A few months ago I wrote a blog post on whether or not article marketing still worked for SEO purposes and while I am still working on my little experiment, I thought I would take some time to answer a question I have been asked several times by both clients and readers of the blog. People have been asking to explain what exactly article marketing, how it works and how it assists you in your search engine marketing strategy.
Article marketing is the process of creating content to submit to article directories for publishing. You can create these articles yourself or have someone write them for you but they will need to relate to the niche of the website or affiliate program you are trying to promote. As the articles are written or created, you will need to include the keyword phrase you are looking to promote and I will explain the reason behind this shortly.
Once the article is completed, you can visit one of the countless article directories and submit it for publication. A majority of the directories are free to submit to and will have a fairly quick turnaround time for either acceptance or rejection of your submitted article. These directories already have established traffic and Google PR value.
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Depending on where you’re submitting your content for article marketing purposes, you’ll be able to include links to your website anchored by keyword phrases within the body of the submission itself. It is best to review their conditions as well as taking a look at some of the other accepted articles within the directory to get an idea of what you can and cannot do. There will also be an author bio spot where you can add a further backlink to your site as well as tell the world a little about yourself or the web property you are promoting.
Once the article is published, you will have a backlink from their directory to your website. In addition to that backlink, you also have an opportunity to achieve more links to your website when other blogs and sites republish your article, leaving your backlinks intact. For anyone familiar with SEO strategies, securing valuable and related backlinks to your website is one of the best ways to improve your search engine results.