ARTICLE marketing is becoming harder and harder. Ezine why do this?

121 replies
Submitted my own article to ezinearticles only to get a FAIL returned with a msg , stating that article needs to be longer??

This is the third time. First 270 words, then 300, then 350.

Well, my article had 350 words and to my understanding-- according to their policy-- 250 was the minimum amount of words. So how in the world is it too short?

Why do they contredict their own rules and policy?

Is there a reason why they are becoming more picky?

Anyone else having same issues?
#article #ezine #harder #marketing
  • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
    This is probably why:

    Our War With Affiliate Marketers

    They're actively clamping down on it I guess. Remember, eZineArticles isn't the only article directory. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, etc.
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    • Profile picture of the author alexanderberson
      Originally Posted by TristanPerry View Post

      This is probably why:

      Our War With Affiliate Marketers

      They're actively clamping down on it I guess. Remember, eZineArticles isn't the only article directory. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, etc.


      OH MY......

      wow..

      really?

      Well, i do not have direct affiliated link, instead, i have a blog with links--but anyone does, who doesnt?

      I think they might be at war with direct links to affiliated sites....to them , they are NON informative..

      I am still upset about the whole 250 limit contradiction. Can't even submit my artlices now, i have to make them look like a poems..800 words.
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  • Profile picture of the author dave147
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    • Profile picture of the author halfpoint
      Originally Posted by dave147 View Post

      For EZA the ideal article size is from 400 to 750 words.
      Based on what? I rarely write anything longer than 300 words. I certainly never write an article as long as 750 words.
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      • Profile picture of the author dave147
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        • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
          Banned
          Maybe they should read their own rules:

          ARTICLE BODY:

          1. Must be a minimum of 250 words and no more than 5,000 words.
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          • Profile picture of the author dave147
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            • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
              Originally Posted by dave147 View Post

              True, but then they immediately state:

              "For us, an ideal article size is 400-750 words"

              They are getting strict on accepting so,
              give them no excuse to reject, just make them 500 words, and quality of course.
              A quality, unique 500 word article gets put on MY site - giving it to someone else for free is just nuts :rolleyes:

              EZA can have my 250-300 word quickly-written articles, but you should always reserve your best work for your own sites.
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              • Profile picture of the author dave147
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                • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
                  Originally Posted by dave147 View Post

                  Obviously you would put it on your site first, but I think after sometime you should then put it on EZA and then on the next best directories, for even more traffic, backlinks, branding etc etc...
                  ezinearticles only accepts original articles so you'd have to rewrite it (unless they now accept content that is proven to come from your site? not sure).

                  Im just adamant that you should not do anymore than you have to when it comes to giving out your content to directories. Thats not lazy or unprofessional - its business. You can get great results from doing the minimum, and saving your best for your OWN sites.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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                    • Profile picture of the author ahefner33
                      Post from Ezines Facebook

                      "Something Unexpected
                      Share

                      Today at 4:11pm

                      Against the recommendation of our management team, I wanted to share with you something we're currently dealing with internally in regards to our Premium Membership service level.


                      We've been firing an average of 2 Premium members every day now as not being a good match. In some cases, we've had to fire members who were Premium, got fired, bought again and then had to be banned from Premium membership. We've had members plead to pay any price for speed or to be unbanned. One guy yesterday offered us $36k to accept his articles on top of our Premium membership fee with one exception: He wanted us to accept derivative content. No way!



                      Key Issue: Our team has been at great odds with ourselves because we want to deliver excellent service to our Premium members, yet a high percentage of our Premium members are not ideal EzineArticles members. We've essentially accelerated the speed at which our worst members can submit low value, thin content into our system.

                      This further frustrates our Premium members because they are getting downgraded (most are at Basic Plus level), having their articles rejected and are being shown the word "NO" more often than they'd ever care to see.



                      It was my goal, by this time, to have muted the value of Premium membership by delivering Premium speed to all free members ... thus, forcing us to find other things of value that we could package into our Premium Membership service level. Unfortunately, we've struggled ALL YEAR to deliver on that internal goal. If you only knew what we've done to reach this goal, your mouth would drop and hit the floor.


                      After much internal debate, we've determined that the real issue is the need to reject another 10-20% of low value content (from both Premium and non-Premium members) by tightening up our content filters even more. This is not something new - we tighten up quality standards every single month. But the rate of which we're tightening down is accelerating.

                      What's Happening Now:
                      We had already tightened up our anti-derivative content filters a few weeks ago and that's currently shaving off 700 articles a day that never make it to our human editors for review.


                      Our next big pass at curbing low-value content submissions will come in the form of banning certain types of content that are currently in too high of market supply (think "**** berry" type articles) and other commonly spammed articles with highly derivative content (think penis enlargement, get your ex back, dating articles, some types of finance articles). We've been slow to reach this point because we're looking for ways to allow legitimate good ideal members to submit content on these topics while singling out the gamers who only want to submit really thin low value content.


                      Know that we'll communicate in this blog which types of content we're no longer allowing and we'll be revisiting our Editorial Guidelines to include more information about the coming changes.



                      In the past, we've grandfathered existing articles in when new quality levels are set, except when a live article is edited, today's standard is applied to that content. That means we would typically have allowed old articles that would no longer be accepted with today's standard, to remain live in the site. We've reached a point where we can no longer allow that to happen. At risk are articles that are highly derivative based. If you've written original articles from your head and didn't use any software article rewriter, you should have nothing to worry about.



                      There's one more major issue that I'll be sharing about soon in terms of a paradigm-shift that will be made in the coming weeks. Until then, I hope you appreciate the transparency and I'd like to enlist your continued support to help us properly navigate the key issues that will ensure our collective long-term survival together."
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              • Profile picture of the author Lance K
                Originally Posted by RebeccaL View Post

                A quality, unique 500 word article gets put on MY site - giving it to someone else for free is just nuts :rolleyes:

                EZA can have my 250-300 word quickly-written articles, but you should always reserve your best work for your own sites.

                What if you post one of your top quality 500 word articles to EZA and a handful of ezine publishers and bloggers pick it up and syndicate it?

                Perhaps they would like it so much that they seek you out as a guest author, etc. Or at least keep you on their radar when searching for content.

                Be careful of hard and fast rules. Because speed kills (especially when you run into something hard).
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          • Profile picture of the author mary123
            I guess they wanted to maintain their standards having this good quality articles, because they knew it is for blog monetizing.. It is their way i guess..
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            • Profile picture of the author Ehanson
              They are making article marketing harder and harder because they want to maintain the quality of their site.

