This is the most natural and most effective way to get backlinks to your site. Write
a great article and people are bound to talk about it and link to it. So, in terms of
search engine practices, you won’t be penalized for getting a backlink to a great
article. In addition, most people linking back to your articles tend to add their own
descriptive anchor text to the page. This can help by increasing the variability of
the anchor text associated with that article and web page. You can write articles
and post them on your own site, but then you will have to figure out a way to
publish them for maximum exposure. If you don't have the audience to attract a
large following, you will have to find other areas that do have large audiences and
try to post content there.
DUPLICATE CONTENT
Search engines are becoming very strict about duplicate content. The whole idea
behind having a great site that ranks well is that your content is fresh and original.
If you are duplicating content from either your own or someone else’s website,
Google will penalize your site for it. It will fall in Page Rank or it can be removed
from the Google index, a practice called “sandboxing.” If you land in Google’s
sandbox, you are pretty much an Internet non-person. No one will see your listing
in the search engines and that’s very bad news. It doesn’t even matter if they
search for you by exact domain name, if you are in the sandbox, you are not visible
or very far down the list of SERPs.
For this reason, it is not advisable to take content off your site and submit it to
article directories as a free article. What will happen is that the original content on
your site will get spammed all over the Internet and your PageRank will drop. If you
are backlinking to your original content from comments in other areas, then this
won’t cause you to be copying your own work. Use new, fresh, content for free
article submissions to article directories and don’t duplicate it on your site. Let them
worry about how often it is copied elsewhere because it is a free article.
FREE ARTICLES
The idea behind a free article is the same as a free software application. You are
creating something of value to surfers of the web who will hopefully go back to your
site from the backlink you put into the free article. If your article is really good,
they may even backlink to it or to your site. You will be submitting to multiple
article directories, and these can all have the same article. As long as that article is
not on your website, you won’t be penalized on your site for duplicate content.
THINGS TO REMEMBER
1. Use text format
If you try to use Microsoft Word and then cut-and-paste into submission areas,
you may find it adds extraneous characters. To resolve that problem, use a text
editor when creating the article. Notepad works great.
2. Keep it short
Most people on the Internet are swiftly browsing and longer articles will not keep
their attention. Try to stay within 300 to 700 words in length.
3. Follow the writer’s guidelines
Make sure you understand the guidelines before submitting an article.
4. Stay on topic
If your site is about dating, then write dating articles. Don’t write about food
unless it has something to do with dating. This makes you the expert on your
chosen topic and can help you cultivate traffic by directing them to your dating
website.
5. Use your resource box smartly
Don’t just give your name and no further information. Instead, this is the area
to sell your services, add your backlink, and entice the reader to your website.
Within this area, you can promote something special on your site like more free
writings or special offers.
6. Use multiple backlinks
Some article directories will allow the resource box to have more than one link.
You can put two or three there, but don’t just include a listing of all your
websites. It has to be relevant, not silly.
7. Use anchor text
The resource box can vary at each article directory. So, here’s your chance to
mix and match the anchor text for the keywords you are trying to score in the
search engines.
8. Check spelling and grammar
You want your article to be professional and reflect a good command of the
English language.
9. Show, don’t tell
This was a basic rule in English class and it still applies on the Internet. Any
writing that engages the reader and makes them want more will help you get
more backlinks.
10.Make it easy on the eyes
Unlike text in a paperback book, the Internet demands a more calculated use of
white space, bolding, and other highlighting features. Try to make it easy to
view the article on a computer monitor without squinting.
THINGS TO AvoID
1. Spamming
This means you don’t want to send in an article with irrelevant content or one
that just tries to promote your business alone. Article directories are not free
advertising sites and spamming will get you banned.
2. Foul language
If you are trying to make a point, avoid the foul language. It may be expressive
and capture attention, but it probably won’t pass some filters either.
3. Linking to your affiliates
If you add hyperlinks in the body of the article, don’t add your affiliate
information there. These links are meant to point to relevant sites that
contribute to the knowledge of the article, not to your pocketbook. It can also
get you banned.
REDUCING THE WORKLOAD
While this is a very good strategy for getting backlinks, you are probably not too
thrilled with the workload. Who has time to build a website, promote it, lay out and
implement a marketing strategy, and write multiple articles? Not that many
entrepreneurs will have that kind of time. So, it’s important to locate resources to
help you establish the backlinks that you need. This can take the form of hiring
people on your team to help you build or re-write PLR articles or to help with article
submission to different directories. Also, you might want to consider article submission software to help automate the process and reduce your workload. We
discuss all three options below.
CONTRACT OTHERS TO WRITE FOR YOU
Like software developers there are plenty of writing professionals who are willing to
write custom articles for you. You can find some at exquisitewriting.com,
Elance.com, Guru.com or at RentAWriter.com. DigitalPoint.com also offers
forums for people looking to hire writers. Craigslist.com can give you access to
local writers in your area, if that’s important to you. You will have to buy the full
rights in order to use them in the article directories.
In large bulk orders, you might be able to get away with $5-10 an article ranging
within the 300 to 700 word range. While there are people willing to offer articles at
very low prices, you may find that the quality isn’t what you desire. It’s important
that you get ghost writers that will create unique, quality, articles as you will
eventually be claiming them as your own. They will represent your personal and
professional reputation on the Web.
For high quality ghost writers, you can expect to pay between $10 to $45 for
articles ranging between 300 and 700 words, depending on the quantity you buy.
