Twice today I received invitations from article directory
owners to join their new sites. In many ways I am flattered, but in other ways
I almost want to mention that they have their work cut out for them. As an
author of several hundred articles online [I expect to add between one and two
hundred per month for the foreseeable future], I have some recommendations for
article directory managers. If you are interested in learning what they are,
please read on.
Benchmark Ezine Articles – My primary site for
submitting articles is with EzineArticles.com. Why? Volume, service, article
penetration, search engine optimization, blog, forum, email updates, site
navigation, cutting edge technology, to name some features. This site is one
that is highly active where authors know the manager, Christopher Knight, and
hear from him regularly. You get the feeling that Ezine Articles is going
places...and fast!
Ask Permission First – Some of my articles have
appeared elsewhere, without my permission. I guess having over 400 articles
online gives me extra special attention, perhaps more than someone who has 40
articles. Still, I must say that one web director who took my articles has
apparently given up the practice and without notification to his authors. Let’s
just say I won’t waste my time with someone who doesn’t at least care enough to
respond to my emails!
Distinguish Yourself from The Pack – Thanks to new
article software program that hit the market over the summer, lots of folks are
snapping up this easy to use program and starting their own directories.
Competition is a good thing, but a shakeout will occur. If you want
someone to take interest in your site, to direct their clients to you, and keep
them interested, your site shouldn’t even look like any of the rest of them. I
am not saying you shouldn’t use the new software, but please take it to the
next level and make it work to the max.
Build Up Page Rank
– Heck, my own site pulls down a page rank of 6. I want you to match my site’s
strength or at least come close. Some of the newer sites are not yet ranked and
little or nothing has been indexed by Google. BTW, Google is it for me.
MSN and Yahoo are alright, but Google rocks. After these three...nada!
Details, Details
- The big picture of getting articles out there is great, but I like to see
some attention paid to the fine details too. Ezine Articles has not one, but three
resource boxes for authors to select from each of which contains
information already keyed in by the authors. I know not of one other directory
that has even one. Hmmm...
Where Are You
Going? - Where is your article directory going? Do you have RSS feeds,
submission agreements with other sites, unique features that are regularly
being rolled out, etc? A blog where we hear from you, the manager, is highly
useful.
There are other areas I am sure that I haven’t covered. I am
not singling any directory out and I do wish you the best in your endeavour.
Perhaps as your site grows, I’ll sign up, but for now, I am very busy writing
articles and submitting to just a few select sites, like Ezine Articles. Thank
you for allowing me to vent!
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