Give Up Just As You’re Getting Started: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #5

This is Part 5 in the 10 part series How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing…And What To Do About It!

We all LOVE immediate gratification, don't we?

This is why we start workout programs, hit the gym hard for a few days in a row, and then look in the mirror expecting to suddenly look like:

a) Arnold Schwarzenegger back in his "Terminator" days OR

b) Linda Hamilton back in her "Terminator 2" days (remember her arms?)

And then when we see that we still look very much the same way we did at the beginning of the week, we get frustrated, think "Ugh, this is taking too long!", and then promptly eat 3 slices of pizza and a hot fudge sundae.  

Yes, most of us (myself included!) do have a tendency to want to see immediate results with anything we do, and this includes article marketing.  

One of the most common reasons why folks don't see the results they were hoping for with article marketing is giving up too soon after expecting results immediately.

I just want to be up front with you about what you can expect with Article Marketing as far as the time frame goes:

*Article marketing is a long term endeavor, ideally to be done consistently over the lifetime of your website.

Yes, some folks see lasting results from just a few submissions, but that is nothing compared to what they could have achieved if they had stuck with this marketing tool over time.

*Search engines like Google can take months to adjust search engine ranking based on incoming links.

This means that if you submit an article on Tuesday, that you most likely will not see a huge leap (or any leap at all) in your search engine rankings the following day, or week, or month.

When I am just starting an article marketing campaign to drive traffic to a site, I tell myself not to expect any results for at least 4 months.

4 months??? Yup, that's right.

It is not that it takes article marketing 4 months to work–it starts working from the first time you submit an article, and it continues to gain strength with each quality article you submit month after month.

It just takes Google and the other search engines several months to register changes in ranking based on incoming links.

Article marketing is a long term marketing strategy that can have long term impact on your site –an increased search engine ranking for your major keywords can of course build traffic dramatically for the long-term.

While results certainly can be dramatic - for example, publication in a major ezine can bring a surge of traffic over a few days - article submissions are generally a long-term strategy for building up the traffic to your web site.

So, you may very well see dramatic results from the get-go, but as you begin your article marketing campaign, know that your best results are visible several months after you start a consistent article marketing campaign.  

*Consistency is key.

Schwarzenegger didn't get to be all buff by working out when he felt like it or just occasionally. He got that way by consistently challenging his body over a long span of time.

Article marketing muscle can be built in the same way–As we covered in the first installment of this series, what you're going for with article marketing is submitting a consistent number of articles over an extended period of time. For some folks it's one article a month, for others it's 8–for lots of us it's somewhere in between. You decide.

So, it isn't just a matter of submitting one article and waiting 4 months–over the months you would want to be consistently submitting articles, which will help your site gain links and build momentum.

Now, what do we do about our craving for immediate gratification?

Like I said, I crave immediate results too!

But I know that's not realistic, and I don't want to sabotage my article marketing efforts, so I have this trick I do that allows me to maintain a "Terminator" state of mind–focused on the long term goal, never giving up.

Here's what I do and what I encourage you to do too:

1) Gather your "before" stats information.

Before you start your article marketing campaign, note the number of backlinks that your site presently has. You can find this info by going to Google and typing into the search box link:http://yourwebsite.com (you would substitute the URL of your website after the "link:" part).

Also, make a note of your traffic and your search engine ranking for your keywords. You can find your search engine ranking for your keywords by typing your keyword or keyword phrase into the Google search box and seeing where you show up on the results. Are you at #1, #50, #300? Make a note of it.

2) Make an article submission schedule.

Decide how many articles you will submit a month–remember, we recommend submitting between 1 and 8 articles every 30 days. In order to have the maximum impact with your articles, we suggest that you stagger your article submissions, with no more than 2 per week submitted on different days.

Pick a submission goal that you can stick with over the long term. Mark dates on your calendar when you'll write and submit articles.

3 ) Start submitting!

