What’s Working Right Now, And What’s Not… (Is Article Marketing Dead?)

Earlier today someone said to me, “I heard Article Marketing is dead.” I just shook my head. I’m not sure who started this “method death” talk, but really – enough already.

What they really mean when they say something like that is that “Article Spamming is Dead”. (Replace “Article” with any other word you could put in front of Marketing).

The next thing we’ll hear is that Facebook Marketing is dead. Which is when we’ll know that Facebook Spamming is dead (finally!).

See the floppy disk in the image above? Now THAT’s dead. Does that mean that storing and sharing data is dead? Noooo… (duh)

Things change fast with online marketing & new media, and with technology in general. But when I hear people say “X is dead” I know immediately that they are confused about how you define an online business…

The Business Is Not In The Method

A successful online business is never dependent on a marketing method.

A marketing method is not a business model.

Any given method is simply a means of reaching your target market, or making it easier for them to find you. Your business should stand on it’s own regardless of the methods you use to achieve that goal.

Marketing is not about articles or facebook or adwords or squeeze pages even. It’s about serving your market, wherever they happen to be online. If they are doing Google searches, you need to meet them where they are – and be at the top of their search results. If they are on Facebook, you need to be there where they can find you – and where you can join in on their discussions.

If your target market is on MySpace then you.need.to.be.there.

I’ve said this a number of times already, but there is a big difference between starting a successful online business and “making money online”. There are many ways to make a quick buck on the internet.

Over the years there have been some great methods where you could ride the wave, so to speak, and pocket a nice profit. Temporarily.

But a wave, or a method, is not something you bank on or quit your day job over – or use to create and sustain your ideal lifestyle. For that, you need to start a profitable business with long-term profit potential.

So if Article Marketing IS your business, you may have some serious foundational work to do. But if Article Marketing is just one of the ways you reach your target market, you’re good to go.

Again, replace with word Article with any other in the paragraph above.

Best,

p.s. I just heard that “Spamming Blog Comments is Dead”. Yay!
(pass it on, lol)

Category: Internet Marketing