Google Thinks Article Marketing SUCKS
There are some VERY compelling statements made by Matt Cutts (head Engineer at Google) in a recent video.
I strongly suggest that you watch this YouTube video right now. It’s a huge wake up call for anyone who wants free traffic, especially if you have ever used article marketing in any way:
As you can see, Google doesn’t look at article marketing as being a very high quality form of marketing, and backlinks that come from articles are most likely going to get very little link juice when it comes to SEO. Moving forward it is best to publish quality content on your site.
When you hear Matt Cutts explain the Google mindset when it comes to article marketing, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how Google might weigh different things when it comes to SEO. I know the notoriously elusive Google Algorithm will never be cracked by any one of us, but when you start to think like Google – maybe our SEO answers aren’t too far away.
Article Marketing = Duplicate Content and Duplicate Anchor Text
Article banks like EzineArticles have been flooded with outsourced articles and spintaxed articles that make absolutely no sense at all. Why on Earth would Google reward people for creating more garbage on the internet?
In a way I feel like this is a great move on Google’s part. My hope is that people will actually work a little harder to provide value instead of taking shortcuts to get quick results. Word on the streets is that article directories are starting to lose page rank, and their articles (and links) are beginning to get indexed less and less.
I Confess: I am Guilty of Cheating with Article Marketing
I’ll be the first to admit that I have outsourced article writing to someone else. These article “writers” always claim to be veteran, published Ezines-authors. Of course they run the articles through a “rigorous” editorial review before delivery. You think you are going to get something worth submitting as your own work, but what you get is a 500 word piece of you-know-what 
!
By the time you edit the outsourced articles so that they actually make sense, you have spent just as much time as if you had just written the article yourself. My advice: never outsource your content to anyone. It just isn’t worth it.
If you buy some sort of spintax software or purchase some sort of automatic article publishing service, you’re also wasting your money. Most of the time these article posting services publish your content on terrible, low-quality sites – and they never get traffic or ♥ Google love ♥. Using spintax always generates a terrible rendition of the original article, and it is obvious that the article was spun.
For those of you who have never heard of spintax, it is a way of writing articles using a certain code. You basically place synonyms for various different words in brackets.
For example:
Original sentence: Google thinks article marketing sucks.
Spintaxed sentence: {Google|The #1 search engine} {thinks|ponders|wonders|believes} article {marketing|promotion for sale|advertising} {sucks|is bad|Nickleback}.
When spintaxed articles are used for article marketing, certain services and programs will take entire articles written like this and then convert them into THOUSANDS of variations automatically. It saves time, but you usually get articles that do not flow in a natural, obviously human way.
Would someone ever write, “The #1 search engine ponders article promotion for sale is bad” ???
I don’t think so. 
If Article Marketing is Dead, Now What?
By writing quality content on your site and getting backlinks when other people share that content, you are far more likely to get free, high-quality traffic from the search engines (especially Google). Even if you don’t know anything about SEO, always remember this: Google rewards those of us who provide real value to the people looking for information online.
Make sure you are publishing great stuff either on your own blog, or as a guest blogger somewhere else 
(Thanks CommentLuv!!)
Ultimately, take pride in your work. It may take a little while longer, but slow and steady wins the race!
Keep this in mind as you work to build a marketing strategy for your website or blog. What are some suggestions you have for increasing traffic and building a good reputation online? Do you think quality content = quality visitors and comments?
I think Google is wise to filter out those who deserve to be online from the dregs of internet marketers. There will always be people trying to slide through life the easy way. I sat next to a bunch of them in high school and college (sigh). At least Google is trying to keep us honest. Maybe this will force people to start working a little harder. Regardless, article marketing should be definitely be left out of the equation.
EasyAzon Plugin
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Friends,
I hope you enjoyed this article. I thought I would comment first to get the ball rolling…
What is your take on article marketing? I get bombarded by old internet marketing veterans on a weekly basis who try to get me to sign up for their article-blasting backlink services. They refuse to believe that Google doesn’t like articles!
I believe it, and I am steering clear of article marketing from now on. Besides, there seem to be much more effective ways of marketing nowadays
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Hi Will,
It is great to see another well thought through article on the subject. I wrote one a couple weeks back on the same subject; “5 Reasons You Should AVOID Article Marketing Like the Plague”. It is something I firmly believe for all of the reasons you mentioned and others.
I also did a podcast on this as well last week. The link is below if you care to listen. I think you will see we pretty much have the same view.
James
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Right on James! Thanks for stopping by – I will definitely check out your podcast. I appreciate the tip!
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Regardless of how bad article marketing smells when you are standing down wind of it, the fundamentals still work -> keyword-rich anchors placed in editorial-ish positions on the page. I have had great success with article marketing (purely for SEO) and have seen my client’s competitors enjoy the same. No human has ever read the articles, but that wasn’t their purpose.
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
As I was writing my comment on how I couldn’t afford the cut in reputation as a news-based website from spintaxed articles, I realized I was writing an article on the subject. So that’s what I’m going to do. Feel free to visit me and see how it turns out.
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Diehard skeptic caught using tricks of branding to lure the unwary with slick video
Twitter: ProfitDuck
says:
I have to say I always felt a little uneasy when writing articles to spread around the web just to get links coming in, hence why I haven’t done it much. The spinning of the articles made me especially uneasy, it just seemed like a stupid thing to do and at this moment in time I’m very glad I never invested in anything to do so.
Good move by Google.
Regards,
Simon Duck
Simon Duck recently posted..The Only Way Google+ Will Rival Facebook
Twitter: themeekwatcher
says:
My thoughts exactly. If an article is spun just to make it appear like “unique” then to me it’s just like a sugar-coated act of plagiarism. Don’t you agree?
I never tried article marketing and I’m glad I never did.
Thanks Will for this well composed article. Kudos!
ramcel recently posted..Why Your Blog Just Screams and Begs
Twitter: aidyspoetry
says:
I guess it is time to generate all those articles on your own websites. I am guilty of content/article marketing as well. I wonder what some of those article marketing sites will do from now own. At least guest posting is still a valid option…for now. Who knows what Google will think of next? Informative article.
