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Please Don't Make This Stupid Article Marketing Mistake!

by Allen Graves
6 replies
Warriors,

When you sign up for an article directory, you are usually required to provide an email address. Many of you (don't lie!!!) will use one of those "throw away" hotmail accounts to create an email account that you will never ever be checking again.

All is well and good, right? Well, not really.

First of all, when your articles are declined, you'll get an email sent to that address. I have clients to this very day that never resubmit declined articles. My only guess as to why is because they never check the email address they signed up with. It's a shame that all they had to do was correct a spelling mistake but never realize the article is declined.

Lost traffic.

There are other reason why you should use a legitimate email account. For instance, if a directory is purging old author accounts, they will send out a mass email letting people know that their account will be purged if they do not respond.

Everything gone!

Some people say that they don't want the sales emails from the directory owner. Well, in the article directory owners world, it is bordering on unethical to use your author base as a sales list. So if that is the case, I suggest leaving that particular directory.

Just thought I'd pass this along. It has been on my mind for a long time but I've never really said anything. So now I can take a deep breath and move on. LOL

Respectfully,
Allen Graves
#article #make #marketing #mistake #stupid
  • Profile picture of the author tanya7zhou
    Well said Allen. You know we're running real businesses, and I think we need to act carefully and properly to establish our credibility. It only happens if we're genuine with our biz endeavors.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lynn Stivers
    I think the problem is that people start using a throw-away email to avoid spam and then it gets used for almost everything they sign up for.

    Also - marketers use opt-in forms and squeeze pages for everything and then just send out sales promos. That would make it easy to associate signing up for something with being marketed to (which is almost as bad as spam to some people).

    Thanks for the info about how the article directories use their lists - I wasn't aware of that. I use my normal email anyway but now I'll know to check anything they might send - it could be important.

    Thanks!


    Lynn
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  • Profile picture of the author Traffic101
    Hi, I agree. I use a legitimate email for everything because they are always sending notifications, if someone comments, or something changes...etc. Plus I keep a standard nickname and password to everything, so in a years time if I forget my log in, it doesn't matter because it's my default one.
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  • Profile picture of the author robseko
    Another reason why I always provide legitimate e-mail address is that many directories run training programs that they send out from time to time to people on their e-mail list. I have found some of them priceless. With a "throw away" e-mail address this is a training opportunity missed!
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  • Profile picture of the author anonymous123567
    Good post Allen, we all sometimes get into a habit of providing an email that isn't probably used on a day to day basis, nice little reminder!

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Allen Graves
    More good reasons! Thanks everyone.

    I ran a test back before one of my directories went private. I sent an email out to all 4,000+ authors asking them to respond.

    You'll never guess how many responded.

    Give up?

    About 350! That's it! Only 8% of them.

    This was done at the height of the "spam article directories for backlinks" phase of article marketing. I wonder what that number would be today, now that article marketing is becoming more of a white hat, respectable marketing practice.

    AL
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