Question: Why would you publish an article on an Ezine rather than your own site?

Exactly!

Not to discount the value of blogs and niche websites, but, there are TONS of authority sites out there....each with varying structures, functionality, and platform offerings (rev share, etc...)

With each new one that emerges, I truly believe that people will find it increasingly more difficult to earn from their own websites. A viable strategy would be to use the search engine authority of authority sites, in order to suck in that traffic, and direct it to your own site.....monetize every end of the spectrum and you can do very well. (Monetize a rev share site with Adsense, amazon, clickbank, linkshare, CJ, etc....then, monetize your own site with all of the above again....draw people into that funnel and you can do VERY well...)

As the mom of upcoming pop singer, I love the way you relate so many things to music.

And your thought here on location and distribution is perfectly put.

yes, most people do it is to get more traffic,but supply quality article to readers I think is most importent.

Yes.. credibility on the backlinks is the most important factor with the authority sites. It's true that you can have 100 of backlinks from your own site but there is always a certain possibility that you would be treated as spammer by search engines and that is something you want only on a cold day in hell

Couldn't have said it better myself

It's all about getting your content read. People visit ezinearticles to look for information and also ezinearticles ranks in the serps better than your site (if your site is new).

I always post an article on my site before submitting it. While the submission sites do get more traffic, people aren't usually there just to read - they are there to find articles to use for their own content needs.

I don't post to submission sites for readers and clicks, although that's a nice side perk - I post for people to post my stuff on their sites - more back links as well as readers who are interested in your niche and click the resource links. Sometimes it leads to other networking as well.

Um....
You are posting crappy articles? People read those, ya know. It doesn't matter where you post crap, I guess, if you don't care if potential customers think you are an idiot. The bottom line is that people read articles no matter where you put them. They are sometimes your one shot at showing your expertise. Blow it any way you want to.

After publishing articles on Ezinearticles.com, you will get highly targeted traffic for 3-4 days which can bring sales.

Thanks JAIDEEP... short term cash is always good!

Thank You too cashcow... are you saying submit to 'article directories' within my industry or should I pick a great publisher and submit directly to them(increasing the chances that it will be picked up by a great publisher)? That would seem like a good strategy to write a 'guest article' for a recognised industry leader. Possibly even get picked up as a regular contributor? Am I on the right track?

Good point, Tim....

Scribd and Slideshare?

(Believe it or not, I have yet to use these yet, but I've been contemplating venturing that way....)

Bottom line a massive site with no links to it means little traffic. You really need to get connected with the rest of the internet unless you just want your site to sit in cyberspace forever. Writing articles for other sites and linking back to your own is a great way to do this.

Thanks brokenblade.

Does anybody have suggestions for the 'best article directories for SEO'?

I think it all depends on the platform.

Like it or not, though, when one considers just how many of these sites are 'out there', and continue to emerge....it's easy to see just how much general internet is being gobbled up. I can name a good 20+ of these web 2.0 properties, right off the top of my end, and it seems as if a new one debuts just about every other day.

Rather than fight the trend, it's not going away any time soon. Granted, there are tiny intricacies and deviations in one site's TOS as it compares to another sites, and, that can be reflected in how search engines perceive the content they are providing. For example, many sites have shifted to an "only original/no duplicate" content policy, in an attempt to be seen as more favorable to search engines, and not get "slapped", like Squidoo was back in the day...

"From an SEO standpoint, however, they do have the following benefits:

1) Lots of site authority
2) Domain age
3) High page rank
4) Get Crawled frequently
5) Backlinks"

Completely agree! As the web becomes saturated with these Web 2.0 properties, that gobble up traffic like no tomorrow....I truly believe it will become increasingly difficult for every day people just to start their own websites and blogs and make serious monetary headway. I think those days are dying out....anticipating a trend, these sites should be a formidable piece of one's online strategy. JMHO.

I would be very cautious of completely discounting the value of web 2.0 properties in hosting your articles/content.

The autonomy and control behind having your own site can be appealling, however, many trends indicate that authority sites are slowly, yet surely, gobbling up overall search engine traffic, which means that, with time, iit will become increasingly difficult to rank your own sites well.

What good is it to have 100% control over your own content, if that content is gaining no traffic and earning only pennies? Beyond that, I think there is a bit of a misconception regarding authority sites. Many sites have a model that inherently gives writers control.

If I want to strip my articles off, at any time, I can do that, if I choose not to host them there or choose to host them elsewhere entirely. While there are varying guidelines regarding the placement of affiliate links, with regards to different website's TOS, many sites, for the most part, afford writers quite a bit of control and flexibility already.

For revenue sharing websites, that also offer a tremendous amount of search engine authority, it is in THEIR best interest to maximize profits....so, just because you yourself don't emplace Google ads, the website itself (should) actually apply its own research regarding placements. Find the right site, and you can make a killing off of revenue share because it's in the site and it's management's best interest to earn as much revenue as possible.

The search engine authority is established by a community's leveraging of it's user base to provide consistent high quality content that appeals to the search engines. The value of authority sites should definitely not be discounted, in fact, like I had mentioned earlier, I think will find that the general evolution of the internet will make it harder and harder for people to rank their own websites. It may take you 7 months to rank your site now, however, a year down the road, with these authority sites attracting such a limited supply of worldwide traffic, it may take 10-12 months to rank that same site.

The best approach, IMHO, is to use your own site, not exclusively, but rather in conjunction with authority sites. Monetize every avenue that you could envision your traffic hitting....take revenue share from the authority site....use affiliate links/links to products...amazon...chitika...then, if someone clicks through to your site, do the same thing all over again and again and again.

Why not do both? I always publish my articles on my own site first to make sure I get credit for new, original content.

Then when I'm sure that my article has been indexed I publish it on EZA. That way I get the backlinks plus their authority and readership numbers.

I've been doing this for a couple years with great results. But if I had to choose just one method I would rather publish the content on my site only. Taking the long view if you want to become an authority site you'll never do that by giving away original content.

Not quite. I'd suggest publishing ONLY quality articles, both on your site and in the directories. As long as these articles have your name attached, you want them to make you look good.


Exactly!

I think you may be missing out quite a bit with that strategy.

it's not just about backlinks but also about building a "presence" and establishing your authority and expertise.

So the more articles you have out there in quality places, the more chances of people coming across your work and finding your website. And if you're selling something, they may well come to you (partially) pre-sold.