Dumb questions about submitting articles strictly for backlinks

[Matt Ward]

Let's say I want to submit articles to directories simply for backlinks.

Does it make any sense to write and submit articles on a certain subject but link to a completely different niche/website in your resource box? Say, an article about weight loss but your resource box has a link with the anchor text "buy shoes" to your buy shoes website. Would it still count for the same amount of link juice, or would it not because the content of the page is not relevant to the linked page?

I ask this because if I'm getting burnt out on writing articles about my specific niche, I can probably hammer out an article on something I enjoy in 1/4 of the time, but it wouldn't have anything to do with my niche.

[TheCG]

If all it is for is backlinks, it probably wouldn't make any difference but that seems like a real waste of time as you could be getting some kind of sales or leads through those links.

I would at least try to find a product from the subject matter and link for some kind of commission on a possible sale.

[howinfo]

I have notice that also in our article directory, some people do have totally irrelevant links in their resource box. Yes you do get backlinks but you wont certainly get any traffic form the article that way.

It would be better to have your article relevant to your niche and your author resource box links, so if your article gets syndicated to lot of relevant websites and blogs then you can also expect some quality traffic to your site and you have spent your time more usefully.

[good2go4]

What you could do, using your "shoes" and weight loss example is to put a comment in your resource box along the lines of "You can read the rest of this [weight loss] article here or find out more about my other passion at [shoe site] " - I have not tried it and I don't know if it would work, but who knows

Lisa