Hi there, now for many of you who have visited our blog before you’ll know that I am great believer in article marketing and therefore syndication.
Article syndication is a very simple concept. Although some folks say that it’s obsolete and ineffective, many marketers are using it to gain great exposure and make lots of sales. But I thought here we’d just cover the subject “Pros & Cons” as many Internet marketers see it so you can make up your own mind.
For us it’s a no brainer, a longer term strategy which we believe is definitely worthwhile but read on & make your own mind up
The basic idea is that you write an article and post it somewhere. Then, webmasters come along, lift your article, and post it on their sites. It’s a way for them to get free content and for you to get your name out there with a few more backlinks.
But isn’t it stealing? Well, you could see it that way. Or you could see it as posting content once and having other people do the work of promoting it for you. The benefits are:
As long as the resource box is intact, the link to your site remains.
– You get name recognition, authority in your niche and branding benefits.
– And of course, there’s the backlink, which might be valuable or worthless depending on the website it’s syndicated on.
The Downsides Of Article Syndication
One of the major downsides is that you lose control of your publishing. You don’t decide who gets to publish it and who doesn’t, and it could end up on some very low quality sites.
They may also keep your article on their site long after it’s no longer current. An out-of-date article with your name on it could actually damage your reputation by making you look like you’re out of touch. One way around this is to search for your content and ask webmasters to remove it.
In rare cases, someone might actually change some part of your article. They could also mess with the resource box. If the resource box is altered, your link may disappear completely and then there’s no benefit whatsoever for you.
What About The Duplicate Penalty?
One objection raised about article syndication is that it violates Google’s duplicate policy. Actually, as long as the links lead back to the same source website, you’re okay. There is no penalty for this, and that’s straight from the horse’s mouth (Google’s Matt Cutts).
How To Get Syndicated
There are a few ways to get syndicated. One is to write a really good article with a catchy title and valuable information, and simply post to directories. Ezine has its own syndication service called ‘Ezine Publisher’ and many directories have similar features. If your article is good, it’ll go viral.
One unique directory is IdeaMarketers.com. This site’s purpose is to syndicate articles for authors. It has a feed where webmasters can automatically pull articles in their chosen niche from the directory and it’s all automated. IdeaMarketers is free to use just like Ezine and other directories.
You can also find pay services that will syndicate articles for you. Just make sure that they’re the real deal. Check up on them a little and ask them to show you results they’ve gotten for other clients.
Does Syndication Really Get Results?
Some folks say that article syndication is obsolete, but others have proof that it gets profits. The reason for this difference is that it depends on what type of site you’re syndicating for. In general, sites that sell products or services benefit the most from syndication. This method gets lots of leads out there and pre-sells your goods.
If you have an information site full of content and resources, article syndication may not do you so much good. You may not see many results, and as a worst-case scenario, Google might see the sites that republish your content as mirror sites.
Tony
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