Article writing and distributing articles is still the best way to increase the web site traffic and search engine ranking for just about any web site. Spend anytime on internet marketing forums though and you will find no shortage of gurus telling you that duplicate content has killed article marketing dead.

Let's get one thing straight - duplicate content should be a central plank of your article marketing strategy.

Stop. Shock, horror. An article extolling duplicate content - off with his head.

To put a couple of other matters into context - I have no patience for the duplicate content generated by the myriad of auto site generators, article spinners or site scraper software. The sooner that sort of content is removed from the internet the better.

Private label rights (PLR) articles have a place in providing useful web site content but have no place in an article marketing strategy.

To see how duplicate content should be used to turbo boost your article marketing an example is in order.

The techniques used in goal setting are very simple and almost universally applicable. So I write an article called something like "Goal Setting - 5 Techniques That Everyone Should Know". It's a good article - fresh, original and packed with good, solid techniques and information.

And it bombs. Very few web sites take it as content. Very little web traffic is generated.

What has gone wrong?

There are quite a few reasons. The headline is hardly a benefit laden 'must read' for one. But that's not the biggest issue. The big problem is that while goal setting may be a universal problem all of us think of ourselves as individuals. Our problems are unique. Anyone who doesn't understand 'my' problem can't possible be able to help me.

So if you want your article to be read you have to show that you understand 'my' problem and tell me how your solution solves 'my unique problem'.

Goal setting is simple and based on a few universal principals. So wholesale changes to the body of the article are not required. What are needed are changes to make it appeal to specific target audiences.

For instance you could change the title to "Goal Setting: 5 Techniques Proven to Transform the Live of Busy Teachers", or "Goal Setting: 5 Techniques Proven to Transform the Live of Busy students". Or auto mechanics, accountants, solicitors, chiropractors,...

There really is no end to the possibilities for making this article call out more to specific target markets.

Simply changing the title/headline alone won't do the trick on its own. You would also need to change the opening paragraphs a little too. How about something like:

"As a busy teacher you don't need me to tell you how tough it can be to balance the competing demands of students, parents, colleagues, administration and the curriculum. Every day there are fresh demands, new legislation, new subjects to learn. It is a never ending treadmill. Goal Setting has been proven to transform the lives of teachers just like you..."

That becomes:

"As a busy auto mechanic you don't need me to tell you how tough it can be to balance the competing demands of customers, colleagues, vehicle manufacturers and government red tape. Every day there are fresh demands, new legislation, new subjects to learn. It is a never ending treadmill. Goal Setting has been proven to transform the lives of auto mechanics just like you..."

You get the idea. The interesting thing is that for a 600 word article you will have only changed 20 or 30 words at most. If the search engine gurus are to be believed that will mean all of your articles will get rejected by the duplicate filter monster. Yet this is simply good marketing practice.

Every marketer has done exactly this since marketing began. You tailor your basic message or offering to appeal to specific niche markets. Every salesman does it pretty unconsciously.

Give it a try. I guarantee that you will get each article on many more web sites and gather much more traffic than you would with the original article. It doesn't take long to do either.

All we need is a little common sense among the article directories.