How to establish a powerful personal branding online by Article Marketing?

One of the many challenges to achieve respectable google ranking is in the area of backlinks to your blog. While the idea of having links exchanged is good, the quality of the incoming sites comes into play as far as Google is concerned.

If you are someone who is a thought leader or influencer in your domain, article submission to good article repository will make you more credible and enhance your online visibility.

In my previous post, I share about a list of 20 article submission sites with good page and Alexa ranking :

1. EzineArticles -The big daddy of article directories. If you could only choose one place to submit your articles, this would be a good choice. PR6
2. Submit Your Article -This started as an article submission service, but has also turned into a high-quality article directory over the years. PR4
3. Suite101 – Another monstrous article site. PR7
4. Helium – An up-to-date article site. PR6
5. ArticleDashboard -Another staple in article directories. PR5
6. ArticleBase -This article directory has grown to a PR6 with lots of content and praise from article syndication experts.
7. GoArticles -This one claims to be the largest, but I’m pretty sure #1, #3, and #4 give it a run for it’s money. PR4
8. WebProNews -You have to be selected to get into this one but it’s well worth the trouble. Old and respected. PR6
9. SearchWarp -Free to submit and serves a lot of articles. PR5
10. Buzzle -A strong article directory. PR6
11. Isnare -Also a submission service, iSnare is another strong article directory at PR6.
12. American Chronicle -Actually part of a network of article sites. PR6
13. ArticleCity -Pretty much your standard article directory. PR5
14. IdeaMarketers -A giant, this is much more than a simple article directory. It is a newsletter builder and management system as well as a “home base” for authors. PR5
15. Site Reference -This is a content portal with article submission built-in. PR5
16. Article Alley -A standard article directory. PR5
17. TheWhir -Another strong article site. PR6
18. Articles Factory -Mid-level article site. PR4
19. SelfGrowth -Won’t find this one in auto-submission software. Must become an “expert” first to then get access to submit articles. PR6
20. Amazines -Pretty standard. Nothing fancy here. PR3
21. Article Snatch – It’s pretty popular, but is a “no-follow” directory. PR5

I am happy to share that I have so far tried 3 of the above.

* Ezinearticles.com - http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Chow
* Selfgrowth.com - http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/andrew_chow
* Evancarmichael.com - http://www.evancarmichael.com/Business-Coach/6472/summary.php

Over the next weeks I will try my hands on the top 5 article directories to test out the referrals from these backlinks. Based on the 80/20 rule, since the top 5 sites command a lion's share of the market, it is wise to devote your limited resources and time on them..

Remember to give plenty of invite to other like minded business professionals who are or aspire to be a thought leader in their industry. Every one you refer to these sites will help you to have a back link to your site.

Like in everything else, you need time to see the fruits and results.

My motto in article marketing is - Streamline your content, Share your knowledge, Simplify your conversation, Sell your Expertise, Support your community.

1. Streamline Your Content. My forte is in Brand Communications, Social Media Strategy, Public Relations, Personal Branding and Creativity. I make sure I choose sites which can position myself best in respective domains.

2. Share Your Knowledge. My own experience is the best user-generated content I can put up to enrich accelerated learning among my followers and peers. Knowledge is everywhere, why not present them your own way to establish yourself as a though leader?

3. Simplify Your Conversation. Gone are the days where we engage in length and senseless discussion on forums. Use Twitter and learn to comment within 140 characters. We need to think, speak and listen "140" in social media age.

4. Sell Your Expertise. 80% of our forte would be knowledge and 20% would be our expertise. Make others want your expertise after you have shared your knowledge. Customize the knowledge to their problem with unique solution is always a sure way to sell.

5. Support Your Community. Be available in as many places as you can initially. You will not know where and who your potential customers will come from. Create a portal of sort to gather them in one place so that you can do targeted customer engagement in the future. A lot of marketers have no problem generating interest, but sustaining interest is another ball game altogether.