EZA and others...what's the point!

37 replies
Okay, so you give ezine articles, go articles, and others your content..

EZA don't allow dofollow links in the body and the 2 dofollow links in the resource box are still on a pr0 page. Furthermore, you get approximately 10%-20% CTR.

Is this worth it? Wouldn't it be better to keep your own content and spend your time getting backlinks to your own site?

And...sites like articlesbase and others don't have dofollow links.

Hubpages is even worse. They flag you when your hub is 'overly promotional' AND they don't provide dofollow until you have a score of 75.

Their business models parallel that of a 'sweat shop'.

End of rant.
#eza #otherswhat #point
  • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
    With EZA, the point is to get your article picked up and published by OTHER sites. That's when you start getting the powerful backlinks.

    And you don't have to make a choice on where to place your content. Smart marketers put their content on their own sites first, get them indexed and THEN submit them to article directories.

    Tina
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    • Profile picture of the author humbledmarket
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      Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

      With EZA, the point is to get your article picked up and published by OTHER sites. That's when you start getting the powerful backlinks.

      And you don't have to make a choice on where to place your content. Smart marketers put their content on their own sites first, get them indexed and THEN submit them to article directories.

      Tina
      Thanks! Sorry I hope you don't mind me asking a newbie question. Is it whitehat to take articles to use on your site from article directories?
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      • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
        Originally Posted by humbledmarket View Post

        Is it whitehat to take articles to use on your site from article directories?
        Actually, the whole initial idea behind article directories was exactly that: to provide webmasters with what is called syndicated content.

        As per the Terms and conditions of the directories, you must keep them unchanged and keep the author toolbox or whatever they require.

        Maybe an analogy can explain it better: think of news agencies (Reuter, AP etc.). Many newspapers will publish their news referencing to the source.
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

          Maybe an analogy can explain it better: think of news agencies (Reuter, AP etc.). Many newspapers will publish their news referencing to the source.
          The news agencies could not compete if it were not for Syndicated Content...

          Pick up your favorite newspaper or visit your favorite news website, and you will find many of the stories are preceded with a notice that reads either (AP), (UPI) or (Reuters).

          These are the companies that write most of the news as we find it in newspapers and on websites... The news agencies buy the right to republish these stories in their papers and websites...

          Google has never shown any disrespect for Syndicated Content in the news world, and they certainly do not disrespect Syndicated Content as we use it in Internet Marketing...
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Oksa
    Getting backlinks for PR isn't the only reason people use EZA and other directories.

    A lot of writers use them to get direct clicks to their website via their resource boxes. They craft the article in such a way that it delivers some information to the reader, but also generates the desire to learn more.

    That's one explanation.

    All the best,
    Michael
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  • Profile picture of the author theteach
    Is there a standard percentage that people have with regards to their amount of articles that are published by other sites?

    I understand this concept but I am wondering on the chances of getting your articles 'picked up', especially if they aren't all that unique.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      If the articles are "all that unique", then no, you don't have a high chance of being picked up. I was referring to high quality articles, not the regurgitated drivel that many think is perfectly acceptable content.

      The benefits of providing quality will always outweigh the benefits of taking shortcuts in the long run.

      Tina
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  • Profile picture of the author caseycase
    I've been actually seeing my articles getting picked up on other sites as well as getting a good view percentage and click through rate from articlesbase. EZA seems to be doing fairly well, too. However, it does require good writing and not spun junk.
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    • Profile picture of the author ss442
      TheTeach---what casycase says is absolutely correct. When you write a quality article, other interests may well pick it up and use it in their sales pages.

      You are right, you do not get a direct link in EZA but you can direct to an information blog where you can promote other products as well. You may think this is a bad idea but it adds credibility to you as an author if other sites want to promote your article.

      Example;

      If you type "bathroom floor selection" you will find an Ezinearticle I wrote some time ago that is still in #1 or 2 position in Google that redirects to a blog. This only earns about .47 cents a day but it is not optimized and needs an overhaul.

      It is getting a lot more views now because many floor tile and interior design sites have picked up this article and use it in their content. Some of them do not give me credit as they should but it isn't worth a fight in my view. I have created "confessions of a tile setter" which is a title but you will find that linked to many sites other than mine. And, I don't mind, it means more traffic.

