Who Still Uses EzineArticles?

by Lauryn
54 replies
It's been a long time since I've even considered using EzineArticles, but I was interested in learning if anyone here still uses this for:
  • SEO rankings
  • Listbuilding
  • Acquiring Clients
  • Promotion affiliate products/services
#ezinearticles
  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Hi Lauryn!

    Please excuse my giving my opinion briefly and maybe outspokenly, in the interests of clarity about this widely misunderstood subject.

    In 2013, nobody who understands how article directories work and what benefits they can realistically provide is trying to use Ezine Articles for any of the purposes mentioned above (or if they are, they're doing so unsuccessfully, at best, compared with what they could do instead). Ezine Articles does have a place in article marketing, in 2013, but it isn't any of those.

    The only realistic purpose (and the only available benefit) of submitting articles to EZA is the one explained in this thread: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5068872

    For all the reasons explained in post #6 of that same thread, no article marketer would want to try to use Ezine Articles as part of a method of attracting potential customer traffc from the article directory to their own site. That would be not only ill-advised, but positively counter-productive, in the long run.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matthew Trujillo
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      Hi Lauryn!

      Please excuse my giving my opinion briefly and maybe outspokenly, in the interests of clarity about this widely misunderstood subject.

      In 2013, nobody who understands how article directories work and what benefits they can realistically provide is trying to use Ezine Articles for any of the purposes mentioned above (or if they are, they're doing so unsuccessfully, at best, compared with what they could do instead). Ezine Articles does have a place in article marketing, in 2013, but it isn't any of those.

      The only realistic purpose (and the only available benefit) of submitting articles to EZA is the one explained in this thread: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5068872

      For all the reasons explained in post #6 of that same thread, no article marketer would want to try to use Ezine Articles as part of a method of attracting potential customer traffc from the article directory to their own site. That would be not only ill-advised, but positively counter-productive, in the long run.
      Alexa, I've been following your posts and although I respect your opinion, and although you have a ton of posts, and get tons of likes I heavily disagree with what you say and I question if you really know what you are even talking about. You say the point of article directories such as EZA is so publishers can pick up content and syndicate it. If you are using EZA for that way and not for traffic you have it all wrong on how article marketing REALLY works, and it makes me question if you really know what you are talking about.

      If I wanted my article published on somebody elses blog I would just guest blog and go directly to the main source myself, I don't need EZA to do that for me, and for you to think that's how it work is silly. People post on article directories and web 2.0 sites like Squidoo with the whole purpose of being TRAFFIC. I post on EZA because it's Alexa rank is very good , meaning it is a VIABLE source of traffic, that's the whole point, the whole point isn't to publish articles with hopes some other publisher will "find you" and republish it for you, that is silly to believe.

      If you visit EZA itself THEY will tell you here


      https://my.ezinearticles.com/

      Highly-Targeted Traffic
      The traffic we send to your site is highly targeted toward your topic. Those visitors want what you're offering!


      Increased Visibility
      The articles you write and submit may be viewed by the millions of visitors who use our website every month!
      THERE you have it, they said so themselves! I don't see anything of what you say corresponding to what they say. In fact, I saw just the other day an EZA expert author, I was viewing his personal profile, and he had OVER 1 million views in his articles, so to say that article directories are not ment for traffic, is not only silly, but completely misleading and makes me question what you say as credible at all. What facts do you have to back up your claims?

      People.. The reason why there is so much confusion is because there is a lot of misinformation.

      So let me clear this.

      1.) The reason people think places like EZA are dead and not like they "used" to be is because since Panda and Penguin Google has got more strict and no longer wants to see duplicate content/spun articles floating around in the search results, Google wants to see ORIGINAL / UNIQUE content, if you do that nothing has changed.

      2.) People think that because their 1 article doesn't get 1000's of hits, it doesn't work. WRONG you must continue submitting articles, it does work.

