The Reciprocal Consulting Blog

The Wall Street Journal tells the tale of two businesses that are losing their shirts due to the recent Google algorithm change. The problem is they were a doing a lot of things “right.” That is, the way that online marketers have been doing them for years.

Yet, one of them admits that he did buy some links. That alone could have affected his business.

Article marketing, however, has been a mainstay of Internet marketing since the very first days of the Internet. Still, read a few of the articles in the popular article directories and you’ll see why Google saw the need for an algorithm change. A lot of the recent discounted links and content are low quality articles in these directories. And they’re promoting legitimate businesses.

If you are a small business owner, you have to be careful where you get your online marketing advice. There are still companies touting the old ways of doing things – the way they’ve always been done.

You can’t do things the way they’ve always been done. Not any more. Today, your online marketing has to be as unique as your website. Your content needs to be original, your links natural, and your publishing credits diverse. You should get your message in front of your audience, wherever your audience is, rather than relying on sites like EzineArticles and Squidoo.

I’m not saying you should abandon these websites, but here’s the bottom line:

If you’ve heard of link diversity, you should also try a little content diversity. It’s the new way of marketing online that businesses should have been doing all along.

“Content marketing” is the new catchphrase. In the old days, people used “article marketing” to denote what today is often referred to as “content marketing,” but the two are really different.

Article marketing was the process of writing articles and then publishing those articles in directories for e-zine editors and publishers and webmasters to use as content on their own web properties. While this process in included in the overall concept of content marketing, there is a fine nuance that differentiates the two.

Content marketing is a broader category. Anything you do online that promotes your business or your content – whether it be on your own web properties or elsewhere – can be considered content marketing.

So is there a viable strategy to ensure that your content marketing is effective?

Yes, but it’s different for every business.

The first step to an effective content marketing strategy is to define your business goals. All of your content publishing and marketing should go toward helping you reach those goals. Anything that doesn’t contribute to the advancement of your business goals is superfluous and should be cut out. Anything that pushes you forward toward your goals is good marketing.

But is everything content? Content is anything you create, produce, or publish. It can include guest articles for your blog, articles you publish around the web, images and videos you load to your website or third-party sites like Flickr and YouTube, and anything else that takes up virtual space on a server and is public. That includes forum postings and blog comments on other blogs.

Your strategy should be to present your company in the best possible light in all situations. That requires forethought. Don’t market emotionally. Market responsibly.

In the early days of Internet marketing, website and blog owners wrote articles and distributed them through article directories. This was a common and acceptable practice. It was actually encouraged by the search engines and rewarded if done correctly. Everyone was a winner.

The website owner who used the article from the article directory was a winner because he got to use fresh and original content that was high quality without having to pay for it. The article writer benefited because every time his article was published he received an inbound link to his website, plus whatever traffic the article generated. The article directory benefited because the owner of the directory could slap AdSense ads on the articles and scrape off a few pennies each day. Some of them actually made a pretty good living.

But then Google Panda arrived early last year and slapped the whole process into the ground.

Many article directories were penalized. Many website owners were penalized when Google no longer recognized their hard earned inbound links. But did it kill article syndication? No, not even close.

Article syndication is still a good way to build links, but it has to be done correctly. Here are 5 principles to be guided by as you write articles and submit them for syndication around the web.

1. Write high quality articles that benefit the publisher
2. Don’t promote yourself or use overly sale-sy language
3. For each article, write a short bio with a link to your website in it (that should be sufficient for your self-promotional efforts
4. Whenever possible, instead of mass submitting to article directories, hand pick the publishers you syndicate your articles to
5. Don’t use a pen name; use your real name, or a name that is recognizable in your circle so that you can reap the reputation management benefits of article syndication

Everyone knows about article directories. You write an article, then upload it to a handful of article directories that are used by countless other marketers and hope that you get page views, click-throughs, and traffic.

While article directories aren’t exactly a thing of the past, there may be better places to go for your article marketing efforts. Here are 3 places you can get your articles published fast and that will build great links and send awesome traffic to your website.