      This is free advertising and it works. This isn't making me rich by any means but it has shown me that article marketing can work.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ross Dalangin
    My reason to put my articles in the article directories is to make it viral. Webmasters always copy articles from article sites and most of them don't have time to rewrite that is why your link are embedded to their site. And since they are tech-savvy they know how to make their PR increase and also make their website get traffic, later on your site get the juice of their work and even get traffic too!

    Ross
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Originally Posted by humbledmarket View Post

      Thanks! Sorry I hope you don't mind me asking a newbie question. Is it whitehat to take articles to use on your site from article directories?
      It's perfectly acceptable and the directories encourage it - after all, that's what they're there for. You just have to follow the rules of the directory. Obviously, you must keep the resource box intact but some directories also have a limit on how many you can republish to a given site.

      Tina
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  • Profile picture of the author Caiden
    Thought I'd point out that many marketers do very well using the raw traffic you get directly from a site like EZA.

    Just sayin......
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    • Profile picture of the author Dellco
      It's true that other websites may pick up your articles from article directories and republish them on their sites, but the only ones I see doing this are low quality websites with spammy domains that Google has already flagged.

      Furthermore, the rate of pick up is very small these days, as many webmasters are fearful of "duplicate content." 5 years ago, the take up rate was much better, but those days, scraper BH sites were all the rage. Not today.

      By all means publish articles to article directories like EZA and other Web 2.0 sites, but keep your BEST ones on your own site. Don't work your ass off for all these Web 2.0 sites.

      EZA doesn't even share revenue and it seems they make tons from Adsense....
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      • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
        Originally Posted by Dellco View Post

        It's true that other websites may pick up your articles from article directories and republish them on their sites, but the only ones I see doing this are low quality websites with spammy domains that Google has already flagged.

        Furthermore, the rate of pick up is very small these days, as many webmasters are fearful of "duplicate content." 5 years ago, the take up rate was much better, but those days, scraper BH sites were all the rage. Not today.

        By all means publish articles to article directories like EZA and other Web 2.0 sites, but keep your BEST ones on your own site. Don't work your ass off for all these Web 2.0 sites.

        EZA doesn't even share revenue and it seems they make tons from Adsense....
        Um, no offense, but perhaps it is just your articles that are being found on the spammy sites? Plenty of people find quality sites picking up their quality articles from EZA - just ask Alexa up above.

        I think more webmasters than you think are fully aware of the duplicate content myth.

        Again, to address your last paragraph, you do not have to choose which articles to post as an either/or with EZA. You simply get the piece intexed on your site first, before sending it to directories.

        Tina
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
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        • Profile picture of the author netkid
          In the end, the most valuable advice you can receive from everyone here is to "spread" your content to as many places as you can on the internet. Everything you put online goes viral.

          Consider your main site or "money site" the hub. Then write articles to place on other sites, make comments on other sites, register with other directories, guest blog on other blogs, submit your content to slideshare, to scribd, to technorati, giveaway viral ebooks, etc. the list goes on and on and on......all content you send out should point back to your money site. It's really that simple.

          It is the combination of every single avenue you send your content to that makes your site successful as far as exposure is concerned. I would not question any one source at all to insert content to. If you don't do this, then "what's the point of doing IM?"
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          Originally Posted by Dellco

          It's true that other websites may pick up your articles from article directories and republish them on their sites, but the only ones I see doing this are low quality websites with spammy domains that Google has already flagged.
          I have to say that my long-term experience, across a wide variety of different niches, bears absolutely no resemblance to this at all.
          I agree with Alexa 100% on this...


          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          I'm posting my articles to EZA (and to other article directories - usually 6 or 7 of them) for webmasters of high-quality, authority sites to syndicate my articles, and this is exactly what happens, leading to additional backlinks (and from context-appropriate, relevant sites - so they're really valuable ones), and additional traffic, and additional income, so that it's really building a business for me, with gradually developing residual income from work already done.
          Right on... I don't do article marketing to tease myself about how popular I am... I do article marketing because it puts money in my bank account, period... If it were not a profit center for me, I certainly would not do it...

