Screw my website and just go with EzineArticles...

[BillWynne]

What do you think?

I have heard of people not having a website and instead just writing a good article for EzineArticles to rank for a keyword. Then build backlinks to that one page on Ezine and use the two links in the resource box to drive traffic to an affiliate site for a monetary conversion or to build a list.

The idea is that ranking for a keyword will be easier for Ezine because of their standing with Google.

Wanted to know if anyone has tried this and what were the results.

[Chris G]

Alot of IM's do this. Alot of IM's would rather build up their list, then market certain products to their list. That way you already have potential buyers for as long as they are on your list. Just my 2 cents.

[InitialEffort]

Also, if EZ or whatever article place decides to pull one of your articles because someone calls it "spam" do you really want to have your whole account at risk. What if they say ok, this one article is spam. Goodbye author account and your other 50 articles that provide your regular income go bye bye. Just something to consider.

[BillWynne]

Originally Posted by InitialEffort

Also, if EZ or whatever article place decides to pull one of your articles because someone calls it "spam" do you really want to have your whole account at risk. What if they say ok, this one article is spam. Goodbye author account and your other 50 articles that provide your regular income go bye bye. Just something to consider.

That really is an excellent point.
I lost some productive OP sites from a similar principle. The more control you have the safer you will be in the long haul.

[InitialEffort]

I think these other sites can make a good supplement to your main website, but I learned my lesson once. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I did that with one affiliate program and one day they randomly dropped all of their affiliates.

[BillWynne]

Originally Posted by InitialEffort

I think these other sites can make a good supplement to your main website, but I learned my lesson once. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I did that with one affiliate program and one day they randomly dropped all of their affiliates.

I have been dropped twice I think. That is another great point.
Keep your links in house and that way you can change links on page or redirects to keep your traffic flowing to you.

Details that an inexperienced marketer will miss just for being green.

[jazbo]

Hmm, I like making and designing sites and I like helping my visitors and building a relationship. For me marticling (can I copyright that?) is utterly utterly dull, does not build a list or bring good traffic like direct SERP traffic.

[loginname]

I suppose you cannot have a link in the resource box to an affiliate site. Atleast I tryed but that article wasn't approved by Ezine One workaround that I know about is place a link to a site in your resource box, and from this site have link to the affiliate site

[thebitbotdotcom]

If nothing else, submit the articles for their SEO value.

[2d0k]

Originally Posted by loginname

I suppose you cannot have a link in the resource box to an affiliate site. Atleast I tryed but that article wasn't approved by Ezine One workaround that I know about is place a link to a site in your resource box, and from this site have link to the affiliate site

You can do that with a top-level domain site you that you own. You cannot link to an "http://www.site.com/affiliate-page" from your resource box.. However, you can "redirect" from a top-level domain site (ex. "http://www.site.com").

Please, read EZA's Terms of Service again.

[DireStraits]

Do people make money doing "bum marketing"? Undeniably.

Would they likely make a whole lot more money, and would that income be "safer", if they were building up their own website? Absolutely.

The bottom line is that there aren't many instances--bar you being absolutely 110%, stone-cold broke and unable to afford any sort of outlay, no matter how small--that using this method is the best (or even a really good, or logical) approach.

Domains cost ~$10 from Namecheap and web hosting can be had for like a dollar per month. Why would you forgo the opportunity to build a real business with the effort you expend writing your articles and submitting them to EZA?

[biggame5]

Why would you want to mess with ezine when they are so strict on things now?

[affiliated survivor]

I always would prefer my own website. First not everbody visiting your EZA article will click on your link. So with EZA you always will lose a large percentage of the visitors. Your own website will take some time to rank but in the end you will be off much better. You als can use your site to link to other sites etc. and build up something bigger in time.

[Luke McCormack]

I have found that whilst article directories have a good standing in the eyes of google, traffic is leached from the site by the google adsense ads thus lessening eyeballs on your resource box.

Regards

Nigel

[brettb]

It's a good idea, but it works better with HubPages. On HubPages you at least get the AdSense revenue.

Most people use Web 2.0 sites for backlinks, fewer people link TO their eZines and Hubs.

The downside is that HubPages in particular is getting uppity about excessive backlinking to their site.

[BillWynne]

Some really great points have been made here and a thank you to each of you.
I have never tried this but wondered if it was worth taking the time to test.
It appears that putting the time into my personal sites is the way to go and the best use of my time.

Cheers