AIDY recently posted..Take Me Home Tonight – Review
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
I wouldn’t suggest that you have to publish all your articles on your own sites. As you say “guest posting is still a valid option”. It’s true, and if done professionally you should never run into trouble with Google.
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
I’m with James on this one. Guest posting and content repositories (document sharing as opposed to article marketing) are the current flavour of the month with Goog.
James recently posted..Coffee Shop Employees Emptied My Bank Account
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Hi AIDY!
Thanks for your comment!
I think Google keeps getting better and better and closing the backdoors that people use to get better search engine results. I never go to Ezines for information on anytyhing, and when was the last time I saw one of their articles on the first page of Google for a search I did? I can’t even remember!
Publishing an article in a directory is like sticking a card in a library card catalog in hopes that it will lead someone to your book –> it’s antiquated and inefficient.
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: DamonDay
says:
Hey Will,
I completely agree with you. I think google is doing a great job of filtering out the spam. I would always get so annoyed when I would click on an article about something I wanted to learn, and within the first sentence know that it was just some idiotic spun article that someone who likely knew nothing about the subject, threw up for a link. It was very annoying and I for one am glad that google is devaluing crap directory and article links.
If you want to be on the first page of google, then write something about the subject that will actually teach the reader what they were likely wanting to know when they searched and found your article. As you said, it isn’t rocket science.
damonday recently posted..Taxes on Debt Settlement
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Howdy Damon – thanks for the comment!
Quality, original content is definitely a great place to start… I think when that is combined with good on-page optimization, there is a much better chance of getting ranked (depending on how much competition there is for that particular key word)…
Have a great weekend!
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Howdy Simon!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
You were wise to save your money! Article spinning produces SO MUCH content, and even though it’s “unique content,” how many articles about the same topic could a human being possibly write in a lifetime?
Do people not think Google could easily factor this into their algorithm?
Cheers to you and good luck!
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: ProfitDuck
says:
That’s what I don’t get, surely if some programmer somewhere can make a simple program to change the words in an article, Google can make a better one to see if people are doing this and then make changes in search results accordingly.
Anything we can do, Google can do better.
Simon Duck recently posted..The Only Way Google+ Will Rival Facebook
Twitter: KenNadreau
says:
To be fair, the article directories are working feverishly to fix the problem. So I wouldn’t throw them under the bus just yet.
You might say the article directories aren’t in very good favor at the moment, but if they can clean house and maybe add some social features, like allowing comments and up/down votes on articles, they may redeem themselves.
Ken Nadreau recently posted..Big Article Submitter Pro Price Change Announcement
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Hi Ken!
I definitely agree with you that there are some clever ways the article directories can improve to win back the good graces of Google.
Thanks for the insight! Hope you’re having a great weekend.
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
As I see it for the article directories to get back in the “good graces” of Google they are going to have to delete all of the crappy articles they have published on the site. I am not sure how the authors of that content would feel about that…they did follow their “guidelines.
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
Twitter: pinebeltdesign
says:
Ok, am I the only one who noticed Nickleback is a synonym for “sucks”? Haha. Thanks for saving us time from outsourced articles for article directories. The ones who don’t get this fact will just make it that much easier for those of us trying to write quality content.
Justin Grice recently posted..Offering free website design services for churches through August 31, 2011
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Good eye, Justin!
You might also get a kick out of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8JeeDsBUv4
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Cheers,
Will
Twitter: beanie72
says:
Hey Will
Some food for thought in Matt’s comments for sure. I am with you in that quality will always win out over quantity. Any move Google makes to to make relevant up to date info rise to the top of the searches is an excellent move. As for giving away article marketing all together, I am not to sure about that. You have to remember Matt is an Engineer, not a marketer.
Cheers Beanie
Adam Bean recently posted..When the Video Boss says quality beats quantity…
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
You bring up a good point, Beanie. I guess when it comes down to it – there should be a good balance. Maybe the answer is a well rounded strategy that includes article marketing on reputable sites.
Thank you for the comment!
Twitter: beanie72
says:
For sure Will, quality always wins out over quantity.
Beanie recently posted..When the Video Boss says quality beats quantity…
Ok, am I the only one who noticed Nickleback is a synonym for “sucks”? Haha. Thanks for saving us time from outsourced articles for article directories. The ones who don’t get this fact will just make it that much easier for those of us trying to write quality content.
twittnot recently posted..Twitter account Agnes Monica More Popular than Jackie Chan
Article marketing sucks, but how does guest posting compare? Isn’t guest posting at sites like this one sort of similar to article marketing sites? I don’t know I am just wondering because to me it is similar, maybe not on such a large scale. I just wonder if guest posting is a possible hit or target for a penalty someday.
Ray recently posted..Yahoo Site Explorer Closing
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
I think the success or failure of a site like this or a personal blog is the quality of the posts. There tends to be a much more rigid set of guidelines that people have to follow to qualify and/or get guest posts approved.
… especially since a lot of sites like this have a certain “target demographic.”
I definitely WON’T be posting as a guest blogger on some site about pretty shoes or glamorous makeup (although I am somewhat fashionably sensitive, lol).
Many – if not most – of the article directories in existence aren’t as enforcing. Now, I’m no Shakespeare, but I have a feeling that my post wouldn’t have been approved here if it had been written with poor grammar, terrible sentence structure, or nonsensical cliches that no one uses in regular speech (an indication of an outsourced/spun article).
I think one of the first things the article directories will need to do is make it impossible to automate posting…
Twitter: angelichoff
says:
Hey Will,
I think it is more likely to be that article marketing in the form of publishing on content farms is bad. I believe there are only certain sites that are good in Google’s eyes now like eHow although I do doubt the quality of their articles but anyway guest posting is still a form of article marketing don’t you think?
Angelica recently posted..Saeco Vienna Plus 15-Bar-Pump Super-Automatic Espresso Machine, Graphite
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Hi Angelica,
Guest posting, although similar to article marketing, isn’t really a form of article marketing, IMO. I think that’s kinda like comparing humans and chimps…
Essentially we are both primates, but when you break things down to the genus level – our intelligence and sophistication differences become pretty apparent (in most cases).
