It's Getting Complicated; Article Marketing

Web 2.0 sites do this to stop affiliate marketers .

The few directories that do this will find their own rules will hurt them in the long run since they are stopping syndication. Syndication is the reason article directories thrive .... or die .

I write for a very popular website called Info Barrel. They are proving to be a huge competitor for websites like HubPages, Squidoo, and eHow, in part because of their quality control process, incentivized user experiences, and multiple article formatting.

InfoBarrel does not allow ANY duplicate content whatsoever, and, while some may debate whether this is a good thing or not, their recent growth has been absolutely outstanding.

I also earn 30% more, per month, in revenue share, than HubPages offers its members.

While it may not be such a good thing for affiliate marketers, sites like Info Barrel are intentionally making it so that content is only expressly unique to their own website. This is VERY critical, I believe, in facilitating longterm growth and viability. Those who don't like this policy can go elsewhere, however, this site already attracts visitors like a magnet, and I already earn several hundred ($$$) a month from it.....

It is so worth writing 4-6 versions of each paragraph and then spinning the paragraphs for a couple hundred unique articles for reasons stated in other threads. This just re-enforces what was already (in my opinion) best practices. (Another reason to spin I have not seen given is, it is POSSIBLE for 10 of your articles, spun by paragraph to 70% uniqueness or better to all end up on page 1 of Google or other search engine! Unlikely as it may be, it is not impossible. That incidence would greatly increase SE clicks and eventual CTRs from one of them. )

My take on it is that these websites are protecting their own interests. They've been filled up with spam articles that do not inform or entertain, but are only product descriptions directed to an affiliate site that also does not inform or entertain.

If you try making some fresh content and go a but further and try making it interesting and informative to read, you'll have a lot better luck.

There is a difference in a web 2.0 site , your home directory and your link directories .

You web 2.0 site needs to be unique for the fact that it is one of your closest buffers to your money site . Just doesn't make sense to have the same article on it as you would your money site . No one wants to read the same article twice to get to the money link.

Picking a home directory is important for the fact it is also a buffer source .

Home directories need to be bookmark friendly . You will be surprised at the article directories that everyone says are number 1 but are considered spam sources by the majority of the bookmarking sites that matter .

Because my home directory is a buffer one step away from my money page , I also have an original article pointing to my money link on it .

Link directories are just that. Send the exact same article to them as you already have on your blog .

If everything is linked properly before long your blog is going to be the authority for the keyword anyway .

Why is this so difficult to comprehend? Content has always been, and always will be king. Quality will always trump quantity. With quality you will always get targeted and useful traffic, not the low quality "bounce in 3 seconds or less" traffic.

Google is the almighty search engine bohemoth (sp?). You adapt to their changes or get left behind. They are always trying to tweak their algorithm to provide the most accurate and useful results as possible to maintain their ad revenue and increase it.

Good article directories are always going to stay on top of these fluctuations in Google's algorithm to maintain their ranking. So you are going to see a lot of directories demand and get unique content.

But this goes back to something people have been saying a lot on the WF... build content for your own site and stop building content for other people's sites. It takes longer to get ranked, but it can be much more worthwhile, depending on your niche. Obviously some obscure unprofitable niches wouldn't be worth investing time in building something like that.

Spammy and Blackhat-esque tactics are only going to be effectice for so long. Sound business and marketing strategies will stand the test of time, whereas the aforementioned methods will be here today, gone this afternoon.

Dennis

That is why I threw in the "depends on the niche" statement. Some niches are better suited for the Squidoo/Hubpage type of sites. But in the end it is best to do what works best for you and your own business model.

I have been following a few threads and favor the idea of writing a longer unique article for your website and a shorter article spun to be different for each article directory.

From what you quoted, I cannot directly link to my minisite that is selling a book about building and selling widgets, for example. But if I have a blog about home enterprises and write an article telling about how simple, yet beneficial it is to make and sell them, then I should be able to link to the article/site. At the site, I would have a link to my book sales page or clickbank, I suppose. (Does this sound right?)

Just take the time to write original content. Provide valuable content and it will be worth it in the end.

I still vote for Ezinearticles for hosting and ranking my articles, many good article directories out there, goarticles is the least strict rules...