              I had an article of mine approved recently. If you write articles that are give quality information and don't include affiliate links you should have nothing to worry about.
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    • Profile picture of the author alexanderberson
      Originally Posted by dave147 View Post

      For EZA the ideal article size is from 400 to 750 words.
      I think you should make all your articles 500 words to be in compliance with all article directories

      Well, i don't like this, but i have no choice.
      Gonna have to skip my extra morning donut i eat
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      • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
        I submitted 8 250-300 word articles a few days ago, and all were approved within 36 hours :confused: The only problem I've had with EZA was a few weeks ago when they were having a few server issues, and they were backed up with submissions/approvals - a couple of my articles came back saying they didn't deliver what the title promised. I just put it down to them being under extra stress, or I just got fussy editors.
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        • Profile picture of the author KristieDean
          Originally Posted by Crubalo View Post

          I submitted 8 250-300 word articles a few days ago, and all were approved within 36 hours :confused: The only problem I've had with EZA was a few weeks ago when they were having a few server issues, and they were backed up with submissions/approvals - a couple of my articles came back saying they didn't deliver what the title promised. I just put it down to them being under extra stress, or I just got fussy editors.
          I had to wait almost three weeks for several of my articles to get published - and they were content-rich. I have had more success with goarticles.com
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    • Profile picture of the author achivement84
      Originally Posted by dave147 View Post

      For EZA the ideal article size is from 400 to 750 words.
      I think you should make all your articles 500 words to be in compliance with all article directories

      That will put you in safe side and to be able to submit on rest directories.I have recently submitted article to EZA that was 400 words, and it was accepted.So may be you will have another trial with them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Michelle Strait
    They are making a lot of changes. The rules will probably be updated soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author edosauyi
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Here's a novel concept.

      How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
      won't have to worry about them being rejected.

      Just saying.
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      • Profile picture of the author edmltw
        That definitely works.

        But for those who are lazy, but yet still wanna get your articles accepted..

        Make sure the re-writes are at least 70% dupecop proven unique

        At least that works for me comfortably.

        Edmund

        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Here's a novel concept.

        How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
        won't have to worry about them being rejected.

        Just saying.
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        • Profile picture of the author dv8
          Originally Posted by edmltw View Post

          Make sure the re-writes are at least 70% dupecop proven unique
          It's actually more like 67.54784niner3564720%
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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        • Profile picture of the author Jill Carpenter
          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          Here's a novel concept.

          How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
          won't have to worry about them being rejected.

          Just saying.
          Get out of here. Really? You want me to help someone other than myself?

          I might get a reputation as a helpful person if I do this, and next thing you know people will be banging down my door, looking for help, and some might even offer me money to help them.

          This sounds like work.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          You're also much more likely to get them re-used on other people's blogs/sites and get the extra traffic and backlinks that way, too. Quality will tell, in the long run.
          So far I have had over 7,500 articles used on other people's sites.

          Hell, if you just plug my name into Google I think you'll find like 100,000 sites.

          I wonder why?
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          • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
            Banned
            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            So far I have had over 7,500 articles used on other people's sites.

            Hell, if you just plug my name into Google I think you'll find like 100,000 sites.

            I wonder why?
            Because of tools that pull content from article directories automatically?
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat View Post

              Because of tools that pull content from article directories automatically?
              Hey, if that works too, great. As long as they leave my resource box
              intact, which it appears in most cases, they do.

              ** DISCLAIMER ** This does not in any way mean that I approve of these
              tools. I don't use them as I write all my own content. But hey, if people
              are going to scrape articles from directories to build their sites, I might as
              well get something out of it as well.

              That doesn't make me evil...just a businessman.
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            • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
              Originally Posted by Black Hat Cat View Post

              Because of tools that pull content from article directories automatically?
              Heh, I was thinking it but didn't bother to say it. I agree, I've looked at your main Ezine profile Steven (I'm not going to search for pen names) and you have a lot of articles. All the better to get pulled and automatically distributed to websites. Which is a good thing - the more backlinks the better. I wish mine would get distributed so much, gj Steven.
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      • Profile picture of the author derrickp
        Did you ever read the articles under your pen names on Ezine Steven, I wouldn't talk. How many times did you repeat the same information over and over.

        ***Clarification***

        Steven is an article marketer and I am not, I was trying to give some advice on my opinion of his articles like he was for the OP. He interpreted this as me being negative and attacking him. For that I have apologized(further down in this thread). Not my intent.

        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Here's a novel concept.

        How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
        won't have to worry about them being rejected.

        Just saying.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

          Did you ever read the articles under your pen names on Ezine Steven, I wouldn't talk. How many times did you repeat the same information over and over.
          I suggest you read rule # 1 of this forum. If you have an issue with another
          warrior or God, take it up with them privately...not here.

          I stand behind every article I have ever written as being informative and
          helpful to the reader. If you feel otherwise, that's YOUR opinion and
          doesn't make it fact.
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          • Profile picture of the author derrickp
            Hi Steven,

            Yes that was my opinion, it was not an issue with you, just your articles, your articles are not "a warrior" so I don't see how it applies and is no different than what you said to the original poster about his content.

            Since you like pointing out rules, did you read the rule over at EZA:

            "Don't submit 10-1000 articles on same rehashed topic with only the words and tips re-arranged."

            Again not a personal attack, just trying to help you live up to the content standards you expect of others and obviously you expect of your self.


            Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

            I suggest you read rule # 1 of this forum. If you have an issue with another
            warrior or God, take it up with them privately...not here.

            I stand behind every article I have ever written as being informative and
            helpful to the reader. If you feel otherwise, that's YOUR opinion and
            doesn't make it fact.
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            • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
              Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

              Hi Steven,

              Yes that was my opinion, it was not an issue with you, just your articles, your articles are not "a warrior" so I don't see how it applies and is no different than what you said to the original poster about his content.

              Since you like pointing out rules, did you read the rule over at EZA:

              "Don't submit 10-1000 articles on same rehashed topic with only the words and tips re-arranged."

              Again not a personal attack, just trying to help you live up to the content standards you expect of others and obviously you expect of your self.

              If EZA had a problem with my submissions, they wouldn't accept them.

              Again, I suggest you read the TOS of this forum before you start
              attacking people.

              ** EDIT ** One other thing. Attacking my articles IS attacking me
              personally since I make my living as an article marketer. So it is no
              different than attacking me personally.

              Please don't hide behind thin technicalities.
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      • Profile picture of the author Burtgummer
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Here's a novel concept.

        How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
        won't have to worry about them being rejected.

        Just saying.
        I agree, I write articles like that. One of them however, did get rejected the other day because they didn't like where the link was going, which was a blog on blogger.
        Signature

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      • Profile picture of the author TommyBussey
        Steven, I'm on the same page as you.

        I know for a fact that in my marketing, success is generated by my overall attempt to actually help my customers/subscribers/etc.

        I think that is pointless to publish "fluffy" mundane articles (or any content for that matter). Because you ultimately have wasted your time. Even if a poor piece of content gets published...it is still a poor piece of content and will not product results.

        Not trying to be too harsh here, just voicing an opinion and agreeing with Steven

        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        Here's a novel concept.

        How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
        won't have to worry about them being rejected.

        Just saying.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    anything under 500 words is a blog post, not an article.... If you want to write an article then write an article not some small post just to get backlinks...

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author JackPowers
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      anything under 500 words is a blog post, not an article.... If you want to write an article then write an article not some small post just to get backlinks...

      James
      Really? I've read other posts that you wrote that were very helpful, but my experience shows very clearly that shorter articles (250-300 words) work much better than longer as far as CTR are concerned. I write them simply as primers or as introduction. Longer articles do better SEO wise (with no promotion), but do far worse with CTR.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian Jackson
    Originally Posted by alexanderberson View Post

    Submitted my own article to ezinearticles only to get a FAIL returned with a msg , stating that article needs to be longer??

    This is the third time. First 270 words, then 300, then 350.

    Well, my article had 350 words and to my understanding-- according to their policy-- 250 was the minimum amount of words. So how in the world is it too short?