Writing guest posts is a much more sophisticated means of marketing in that you are creating conversation via the comments section after the post. A guest post on a blog is oftentimes much more dynamic than a plain article – you can usually embed videos and images to support your content. In fact, in many cases you are actually required to include an image or video to spice up your article (like on my blog).
When I look at my articles’ statistics – they pale in comparison to any guest post I have ever written in terms of views, traffic, reposts, tweets, shares, etc.
Within minutes of this post going live the commenting began. Articles just don’t get that kind of response.
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: NedCarey
says:
Thanks for setting the record straight. I have always procrastinated doing article marketing. I think because I had these very reasons in the back of my head.
There are few articles on most article sites that I would want to use. I always wondered who would use these articles if they cared about quality. Even if I wrote a quality article would it got lost in the volume of crap.
Ned Carey recently posted..Seasoning it’s not just for food any more
Yeah once again it seems to be all about the content. Outsourcing article writing to Pakistan or wherever generally gives you a dodgy return as you mentioned. Better off doing it yourself.
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Aengus, let’s not through all writers under the bus. I have hired some amazing writers in the US, Canada and the UK on Elance. In most cases it’s all about finding the right one and paying them well…and staying the heck away from hiring non-native English speaking writers for $2-$3 an article.
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
Its nice to have souce information directly from google, but.. If they hate article marketing so much who there is so maby article directory with perfecr traffic (and alexa rank) for while? Google can hate article marketing but they cant do nothing about it! Too much contant (quality and not) published in this websites,
Saddy.
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Hi Will, I was also reading through all the comments. It seems the tide is strongly turning against article marketing. It’s about time. Keep up the good work with getting the message out. By the way, I love the graphic included in the post.
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
There are a few golden principles: quantity at some point generates some quality. The more content you have the better. But quality weighs generally more than quantity. However the two are connected, so the best way is to have a reasonable quantity of original quality content. You can’t reach success without any of the two, you kinda need both to succeed.
I think Google does the right thing trying their best to fight spam and duplicate content, but I also believe that some genuine original content creators might also be affected as well, since the Google algorithm seems sometimes even those that are clean. This is what they should fix.
I was one of the “Article Marketer” and was doing pretty good until recently…
If guest blogging is the name of the new game then I guess it is time to evolve!
Lonnie recently posted..30 ways to reject your ex lover
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
I love CommentLuv! How else would I have found out about your article “30 ways to reject your ex lover” … that’s hilarious!
Will recently posted..Rock Bottom Blueprint is Creating Realestate Millionaires
Twitter: technostreak
says:
But , I have seen many get more with article marketing… Also many claim it to work…
Tharun recently posted..Download Google+ (Plus) themed Blogger Template
Hey Will !!
I really admire and appreciate your thoughts on article marketing,I do believe in what you have said and what Google is doing,there is a need to clean it,there is a lot of garbage spreaded over the internet,It’s really annoying when somebody wants to search for really meaningful stuff and he founds it either copied or meaningless.Hey buddy but i have one question in my mind i hope you will help me out,actually i want to ask that,If any genuine article writer wants to write something on it’s own then how could he check it out that whether it is fresh one or getting common with any other article on the same subject????….Because there are several articles available on the web on particular one subject.And there are 100% chances for it to be get duplicated,because vocabulary is limited,synonyms are also limited and the points related to any particular subject is also limited.As we all know that a Mango is the king of fruits,now suppose that Mango is a subject on which an article has to be written then one article writer has written MANGO IS THE KING OF FRUITS,another article writer wrote it like THE KING OF THE FRUITS IS MANGO,another one wrote it like DO YOU KNOW WHO IS THE KING OF FRUITS???….YEAH OBVIOUSLY IT IS MANGO,so buddy do you understand what i am saying,the subject is same,the limits are also defined,and everyone is saying the same thing in different styles.What is the difference?…if people think that these all articles are different then i think they are fool because here the articles are not different but only the presentation is different.And the main thing which is important to consider here is that all the article writers are helpless here due to boundaries of the subject MANGO.So tell me How can it be get unique???….Please help!!
GOOD LUCK and GOD BLESS!!
manish2010 recently posted..Outdoor Kitchen Equipment
Twitter: linknami
says:
Guest blogging pretty much replaced the traditional article marketing because good blogs are usually moderated and receive a healthy amount of comments on interesting posts, this indicates google that the content should be useful.
Twitter: TopBeatsTV
says:
I was just saying the same thing in another post on here about guest blogging… I think article marketing is done, over. I like the blog format better. I’m more a believer in building real brands, cool brands that people like, and make a high quality user experience. Then your site will naturally become popular. No need to fill thousands of article directories with junk content.
mozzy recently posted..The Forums Are Now OPEN! Top Beats TV Message Boards
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Hi Mozzy, well said. I agree with your assumption when you say “I think article marketing is done, over”. I would say that guest writing is so superior to article marketing that the two strategies shouldn’t be mentioned in the same sentence.
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
I wonder how the decline of article marketing will effect companies that specialize in press releases (like PRWeb)… I’ve always thought of a press release as a glorified article.
Thoughts?
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
Hi Will, I would suggest that a credible press release distributed to reputable websites will always do just fine. It’s about the quality of the information in the press release. The most often by their very nature include the 5 W’s of journalism. The Who, What, Where, Why and When.
…which incidently is exactly what the typical say nothing article marketing article is missing. It’s just another reason Google can so easily spot them. Most of them don’t mention and name, place, event, time, date …all the real things that would be included in a real article.
James
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Yeah – I think I agree with you there, James…
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: lasvegashomes
says:
I have posted some articles on different sites, but the majority of the content that I have put up is original to the site. I was always worried about duplicate content penalties so I would only post original stuff. Needless to say, I haven’t put up that many articles.
Charles recently posted..The Banking Hypocrisy
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
I feel your pain… writing decent, original content takes time – and we’re all pretty busy!
