Other Takeaways from This Article Marketing Experiment

Duplicate Content Penalty: If you don't know what this is, do a Google search, I have to say I haven't seen any negative effects. I think this may be because I only posted one article to two directories at most.

You should know that some internet marketing experts rail against even this, saying that all content should be unique. As I have a cache of about 600 articles at AssociatedContent, I just pulled articles from there to post to directories. Inform yourself and make the decision you feel most comfortable with regarding this.

Posting Daily Works: Although I write and distribute content via my blog and AssociatedContent (AC), submitting to article directories gets it to a wider audience.  I see this in the number of visitors to my site, the number of email queries I've received and even a small uptick in comments on my blog, which it has never gotten a lot of.

How I Plan to Fine-Tune My Article Marketing Moving Forward

Continue Regular Posting: I will post at least three times a week to article directories. The passive income from ebooks sales really adds up. At this rate, inside of a year I'll be able to cut back on client projects by least 50%. This will allow me to put more time into my own projects (ie, ebooks).

Reread My Article Marketing Ebook: As many of you know, I wrote an article marketing ebook on an experiment I did in late 2006. I experienced great results then as well, which really makes me wonder why I ever got away from article marketing. Put it down to a time crunch (it's time consuming to produce content and keep up with client projects).

I'm going to re-read the book this weekend to refresh those findings in my mind. FYI, this ebook is free if you subscribe.

Fresh Content: I'm going to try to write and distribute one unique article a week to article directories. Although I haven't experienced any dire duplicate content penalties, my content shows up on other sites  (eg, AC, IdeaMarketers, Amazines, etc.) before it does my own.

I guess this is some form of penalty in and of itself. Unique content should help with this. This content will come from longer posts/tutorials that I plan to start doing for my site/blog, which brings me to the upcoming changes at Inkwell Editorial.

Upcoming Changes at Inkwell Editorial that Affect You

As an aside, one of the changes I have in store for the site after the redesign (which is in progress right now) is longer, tutorial-like posts. The reason I decided to start doiong this is that I think the web is maturing to a point where people no longer want skimmable content.

Especially when readers come to a blog like mine that touts, "How to Start a Successful Freealnce Writing Career". You can find so much information on this subject on the web. A lot of it is regurgitated content that offers no real value.

I've always been longwinded as a writer, so I've decided to turn this into an asset. When I dispense information (write articles), I try to take the reader by the hand and walk them trhough a problem to a solution. This can rarely be done in 300, 400, or even 500 words. My posts tend to be in the 600-1,000 word range. Tuesday's post was close to 2,000 words. That's why I dubbed it a "tutorial."

My goal with longer post is not to indulge my long-windedness (is that a word?), but to make the impression that if you want to know how to start a freelance writing career, this is the first site you should visit. Please pass this along. This has always been my purpose, but it is now my mantra, the very foundation of why the site exists. 

I hope you will join me in this quest by becoming involved. Send in your questions, feedback, experiences, problems and alliances [info at InkwellEditorial.com]. To help the entire freelance writing community, it helps to have as many diverse experiences as possible.