What's up with EZA?

14 years ago

EZA is still fairly strong, but ever since people started jumping on the bandwagon about a year or two ago, it's definitely lost some of its luster in my eyes. I still use it, but not nearly as much as I used to awhile back during the "glory days". I remember being able to put a few articles up and have instant traffic coming through just from EZA alone. Doesn't happen like that anymore.

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Digital Info Diva

14 years ago

Originally Posted by bhuff85

I remember being able to put a few articles up and have instant traffic coming through just from EZA alone. Doesn't happen like that anymore.

Me too! And I was quite proud that all my articles got approved. I'll still
use them, but not for my location specific articles.

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wordwizard

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Digital Info Diva

Me too! And I was quite proud that all my articles got approved. I'll still
use them, but not for my location specific articles.

I've run into the same problem! Tried several times, and finally removed the location and it was accepted immediately, but of course it was kind of pointless because I needed the location specific keyword in the title. So I republished the location specific version elsewhere (isnare)

Speaking of which... What DO you recommend as the best places for location specific articles?

Thanks!

Elisabeth

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RustyF

14 years ago

Originally Posted by wordwizard

I've run into the same problem! Tried several times, and finally removed the location and it was accepted immediately, but of course it was kind of pointless because I needed the location specific keyword in the title. So I republished the location specific version elsewhere (isnare)

Speaking of which... What DO you recommend as the best places for location specific articles?

Thanks!

Elisabeth

It wasn't pointless, you still get the backlink and you can put your title in there if it isn't too long. It has to be less than five words or they will automatically reject it.

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pluto1 14 years ago

I had couple of my unique articles rejected citing the same reason. I had no idea it was something new. Since then I try not to add the locations, but true, it does add constraints to the location specific articles.

I also submit to other directories a lot more now, not a big fan of EZA anymore
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nadavs

14 years ago

Submitting to EZA has become a real pain recently. They rejected articles with no reason, and when I asked them for a reason, they downgraded my account to Basic Plus. However, sometimes you can find an editor who accepts what others reject.

After this experience I learned to move all rejected articles to other directories, and so far it never failed.

nadavs

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Nigel Howell

14 years ago

I wrote a holiday destination article which was rejected because it didn't live up to the promise of the article. I asked why and they said it was too general.

All you need to do is write an extra paragraph being really specific about the destination... population, hotspots etc and the will probably accept it.

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CatherineC

Banned 14 years ago

You can look at their article numbers (end of your URL), compare it over time and date to older article numbers, and quickly see that they are getting literally 10x the submissions per day currently versus just three years ago.

In other words, it's a joke.

Blame it on the recession (people at home trying to start IM careers), blame it on laughably obsolete bum marketing still being trumpeted like it's 2003, blame it on too many WSOs pitching how easy article marketing is (wrong, as seen by how many posts WF gets each week saying "my articles are live, how come I'm not getting sales???") or how great the backlinks from article posting are (also wrong, far faster ways to get higher PR links), blame it on whatever, but EZA has been overwhelmed.

That's one reason why you're likely seeing higher submission standards I'd imagine.

I would kill to see their overall CTR, I would bet my house that it's fallen year-over-year the past three years as both the actual quality of the articles posted has dropped, and the competition from other non-IMer-saturated directories (eHow, About.com, etc) has grown.

Just my opinion.

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Mangozoom

14 years ago

Eza rocks baby ... they are just trying to keep the quality threshold intact.

Basically its good and will keep out crapola

John

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rajacks

14 years ago

I have a question and don't care if there is no reply,maybe it's a statement i don't know but i wrote an article that was published by ezine articles and noticed that not thirty hours later someone else has a website up and running first position with my content and the website i linked it to is nowhere to be found.I think the end is in site for article marketing for who wants to do all that work for someone elses benefit Iwould appreciate someone take on this

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CatherineC

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by rajacks

I have a question and don't care if there is no reply,maybe it's a statement i don't know but i wrote an article that was published by ezine articles and noticed that not thirty hours later someone else has a website up and running first position with my content and the website i linked it to is nowhere to be found.I think the end is in site for article marketing for who wants to do all that work for someone elses benefit Iwould appreciate someone take on this

I haven't noticed this, but it's a valid point.

As for Mangozoom, yes, anything still works. But the likely percentages have gotten to the point that most shouldn't even try.

If you're an Alexa Smith, or a Steven Wagenheim or a Tim Gorman, or a Mangozoom (love your work), odds are likely you can make a living at it starting out today.

But if you don't posess those skills, that blend of intelligence, marketing, and data analysis, you are not going to make a dime through article marketing on EZA.

And that number is 99% of those who joined IM in 2010.

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Steven Wagenheim

14 years ago

Depending on the niche, you'll either get good traffic from EZA or close to
nothing.

