Using Google Knol Articles as Landing Pages?

by robdedgar

Posted: 13 years ago 9 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hello, I am using my Google Knol's articles as a landing page. I drive traffic to these landing pages by creating numerous Youtube videos with a link to the article. The majority of my affiliate marketing is geared towards Amazon products.

I was wondering if people would be interested in critiquing my work and offering suggestions?

My Youtube link is; ‪robdedgar's Channel‬&rlm; - YouTube

And one of my Google Knol Links; Rob Edgar - Knol: a unit of knowledge

Thanks for your assistance!

#articles #google #knol #landing #pages

RichardF 13 years ago

My only thought is: why aren't you driving the traffic to your own domain instead? In my opinion you're just setting yourself up for problems down the road, if/when Knol decides to shut down your pages.
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robdedgar 13 years ago

Because I assumed that article marketing with Google Knol would bring me more organic search results. Plus I don't pay any hosting fees with article marketing. If Google takes down my article or messes with it I will then determine if it is worth it to use web hosting for my domain.
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Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by robdedgar

Hello, I am using my Google Knol's articles as a landing page.

Please excuse my asking why, Rob ... but why?!

Whatever your click-through rate is from an article directory, the traffic you're losing is 100% minus your CTR%. I know people are reluctant to think of it in these terms, but whenever I see someone say something like "I have a 30% click-through rate from Knol/EZA" what I actually hear is "I'm losing 70% of my traffic at Knol/EZA". As someone making a living from article marketing, it's really difficult for me to see any upside at all to this. When someone finds one of your articles by putting one of its keywords into a search engine, wouldn't you rather have them all coming to your own site (even if it's just a one-page blog on free hosting) rather than all going to someone else's (where you'll inevitably lose the majority of the traffic)? :confused:

This is without even mentioning all the other potential longer-term difficulties of using someone else's site as your landing page: you're 100% dependent on their continuity, goodwill, terms of service, and so on and so forth.

Originally Posted by robdedgar

Because I assumed that article marketing with Google Knol would bring me more organic search results.

Why?!

Your work there is on non-context-relevant, PR-0 pages. Surely you can do better than this?

Originally Posted by robdedgar

I don't pay any hosting fees with article marketing.

What you're doing isn't "article marketing". It's "article directory marketing".

You won't pay any hosting fees if you have a simple blog/site at Weebly, Yola, Blinkweb or your own self-hosted Wordpress blog at byethost.com.

You're not "saving" any money on hosting, because perfectly reliable, professional self-hosting is available free of charge anyway.

Originally Posted by robdedgar

If Google takes down my article or messes with it I will then determine if it is worth it to use web hosting for my domain.

It's already "worth it", now, just for the freedom from worrying about "if Google takes down my article or messes with it" (and actually for a lot of other reasons, too). Why let yourself be dependent on them when you don't need to? If that happens, all your work will suddenly be wasted. As has happened to so many people here in the past.

You can buy a keyword-SEO'd domain-name at GoDaddy for $1 and that's all you need to spend ... surely you're willing to invest $1 to put the future of your business on a safe footing?
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- robdedgar 13 years ago
  
  For right now I figured I would test this method and see where it goes. I didn't realize I would be losing traffic to knol, I thought I would be gaining traffic.
  
  Thanks
  
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eklipz316 13 years ago

Completely agree with Alexa. If you're not willing to invest even a dime into your business, then it is almost guaranteed to fail.
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robdedgar 13 years ago

I plan on investing money in my business, I just wanted to make sure this method was a good investment first.
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- Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by robdedgar
  
  I didn't realize I would be losing traffic to knol
  
  Ok, I hear you, and am trying to be helpful, not to give you "a hard time".
  
  But look at it the other way round. Instead of thinking about your own CTR, think about the rest of the people. The "100% minus your CTR%". That's "your traffic" that you're losing, isn't it?
  
  Originally Posted by robdedgar
  
  I thought I would be gaining traffic.
  
  You're gaining traffic compared with what happens if you don't get out of bed at all, I suppose.
  
  But you're losing it compared with anything sensible.
  
  Originally Posted by robdedgar
  
  I just wanted to make sure this method was a good investment first.
  
  This "method" may be a lousy investment. And having your own little blog/site (even on free hosting) may be a brilliant investment. But you can't find that out, this way.
  
  Do you see what I'm saying? By testing this "method" first, you don't learn what you actually need to know: you learn only something different that's barely relevant.
  
  I promise I don't mean it rudely, but whoever told you about this "method" is someone against all the rest of whose "information" (i.e. if there's any more where that came from) you should very firmly close your ears.
  
  Thanks
  
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robdedgar 13 years ago

Which. Blog would you recommend using to get the most out of organic traffic?
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- Alexa Smith Banned 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by robdedgar
  
  Which. Blog would you recommend using to get the most out of organic traffic?
  
  How much organic traffic you get doesn't depend on where you host it; it depends on your on-page and off-page SEO.
  
  In my opinion, the initial decision is whether or not you want to use Wordpress for your blog/site. If you do (and are trying not to spend money on hosting) then you're looking at places like Byethost or 000webhosting. The latter has C-panel, which many people find helpful. I believe the former is a "better host" all round, myself, but that's personal opinion only.
  
  If you don't want to use Wordpress (I don't use it myself, but I know that most people do), or to build your own website from scratch using HTML and so on, then you're looking at places like Weebly, Yola and Blinkweb which have their own built-in site-builder (for me, those are easier to use than Wordpress but I'm a technophobic incompetent and you're probably not). With any of those, if you use the free hosting, they will put their own little advertising button on your site, which some people feel looks slightly "unprofessional", but when you're making a bit of money, you can always pay them a few $$ for the "upgrade" (i.e. to remove it). I think, out of those, Weebly is a very good and underrated host.
  
  The important thing is to avoid using anything that's going to leave you dependent on their TOS and goodwill in the way that Blogger or Squidoo would. Remember, the idea is for you to be in control, not someone else. If ever you find yourself wondering about the possibility of using something like Blogger or Squidoo as "your" site (it isn't really "yours" - it's "theirs"!), then just have a careful read through this thread and that'll change your mind pretty quickly.
  
  You'll need a domain-name. If you want to use a .info domain-name, they're $1 each from GoDaddy. If you want to use anything else, I recommend Namecheap as a registrar rather than GoDaddy. (Personal opinion, but one shared by many Warriors).
  
  Good luck!
  
  Thanks
  
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