      3.) EZA has a top Alexa Ranking meaning there is TRAFFIC there within the site itself, if your article happens to go on Google or Get syndicated, MORE POWER TO YOU, but the whole point of you posting articles isn't for you to cast your rod out and hope Google or other publishers find you, the whole point is just like marketing on forums to attract targeted traffic to whatever website you are leading it at. EZA they have plenty of traffic, and to think EZA isn't ment for traffic , is again, silly.

      The bottom line is article marketing ISN'T dead, and article marketing IS used for traffic and many people are having great success with it. Whether Google picks up your article or it gets "republished" by another publisher is just an added bonus, but to say article marketing directories sole purpose is so another publisher can find you is pure non sense. I can go make a guest post right now on my own I don't need them to find me.
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      • Profile picture of the author 1byte
        I haven't published an article at Ezine for nearly 2 years, until last week when I posted a new article there. In the last 7 days since it went live, the article has received a total of 17 views, or about 2.5 visits per day. I don't think that is very good -- do you?
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      • Profile picture of the author LilBlackDress
        Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

        Alexa, I've been following your posts and although I respect your opinion, and although you have a ton of posts, and get tons of likes I heavily disagree with what you say and I question if you really know what you are even talking about. You say the point of article directories such as EZA is so publishers can pick up content and syndicate it. If you are using EZA for that way and not for traffic you have it all wrong on how article marketing REALLY works, and it makes me question if you really know what you are talking about.

        If I wanted my article published on somebody elses blog I would just guest blog and go directly to the main source myself, I don't need EZA to do that for me, and for you to think that's how it work is silly. People post on article directories and web 2.0 sites like Squidoo with the whole purpose of being TRAFFIC. I post on EZA because it's Alexa rank is very good , meaning it is a VIABLE source of traffic, that's the whole point, the whole point isn't to publish articles with hopes some other publisher will "find you" and republish it for you, that is silly to believe.

        If you visit EZA itself THEY will tell you here



        THERE you have it, they said so themselves! I don't see anything of what you say corresponding to what they say. In fact, I saw just the other day an EZA expert author, I was viewing his personal profile, and he had OVER 1 million views in his articles, so to say that article directories are not ment for traffic, is not only silly, but completely misleading and makes me question what you say as credible at all. What facts do you have to back up your claims?

        People.. The reason why there is so much confusion is because there is a lot of misinformation.

        So let me clear this.

        1.) The reason people think places like EZA are dead and not like they "used" to be is because since Panda and Penguin Google has got more strict and no longer wants to see duplicate content/spun articles floating around in the search results, Google wants to see ORIGINAL / UNIQUE content, if you do that nothing has changed.

        2.) People think that because their 1 article doesn't get 1000's of hits, it doesn't work. WRONG you must continue submitting articles, it does work.

        3.) EZA has a top Alexa Ranking meaning there is TRAFFIC there within the site itself, if your article happens to go on Google or Get syndicated, MORE POWER TO YOU, but the whole point of you posting articles isn't for you to cast your rod out and hope Google or other publishers find you, the whole point is just like marketing on forums to attract targeted traffic to whatever website you are leading it at. EZA they have plenty of traffic, and to think EZA isn't ment for traffic , is again, silly.

        The bottom line is article marketing ISN'T dead, and article marketing IS used for traffic and many people are having great success with it. Whether Google picks up your article or it gets "republished" by another publisher is just an added bonus, but to say article marketing directories sole purpose is so another publisher can find you is pure non sense. I can go make a guest post right now on my own I don't need them to find me.
        Alexa is right and you not so much.

        In the olden days YES EZA was awesome for traffic. You would find your EZA articles at the top of Google but today you will rarely find that.

        In the old days it was an awesome source for traffic and as in the case shared could result in millions of views.

        Today it is what it is - an article directory. Which is what it was originally intended for. Hopefully publishers will find your article there, reproduce it and give you credit and you will get traffic. Today, will publishers find your articles there....maybe yes, maybe no but that the gold rush of using EZA for direct traffic is over.
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        • Profile picture of the author Matthew Trujillo
          Originally Posted by LilBlackDress View Post

          Alexa is right and you not so much.
          How so? What backups what she says as credible ?

