Spammers have been called a carbuncle on the internet’s buttock. But are article spamshiners not merely making life difficult for themselves?
Back in early December I posted a rant about ‘How to get it wrong with Article Marketing‘ which illustrated the sad decline in the overall standards of articles posted on the web as they are becoming just another aspect of off-site SEO vulnerable to sp@mming.
Now, some three months later, I thought I’d post a follow-up, not only touching on article spamshiners and the long-term futility of their actions but also outlining the many benefits handling article marketing properly.
“Links! Links! Links! Links!*“
*In all likelihood, Google will now pick up this post thinking it is a rant by German left-wing radicals… Sorry 
The past couple of years have seen an increasing trend to use articles as nothing more than a means of garnering inbound links for off-site SEO purposes.
Not only have the ‘bad grammar – nothing to say’ crowd jumped on the bandwagon by posting ‘automatically rewritten original’ (don’t get me started on that again) content; writers who are seemingly able to put together a coherent article are now starting to sp@m the various categories of article search engines with postings totally unrelated to the prevailing topic.
An example of what I’m talking about can be seen in an article posted at my favourite directory some time ago.
“How are your Azaleas?”
My Azaleas are just fine, thanks.
But why exactly have you posted your article in this directory’s HTML section?
And whilst we’re about it; why is the same article now posted in every other category with slight name variations?
Is Sir perhaps looking for a kick in the Azaleas?
Rather predictably, the item was flagged as sp@m and automatically removed from the directory after about six hours.
Let’s take a look at what the ‘author’ actually gained through his actions:
- Approximately six hours of exposure in one of the web’s largest article directories.
- A total of maybe 300 views by visitors like myself wondering what is going on.
- A short-term internet broadcast, as the article is fed to subscribers via RSS feeds, etc. This will also result in a number of backward links, as subscribing sites automatically post the article in their own, ‘relevant’ sections.
On the face of it, the objective (backward links) has been accomplished as those web sites geared to automatically add ‘relevant’ subscription content will have performed the task accordingly.
“Well done Mr Spamshiner, you have beaten the system.” Or have you?
The terms to remember are ‘relevant’ and ‘automatically’…
A few hours/days/weeks later, Bruce – owner of the Bruce’s Automobiles web site in Sidney – scans through his site to see what interesting content has been added by the various sources he subscribes to.
Idly browsing through article titles he reaches the above item.
“How are me Azaleas? Crikey! What the Billabong is that doing in there?!”
Calling his web designer to explain that the site does not in fact relate to landscape gardening, Bruce has the offending item unceremonisouly removed within a short time of its discovery.
But what about the many webmasters and online business owners who don’t really keep track of what’s happening with their sites and leave the article where it is?
Consider for a moment what Google and other major search engines are likely to make of an item about Azaleas which is found in an archive of HTML tutorials…
Not exactly relevant, is it?
Which is why consequently, it will be marked down as such, providing no appreciable benefit for the spamshiner’s web site.
Are there any alternatives though? Can the same article be put to better use?
It may seem like a revolutionary idea but, instead of launching the article in every section of one article search engine, why not launch it in the relevant section on a number of sites.
After all, there are plenty of decent article directories out there these days.
Although it may seem too much like hard work, consider the benefits for a moment.
- Lasting exposure across a number of outlets.
- Countless views by genuinely interested readers
- Lasting and relevant backward links, not only through automatic subscribers, but also ‘human’ readers manually adding the article to their sites.
- Pre-qualified traffic to the author’s web site from an increasing number of sources, as new articles make their way around the internet.
The last point is possibly the most frequently overlooked.
Yet, one informative, well-written article can continue to produce a steady trickle of visitors and enquiries for months, if not years after its publication. And whilst an article on its own may not produce a flood of clients, one quality article per week will result in a steady stream of visitors within six months and a veritable torrent after one year.
My company (IceGiant Web Design in Cyprus) has been using Internet article marketing with increasing success for some time now. And, whilst initially our focus rested mainly on backwards links, it has somewhat shifted as time passed and our statistics showed a marked increase in visitors arriving on our doorstep from article links.
There is so much more to article marketing than simple off-site SEO… if it is done properly.