That is the reality.

EZA is NOT the holy grail. If you target a highly competitive niche and
don't engage in what EZA would call "violations of their TOS" you are NOT
going to get mega traffic from them...not anymore.

The playing field has changed and it is what it is. I am still fortunate that I
have a few sub niches that are so obscure that I'll get 1,000 plus hits a
month from each of those articles.

But the big niches, like IM...my IM articles get a fraction of the traffic
that they used to.

But it doesn't matter to me anymore. I have my own blog, articles on
other authority sites and other methods of promotion.

Those who rely on EZA solely for their article traffic have a fool for a boss.

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Ronak Shah

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim

Depending on the niche, you'll either get good traffic from EZA or close to
nothing.

That is the reality.

EZA is NOT the holy grail. If you target a highly competitive niche and
don't engage in what EZA would call "violations of their TOS" you are NOT
going to get mega traffic from them...not anymore.

The playing field has changed and it is what it is. I am still fortunate that I
have a few sub niches that are so obscure that I'll get 1,000 plus hits a
month from each of those articles.

But the big niches, like IM...my IM articles get a fraction of the traffic
that they used to.

But it doesn't matter to me anymore. I have my own blog, articles on
other authority sites and other methods of promotion.

Those who rely on EZA solely for their article traffic have a fool for a boss.

Which FREE promotional methods do you rely most on for the IM niche?

Does article marketing and bum marketing still tick for the IM niche?

Ronak.

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Mangozoom 14 years ago

Originally Posted by Ronak Shah

Which FREE promotional methods do you rely most on for the IM niche?

Does article marketing and bum marketing still tick for the IM niche?

Ronak.

For me article marketing is one of my core traffic drivers for niche marketing without a doubt. It is a very fast and effective way to drive traffic that lasts for a long time.

Other methods such as blog commenting, social bookmarking and of course good old SEO are important as well.

John
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Mangozoom

14 years ago

Originally Posted by rajacks

I have a question and don't care if there is no reply,maybe it's a statement i don't know but i wrote an article that was published by ezine articles and noticed that not thirty hours later someone else has a website up and running first position with my content and the website i linked it to is nowhere to be found.I think the end is in site for article marketing for who wants to do all that work for someone elses benefit Iwould appreciate someone take on this

IF you write unique content for a website people will steal it as well ...does this mean the end for websites, of course not.

It is unfortunate when people do take an article and not publish links like they are supposed to, but people do all sorts of things that are wrong like buying a clickbank product and requesting a refund immediately.

There are some nasty people out there but we just have to press through.

I just took a small snapshot from my statcounter account ... if I had more time I would have produced a video. This is for one small niche site that earns me cash by the hour and I have lots of them.

I dont care what anyone says, I get tons of hits from articles in Eza every day. Trust me it still works

John

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tpw

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Mangozoom

I dont care what anyone says, I get tons of hits from articles in Eza every day. Trust me it still works

John,

I have never said it does not work, only that EZA is harder now with 7 adsense ad blocks and 42 ads competing for the click...

But if you do a good job keeping the interest of the reader, then all of EZA's ads are meaningless, because you will get the clicks your deserve...

Bill

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FredJones 14 years ago

EZA has its issues like most other third-party locations in the world. They own their directory and they create their rules. Let them.

I would create my websites and blogs (which of course I have already done), create my own real estate on the Internet, add a fall-back plan-B with it and move ahead.

Why cry over one pour broken soul when you have the option to create a rich legand of your work? Come, choose your own avenue!
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Mangozoom

14 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

John,

I have never said it does not work, only that EZA is harder now with 7 adsense ad blocks and 42 ads competing for the click...

But if you do a good job keeping the interest of the reader, then all of EZA's ads are meaningless, because you will get the clicks your deserve...

Bill

It is more difficult in that sense ... however personally I am still getting massive CTR's.

I think it down to knowing how to do the whole article marketing thing.

John

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rosetrees 14 years ago

I just view getting published on EZA as a game. I had an article rejected for the same reason recently - not delivering on the promise in the title.

As far as I could tell it did exactly what it said on the tin. I changed one word in the body and resubmitted. Voila - they published it!

Enjoy the game and take rejection with a pinch of salt.
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PatriciaJ

14 years ago

Originally Posted by rajacks

I have a question and don't care if there is no reply,maybe it's a statement i don't know but i wrote an article that was published by ezine articles and noticed that not thirty hours later someone else has a website up and running first position with my content and the website i linked it to is nowhere to be found.I think the end is in site for article marketing for who wants to do all that work for someone elses benefit Iwould appreciate someone take on this

That happens a lot. I found recently that one of my articles was being submitted to article directories with somebody elses links and that article was a strong rant against plagiarism.

