Tags for this post: Article Distribution Service Article Submission Service article submission site

Smart marketing means tracking results. Now you can easily integrate Google Analytics into your article distribution efforts. This kind of data can be collected using the powerful “click tracking” features of Google Analytics.

Using an article submission or distribution service is the smart way to get your content out there and build backlinks. It’s a proven method to boost your SERPS and build exposure. But as any article marketer knows too well, some articles do great and others just don’t. Use this tracking technology to get a better handle for which articles are getting the most traffic.

Track Clicks in Each Article Your Distribute

So you’ve written a terrific article and you’re ready to post it to your article submission service. If you have a feature-rich distribution service, you’ll get comprehensive distribution and exposure reports so you can see where it went, and how much traction it’s getting in the search engines. That’s a great start.

To really understand what articles do the most work, you want to know how many readers actually click through that article and onto your site. For that, you’ll need to add a tracking link to your resource box. Fortunately this is easy and free, thanks to the URL Builder from Google Analytics. The process is easy:

1. Enter the landing page URL.
2. Fill out the campaign source info fields. These are up to you to decide; make it easy to understand.
3. Hit the button to generate your customized link. That’s it. Once a reader clicks on that link it will be logged in Google Analytics and you’ll quickly see how each article is performing.

Add Links to Emails, Blogs Posts, Etc.

The same process will help you track any of your outbound email campaigns, blogs, press releases, etc. As long as you add a new custom link for each, you’ll be able to track returns on every campaign.

Avoiding the Long Link

You’ll notice that the custom link is long, and includes a question mark and lots of other info. Many article distribution services and content publishers don’t allow question marks in links. It’s a common way for affiliate links to be formatted, and is often a flag for spam. Don’t worry, there’s a workaround.

Add a Redirect If You Like

To avoid problems with the customized link, simply add a redirect. For example, you can add a link to www.mysite/articletitle and simply redirect any traffic to that link on to the custom link you’ve created with the URL Builder. You get a nice short SEO friendly link in your resource box; Google Analytics gets the data it needs to track the clicks.

Article marketing has evolved along with web technology. Take advantage of this with the help of your article distribution service.

To your success,

Mike Lawson

Mike Lawson is a freelance consultant to internet marketers. His Professional Writing Service provides quality content for article marketing automation programs.

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