Build Links and Your Brand: Article Marketing Delivers 

Many online marketers have crowed about the value of writing
and publishing articles for branding and credibility. A few
have mentioned the effects articles can have on the links to
your site and therefore your search engine rankings.

None of them, however, have made a distinction between what I
see as the two article marketing methods. In this article
we`ll look at both "the fast way" and "the thorough way" of
article marketing as well as something crucial that no other
article I`ve read includes - a (http://articlemarketing.
blogspot.com/2005/01/81-worthwhile-article-directories.html
(http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/2005/01/81-worthwhile-
article-directories.html)) complete list of the 82 article
directory submission sites that pass PR.

The fast way focuses solely on link building and should get you
a decent number of links to your site - I estimate at least 12
per article - in a relatively short period of time - about
three and a half hours for writing and submitting to
directories plus a month of waiting for the next update.

The thorough way focuses on understanding your industry`s media
as a whole and establishing relationships with the key players
there. Getting your article published in the right place will
not only give you a great link from a high PR site - it can
give you a level of perceived expertise and credibility that
can increase your company`s sales in short order.

The thorough way is a long process though and requires a
significant amount of time up front. Whether or not it`s worth
it really depends on the quality of the publications that
cover your industry and the amount of time you have to spend.

There are also ways to add some "thorough" tactics to the fast
way, which I`ll cover at the end of the article.

For those who have articles written already here`s a list of
(http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/2005/01/general-article-
directories.html (http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/2005/01/
general-article-directories.html)) 12 PR passing general
directories that accept any type of article and here`s a list
of (http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/2005/01/81-worthwhile-
article-directories.html (http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/
2005/01/81-worthwhile-article-directories.html)) all 82 PR
passing article directories) I`ve found so far. Disclaimer: I
have not submitted to these directories yet. In a later
article I`ll publish more info about each one.

Article Marketing The Fast Way (Linking Oriented):

Write an informational and helpful 250 word article that you
think will appeal to your audience.

Submit this article to these 11 general interest article
directories.

Repeat

The key of article marketing is the link you get back to your
site in your author bio. If you have more useful information
that relates to your article on your site then you can link
back there too.

Do use the keywords you`d most like to rank for in the text
links to your site, where text links are an option. (Scroll
down to (http://www.jorbins.com/bath-beauty-magazine/articles/
teeth-whitening.php (http://www.jorbins.com/bath-beauty-
magazine/articles/teeth-whitening.php)) this guy`s author bio
in Jorbins for an example of link text in bio.)

Since this is a linking initiative don`t worry about optimizing
the article as a whole. Just write naturally and solve your
audience`s problems, preferably in ten easy steps.

If you service the small business or B2B industry then consider
writing a business advice article as the majority of
directories out there relate to this sort of content. If you
sell concrete mixers though is it worth it to have links from
40 different marketing sites from your "concrete mixer`s guide
to better marketing" article?

If you`re having trouble coming up with article ideas then
check out my (http://adsasmedia.blogspot.com/2005/01/rules-for-
responsible-article-creation.html (http://adsasmedia.blogspot.
com/2005/01/rules-for-responsible-article-creation.html))
guide to article writing or send an email to GFrench at gmail.
com (http://gmail.com).

Article Marketing The Thorough Way (Branding and Linking
Oriented)

Research the online publishers (includes directories, email
newsletters, informational websites and blogs) of your
industry`s media.

Discern how your specific industry knowledge fits with each
publication`s apparent editorial agenda (should you write an
article or present yourself as an expert for answering reader
questions?)

Pick the top site you`d like to write for and make sure they
accept freelance and that when they do they provide PR-passing
links (if their article pages show a gray bar in Google`s PR
tool then don`t fool with them).

Check out the publication`s existing and current articles and
see what`s missing. In other words, how can you make a
valuable contribution to your industry`s knowledge base?

Query your top site`s editor with your suggestion for an
article ( http://www.searchenginelowdown.com/2004/09/sem-and-
branding-are-not-mutually.html (http://www.searchenginelowdown.
com/2004/09/sem-and-branding-are-not-mutually.html) PR whiz
Pete Larmey suggests crafting and sending a 2 sentence summary
before sending the whole article) and negotiate whether or not/
how long this publication has exclusive rights. Don`t go
exclusive for more than a week or two unless this is a major
publication and you really think it`s valuable.

Write the article and submit. Edit as needed/directed.

Give your publisher the agreed upon exclusivity and then begin
submitting your article to other publishers who don`t care so
much about first publish rights.

Finally, submit to the relevant article directories, as well as
these (http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/2005/01/general-
article-directories.html (http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/
2005/01/general-article-directories.html)) general article
submission directories.

Building Some Thorough Method Elements Into The Fast Way

If you`re interested mostly in links but wouldn`t mind trying
to build a little brand then here are a few things you can do
that may help your industry credibility.

Mention in your author bio or article that you answer questions
by email... so long as you can publish the discussion in
another article. This will help you begin to develop a
relationship with your readers.

Mention in your author bio that you welcome suggestions from
editors for article requests. This will help you to begin
establishing editorial relationships, which can turn into
further opportunities for you to help readers, build
credibility and boost sales.

More research: spend more time looking around and seeing what`s
out there in regards to current articles. This will ensure
that you`re writing something likely to get published by
ezines and websites, and linked to from blogs. I wrote this
article without querying editors. I did, however, research the
existing article marketing articles. I also know that the
majority of those article directories out there accept
marketing-related articles and so will be able to build lots
of links to my (http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com (http://
articlemarketing.blogspot.com)) article marketing site.

Link to http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com/2005/01/build-
links-and-your-brand-article.html (http://articlemarketing.
blogspot.com/2005/01/build-links-and-your-brand-article.html)
with the text: Build Links and Your Brand: Article Marketing
Delivers.

Paul White is a 42 year old former teacher. He now helps people
all around the world to become wealthy online. Whatever you
are selling, visit the popular site: http://www.profitmountain.
com (http://www.profitmountain.com) and if you subscribe to
Profit Mountain`s FREE wealth building newsletter, you will
also receive FREE advertising for the next 12 months! (Worth
$200!) as well as loads of other things!