1. Squidoo – Squidoo is a place where you can build Lenses. These lenses are a snapshot into one topic. You can use photos, videos, multimedia, and textual content to communicate your passion for a particular topic – and use that to link to your website a few times. Squidoo does have its guidelines, however, and you must strictly follow them. Otherwise, your lenses won’t be nearly as effective.
2. HubPages – HubPages are not as extensive as Squidoo. In fact, its best used for publishing one article at a time. And you can’t be as blatant about self-promotion on HubPages as you can on Squidoo. In fact, it’s highly discouraged. But you can publish highly informative articles that get lots of traffic and add links to your website.
3. Blogger – Blogger is Google’s blog platform. But you can use it for articles. Set up your blog in your company name, or use a keyword-based subdomain, and post your articles as blog posts. Don’t forget to link back to your website in your articles.

Remember, article marketing isn’t dead. We’re just doing it a little different now.

Google has announced that Google Knol is going away. But not for good.

In actuality, they’re just changing form. But there may be more to it than simply a metamorphosis. It looks like a complete branding job and Google is getting out of the picture.

It appears that Annotum intends to keep the basic format of Knol while changing its platform to WordPress. But it’s unclear what else will change beyond that. Currently, Knol pages provide a link building benefit for authors – the few – who use them. But will Annotum continue that? Will Google place a higher priority on content published on Annotum? Those questions have yet to remain unanswered.

Furthermore, Annotum seems interested in targeting the scientific and scholarly communities, which is how Knol started out. But because Google didn’t put strict guidelines on the content, much of it became commercial. And that appeared to be by design. Some people suspect that Google encouraged commercial content. Whether they did or not is neither here nor there since the Knol domain will no longer be active after May 1, 2012.

Change is something Internet marketers have come to expect. And Google giving up on products not doing well is another. There’s no real surprise here. But if you have Knol pages, then you should either import them to Annotum or download them for other uses.

Define “more effective.”

Article marketing has been around a long time. At one time it was the preferred link building method of savvy online marketers. Then social media came along.

Social media has never really been about building links, per se. It was about making connections, but it had the side benefit of helping you build great links – if you did it right. And article marketing could lead to great connections that increased your bottom line.

So which one is more effective?

If you’re talking about sheer marketing power, I’d have to say article marketing. Only, today we do it differently.

If you write great articles and get them published on high traffic websites with a lot of authority, not only can you build great inbound links for your website, but you can also drive loads of targeted traffic to your website. The key is to target the right venues for your articles. And if you do that right, those articles will be online for years allowing you to reap the benefits of article marketing for a long time.

Social media has its benefits too. Reputation management, authority, relationships. But you have to keep your marketing in perspective. What works best for you?

SEO is a science/art that changes over time. Strategies that worked ten years ago may be employed differently if you want to see the same results. Article marketing is one SEO tactic that is still useful, but successful Internet marketers aren’t doing it the same way they used to.

Let’s be clear about what is the purpose of article marketing. It’s actually three purposes.

1. Link building - Yes, article marketing can help you build inbound links to your websites, but it’s just one reason you write articles and seek publication on other websites.
2. Reputation building – Articles are also great for building your reputation as an authority in your niche.
3. Pre-selling – If you write your articles the right way, your prospects will be pre-sold. That is, they’ll almost be ready to buy when they land on your website.

Ultimately, you want to drive new traffic to your website. That’s why you write and publish articles. So why not go to high traffic publishers with a high authority rating? Three such websites are listed below.

Knol – Google Knol pages are great because you can put your links right in the article.
HubPages – Build knowledge hubs where each article focuses on a specific topic within your niche.
Squidoo – Created by Seth Godin, Squidoo allows you to build lenses around specific topics where each lens consist of multiple articles that link back to other places on the web.

All three of these high PageRank websites are great traffic generators and awesome link building tools. They’re perfect for article marketing.

Google Panda has all sorts of websites trying something new. And about every 3-4 months now, Google updates its update and you’ll hear a little murmur ripple through the blogosphere. Well, HubPages is taking a different approach. They’re assigning subdomains.