          And for the record, yes I own an article distribution service, but that article distribution service makes more money when I write and distribute articles to promote it... My income does continue while I am not actively promoting, but the strong income is based on consistent promotion...

          Also for the record, I don't just make money from my article distribution service... I write and distribute articles in many niches totally unrelated to IM, and those niches also put money into my bank account, as a result of my article marketing activities...


          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          I can't begin to understand the logic of this. All my articles go on my own sites and get indexed there first. I'm writing them for my business, and for my sites. But it costs me absolutely nothing to submit them to EZA (and others) after that; it's all gain. It would make absolutely no sense at all to me to keep the "best" ones just on my own site: why deprive myself of the opportunity, at no cost, to get additional backlinks, traffic and income from them, once I've written them anyway? :confused:
          Fake gurus have been promoting this forever... And the poor folks who believe in the fake gurus think that this must be the light, the truth and the salvation...

          The logic is that if Google finds it on your site first, they will acknowledge your website as the original source... But Google makes that determination based on the link in the resource box... According to the Google Webmaster Guidelines they do recommend that we add a link to our Syndicated Articles that suggest, this article was first posted here: LINK

          But I write for people, not search engines... I don't want someone who has just read my article to accidentally click that link and be sent back to the article they just read... That is so lame...

          I tell people that they should never allow Google to dictate to them how to promote their websites, because I certainly don't...

          My link in the resource box is going to tell Google who the source of the article is... and reliably, even when a few schmucks cut my resource box... Because the preponderance of evidence is in my favor... Most copies of the article link to my website... Google is not stupid...

          The fake gurus swear that if Google finds an article on your website first, then they will know that you are the source of the content and so Google will show your site in the first result in its SERPS, because you were the original source of the content...

          Of course, it is bull, but people believe it...

          Google never links in the first spot to the first to publish, but the site that has the most Google respect that holds the article...

          Test it if you think I am wrong... I dare you...

          Put an article on your site first.... Then wait.... Wait until you have seen that Google has your article in their index from your website... Just to be sure, wait another week before doing anything... After all, this is a test, and you want to make it as clean of a test as you can... Only after your article on your site has been in Google by itself for a couple weeks, then syndicate the article and watch what happens...

          EZA and other popular article directories will outrank your site for your article within days, because they already have the Google Love...

          Google does not care who is first to print... They care about which sites have the most traffic and link popularity (site popularity, not PageRank of the page), and they will link to that article on that website, before the original to publish every single time...

          But that should not matter to you...

          Your goal is to ride another site's popularity to get your article seen for keywords that are in the article... You want to combine your target keywords with the other sites' link popularity to help you be seen by more people in the search results...

          When you type in the title of the article, EZA and other sites will rank higher for your article title than your own site, but that is fine... That simply lets you know which sites have the link popularity that you want to tap into...

          But when you type a keyword into the search engines and your article is a dead ringer for that search phrase, the Link Juice of the publishing website will work in conjunction with your article copy to help your article rank at the top of Google...

          When people see your article there at the top of Google, they will click through to read your article, and if they like your article, they will more likely click through your links to your website...

          You are putting articles on third-party websites to ride their reputation to get your articles seen, because your reputation in Google is not as strong, and you cannot rank at the top of Google with your articles if you only left them on your website...

          Your article on EZA has the potential to rank at the top of Google, because Google has a lot of love for EZA... The same article on your website may never be seen in Google, because the love you have in Google is probably weak or non-existent...

          If you want to put your faith in fake gurus, then that is your business...

          But I am not telling you this and expecting you to take my word for it... I show you how you can test my words for yourself...

          If you choose not to test my words, then you are forever condemned to listening to fake gurus and fake advice...

          But if you test my words, you will know with absolute certainty that what I have told you is true...

          Test me, and my words will withstand the test of time...

          Test the fake gurus, and their words will fail you...

          Test no one, and you will fail yourself...
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          • Profile picture of the author traceye
            Originally Posted by tpw View Post

            Google never links in the first spot to the first to publish, but the site that has the most Google respect that holds the article...
            Yes exactly!
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            • Profile picture of the author thetruth23
              Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

              I believe so, yes. Because even if the EZA article doesn't stick at the top of the SERPs, in Google's eyes, that article goes to EZA because it was published and indexed there first.

