As an article marketing guy, I bet you can guess my answer.

The answer is that you should have links everywhere your potential clients are looking to find you.

Very few link directories offer any real value to you.

Many article directories fall into the same trap.

The deal is that for your link to be worthwhile to you, it must meet one of two criteria:

1. It must be on a page where people actually go to find stuff.

2. It must be on a page that Google or the other search engines value as a reliable source of information.

If no humans will see your link and the search engines ignore that link, then your effort will have been wasted.

So, you will want to get your link on a page that someone will see or the search engines will value.

Article marketing when done correctly helps you achieve this, but you will find little value from most of the article directories.

Like I said, article directories must either be fully archived by the search engines, or people must find your article in the directory.

A lot of article directories are plagued by the fact that the only people using them are people submitting articles.

So it is important to try to give your articles an audience outside of the article directory, where your potential clients actually go to pick up information.

This is why quality content is most useful in article marketing. Sure, the cheap article spinners can give you a few links, but if those links do not meet the two criteria of human visitors or search engine recognition, then those links are worthless to you.

Pure link counts only serve to tease your ego. I don’t consider an article valuable until it can put money in my pocket.

So I focus on getting my articles to publishers who will use the content – preferably publishers that have lots of loyal visitors and possibly even serious recognition from the search engines.

If the article delivers either humans or search engines, then your article will have paid for its creation. If the article delivers neither, you will have wasted your money, time and efforts.

So lead with great content, and seek publication on websites that cater to your target audience, especially when some of those websites are authority websites that your target audience appreciates and respects.

Links is one thing, but links that put money in your pocket should always be the goal.

Previously published here.

…

Bill Platt has been providing article marketing services since 2001, including article ghost writing and article distribution services, through his website at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/ You can download Bill’s free ebook titled, “Article Marketing: Beyond the Basics” on his blog. You can also listen to Article Marketing Tips and Tutorials at: http://ArticleMarketingConceptsRadio.com/

Read more articles written by Bill Platt