    Why do they contredict their own rules and policy?

    Is there a reason why they are becoming more picky?

    Anyone else having same issues?
    You maybe just got unlucky with a newbie/junior mod at EZA? they often reject articles that are well with the EZA rules.
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    • Profile picture of the author newBum76
      Originally Posted by Ian Jackson View Post

      You maybe just got unlucky with a newbie/junior mod at EZA? they often reject articles that are well with the EZA rules.
      I agree.

      I just checked out some recently submitted articles in several categories and there were plenty of articles under 300 words, so I don't think they're raising their minimum word count.
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    • Profile picture of the author Liam Hamer
      Originally Posted by Ian Jackson View Post

      You maybe just got unlucky with a newbie/junior mod at EZA? they often reject articles that are well with the EZA rules.
      I'd say this was most probably the case.
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  • Profile picture of the author 12holger34
    Hi, I submitted about 100 articles last week and Ezine reject only a few, which had a broken link at the end or the grammar was not correct. After I have done my homework, all articles were published.
    I cannot say, that they are not doing a good job at Ezine.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Dulisse
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim
    Here's a novel concept.

    How about writing articles that actually HELP your readers and then you
    won't have to worry about them being rejected.

    Just saying.
    I think the issue he raised was on length, not on helpfulness. Hence, no need to go on offensive.

    I'm sure his short articles that got rejected are very helpful.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by Mark Dulisse View Post

      I think the issue he raised was on length, not on helpfulness. Hence, no need to go on offensive.

      I'm sure his short articles that got rejected are very helpful.
      How do you know? Did you read them?

      How much help can a 250 word article REALLY be when you think about it?

      Anyway, I'm not going to get into a pissing match over this. I see what's
      out there, I think it stinks and I'm not surprised when people tell me that
      their articles are rejected.

      It's funny, the only time I ever get an article rejected is when I know it's
      going to be before I even write it, usually because it's on some very
      controversial subject or I'm calling people out...which EZA doesn't want
      the liability for. Those I just end up putting on my own blog.

      Hey, doesn't matter to me. The fewer people who write the kind of
      articles I know get accepted and actually help people and build
      reputations, the better for me.

      Or...folks can learn that the more you give, the more you get back.

      It's up to them.
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      • Profile picture of the author gravtex
        Here's one thing you can try if you're article is getting rejected and it's within their guidelines - just contact them. I've had it happen a few times where it was simply a mistake on their part... everybody makes mistakes.

        Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author Cash37
    lol at the misinformation in here
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  • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
    Havent had this happen to me yet but if it does - no way I will EVER be submitting long articles to ezinearticles. They should be grateful that people are literally throwing free, unique content at their site and they profit from it. If I want to direct link (and I do it alot) then I will, if they don't like it then I hope they enjoy the mass exodus when we replace them with another directory.
    They have got extremely cocky this year, but what they don't realize is that all empires fall eventually. They won't be at the top forever and we affiliates don't need them, but they certainly need our submissions.
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    • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
      Originally Posted by RebeccaL View Post

      Havent had this happen to me yet but if it does - no way I will EVER be submitting long articles to ezinearticles. They should be grateful that people are literally throwing free, unique content at their site and they profit from it. If I want to direct link (and I do it alot) then I will, if they don't like it then I hope they enjoy the mass exodus when we replace them with another directory.
      They have got extremely cocky this year, but what they don't realize is that all empires fall eventually. They won't be at the top forever and we affiliates don't need them, but they certainly need our submissions.
      At first I sort of agreed with that blog post (although it was a bit snobby), but reading some of their employee's responses to the comments have me worried. They are either OTT, or in-fact unprofessionally attacking other people/article directories:

      "Thankfully 99% of our members articles are not affiliate link pushers. Then we'd be just as crappy as many competitor sites that auto-publish everything." - okay, that's unprofessional. I know they aren't naming names, but do they think they're divine or something?

      "One guy had a great suggestion of not allowing .info domains in any articles. I like that one alot. I know of NO GOOD websites on this planet that end with a .info TLD." - a massive generalisation. I just Googled "inurl:.info" and found 5 websites with PR 5 or higher, in less than 30 seconds. Including some charities. But according to EZA, these charities are "NO GOOD"? Hmm...

      They can argue semantics all they like, but they just said that no good can come from .info TLDs. Well sorry, but they just said that a bunch of charities are no good. A little diplomacy wouldn't have gone amiss. "Some .info TLD sites are no good..." etc would have been acceptable I, but 'none on this planet'?

      "Why don't you just go look at ANY PLR article as an example of what sucks." - again, a massive generalisation. They seem to think they are Gods, from the sounds of it. Of course, re-hashing PLR articles doesn't really help EZA. But they are still making unfounded claims since they are speaking on behalf of every PLR article out there.

      "We've even been called "Nazi's" in one of the Internet marketing forums. Sheesh... call us what you want I guess... we're going to protect this ship against evil for the benefit of our million daily visitors and all those who refer traffic to us." - calling them Nazis is a little much, granted, but now they are talking about a "war" against "evil", and making massive sweeping statements. They are sounding very silly, or at least their employee who's replying is.

      So whilst I do agree with the original blog post, the comments by their employees on that blog post did become a bit of a farce. Even saying that some charities (on .info domains) are "NO GOOD". Well done EZA...
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      • Profile picture of the author Lambert Klein
        I submit a lot of articles and haven't had any rejected in a long time.

        Today I had one rejected by EZ because the keyword density was 2.1.

        So I would have to change this

        Artificial sweeteners are not healthy

        to

        This substance is not healthy

        And maybe do that a few times?

        Before anyone says anything.. I write for the reader. I don't even think about keyword density.

        I''m not going to change that article and de-value my article. Maybe confuse the reader.

        It's on other article directories anyways.

        Lambert
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by RebeccaL View Post

      They should be grateful that people are literally throwing free, unique content at their site and they profit from it.
      You should be grateful that they allow you to take up their disk space/bandwidth.

      It's their site not yours. You want the backlinks to your site more than they want your content.

      But as you said you can take your business elsewhere, but eventually you'll find that every other directory follows suit.

      There definitely seems to be a concerted effort happening across web2.0 sites, article directories, etc. to rid the internet of crap whose sole purpose is to generate backlinks.

      As the internet is now the number one source of information for people worldwide, it's high time it cleaned its act up and actually provided worthwhile content to readers, not just backlinks for "writers".

      Get used to it, contribute something of value and you will do well.
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      • Profile picture of the author Eric Lorence
        One guy yesterday offered us $36k to accept his articles on top of our Premium membership fee with one exception: He wanted us to accept derivative content. No way!
        How many decent ghostwriters could he hire for that ... the thinking of some people just astounds.

        If this guy had any smarts, he would know to select EZA specifically in his Adwords account ... and probably see the same ROI. :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author taylordstuff
    I hope that you get everything straightened out with EZA. I don't know why other people had to be so rude in their comments.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
    Sorry to disagree with so many people, but I do prefer 250 word articles and I can plug helpful information in them. But I am an internet marketer and I have been getting over 80% click through with my articles recently so I'm not going to change them
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by Kevin Williams View Post

      Sorry to disagree with so many people, but I do prefer 250 word articles and I can plug helpful information in them. But I am an internet marketer and I have been getting over 80% click through with my articles recently so I'm not going to change them
      Really? That's awesome. I'll bet the PLR articles in your sig also get 80% CTRs. LOL

      I'm looking for ghostwriters to promote.

