You’re an author. Which means you certainly know how to write! Here’s a new way to put your writing skills to good use in increasing your website traffic.
Have you heard about article syndication? In short, it refers to writing an article and then giving up all rights to it. Essentially, you would post this article of yours on a syndication website, and just about anyone would be able to pick it up and post it on their website.
Sounds scary, right? Well, if everyone followed the rules (and face it, not everyone does), then it would be a no-brainer. The two simple rules are this:
- The website reprinting your article would not be allowed to change a thing — not even a word
- The article would HAVE to include the credit, bio, and link to your website that you provide
Are there potential problems with doing this? Absolutely! But the benefits can far outweigh the risks.
Here’s what authors need to know about taking advantage of article syndication:
- Write about what you know. If your book was about relationships, write an article about relationships. If you wrote a novel, then write an article about becoming a published writer. As long as you have some sort of expertise in what you’re writing about, your articles will be valued.
- Submit your article to the top syndication sites. Check out this list of the top 13 syndication websites. Submit it to each of these and it’s likely to be picked up by at least a few sources.
- Mention your website and book when appropriate. Reference them in the body of the article, as sources of information or places to learn more. And make sure to include an active link to your website and/or to buy your book in the bio at the end of the article. After all, that’s the point of doing it, right?
- It really works! Research shows that article submission can increase traffic to your website even more than pay-per-click campaigns. To quote Anthony Harris, the author of article in Site Pro News which outlines this research: “Article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords because you establish a relationship and build trust with your reader. You are obviously the expert. After all, you wrote the article. And the webmaster or ezine publisher wouldn’t have published the article if they didn’t think you knew what you were talking about, right?”
Sure, there are potential downsides to writing an article for syndication: you put in the time and there’s no guaranteed result, someone might “break the rules” and edit your article in an inappropriate manner, you don’t own exclusive rights to the piece, etc…
But article syndication is free — and advertising is not — so give it a shot and see if it boosts your site traffic and book sales.