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Article Marketing and Link Building: Dead or Alive?



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article marketing link building …but it’s easily fixed.

I have been planning, establishing, monetizing and selling niche websites for well over three years now.

I currently generate a comfortable six figure passive income from my portfolio of a dozen plus niche sites, which are monetized with 7 different monetization methods.

I have tried and tested all sorts of internet marketing strategies over time, and of all that I have tried, one particular strategy has consistently delivered top results for my niche websites.

My Best Link Building Strategy

Article marketing is still my single most beneficial internet marketing initiative today.

The way I do it may have changed slightly over time, given the changes in search engine algorithms and market saturation resulting from individuals and businesses rapidly joining the space, but the overall strategy and its benefits remain sound.

Article marketing is also the single most time consuming link building strategy that I engage in when initially establishing a new niche website.

In fact, for many of my niche websites, article marketing is ALL that I have done to get my pages indexed and ranked higher over time on search engine.

Yes, each one of those websites ranks on page one of Google for their respective key terms.

Surprised Article Marketing Still Works?

Unfortunately, these days I have been reading more and more about how article marketing is extinct and doesn’t work anymore.

That is not the case at all.

Like I said, the methods have slightly changed, by the overall concept is still as solid as it was before.

Common Article Marketing Mistake

Many novice internet marketers engage in article marketing by submitting spun articles through automated article submission tools that syndicate the article across thousands of article directories online, each of which link back to the subject website that is being promoted.

While this strategy worked in the past, search engines have become a bit more sophisticated today in recognizing the “newness” of the underlying site being promoted or linked back to and therefore are taking caution before handing out top rankings like free cookies.

There was a time when this is exactly what I did, and for many niche websites this is ALL that I did and observed my website climb the ranks of Google over time.

However, a simple SEO site analysis shows that this strategy no longer works.

In fact I am seeing that it causes more detriment as once a website is “slapped” by search engines, redeeming it out of the dog house is quite a challenge.

What search engines are doing is very much logical, if you think about it.

It’s common sense that a brand new website cannot possibly generate thousands of back links to it overnight, can it?

But by doing so, novice internet marketers are setting off red flags, which in turn causes their websites more harm than good.

Excessive red flags can throw a website into the search engine dog house for extended periods of time.

I know that for a fact because I have experimented with this aggressive method of article marketing. While it worked just a few years back, it doesn’t work in today’s online landscape.

Article Marketing the Right Way – the Only Way

What should a marketer do instead?

Instead of building thousands of back links to the main website, marketers should build an intermediate “layer of protection”, which all back links must be pointed to.

This layer in turn can be pointed to the main site.

Before mass submitting it through an automated submission program, write a unique article and post it on a popular directory or web 2.0 property like Squidoo and ensure it links back to your website utilizing the appropriate anchor text.

Create and submit another article through the automated submission software and make all the back links point to the article in the directory or web 2.0 property.

Do you see where I am going with this?

The key is to select a layer that is already popular and credible in the eyes of the search engines.

For example, Google may not think much of it if one particular Squidoo lens was to get thousands of back links overnight as opposed to a brand new no-namer website that you created last week.

The Proof Is in the Pudding

This is not only theory.

I tested this process by marketing two brand new websites using two different approaches.

You can read more about the experiment and the glaring results in my previous guest post here.

Article Marketing Bottom Line

Article marketing is still my single most beneficial internet marketing strategy today.

It is alive and well, and has worked like a charm each time I launch a new niche website.

Try it out for yourself and closely monitor search engine response after each submission.

What are your thoughts about this “indirect” article marketing strategy – do you agree or disagree? Why?

What article marketing strategies have proven to be the most successful for you?