      Why don't you send me a few of them, I'll publish them and if they get anywhere NEAR 80% CTRs, I will personally promote your service. That's a heck of a deal!

      I'll even publish them with no ads on the page and I'll place stat tracking code on each one of them so we can watch together.

      Allen
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
        Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

        Really? That's awesome. I'll bet the PLR articles in your sig also get 80% CTRs. LOL

        I'm looking for ghostwriters to promote.

        Why don't you send me a few of them, I'll publish them and if they get anywhere NEAR 80% CTRs, I will personally promote your service.

        Allen
        PLR articles have a natural tendency to get lower - but you never know. I might hit you up with some to try out later, busy for a while and don't have any unique articles today I haven't already submitted

        EDIT: Hey now, no editing yours when I'm replying. Seriously though, maybe within a day or two. Maybe Ezine Articles is just screwin with me and inflating my clicks. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author tremayne
    Originally Posted by alexanderberson View Post

    Submitted my own article to ezinearticles only to get a FAIL returned with a msg , stating that article needs to be longer??

    This is the third time. First 270 words, then 300, then 350.

    Well, my article had 350 words and to my understanding-- according to their policy-- 250 was the minimum amount of words. So how in the world is it too short?

    Why do they contredict their own rules and policy?

    Is there a reason why they are becoming more picky?

    Anyone else having same issues?
    You are right: Article marketing *is* getting harder. More and more people have discovered it and see it as an easy way to get publicity.

    But there is nothing worthwhile that is free. I just finished last night submitted an original spun article to about 350 directories, most of which now want at least 500 words. (I have another 24 ready to be released over the next month or so; I have had to lengthen most of them.) Two directories I did not submit to wanted 700 (which I had in only the first article) and 1,000 minimum.

    It's like sausages! All must have a certain size. I think that is ridiculous; readers (the few there are these days) want information not length. But I guess the explanation is that some people have abused the system with trash just to get a link out there and some fixed number of words greater than three is supposed to mean that useful content goes with the link.

    I don't necessarily agree; trash can come in any length. But it erects the first hurdle authors now have to navigate. Those who don't clear that hurdle reduce the overall tidal wave of articles and make it easier on editors.

    That's my take, for what it's worth.

    Sydney
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    I have some 300 word articles published but have noticed that the shorter articles do not rank as well for me .

    This could be just a unique situation as I have not tested anyone's articles but my own .

    I am finding the more I get into writing articles the harder it is to stop around the 300 word mark.

    This is especially true in the niches I am getting more comfortable with.

    I started writing shorter articles because I thought it would improve ctr but when I started crunching the numbers I see that my best ctr is actually coming from articles between 500 and 700 words .

    Once again .. this is just what I find to work in my chosen niches and for my articles . This could be completely the opposite for you .
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  • Profile picture of the author Nick Brighton
    I think it's great that article directories are getting tougher (well, at least the important ones). It means the people who are lazy and looking to shortcut the system, providing no value along the way, will be weeded out...making it easier for genuine, hard working folks to leverage such a resource more effectively.

    In fact, I predict article directories with big authority like EZA to become more inline with magazine article submissions...

    ...where the submission guidelines would be based on WAAAYYY more than article directories are right now (such as quality of article, proper research, cross checking citations, literacy, flow, relevance...)

    In fact, look at the guidelines for most magazine or authority site publications, and you'll quickly see that right now, article directories are still VERY lenient on what makes the grade.

    I think as IMer's, we're VERY spoiled when it comes to ease of exposure, and specifically, the rules and regulations (or lack thereof) surrounding services we use.
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    • Profile picture of the author tremayne
      Originally Posted by Nick Brighton View Post

      I think it's great that article directories are getting tougher
      Agreed! Even WF has a minimum word count to ensure content rather than merely increasing a person's number of quotes and exposure.
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  • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
    I agree they need to get rid of alot of the duplicate posts that basically rehash the same thing over and over.

    But they definitely have a holier than thou attitude, and that doesn't usually work for long (unless you're Google). By constantly degrading affiliates they are biting the hand that feeds. I for one look forward to another article directory taking over the top spot at some point.
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  • Profile picture of the author FriendlyRob
    I frequently read a lot of negative things about Ezinearticles.com

    Any issues with getting articles accepted is because they are simply trying to please google.

    As long as they are pleasing Google, then our articles will continue to get views and clicks, that is why they will continue to be number one and why I will continue to tolerate them as long as they continue to publish my articles.
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  • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
    What really gets me above all else is that EZA continually bashes affiliate and 'made for adsense' sites - yet ezinearticles.com is nothing more than a glorified MFA site itself. Oh the irony..
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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
      Originally Posted by RebeccaL View Post

      What really gets me above all else is that EZA continually bashes affiliate and 'made for adsense' sites - yet ezinearticles.com is nothing more than a glorified MFA site itself. Oh the irony..
      Agreed, but they only do it to try and look good to the big boys like Google. They're basically the teachers pet of the internet - a very hypocritical one.
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    • Profile picture of the author FriendlyRob
      Originally Posted by RebeccaL View Post

      What really gets me above all else is that EZA continually bashes affiliate and 'made for adsense' sites - yet ezinearticles.com is nothing more than a glorified MFA site itself. Oh the irony..
      That's funny, I never thought of that but you are right.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    Dang - nobody ever takes me up on that. I wonder why.

    Yes, I'm calling bluffs, but I am also serious at the same time!

    Allen
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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
      Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

      Dang - nobody ever takes me up on that. I wonder why.

      Yes, I'm calling bluffs, but I am also serious at the same time!

      Allen
      I can imagine why, but meh. I won't even say the way I write my articles is ethical, I basically tell them they have to click my link or they'll never find what they're looking for ... lol. Will PM you sometime

      Back to the topic at hand - I wish other high PR article directories would work as well as EZA. The only other one I have success with is eHow. And editing wikiHow pages to point at my articles lol
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    • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
      Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

      Dang - nobody ever takes me up on that. I wonder why.

      Yes, I'm calling bluffs, but I am also serious at the same time!

      Allen
      I am getting 93% ctr and will gladly take you up on your offer .

      That is if this is not another da%$ dream.

      Will let you know one way or the other when I wake up :-)
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
        Article Marketing is only getting harder for those that have tunnel vision. With every change that happens - every new rule that is implemented there is gold there for the ones that can see the big picture.
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        • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

          Article Marketing is only getting harder for those that have tunnel vision. With every change that happens - every new rule that is implemented there is gold there for the ones that can see the big picture.
          Agreed. By the way, I was just looking at your WSO and switched over to here and saw your avatar and got really confused. Ugh, nap time.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ryan700
          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

          Article Marketing is only getting harder for those that have tunnel vision. With every change that happens - every new rule that is implemented there is gold there for the ones that can see the big picture.
          I agree. It might take me a while to see the big picture but I bet I will. As for the big picture a little while ago I stumbled on something that I tried with 12 articles and they've all been accepted. If people would slow down and write a few articles at a time instead of trying to write a hundred a day then they might not get as many rejected. Just my opinion.

          P.S. - I hope EZA's does a thorough cleanup of their archives and tightens up their standards. I still see cr*p published occasionally on their homepage as "recently published".

