why write articles?

Some may say that people write articles so that directories like EZA can put adsense near it.

If you can't write an article for yourself because:

(a) You don't have the time
(b) You don't have the knowledge
(c) You don't have the ability

You can pay someone to do it.

But, as I tell all my competitors, just scrape articles it works fine

Great articles make for great content. For your site to become and 'authority' you need great content that is all relevant. If you can't write articles, or reviews yourself, you need to find someone to write them for you. Someone who doesn't scrape. Buy some PLR articles.
Even if you have a store site, products need descriptions and reviews.
Content content content.
It's not all about the article marketing, it's about making a decent site!

You usually create articles in order to create backlinks for a money site.

These backlinks can either serve to boost your page rank or to direct natural traffic by providing valuable content.

If you're going to go to the trouble of actually writing an article, make it good, and BLOG it. Use social media to your advantage and spread the word so that the traffic all comes to you directly. It's much more beneficial that just submitting them to directories. I only submit my weaker content to directories nowadays.

There seems to me to be a general misunderstanding of the difference between article marketing and blog posts.

If the articles you submit to directories are the same as the posts (or pages) you put on your blogs (or websites) then you are making a huge mistake.

I am convinced that this is the main reason why most reasonable writers fail at article marketing. They are submitting website content to article directories in the belief that they are marketing something. Or they are attracting visitors looking for decent content to their websites only to give them post after post of marketing articles.

Some more detail on Ezine Articles' Google woes:

EzineArticles Aims to Get Rankings Back, Following Google Algorithm Update
Feb 28

EzineArticles: Some Content Ranking Higher
Mar 3

Is that a serious question?!

Kind of surprised nobody addressed that bit. If they did I missed it when reading the responses so... forgive me.

This just completely boggles my mind.

Why do people come online with this mentality?

This is what I hear in my head when I read why not just scrape them?

Why not just scrape article content you have no rights to from the work of other authors who actually take the time to write a quality article based on their own knowledge or research on the topic OR who paid an author to write a quality article from experience or research?

Do you really have to ask such a question? Honestly?!

And I know I will probably be blasted for this but in my opinion... any person shouldn't even be writing articles about topics they are not an expert on. If a person is willing to put in a lot of time and do real research then okay possibly you might be a bit qualified to write an introductory article about a topic. Obviously, it depends on the complexity / importance of the subject material. If you aren't an expert on a subject then find someone who is to write a real article. I don't mean find someone to steal content from I mean hire them to write a real article for you.

It makes me laugh when I see content writing services offering to write on subjects ranging from how to get your ex back to how to cure insomnia to mesothelioma to just anything and everything. I wonder how many of these expert writers even had a clue what mesothelioma is before they discovered people were building adsense sites around the word?

I may be getting slightly off-topic but I feel it ties in directly and needed to be said.

Here is a great example and this is recent news.

It is a discussion about the recent Google Content Farm Update. Part of the discussion focuses on how searching for level 4 brain cancer finds articles on eHow in spot #1.

The author of that article also wrote articles on "How to Put a Lid Switch on a Whirlpool Washer", "How to Fix the Toilet Flush" and "How to Trim Calla Lilies".

So, what is wrong with that, you might ask?

Should a person searching for level 4 brain cancer really be finding an article written by someone who is obviously just doing keyword research very much like many people do when building adsense or affiliate websites?

This is the part so many people are missing with this whole content problem. Everyone is so focused on how to find great keywords, how to write articles quickly, how to make money that they never stop and ask themselves should I be writing articles on these topics where in fact someone's life could depend on it?! Am I really qualified to be writing articles on these topics?

End of rant (for now).

here come the new CB products that teach you how to get around article slaps. I say that the first one shows up on CB marketplace within 10 days.

Yeah, I was surprised that I had to read all the way down through the thread to find someone else address this point.

Why work to earn money when you can just get a gun and hold up a bank?

Why buy food when you can just go out to a restaurant and "dine and dash"?

backlinks, sell product, SEO, keywords and to get yourself out there!

As x3xsolxdierx3x pointed out, the article directories are not dead. Some of them have been largely impacted by the Panda change, but they are definitely not dead. There will always be a market for well-written, well-researched, genuinely helpful articles. As long as the directories can make it so that ONLY those types of articles get approved, they will be back in Google's good graces.

However, you also don't have to depend solely on the article directories to have a good article marketing campaign. Look to do some guest writing on other websites, make sure that the articles on your own site are high-quality.

Article marketing serves several purposes - one of the biggest being that you can establish yourself as an expert by doing it. If you are constantly churning out high-quality, informative articles (regardless of where they actually get published), people will see you as an authority in your niche.

If you hate to write, don't have time to write, or just aren't very good at writing (hey, many people aren't!), then it's time to outsource your writing to a professional who will do more than just slap a few keywords together.

Never scrape articles! Google is really cracking down on this. Every article must be unique. People do write articles to make money, but they also write articles to teach and give something back to the reader. Truly high quality articles will basically create (repeat customers.) These are people who will continually come back to read more and you actually make more money in the long run by creating an audience. It depends on what type of business you want to create.

Why do people make websites?

And why pay someone to make them? Why not just take one you like?

Are you serious?

I truly and dearly hope this is not an attitude that this forum promotes. I came here with the idea that this forum was full of entrepreneurs willing to work hard and innovate.

And then I see someone who legitimately thinks it's ok to steal posts from other people and pass them off as their own.

Why don't you just go buy a book from Borders, rip off the cover, and glue a new one on with your name? Is that ok?

Articles help to improve your SEO with both on page keyword relevancy and backlinks in anchor text.

I am beginning to suspect thast there is a space-time rift somewhere near my home. Because the only explanation I can find the the OP being taken seriously is that they are in an alternate universe.

I mean really?? I've been watching this thread with horror - expecting it to be deleted shortly.

The OP is a troll, aren't they?

Please restore my faith in my own sanity and tell me that the are!

I didn't comment on the scraping comment because there are sites (like some article directories) that allow what is technically 'scraping'.

Of course, if that is not specifically addressed and allowed in the original site's TOS, there's another 's' word for the practice -- STEALING.

nowadays most of the people prefer to outsource their article writing needs to good article writers.

Some people are just starting and are writing articles bloggs and find these subjects most times helpful and informative.
Isnt that the way to learn?
I know experienced Internet Marketers may think some of our questions are dumb but we do really appreciate your helpful comments after all isn't that what the forum is about?

What in the world happened here in this thread??

A vast collection of great advice, horrible advice, good and bad ethics, and morals all wrapped up in one.

My goodness.

it is better to use unique content as it helps to rank on google. do you know google has set up a new plan? to rank on google you must have a minimum of 400words article both on article directories and on your site.