Image via WikipediaArticle marketing is pretty popular these days. The concept of article marketing been around for a couple of years but is finally main stream. This is because it happens to be one of the best methods for developing in bound links to your website and improving search engine rankings.
For anyone who is not yet using article marketing I suggest that you start today. It costs nothing to begin and can pay huge dividends. Article marketing is here for the long term. Many people I speak to about article marketing are concerned that the space is too crowded and they are late to the game. The truth is that you don’t have to be concerned that others are using article marketing because it works no matter how many people use it.
Article marketing is effective because you search engines love quality content. Moreover, you are producing content that will be ranked by search engines and including a link back to your website. Content focused around specific keywords is identified by search engines to display when users search on a particular niche or topic of interest. When your article includes links back to your website, you pass value back to your site.
When you post your article on article directory websites, your content receives additional exposure and is added to related content. As your article ages you benefit from the Google page rank assigned to your article. If you included article back to your website, the value is passed back to your website.
A common mistake that is made when website owners start their article marketing campaign, is they forget to link back to their own website. Sometimes new marketers remember to insert a link to their website but the link is designed in the wrong manner. The right way to develop in bound links is by using keyword rich link text.
If not sure about the best method to produce a keyword rich link, search Google for a tutorial or simply the html code you need to produce a link in the right way. There are many websites that can provide instructions for creating links that display your keywords in the link text. This is essential if you are going to get the full value of article marketing.
After writing your articles and including links using the proper format, the next step is to distribute them on sites that have a high Google PR and are popular for article aggregation and or distribution. I used to believe that the benefit of these article distribution sites were that they served as a resource for webmasters seeking content. The truth however is that it is the sites Google PR itself that provides the value.
Many of these online article sites do not distribute content at all. In fact, the percentage of individuals copying content and pasting it on their site correctly is fairly limited. That said, if you focus on the top sites you derive most of your value from getting your articles posted on their website.
Develop articles in your area of specialty and include links to your website. These links can be placed in the author box or included in the article. Your keywords must be placed in the text of the link. Test your links to make sure they work properly. After you have validated that links are working properly, distribute your articles at will.