              Tina
              Originally Posted by Robert Barnard View Post

              I agree with Tina - first published gets the credit first and the second site is duplicate content.

              Robert
              Thanks. Have you ever experienced an article you published to your website first, later being rejected by EZA for duplicate content?

              Is there a trick to this? Maybe posting to EZA the minute your site published article gets indexed?
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              • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
                Thanks. Have you ever experienced an article you published to your website first, later being rejected by EZA for duplicate content?

                Is there a trick to this? Maybe posting to EZA the minute your site published article gets indexed?
                As long as your site has your name, you won't get rejected because it's yours. If your site doesn't have your name on it, you may get an initial rejection but once you show them it's your site, you'll be fine.

                Tina
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  • Profile picture of the author Tom Goodwin
    Originally Posted by theteach View Post

    Okay, so you give ezine articles, go articles, and others your content..

    EZA don't allow dofollow links in the body and the 2 dofollow links in the resource box are still on a pr0 page. Furthermore, you get approximately 10%-20% CTR.

    Is this worth it? Wouldn't it be better to keep your own content and spend your time getting backlinks to your own site?
    Amen. Focus on YOUR content on YOUR sites. Relying on content on domains other people own is asking for trouble. You want to building up your own online real estate.
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  • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
    Originally Posted by theteach View Post

    Okay, so you give ezine articles, go articles, and others your content..

    EZA don't allow dofollow links in the body and the 2 dofollow links in the resource box are still on a pr0 page. Furthermore, you get approximately 10%-20% CTR.

    Is this worth it? Wouldn't it be better to keep your own content and spend your time getting backlinks to your own site?

    And...sites like articlesbase and others don't have dofollow links.

    Hubpages is even worse. They flag you when your hub is 'overly promotional' AND they don't provide dofollow until you have a score of 75.

    Their business models parallel that of a 'sweat shop'.

    End of rant.
    Yes, and if your hubscore falls below 75, all your links automatically revert back to no-follow.

    "Is this worth it? Wouldn't it be better to keep your own content and spend your time getting backlinks to your own site?"

    Definitely have your own site, and use Web 2.0 sites in conjunction with them. Right now, I have 260+ articles on one particular site, and I use my article itself, as well as the author bios box, to divert traffic towards everything from clickbank products, to my own site. Articles can be very powerful.
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  • Profile picture of the author theteach
    Thanks everyone! Some interesting points were made.
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    • Profile picture of the author x3xsolxdierx3x
      Directories and Web 2.0 sites come with pre-packaged, pre-established, search engine authority, that has been developed and refined over years/months of an aggregated userbase collectively contributing content. Revenue share is a great motivator, when the arrangement is well thought out and appropriate...of course, you will find many variations on the the general revenue share model, or those sites that offer people the opportunity to edit and contribute content, without payment, in order to help aid in the development of a massive worldwide reservoir of knowledge (like Wikipedia).

      The site(s) you would actually use could be discussed to no end, because each has different functionality, revenue share arrangements, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheAnnoyingOrange
    Ooooo oooooooo I have a question!

    I have articles published on EZA but it isn't on my website yet. Is it a good idea to still put those onto my site or should I just continue to write articles and publish them to my website then to the article directories... sort of moving on from those initial articles and start to do it correctly.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      I have articles published on EZA but it isn't on my website yet. Is it a good idea to still put those onto my site or should I just continue to write articles and publish them to my website then to the article directories... sort of moving on from those initial articles and start to do it correctly.
      You can put them on your site now but chances are those pages won't get far in the SEs. It's up to you but I would skip those and just begin to do it right from here on out.

      Tina
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      • Profile picture of the author thetruth23
        Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises View Post

        You can put them on your site now but chances are those pages won't get far in the SEs. It's up to you but I would skip those and just begin to do it right from here on out.

        Tina
        Thanks. I wanted to know the answer to that question too.

        Does this then mean there is a higher probability that articles published to directories first, EZA for example, will out rank the article that is later published to your site for good?

        Is it so high a probability that it's close to unsalvageable for your site to then rank higher than the EZA published version?
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        • Profile picture of the author Dellco
          Originally Posted by thetruth23 View Post

          Thanks. I wanted to know the answer to that question too.