Will recently posted..Google Cash Monster Crashes Servers!
Twitter: JamesMartell
says:
It seems many have thrown the baby out with the bath water when it comes to “duplicate content” or the so called “penalties. It’s not that Google has a problem with a good quality article being published in different places. It’s all the crappy content that’s being mass distributed (in duplicate) all over the Net.
I have no problem at all posting a duplicate article on another reputable website. I do it quite regularly. In fact, every week when I post the descriptive text for my latest podcast on my own site and two others. No problems there.
It’s all about quality and not over doing it.
James Martell recently posted..Coffee Talk Interview #68 – What Is Article Marketing? Is It Still an Effective Strategy? Can It Do More Harm Than Good?
It was probably inevitable that we’d see a search engine reaction to the poor quality of much of the content that comes from article marketing sites, but I’m not convinced that article marketing *had* to end up the way it did. I’ve read more than a few article marketers who make the web a better place. On the other hand, it seems increasingly true that the vast majority do not. Much of the poor quality results from “black hat” types who spin the same articles a hundred different ways leaving idiomatic useage and sometimes even proper grammar behind. Others create content by smooshing multiple stolen articles together into a new one. The result is barely readable.
First, I’m glad you didn’t go down the “do this and you will be penalized path”. By and large, the worst that could happen is the links are discounted. I still tend to think that enough discounted links, can add up and make a difference, but yes, take them for what they are worth, very little.
If article marketing via ezine and similar directories is your bread and butter of your seo effort, your pretty late at this point of finding new backlink venues, but it’s never TOO late to start, and you should start now.
I would add there are different types of article marketing. Our most important effort is marketing our articles directly to blog owners as guest blog posts. That is very different kind of article marketing then pushing the same article to ezine and other article sites.
Norm recently posted..CPA Websites Resolve Email Security Problems
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Howdy Norm – thanks for the comment!
I’ve heard a lot of really smart SEO gurus strongly suggest that it doesn’t matter where or how you get backlinks – just get them. These guys constantly rank #1 in their niches, so it’s hard for me to not be all about sheer numbers too.
Others say it’s always best to use a more “natural” approach to building backlinks…
Personally, I’m all about high PR backlinks these days. From some trial and error experimenting, I’ve found that higher PR backlinks get me the fastest, most lasting first page results in Google.
Will recently posted..Link Juice Power Gets You to #1 Google
Absolutely! Get as many as those links too!
Besides the smart SEO guru’s, something else that is awfully tempting are Google Alerts. It’s hard to argue not getting ezine and other article directories and blogs when I see them come in for my Google “Best of the Web” Alerts.
Norm recently posted..CPA Websites Resolve Email Security Problems
Twitter: CheekyBabySling
says:
Will, I got a Twitter with your slightly shocking headline. When I see Google and sux in the same sentence I click. Your headline was strong. At least it got attention.
Everywhere I go I see twenty-somethings using their smart phones. Or dumb phones like Blackberries which they cling to because of the free BBM. I don’t see them surfing the web very much. They seem glued to Facebook and instant messaging. When I see them weaving on the road texting while driving I don’t see them reading blogs or articles or searching Google for much of anything.
I have this sinking feeling that regardless of our white hat or grey hat or black hat approaches, I think that the twenty-somethings are showing us the future of the web. I think it will be tiny apps on tiny screens with limited links and limited advertising driven by kids with limited budgets.
I know 1000 word original articles are the new 500 word spun junk splogs. But I wonder if the 140 characters will replace all of it in the near future?
Dave B recently posted..Baby Sling Research In The Mosquito Capital of Canada
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Dave!
I appreciate the kind words! The 20somethings niche is going to definitely keep growing. You make a good point, and it’s got me thinking that I should probably create mobile versions of my sites.
I’m so behind the curve right now…
Will recently posted..Link Juice Power Gets You to #1 Google
Twitter: Right_Writer
says:
Ahahaha on the Nickelback reference.
You’re so right on… people are better off with original content on their own sites, and if they can’t do it themselves, they ought to hire a writer.
angiepapple recently posted..Getting an Interview
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Hey Angie,
Did you see that YouTube link I posted earlier in the comments?
I love Nickleback references like that, lol…
Thanks for your comment!
Will recently posted..Link Juice Power Gets You to #1 Google
The last time I did article marketing was a year ago. It worked back then and I got traffic and ranking. I eventually stopped because writing good articles was just too much time-consuming, I’d rather put the energy writing posts for my site and rely on other ways of promotion. I tried outsourcing my articles too, and as you said, I couldn’t take the output- so much fluff, saying nothing at all in 200-300 words…
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Twitter: websiteweekend
says:
I’ll tell you something else which is going to be a very rude awakening for a very wide swath of quid pro quo marketers (you know, “I’ll tweet you if you tweet me”) is when Google announces that they won’t weight links in closed graphs.
Mathematically, quid pro quo isn’t that difficult to determine.
Twitter: marketsecrets
says:
What trips me out on this is one of the original purposes of article marketing was to get yoir article on as mamy other sites as possible -with resource box in tact- for branding,authority building,etc. But NOW it has become an internet marketimg sin?!
Oh well Will,i gotta confess i was guilty too! I believe for”moving forward” we might wanna strategize on methods of lots of +1′s to our content because thats about to become a major factor in Goog’s ranking
Caleb recently posted..How To Cash Out Giving Free Stuff From ClickBank
Twitter: Integraphix
says:
You have to admit – spun articles are hilarious to read. It’s like adlibs for grownups.
//Jenn from the Chicago Web Design Agency.
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
I absolutely LOVE MadLibs!!
Will recently posted..Rock Bottom Blueprint is Creating Realestate Millionaires
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/aliswl20
says:
It was probably inevitable that we’d see a search engine reaction to the poor quality of much of the content that comes from article marketing sites, but I’m not convinced that article marketing
If article marketing via ezine and similar directories is your bread and butter of your seo effort, your pretty late at this point of finding new backlink venues, but it’s never TOO late to start, and you should start now.
