With the popularity of weblogs, or blogs, these days, many webmasters are beginning to wonder if article writing has become a thing of the past. Used to be, for promotion purposes webmasters would deposit articles with links into web directories. This was done in the hope that the article would be displayed on many different websites with links leading back to their own. For the most part, this worked and it worked well for building backward links and higher ranking in search engines. Is it still the way to go for promoting a website? The answer is--it depends.

The main difference is the way people view articles and blogs. For most, an article is well written, encompassing a beginning, middle and end. All the needed information is included within the body of the article. The reader knows going in that by the time he finishes reading, he will be more informed on the subject than he was before he began reading. Links included in the article, or at the end, will lead him to further information or to the product being endorsed. This, in theory, leads to sales of services or products.

By depositing the articles in numerous article directories, other webmasters looking for content for their own websites pick up the articles and post them on their own space. This, in turn, creates backward links to the article authors own website where the product or service can be purchased. These backward links help to create popularity in search engines making a specified product or service even easier to find.

Blogs, on the other hand, are more informal. Each entry is generally shorter than article length and rarely offer complete information. Readers expect blogs to be updated regularly and they don’t expect to find long posts or complete information in a single post. Yet, blogs are becoming extremely popular and many webmasters are looking at them as a new way of increasing site popularity and sales.

So which is better? It depends on what you are trying to say and who your target audience is. Can you say everything you want to say in a brief, conversational manner? Can you update the blog often? Can you get your link into more blogs than just your own? And are those blogs popular? If so, then blogging can be the best way to go.

Or, do you want to give your reader more info before they click on your site link? Are you trying to sell your product or service before they click? If this is the case, articles work best. An article may be more difficult to write than a blog post, but once written it can be placed in many different directories with the knowledge that it will get a lot of exposure. Articles, if well written, will be picked up and posted on websites, thus increasing the traffic and the links back to your own site.

Blogging is wonderful and a quick way to get your message out, but like article writing, the more blogs a webmaster has his site’s presence in, the more they will pay out traffic. A single blog alone will generally not live up to expectations unless it is wildly popular and has the readership to make it pay off. Which can mean, even more promotion on the part of the webmaster.

The bottom line is simple; while blogging may be the next, great, cyberspace advertising thing, article writing is not and never will be dead. The web is filled with all types of readers—those that like their information in small nuggets and those that want to make a truly informed choice. Possibly the best choice for webmasters is to do a combination of both. Blog where it best suits your purposes and still put those articles out there. In this way, all the bases are covered. By watching your stats and tracking your customers, it will be easy to discern which method works best for your business.

Dal Hayer writes featured articles for http://www.thearticleblogs.com/

Article Source: http://www.thearticleblogs.com

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