Are You Using Widgets to Improve Your Internet Marketing Website?

One of the best link building tactics – and the favorite of many affiliate marketers today – is submitting articles authored or owned by you to article directories.

When experts on SEO advise new site owners to acquire natural incoming links, look to article directories to give you those first links easily. But first, let’s look at how and why article directories may be the easiest way to build some natural incoming links fast…

Links are one-way.
Many experts believe that search engines discount or downplay reciprocal links in their SERP (Search Engine Results Page) calculations. While reciprocal links can still be valuable, they don’t count as much as one-way links to your site. Article directories give you a one-way link.

Links are guaranteed.
If you’ve never asked a webmaster for a link before, it can feel a bit intimidating. But when you submit articles to directories, you know you won’t get turned down. Seeing those backlinks show up in the SERPs is a nice confidence booster, especially if your site is brand new. As long as your articles are of good quality, they will also send you targeted visitors for a long time to come.

Links per page are fewer.
This is a little known, but valuable benefit. Experts say the higher the number of links per page, the less SEO value each link will have. But the link back to your site in an article is often only one of a few links on the page.

Backlinks soon multiply.
Article sites exist for a reason – to provide other webmasters with access to free, quality content. So just one article, in just one directory, can actually turn into hundreds of links, as webmaster after webmaster finds your article and uses it.

Speed is important.
You want to build traffic and page rank as rapidly as possible. Submitting requests to other sites for reciprocal links, listing in link directories, and other methods are excellent long term SEO tactics, but they can take ages. But your article can appear very quickly, getting your name and links out there right away. So if you need to start building traffic today, articles can do the job in record time.

Your time is valuable, too.
You write an article and submit. Usually, that’s the end of your involvement! You can move on to one of the thousand other things on your list – and while you do them, that article is sending traffic to your site without any additional work on your part.

Sometimes it’s the only game in town.
Many site owners will not enter into reciprocal link relationships. Sometimes they don’t perceive the requester as offering them sufficient value. Maybe they simply don’t have time to respond to requests. Or it could be that their spam filters catch those requests – and delete them – before the requestor can make a case for a link.

But most article directories want all the articles they can get. So when all else fails, you can turn to article directories. Even when other webmasters say they can’t add even one more link, article directories will be actively seeking submissions.

Content for you.
The more content you write and submit to article directories, the more content you’ve got to use on your own site. Just make sure you tweak the articles so you don’t incur a possible duplicate content penalty. All it usually takes is a brief introduction or summary of the article to freshen up the content.

Articles send PEOPLE, not just spiders, to your site.

The incoming links are not the only benefits of articles. Beyond search engines, there are human elements at work.

Qualified traffic.
Individuals who read and enjoy your articles will often send traffic your way, via reviews or creating links you didn’t need to ask for. Those are targeted visitors pre-disposed to consider your products and services.

Reputation.
Well researched, well written articles make you look like the expert you became. That draws traffic that’s interested in what you have to say and sell.

Word-of-mouth.
Articles help get the word out about what you offer, and a well-written piece pre-disposes them to like it. To help mitigate that dilemma, if you have the funds, you can outsource some or all of the article writing chores.

But be careful. Writing well takes expertise and skill. It’s still your name and site that goes on the final article. Put your best foot forward. If you don’t, your articles may get you some links, but they won’t attract real visitors or help you convert them into buyers.

The traffic and backlink opportunities that come from writing articles can go beyond submitting to article directories. Let’s say you’re writing articles to establish your expertise in a tiny niche, such as technical knowledge of enterprise level software. The typical how-to article for an article directory is written for a more general audience, and probably won’t get you much traffic – or business.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t do article marketing. All you need to do is adjust your strategy from getting mass traffic to getting highly targeted, specialized traffic by:

1 – Writing the RIGHT type of article for your niche.

2 – Targeted both authority sites and article directories to get the maximum coverage.

Your goal is not to get your articles syndicated on thousands of mass market sites. Instead, you want to get links from high traffic, high PR sites that will turn YOUR site into an authority site in no time.

Let’s look at this strategy in more detail.

First, think carefully about the type of article that will attract eyeballs in your niche. Most articles fall into one of five basic categories: Trade/Specialty; Informational/How-to; News/Current Events; Creative; and Journal/Blog articles. To attract highly targeted traffic in a small niche, you’ll probably be writing Trade/Specialty articles.

Second, who is your business audience? Is it industry “insiders,” people who have spent their lives working with a particular industry or product, and who share a common technical language and jargon? Members of credentialed professions (doctors, lawyers, engineers, real estate agents, etc.)? Researchers, such as scientists or anthropologists? Hobbyists and collectors? Members of clubs, societies, and organizations?

Knowing who makes up the audience of specialists and enthusiasts in your field means you can tailor your articles to them – and that they will consider reprinting your articles on their sites.

Third, think of your articles as lead capture tools. If you’re targeting micro-niches, you want to convert every serious reader of your articles into a lead. So take a tip from those PPC marketers who also play in small niches – be sure to capture leads with an opt-in form, and then follow up with white papers, case studies, or downloadable reports.

Fourth, rewrite your specialty articles into press releases. Press releases give you access to an important group of online movers and shakers: journalists and reporters. Online reporters often publish on authority sites and high traffic blogs. So if you can get yourself quoted – and linked to – in online news stories.

Fifth, publish in the big article directories anyway! Never underestimate the value of publishing technical or specialty articles in general article directories. If the directory has a category that’s even remotely connected to your niche, you may be one of only a handful of contributors on that topic. You’ll still get all the benefits of the directory’s speedy indexing and a quality backlink – and every quality link helps.