Digital SWAG or Subtle Ways Articles Generate Income occurs when an article or collection of articles is used to induce a visitor to stop, and better yet, shop. One of the most common examples of digital swag is what readers find in article directories. The article itself can be informational, entertaining, and have economic benefits that are shared between writer, reader and publisher.



“A promotional item is merchandise given away free of charge to the public in an effort to promote a business or increase interest in, or sales of, a product or service. Often distributed at trade shows, used in direct mail and as part of guerilla marketing campaigns, these items are also referred to by the slang term “swag”.” [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promotional_item]

Readers, more often than not, can find helpful tips and techniques relevant to their search for information in the content and links that appear in the article or author's resource box. Alternatively, a popular argument is that useless content and links to questionable products are forms of spam and scam.

Overall, the ideal of relevant content and genuine offers far outweigh the small percentage of flim-flam con artists. After all, they exist in every walk of society and there is not a day that goes by without some media coverage of the dirty rotten scoundrels that get caught.

While some may wonder about the obvious persistence of spammers, scammers and malicious hackers that don't get caught, I would argue they are in a minority. The majority report is that the quantity of good and pertinent information is still a majority and accessible. Content is getting better with internet marketers that set out to do something constructive like the Alliance to Refine Content at h4h.biz.

Nevertheless, since it is the benefits we are all after, lets look a bit closer at what authors and publishers can get out of digital swag. For example, by following the link in the resource or credit at the end of this article you can jump to my site where I am developing my own swag and digital products and services. If you choose to click the link, I get the benefit of you as a new visitor and thus increase the traffic to my site.

Once at the site you will either opt for more information about what my product line is, or click away. In the first case, it may lead to a sale. Otherwise, you click away by selecting a Google Adwords link, some other contextual ad, or just exit. Out of your visit I have the opportunity to benefit from at least 3 out of 5 possibilities and you the benefit of the information you're seeking.

Authors are the highest order of publisher because they create original new products to release into the marketplace. Article directories usually stand next in line to benefit from an author's submission. Publishers that operate article directories get the same benefits as authors plus the added benefit of traffic magnified by the quality and quantity of their wares and popularity.

Next in line in terms of publishing scale are webmasters or site owners that scour the directories for content relevant to their niche. At this point, the chain of distribution is complicated by two competing forms of demand. The first is for new subject material from authors and the second is “recycled” from older articles by rewriting manually or using software. The software is of course a more popular choice for obvious reasons like the capacity for production and the ease of use.

Unfortunately, this is a grey zone where article subjects attain a rank of dubious quality due to homogeneity created by machine intelligence as opposed to a subject refined by human consciousness. This archetypal conflict between man and machine brings new generations of readers to the brink of education, or lack thereof, by artificial intelligence – ergo the Alliance to Refine Content.

Economically, I am not against the use of software manipulation of language for profit so long as there remain intelligent readers that have the courage to stand up and confront the idea, whether organic or synthetic, and say that's a load of crap or I can improve that! Philosophically and socially, we are at a crossroads, to choose between conceptual decline accepting machine produced artificial constructs of same old, same old, ideas, or enlightenment in the engineering of a more sophisticated awareness in the duality of co-existence with machines.

Articles are meant to be read so obviously duplication and distribution are primary objectives. The use of RSS to feed site content is a good example of duplication and distribution as long as credit is given where due. The idea of spam in blogs or splogging is identified by content out of relevance, without credit to the author, or no credit at all.

Overall, digital swag serves a useful purpose in content at large, However, the more thought that is original that finds its way into the internet foray is important. Get yourself a blog and get to it. If you want to get paid for blogging as well then stop by my site.