Mobimas recently posted..The Complete Guide to the Toefl Test iBT Edition (Books + Keys + Audio CDs + Software) [mediafire.com]
Hi Will,
I agreed with you and think that google has always been a great watch for spammers, and
since spun article has been reproduced umpteen times, Google definitely will de-valued them.
If you want to first page on Google, build quality site with quality content and of course, build quality backlinks.
Mike recently posted..team building companies
Twitter: TheAvgGenius
says:
Though I respect the idea that quality counts, it’s not only “a bit much” but outright fallacious to claim that article marketing is dead, as many have asserted in the thread. If it were, then the 15 articles I just sent out a month ago to article directories shouldn’t have ranked my site in the top 10.
Also, someone mentioned that “Whatever we can do, Google can do better” or something to that effect. Sorry to say, but links of all stripes will get you to the top of Google in July, 2011. Article marketing, forum links, comment links – you know: the usual suspects.
I don’t aim on convincing anyone of the argument – but test for yourselves. I’ve no qualms getting article links aplenty. I’ll stop when Google actually stops ranking my sites when I use them, and it’s just one small piece of the linkberry pie.
The day I have a conscience over a little piece of HTML code is the day I grow a third eye, it’s not a question of ethics. It’s a link.
jamesthejust recently posted..How To Export Facebook Friends To Google Plus In 10 Steps
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Right on James – thanks for the comment.
I have a feeling you’re probably using much more than article marketing to get ranked
… and yeah – a backlink is a backlink.
But my main point here is that as Google gets smarter with their algorithm, things that once worked quite well will become less effective.
Will recently posted..Rock Bottom Blueprint is Creating Realestate Millionaires
Twitter: #!/
says:
I have written over 60 original articles on ezines mostly about airport parking and airport hotels with a link back tom my site only to see them ripped off and appear elsewhere with a link back to their own web site.
When google downgraded links from Ezines and other article directories my site also took a hit.
Articles are now a waste of time
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
Bingo David.
It’s all about a shift in marketing focus.
Thanks for the comment!
Will recently posted..Rock Bottom Blueprint is Creating Realestate Millionaires
Twitter: techmug
says:
After Panda update Google likes content
Like 200%
Twitter: Schlossy
says:
Funny thing is I ran an “article marketing” campaign 2 weeks ago to see my website jump up 10 spots from the 2nd page for a high competitive key term. Obviously, I save my best content for the main website because Google is searching for websites with high quality, useful content that is naturally linkable.
I don’t feel article marketing is dead, but people will have to think twice about posting crappy spun content on these article directory sites. Why not focus your article writing efforts on guest posts instead? The benefits are much higher in terms of backlinks (depending on the website), traffic, subscribers, etc. I’ve been transferring my clients to the model of high quality content on their website (1-2/week) + guest post spots (1 per week) and the results have been great.
David recently posted..Rampify: Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Media and More!
Twitter: adv_commissions
says:
I also used article marketing as a big source of traffic once upon a time. After the Panda update my traffic from Ezine plummeted, but my organic traffic rose as well. Now I focus on quality keyword rich content being put on my own sites. So far so goo :p
Julian Hooks recently posted..Building a Small Niche Comparison/Review Affiliate Site
Article marketing is alive and kicking, 1st post the original content on your site, then let the service distribute the article to sites for you.
I agree with a number of posters, spammy articles suck. Put some time into good, relevant content and you will rise the ranks.
Don’t want to convince anyone, just agreeing that when I can’t get top 10 that is when I will stop because, this is the backbone of ranking
Hi Will,
Thanks for the article. The video with Cutts was reassuring information with regards to SEO. I know with the release of Panda, Ezine Articles took a huge hit. I have personally been sticking to the blogging/Yahoo Answers/Social Media home-front. With my personal website, I’ve been very hesitant with article marketing and I just write articles for my own WordPress Blog. At least for me and my site, I don’t see myself putting in a ton of time with article marketing when Cutts basically indicated that Google doesn’t give great value to them anymore. I am a one-man-band with my website and I honestly don’t have time to write articles.
Garrett recently posted..CPA Websites Resolve Email Security Problems
Wow! I guess that’s why Google is Google. I definitely agree with you. Creativity and hard work are the real keys to generating traffic on your site. Coming to think of it, the more creative and the more beefy the content is, the more audience it will build. It’s just common sense. But I wonder how Google filters these Internet marketers! Thank you for sharing.
Twitter: srpatterson
says:
Seems as though putting good content on your own blog is the preferred method of getting traffic that Google wants everyone to be a part of. But getting on Page 1 of Google requires inbound links which leads many to get links from other sources somewhat artificially. Even those that claim to be 100% white hat utilize methods to get links that are not entirely natural. Re-purposing content and sharing it on other blogs.
Mike Vrabel recently posted..High Profile Sponsorships Gone Wrong
I personally think that article marketing is perhaps one of the long lasting things Google will keep. It means that you really have to hopefully get some great articles for your site(s). Although I’ve heard that backlinks really count also.
leah recently posted..Classic Nicholas Wedding & Love Songs CD
Interesting, but I feel like article marketing falls in line with a lot of other SEO-related stuff. There are benefits, there are drawbacks and Google will do whatever it wants anyway so we never really know how highly certain things will be weighed! If it can make a difference, might as well do it. It was hard to determine from the interview if there were true downfalls to article marketing, or if it’s the type of thing that you may as well do because there’s a chance it might help your SEO out.
Chris recently posted..How to Choose the Best Website Designer
Twitter: marketsecrets
says:
This is why I dont think article marketing will completely dissappear. Regardless of Matts comments, having your article posted on hundreds of sites will always have some benefits. The problem comes in when your resource box gets changed or deleted. Plus, the article in question needs to be published on your site FIRST!
Now with all this in mind, I wouldnt use article marketing as a primary tool but more of a buffering and cushion mechanism. As you said “theres chance it might help your seo out”
Caleb recently posted..Benefits of Posting On a No-Follow Site
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
Caleb, according to Ezine Articles new rules, which I discuss in the article linked below, an article distributed through their channels cannot be published on your site first. They demand original content. Also, their new rules are designed to cut out spintaxing. Other article distribution sites will follow suit, so that form of article marketing will eventually sunset, probably sooner than later.