All the best,

Sunil

 

Sunil owns over a dozen profitable niche websites and is the author of “How to Go from $0 to $1,000 a month in Passive and Residual Income in Under 180 Days All in Your Spare Time”, a FREE report you can download instantly from his Extra Money Blog, where he discusses how to create multiple streams of passive and residual income, entrepreneurship, internet marketing, blogging and personal finance. In 2007, he sold his ecommerce website for $250,000 to a top Ebay Power Seller and since then has sold several niche sites for five figures each. You can read more about him and his work on his blog.


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{ 71 comments }

Hilgard December 25, 2012 at 8:20 pm

Sunil, thank you for an interesting article that confirms that I have been doing the right thing. When Google Panda & Penguin hit, I actually improved in my rankings and got many first page ranking. I am a strong believer in Article Marketing and that is what my website is built around. I upload at least 3 new, original, 700 words + articles per week and now enjoys many front page rankings. Article Marketing will never die and the so called “experts” tried to kill it in order to promote their products that was not applicable to article marketing. I truly believe that if you are looking for long term online success, you should stick with affiliate article marketing.

Brad Lees April 23, 2012 at 6:13 am

Hi Sunil
So glad I found this article (and this site). I’m just starting out and I really need to find out effective ways to bring visitors to my blog.
I will certainly be trying out article marketing just the way you recommend.
One question: would you recommend linking the Web 2.0 site to a blog’s home page or to an internal page – is there any noticable difference?

Ana Hoffman April 25, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Welcome to TGC, Brad, and I’ll let Sunil respond to your question.

Brad Lees April 25, 2012 at 12:45 pm

Thanks Ana

I’m subscribed, so I look forward to becoming a regular at your blog. Good stuff.

Brad

Jon December 22, 2011 at 2:19 pm

Personally I hate reading or rather trying to decipher obviously spun articles so have never been tempted to use spinners of any description, however, I might try out your web 2.0 buffer layering idea in the new year.

Joe December 18, 2011 at 10:52 am

Thanks Sunil.

I have a question for you. I can see that you are passing all the page rank to the intermediate layer, but then the article is dividing your page rank up amongst the sites internal and external links and distributing your site a portion of your hard work. Is that only efficient for a niche topic, or do you think it will still work for any topic?

Mark December 6, 2011 at 3:39 pm

I am kinda new to article marketing and I will attempt to start writing articles to submit to ezine next week. But the question I have is, when using article marketing and submit your articles to directories the links that you leave in the article is not dofollow are they? Is it that the article directory just allows visitors to find the article and hopefully they will hit the link that link backs to your website?

Cheolsu November 3, 2011 at 1:02 am

Hi Sunil, Thank you for opening my eyes. I was with the belief that Article marketing is virtually dead after the recent Google Panda update and never even looked at Article marketing as one of the option.

Robert October 22, 2011 at 4:52 pm

I agree wholeheartedly that article marketing is not dead and still can mean the difference in succeeding or failing when promoting a site. New sites have to be careful, as you stated above, when making thousands of links in a short period of time. Anyhow keep up the good work Sunil. I will check out your case study on your other post in a moment.

- Robert

Jean October 14, 2011 at 12:24 am

Good post, Sunil. Article marketing still works for sure, and a lot of my friends are into it quite heavily. It may perhaps be somewhat time consuming but it is definitely effective from what I still hear from them.

-Jean

Chad October 10, 2011 at 7:47 pm

Sunil, I don’t know who to believe? I read a post on the Warrior forum saying

we’ll immediately begin auto spinning plr articles and adding your anchor text backlinks to the articles and then will submit them to 3500 sites on our network of article directories and guest blog addresses

Calling it link juice. This article, from what I understand, says not to do that.

I just started a site on how to get website visitors

Sunil from The Extra Money Blog October 11, 2011 at 4:07 pm

Chad, what am I missing here? when I read it I understand that they will spin the articles, add the anchor link and syndicate it. how do you understand/interpret it?

Chad October 11, 2011 at 6:11 pm

That’s how I understand it also but, in the article above under “Common Article Marketing Mistake” it says that that strategy worked in the past but doesn’t any longer. Unless I am reading something wrong.