          I just hope that article marketing does not go the way of the "making money" forums on usenet.
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      • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
        Originally Posted by Troy_Phillips View Post

        I am getting 93% ctr and will gladly take you up on your offer .

        That is if this is not another da%$ dream.

        Will let you know one way or the other when I wake up :-)
        Bring it on Troy! LOL

        And Kevin, I appreciate your candid response! I wish everyone were that honest.

        Allen
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  • Profile picture of the author iplusgold
    I've had no problems getting articles accepted and published at Ezine Articles of late (except the timeframe it takes for them to approve). I suspect Steven is right...I see a lot of short, low wordcount articles, that obviously provide little or no value to the reader and it appears as if they are starting to crackdown on those.

    Personally, I'd rather publish 1 article of high quality that gets syndicated all over the place and brings in 10,000 views rather than 100 spammy ones.

    just my 2 cents
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  • Profile picture of the author pheonix44
    It doesn't really matter what changes they make. If you use them right they are a powerful way to jump start a business until you're able to use paid methods.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Ok Steven I wasn't attacking your articles, I was giving my opinion about your articles(I think there is a difference). Why are you so defensive? I apologize for giving my opinion I will refrain from giving opinions in the future.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

      Ok Steven I wasn't attacking your articles, I was giving my opinion about your articles(I think there is a difference). Why are you so defensive? I apologize for giving my opinion I will refrain from giving opinions in the future.
      Here is the problem I have with this whole thing.

      I have never once come here and addressed another member here by
      saying something like...

      "I've seen your articles at EZA and I think they're <something negative>"

      In my opinion, that is in direct violation of the rules of this forum. I may
      have seen the person's articles and actually believe that to be true about
      them, but I will never state that in a public forum for 2 reasons.

      1. It's against forum rules.

      2. It's only my opinion but that opinion now casts a shadow over that
      person's work, regardless of whether I am right or not. The damage is
      already done.

      If you have a problem with my work, here are your recourses that would
      not violate forum rules.

      1. Notify EZA and have them look at my article submissions. If they find
      that I have substandard content, they will remove it.

      2. Start a blog and point links to my articles showing how I rehash content.

      3. Make actual comments to my articles that you find, pointing out where
      I have written the same thing before and point a link to it.

      But don't come here with no proof other than YOUR opinion that I rehash
      content, which is essentially what you are saying.

      Plus, if you really want to split hairs here, what is the difference between
      somebody writing ONE article and blasting it to 10,000 article directories
      or writing several similar articles on a subject and submitting it to ONE
      directory?

      Also, if the actual content is helpful, what does it matter if it is similar to
      another article?

      I wasn't talking about articles that people submit have to be 100% unique
      to every article they wrote. I was talking about writing USEFUL information.

      Those two things are NOT the same thing.

      A unique article can still be crap.

      An article similar to another article that you have written, as long as it's
      YOUR article, can still be useful to the person reading it. Not every person
      is going to read every article you write.

      The two issues are NOT the same.

      Anyway, I think I've made myself clear on this issue.
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      • Profile picture of the author Michael Taylor
        Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

        2. Start a blog and point links to my articles showing how I rehash content.

        3. Make actual comments to my articles that you find, pointing out where
        I have written the same thing before and point a link to it.
        Steven, you are one tricky guy.
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  • Profile picture of the author Big JP
    Wow, reading that blogpost from Ezine's blog is kinda scary, especially if you use Ezine for good quality backlinks to your sites, and on your site you have affiliate links, they are going to reject your articles, regardless of your articles content or value!? Although there are plenty of other Directories out there, Ezine articles is the biggest and most well known, so anybody would hate not being able to use them, just have to find a way to make it work and get on with it I suppose.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Big JP,

    I would recommend building your own sites authority, then you will not need ezinearticles. Some people depend on them which isn't good as I think people here are starting to find out.

    They are making bank off of your content and you are getting the scraps of readers that actually read the whole article(without clicking on an ad) and decide to click on your link a very very small percentage.

    Oops I gave my opinion Steven is rolling in for the attack.

    So how can you build your sites authority?

    1) Writing tons of high quality content
    2) Getting high quality backlinks from sites within your niche(not article directories), with the anchor text that is of a desired keyword for your niche(not click here or your name).
    3) Cover the niche from a-z

    All of these will build trust with Google and over time increase your authority, once you have this you content will index faster, rank higher and be less likely to suffer the new content bonus that you may or may not notice(posting new content stays at the top of the SE then falls).
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

      They are making bank off of your content and you are getting the scraps of readers that actually read the whole article(without clicking on an ad) and decide to click on your link a very very small percentage.
      Do you have direct access to the EZA webstats or did Mr. Knight tell you this himself?

      What would you call a very very small percentage? How about a number...I'd be very interested to know not only the number, but how you know these specifics.

      Allen
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    • Profile picture of the author Big JP
      Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

      Big JP,

      I would recommend building your own sites authority, then you will not need ezinearticles. Some people depend on them which isn't good as I think people here are starting to find out.

      They are making bank off of your content and you are getting the scraps of readers that actually read the whole article(without clicking on an ad) and decide to click on your link a very very small percentage.

      Oops I gave my opinion Steven is rolling in for the attack.

      So how can you build your sites authority?

      1) Writing tons of high quality content
      2) Getting high quality backlinks from sites within your niche(not article directories), with the anchor text that is of a desired keyword for your niche(not click here or your name).
      3) Cover the niche from a-z

      All of these will build trust with Google and over time increase your authority, once you have this you content will index faster, rank higher and be less likely to suffer the new content bonus that you may or may not notice(posting new content stays at the top of the SE then falls).
      Yes your methods do contribute to authority, but there is so much more that can be done which help also, one of the main ones that comes to mind, and has been a proven winner for long time is... Article marketing.

      Distributing to article directories covers all your points above and more, as like what has already been mentioned in this thread, there is always the chance of your content being published else where, and building even more authority from all over the place.

      Anyone serious about building a successful SEO campaign would be foolish to skip article marketing and distribution, that's a nice chunk of authority-love to leave on the table.
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      • Profile picture of the author derrickp
        Yes I agree you should not skip it, but it shouldn't be your main focus agree? You should use everything possible that helps, but many people here rely nearly 100% on article marketing or even Ezinearticles.

        Small test, can you rank #1 in the search engines for a competitive term purely from article marketing? I am not so sure... Maybe

        Can you rank #1 for a competitive term from high quality links from sites within your niche with desirable anchor text? Yep many sites do.

        At the end of the day you need to do whatever is best for your business and skill set so if you are a kick butt article marketer or social media marketer than do it!

        Originally Posted by Big JP View Post

        Yes your methods do contribute to authority, but there is so much more that can be done which help also, one of the main ones that comes to mind, and has been a proven winner for long time is... Article marketing.

        Distributing to article directories covers all your points above and more, as like what has already been mentioned in this thread, there is always the chance of your content being published else where, and building even more authority from all over the place.

        Anyone serious about building a successful SEO campaign would be foolish to skip article marketing and distribution, that's a nice chunk of authority-love to leave on the table.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Steven,

    My apologies maybe I interpreted the rules wrong. Obviously we are seeing this from two different vantage points.

    I appreciate your advice above and I just may implement some of the suggestions you make. Thank You.