          Does this then mean there is a higher probability that articles published to directories first, EZA for example, will out rank the article that is later published to your site for good?

          Is it so high a probability that it's close to unsalvageable for your site to then rank higher than the EZA published version?
          Yes, there is a good chance the EZA article will outrank your own page if your site does not yet have the authority, though EZA articles don't stick up there for long unless the writer builds links to it. I'm sure a lot of people here don't mind that EZA outranks them, but I would.

          There are three kinds of reasons why people write to EZA and that wasn't explained here at all. People either write to EZA to 1) market their brand/their name....2) they write for SEO purposes. 3) they run an article outsourcing business and write anything from A-Z for clients

          I think there is a clear difference there which no one expounded on.

          Do you treat EZA just as another piece in your SEO strategy (out of many) and nothing more, or do you want to spread your name? If it's more of the latter, of course, you would have a much more vested interest in EZA. Case in point would be if you're in the IM niche (I believe many here are in that niche) and sell your own reports/ebooks. Naturally, you would also surely have your picture up on EZA....etc The same goes if you're already a well known writer. If you treat EZA just as another backlink, then again it is different.

          There are tens of thousands of writers on EZA who don't fit this context.

          Context, it's about context....:rolleyes:

          And by the way, I'd love to be in Chris Knight's shoes. Imagine a site that was built for me by the sweat of hundreds of thousands, who wrote me millions of pages (and still growing). Now, isn't that a business model to die for!
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          • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
            Does this then mean there is a higher probability that articles published to directories first, EZA for example, will out rank the article that is later published to your site for good?

            Is it so high a probability that it's close to unsalvageable for your site to then rank higher than the EZA published version?
            I believe so, yes. Because even if the EZA article doesn't stick at the top of the SERPs, in Google's eyes, that article goes to EZA because it was published and indexed there first.

            Tina
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            • Profile picture of the author Digital Storm
              I agree with Tina - first published gets the credit first and the second site is duplicate content.

              Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author Marhelper
    EZA and other article directories serve a purpose and that may be backlinks, extra traffic, branding, etc.. They can be a great PART of an arsenal.
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  • Profile picture of the author deloriagod
    This is just an example that happened to me at work:

    I was promoting a page of our website and I decided to write a few articles on the subject as well as submit a few directories that I've had a lot of luck with. The website I was promoting ended up getting 2 spots on the first page of Google, one of the article directories took a spot on the first page, and 3 of the articles took spots on the first page. So we had taken over 60% of the first page leaving only 4 spots for competition. Even if those articles didn't bring in customers, it seriously reduced our competition for that specific product.
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  • A few years ago, I did see my articles used by legit sites. Sure a lot of bot driven MFA sites too but sometimes local news stations and small newspapers picked up my articles.

    Then I saw my articles constantly stolen, stripped and 'spun'. Steal my content with no credit. Steal my content with no recourse. Steal my content with no $$$.

    So I start writing for places like Mahalo and make Mahalo bucks. 'I owe my soul to the company store'. That has become a disaster too.

    Recently, a company very aggressively tried to get me to be their 'knowledge master' for a part of their new contributed content site for a topic that I am known to write a lot about. Financial recompense details were sketchy and amorphous. I'm tired of this. I finally said after the umpteenth phone call, "Do you need me to provide you with some free content that you can use for your site?". Caught off guard by my frankness, she said "Yes, that would be super." I hung up and do not answer when I see their number on the caller ID.

    I read this thread hoping to find a new path to head down with my writing. My own blog does well and is listed at places like Alltop but I always thought there could be more.

    At least, if I become desperate, there is always the path of scraping Wikipedia articles for E-How. It pays poorly but I can do tons of it. It works for some of my friends who have given up the dream.
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  • Profile picture of the author commonjoe
    Google like EZA articles which are SEO optimized. its very easy to classify in the first page of Google for the keyword in your niche long tail with EZA. There is a with problem is to reach a favorite EZA articles, if you can get, it is likely that CTR will increase significantly.
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  • Profile picture of the author cutequotes
    yes still worth it.

    try other articles directories as well
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