There are a lot of methods I’ve read about where one person says do this and then the next article I read says don’t do that. Sounds like it’s a lot of trial and error.

Satrap October 8, 2011 at 11:37 am

Hey Sunil,
Article marketing has been my best and most effective SEO tool. A lot of people think its dead after the Panda update. But, I am still using it and still getting results.

Sunil from The Extra Money Blog October 10, 2011 at 6:43 pm

Satrap, how specifically are you employing article marketing?

Satrap October 11, 2011 at 2:44 pm

Well, I basically try to get the most out of each and every post I publish on my blog.

So, I wait a few days or so until the post gets indexed (so I get the credit for original content), then I submit the same artcile to as many article directories as I can.

However, After the Panda update, I have started to spin the article a little. Not that much though, maybe just changing the tiles and the first and last sentence of the article.

To me, the most important benefit is the one way backlinks, of course any traffic from those articles is a welcomed bonus.

Sunil from The Extra Money Blog October 11, 2011 at 4:05 pm

But based on your tracking, how is that impacting your rank / website performance?

Satrap October 12, 2011 at 3:02 pm

All I can say is that if it wasn’t for article marketing, I wouldn’t be ranking for my biggest keywords (ways to make money online, make money online, how to make money, etc). I have done lots of case studies and specific testing (targeting keywords with article marketing and doing nothing else) and I have always seen positive results.

Tom October 7, 2011 at 5:21 am

Now that could work. Great advice.

Are you saying Sunil that potential duplicate content and linking to the main site could be overcome by linking to the article. I like that a lot. Awesome.

Sunil from The Extra Money Blog October 7, 2011 at 6:02 pm

Not sure about dup content, but definitely the latter Tom. A buffer site as an intermediary has worked out great for me.

Noel Addison October 5, 2011 at 11:36 pm

Many internet marketers today do not have so much faith in article marketing as a strategy of gaining online presence and influence. But I guess you have a point that if it will be done right this will still be advantageous for promoting a website.

Sunil October 6, 2011 at 9:18 pm

Noel, what in your experience are other methods by which web property owners market their websites today to build page rank?

Thomas October 5, 2011 at 3:17 am

Sunil, do you wait for your buffer sites to get PR before pointing them to your money page, or is this not important?

Sunil October 6, 2011 at 9:19 pm

Thomas, no I do not. The links are embedded when I submit/publish them. I don’t know how it would impact my experience otherwise.

Sunil October 4, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Glad we could help D. Yes, back link building is one benefit, the other is direct hits/readership exposure

Jon Simons October 4, 2011 at 10:28 am

I understand your point about adding a buffer site before linking to your main site, but am not sure I entirely agree.

Junk links like blog spam and xrumer links (if you’re into that sort of thing) should probably point to a buffer site. Links from article directories – what’s wrong with those? I’m sure they can go straight to your main site.

If you completely forget about Google for a moment and were just using articles to market your site, you would use directories, and link them straight to your site. So in other words, it’s a standard marketing tactic. As long as there’s some sort of link diversity to your backlinks, I really can’t see a problem and with a legitimate marketing tactic like article marketing, it may be somewhat over cautious to put a buffer site between those links and your main site.

Sunil October 4, 2011 at 4:40 pm

Jon, thanks for your comment. Theoretically I agree. Practically however, we cannot control which article directories are deemed spammy by Google. There have been sites downgraded by Google which I think are quality sites. Better safe than otherwise?

Lionel October 3, 2011 at 10:59 am

It’s refreshing to know that I’m on the right track. I submit my articles to places like Ezine, but I haven’t tried to do any spinning. The last I heard was that when you spin the final result may look like an article, but the sentences and grammar don’t make sense. This was a while ago, and I wouldn’t be surprised if spinning has gotten better. Since you’re using it, and are successful, I’ll look into it again. Thanks :)

Sunil October 4, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Lionel,

I have instructed my marketing teams to go over each article after spinning to ensure the grammar/quality meets my expectations. It’s still important to skim through in my opinion

Sunil October 3, 2011 at 6:42 am

Josh – highly interested in hearing about your experiences with one vs the other. Please come back to update us!