Assigning is correct, unless you claim your own subdomain by August 10.

This is a great article marketing opportunity for Hubbers. If you’re not currently a Hubber, then you can still get the online reputation management benefits.

The way HubPages works, you can put links in your articles, but your articles better be quality articles and not spam. If your articles are low quality, then your subdomain will be low quality and will likely have low search engine rankings if any at all. Bottom line: If you want your subdomain, and your articles, to rank well, then you’d better write high quality articles. Period.

That’s the way article marketing should be. Your high quality articles will produce links for your web pages, send traffic to your website, and provide you with a strong voice of authority with an equally strong reputation.

Start building your HubPages now. Be diligent in your efforts and you will see a huge increase in your reputation and get the traffic and links you want.

Article directories have been around for a long time. Traditionally, they look like any other directory. You show up, look at a list of categories, and publish your article in the appropriate category. Then e-zine editors come along and pick up your article for publication. However, in recent years, article marketing has moved off into a different direction.

Here are 5 non-traditional article directories to try:

1. HubPages – Let’s start with HubPages. You write articles in “hubs,” which are clumps of articles in the same niche, each article covering a different aspect or topic within that niche. What makes HubPages unique is that you can monetize your articles with Amazon affiliate links, Google AdSense, and other strategies.
2. Squidoo – Squidoo Lenses are highly focused single-page resources on a tightly-knit topic. Build links to your website by focusing your Lenses on narrow topics.
3. Knol – Google Knol pages are usually longer and more technical, but you’re allowed to include photos and links from your knol pages to other pages on the Web – even your own website.
4. Helium – A place for authors and writers to build a loyal following for their articles on any topic.
5. Triond – Triond doesn’t just publish your articles on its own website. There is a network of niche websites where your articles can appear as well, allowing you to expand your audience.

Article marketing is alive and well. We’re just doing it a bit differently these days.

Internet marketing has come a long way since 1991. I mean, the World Wide Web came into the light in 1990, which is when the first Web browser and the first website were built. Since then, pioneers have championed some powerful marketing tactics. The following four Internet marketing tactics were among the first channels ever used, and they are still just as effective today.

• Website Design – Naturally, we’ll begin with the granddaddy of all Internet marketing channels. Having your own website has become synonymous with Internet marketing. It just seems logical, therefore, that this should be at the top of the list.
• Article Marketing – From the time they built their first websites, pioneering Internet marketers started driving traffic to them with articles. Article marketing became one of the first very successful methods of marketing online – and it still works.
• E-mail Marketing – E-mail marketing enjoys the status of being one of the most profitable Internet marketing channels ever. It was also one of the first ways that successful online marketers used to leverage a sustainable income.
• Forum Marketing – Forums were the first real social media tools. Early Internet marketers discovered how effective they were at driving traffic to websites. Despite all the rules in place at many forums today, you can still use them effectively for your marketing efforts.

While the new methods of Internet marketing – blogging, social media, Twitter, video marketing, mobile marketing, etc. – are effective too, these four primitive online marketing tactics are still just as effective as they ever were. Don’t leave them out.

If you haven’t heard of Google Panda, then I’d say you’ve been hiding out under a rock. Or maybe you don’t pay much attention to the search engines and their algorithmic changes. A recent change at Google, which everyone is calling Panda, has forced certain websites – like HubPages, for instance – to take a harder look at their user-generated content.

Some of the changes that HubPages has been forced to make include:

• A ratio of words in content to product being promoted
• No more pixelated images
• No affiliate links
• Higher quality standards on over-saturated topics
• No duplicate content

I’m surprised that HubPages ever allowed duplicate content at all, but they did. And that’s one of the reasons that Google slapped them hard, killing them along with hundreds of other “content farms.”

Whether you agree with that decision or not, I think it will lead to higher quality articles on HubPages and it will benefit article marketers who use HubPages. It should benefit the entire ecosystem of online article marketing.