    In regards to you asking me to provide proof, I do not think it would be appropriate to put a link from here to your private pen names for all the other marketers to see.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr Money Maker
    Heck....I use Free Press Release - Online Press Release Distribution Service
    It's free......and everything gets posted......if you have great SEO skills you can rank every page online.....most times it takes only 1 to 2 hours to appear ranked on google, during weekdays...weekends take longer sometimes.
    You won't get paid for articles....but you can sure rank high with links to your websites.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Allen,

    Based on your experience with your very credible and high quality article directory you run and on your years of experience having websites what you would say the highest percentage of visitors leave a page near the top or near the bottom?

    Obviously this is a generalization(neither of us can comment on Ezine's direct stats) but this is on across many niches and topics and it is fairly consistent. Ezine's site covers many topics and niches so at a rough estimate I would stand by my comment.

    Another way to test is I know quite a few people who publish on ezinearticles(myself included although not as much as before) and if you take the total visitors an article receives and then the amount of URL clicks at the bottom of the article in your resource box a large percentage do not click.

    They had to go somewhere(google ad, another article, closed the browser etc...)

    Now I am not the best writer so that may attribute to a large portion but I know some darn good article marketers and writers their stats seem to confirm my thoughts.

    Also Chris Knight who does have access to all the data would be foolish not to put adsense where it would get clicked on a high percentage of time. If the resource box at the end of the article was it I would hazard to guess we would see some Adsense blocks in that spot and our resource box would be on the right side of the article.

    Although yes you are right I should have put a disclaimer saying I had no access to specific details for ezinearticles.
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    • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
      Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

      Allen,

      Based on your experience with your very credible and high quality article directory you run and on your years of experience having websites what you would say the highest percentage of visitors leave a page near the top or near the bottom?

      Obviously this is a generalization(neither of us can comment on Ezine's direct stats) but this is on across many niches and topics and it is fairly consistent. Ezine's site covers many topics and niches so at a rough estimate I would stand by my comment.

      Another way to test is I know quite a few people who publish on ezinearticles(myself included although not as much as before) and if you take the total visitors an article receives and then the amount of URL clicks at the bottom of the article in your resource box a large percentage do not click.

      They had to go somewhere(google ad, another article, closed the browser etc...)

      Now I am not the best writer so that may attribute to a large portion but I know some darn good article marketers and writers their stats seem to confirm my thoughts.

      Although yes you are right I should have put a disclaimer saying I had no access to specific details for ezinearticles.

      Thanks,

      My personal experience shows that approximately 35% of article page visitors that click off the article page, leave via ads - didn't matter if they were near the top or bottom. But this was only with three ad blocks (top, middle, bottom), not frickin 20 like EZA has. LOL

      Some others say that a great majority of EZAs traffic comes from other marketers and competition, but I have to disagree with that too - I mean come on, they have SE results on the first page of practically every search term you can think of...practically.

      With the millions and millions of searches that go on every hour of every day, I have a hard time believing that a great majority of their traffic is from 'insiders'

      Anyhow, I've just been hearing outrageous claims and obvious BS going around lately, so I decided to start asking when I see stuff like that. 700 articles in 7 days, 80% CTRs, $10,000 in 30 days, non-factual statements about article directory traffic...the list goes on. It's just getting old.

      Allen
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      • Profile picture of the author derrickp
        Thanks for the details Allen, a lot can be learned from looking at stats and trends and those of us with access to them(like you, Chris Knight, Squidoo owner, Hub Pages etc...)

        I agree with your thoughts about traffic, I would say a very large portion comes from Google and other SE.

        I think pointing out BS is a good thing the WF needs a little bit more of that and I am wrong plenty of times and I hope if my comments are wrong others give their perspective that is the best way to learn.

        Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

        Thanks,

        My personal experience shows that approximately 35% of article page visitors that click off the article page, leave via ads - didn't matter if they were near the top or bottom. But this was only with three ad blocks (top, middle, bottom), not frickin 20 like EZA has. LOL

        Some others say that a great majority of EZAs traffic comes from other marketers and competition, but I have to disagree with that too - I mean come on, they have SE results on the first page of practically every search term you can think of...practically.

        With the millions and millions of searches that go on every hour of every day, I have a hard time believing that a great majority of their traffic is from 'insiders'

        Anyhow, I've just been hearing outrageous claims and obvious BS going around lately, so I decided to start asking when I see stuff like that. 700 articles in 7 days, 80% CTRs, $10,000 in 30 days, non-factual statements about article directory traffic...the list goes on. It's just getting old.

        Allen
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Williams
        Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

        Anyhow, I've just been hearing outrageous claims and obvious BS going around lately, so I decided to start asking when I see stuff like that. 700 articles in 7 days, 80% CTRs, $10,000 in 30 days, non-factual statements about article directory traffic...the list goes on. It's just getting old.

        Allen
        Ha, you thought I wouldn't catch that. Yeah ... well you're a mean person. Not really... but ... oh nevermind.
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  • Profile picture of the author newBum76
    To anybody that might be worried about that original post, I just had a 252 word article approved on ezinearticles about an hour ago. And it's a pretty good quality original article with some killer tips if I do say so myself.

    Not only that, but looks like it just made me $30, woohooo!

    -Jon
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
      Originally Posted by newBum76 View Post

      To anybody that might be worried about that original post, I just had a 252 word article approved on ezinearticles about an hour ago. And it's a pretty good quality original article with some killer tips if I do say so myself.

      Not only that, but looks like it just made me $30, woohooo!

      -Jon
      Your article was approved because it didn't look like or contain the same info as other articles in YOUR account more than likely...

      The changes that EZA is making - while they may seem like a pain in the butt at the moment will allow those that stick in there and conform to make even MORE money from their traffic.

      So, start looking at what they want and go from there
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      • Profile picture of the author newBum76
        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

        Your article was approved because it didn't look like or contain the same info as other articles in YOUR account more than likely...

        The changes that EZA is making - while they may seem like a pain in the butt at the moment will allow those that stick in there and conform to make even MORE money from their traffic.

        So, start looking at what they want and go from there
        I completely agree.

        Change happens all the time whether we want it to or not. You can either complain and be a victim to it, or you can look for hidden opportunities and come out on top. It's all about perspective.
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      • Profile picture of the author ahefner33
        Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

        Your article was approved because it didn't look like or contain the same info as other articles in YOUR account more than likely...

        The changes that EZA is making - while they may seem like a pain in the butt at the moment will allow those that stick in there and conform to make even MORE money from their traffic.

        So, start looking at what they want and go from there
        Hey Jeremy,

        I'd like to believe that but honestly I don't know how Ezine is running there editorial staff.

        I have been chatting back and forth with Penny (editor manager) over at Ezine. The contradictions she keeps explaining to me is unreal. She replies to my questions(direct) without answering them and explains exactly what Ezine wants and doesn't want submitted.

        I can give an example. Take it for whats its worth. I asked several times to her that I would like to know exactly what they are looking for in there articles because apparently they were getting upset with the submissions to a particular niche. Questions were asked and suggestions were made with a few links to the EzineArticles Blog and FB account. The changes on what she wanted were made and before even submitting any of the content, I messaged her back with the same content and showed her changes have been made to what she had asked for.

