The other day, I saw a new discussion posted to the Digital Marketing group on LinkedIn titled: “Are Articles Really All That? Learn How To Explode Your Traffic Generation Using The Written Word.”
Having done a significant amount of article marketing over the last two years, and having been an editorial professional since the Reagan administration, the post naturally caught my eye. I anticipated, though, that it would probably be a sales pitch for the kind of cheap article creation I ranted about last year.
Well, what the hell, here’s the whole post — unedited:
There are many ways of promoting your business and generating traffic. Some of these methods available to you are completely free and will not cost you a dime. One way in particular has proven itself to double and triple your traffic, even over time. This method only requires you to put the work in once and then you can reap the benefit for a long time thereafter. Through this method, you are providing great content for free and helping out other people by giving them value.
This tried and true method is writing articles. Articles are easy to write and only require the time it takes to compile them. After compiling just one article, you can then upload it to many different places such as your blog, facebook, linkedin, and article sites allowing that one article to market for you in front of far greater numbers of people. Now, lets just say that you only right two articles per week and upload them to 30 or so different locations, that is 60 articles per week, 240 articles per month, and 2,880 articles per year. That is only two articles a week doing all that work for you. You can certainly right more than that if you desire, the sky is really the limit. Just bring real value to the table with each one and no one will mind.
A word of caution in article writing is this – remember to keep the pitch to a minimum. There is 95:5 ratio to keep in mind. Always give 95% and just take 5% and your readers will appreciate you all the more. No one wants to be sold so do not try to sell. Instead truly focus on a problem that they are having and help them try to fix it with the information you provide. A good rule of thumb is too only sign your articles with your signature which can include a headline and link about your site. That is all the take that you get from the article. In other words, do not try to sell water to someone. Instead focus on the horrible thirst that they currently have and identify with them that there is a solution. Then leave the solution in your signature and let them make an informed decision for themselves.
If you are one of those who is trying to right articles and feel like you are not getting anywhere, I encourage you to be consistent. That is key in this game. People who do anything sporadically are never going to achieve their goals at anything, article marketing is no different. Stay on top of your writing skills and stay on top of returning comments and you will be fine. An easy way to stay on course is to think down the road and see the thousands of articles you have generated and leveraged in your favor. I wish all of you the best of luck.
I debated whether or not to provide this guy’s name and Web site, then opted not to. I don’t want to give him even the tiniest iota of SEO benefit.
But look at this: Here’s someone who is advising people to “stay on top of your writing skills” and is also advising people to “right two articles per week” and “right more than that if you desire.”
Good Lord.
The proliferation of profoundly crappy information is a serious issue in LinkedIn discussions. The good news in this particular case is that when I went back to the Digital Marketing group this morning to see if any other comments had been posted to the thread, the discussion had been deleted.
Takeaway for marketers: If you’re not participating in LinkedIn discussions, please do; the community needs you more than you know. And if you are participating, don’t be hesitant to call out the crap for what it is when you see it.