When it comes to article marketing, and any Internet marketing really, you can’t sacrifice quality. Your reputation is at stake with every article you publish. Don’t take the easy way in hopes that you’ll win on a short term gain. Your business is your livelihood and that’s a lifetime achievement.

Ask anyone who has been around for 40 years or longer and you’ll find that the ways of marketing a business have changed. What worked in 1960 was different than what worked in 1980 and what worked in 1980 isn’t what worked in 2000. Even the marketing strategies used today aren’t the same as what worked in 2000.

Here are 7 online marketing strategies that work today and that will likely work ten years from now.

1. Search engine optimization – Build a website and make sure each web page is optimized for search engine traffic.
2. Pay per click marketing – Spend your money on clicks for a speedy response to your message and watch your income rise.
3. Social media marketing – Use social bookmarking and social networking to connect off of your website, then drive that traffic to your web pages.
4. Video marketing – Online video marketing has arrived in full force. Engage with your audience on YouTube and other video marketing websites.
5. Start a blog – Write to your blog every day. The search engines love the fresh daily content.
6. Article marketing – Write articles and distribute them online to websites within your niche. You’ll build your reputation and build links to your website.
7. Claim your local business listing – Each major search engine has a local business listing associated with their Maps feature. Claim your listing if you are a local business.

There is no substitute for these 7 online marketing strategies. You can do more, but I wouldn’t dare do less.

Article marketing has long been a great way to build backlinks to any website. It’s been an SEO and Internet marketing mainstay since the very earliest days of the Internet. But Google recently updated its algorithm and really slapped the article directories hard. In fact, it beat down some of the biggest article directories on the planet. Now they’re trying to make themselves whole again.

I can’t help but wonder if article marketing through directories is ever going to be what it was. I highly doubt it.

Instead, I rather think that article marketing is going to change. It won’t die. You can still market your blog or website through articles, and you should. But I wouldn’t recommend that you distribute them through article directories.

So where should you distribute your articles? Here are four places I can think of off the top of my head:

• Google Knol
• Squidoo
• HubPages
• Other websites and blogs within your niche

Maybe you can think of a few other places to distribute your articles. But I think these are the top places today for publishing articles and for conducting article marketing. What will be the best places ten years from now is anyone’s guess, but we don’t do article marketing for ten years from now. We do it for today and tomorrow.

A lot has been said about article marketing. Good and bad. It used to be the preferred online marketing method for serious Internet marketers. For some people, it still is. But when I say “article marketing,” what do you think of? Yeah, that’s what most people think about – link building.

There’s nothing wrong with writing articles and submitting them to article directories in hopes that you’ll attract inbound links to your website. And there’s nothing wrong with writing guest articles for other blogs and websites for the same reason. But ask yourself this question: How much time do I spend seeking inbound links via article marketing and guest blogging versus writing content for my own website?

If you spend more time seeking inbound links through articles and guest blog posts than you spend writing quality articles for your own website, then I’d say you aren’t spending your time wisely.

The reason I say that is because there is no content more valuable than the content you write for your own website. Search engines can always change their algorithms to devalue links that you spent hundreds of hours chasing. We’ve seen that several times over the years. But if you write quality content for your own website, you will seldom see a change that devalues that content. The key word there is “quality.” In other words, not spam.

Never forget this: Content is king. It always has been and always will be. Links are good, but the best article marketing you can ever do is to write quality content for your own website.

Google’s recent changes to it’s search algorithm has caused quite a storm with the biggest casualties including article directories. Article marketing has been one of the core marketing tactics used for over a decade. It offers a unique opportunity for people to have their content published in places away from their own sites – sometimes even having their content reprinted on quality sites, or picked up by national publishers.

This is one situation where those who use article marketing can have a serious beef with the search engines. Over the years, these search engines have encouraged the use of article marketing, so long as the content was unique. Furthermore, users were encouraged to republished that content so long as they included the resource information at the end of the article.

Having been encouraged to use these marketing tactics, users now find their efforts will account for nothing. Links have not been followed for some time, and now the content will struggle to appear in search results. That’s a real slap down.

