Article distribution is a powerful online marketing strategy, offering numerous benefits for authors. These include improved search engine visibility through backlinks, increased traffic from popular websites, and enhanced brand recognition.
Several methods exist for distributing articles:
1. Software that automates or speeds up manual submissions.
2. Services that submit articles in your name.
3. Services that submit articles on your behalf, using their own name.
While outsourcing article distribution seems convenient, it can diminish your branding efforts. When a third-party service submits on your behalf, their name often appears as the author, diluting your brand. Many article directories offer valuable author profile pages where readers learn more about you and your website. Losing control of this profile means losing a key marketing opportunity. Additionally, RSS feeds may display the distribution service’s name instead of yours, further obscuring your authorship. Finally, you may be locked out of modifying your resource box if the article was submitted under an account owned by the distributor.
To maintain complete branding control, submit your articles manually or utilize article submission software. While this requires more effort and may result in more emails, you can create a dedicated email address for this purpose. Tools like Article Announcer are examples of software that can help.
Alternatively, consider an automated submission service that guarantees you are credited as the author. Some services register accounts on your behalf, using a username and password of your choosing.
While managing your article distribution may involve confirming memberships and filtering emails, the rewards are significant. Your articles deserve maximum exposure and proper attribution.
Article distribution follows a Pareto principle: with the right approach, you can achieve 80% of the results of manual distribution with only 20% of the effort. However, if your distribution method doesn’t give you full credit, your effectiveness may drop to 60% or less.
By managing your own article distribution with tools, you retain control and maximize your return on investment. Using services that credit you fully can also be effective. The key is to refine your processes and select the methods that yield the best results. Many marketers find success using a combination of article submission software and services.