Herbert October 1, 2011 at 9:51 pm

IMO, link building thru article marking is a very effective method although there are a lot of article directories that instantly approve submissions, most people will still prefer the contents from those directories that manually reviews every submission.

Ana Hoffman October 2, 2011 at 6:19 am

Yes, those directories are preferable as they are known for quality content.

Herbert October 2, 2011 at 7:15 am

Though, many are still taking chances on those auto approve article sites.

Sunil October 3, 2011 at 6:44 am

Herbert – completely agree with both you and Ana, the more selective kind are definitely more preferable. These also tend to have less ads on their page, thereby not leaking as much page rank and thereby benefit your article more so.

Sylviane Nuccio October 2, 2011 at 2:22 pm

Article directories that accept articles manually is really where every internet marketer should be spending their time and energy since they are the real thing when it comes to article directories.

Sylviane Nuccio September 30, 2011 at 6:16 pm

Hey Sunil,

Now that’s a topic I know WELL :) I’ve been doing article marketing since August 2006 and thankfully I’ve never failed into this spun article thing. It just never worked for me because I can write quite fast and I spun slow :) and HATE it!!!

However, I know quite a bit of people who have lot of low quality articles out there… all spun pudding like there’s no tomorrow. Those articles make no sense for the human eye and now even engines can tell. I know that some people who have relied solely on spun articles have been really affected since earlier this year.

No way, article marketing is not dead and it has been for years the only traffic generator I knew and used, this is even why I joined this blog, to get to know more about some other ways to bring traffic to my sites :)

Using Web 2.0 platforms is a very good way to give a boost to your site. I have a Squidoo lens which I titled the same as a new blog I started and to this day (for 3 years now) that lens is on first position of Google for my keywords and my site is second. As a matter of fact I own the first 5 results on that page due to article marketing. Works great, indeed.

Thanks for the great article :)

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 10:07 pm

Wow Sylviane – now that is article marketing your way to perfection. Would love to hear more about your approach and its specifics. Sounds like you have had great success. Who better than you can attest to the fact that article marketing is NOT dead by any means. Thanks for the reinforcement.

Darren September 30, 2011 at 4:23 pm

This sounds like a great strategy. I’m going to focus on just the top article marketing sites and see how that works out before getting back to the mass submission. Spinning the articles usually makes them sound like they have been spun. I’m guessing most of these article directories don’t even read the articles.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 10:05 pm

Darren,

Most typically engage in the activity to build PR and climb the SE ranks, not so much for the purposes of getting their articles read.

Erik September 30, 2011 at 8:01 am

Hi Sunil,

Yes, I think that the days of mass spamming single layer back links are over. I think the buffer is a good idea.

What are some of the preferred mass directory submitters that most people tend to use and do you still need to spin a new version of the article for each submission if there are no top quality directories on the submission list such as EzineArticles?

Two concerns: I could see having to spin new versions for top quality directories or the duplicate articles wouldn’t get accepted. I’m also wondering if the links from duplicate articles would get discounted by Google.

Thanx,
Erik

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 10:03 pm

Erik,

I use UAW and yes I spin so as not to spread redundant content. I take three articles and mix and match paragraphs from each. Your concerns are valid and I too had the same initially. It’s a hit or miss, in some cases I am credited and in others I am not. I haven’t figured out the “differentiator” as yet

Meg September 30, 2011 at 4:53 am

Thats very much TRUE.

I have also heard from lots of mouth that article marketing is now useless but I personally strongly believe in doing this on regular basis and I am doing it from last many years and it proves beneficial for me PREVIOUSLY also and NOW also.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 10:01 pm

glad to know it’s working for you Meg. think about it this way – if article marketing is indeed dead, then what works?