          Originally Posted by LilBlackDress View Post

          In the olden days YES EZA was awesome for traffic. You would find your EZA articles at the top of Google but today you will rarely find that.
          The "olden days" were days when people were spinning articles, and posting junk, and ranking them to get on Google. The only difference between then and now is less junk on the internet. If you have quality unique content and you follow the rules, you can still get traffic from EZA. Article Marketing is no different from Forums or any other strategy. If you post not helpful stuff on forums, you get banned or warned. If you post junk on an article directory they will deny you. If you find a way to rank junk on Google, you'll get slapped.

          It comes down to one thing QUALITY content.

          Originally Posted by LilBlackDress View Post

          Today it is what it is - an article directory. Which is what it was originally intended for. Hopefully publishers will find your article there, reproduce it and give you credit and you will get traffic. Today, will publishers find your articles there....maybe yes, maybe no but that the gold rush of using EZA for direct traffic is over.
          Again, if I wanted to post my content on somebody elses blog why wouldn't I just contact them directly? Why would I sit around and wait for an article to get approved by EZA in "hopes" somebody "finds me"?

          Who in their right mind would do that?

          I know I wouldn't.

          Go to the EZA website and see for yourself, they don't mention their intentions are for you to post content in hopes you get it syndicated, I don't see anybody saying that except here on WF. If you have any sources to back up your claims, please share them with me and the rest of the WF.

          EZA might not be what it "used" to be due to Panda and Penguin update but don't get it confused and believe because of that they are now ineffective or "dead" EZA is still strong til this day. EZA make's it clear that you can drive targeted traffic using them. So I take it they are lying?

          If you are using EZA for SEO purposes, YES it has changed, Google ALWAYS changes.

          The reason people post articles on EZA is not so publishers can find there "content", it's for TRAFFIC. If you post helpful content that readers are looking for a SOLUTION to, they then can click your link for more info.

          Sure it may not be what it "used to" be , but if you follow the rules, and actually help, it's far from dead.

          Lots of people actually do actually visit the actual site of EZA for helpful information believe it or not and I'll give you a big clue, most of these people are not "publishers". Why do people visit forums?

          For information and helpful information, EZA is no different.
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  • Profile picture of the author Adie
    I still use EZA but my expectation is not the same as before. Just for link building.
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    I have many articles at EZA, and many of them are still driving traffic to my websites and helping me get new subscribers. I keep writing new articles and submitting to EZA like before because this is still helping me somehow, even though not as much as before Google’s updates.
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  • Profile picture of the author RKeele
    I still use it. I don't get a ton of traffic from it, but it is great for link building and establishing authority.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rob Maggs
    I'm inclined to disagree with Alexa, I still get a trickle of traffic from ezinearticles that results in sales, nothing much, but pretty cool nonetheless seeing as I wrote those articles years ago.

    I wouldn't dream of republishing content from there these days though...is that not asking to get hammered by the good old Panda?

    Speaking of which I spent loads of time removing all the good old wp-robot posts which posted content from ezinearticles and took my blog from a pr4 to 0 after the cuddly panda update.
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    • Profile picture of the author edgeyy66
      Originally Posted by Rob Maggs View Post

      I wouldn't dream of republishing content from there these days though...is that not asking to get hammered by the good old Panda?
      Hi noobie here: what does it mean to be hammered by a Panda?

      It sounds painful.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by edgeyy66 View Post

        Hi noobie here: what does it mean to be hammered by a Panda?

        It sounds painful.
        He's still thinking about the old way of using directories for SEO. In a nutshell, Panda was a Google algorithm update that took away most of the juice from directory links back to one's site.

        In the pre-Panda past, one could rack up a lot of backlinks by spamming article directories with crap, as long as it had the right keywords in it. Panda slammed the door on that practice, and a lot of people who got burned are still afraid of the critter.

        It's kind of like Ben Franklin is reputed to have said. "A cat that sits on a hot stove once will never do it again; neither will she ever sit on a cold one."

