Steve Gaghagen

Search Engine Marketing: Content Distribution – To Automate or Not To Automate

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Search Engine Marketing: Content Distribution – To Automate or Not To Automate

In our last post in this series, we discussed Content Distribution as it relates to Traffic Generation to your Website. It’s obvious that if we want people to be visiting our sites … and we want them finding our sites through Google and Yahoo search engines … then we need to be doing consistant content creation and distribution.

In that last post, I provided a partial list of sites where you can submit your content and create backlinks to your own website. That list of sites included social networking sites, social bookmarking sites, article directories, podcast and feed directories, Micro Blogging sites, press released sites, video sharing sites, document sharing sites … the list went on and on. In fact, I received several comments on the blog and several emails from folks kind of shocked at how many of these things there were and how many places there actually are for you to mount content on the web … and build links to your site increasing your site’s ranking.

Well, if you weren’t aware of the facts before, yes, it could be shocking, I suppose.

Content Distribution: The TEDIUM in Internet Marketing

There’s the cold, unvarnished truth. If you want targeted, quality, and massive traffic coming to your website through search engines like Google and Yahoo … and yes, that is the exact kind of traffic you want … you will need to be doing what most people consider to be the most tedious, time-consuming job of the Internet marketer.

Content distribution for the purpose of creating backlinks and traffic can sometimes be the straw that broke the camel’s back … or the back of the fledgling online entrepreneur. When someone who is a relative “Newbie” to the industry begins to come to grips with just how much time and effort they will be spending on this … that’s when you discover whether or not someone really has what it takes to succeed online.

Why is the job so huge? Well, there are several reasons. The sheer number of sites to submit content to is one (as you’ve seen). The other is that it’s very difficult to keep it organized.

Not Just Random Content Distribution – You Need A Link Wheel

Have you ever seen a Link Wheel?

Well, here is where content distribution can get dicey, and where we lose some folks talking about traffic generation and related subjects. The truth is that your Content Distribution MUST be organized. You don’t want to just go out there and throw content around willy-nilly. Oh sure, you’ll get traffic that way, and it will be good traffic. However, if your distribution is highly organized you will get exponentially greater results from the same amount of effort! Why settle for less with the same amount of work involved?

Organizing your content distribution is what we refer to as Building a Link Wheel. There are many different kinds and styles of link wheels … some simple and some complex. The diagram below is of a fairly complex link wheel.

Now, that particular diagram is not a link wheel I necessarily recommend, but it is one that will demonstrate how organized you can be, and how complicated it can all get when creating a good link wheel to generate traffic to your site.

So … one more point to all this: you not only need to be doing massive content creation and distribution, but you need to be doing it in an organized, purposeful manner that will guarantee you the maximum amount of return for the hard work you’re doing.

Should You Automate Your Content Distribution?

So … now we come to this very basic question. Sure, I can hear it in the air, “This is the Internet. These are computers we’re using. Surely there must be some method or software that will help alleviate this time consuming, complicated, and tedious task for us?”

Well, yes, there is. However, not all methods of Content Distribution are equal. Essentially they fall into three categories: Fully Automated Methods, Partially Automated Methods, and Outsourcing. There are pro’s and con’s to all three, and we’ll discuss those here. One category I don’t advise at all … in fact I strongly recommend you stay completely clear of it. The other two I do recommend and we’ll get into why with each of them.

Fully Automated Content Distribution: The Shoot Yourself In The Foot Solution!

Well, that subheading just about says it all, doesn’t it? This is the category of “assistance” I recommend you avoid. We’ll get to that, but first let’s talk a bit about what exactly fully automated content distribution looks like.

The fully automated method usually takes the place of software that you buy outright. These doo-hickies can range in price from $25 up to a $250 or more. You purchase the software, set it up, and from then on you let the software do your submissions.

That’s the ideal … too bad it doesn’t work that way. In actual practice there are a few problems:

1: Usually this type of software covers only one type of submission, so you end up needing multiple “thingys”. One program for article submissions, one for bookmarking sites, etc. That means you’re purchasing more “thingys’ than just the one that “does everything for you”.

2: The folks who run the websites where we want to submit content are not dummies. They
want to weed out “bots” so they vary the submission process on their sites on a regular basis. That means that a software submitter that works well with a certain site in January, will probably stop being successful by March or so. THAT means … you’ve got to buy some updated version of the software if you want to keep the fully automated thing going. These things just don’t have a very long shelf-life.

3: Submission site owners also look for content that can be considered “dulicate”, and they look for other signs that content is being distributed by a bot of some kind. When you submit content completely automatically, you have no chance to vary that content by “spinning”, so you’re very likely to get “dinged” for duplicate content distribution and have your submission refused.

All in all … considering the lack of ability to vary and “spin” your content, along with the probability that your software will only be good for a couple of months … the fully automated method of content distribution is one you should avoid. It’s the perfect example of the old saying about “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. People with a little knowledge know they CAN automate this process. However, just because you CAN do something … doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

Partially Automated Content Distribution: A Powerful Solution For Those Who Want To Do It Themselves

Here we come to the first of the two methods I DO recommend. Partially Automated content distribution.

With this method we are again dealing with software solutions, only there is less automation to the process. The software’s main job is to bring all the many distribution sites into one interface so they are easy to reach one after the other … to store usernames and access codes to the various accounts and enter that information … and to also store the descriptions, keywords, articles, etc., that you’re distributing.

What this type of software does NOT do is remove or skip over the necessary Human Element demanded by the distribution sites. You still have to go from site to site and submit your content. You have to fill out the “captchas” and jump through the “are you a human?” hoops the sites put up and move around all the time.

