Article Submissions To Article Directories Is Not The Way To Go

Seriously, are you still getting a bunch of cheap articles written and distributing them to thousands of article directories? That method used to work. It was never that effective, but now it’s simply obsolete as a link-building method. The last Google update, Panda should have convinced you of that, but that method was dead before the update.

You don’t even have a way of knowing how many people actually read those articles let alone if they actually got published at the places you submitted them to. Plus, if it is garbage content, then no one who does read it will ever visit your website. Using article marketing just for link popularity is the wrong way to go.

1. Well-written articles will help you establish yourself as an expert in your field.

2. Well-written articles that are interesting to the reader will get them to click through to your website where you can actually make a sale.

Those are reasons to do article marketing. Links back to your website are the side-benefit of article marketing, not the purpose!

You need to promote good, original content, not spinning articles or hiring people to write them for the lowest price possible. It seems that poeople get the idea that something works and they will stay with that method even if it kills them. People hate change.

If you are still going with the cheap articles, thousands of directory submissions method, then you are missing the boat. Good article marketing is not cheap anymore. get over it. Hire some good content writers. Have them get those new articles onto knol pages, hub pages, squidoo lenses, large forums that allow articles to be published and other high-traffic websites.

These high-traffic websites that allow you to place good, original content on them is the method you should be using. You will know exactly where your article is published and know exactly how many people read it. Here are some details for you to look at;

Image via CrunchBase

1. Google Knol Pages – http://knol.google.com If you go there and do a search for your keywords, you will see several knol pages about that topic. You see next to each one how many people read those articles. Nice to know how many people actually read your articles. We can add images, embed video, use bold text, headers and other formatting to dress up the article and make it more appealing, more like a web page than an article. If you build the first one that is just all about your company, then build more knol pages, you add links to those knol pages from your first google knol page about your company. So you end up with a Central Knol about your conmpany that links to all of your other knol pages. That is exactly like having another website.

Image via CrunchBase

2. Hub Pages – (This is going to sound almost identical to a knol page) http://www.hubpages.com is another place you can search for one of your keywords to see what other people have done with their articles. Again, you get to know how many people read the article and get other useful analytics as well. We can add images, embed video, use bold text, headers and other formatting to dress up the article and make it more appealing, more like a web page than an article. If you build the first one that is just all about your company, then build more hub pages, you add links to those hub pages from your first hub page about your company. So you end up with a Central Hub about your conmpany that links to all of your other hub pages. That is exactly like having another website.

Image via CrunchBase

3. Squidoo Lens – http://www.squidoo.com You can also search there for lenses about your topic to see what others have done. You’ll notice that these are much longer than knols or hubs. Knols and hubs are one article. A lens is 10 articles. As with the hubs and knols we can add images, embed video, use bold text, headers and other formatting to dress up the articles and make them more appealing. The difference here is that you have us write a series of articles that flow from article to article like chapters in a book. Again you get to see how many people read the lens and everything.

Using Google Analytics in your website means you will also know how many of those readers actually visited your website. It’s crucial to know what kind of return you get from the different methods you use to drive more traffic to your website. The same things do not work for everyone. Having the knowledge of what is and is not working allows you to make adjustments and improve the return on your investment in SEO and Marketing.

Now that is article marketing. You may need to review your own article marketing plan if you are not including these methods. We can help.

Pricing

Google Knol Pages run $80 including the content writing and everything.

Hub Pages run $60 including the article writing.

A Squidoo Lens runs $400, including the 10 articles.

I’ve been doing article marketing longer than almost anyone on the web. I own 2 article directories myself, one of them with more than 150,000 articles in it and I’m still advising my clients not to go that route. The options above are so much better and the sites are much higher quality and they have more traffic than the article directories. For instance; My article directory gets 35,000 unique visitors per month. Hubpages.com gets 1 million+. Combine that higher traffic with the tracking that analytics gives you and you have a real article marketing plan.

Contact us here or call 512.322.9566 for a free, no-obligation consultation.

Related articles

• Introducing Knol (buzz.blogger.com)

Think Outside of the Article Marketing Box

Are you still writing articles or having articles written and just submitting them to article directories? Are you going to ignore the real potential of article marketing? The method of writing articles and submitting them to article directories is outdated and isn’t enough to get you the most potential from your content.