The initial comments I’ve read about Article Samurai are that it is using Content Boss for spinning, and in addition to being clumsy, the articles have only one level of spinning, and the syntax is abysmal.
Any site such as mine which relies on journalistic integrity cannot use spintaxing. But smart syndication of a real article, not spintaxed, will obviously continue to work. Google’s efforts are designed to reward quality content by seeking out and destroying the alternative. Works for me!
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
THIS JUST IN: Noble Samurai, makers of Market Samurai software have been on a three day video seminar kick to introduce their new product Article Samurai. It’s main feature? That’s right: article spinning.
I’m a paid user of Market Samurai, but after seeing the Article Samurai videos, I declined to purchase a monthly subscription. The “doors opened” at 10am PST today for subscription sales at $97/mo. They were offering about 500 spots, and within the hour, they were sold out.
Clearly, Noble Samurai’s reputation with Market Samurai is in play here, creating brand loyalty transfer to their new product. I can’t help but think that in light of the Cutts video, and the slash-and-burn of page scores Google is alleged to have done to content farms and select big names in the field like Ezine Articles, this is like trying to throw the sand back into the ocean.
It’s time to seek alternatives. Please feel free to leave comments on my article at Flickering Torches. CommentLuv is activated!
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Finding better alternatives to article marketing distribution channels
Twitter: MensBestGifts
says:
Michael,
I was wondering if anyone would bring up the Article Samurai release. I was surprised to see this released, since I too am under the impression that article spinning/marketing isn’t working well after Panda.
But the face that a well-regarded company like Market Samurai was releasing this made me question that impression…
Fortunately, they sold out well before I could even watch all the videos, so I didn’t have to make any decisions about whether to buy!
Camden recently posted..Fishing Quotes – 43 Fishing Quotes for Any Occasion
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
Hi Camden,
The fact that Noble Samurai didn’t even mention the controversy leads me to question what’s going on with them. The more I thought about so many unanswered questions, I decided to write a news analysis about it, with input from Google and Ezine Articles.
Please visit the link below for the new article. Thank you!
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
Twitter: SuperBlogga
says:
Hey, Will (and others):
Article marketing has definitely lesser impact today than it did a year ago and way more than 5 years ago. Many net marketers have amassed quite a fortune promoting their sites via the sole practice of article marketing. I am not one of them.
I have used article marketing and still plan on using it as part of an OVERALL content marketing strategy, along with guest blogging, press releases, blog commenting, niche directories, etc.
The key is variety, quality and consistency.
Danny recently posted..5 Cool Freebies for Women
Twitter: _infoauxano
says:
Very informative post.. Google panda update gives an alert for all the bloggers for content stealing and reproduction.. Hope Google will come up with some more updates in its panda..
prakash recently posted..HOW TO: Create Facebook Group Username ?
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
It’s ironic, isn’t it? Software makers call it “content scraping”, and it sounds more like a home improvement term. Like I was going to scrape the paint content off this window sill. Imagine if the program was called Content Superthief or The Plagiarizer, that would be more honest, but…hmmm…actually if someone did create software called that and posted a WSO for it, the darn thing would probably sell like hotcakes! Ok, never mind. Bad example. People are too willing to steal from original content producers to care about how it’s done, as long as they get plenty of link juice from Google for their MFA site. Hopefully the end-game of the Panda Update will finally stamp that out.
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
Things are getting really cluttered nowadays. People thinking just for their selves only want to make money by quantity. They just write articles with no meaning at all. I hope Google can start do something about this and I guess clearing out the Article Marketing sites will give us bloggers and readers a breather with all this garbage circulating in the internet.
I agree that Article Marketing = Duplicate Content and Duplicate Anchor Text. However, Article marketing is not dead soon… because it still has it’s own segment…
I am pleased with what Google have done to reward those who do provide good, useful, unique content on their sites, as I do. It used to annoy me to hear people were getting their sites high up in the rankings with such methods as auto-blogging and scraped content. Good article, thanks. I am seriously thinking of doing a guest blog at commentluv too, as I have found it useful elsewhere.
Sara recently posted..Best Leather Dog Collars
I did a test on article marketing after Panda first hit to see if it worked – and it does PROVIDED that you spin the articles manually.
If I recall correctly, it took me two hours solid to do a really good manual spin of a 500 word article that read well and uniquely no matter how many different times it was spun. You need to spin at the phrase and sentence level as well as using synonyms where they make sense. Plus you need to spin the anchor text you are using.
Most people fail in article marketing because they simply won’t take the trouble to do it right. In the long run they waste time of course, but people will persist in taking short-cuts where they can.
Rose recently posted..How to Rank In Bing
So what this actually means is that people need to be better at spinning articles – there surely must be a way to make them read naturally?
Twitter: marketsecrets
says:
The whole spinning thing mostly came about when authors began getting hit with duplicate content penalties which was a bit unfair considering the main point was to get publushed on as many other quality sites as possible. So in defense many began to spin their articles…it just grew way out of hand and eventually misused and abused.
Someone mentioned perhaps directories should allow visitor comments along with a voting system…this just might keep the Abusers in check while at the same time still allowing for mass publishing of a particular article in its original format.
Caleb recently posted..Benefits of Posting On a No-Follow Site
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
Actually if you use Joomla as your CMS, voting is built in. My assumption is that WP never implemented that because in general, voting sucks. It’s a novelty for polling people on forums, or even Facebook now, but I think it’s mostly meaningless because even if you can get statistically significant numbers of people voting, it’s just a lot of high-fiveing. There are examples of voting that is prescriptive of the quality of the content, but on the whole, it’s uncommon, in my opinion.
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
If Google could somehow just stomp out ALL spintaxed articles, then this conversation would be moot, and the entire web would be improved for it. Five hundred copies of the same article, with synonyms being the only difference between them? Yuck!