The higher the volume you request, the more likely a ghost writer will cut you a
deal. Repeat business is also a way to establish a sound relationship with writers
who can offer better prices to you.
ARTICLE SUBMISSION
With so many different article directories out there, you will need to find directories
that will post your article and give you a backlink that counts. Here is a good list to
get you started:
GoArticles - http://www.goarticles.com
Ezine Articles.com - http://www.ezinearticles.com
Article Beach – http://www.articlebeach.com
Article-Buzz - http://www.article-buzz.com/
Site Reference - http://www.site-reference.com/submit.php
Web Pro News - http://www.webpronews.com/submit
Article Warehouse - http://www.articlewarehouse.com/
Article Dashboard - http://www.articledashboard.com
Articles Base Directory - http://www.articlesbase.com
SimplySearch4It - http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/articlesub.php
Small Biz Articles - http://www.smallbizarticles.com/
Just Articles - http://www.JustArticles.com/
Article Snatch - http://www.articlesnatch.com
SimplySearch4It - http://articles.simplysearch4it.com/articlesub.php
I Need Content - http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/I_Need_Content/
Free Articles for Reprinting - http://www.articles-hub.com
Article Rich.com - http://www.articlerich.com
Directory Gold Article Directory –
http://articles.directorygold.com/signup.php
Article Cafe - http://www.articlecafe.net
Article Friendly - http://www.articlefriendly.com
The Add Articles Directory - http://www.add-articles.com
Submit Your New Article - http://www.submityournewarticle.com
1Article World - http://www.1articleworld.com
Article Rich.com - http://www.articlerich.com
Free Reprint Articles - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/free-reprint-articles/
eArticlesOnline.com - http://www.earticlesonline.com
ABC Article Directory - http://www.abcarticledirectory.com
You can do a search to locate more article directories to submit. There are literally
hundreds out there.
Since there are so many and the guidelines may be different for each site, there are
companies that specialize in helping you to get your articles ready for submission to
multiple sites. They will not only help proofread your articles, but help to tweak
your resource box for the type of anchor text you prefer that will give your backlinks more weight. If you really don’t want to spend too much time doing
these, you can pay someone else to do it for you.
ARTICLE SUBMISSION SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
Software is helpful for the do-it-yourselfer that plans on doing multiple article
marketing campaigns. It’s definitely not cheap, but saves you time and keeps the
entire process under your control. Here are two that people have found work well:
ArticleSubmitterPro.com
This software has the ability to store multiple logins for your article submission
sites. So, if this has kept you off specific sites that publish free articles, buying
the software can get you back on in little time. It formats your article to
correspond to the submission guidelines for that site too. It will submit to over
1200 sites in one shot. Cost: $167.00. However, you can trade in the receipt
from a different article submission package you bought and get a $70 discount.
ArticleAnnouncer.com
This has a lot of hype on the selling page, but a good reputation amongst article
marketers. It shows you how to write great, in demand articles, and how to
submit them with 21 step-by-step tutorials. It comes with scripts to automate
the processes important in article submission. It does come with a 3-month
guarantee. Cost: $379.00
If you just want to try this out and don’t want the hassle of learning new software,
then a monthly article marketing service might be right for you. Here are a couple
that have a good reputation:
Submityourarticles.com
This claims to be the first Internet site to offer an article submission service. It is
100% automated on their side and relieves you have having to put too much
effort into submitting your articles. The price can be steep, even on a monthly
basis. The very basic allows you to submit 4 articles a month to directories for
$37.00.
ArticleMarketer.com
This site offers unlimited submissions and also access to courses on article
marketing. Cost: $39.95 per quarter or $159.80 per year.
A WORD ON PLAGIARISM
Article writing is a very profitable business and there are unscrupulous people in
this business too. To protect yourself from buying plagiarized content and getting
penalized by search engines for duplicate content (through no fault of your own),
you will want to make sure that you do not buy plagiarized material.
In academic terms, plagiarism included the copying of another author’s ideas,
theories, or opinions without properly referencing the original source. Obviously, on
the Internet (where article re-writing is rampant and marketing is the sole
purpose), you can’t define plagiarism in such strict terms if you are marketing just
another acne medication. The ideas behind why your acne medication is better will
probably resound in very familiar echoes across the web: it clears zits, it reduces
scarring, and it works fast. So, plagiarism for marketing copy would not have the
same standard as academic copy. However, we can say that you aren’t supposed to
grab someone else’s great one-liner and make it your own either. And, this is one
thing that can be easily identified by comparing two copies of an article on the Web.
So, for search engine purposes, a plagiarized article will set off a search engine’s
algorithms when it has eight consecutive words in a row identical to another article
elsewhere on the Web, under a different author’s name. Realize too, that you can
plagiarize yourself (in search engine terms) if you submit under different
pseudonyms across the Web.
There are services offered to help you detect plagiarism from any of the writers that
you hire. Copyscape.com is the search engine that can help you review submitted
articles for plagiarism before they are posted to your site. You will have to find an
area that is not on the site you are marketing, but that is online to post the articles
while you check them out for plagiarism. Then, submit the URL for that article into
the Copyscape search engine to see if it finds duplicate content on the web. If you
were sold original, one-of-a-kind, articles then they should not have any other
copies on the Internet. The original service is free, but limited. You will need to sign
up for the premium plan to get unlimited searches for $0.05 a search.