As for the op. I don't think they are changes in policy and if they are well done EZA. If an article doesn't deliver on promises in the title then they shouldn't be accepted. They have had the location specific rule for a couple of years now. At one point you would get a lot of titles like lawyers in Denver, Lawyers in Texas or plumber in London with general articles about law or plumbing. That makes those titles adverts that belong in the author bio not the title.

If you spin articles to fit different locations in the way that you describe that would mean duplicate content on one site and could cause problems with big G so any responsible site owner would not want those articles.

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Slin

14 years ago

I mainly still rely on EZA (I guess I do have a fool for my boss

)

It's really funny, because as of the other day I started using them again, (first time in years) I used to always have troubles with them.

So far 30 articles in, and no issues yet! Plus i'm getting like 50% CTR on some articles, maybe i'm just lucky.

I never found EZA to work in the IM niche, but i'm in a big health niche right now and it seems to work great!

I should start a thread asking for alternatives though, most other directories that I submit to don't give me the traffic like EZA does, but after I read this thread i'm thinking that i'm missing something.

But without a doubt, you can make money submitting articles to EZA, I still make a few hundred a month from 30 articles I submitted 3 years ago.

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lamberw

14 years ago

Post the content on your blog first using the Ezine articles plugin. It gives you the option to validate your content first which is like a test run to see if there are any reasons why your article might be rejected.

If it passes, then you can submit and can be more confident of it being accepted.

Plus you get to publish on your blog first then reuse the same content for EZA for wider distribution, more eyeballs and high PR backlinks.

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Pete Egeler

14 years ago

Mangozoom.

?? What's the point with your graphics? Nothing shown there but some time stamps, and that doesn't prove anything, does it?

In other words, are you trying to show results for one article, 100 articles, ???.

Forgive me if I've missed something. Not doing to well these days, anyway.

Pete

PS: I beat EZA hands down every time using Document Directories!

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Mangozoom

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Pete Egeler

Mangozoom.

?? What's the point with your graphics? Nothing shown there but some time stamps, and that doesn't prove anything, does it?

In other words, are you trying to show results for one article, 100 articles, ???.

Forgive me if I've missed something. Not doing to well these days, anyway.

Pete

PS: I beat EZA hands down every time using Document Directories!

It is simply a snapshot showing current live traffic ... I get unlimited click throughs from Eza and love it ... simples

John

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Slin

14 years ago

Peter, I think he's proving that EZA can still drive traffic, I don't think he's trying to show anything more then that.

I've tried directory submissions, they rank alright, but EZA I always know i'll get at least one click from each article, directories it feels more hit or miss for me.

But I could be doing something wrong

I'm always prepared to be enlightened.

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Pete Egeler

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Slin

Peter, I think he's proving that EZA can still drive traffic, I don't think he's trying to show anything more then that.

I've tried directory submissions, they rank alright, but EZA I always know i'll get at least one click from each article, directories it feels more hit or miss for me.

But I could be doing something wrong

I'm always prepared to be enlightened.

Thanks! After the sun goes down, my brain goes with it. :>) But hey, I've got my "happy" meds.

Pete

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MarkWrites

14 years ago

I've never had too many problems with getting articles approved at EZA (aside from when they hire new editors), whether location specific or not. As far as traffic, I'm getting less traffic from them these days than i did years ago, but it's down less than 5% so they are still a really really really good option.

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mkpoway

14 years ago

I just had an article rejected because "We do not accept ANY articles related to your subject." I searched their database and found several articles about my same subject. I pointed this out to support and they responded:

"Hi,

You can reasonably predict that every month the quality standards
rise on what we're able to accept.

Rather than going back to reject previous articles we've accepted
because they no longer meet a newly updated editorial standard, we
apply the new standards to all new submissions and any articles that
are edited post-original-acceptance."

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mkpoway 14 years ago

Originally Posted by precious007

They've probably changed their tos and just haven't removed that specific category.

I think they are going to leave the old articles about my subject up, but won't allow any new ones to be posted. Which is bad for my niche
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Qamar

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Digital Info Diva

Well - I moved on to another highly ranked directory and they both were
IMMEDIATELY accepted. Guess I found my new best friend article
directory!

Can I know your "new" friend please?

Qamar

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RustyF

14 years ago

You are going to have a hard time with location specific articles if you include the location in the article.

A while back they sent out an email about location specific titles and I thought, no way can i get that approved. I tried and since then, nothing has been approved.

If you delete an article and re-write it it will usually get rejected. They tell you that before you delete it.

I have given up on writing anything with a location in the title. There are other places that want it. I usually put it on my own blog now. It does almost as well on my own blog as it does on theirs.

I know because I have one article on both places. It is ranked number 2 on Google from EZA and number four on my own blog. And it has a location in the title.

