Search Engine Journal

Distributing articles for the purpose of building links to a site or for that site’s SEO can be a great way to link build and build your site’s authority status. But a good amount of SEO writers tend to take the easy way out of distributing their content, using only article distribution sites for doing so. These article warehouses will get your name out into the Internet, and you may end up with a few good links in the process (and maybe some traffic from EzineAricles.com because they get great Google longtail rankings).

The downside to mass article distribution is, however, the content on article distribution sites gets duplicated all over the net on sites you have no control over. This can lead to a lot of worthless links from trash sites and spam blogs that are just trying to increase their rankings or value in an undereducated manner. Likewise, policing that these trash sites are actually linking back to you, or not selling other links in your content, is nearly impossible and can really cut into your profit margin.

Instead of throwing your content out there for everyone and their family dog to duplicate, I suggest taking a smarter approach to marketing your articles for SEO purposes. While some of these tips may take longer to implement, they can be of great value. Here are some ways to market SEO articles without using article distribution sites. These will lead to good, solid links that will help improve your site’s rankings and draw in new customers.

Print on Your Own Site

Your own website can be a great way to promote your articles. Start a news section and post articles you write on your website so that readers can use, positioning your site or internal blog as a resource.

Remember, good SEO articles will be keyword rich, attracting your target market directly to your website. Better yet, the bookmarks (here’s a list of bookmarking services you should submit to) and links pointing to the article will build value to your site, not someone else’s (like if you gave them the article for free).

Blogs Attract Customers

Launch a separate blog to establish yourself as an expert in your niche (or buy someone else’s blog). Combine your articles into that blog that address problems that your target audience experiences. You can then offer them solutions to these problems in the form of products and services that you offer, or just link to your services or ’sponsor’ the blog with your business.

Posting articles on your blog and updating them regularly will help you gain an audience. Search engines also love blogs because of their freshness, so your blog will show up higher when someone searches your keywords, and that traffic will ultimately find your site.

Print Your Work.

Even in this electronic age, the printed word holds value. For some readers, just being able to hold a piece of paper makes the information seem more valuable. Print up your best articles on nice paper, including a photo and contact information, and pass them out to your existing and potential clients or contribute them to a local newspaper or business association flyers. You’d be surprised how many business sections of the paper are looking for content and isn’t having niche expert advice on business much better than reading press releases or AP wires?

Remember, you can duplicate your content all over the place and not get in trouble with Google, if its not online :)

Create Link Bait

Nothing gets my goat more than sites which want to charge an arm and a leg for me to supply them with a well written article. But if you’re going to hand over your content to an authority site, make sure your link from them is worth 100 times more than what you pay. Make those articles as link worthy as possible.

As you develop your SEO articles, keep in mind what users are seeking. If you have the answers to an interesting or difficult question, then write an article utilizing those keywords. Both the title and content should be written with “link bait” considerations, meaning that they are relevant, fresh, and interesting enough that users will submit them to Digg and other sites, thus exposing you to other webmasters and readers.

Scribe an eBook

Looking at Aaron Wall as an example, eBooks can be a great way to publish your articles. Take your top ten or so articles and put them into an eBook. Add the appropriate features, like a cover page, a title page, and a resource section. Submit the book to eBook directories, establish a brand, offer free downloads or previews and even charge a fee if you will. Make sure that you have a link to your website in the eBook and add something of value to it, not only reprinted articles.

Guest Blog Posting

What better way to distribute your writing and build your reputation and the brand of your company than helping established bloggers with content and filler. Guest blog posting can lead to enormous leads, coverage and valuable links to your site. If I’m going to give away my content, I want something in return besides links and this is an excellent way of doing so. Consider searching for blogs in your field or a related niche, then contacting the blogger asking if you can contribute to their blog or make a guest post.

Chances are, if they’ve heard of you, they’ll say yes. This is generally free, and it can help generate traffic for both parties, as well as create exposure to new audiences.