The concept of marketing your website or product through articles is a classic one. It's been around for years. So does that mean that it is an old and outdated method and ought to be excluded from your Internet marketing campaign?

Not in the least.

If you research the subject on the Internet, you are likely to discover a number of dissenting opinions on the matter. Some of them are going to say that they are, in fact, out dated and that the links they provide aren't valuable enough to justify the effort. Others will swear by the system and claim that not only is article marketing a good thing to include in an Internet marketing campaign, but the best thing. Of course, many of these people will then offer to sell you the knowledge to make Internet marketing miracles.

The truth probably resides somewhere between these two extremes.

Is article marketing still a valid practice?

Definitely.

Is article marketing alone going to make you a fortune on the Internet?

Probably not.

As an SEO practice, is it worthwhile?

Yes. And this is the point we are going to dwell on for a while.

SEO has been evolving steadily since it was first recognized as an actual industry and necessity. Some practices have come and others go. Some are outright banned. People are always on the look out for the newest trick or the previously undiscovered loophole. This may or may not work, and this may or may not even be ethical. But through it all there are some practices that you can rely on because they provide a foundation for other practices.

Article marketing is one of those foundational activities. The reason you can be sure of this is because the principles behind it are as valid in off-line marketing as they are in Internet marketing.

Whether you are writing an article for a newspaper or for distribution in article databases, you are trying to accomplish the same things. One: establish yourself as an authority in your industry or field. Two: provide potential clients with useful information that they will appreciate even if it's only in some small way. And three: give them the means to get in touch with you or find you.

Did the practice get diluted once it hit the Internet? Most definitely. Did that cause the search engines to devalue those links because of it? A bit.

Enough to warrant giving up the practice?

Absolutely not.

The proponents of article marketing would tell you that articles generate buzz about your site or product. They say that it will be picked up by lots of other sites in need of good content. This will, they say, create countless new contacts and generate leads.

Well... sort of. But it's probably not as efficient as all the guys selling their special systems would have you believe. But, at it's core, it does do what they claim. At least to some extent. (After all, you're reading this, aren't you?) And while the links are supposedly not as valuable as others, they are still valid and valuable.

Recently there's been a lot of talk about how a certain search engine adjusted its algorithm in such a way that caused a lot of large websites to loose their previous ranks. The reason for that was because of their links that they paid for. The search engine prefers natural links, which articles can develop for you. Heavily weighted links? No. Links that will stand the test of time? Yup.

Like many things in SEO and Internet marketing, it will take time and effort to achieve. But, when it comes right down to it, most things that are worthwhile always do.