internet marketing strategy

Article Marketing is the New SEO - Part One

July 1, 2009

Category Article Marketing, SEO | Leave a Comment 

What we generally refer to as “Search Engine Optimization” or “Search Engine Marketing” can refer to so many different things, so I want to be clear from the beginning that this article is not intended to be a comprehensive report on SEO itself. Let’s face it - even among so-called experts, few people can ever agree to a basic definition or procedure for SEO. So, for this article - let’s forget about optimization in the larger sense.

Instead, I want to talk about a very specific strategy for optimization. This is a strategy I have used over and over again with tremendous success. And it’s easy to do! This is a major bonus in the optimization world where most people are totally overwhelmed.

Website Optimization - Expensive Firms

Chances are pretty good that if you’re reading this article you’re NOT an SEO expert. You may have even considered hiring a large firm to “SEO your website.” These firms - even the small time consultants - charge ridiculously high fees for… well, I’m still trying to figure that part out.

Here’s the good news: You don’t need them!

Most of that large fee goes to pay the sales team that worked extremely hard to find you and recruit you. The remaining majority of your fee goes into the pockets of the firm owners and, finally, a very very small portion goes to the outsourced labor hired to perform all of the so-called SEO operations and tasks that will help you rank high.

Trust me, I have first-hand experience working with one of these national firms.

(CAVEAT: There are in fact many very good SEO companies out there. And by very good, I mean extremely good. Unfortunately, these folks are also extremely expensive. You get what you pay for in the SEO world.)

Quick Background

Search Engine Optimization has evolved dramatically in the past 5 years. It used to be quite easy to tweak your website, throw up some content, and maybe get a few backlinks from similar blogs and websites - and then, presto, you would pop quite high in Google, Yahoo, and MSN.

These days, the direct website strategy is not going to work for you.

Of course, you need to do at least some of these things to get your website pulling rank… eventually. But because the competition has grown exponentially and because major search engines like Google have created more sophisticated algorithms, it’s just not like it used to be.

How Article Marketing is Faster and Better Than Traditional SEO

Here’s the part where I show you the way out of this conundrum. First, let’s change your thinking.

Instead of thinking about optimizing *your* website, think about leveraging another website. Which website? I’m glad you asked.

There are many different options for leveraging other websites, so we should start with a list of some attributes these websites should have:

  1. Age
  2. Size
  3. Reputation

I know what you’re thinking - duh! Yes, I know this is quite obvious but it’s important to see this clearly to understand exactly why I think article marketing works.

Why I Love EzineArticles.com

Consider my absolute favorite article directory www.EzineArticles.com Why do I like these guys?

1. Age
They have been around a *very* long time. According to domain research tools, the domain was created on 19 Nov 1999. Not bad eh?

2. Size
As of this moment, the directory has nearly 10 million pages indexed in Google. Size indeed.

3. Reputation
People trust this article directory. More importantly, Google trusts this article directory.

This is exactly what the Internet is all about. It’s exactly what made Google what it is today - trust.

People don’t use search engines because they like the pretty colors and the fancy features. Take a look at www.Google.com - a close look. It’s one of the simplest websites on the web.

People use search engines because they trust them. You do the same. I do the same. Your customers do the same.

So if you trust Google, then you trust the top results it delivers you every time you process a new search query. Google consistently ranks EzineArticles.com pages high because the article directory has an excellent reputation. They screen all content very carefully. They put new writers through a stage-by-stage review process. In short, they are saving Google a lot of time by clearing new content for the web.

In the next installment of this series, we’ll look at exactly how you can put the article directory to work for you.