Article marketing was one of the early forms of search engine marketing that many companies employed to gather links back to their site.
It was a reliable method to reach customers because a well written article could deliver links and traffic.
The best news was that other sites might pick up that article and post it on their own site, further propagating the links and the possibility of new traffic.
Unfortunately, like so many other things in the SEO industry, people began to try to employ this strategy in less than ethical ways.
This could include spamming the article sites with countless slightly-modified versions of the same article, or filling the article with content that was nothing but gibberish - lots of keywords - but mostly gibberish.
As such, and as always happens when people try to exploit a methodology, the search engines quickly caught on and devalued the process, and sometimes penalized for it.
With that being the case, one needs to ask, is article marketing still a valid option? The short answer is, if you do it right, yes it is.
Of course, even done right, it may not have the same weight that it once did, but it can still be an effective means by which new customers can learn about your site.
And it doesn't matter if they come straight through your articles, or through your high ranking position on the search engines.
Either way, you can still see some good results.
Links are one of the most important parts of your search engine ranking.
These are considered a type of vote for your site.
Unfortunately, not all votes are equal in this online world.
A vote from a large and popular site is worth quite a bit more than a vote from a run-of-the-mill site.
But that doesn't mean that you can't make something from those smaller sites.
Quantity is still a consideration.
Again, this is where you can tread a fine line.
If you overdo it, the search engines can turn on you.
But if you are actually writing good, informative articles on a regular basis, you can really begin to develop your online presence - even if you can't convince the larger sites to link to you.
The common practice for article marketing is to write your article in a way that conveys valuable information without being an overt advertisement.
These articles shouldn't be over long or you'll lose a potential customer's attention.
But at the same time it should also be substantial enough to convey the right message.
Generally speaking, this means that an article in the range of 600 to 1000 words will be just about right.
This gives you plenty of space to detail a message, but keeps it short and sweet so you don't lose them before they even get a chance to click on your link.
By following some of these simple measures you can find a lot of success online.
Article marketing can be a strong, solid component of your SEO campaign.
If you want to be found online, this is a great way to get started.
Possibly the most important thing to keep in mind when you use article marketing to propel your SEO, and that is consistency.
A single link or two won't do you much good in a world of competition that is always increasing their own links.
You will have to consistently increase yours if you want to keep up.
A steady stream of new, one way links to your site can be a tremendous benefit.
And this can be achieved if you can consistently produce good articles.
This links are perhaps not as valuable as the links from larger sites, but they are a strong foundation nevertheless.
And that sort of foundation does, in fact, mean that article marketing is still a valid resource.