What is the most important element for your online business journey?  What is going to be key for your online success? It will be web traffic and content marketing!

Traffic is the one element that every online business needs. It does not matter how big or small your market is, or how good your site, because without the needed traffic your business will be doomed!

In prior articles I mentioned the importance of Google and ranking high on the search pages. Remember, organic search is the only tool you can use to get free traffic. If you do your on-page and off-page SEO work correctly, you will rank high on the pages and get the targeted traffic. But, it is a continuously changing market. Keywords fall in and out of top ranking. End user requirements change from day to day. And then there is Google, deciding to implement another algorithm change.

Although Google and the other search engines are important, there are other ways to get traffic. Are you interested in finding out how? What about if I told you that these alternative methods are FREE?

I bet you are already seeing the dollar signs in your head. Well, put down the hookah, put away your papers (business papers that you have on your desk, that is) and get ready. This will involve some work on your part, but the end result will be very beneficial.

Article Syndication and Content Marketing

The first thing to consider is article syndication. This will help you generate a significant amount of traffic and help you build a brand with an audience. The goal is to build your brand as a recognized authority and leader in the market. You will do this by generating a relationship with your target audience, similar to the George Will column that use to run in the back part of Newsweek magazine (alright, I might be dating myself now). Readers were always waiting for his next article and would even read the magazine from back to front to just read his article first.  Once you generate that relationship, readers will be waiting for the next article… conversation… advice… that you want to bestow upon them. Remember, this is something that will need to be continuous, and not just a one-time event.

So, how does this help? It is all a numbers game, and it is a numbers game with the various search engines. It becomes a quantity game, so you will need to consider the ability to publish as many articles as possible to as many article directories as possible.

The true goal is to generate backlinks from the articles. These backlinks will help you and your business generate the needed rankings you need for your current business website. Granted, the Google Panda update impacts how this takes place, which is why you need to consider article syndication.

So the question is, “Well that’s great Andrew, but what makes article syndication different, and what the heck is article syndication?”

Article syndication is different. Instead of just submitting an article to directories, you will need to seek out places (websites) that want the same content you are publishing. This can include, but not be limited to other websites, e-zines, and offline publications. Make sure that the place you are looking at has a focus on the same target you are going after, and that they have good traffic to support their worth. You will need to make sure that your articles are:

• Of top notch quality;
• Reflect your company’s brand;
• Are original and not a re-hash of something else, and;
• Offer value to the reader.

A good way to look at generating this article is providing a solution to the reader. It can be a lesson learned, best practice, or a true success that you experienced. The thing you need to avoid is the promotional aspect, as nobody enjoys listing or reading content only to find out that it is a sales pitch!

So, start thinking about specific topics or themes that would be of interest. Think about how you can branch out and write a series of articles on a topic or theme. You can even look at outsourcing the writing to an experienced freelance writer (just make sure the content is original).

Length of the articles also come into play. If the articles are longer, they can be better suited to e-zines and other online and offline publications. Look at publishing articles that are over 1000 words in length.

Earlier I mentioned the Google Panda algorithm change. Since that change and the Google Penguin change, links from related sites are given much more authority. As a result, the links obtained from the article syndication will make a serious positive impact to your ranking. It is all because the articles are related to your business topic.

So, the next question is, “What should I write about?” That is a lot easier than you think. Do a search on Google and see what topics are tracking on the rise in your specific market. That is the content that folks are looking for!

Besides publishing the article on various websites, make sure that you have it reside on your website. Just make sure it only appears on one page, as having it appear on more than one page on your site will be considered “duplicate.” Duplicate content is a “no-no” when it comes to Google. Then you might ask, but won’t Google penalize me if it appears on the web more than once? The answer is no! Remember, the content is syndicated, and syndicated content does not get penalized.

Do yourself a favor though, make sure to publish the article on your website first. It is always best to get the love from Google first, before the competition!

In my next article, we will talk about getting your content indexed, submitting your articles to directories and more.

All the best and happy marketing!