Article Directories And Article Markets

I read an article today that was titled, “Seven Top Article Marketing Websites“. Obviously, the article promises to tell its readers where they can publish their articles for article marketing purposes. But I found some problems with the article.

Before I get into, however, here are the seven websites the author recommends:

• EzineArticles
• IdeaMarketers
• GoArticles
• iSnare
• Article Alley
• Associated Content
• Constant Content

How Article Marketing Works
Speaking of traditional article marketing, only four of these seven websites can be considered article directories. That’s not to say these article websites can’t be beneficial in your article marketing efforts, but there are really two types of article marketing and this author is mixing the two.

The first kind of article marketing, traditional article marketing, is when you write an article and distribute it online through several directories, which serve as repositories for e-zine editors and website owners who visit the directories to find articles that they can publish. The article directories are not your end goal in getting published. They are simply the “middle man” in the article marketing chain. You don’t get paid for your articles – that is, there is no monetary compensation. Your reward for getting your article published is that when e-zine editors and website publishers like your article and use it they will publish your article with a link back to your website. Those links are your payment and result in higher rankings for your website and more traffic. That’s traditionally how article marketing has been done.

In the above-mentioned article, the websites that are mentioned that are article directories and can be used for the purpose described in the last paragraph are EzineArticles, GoArticles, IdeaMarketers, and Article Alley. IdeaMarketers is a little bit different than the other three because it’s focus is more tightly centered around business marketing and offers article marketers an opportunity to bid to be on the front page of the directory.

iSnare is a little bit different. It’s not really a directory, though it does contain a directory. The real benefit to using iSnare is that for $2 per article you can have your articles distributed to hundreds, even thousands, of other websites and directories online, supercharging your article marketing efforts tremendously.

Article Markets For Everyone
Associated Content is not really an article directory. Associated Content is like an online magazine that gets its content from writers who submit it then get paid based on the number of views their articles attract. In order to benefit from this type of article marketing, you have to be a good writer and write about topics that are popular. The goal is not to drive traffic to your website or increase your website’s link popularity. It is to get paid, which is more like traditional freelance article writing.

Constant Content is in its own unique category. It’s more like an article broker. Article writers write their articles then offer them up for sale on Constant Content’s website. If you get a buyer, they will pay you for your article and Constant Content will take a small part of that payment as a commission for brokering the sale. Again, the focus is on something else entirely different.

Which Type Of Article Marketing
Is Right For You?
So which type of article marketing is right for you? Well, it depends on your goals. You can benefit from them all. If you want to promote your website or blog and use articles to drive traffic and increase the link popularity of those sites then the traditional article marketing route is for you. If you’d like to get paid for your articles then maybe you should market them through Associated Content or Constant Content. But I would not try to publish the same article through EzineArticles that I tried to publish through Associated Content or Constant Content. The two types of article marketing don’t mix well. The reason I say that is because a publisher is not going to want to purchase an article that you gave away for free on EzineArticles, and he may even get mad if he finds several other websites using your content for free. So you need to choose a route for your article – either free distribution or paid distribution and stick with it.

Nevertheless, either way you go, you can benefit from an article ghostwriter. You especially should use a professional ghostwriter if you want your article content to shine. If you don’t have the writing skills and you want to have your article published in the finest magazines for pay then you should definitely use a skilled article ghostwriter.

So there you have it, the difference between traditional article marketing and article freelancing, or article directories and article markets. Both have benefit, but don’t mix the two. Use them both in your marketing plan, but know the differences and know what they can each do for you.