If you're a member of SubmitYOURArticle.com you'll be getting a lot of marketing bang for your buck. We have an extensive distribution network, the vast majority of which consists of publishers and web sites who have directly requested to receive content from our members. Due to our editorial controls, we have a reputation for quality content that continues to attract publishers to join our network. So, every article you submit will reach bunches of targeted quality publishers.

If, however, you are not yet a member of our service, no worries you can just follow these steps and submit to a directory of your choice–we've put together a list of several article directories in case you need some suggestions.

Now, that's just one directory you're submitting to, so your results will be limited, but every little bit helps! Many of the most successful article marketers started out submitting to just one directory and then graduated to using our service, so it's just fine if you'd like to start off manually submitting articles.

4) At the end of 4 months go back and check your traffic, your backlinks, and your rankings for your keywords.

Now, I just said to check it in 4 months, and that actually might be the best way to do it, but what I do is I check these stats every month–I just picked a particular day of the month (for me it is the 15th), and on that day I make a note of all these stats.

Warning–If you do check your article marketing stats every month, you will likely not see big results the first few months. I just do it so I can see exactly when the change occurs. I am committed to doing article marketing over the long term, so there is not a chance that I'll throw up my hands and say, "Ugh, this is taking too long!" and then quit.

If you think you might be tempted to quit after not seeing results the first few months, then you might want to not look until you're 4 months into it.  Just a thought!

I hope I've impressed on you that one of the best things you can do to ensure your article marketing success is to have a long term frame of mind–don't do it for a few weeks or months and then throw up your hands and stomp off frustrated.

The results are usually not to be seen right away–it takes several months for Google and the other search engines to reflect changes in your backlinks and such, so if you're at all skeptical about whether article marketing can work for your website, please commit to doing it consistently for at least 4 months, knowing that ideally article marketing is an ongoing type of thing, something you do continuously throughout the life of your website.

Related resources:

The Ultimate Guide To Article Marketing 

Posted: Wednesday, August 13th, 2008 at 12:00 am
article distribution service, article marketing, article submission service, keywords, squidoo, submit article, submit articles Comments: View Trackback RSS

4 Responses to “Give Up Just As You’re Getting Started: How To Sabotage Your Article Marketing #5”

1. Bonnie Dubrow Says:
   November 7th, 2008 at 2:51 am

   Steve, Thanks for speaking out and writing what we all need to hear. We come from an ‘instant’ culture ~ instant coffee, instant pudding, instant oatmeal. I for one need to be reminded that patience and persistance are more realistic characteristics of success, not just with article marketing. I’m sure experts in social networking, SEO, blogging, podcasting and such would join the choir.
   Here’s another strategy for success we could keep in mind:
   You’ve heard the saying, “One size doesn’t fit all.” In the world of Internet/information marketing, neither one form of media in which to create your message nor one channel for delivering the message fits all audiences, let alone all people in an audience, so…
   Before you jump down the rabbit hole of one or two Internet / informaton marketing strategies, talk with a strategist who can help you explore the landscape of options from a bird’s eye view. You may find choices that are better suited for the audience you want to reach, the message you want to deliver and you.
   *

2. mmatthew faulkner Says:
   November 7th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

   Your articles are always great information.
   Would writing three articles on the same subject
   and spin it into three slightly different ones
   work if you pointed the other two to the first?

   Would the traffic come any faster?

   thanks Matty /my blog http://mattchip.blogspot.com

3. Darren Says:
   November 8th, 2008 at 10:03 am

   article marketing is great - everyone should be using this form of promotion

4. Steve Shaw Says:
   November 11th, 2008 at 11:06 pm

   Hi Matty,

   Hmmm, that could be something you could play with, but I would suggest linking back to the website you’re trying to drive traffic to as I don’t know that linking 2 articles to the first article in the resource box would drive traffic any faster. I would link to the site you’re trying to drive traffic to.

   I hope that helps!

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