When I emailed them about one of my articles they quoted a small part of a 1100 word article and said this could be about any place. When I went back to them with some of the content about only the Philippines I got no reply.

So I think they key is to write about things ONLY about the location. If any part of it could apply to any place else, they are likely to reject it. I think this will pass. You know how corporations are. They get focused on an area for a while then they move on to something else. Right now EZA is focused on this topic.

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danaprince

14 years ago

For EZA, I'll often write something location specific but not put the location in the title. I'll still seed the word through the article and sprinkle other related words in and then use the phrase with the place name as one of my resource box links It seems to work ok. After the article goes live, I'll then submit with the location added into the the title on alternate directories.

For another article directory, I really like Articlesbase. You can use up to 6 links (3 in the body and 3 in the resource box) and they approve fast for new authors and generally most of my articles get approved instantly.

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tpw

14 years ago

It is not new...

I wrote an article called, "The Six Degrees of Internet Marketing", which was a play on, "The Six Degrees of Separation"...

The article is posted here in case you are interested:
The Six Degrees of Internet Marketing | SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

The EZA editor rejected it for the same reasoning, suggesting that the article did not live up to its title, because get this, I "did not include a numbered list in the article"...

haha That is rich...

I thought, oh it is just one editor with only half a brain...

I resubmitted and was rejected again...

The good thing for me is that I refuse to let some EZA editor convince me how worthy my articles are to the world...

This article was eventually published on more than 100 websites...

So, I got the last laugh on the EZA editors...

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RustyF

14 years ago

TPW, that's interessting.

Sounds like they have a bot reviewing articles. I know that's not true but it sounds like they rigid rules in place for their reviewers. I think I would have sent an email and explained six degrees. It MIGHT have helped.

What is new is that they are focusing on titles with a place in it right now. That is is new. I write about the Philippines and I use to have no problem getting those post in. Now, it seems impossible.

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tpw

14 years ago

Originally Posted by rusty@gmail.com

TPW, that's interessting.

Sounds like they have a bot reviewing articles. I know that's not true but it sounds like they rigid rules in place for their reviewers. I think I would have sent an email and explained six degrees. It MIGHT have helped.

What is new is that they are focusing on titles with a place in it right now. That is is new. I write about the Philippines and I use to have no problem getting those post in. Now, it seems impossible.

I did send an email explaining the six degrees and they insisted that I should take the number six out of the article title if I wanted the article approved...

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RustyF

14 years ago

Originally Posted by tpw

I did send an email explaining the six degrees and they insisted that I should take the number six out of the article title if I wanted the article approved...

Wow! I just can't see the value of every paying them $97 a month to give them content.

It sounds like they have become large and thus rigid giving their employees no room to think. Making them subject to poor reviews of their work causing poor customer service. Man, am I glad I don't work for someone else any more.

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Alexa Smith

Banned 14 years ago

Originally Posted by rusty@gmail.com

I just can't see the value of every paying them $97 a month to give them content.

Nobody can see the value of that, Rusty, because there isn't any value to that. You're not paying the fee "to give them content". Anyone can do that without paying.

What you're paying for is the convenience of timing and scheduling the publication of your articles. To some people, that's worth a lot of money.

Incidentally, although the figure usually quoted for this service seems to be "$97 a month", they also sell the service for $697 per annum, which works out at $58 per month. I understand that very few people subscribe on a monthly basis for more than their initial month (to monitor the benefits). If it's worth having, it's clearly better to pay $58 than $97.

Originally Posted by rusty@gmail.com

It sounds like they have become large and thus rigid giving their employees no room to think.

That's kind of the opposite of how they come across to many authors, regarding their editorial decisions: the problem many have with them, as neatly illustrated by Carol's post above, is that of inconsistency in editorial decision-making and guideline interpretation. I think some "rigidity of approach" would be widely welcomed, actually: then at least people would know exactly where they were ...

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Mangozoom

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Nobody can see the value of that, Rusty, because there isn't any value to that. You're not paying the fee "to give them content". Anyone can do that without paying.

What you're paying for is the convenience of timing and scheduling the publication of your articles. To some people, that's worth a lot of money.

Incidentally, although the figure usually quoted for this service seems to be "$97 a month", they also sell the service for $697 per annum, which works out at $58 per month. I understand that very few people subscribe on a monthly basis for more than their initial month (to monitor the benefits). If it's worth having, it's clearly better to pay $58 than $97.

That's kind of the opposite of how they come across to many authors, regarding their editorial decisions: the problem many have with them, as neatly illustrated by Carol's post above, is that of inconsistency in editorial decision-making and guideline interpretation. I think some "rigidity of approach" would be widely welcomed, actually: then at least people would know exactly where they were ...

When i started I paid until I got to expert author level ... it was a means to an end