        Took some days to reply so in that time I submitted the articles I sent to her, which were approved in a hour or so (Premium). I would say a couple hours after they went live, I receive a message back stating that these articles wont get accepted and made a new suggestion on why they wont. Remember this was completely new content and not just rewriting what they had already rejected. But apparently the articles went through and went live. She then made a emphasis that they wont be accepting certain articles with certain names in titles, word counts, etc... But I go right over to most recent submissions and that's all there is in that category. Everything she says they're not accepting. I don't know how it works but everything she gives to me as a answer on what they want is not what they are doing.

        Ok you say, why not just do what she wants? Well one, writers ARE doing what they want them to do. But how does it make you feel when you are made to make changes about certain things when its not being implemented by everyone else? The whole 'articles views' too as well dont relate to how long the article is. You can find plenty of shorter written articles taking more views than some longer more detailed articles that are 500+ words.

        Sorry for the long post, but I just don't see if changes are needed, why they are not following what they preach?
        Signature

        Adam Hefner

        http://foodgawker.com/ - Warning - Don't go to if you are hawngry

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        • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
          Originally Posted by ahefner33 View Post

          Hey Jeremy,

          I'd like to believe that but honestly I don't know how Ezine is running there editorial staff.

          I have been chatting back and forth with Penny (editor manager) over at Ezine. The contradictions she keeps explaining to me is unreal. She replies to my questions(direct) without answering them and explains exactly what Ezine wants and doesn't want submitted.

          I can give an example. Take it for whats its worth. I asked several times to her that I would like to know exactly what they are looking for in there articles because apparently they were getting upset with the submissions to a particular niche. Questions were asked and suggestions were made with a few links to the EzineArticles Blog and FB account. The changes on what she wanted were made and before even submitting any of the content, I messaged her back with the same content and showed her changes have been made to what she had asked for.

          Took some days to reply so in that time I submitted the articles I sent to her, which were approved in a hour or so (Premium). I would say a couple hours after they went live, I receive a message back stating that these articles wont get accepted and made a new suggestion on why they wont. Remember this was completely new content and not just rewriting what they had already rejected. But apparently the articles went through and went live. She then made a emphasis that they wont be accepting certain articles with certain names in titles, word counts, etc... But I go right over to most recent submissions and that's all there is in that category. Everything she says they're not accepting. I don't know how it works but everything she gives to me as a answer on what they want is not what they are doing.

          Ok you say, why not just do what she wants? Well one, writers ARE doing what they want them to do. But how does it make you feel when you are made to make changes about certain things when its not being implemented by everyone else? The whole 'articles views' too as well dont relate to how long the article is. You can find plenty of shorter written articles taking more views than some longer more detailed articles that are 500+ words.

          Sorry for the long post, but I just don't see if changes are needed, why they are not following what they preach?
          Hello,

          The first thing you DON'T want to do is to get worked up about it

          EZA is going to be tough for some over the next couple of weeks and almost IMPOSSIBLE in some niches for some people.

          so, what to do?

          SCREW EZA - Don't give them your content.

          The one and only reason that I like EZA so much is because of the initial burst of traffic that they give. That initial burst gives me sales each and every day BUT over a week to 2 week period of time the same traffic results can be obtained from other sources.

          Press releases - Often rank higher than EZA right from the start and then fizzle, but the initial traffic is the same or greater than that of EZA.

          Articlebase - with a little bit of work articlebase has the same ranking power of EZA.

          Goarticles - See above

          EZA isn't the only game in town although they are a good game when it comes to initial traffic and the way they are structured which likely won't change due to their own linking scheme.

          Focus your efforts in other places for a week or two until things calm down a little bit - You will be putting more money in your pocket by giving your content to a directory or source that WANTS your content.
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        • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
          Originally Posted by ahefner33 View Post

          I'd like to believe that but honestly I don't know how Ezine is running there editorial staff.
          Sounds like a print operation to me. The editor gets final say, and what he says goes. If he says you can't use the word "carp" because the readers might misread it as "crap" and then they'll get complaints, you don't get to say "WTF, are you retarded?" and fight about it. You do what he says. And if he's having a bad day, or he's constipated, or he just feels like you need to be taught your place in the organisation - he'll tell you to do dumb things, just because he can.

          That's simply how things work when you're writing for a living. If you want to be published here, you need to deal with the editorial staff. If you don't want to deal with them, you can go be published somewhere else, but if you want your work to be published here... you have to play ball.
          Signature
          "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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    • Profile picture of the author Big JP
      Originally Posted by newBum76 View Post

      To anybody that might be worried about that original post, I just had a 252 word article approved on ezinearticles about an hour ago. And it's a pretty good quality original article with some killer tips if I do say so myself.

      Not only that, but looks like it just made me $30, woohooo!

      -Jon
      Haha! Congrats, was it a clickbank sale?
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    This is a natural outcome of the "quantity over quality" mindset that so many article marketers have adopted. No one should be surprised. If you're determined to use articles to get backlinks, just skip EZA. Fire up your spammer software (er, I mean your "mass article submitter") and blast them out to the other 45,124 directories in existence. Wait, now it's 45,125. Problem solved.

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author greff
    I had a couple sent back to me last week for good reasons.

    I am glad EZA is clamping down on crappy articles. Enough said.
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  • Profile picture of the author TelegramSam
    I finished the "Get Mega-Rich-Quick Article Writing Course" last week.

    So I wrote and submitted my article 8 days ago.

    Fedex still haven't delivered the Red Ferrari like the course video promised.

    This really sucks man.

    So I am going to try PPC on Tuesday morning and see if that works.

    Then if that doesn't work I am going to build a website on Wednesday and see if that does it.

    I want my Ferrari and I want it now (sulk, sulk)!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Valorie
    Hey All-
    I think ezine is trying to push everyone into paid status. Those that pay the monthly fee don't seem to be having near the headaches everyone else is.

    Also, be prepared, they may be gearing up to pull a Squidoo on everyone. They seem to be very worried about quality now.

    I'm thinking (hoping?) that ghostwriters will be more and more important now.

    And really, this is going to convince a lot of people to go another route, or quit trying with articles all together. That won't hurt those that stick with it.

    -Valorie
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    • Profile picture of the author ahefner33
      Originally Posted by Valorie View Post

      Hey All-
      I think ezine is trying to push everyone into paid status. Those that pay the monthly fee don't seem to be having near the headaches everyone else is.
      -Valorie
      Hey. In my own personal experience and the small click of friends I chat with on IM have had more problems since going over to the pay. Again this is just from my own experience. Initially I wanted to have the ability to set my articles to go live at certain times but seems that making a que for them (submitting most of your work at once and have them scheduled out over the coming days) has overwhelmed alot of there staff.
      Signature

      Adam Hefner

      http://foodgawker.com/ - Warning - Don't go to if you are hawngry

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      • Profile picture of the author Valorie
        Originally Posted by ahefner33 View Post

        Hey. In my own personal experience and the small click of friends I chat with on IM have had more problems since going over to the pay. Again this is just from my own experience. Initially I wanted to have the ability to set my articles to go live at certain times but seems that making a que for them (submitting most of your work at once and have them scheduled out over the coming days) has overwhelmed alot of there staff.
        Thanks for that perspective. It sounds like they are in the middle of internal upheaval, and just need some time.

        I sometimes get overwhelmed at how fast the online world can change...

