Should You Be Writing Articles?
It’s no great secret that the way to gain ranking positions in the search engines is by getting back links. Up to recently this used to consist of contacting other webmasters and asking them to link to your site in return for linking to theirs. Unfortunately this form of reciprocal linking is no longer as useful as it once was. One way links are now the key. There is no better way to get lots of one way links than by creating and distributing articles.
Regular new content is important for any website. By writing and distributing articles you can provide site owners with new content and at the same time get a back link or two for your site. In this article I’ll attempt to answer some of the most common questions asked by people considering article marketing as a way to promote their sites.
What topics should I write about?
It is important that when you start out you write about what you know. You should also ensure that the content is relevant to the site you’ll be promoting in the resource box.
How will people locate my articles?
When you have finished writing and checking your articles you will submit them to article directories. These are like online libraries where the articles are listed in categories. Webmasters can copy the articles from these directories and use them just so long as they keep all the links in the articles live. You’ll need to make sure that you have added a resource box to the bottom of your article that contains your links.
Will Webmasters just delete the links?
Yes this does happen but not as often as you think. It is very easy to track these webmasters down. Use a tool like Google alerts which checks the Internet for relevant key phrases. It is very useful if you add a unique key phrase to your articles that you can enter into the search tool. You can also search for your name to ensure that all the links are live.
How long should the articles be?
There is no fixed length recommended. If you try to keep between 350 and 500 words you should be fine. Some people write much longer articles but I see this as a bit of a waste of time as a 2000 word article could easily be split into 4 500 word articles and give you 4 links back to your site.
What is the ideal number of submissions?
That is a matter of personal choice some people believe that you should submit them to as many as possible, personally I only submit to 2 or 3 sites with a Google PR of 3 and above. My personal belief is that this keeps the articles unique enough to benefit any webmasters who use the articles.
How many articles should I be writing?
Write as many as you can. Some people find they can only write 1 or 2 a day while others like my wife can churn our 25-30 in a day. Set yourself a target of writing 1 before breakfast everyday to start with and then take it from there
Tags: Article Marketing