        Most of the people using EZA for passive syndication aren't going to have enough articles up to poke that particular bear...
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  • Alexa Smith still uses it.


    Hee hee.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rossome
    I use it, but typically its only for link building benefits. It's not as important as before, but still can help with link diversity and potential traffic. That being said I never repost or spin content from my site - it's always original content not found elsewhere. Just my 2 cents anyway!

    -Rossome
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  • Profile picture of the author Lauryn
    Thanks for the link Alexa!

    Yeah, I haven't made an article for them since 2011.

    I've been looking at different content strategies, and I somewhat considered the idea, but I also know 4 quality links > 40 random links.

    I'm probably better building great content and promoting the heck out of it.
    (My content's great, anyway.)
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    • Profile picture of the author MrFume
      Don't let anyone tell you it is not useful to post to Ezine Articles-a simple study of Article marketing reveals it is growing in usefulness, not dying. Article marketing is the single most mis-understood aspect of link building and traffic generation. Of course it is powerful, and authority building, but you need to write good quality stuff, none of those spun, PLR rubbish-publishing to Ezine Articles is perhaps the cheapest way possible to build your online profile.
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  • Profile picture of the author zimzalabim
    Still find EZA and the occasional (unique) article posted there is a positive thing in my experience. A regular source of traffic so useful to have that as part of the "mix".
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  • Profile picture of the author reaboss
    rarely use it
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  • Profile picture of the author alvinchua91
    Once in a while... When I used it in the past, it was for SEO and not traffic purposes. It does help you out a lot when it comes to low competition keywords.
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  • Profile picture of the author charlesanthony
    I did use eZine 2 years before.
    Now a days, I don't find eZine articles are anymore helpful for seo.
    No, not at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author steelhead
    I think you are probably correct (after reading the full explanation of your linked post).
    I haven't posted articles to EZA or any directory for a couple of years.

    Rather, my strategy has been to write content for my own sites first. Get it indexed there first. I will certainly write posts and articles (with anchor text) for higher ranking but relevant sites to my own when the opportunity presents itself.

    Steely Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Jesus Perez
    Sean's downward pattern at EzineArticles since Oct 2012 should explain it all. He went from 4 articles a day to 4 per year (2013).

    http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize

    Sean was considered to be the EzineArticles expert at the height of EZA's popularity.
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    • Profile picture of the author Julius Minor
      I used to use it for backlinking back in my SEO days.. but for me it's pointless now.
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  • Profile picture of the author himanuzo
    Based on Alexa.com, the EA is in big 500 websites in worldwide. You can attract traffic from the EA by scaling up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Charanjit
    I think its still worth using, just depends on what you want to achieve.
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  • Profile picture of the author RockNRolla
    I used to use EZA as a main staple in my SEO diet around two years ago. However, the only time I'd ever use it now would maybe be to build a tier 2 link to a guest ost or infographic I have published. I just don't think the links carry anywhere near the weight they used to in Google.
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  • Profile picture of the author mervp
    EZA (if you want to bother with it) and other leading article directories is useful for direct traffic, IF you compensate for the "fraction" rule, that only a fraction of viewers of the article will visit your site. You get 100% of the traffic from putting the content on your site, but say only 10-20% or so from the same content first going to a directory article linking to your site. The rest will go elsewhere on the directory, or will click the Adsense ad. But how to compensate for this?

    The most obvious workaround is 1) Choose 5-10 low-SEO competition keywords related to your niche, and write SEOed articles for each. Publish the content to your own site first, and get it indexed. 2) Re-publish those 5-10 articles that have related, but distinct keywords on the directories, each pointing to your site.

    By assembly, the residual traffic from each keyword-based article (10-20% here, another 10-20% there) at some point equals "100% traffic" coming to your site---and perhaps multiples of 100% when the process is repeated across re-publishing to 5-10 different top directories.

