's use one of mine as an example:-
Dave Brown is co-owner of the AffiliateNicheClub, a club dedicated to helping affiliate marketers find profitable niches to promote! To find out more and grab your Free Sample Niche Report visit the AffiliateNicheClub today! The report breaks down a specific niche into the who, why and what and includes a targeted keywords list and there's more.
Let's break that down...
"Dave Brown is co-owner of the AffiliateNicheClub, a club dedicated to helping affiliate marketers find profitable niches to promote!"
The idea here is to create an air of authority or expertise. A reason for people to trust you.
"To find out more and grab your Free Sample Niche Report visit the AffiliateNicheClub today!"
An invitation to visit the site and a compelling reason to do so.
So, to sum up. Your Bio must convey authority or expertise, include a link back to your lens, blog or website and provide a compelling reason for people to visit your lens, blog or website.
Important Tip: When linking back to your lens, blog or site, ALWAYS use hyperlinked anchor text like that in the example above. NEVER link back to a 'bald' url like http://www.affiliatenicheclub.com.
Sure, that kind of link will take people back to your intended url. BUT, not only does it look ugly, it counts for nothing as a back link.
So if your lens is about 'How To Train A Pit Bull' use that as your anchor text in your Author Bio, clear?
EDIT: Ezine Articles are now limiting your hyperlinked anchor text to just three words, so be aware of that!
Submitting Your Articles
Where you should submit your articles
EzineArticles is the premier and most important Article Directory. Now that's not just what we think, it's what Google thinks and that's the most important thing. Google regard Ezine as an authority site and crawl it very regularly.
But you can have your say below...
Which is the Best Article Directory Site - Vote
Vote for your favourite...
There are literally hundreds of Article Directory sites out there and we've already said that we prefer Ezine Articles.
But let us have your views...
Ezine Articles
In our opinion, the premier and most important Art more...13 points
http://www.articleslash.net/
Article Directory offering free Expert Content, Fr more...1 point
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Tell us what YOU think...
shirland wrote...
I like the tip about using you keyword as the anchor link in your resource box. It is amazing that I read that tip before but reading it again has lead my mind to accept it now. I will implement that immediately and I definitely get more views on Ezine than anyplace else that I submit articles. I have never tried to use a submission service that spins the articles, but based on the fact that Google loves EZA I will stick with them. I normally submit to Goarticles and a few others. Thank for a great Len and interaction appreciated.
Posted September 16, 2009
ShedHead wrote...
I have had the best success by checking which keywords people are using to find my sites. Writing an article using them gets me loads of visits and reprints from ezine articles. Great ideas for the Bio box!
Best wishes - Mark
Posted May 27, 2009
NicheReaper wrote...
Hey! First, thanks for the kind comments and taking part in the debates.
Ezine is fast emerging as the fav (as expected) but very little is being said on behalf of the spinners. Well, I see these products getting plugged everywhere so someone's using 'em. Where are YA! Come on... SPAM my lens. If you believe in the product you're promoting get on here and plug it! But you gotta tell us why it's so good, OK?
Posted March 28, 2009
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