Free Website Promotion Methods : Is Article Marketing Really One?

Author: Dele

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There are many “free” website promotion methods amongst which ostensibly, is article marketing.

From the outset, let me state that it is clear that there is no 100% free website promotion method. If it actually exists, the cost in terms of time will be so much as to render it uneconomical.

Since we know that there is actually no 100% free website promotion method, it ordinarily seems a misnomer to then ask : Is article marketing really a free website promotion method?

In this case, it is not a misnomer. The reason derives from the fact that the actual cost of article marketing is so huge that it ordinarily should not be classified as a free website promotion method.

At this point, let me pause and say that the objective of this article is not to detract from the effectiveness of article marketing. It is without doubt a very effective website promotion method.

Let us now begin to itemize and analyze the costs of article marketing.

The costs are best identified by breaking article marketing into its core components which are :

1. Article creation or generation

It is obvious that to create or generate an article worth its salt on the very competitive internet market, which can be used either on your blog or distributed to article directories, it is either one is very skilled or gifted in that area or one develops himself along the line or one outsources this aspect.

Now, of the alternatives above, let us first assume you outsource since this is a very real option for most budding internet marketers given that most are not skilled or gifted in that area and sufficient time has not elapsed at that stage for them to become skilled in the art of article writing.

It is common knowledge that to outsource just one article you need between $5 and $40 depending on the quality of the article freelancer or other company. In these days of web explosion, you need a significant number of articles on your website and distributed to various article directories, to make a reasonable impact.

Simply multiply the cost of each article with the estimated number of articles required and you come up with a staggering/colossal sum.

Are you beginning to get my point as to why article marketing is not at all a free website promotion method?

Let us now consider the other alternative of generating your own articles yourself. First of all, while many will wish to do this, it simply is not possible for them because they lack the skill.

The few who have the skill also have an opportunity cost of the time they spend writing articles. Here again, this is the point. Probably because i am an economist and chartered accountant, i know that the actual cost of any asset utilized by you in your business, even if owned by you, must be imputed to get a true picture of the real return you make from that business.

Let me illustrate this. If you are a good writer, you probably could be spending your time as a freelancer writing articles and getting paid rather than writing articles “free” for your own online business.

You get the gist? What you should otherwise have been earning had you been deploying your asset (article writing skill) otherwise is a real cost of article marketing in the sense of the alternative forgone. Recollect opportunity cost within elementary economics?

Another key indicator to the staggering cost of article writing evolves when it is realized that you have to keep on writing articles virtually for the life of your website as a promotion tool. Do you now see why it can be very expensive indeed?

Let us go on to the second core component of article marketing.

2. Article Distribution or Syndication

For your articles to have the reach necessary in modern internet marketing business with the attendant web explosion, you have to distribute your articles to various article directories using either an article software or an article distribution service. The days of 100% manual article submission is over.

What does this entail in terms of cost?

For article distribution services, an hole of at least $50, recurring monthly will be dug in your pocket. Article softwares are in the hundreds of dollars and get outdated frequently with new ones introduced into the market.

My dear internet marketer, i submit as the lawyers will say, that article marketing is a paid website promotion method. I rest my case.

Tags: article distribution, article marketing, article softwares, article submission service, article writing tips, free website promotion, free website promotion method, internet marketing business, website promotion

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 12th, 2010 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Article Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.