    The critics of using article directories for traffic seem to neglect this multipier effect from using a number of such sites. Irrespective that the directories were intended for publishers, they do in fact also provide a source of consistent traffic, especially when a marketer has designed a good plan that makes up for their weaknesses.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by mervp View Post

      The critics of using article directories for traffic seem to neglect this multipier effect from using a number of such sites.
      It doesn't seem to me that they "neglect" it at all, Merv: it seems to me that most of them simply see through it, and appreciate the fallacious reasoning on which it rests.

      Of course, that's one of the reasons why so many of the people who were trying, a few years ago, to do exactly what you suggest above have now switched to a more realistic model which involves generating all the same additional traffic but not losing the 80-90% of it lost with the plan above.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        I'm a little late to this party, but I do still submit articles to EZA. I do so with the same attitude as buying the occasional lottery ticket. Once the money changes hands (or the article is accepted), I stop thinking about it.

        They say that the lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. Generally true, but there is math that can tell you when a lottery ticket is a fair wager, regardless of the poor gross odds. The same goes for posting articles.

        It costs nothing but a few moments of time to post an article there after giving everybody higher on my personal 'food chain' first crack at it. From that, I may gain new partners, a few backlinks (for what they're worth) and even the odd visitor now and again.

        That's why I'll take a flyer on the Powerball lottery when the jackpot gets big enough to make the news, but I won't waste my time on the smaller games. They just aren't worth the effort. I submit some of my articles to EZA, but don't bother with the others anymore. I'm not bad at math...
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    • Profile picture of the author edgeyy66
      Originally Posted by mervp View Post

      EZA (if you want to bother with it) and other leading article directories is useful for direct traffic, IF you compensate for the "fraction" rule, that only a fraction of viewers of the article will visit your site. You get 100% of the traffic from putting the content on your site, but say only 10-20% or so from the same content first going to a directory article linking to your site. The rest will go elsewhere on the directory, or will click the Adsense ad. But how to compensate for this?

      The most obvious workaround is 1) Choose 5-10 low-SEO competition keywords related to your niche, and write SEOed articles for each. Publish the content to your own site first, and get it indexed. 2) Re-publish those 5-10 articles that have related, but distinct keywords on the directories, each pointing to your site.

      By assembly, the residual traffic from each keyword-based article (10-20% here, another 10-20% there) at some point equals "100% traffic" coming to your site---and perhaps multiples of 100% when the process is repeated across re-publishing to 5-10 different top directories.

      The critics of using article directories for traffic seem to neglect this multipier effect from using a number of such sites. Irrespective that the directories were intended for publishers, they do in fact also provide a source of consistent traffic, especially when a marketer has designed a good plan that makes up for their weaknesses.
      This is awesome!
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  • Profile picture of the author mervp
    Actually, the plan I described was based FIRST on using the content to gain 100% direct traffic to one's site (step 1) based on the keywords, and secondarily to complement that with (step 2) residual traffic via republished content on the directories, done to an extent that it resulted in an amount of visitors coming in from combined sources equal to that derived directly from the search engines. It's a both/and plan for 200%+ traffic, that has incorporated the criticisms of article directories.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sam Mann
    Not me. I used to see EzineArticles all over the first page for many keywords but not anymore. I think they got slapped by Penguin or got hit with a bamboo by a Panda.
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  • Profile picture of the author tanbanner
    Sadly the good old days of Ezine Articles are well gone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Garratt
    I have about 180 articles on EZA which were generating more than 60,000 views and 15,000 click throughs a month. This was the case for about 3 years up until about 2 years ago.

    I now get only 6,000 views and 1,500 click throughs a month from the same articles and when I post the odd new article there it attracts hardly any views.

    So whenever I write an article now I post it at EZA for "Old times sake" and because it only takes a couple of minutes.
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    • Profile picture of the author TZ
      Originally Posted by Steve Garratt View Post

      I have about 180 articles on EZA which were generating more than 60,000 views and 15,000 click throughs a month. This was the case for about 3 years up until about 2 years ago.

      I now get only 6,000 views and 1,500 click throughs a month from the same articles and when I post the odd new article there it attracts hardly any views.