There are several advantages here:

1) You are actually following the submission process on each site, so your software does not grow obsolete within a few weeks.

2) You are actually doing the process yourself, so you can “spin” your content from site to site. Now, bad content spinners are a waste of time and some are actually counterproductive. However, a good content spinning program … combined with someone with the knowledge to use it and a partially automated content distribution program can create HUGE link wheels that don’t annoy the site owners or the search engine spiders with tons of duplicate content.

3) Google and Yahoo have now written code into the heads of those little spiders that has them looking for what they term a “footprint”. Yes, folks, those Big Brothery people at Goo and Yah can now tell from your “footprint” whether you content distribution is fully automated. Contrary to some popular fear-mongering rumours, they don’t “blacklist” your site or some nonsense like that. However, they simply stop indexing your submitted content and you end up wasting your time. A good, partially automated distribution software program will satisfy the spidery gods, and you won’t have this problem.

4) The software brings all the sites together in one linear process. The original set up of all these hundreds of accounts at hundreds of sites can be horribly time consuming … BUT … once that’s done, you will save lots and lots of time as you simply jump from one site to the next within your distribution program.

There is one partially automated software program I recommend. It’s called Traffic Magnet. I’m not going to go into too much deatil right now as I will be discussing it in more depth in the next post. BUT … if you want to jump to the fron of the queue and see what I’m talking about … CLICK HERE

Outsource Your Content Distribution: A Complete Solution!

Outsourcing your content distribution is, of course, the complete solution. I don’t need to go through a list format in this section to point out the advantages with this method. They’re simple! The entire headache becomes someone elses!

Now, many of you are sitting there saying something like, “Hey! I can’t afford that!” … and you might be right.

BUT … you might also be wrong.

There are many firms and freelance individuals who do work like this at very reasonable rates. Let’s discuss a couple of alternatives here, and then I have one very strong recommendation for you.

1) Freelancers – There are many websites you can go to where people offer their services on a job by job basis. Here is a partial list of some sites where you can find Freelancers open to doing content distribution:

www.elance.com
www.guru.com
www.ebay.com
www.gumtree.com
www.craigslist.com

Of the sites listed above you probably recognize eBay and Craigslist, but you might be surprised to find them here. eBay actually does have a “Services” section where you will find people offering services that might fit your outsourcing needs. Craigslist, of course, offers just about everything and you’ll also find good freelancers there.

If you look at Freelancers you’ll need to make your own decisions about who to hire and who to avoid. Most of the sites like guru.com are set up kind of like a FaceBook. You have a profile and you can locate others by keywords indicating what kind of job they;re prepared to so. So … let’s say you want a series of 6 articles written and want to outsource. You can go to the freelance page, enter “article writing” or “authors”, or “ghost writing” in the search terms, and you get all the profiles of folks willing to do that kind of work. They will range from novices to very experienced and costs running the gamut as well.

My advice, when looking for freelancers, is to stick to someone who can show you some sample of work and has at least a couple of good testimonials. I’d also stay away from the very experienced and expensive folks … why break your budget?

2) Internet Marketing Consulting and Services Firms

Now this is where most folks think that we’re talking out of their financial reach, but you might be surprised. A Good Internet marketing consultation and services company will provide most if not all of the services you need to create websites, generate traffic, and some will even provide in-depth training and mentoring so you can learn to take on many of the jobs yourself in a structured and maximized way.

Now, I’m not going to pussy-foot around this subject. I’m going to get right to the meat of things here. As far as these kinds of companies go, there is only one I recommend … MINE!

OK … cheap joke time is over … cheap plug time is just beginning.

ONLINE TECHNIQUES is a company I’ve just formed with a few associates, and we are providing website design and setup services, traffic generation services, complete content creation services … as well as hosting and autoresponder solutions, web conferencing solutions … and Personal, one-on-one mentoring programs … all designed specifically to fit your particular business and your particular budget.

If you’ve been studying traffic generation and are coming to grips with the fact that you might not have the time to do content distribution in the way it should be done … if you’re ok with distribution, but you think you’re a flop at writing articles that are keyword rich and niche targeted … or you’re simply tired of holding house parties or hotel meeting for your business and would rather hold some in an online conference room … Online Techniques can help!

Now, I’m inviting you to have a look at our new website. You’ll find a fun and informative movie over there that will explain what we do and our philosophy.

CLICK HERE for ONLINE TECHNIQUES

What you WON’T find there are “traffic packages” or “cookie cutter” programs of any kind. At Online Techniques we don’t believe you can cram every business into a few programs you’ve designed. What we offer is a simple consultation where we will speak with you personally, assess your online situation and what might be lacking … and then we will submit a Proposal to you if we feel our services might help. AND … we do that much for FREE.

So … there’s no charge … and no risk at all … in contacting us to at least discuss your situation. Why not visit the website, watch the move, and fill in the form requesting personal contact. Let’s put our heads together, and see if there isn’t some way we might be able to help you grow and expand your presence online.

CLICK HERE for ONLINE TECHNIQUES

OK! Now the self-serving plug time is over as well.

There are the three ways you can approach your content distribution to generate traffic to your website. One I recommend you AVOID, and two I heartily recommend. I hope you’ve found this post useful.

The next post in this series will appear in a couple of days here. In that post I’ll actually review my favorite content distribution software, TRAFFIC MAGNET.

Until then … Have A GREAT Day!

Steve Gaghagen
Internet Marketing Expert and Trainer

Online Techniques

Big Bear Lake, California
mailto:steve@stevegaghagen.com

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