It’s the same thinking that leads frats and sororities in the Greek system of colleges and universities to create databases of past test questions so kids don’t have to study–just memorize the answers hours before the test, party the rest of the quarter, then become a politician and fail to come up with an answer to the latest Congressional debacle. It’s all part of the same overarching problem of institutionalized underachievement.
If you have your heart set on spintaxing, I’m probably not going to change your mind, but I should point out that I analyzed the concept for myself too, so it’s not like I’m closed minded about it; I’ve simply realized it’s a losing battle–in the long run from a Google point of view, and always when journalistic integrity are at stake. Your mileage may vary.
If integrity is important to you, then just go write a new article, or go to the article directories and download and publish one that makes sense. Publish 500 of them! Why not? Spreading well written articles adds value to the web, and to your own site(s). Spintaxing does not.
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
Twitter: marketsecrets
says:
The last part of your recent comment here reflects my position more accurately…its not that im for spintaxed articles being spread around, but I am for good articles getting multi publishment WITHOUT potential duplicate content penalties!
As I mentioned earlier, the original point of article marketing was to get your content out there. I for one have published several good articles from directories and made sure to keep that original authors resource box in tact…i dont think there is anything wrong with this as its a win win situation for both the author and the publisher
Caleb recently posted..Benefits of Posting On a No-Follow Site
I would say that article marketing is a still great way to build backlinks.
Just my 2 cents.
Adam W. Prillis recently posted..The 7 Best Selling Ipad 2 Cases 2011
Twitter: WillCarissa
says:
I’m not saying article marketing isn’t a great way to build backlinks…. I’m just saying that it will be more of a waste of time because Google will not give much link juice to backlinks from article directories.
Will recently posted..Writing Guru Top 5 SEO Secrets From the International Business Guru
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
My point of view is that I have only so much time to devote to any one thing. Therefore, if something is doomed to fail over time, even if it’s still working temporarily, I’ll jump off that bandwagon because I need whatever efforts I make to last for the longest possible time.
I just hope that the backlinking strategy taught by Ed Dale and Anthony Fernando in the Market Samurai 2010 Challenge last year will continue working. It should, because that process is developed around original content, which is why it’s so frustrating to me that spintaxing has become it’s own industry and that even MS has joined that fray because it could cause Google to tweak their algorithms in a way that could hurt legit sites as collateral damage. Spintaxing, even though it’s been going for about 2 years now, is still a short term cash-in as I see it.
I need something more durable to justify my time, not because I’m some kind of big shot who can’t be bothered, please don’t take it like that; I’m just pulled in so many directions, I can’t afford to waste time on tricky schemes that Google’s going to pull the plug on anyway, especially if it could harm the integrity of what I’ve built so far.
I recognize that there are plenty of MFA, CPA and CB content farms out there for whom it’s all about traffic clicking ads and there is no reputation at stake because the articles exist only for keywords. That’s not everyone’s biggest concern. At Flickering Torches, it’s all about the quality and building the site’s reputation, but that’s an authority site orientation.
At least we are able to talk about this with frank openness on ComLuv. They don’t even want to hear about it over on the Warrior Forum!
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
I believe so, that quality content = success. However, I think to benefit more from traffic, Google and SEO in general. It’s best to understand SEO, SEM, SMO and, etc. That is the way you can benefit more from your own website. After all, traffic just from one source won’t bring many audiences. Although, when you optimize your pages properly, then put together content and back links, inbound links, contextual links, etc., this would be the result into building slowly a successful business and finding your targeted viewers and readers.
It’s a very interesting video with Matt Cutts quote with “Article Marketing.” I now understand it more clearly. He really does help out online marketers! Thank you for a helpful article!
It seems to me that when a system has been overused by others to get links into a site Google slaps it down and people try to find a new way of bating the system. I have used Market Samurai for a while and it was a great tool when it first came out. They have introduced a new tool which I did not buy as it seemed expensive. I shall need to take a good look at my site and come up with some good content with keywords and some articles when I make the time for them.
Twitter: noflournosugard
says:
Great article, Will.
I’ve only written one article for Ezine, and it took nearly two weeks to go thru the channels, so if I don’t have to feel like I’m missing something by not writing more of them for a while, I’ll be happier.
Meanwhile, there’s been several mentions of the fact that good quality posts/articles on your own site are a preferred way to go. My question is: if you’re a new site, how do you bring traffic to that article? or, more generally, are there articles you or anyone here would recommend for writing and posting a good traffic-getting/juice-building article on your own site?
many thaniks,
Michael
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
Articles need to be specific to the topics covered by your website. You wouldn’t want a keyword laden article about sewing on a site about fishing unless the site was about sewing and fishing.
Use WordPress as your CMS. Pinging is on by default, so as soon as you start publishing articles, Google will take notice. Then it’s a matter of people finding and wanting to click on your articles. Make sure you have good titles and descriptions. Use the plugin called “All-In-One SEO”.
Install CommentLuv and activate it! I notice you and some other commenters here are not selecting a recent post from your own site. You’re getting a link in your name, but it wouldn’t hurt to select a post too. Notice all of my comments here have one.
Good luck and hope this was helpful!
Michael Breckenridge recently posted..Paranormal humor: the devil’s neck is red for a reason
If i did it it in an honest way..i think i should be rewarded by google….Quality is but an importance in Ezinearticle we just have to play fair…I understand google…
Timothy Smith recently posted..DoUpTo- The Fastest Way to Make Money Using Your Talent updated Tue Jul 26 2011 1:56 am CDT
I know so many people who rely on article marketing most especially those blog networks. It’s pretty disappointing to see some trash all over the search engine results because the spinning process done by most people involved in article marketing.
Samantha Dermot recently posted..Teeth Grinding Mouth Guards
I don’t totally agree that Google think article marketing sucks. The prove is the fact that article marketing still works.
There is article marketing and then there is artcile marketing.
…”Article Marketing = Duplicate Content and Duplicate Anchor Text”…
That is not accurate at all. Not all article marketers spin articles. You can write original articles use them for article marketing as well.