      So whenever I write an article now I post it at EZA for "Old times sake" and because it only takes a couple of minutes.
      ^^^^ Only valid opinion on this thread.
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  • Profile picture of the author troy23
    My articles are getting lots of views every month so for me it is a good strategy.
    Don't rely solely on it, but have it in your arsenal.
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  • Profile picture of the author thedanbrown
    Ezine Articles is great still... I use it for lead generation (which converts to clients) so I'm sure you can use it for whatever suits your purpose. Their domain also has a lot of value so im sure it would work for SEO purposes as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Mensah
    Originally Posted by Lauryn View Post

    It's been a long time since I've even considered using EzineArticles, but I was interested in learning if anyone here still uses this for:
    • SEO rankings
    • Listbuilding
    • Acquiring Clients
    • Promotion affiliate products/services
    list building and promoting affiliate products yes but the other 2 no because they dont work so well for that anymore.
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  • Profile picture of the author SocialSEOs
    I haven't used EZA in a long time, but if I used it now it would likely be for tier-2 linkbuilding. I definitely would not give them my premium content either (I reserve all the best content for my own sites).
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  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    Matthew,

    You need to dig a little deeper than just a slogan on a home page. Even the home page slogan mentions "traffic" third as just part of the package.

    "Submit your high-quality, original articles for more exposure, credibility and traffic back to your website."

    Here is what they highlight for serious article syndicators:

    About Us

    What Can EzineArticles.com Do For You?

    EzineArticles.com brings real-world experts and ezine publishers together. Our searchable database of hundreds of thousands of quality original articles, posted by Expert Authors & Writers, allows email newsletter publishers who are hungry for fresh content to find articles to include in their next newsletter (up to 25 articles per year per our Publisher TOS).
    What Makes EzineArticles Unique?

    Your articles are managed by our proprietary management software, designed to give you maximum exposure to our loyal audience of hundreds of thousands of daily visitors and our email newsletter publisher audience who EACH have thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of email list members of their own. That means your original articles and expertise may be exposed to hundreds of thousands or even millions of people rather than waiting passively for someone to syndicate it on yet another website with no traffic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Matthew Trujillo
      Originally Posted by Janice Sperry View Post

      Matthew,

      You need to dig a little deeper than just a slogan on a home page. Even the home page slogan mentions "traffic" third as just part of the package.

      "Submit your high-quality, original articles for more exposure, credibility and traffic back to your website."

      Here is what they highlight for serious article syndicators:

      About Us

      What Can EzineArticles.com Do For You?

      EzineArticles.com brings real-world experts and ezine publishers together. Our searchable database of hundreds of thousands of quality original articles, posted by Expert Authors & Writers, allows email newsletter publishers who are hungry for fresh content to find articles to include in their next newsletter (up to 25 articles per year per our Publisher TOS).
      What Makes EzineArticles Unique?

      Your articles are managed by our proprietary management software, designed to give you maximum exposure to our loyal audience of hundreds of thousands of daily visitors and our email newsletter publisher audience who EACH have thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of email list members of their own. That means your original articles and expertise may be exposed to hundreds of thousands or even millions of people rather than waiting passively for someone to syndicate it on yet another website with no traffic.
      I think you are missing the whole point on why marketers started using this strategy to begin with and still do til this day. The REALITY of this is so you can drive more traffic to your site. If you post quality content, you can drive traffic, lots of it. Sure , originally it may have been intended for other "publishers" to find you, but nobody in their right mind does that this day and age for you to still have that belief is flawed and not living in the present moment. That's the same thing as saying video marketers don't post videos for traffic, they post because they are hoping Joe the publisher finds their video and republishes it on on their blog.

      Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?

      Again if I want my content on somebody elses site, I'm going to contact the blog owner directly. I don't need EZA articles to do that for me. Do you not realize that EZA has a Alexa rank of >1000 ?So you're telling me all that traffic that site gets is from publishers who are looking for content? Why does EZA highlight getting targeted traffic and not highlight what you are saying? At one time that's probably what it was "originally intended for" but not anymore, times have changed. Many many regular people are looking for information and answers to a problem, and if you can help them out and provide a solution them, it will work.
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      • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
        Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

        I think you are missing the whole point on why marketers started using this strategy to begin with and still do til this day. The REALITY of this is so you can drive more traffic to your site. If you post quality content, you can drive traffic, lots of it.
        If you are getting LOTS of traffic from EA great - keep doing what you are doing. Experienced marketers, including myself, do not get a lot of direct traffic from EA anymore. You will read that in this post and in numerous other threads.

        Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

        Sure , originally it may have been intended for other "publishers" to find you, but nobody in their right mind does that this day and age for you to still have that belief is flawed and not living in the present moment.
        You may think it is flawed but the results say something else. There are a lot of marketers that regularly get articles picked up for syndication that are getting tons of traffic from this method and that are making a lot of money from it.

        Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

        That's the same thing as saying video marketers don't post videos for traffic, they post because they are hoping Joe the publisher finds their video and republishes it on on their blog.
        Of course video marketers are hoping for direct traffic. Isn't it also nice when a video starts getting shared, talked about, goes viral? That is all some of us are saying about articles on EA. Sure it is great when you get some targeted traffic directly from the article but it is almost never worth making that your goal. In the last two years I have had hardly any direct traffic from EA but it doesn't matter.

        Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

        Again if I want my content on somebody elses site, I'm going to contact the blog owner directly. I don't need EZA articles to do that for me.
        Great. That is just another way to get your content seen and possibly re-published. You don't NEED EA to contact blog owners but do you have the time to contact hundreds or even thousands of blog owners looking for content? Why not use an easy and effective source?


        Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

        Do you not realize that EZA has a Alexa rank of >1000 ?So you're telling me all that traffic that site gets is from publishers who are looking for content?
        The Alexa rank of EA has almost nothing to do with the traffic you will get FROM it. Most of the daily traffic going TO EA is from:
        • Publishers posting articles, checking stats
        • People looking for content to publish on their websites
        • Bad writers looking for content to spin or rewrite
        • Good writers occasionally using it for research
        • Bad article marketers checking what the competition is posting
        I don't know anybody that thinks "I'll go to EA to find out... how to cook a turkey, how to make money online, which vacuum should I buy?" I can't remember a single time in the last year or more that I saw an EA article ranked on page 1 of Google. In the old days it was quite common. They do go to other popular sites that post content about the niche they are interested in. When they land there and see one of my articles, guess what, they sometimes click through to my site.

        Instead of looking at the faulty and misleading Alexa rank (which is a whole different discussion) try looking at something more specific. Look up specific articles on EA, scroll to the bottom and look at the number of times viewed. No one can click to your website from EA unless they first open the article to read it. If you tried that with a 1,000 articles you might be shocked how many get less than even 100 views. Also remember that if it was even a 1,000 views that many of those are likely other writers, competitors, etc. Even if someone does get traffic directly from EA it does not mean it is quality targeted traffic.

        I usually don't post replies that are this long but you seem sincere. If your way of generating traffic from EA is working it may be you have found a specific niche that is an exception to what some of us have found. If you don't choose to believe that there is another way that people are having success with EA, fine. I wish you all the best.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rod Cortez
    Originally Posted by Lauryn View Post

    It's been a long time since I've even considered using EzineArticles, but I was interested in learning if anyone here still uses this for:
    • SEO rankings
    • Listbuilding
    • Acquiring Clients
    • Promotion affiliate products/services
    Nope, don't use them at all anymore. I've found far more efficient ways to brand my name, my pen names, obtain traffic, etc. I think EZA is a dinosaur that's long outlived it's usefulness. I'm surprised they are still around. I'll be shocked if they're still around 5 years from now.

    RoD
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    "Your personal philosophy is the greatest determining factor in how your life works out."
    - Jim Rohn
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

      Again, if I wanted to post my content on somebody elses blog why wouldn't I just contact them directly? Why would I sit around and wait for an article to get approved by EZA in "hopes" somebody "finds me"?

      Who in their right mind would do that?

      I know I wouldn't.
      Many of us do contact other publishers directly. Blogs, other websites, newsletters (both electronic and print), ezines, print magazines, newspapers and more.