Mark September 30, 2011 at 2:26 am

Sunil,

We are definitely on the same page on this one.

Article marketing is alive and well and prospering as it always has.

Personally, I like propagating the idea of it’s demise. That just means less competition for the rest of us…;)

Glad to see that there are those of us who “get it”…:)

Mark

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 10:00 pm

Mark – smart approach buddy ;) Go with the flow

Oliver Tausend September 30, 2011 at 2:19 am

Hi Sunil,

creative idee to use an intermediate layer of protection and point all links to it. Makes me wanna rethink my Squidoo strategy.

Thanks for sharing your nuggets.

Take care

Oliver

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:55 pm

Oliver – what is your Squidoo strategy? How is it working? I use Squidoo as one of my web 2.0 layers. Works like a charm

Daniel September 30, 2011 at 2:03 am

Good post topic, Sunil.

I have heard a whole variety of opinions out on the web, regarding how profitable article marketing is.
Anything from a surefire way to pull in plenty of good money, to a waste of time, and everything else in between.

I sort of have mixed feelings as to articles being spun then Blasted, en mass..
I have come across some of these articles, that were barely intelligible.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:54 pm

Oh man Daniel, there is a ton of garbage out there I agree, that is why it is important not to add to it but rather add value. It’s possible – it does take time and work!

Daniel Wood September 29, 2011 at 11:58 pm

Hi Sunil, isn’t it that your idea of Article Marketing The Right Way is somewhat similar to Link Pyramid Technique in which main site received link through some quality website (examples are popular article directories, web 2.0 properties and more) whereas these quality websites get links from some low quality sites like the 2nd tier bookmarking sites or blogs etc.
Please correct me if i am missing some fine lines.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:53 pm

Daniel , while I am not familiar with that specific terminology, it sounds like conceptually yes the approach is the same. How has your experience been with this approach?

Sam September 29, 2011 at 11:52 pm

Hi Sunil,

Really nice article, You can still get more out of article marketing but you need to do it correctly and should avoid spamming with duplicate content. You must have a fresh and unique content to start article marketing.

I haven’t tried your mentioned technique for article marketing but will give it a try and hope to get good results. Thanks for sharing such informative post.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:52 pm

Sam – I am very much interested in the results. Please keep me updated. Testing is truly the only way we know what works vs what does not

Al Spaulding September 29, 2011 at 11:12 pm

I love this article. I keep reading over and over again about the death of article marketing and its great to see that there are entrepreneurs still benefiting from it “post google panda.” I look forward to seeing exactly what your report is about and will visit your blog soon. Thank you.
~AL

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:51 pm

Al – thank you. The report is a step by step process on how to establish a profitable niche website, from concept to monetization. Looking forward to your feedback on the report.

Al Spaulding October 2, 2011 at 10:46 am

I actually already have your site bookmarked as one of the things to do on my goals list this evening. I will read your report later this evening and if you don’t mind contact you with any questions or thoughts I may have. Thanks for your reply. Cheers.
~AL

Richard September 29, 2011 at 8:04 pm

I think people shy away from article marketing because it takes a lot more effort than blog commenting or forum commenting. However, I think a really well written article is a really effective means of promotion. It’s not just simply link building, but a sample of your work and what people might find if they follow you.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:50 pm

One can definitely use article marketing as a brand establishment platform. It does take more time and effort, but like anything, high effort = high returns in most cases

Jane September 29, 2011 at 7:27 pm

Well, you’re right. Article marketing is not dead. It’s just changed after the search engines started to be smarter. People were misusing it a lot to generate backlinks by simply churning out articles that are spun, adding no value to the knowledge base.

But if done properly article marketing is good. Your idea about creating a layer is smart. Thanks.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:49 pm

Thanks Jane – it’s definitely effective in all the testing I have done

Craig Sowerby September 29, 2011 at 2:23 pm

Hey Sunil,

Thanks for the advice on and a updated piece of content with Article Marketing. I have used the submission services in the past for a small niche site I worked on with UAW “Unique Article Wizard”

The only problem with that was, it started to get a little expensive but it did push my site onto the first page of Google. It makes me laugh when you hear story’s of how Article Marketing is dead or video marketing etc…….