So what of the future? Does article marketing still have a future? I think it may have but it may need a real overhaul. My first thoughts run to sites like Google’s own Knol – has that been affected by the new algorithmic changes? My first impressions are that it hasn’t been affected at all and that could be the model that future article sites need to look at.

The Internet is steadily evolving, and from a search point of view I can understand the search engines not wanting to see the same articles being published across numerous sites. I also question whether or not some sites have their internal structure right. Article marketing will survive, the question will be – in what sort of format and where?

The online world can be quite frustrating at times. You write what appears to be quality content, content that answers a lot of questions that appear around forums and online Q&A sites, yet hardly anyone comes to read it.  So what is the problem?

In many cases, it is the search engine optimization efforts that are failing to deliver results. SEO today is only one tool.  There are many other channels that you can market your pages through and this is often the one area where many website owners let themselves down. Promoting content can be difficult, but there are channels where, with the right approach, you can effectively spread the word. These channels include:

Article Marketing – Don’t make the mistake of re-writing the article and submitting it to article sites. Write a complimentary article that introduces the subject and goes some way to answering a problem – leave the links in the article to drive readers to your page for the full answer. These articles work well for guest posts as well.

Q&A Forums – Perhaps one of the most underused resources on the Internet are sites like Yahoo! Answers. Find relevant questions and again answer the question briefly with a link to your pages for a fuller answer.

Social Media – Enter discussions on these topics and refer readers to your pages for more in-depth information.

These are just a few examples of where you can promote your high value content. At the same time, you may even give your search engine optimization program a boost by acquiring new links. What is important is that your pages are being promoted to help others solve issues and those references will remain for months or years continually delivering traffic to your website.

Writing content can be a difficult job, particularly if you are trying to achieve a certain result. One of the mainstays of online marketing is baiting content so that it draws the reader onto your site, or further into your site.  The philosophy is quite simple: write content that is informative while not quite answering the user’s question.

In fact, it goes a little further than that. Onsite (and with email marketing), you close off almost all other forms of escape leaving the user little option apart from following the doors you have opened, or closing the page altogether. If your content is well written, the user will travel the path you have mapped, without even realizing it.

Off site, for example, article marketing or social media marketing, you don’t have the option of closing doors. This means your content must be good enough that it blinds the reader to anything else – until they reach the all-important link back to your website. Creating a constant steam of content that achieves this goal is quite an art form in itself.  If you can achieve it, then you will find that conversion from this material can be quite high.

Writers that can produce top quality material are in high demand. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t produce this material yourself. You can, with a little thought. The key is to write content that does answer the user’s question, then to edit it so that the full answer is missing but can be found by following a train of thought – and that is the link deeper into your website.

If you do bait your content, be sure there is an answer at the end of the line, and don’t make that line too long. If you do, your visitors will leave and never return. Provide some satisfaction, and your visitors will feel good about the experience and return for more. Baiting content has been a marketing ploy used for decades off line – it works just as well for internet marketing too.

There is a new practice in article marketing using SEO tactics on the cheap. It’s called article spinning. The practice is simply taking an old article and putting it through a computer software program that mixes it up and changes the sentences around so search engines don’t recognize it as duplicate content. The problem is, it is duplicate content and usually the articles don’t make a whole lot of sense.

For instance, the article spinner will take a sentence from the third paragraph and make it the opening paragraph. It might even exchange a keyword for another pre-selected keyword. Then it will take a sentence from the bottom of the article and make it the second sentence while moving the first sentence of the original article to the third sentence spot and thus forming a new paragraph.

The article spinner rearranges the entire article this way. And marketers actually use them.

I’m not going to say that the articles are poorly SEOd. By bot standards, the SEO isn’t bad. But the writing is usually horrendous. I don’t know how people make money with these articles, but some do.

It’s almost always better to use original articles. Original content in any format is always best. The search engine optimization will almost always be better, but the writing, which is always for humans any way, will nearly always be a big step up. And your reputation will go along with it.