      Those of us that do still post articles to EZA are looking to grow that list of direct publishers. We drop an article on EZA and set a Google alert. If the article appears on another site, we can check out the site and make that direct contact you keep harping on.

      If someone is looking to EZA as their sole source of getting articles republished, they have a screw loose or they aren't all that serious about syndication.

      In my point of view, any direct traffic or SEO benefit I get from EZA is the bonus, not the main point. It's a no cost, no risk, extremely low effort way to add to one's personal syndicate.


      Originally Posted by Matthew J Trujillo View Post

      Lots of people actually do actually visit the actual site of EZA for helpful information believe it or not and I'll give you a big clue, most of these people are not "publishers". Why do people visit forums?

      For information and helpful information, EZA is no different.
      Anyone who goes to EZA for helpful information longer than it takes to skim a few articles and see how much pure bullshit is in there deserves whatever they get from acting on what they read.

      These days, if I go to EZA, it isn't for information. In fact, it really isn't even for content, directly. I go looking for talent.

      I'm looking for writers who a) know their shit and b) write well about it. These are the writers I approach about providing me content directly. Kind of syndication in reverse. The truth is, at least in the topics I deal in, finding both A and B disqualifies about 98% of the writers on the site. But there are gems to be found if you look hard enough.
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  • Profile picture of the author Hartmann
    I still get traffic from some of my ezinearticles articles but I haven't submitted a new article in over a year...probably even longer. The articles providing the traffic are super long tail keywords in a seasonal niche so there's not much competition.
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  • Profile picture of the author Luke Corden
    When I was still working with my affiliate sites I used ezine articles and still found them a good, not great, but definitely worthwhile source of back links and occasional traffic. You need to get good articles up though. I'd write all my own articles and make sure they were 1000+ words.

    I've recently changed track though and started heading towards product creation but that is a story for another thread.
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    Check out www.lukecorden.com for 100% free listbuilding course, marketing tips, advice and tomfoolery
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      Originally Posted by Lauryn View Post

      It's been a long time since I've even considered using , but I was interested in learning if anyone here still uses this for:
      • SEO rankings
      • Listbuilding
      • Acquiring Clients
      • Promotion affiliate products/services
      For reasons explained so lucidly by Alexa beginning in the second post, I have never used EzineArticles for any of the above.

      But EZA actually has been a regular component of my article syndication process for quite a few years. I often submit articles to EZA after distribution to my ever-growing network of syndication partners.

      Apart from being a recognized showcase for my articles when querying new syndication prospects, EZA still consistently attracts passive syndication for publication sources that I've never heard about or would never consider approaching.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rory Singh
    I still get traffic from EZA. I didn't ever use them for the purposes that you listed above. Just for plain ole traffic.

    I actually just made a sale the other day from old EZA traffic.

    And they do still help me build my lists everyday.
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  • Profile picture of the author Slin
    You can still get direct traffic if that's what you're looking for. Not as much as in the good old days though, back in the day a good article would get me a few thousand views or so.

    You can also try syndicating like Alexa says, I guess a better question is, what do you want to use Ezine for?
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  • Profile picture of the author az wan
    other than EZA, any other directory which is still works? just wondering.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnFreshLeads
    I still use Ezine Articles for both publishing content to and for getting ideas for new content. Ezine Articles still has value. Good luck to you.
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    A long-time reader and learner of the Warrior Forum. Now an active participant and contributor.

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  • Profile picture of the author TheUser
    I don't really see any EzineArticles ranked anymore for search terms (where before I would see them for the same terms). Can't imagine it would be too helpful after all the new Google updates.
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  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Matt Cutts is on the record as saying that using article sites for link building is, to summarize his statements, not a viable strategy. Since EZA still has many low-quality keyword-stuffed articles from the past, it is anyone's guess whether its traffic can survive further Google algo 'enhancements.'
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  • Profile picture of the author cyberzolo
    It is great for backlinks and traffic, but it simply takes too much time.
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