Hi Melissa,
Yes, quality of your own site - unique content and good layout and SEO are very important.
But what do you mean, article marketing is dead?

Could you give us some more information or tell us where exactly to find it?
I think it is very unlikely to be the case. Actually, what you should do is write TWO versions (maybe more) of the SAME article, one for your site or your blog, and then another, using different syntax and vocabulary, to submit to article sites.
Posting your articles on good article sites such as ezinearticles.com will definitely increase your traffic.
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