In my mind it’s all about marketing and who ever says something is dead is only trying to sell you the next new thing. The other day I received an email from a list I am on saying that email marketing is dead! What a JOKE!!!

I think all types of marketing are good. They just evolve and move with the times, we just have to keep up and educate ourselves to keep on top of the game. I might just try your method out as I am just starting a new niche site and building a layer of links might be the way to go rather than blasting all to the main site

Craig

Sunil September 29, 2011 at 7:20 pm

Craig – UAW does get expensive doesn’t it? Very effective though isn’t it? Try using UAW and pointing all the mass links to a web 2.0 page/site which links to your website and see how that goes?

My blog is back up and running in the event you tried earlier and saw nothing but Gnarly!

Adrienne September 29, 2011 at 10:52 am

Thanks for sharing this Ana… I use to be a big article writer but when Google did it’s thing I just backed off for awhile. I wasn’t one of those that spun my articles like crazy and submitted them to thousands of sites but I did rewrite them. All of my content was unique though!

The only problem with article marketing is that you are right, it’s VERY time consuming. But I think that the article marketing was what helped my blog get it’s PR4 ranking. Not quite sure why it dropped back down since those links remain forever. After reading your results, I’m going to jump back into it now and drive more traffic to my blogs.

Appreciate you sharing your results with us. This has been an area I have been greatly concerned about so you’ve just cleared all of that up for me.

~Adrienne

Sunil September 29, 2011 at 7:17 pm

Curious Adrienne – how did the Google update impact your ranking and traffic?

Adrienne September 30, 2011 at 8:45 am

My blog was a PR4 and then it dropped to a PR2. Within a couple of months it went back up to a PR3 but traffic never really died. It slacked off from the articles but I think a lot of people stop searching for articles as much or so I’ve been told.

Sunil October 1, 2011 at 9:48 pm

Thanks – reason I ask is that I too had a similar experience with one of my niche sites. PR suffered, but traffic was stable, as was Adsense earnings. Hmmm……interesting trends here….

Steve September 29, 2011 at 8:27 am

Sunil,

I certianly agree with your analysis. Article Marketing is not what it once was… but it is far from dead. The problem some people face is using the low qaulity techniques on something that only works for high quality site now.

IN otherwords, like you pointed out, put in crap efforts, you get crap results.

Really it makes sense, it is all about providing a better user experience. If you write articles that are quality user experiences, over time they will shine.

Sunil September 29, 2011 at 7:16 pm

Steve, you are absolutely correct. While average content got by some time back, quality content is the expectation today, even when it comes to article marketing. If you tried accessing my blog earlier and couldn’t connect, I am finally back up and running.

Brad Lees April 25, 2012 at 12:42 pm

Hi Sunil
I’m new to this game so I don’t speak from a position of experience, but simply from a logical perspective it’s good news that the search engines are trying to push quality content and punish the purveyors of junk.
Unfortunately, there is – and always will be – collateral damage.
I blame the autoblogs – the rubbish they generated was beyond belief and, for a short while, search results were actually full of reconstituted rubbish.
I’m pleased that doesn’t work anymore.
Brad

Chad Nicely September 29, 2011 at 7:56 am

Hi There Sunil,
Great post, congrats on your success! It’s a great feeling when something works. The just I got from you is be original and unique up front… and then the link to your article (web 2.0 property) you can junk link. Is this correct? Also went to read more about you on your “About page”, and the link is broken.

Cheers!
Chad

Sunil September 29, 2011 at 7:12 pm

Chad,

Thank you. My About page is finally back up after nearly 40 hours of down time for the first time. The jist is to build a protective layer to where to drive mass links to. That said, one shouldn’t / cannot junk link.

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