If you go by that rule, then blogging and writing any kind of content is basically the same, since every topic you can think of has been covered over and over again.
satrap recently posted..Swagbucks.com: Scam or Gateway to Free Money and Prizes?
Twitter: flickeringtorch
says:
In my reading of Will Knecht’s guest blog, and in my own research, I believe his point is sound, which is that certain kinds of articles, namely poorly written outsourced pieces and spintaxed articles made up of nonsense synonyms, will ultimately doom someone’s efforts, even if Google hasn’t caught up to a particular person’s site yet. I see people, especially at the Warrior Forum, who say “it hasn’t happened to me yet!” and I look at that think, well, your day is coming, buddy, because Google has already said it’s a process in motion. Also: if you look at what Google says are its own guidelines for good articles, guest blogs, blogging in general, syndicated news articles, and other kinds of normal writing are well within their standard. Look at the article I wrote in the Comment Luv link below for Google’s guidelines.
michael recently posted..Controversy spins around market research giant’s new software
If you write good quality, informative unique articles for the likes of Ezine or Suite 101, they can do your site wonders. I have quite a few such articles where the pages have become upto PR6 backlinks to my site and are also on the first page of Google. I do not spin or write rubbish. For me, it is great that Google has emptied it’s rubbish bins. Good article and info, thanks.
Juliette recently posted..The Tenth Man (1988) Movie Review
Twitter: noflournosugard
says:
Hi Juliette,
very good point and good to know. Two questions: how does suite 101 compare w/Ezine in terms of article submission process, and-
do you mind sharing one or two of those pages of yours that you mention?
thanks–
Hi guys, no I don’t mind sharing info at all. Suite 101 has stricter more complex submission rules but the backlink sticks nicely. They share adsense which is a plus point over Ezine Articles. Despite all I favour Ezine and like many others I am an expert author at Ezine and here are 2 of my links PR6 at Ezine for 2 articles I wrote about a year ago. You only have to click my profile to see other PR links and both of the links below bring me traffic and sales. The first one is to a hubpage which has consistently made sales now from day one to present day. So, no I’m not bluffing and I’ve beaten IMDB and Wiki to get to no. 1 on the back of good article marketing for the competitive keyword Anthony Hopkins Movies and furthermore am at no9 for Anthony Hopkins and rising.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Durable-Puppy-Toys&id=4797488
http://ezinearticles.com/?Anthony-Hopkins-Films-List&id=4258894
Juliette recently posted..Tips for Taking Dogs on Boats
I have to say, this is a VERY subjective video. I’ve been submitting high quality articles to ezinearticles.com and articlesbase for years, and they’ve been one of my best sources of traffic.
Sure social media gets you tons of people “easily”… unless you don’t enjoy thumbing little messages into twitter and Facebook all day.
Article marketing is still an extremely viable source of both traffic and backlinks.
Max recently posted..Using the Law of Attraction to Attain Your Best Life
Twitter: opportplanet
says:
Conventional article marketing doesn’t work, many people are impressed when they hear that they will get hundreds or even thousands backlinks by submitting an article to hundreds article directories, but they don’t understand that these backings have no value at all, the only article marketing that work is gust posting which really gives you quality backlinks, traffic and branding
kostas recently posted..Website E-marketing 101
Twitter: vjakif
says:
Great article, Will.
I’ve only written one article for Ezine, and it took nearly two weeks to go thru the channels, so if I don’t have to feel like I’m missing something by not writing more of them for a while, I’ll be happier.
Meanwhile, there’s been several mentions of the fact that good quality posts/articles on your own site are a preferred way to go. My question is: if you’re a new site, how do you bring traffic to that article? or, more generally, are there articles you or anyone here would recommend for writing and posting a good traffic-getting/juice-building article on your own site?
many thaniks,
Akif
Akif Shamim recently posted..iPhone 5 Real Pictures Design Concept 2011
Twitter: sandeepgupta54
says:
I really admire and appreciate your thoughts on article marketing,I do believe in what you have said and what Google is doing.Also: if you look at what Google says are its own guidelines for good articles, guest blogs, blogging in general, syndicated news articles, and other kinds of normal writing are well within their standard.
sandeep recently posted..Maya tutorial:Rendering Wireframe
I think some of the article sites that have been Pandalized are not worth writing on. But when you find an article site with tight editorial control, it’s fine to write for them as the site itself has authority
Rose recently posted..Wizzley Writing Challenge Diary
Well, it isn’t like we haven’t seen this before. Just as when the Wild West days of throwing up anything worked, Google is systematically whittling things down to increase ITS revenue … BTW< I saw that Google revenue increased, while its partners decreased this past quarter …. so they are clearly going to do what helps GOOGLE. Period.
You cannot expect to get hundreds of links that are good quality without dialogue first putting the effort in. I spin my original article up to 350% (takes me 5 hrs) but gets me a good many back links that are unique. Also agree with Rose above about quality of the article site itself. Thanks for article and interesting dialogue after.
Joanne recently posted..EzyDog Dog Life Jacket Review
Twitter: supsampust
says:
Online People have abused this method of getting links back. I am sure this method worked at some point, but Google has quickly caught up with the flow. I don’t blame them. Duplicate content is so bad, it is plagiarism basically if you look at it logically.
Good quality content is the key to getting all those links that your wanting. Just have to put int he work. And please, they are more profitable ways to getting links, if you do the research!
Samuel recently posted..How To Generate Comments Like Crazy!
Twitter: richarddacker
says:
Hello, I believe that content matters and social interaction only happens because others have found information that is useful and can be put to a benefit in their circumstance. Obviously personal styles of writing matter as well. I also believe that the money spent on acquiring knowledge whether through webinars, forums and the like can be reconstructed into content for a website. It has worked for me on the basis that the information is based upon my own assessment and words I use to re-construct the message delivered by another form of media. The visitor whom benefits from the content not only has received it free but generally comments that the information has been helpful. Does it make me the expert I think not, but I know more than I did before and I think that matters more. I have learned, and retained the knowledge and so it passes to someone else. I think that beats spun content hands down every time.
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