Here is what Article Content Provider will do for you.

Article Submissions, Distribution and Promotion

1. Article distribution: We will submit your articles to GoArticles.com, ArticleBase.com, ArticleCity.com and thousands of other quality article directory sites. We can’t guarantee every publisher will reprint your article, but if even 200 or 300 publishers reprint your articles, then it’s worth more than the $10 per article we charge. If our article writers write the article for you, the charge for article submissions is just $5. Average Completion Time: 7-10 days.

2. Article Distributed as a Google Knol Page: Creating a Google Knol Page from your article at http://knol.google.com is one of the best methods of using your content to increase traffic to your website. With article directory submissions, you are not allowed to put links in the body of the article. In a Google Knol Page, we can use the proper anchor text to link key phrases to pages within your website. These are sometimes not included in your link popularity, but the Google Knol Pages rank well in the search engines attracting more visitors to the Knol page and to your website.  We also add the images you supply or use stock images if you prefer.

We will create Google Knol Pages for you using articles you already have or articles that we write for you. If we are using an article you already own, we charge $60 to create a Google Knol Page for you. If you want us to write an original article for you and create a Google Knol Page, the cost is only $90 total. Average Completion Time: 7 Days. (This includes the normal 500-700 word Knol Page with some images and calls to action links to wherever you want, including affiliate links. There is an additional charge for longer articles and/or longer Knol Pages, embedding video or audio, etc.)

3. Article submitted as a Squidoo Lens.

We create a Squidoo Lens for your article at http://www.squidoo.com. You can supply the images or we can use stock photos and images. As with a Google Knol Page, anchor text links within the Lens page are allowed. The cost for a basic Squidoo Lens is $60 if you supply the article and $90 if we write it for you and create the Squidoo Lens with it. Call us at 786-317-8774 to get started. Average Completion Time: 7 days. (This includes the normal 500-700 word article as a Squidoo Lens Page with some images and calls to action links to wherever you want, including affiliate links. There is an additional charge for longer articles and/or longer Squidoo Lens Pages, embedding video or audio, etc.)

4. Article Submissions to Forums.

Forums get crawled often by the search engine spiders. New content is indexed quickly. Many forums allow you to post articles that you own.

Example: Click here

We can help submit your articles to forums like that one and others that relate to your topic. The price depends on the number of articles, the number of forums to post them to and whether we are going to locate the forums and create the accounts for you or you will be doing that yourself. Completion Time: Varies by job.

5. Social Bookmarking Combined with Article Submissions.

Whether you have us submit your article to article directories, create Google Knol Pages or submit your articles to forums, following the article submissions up with social bookmarking means more people will read and redistribute your articles. They will share them with their friends who share them with their friends . . . you get the idea. Your article becomes viral if it is well-written, interesting and distributed the right way.

We bookmark your Knol page URL, web page URL, article directory page URL or forum URL where your article appears at 100 social bookmarking sites like Digg, Twitter, Delicious, Propeller and more for just $40 per article. If you want more than 100 social bookmarks for your article page we can give you a free quote for anything up to 600 social bookmarks. Average Completion Time: 3-7 Days. You get a links list to verify your bookmarks.

Click here for more information about our unique article submission services.

Is Google Knol Article Marketing?

Since its inception, Google Knol has been billed as article marketing. But is it?

While there are similarities to article marketing, Google Knol is a bit different. First, it’s not a directory so publishers don’t typically go there for articles to publish in their e-zines and on their websites. But you can build links through Google Knol.

Some marketers have compared it to Squidoo and HubPages. That may be more accurate, in which case, it isn’t article marketing so much as it is reputation marketing. The purpose is to establish yourself as an expert on a certain topic by providing links and resources about that topic. Those resources could be your own or someone else’s properties, but they’ve got to be helpful resources for your target market. But Google Knol is different from Squidoo in one aspect – you don’t really want to include resources from other people too much.

With Google Knol, you’re better off making your links point to your website so that you can get the inbound link juice from them (not to mention the traffic). That’s the real benefit to Google Knol and I think it’s a great benefit.

To read a great Google Knol on article marketing, click here.