When internet marketers first started using the written word in the form of article marketing they would write a short article (usually between 250 and 300 words), submit it to a free directory, and include a resource box at the end of the article. Then, they would move onto the next short article.
Marketers used to be able to get a large amount of traffic to their blog or website by doing this. There was even a time when many of the free article directories would allow authors to put an affiliate link in their resource box. Publishers, then could go to the free article directories and use these short articles on their blog, website, or in their newsletter, provided they didn't change the content and they left the links in the resource box intact.
This strategy used to create backlinks, gain ranking on search engines, and bring traffic to those writing articles. Things have certainly changed and the traffic from article directories is down more than 50% due to the Google Panda and a few other circumstances. Top article directories used to rank very high in the search engines, but now it is a struggle to publish an article at a site like Ezine Articles or Go Articles and expect it to show up on the first page of the search engine results.
How Google Panda Changed Article Marketing Forever
Google tends to control more things on the internet than many would like. They introduced the Google Panda update in January of 2011 and it caused a stir among those using old methods of article marketing. Ezine Articles, Go Articles, and nearly every other article directory took a huge hit because of this update. They started to scramble to come up with new ways to get their ranking back.
Ezine Articles, for example, bumped the minimum word count accepted up from 250 words to 400 words. In some categories, articles now have to be a minimum of 500 words to even be accepted by Ezine Articles. They also put many other guidelines in place with hopes of gaining their traffic back. They still are not back to the type of traffic they used to be, in fact, they are not even close to what they used to get from Google.
On top of losing traffic, Ezine Articles is no longer the best way to get an article in front of publishers. Many bloggers, webmasters, and e-zine publishers have found better ways to get the content they need, even with the higher standards of Ezine Articles. This caused article marketers to come up with strategies that would create the traffic they needed without depending on Ezine Articles and other directories.
The New Strategy For Article Marketing Is Article Syndication
Now that submitting the plethora of article directories is only good for a little bit of traffic and a few low quality backlinks, marketers have turned to a new strategy called, article syndication, to get their content in front of hungry eyes. There are a few basic ways to use article syndication and gain the traffic benefits from it.
1. Make Connections
One way to get your content syndicated to many people over a short amount of time is to make connections with blog owners, webmasters, and e-zine publishers in your industry. This will allow you to work directly with the owner and provide them with high quality content they can use on their websites, blogs, and in their newsletters.
2. Use a Website Made for Syndication
Another choice to gain syndication of your content is to use one of the handful of websites that will submit your article out to a network of publishers. Some of these are much better than others, but the benefit here is you don't have to spend the time it takes to make connections with many different publishers and website owners.
Either one of these two choices can help you to get your content syndicated and in front of many readers. If you can get an article published in a newsletter with thousands of subscribers, you can create a large amount of traffic. Just a few good connections can help you to syndicate your content and take advantage of the new article marketing strategies.