Article marketing stands as a highly effective method for boosting your website’s visibility. Why? Because the internet thrives on content. Search engines like Google prioritize valuable, informative content. Think of Google as a teacher seeking the best answer from a class of millions of websites. To determine the top sites, Google uses PageRank, heavily influenced by the number of quality backlinks pointing to your site.
**Building High-Quality Backlinks**
So, how do you get other sites to link to you? While various strategies exist, including reciprocal links, buying links, and blog commenting, this article focuses on the power of article marketing.
Reciprocal linking, where you link to another site in exchange for a link back, can be time-consuming and less effective. Search engines analyze link patterns and may discount reciprocal links as unnatural.
Article marketing provides a superior approach. By writing valuable articles and submitting them to article directories, you create opportunities for other websites to republish your content, including your resource box with a link back to your site. These one-way backlinks are highly valued by search engines.
**Crafting Effective Anchor Text**
Your backlinks should utilize anchor text – descriptive text that links to your site. Instead of simply using your website’s URL, use relevant keywords. For example, if your site is about “credit cards,” use “credit cards” as the anchor text.
This tells search engines that your site is relevant to that keyword. Create multiple anchor text variations to broaden your keyword reach. Creating an anchor text link is simple. In a word processor, highlight the URL, right-click, select “Edit Hyperlink,” and enter your desired anchor text in the display text field.
**Strategic Article Distribution**
I structure my website with in-depth articles, around 1,200 words long, divided into three sections. After writing and formatting your article with a resource box, submit it to article directories. These directories host thousands of articles across various categories.
Website owners seeking content often turn to article directories, republishing articles for free as long as the author’s resource box remains intact. Your article gains a life of its own, potentially appearing on websites, in ezines, and even in offline publications. Bloggers may also syndicate your article via RSS feeds.
This widespread distribution drives traffic to your site and helps establish you as an expert. The gradual, natural growth is favored by search engines. However, search engines may eventually recognize duplicate content, diminishing the effect. To counter this, consistently produce new, high-quality articles.
Using headers within your article improves readability and increases the chances of publication. Structuring your articles into three parts allows you to cover different aspects of a topic or even create three separate articles.
Distribute articles strategically, submitting to directories every few weeks to maintain a consistent flow of content.
**Automated Article Distribution**
Article distribution can be time-consuming. Software solutions automate this process, submitting articles to your chosen directories. Alternatively, web services distribute your articles to directories and thousands of publishers, editors, and writing groups, offering broader coverage.
I recommend starting with leading article directories and then utilizing an automated distribution service.
Article marketing is a powerful method for attracting search engine attention, naturally increasing backlinks, and driving organic traffic. Utilize this strategy wisely to elevate your website’s PageRank and search engine rankings.