At one time article marketing was limited to Internet marketers writing articles for the sole purpose of promoting their websites. If a marketer had a website about dog products that marketer would write articles about dogs and various things about dogs, and submit them to the “pets” category of article directories. If the marketer wanted to promote a site about making money online, he or she would write articles about making money online and submit it to the appropriate category in article directories. If the marketer had a website about “widgets” he would write articles about “widgets” and submit them to the directories. Writing articles for these types of article directories is writing done almost solely for the sake of publicity. People will know that you write about a certain subject because you have knowledge about that subject and may even seek out your expertise on the subject that you write about.
There is a new trend to article marketing today. It still takes into account getting traffic to a website but also more it is for the purpose of the article writer getting paid. In some cases the articles that a writer develops for these sites are not necessarily related to the niche of the writer’s websites. It is important when submitting to the directories that you establish a sense of credibility. The more credible that your article seems the more articles may get accepted.
The purpose of writing for article directories that pay you is first to make money by selling one’s writing. You do not necessarily have to be them most proficient in your writing capabilities in order to write for these type of article directories. Traffic to your website is secondary to how much traffic your content will bring to this article or media directory.
Of course, if your articles are well written, and provide valuable content, then your readers will scour the directory, and the Internet to search out more of your articles, and more information about you.
Both types of article directories have their place in the world of media. The ones that primarily serve as conduits to marketers wanting to get traffic to their websites will remain for some time to come. They will remain a valuable asset to both the contributing writers and the people who visit these sites looking for content to reprint in their ezines and websites.
The more recent get paid for article directories just put a new face on article marketing. With the growing need for more specialized content these new sources will continue to need writers for some time to come. I would encourage you as a potential article marketer to work with both kinds of directories.