I've been blogging occasionally over the last two months about my ongoing experiment with writing articles. This is a super hot topic lately with the changes going on at Google and Yahoo that are impacting many websites and basically freaking people out.
Now everybody knows that writing articles is a powerful technique. You knew that, right? And everybody is writing articles, right? No. Did I? Not until recently, though I wrote a lot in blogs and did post some articles I wrote on my sites. There's two parts to this for me. Writing, which I have been doing. Distributing. Which I hadn't been doing.
I finally came out of that fog and decided that I had to see what distribution might really do. Content, such as original articles is still the basic currency of the internet. People come onto the web looking for information. Content provides that information.
But, if the content is just sitting on a blog or posted in an article directory on one website, it has very limited exposure without links. Content may be the flesh of the web, but links are the bones, the underlying structure that allows things to found and accessed.
It's in our faces right here - the two basics that you can combine to really power a successful website. Content and links. Write articles AND publish/distribute them. Simple, basic, old style site building.
One technique many are using to build sites is to get other people's articles and put them up on their sites to provide related content. I do it, you do it, nearly everyone seems to. Other people publish ezines, but can't possibly write all the content they want to provide. This is the demand that exists, right now, for your articles. There is a deep, apparently bottomless need for quality content on nearly anything imaginable. And it won't go away.
Original content on your site is a great traffic booster. Distributing your content all over the internet gets you lots of incoming links - which over time could well continue to increase as your articles are picked up and redistributed. Plus you are generating a name for yourself and qualifying yourself as an expert. Experts write about what they know and discover. They share their knowledge. I'm not talking about anyone being a genius and discovering anti-gravity (and finally eliminating rocket science). I'm talking about what's already in your head and what you can learn, research and write about.
I wrote three articles on some basics concepts to keep in mind in building and developing successful eCommerce websites. They aren't hot hot hot 6 steps to infinite wealth type writing. They're basic and based on research. Then I distributed them to a couple (not all) of the big article directories and to a large group of relevant directories and lists through SubmitYourArticle.com (which I do recommend if you're looking for an excellent and reasonable article submission service). Here are the results as of this writing (June 28, 2005):
======== Pages Reported
======== Yahoo = Google = MSN = Pub Date
Article 1 . . . 610 . . . 320 . . . . 436 . . May 19th
Article 2 . . . 253 . . . 246 . . . . 269 . . June 1st
Article 3 . . 2060 . . .1000 . . . .239 . . June 14th
. . Total . . .2923 . . .1566 . . . .944
That's a lot of pages. Now, some of those won't have any live link. Yes, it does happen even though it really shouldn't. A lot of the sites it's on won't have much or any page rank and probably quite a few sites are not relevant. People aren't always careful about selecting relevant articles. Some will be on pages that won't pass rank. However, what's left are relevant incoming one-way links - some of which will be from sites with at least some authority. Say even 20% of the links are relevant and/or from sites with some rank. That's a minimum (I believe I'm being pretty conservative with the 20% figure) of over 1000 useful incoming links based on relevant content.
I was astonished. And then I felt really stupid - I knew this, but I really didn't GET it or I would have been writing and distributing from day 1. You're looking at the truth behind the power of articles and article distribution. No tricks, no fancy high powered tools, no big expensive anything at all.
Are you telling yourself you can't write articles? I'm telling you that you can. If you can talk, you can write. If you need help, there are lots of resources about how to write - some very good ones are free, some are quite inexpensive. Other tools are more expensive.
Ghostwriters are another alternative. A little tricky and possibly slightly expensive for really high quality work, but there's also a lot of information available on how to do it right.
My advice here is - whatever it takes, start publishing your own original content on your website and start distributing it now. For building long term success, there's very little you can do that will have anywhere near the same results.
Copyright 2005 Richard Keir
Richard teaches, trains and consults, on and off-line, on business and professional presentations, programming, site building and eCommerce. Visit http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com for eCommerce articles, information, resources and links and check our blog at http://www.building-ecommerce-websites.com for opinion and ideas.
taxi o'hare Wisconsin Dells ..A true test for many writers that will require your... Read More
It has become common knowledge that the smartest and most... Read More
Every time I run a course on Freelance Writing, students... Read More
If you're sick of being #987 for your best Google... Read More
We've all been there. We hear about how articles will... Read More
Are you looking for a better way to promote your... Read More
You want your business to be noticed by thousands daily.... Read More
Frequently when I am communicating with other webmasters and I... Read More
Writing articles for magazines, the Internet or the local community... Read More
Search Engines are constantly on the "look out" for freshly... Read More
You are running out of ideas, you sit down in... Read More
If you write web content, it may be a mystery... Read More
Get the Facts you need to start promoting you free... Read More
These 7 Important Elements are your Blueprint to Article Writing... Read More
When you frequently post articles on ezines, you might be... Read More
There is some wisdom in saying that when you are... Read More
This free way to promote or publicize your book or... Read More
"Ten Tips" articles are the easiest piece to write because... Read More
I once wrote an article in which I offered the... Read More
Thanks to recent information that leaked by Google within their... Read More
People love to hear stories. They'll identify with what you... Read More
It is important for all webmasters to realize that if... Read More
Everyone focuses their web marketing efforts on search engines, and... Read More
Ease of Submission With so many article distribution sites out... Read More
This has to be the number one thing that most... Read More
bmw rental chicago Ackley ..There are two primary factors in creating a successful reference... Read More
Article marketing-the simple act of writing one 400 word article... Read More
Whatever you're selling, writing articles to distribute freely amongst webmasters... Read More
The sources of inspiration are all around us, in the... Read More
How to write an informative article?The following tips can help... Read More
Do you know the difference between simultaneous article submissions and... Read More
Okay, I admit it: I'm a keen people-watcher. (Most writers... Read More
Search Engines are constantly on the "look out" for freshly... Read More
Writing dozens, hundreds or even thousands of articles and making... Read More
Congratulations! You've written your first article (or possibly your 10th... Read More
Recently I interviewed Kevin Bidwell of All-In-One-Business.com on some of... Read More
Article distribution is currently booming on the internet. Authors do... Read More
Many successful authors close their mind to learning HTML because... Read More
Good technical articles are challenging to write. They're time-consuming, demanding... Read More
Writing for the internet requires that you create a large... Read More
IntroductionThere are two ways to submit to magazine editors.One is... Read More
People who have an idea for a website sometimes require... Read More
Writing a great deal of articles myself, I see a... Read More
MS: Bob, how important have Ezine Articles been in achieving... Read More
The first step to getting published is to find your... Read More
You have decided on a great idea and researched a... Read More
How would you like to have your name and web... Read More
Ease of Submission With so many article distribution sites out... Read More
Publicity?you're business can survive without it, but it certainly won't... Read More
I've been involved in publishing for over a decade now... Read More
Article Writing |