Article marketing is an effective off page SEO strategy to help promote websites through worthy search engines. By distributing articles to a number of article archive websites you are increasing the credibility of your website and helping create quality back links. By increasing the number of back links you are also inadvertently helping improve the page rank of your website. When a brand name provides informative content through the articles distributed, consumers are able to familiarize with the company and can relate to the brand name on a personal level. This paves the way to building trust and loyalty amongst consumers and will indirectly boost sales.

The best part about article marketing is it is a free marketing activity you can participate in to promote your website. There are some websites who do take fees to distribute articles but most do not charge anything. Why bother with expensive newspapers and television advertising when article marketing provides you with a platform that is absolutely free? The more interesting articles you distribute the more they will direct quality traffic back to your website. You should write about topics and information that will be useful to a potential consumer. If you own a children’s toy website, article topics could include: how to keep toys germ free, care and maintenance of stuffed animals, hazardous toys to avoid buying, etc. The idea is going the extra mile for consumers so they feel well informed and considered by your brand name. You didn’t have to inform them but you did. This act itself will attract consumers to your website by the hoards. When writing articles for distribution, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and ask what you would want to know about.

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Keep in mind that you are not going to get quality traffic on your website if you just submit your articles to any article archive. Though they may be free, it is important to select and choose the websites which have high page ranks and are recommended by SEO specialists. Take the time to write a description about your company in the author resource section of each article submission. Article submission sites do not allow you to promote your website within the article content. You can however use specific targeted keywords for your website within the content. Just make sure it is not spammy or does not fall on the lines of blatant advertising.

The best way to fulfill the article marketing strategy for your website is by hiring an experienced professional to take care and look after that part of your campaign. Offshore SEO companies will offer you a virtual assistant to write articles for your business website, distribute them and also give you statistical analytical reports to show you the campaign progress. They also have a range of other SEO packages for you to consider as well as social media optimization services you can avail of. With an experienced SEO professional at hand you can concentrate on running your business and have them do the necessary article marketing work for you.

I decided that as a part of my trials and tribulations of working with off page SEO, I would reveal the things I learned about Outsource Article Marketing. Some tips may seem very basic but many people overlook these simple factors which make a significant impact on the exposure a website will receive. Article submitting is a major part of off page SEO, as it substantially builds the credibility of a website. When a company puts content out on the Internet by submitting articles to article submission sites, it provides the website with a number of valuable back links.  Articles can generate traffic for a particular website making article submission a powerful SEO tool. The idea of submitting an article is the strategic placement of keyword links within the content of the article to target particular pages of a website. A company should display their knowledge and experience through their articles with topics related to their website and business. Article submission is advertising your website in an indirect manner.

If you are submitting articles you must ensure the content of the article does not include self promoting information. If articles include self promoting information, readers lose interest and regard the article as spam. The websites that are used for Outsource Article Marketing do not approve your content to go live if your article is self promoting and spam filled. The idea is to advertise your website through your knowledge and expertise. Once readers see that you are well versed in your field they will be keen on visiting your website to learn more about your business. Readers will be able to directly connect to your website by clicking on the 1 or 2 keyword hyperlinks strategically placed within the article content and the author resource box. It is essential to hyperlink the right keywords that will help build traffic for your website.

With Outsource Article Marketing, you have to keep in mind that each website has different guidelines and rules to follow. Some don’t like keyword hyperlinks within the article content and prefer the links to appear in the author resource box. Some websites allow keyword hyperlinks in both areas. It becomes complicated while submitting to a number of article submission sites, so when I write an article I create a format which makes it easy for submitting. Here’s a snapshot of how I format an article:

Below is a snapshot of an article submission form for submitting an article. Creating the above format allows us to easily copy and paste the information required to submit an article on such a form as shown below:

For the submitter, this format makes their task a whole lot easier. All they need to do then is to copy the right information where required.

The title should include the keyword and have some catch to it. “Internet Marketing” would be too simple of a title and would not attract readers as much as “Popular Internet Marketing Strategies & Helpful Hints.”  I keep a word count record for each article because most article submission sites require a minimum of 500 words. If your article is less than 500 words and a website doesn’t accept it, then you end up adding sentences which don’t match up to the same article submitted elsewhere. Because the article differs certain websites flag the article assuming it is plagiarism and remove the submissions. So it is better to keep each article at 500 words or more so you can submit it easily on all the sites and the content remains the same everywhere.

Author names are a tricky issue with article submitting. Article submission sites are okay with articles appearing on a number of sites as long as the author and article content is the same. To make sure the submitter is using the same author name it is better to list it in the article format and avoid confusion. The author resource box should include the URL and a keyword hyperlink wherever possible. If the article submission site does not allow hyperlinks, the URL directs readers to your website. Sometimes websites will not specify whether they allow hyperlinked keywords or not. In that case, try submitting the author resource box with the HTML code first and if the site does not accept it then fill in the author resource box without the HTML code. Checking the article preview will tell you if the site is accepting your HTML code.

When submitting a particular article, the most important part to highlight is the keywords. A list of keywords ready to submit makes it convenient. It gives the article site an idea of which keywords you want to focus upon. Articles require a small summary displayed to introduce readers as to what the content is about. It is recommended to include the keyword in the article summary even though you will not be allowed to hyperlink it.  Most search engine crawlers look at the first and last paragraph of the article so you should include the imperative keywords in those areas as well.

Check for keyword stuffing. If your article has the same keyword an excessive number of times it is called keyword stuffing. This would also be considered spam content. The keyword should be used sparingly. For an article about 500 to 800 words it should appear within the content from 5 to 15 times.  If the article site allows you to use keyword hyperlinks within the article body they should appear no more than two times. In my article submission format I display the article with and without HTML code so it can be copied and pasted accordingly for each submission site requirement. Having to just copy and paste leaves no room to make any mistakes with the HTML codes.

Hyperlinked keywords should not appear within the first paragraph. The best place for hyperlinked keywords to appear are within the 2^nd and last paragraphs. If you are hyperlinking keywords, use the correct HTML code so the links work. If the keywords are not hyperlinked correctly there is no point to the article submissions because readers won’t be able to access your website. Almost all of the article submission sites allow you to preview the article before it is submitted for review. Viewing the preview also allows you to check if the keyword hyperlinks are working. I personally like keeping keywords in title case so they pop out and are distinctly visible to the reader. I noticed that websites that don’t allow HTML code within the article body or author resource box will sometimes display hyperlinked keywords using the hyperlink tool in word. “Like This” So my non HTML boxes all show hyperlinked keywords using the hyperlink tool so that hopefully the websites that don’t allow html code are still able to display the hyperlinked keywords.

Sometimes even though you submit your article with proper spacing between paragraphs, the website will submit your content as one big mass. If you experience this problem, putting two spaces between paragraphs helps. You can test the article a couple of times with the preview option to see how the content looks before you submit your article.

Once you submit articles to a number of quality article submission sites, it takes approximately 5-7 business days for the articles to go live. Once your article appears live you can further optimize your article by posting the link on social network websites such as Twitter, Facebook and Squidoo. Take a look at the diagram below to review what Outsource Article Marketing websites and social networks you can utilize for off page SEO:

I hope these tips will help make article submission an easier task for you. If you found anything missing or would like to make any suggestions about Outsource Article Marketing, please feel free to leave me a comment below.