        -Valorie
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  • Profile picture of the author AdamWB
    I've pretty much come to the conclusion that the editors at EZA either don't communicate to each other, don't know their own rules, or don't know what their doing.

    I've been communicating with the same lead Editor (Penny), and the sheer amount of idiocracy and contradictions I get from her - it's a wonder she can even open her email box (I'm serious, it's that bad).

    I think the bottom line is they don't have enough staff to handle the premium subscriptions they have coming in. People, like me, like to submit several articles at once, but have them scheduled to trickle in throughout the month. Now they have a load of writers doing the same thing, times that by however many articles - it comes out to a staggering amount. And they just can't handle the new load. So they come out with some perposterous claim that it's the fault of Affiliate marketers and they are at "war" with them...blahblahblah - (isn't that 99% of their writer base anyway? give me a break).

    And now legit marketers that write quality content are feeling it. I'm hoping this blows over, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth - especially when I'm paying exorbitant premium rates for their service that I can't even use now.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis-White
    If you upgrade to a paid member all is well in fine!
    Signature

    Affiliate Marketer, business builder and Content Creator >Grab My FREE Internet Marketing Profits Book Here<

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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    sweet - I like this line...

    If you've written original articles from your head and didn't use any software article rewriter, you should have nothing to worry about.

    Then again, if you can't do this well, you're screwed.

    Allen
    Signature
    Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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    • Profile picture of the author RebeccaL
      Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

      sweet - I like this line...

      If you've written original articles from your head and didn't use any software article rewriter, you should have nothing to worry about.

      Then again, if you can't do this well, you're screwed.

      Allen
      True
      But unfortunately many of the mass submitting writers at EZA DO actually write them off the top of their head: its just that all the article say the same thing in different words. So I dont think you're totally safe even if you dont use software.

      As an example: look at all the articles of the #1 author in the Mens Issues health category.
      This guy stopped submitting in July, but he was submitting 30+ articles per day of the same junk over and over. I gather they finally banned him.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
        Why is everyone acting like EZA is the end-all be-all?

        They are like the snobs of article directories and have been since I started writing content.

        us "marketers" are not their type of "clientele" they have said that over and over again.

        Pack up and pick a new favorite

        The same strategies and methods work on other directories that actually appreciate people giving them content, traffic, and revenue.
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        • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
          Originally Posted by Jeremy Kelsall View Post

          Why is everyone acting like EZA is the end-all be-all?

          They are like the snobs of article directories and have been since I started writing content.

          us "marketers" are not their type of "clientele" they have said that over and over again.

          Pack up and pick a new favorite

          The same strategies and methods work on other directories that actually appreciate people giving them content, traffic, and revenue.

          Thanks for that enlightening post.

          While it is completely obvious, some people just aren't getting it.

          I was thinking about the post by ahefner above where EZA says they have "fired" several premium members.

          Umm, isn't it EZA that was on hire? They should use a different term to avoid being considered just way too cocky!

          Allen
          Signature
          Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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          • Profile picture of the author ahefner33
            Originally Posted by Allen Graves View Post

            I was thinking about the post by ahefner above where EZA says they have "fired" several premium members.

            Umm, isn't it EZA that was on hire? They should use a different term to avoid being considered just way too cocky!

            Allen
            Yeah. I don't really understand how you can "fire" someone that just shelled out $600 for their premium and have not used there months. Unless they're refunding.
            Signature

            Adam Hefner

            http://foodgawker.com/ - Warning - Don't go to if you are hawngry

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            • Profile picture of the author TristanPerry
              The post from their Facebook which reportedly says:

              One guy yesterday offered us $36k to accept his articles on top of our Premium membership fee with one exception: He wanted us to accept derivative content. No way!

              Got me worried. They are being VERY unprofessional. Almost like they are run by children. In the blog post they effectively say they are the best directory and everyone else is rubbish and accepts rubbish articles. Then they say that .info has never had a good website created using it (despite some charities using it, and some very good information sites). Then they brag about how they're "firing" their paid members, and even give a major insight into a very private conversation between client and EZA staff. Worrying stuff.

              If they want to only get articles from industry experts and all, then they need to start changing their guidelines massively. Oh, and they need to stop being unprofessional.

              EZA are a private site and are 100% free to do what they wish. Including making unprofessional statements which make them look bad. I've also never been "anti-EZA" (have never had an article rejected for "being thin", nor have I had an account suspended), but I am quite cautious of them now.

              Being snobby about "short" articles is one thing. But some of the comments by their staff on that blog post, and what they apparently said via Facebook, have me worried. No professional company should be saying things like they are saying.
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              • Profile picture of the author Hamida Harland
                From what I've seen they've banned quite a few. I subscribe to a number of authors (some that submit 30+ articles a day of derivative content in just one niche), and I've noticed most of them disappear over the past few weeks. I know quite a few people who have received a warning from them as well - basically telling them they need to submit articles of 450-500 words in length.
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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    Wow, some big movements afoot here. All the more reason to make sure your eggs aren't all in the same basket. When it comes down to it, we don't have any control or actual say in how eza handles this in the future. You don't want to find a door completely shut on you, make sure you diversify!

    It sounds like even people writing good stuff that isn't "derivative" may get booted to the curb because of the subject matter. That stinks.

    Matt
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    WarriorForum Rules!

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  • Profile picture of the author freudianslip27
    24-48 hours here as well.

    You also have to remember that when you write for different sections of EZA, you can experience different wait times, as there may be a backup of articles, or editors that are a bit pickier.

    Matt
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    WarriorForum Rules!

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  • Profile picture of the author sumeno
    its due to saturation. The changes are being made.
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    Originally Posted by Nathan Segal View Post

    I have the odd issue, but not about the length. Still, as the other user said, don't put all your eggs in one basket. I believe there was a thread on here about the top article directories. If you can find it, that will give you other options.
    There are several of those, just do a search.

    Here's the latest one... http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...pHwqFaoBXsS3M7

    Allen
    Signature
    Every day I check the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, then I know it's going to be a good day!
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  • Profile picture of the author pheonix44
    SCREW EZA - Don't give them your content.

    The one and only reason that I like EZA so much is because of the initial burst of traffic that they give. That initial burst gives me sales each and every day BUT over a week to 2 week period of time the same traffic results can be obtained from other sources.
    Sums it up in a nutshell. If mcdonalds is closed I'll go to burger king.
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    • Profile picture of the author David Jay
      The reason people love Ezine is because Google loves Ezine. The reason Google love Ezine is because they have high standards.

      If Ezine doesn't maintain high standards then Google rankings, along with your income, will drop for all Ezine content.

      Don't bit the hand that feeds you.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Walker
    Hi Guys, I wrote about 6/7 articles for E-ZineArticles and waited and waited and waited and then suddenly - phumph!!, they all disappeared off the system!! So, I got on with my life and used Google ads to promote my business!!

    Keep at it though, e-zines well worth using in the end!!

    Kevin
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  • I hate writing articles and all my articles are just about over 250 words.

    I give some helpful tips in the articles but then direct the reader to my site to get the rest of the informations. Just enough info to get them curious for more.

    I learned a sneaky but totaly legit way of writing articles from a report a got in a WSO.

    Now it takes me just about 10 to 15 minutes to write articles and I´ve only got 1 of seven rejected and that was just a minor problem.

    Ezine is still the best directory for real traffic.
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