Ezine Articles March 2011 Onwards

99 replies
If anyone is new to article marketing then, they're getting in at the wrong time as far as submitting articles with Ezine the top directory. They have seriously moved the goalposts form March 2011 and are making it very difficult for myself and other article writers to get articles approved with a free account. The following changes will certainly effect everyone.

1. The minimum word count is now 400 words and was previously 250
2. You can only submit 10 articles instead of 25 before having your account reviewed for future submissions.
3. They are taking longer than two weeks to give you a decision on new articles
4. They are refusing so many articles now and trying to get you to buy one of their paid services, which starts at $97 a month for a premium service or $697 a year.

They are now getting greedy and wish to make more money, but it is their business and they can do what they want. I have 226 approved by them and I would expect them to apply some common sense to folk who have established accounts, but it seems that they have a big push towards getting paid accounts and with them refusing nearly all fresh submissions, it'll do on of two things, either people will move on other directories like Go or Article Dashboard, or they'll pay the monthly/yearly fee, but it's a dangerous game that, Ezine are playing at the moment. My last two articles have been refused and I have another 8 pending, which I expect to fall the same way and their reasons are quite vaque to say the least.

Thank you for your submission to EzineArticles.com titled "The Easy Steps In How To Make Money With Facebook" (6013480).
We would like to help you get this article approved but there is an issue which needs to be resolved first.
Please contact us at Contact EzineArticles.com for more information.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for your submission to EzineArticles.com titled "The Health And Fitness Regime Of The Survivor Boot Camp" (6018632).
We would like to help you get this article approved but there is an issue which needs to be resolved first.
Your article does not adhere to the following Editorial Guideline: Section 2.e vi

Anyone who wants to build their article marketing campaign through Ezine, will need to be prepared for some major setbacks.

Mark
#2011 #articles #ezine #march #onwards
  • Profile picture of the author nykn43866
    As much as IMers hate this, does anyone else actually see this as a smart move by Ezine?
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      I'm thinking of these moves in the opposite way to you. Anybody starting out with article marketing should benefit from EZA being tougher because it will help new article marketers produce better quality articles and better quality articles get syndicated. Though I do agree about the vagueness of their decline notices. It's just as easy to state what is wrong as it is to point you vaguely in the direction of their guidelines.

      They are not getting greedy and wishing to make more money. They must have lost a lot of revenue from the Farmer changes and will be trying to make up lost ground with better quality. The paid for premium service has been around for quite some time. EZA is a business and they are entitled to make money from their website, just as you and I want to make money from their website. They are also entitled to pick and choose what content they want on their website, just like you and I.
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      • Profile picture of the author shmeeko69
        Originally Posted by PatriciaJ View Post

        I'm thinking of these moves in the opposite way to you. Anybody starting out with article marketing should benefit from EZA being tougher because it will help new article marketers produce better quality articles and better quality articles get syndicated. Though I do agree about the vagueness of their decline notices. It's just as easy to state what is wrong as it is to point you vaguely in the direction of their guidelines.

        They are not getting greedy and wishing to make more money. They must have lost a lot of revenue from the Farmer changes and will be trying to make up lost ground with better quality. The paid for premium service has been around for quite some time. EZA is a business and they are entitled to make money from their website, just as you and I want to make money from their website. They are also entitled to pick and choose what content they want on their website, just like you and I.
        I take what you say on board, but do you honestly want to wait over two weeks for your article to get reviewed and then rejected for a bizzare reason? It's a watse of everyone's time and this business is hard enough to crack, without businesses making it more difficult for their own selfish reasons.

        Mark :confused:
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

          I take what you say on board, but do you honestly want to wait over two weeks for your article to get reviewed and then rejected for a bizzare reason?
          The length of time it takes to have your work reviewed and the probability of having it rejected are entirely unconnected, Mark.

          The people who wait longest for review are those stuck on "basic plus", i.e. those whose previous submissions have caused problems to EZA.

          That's not unreasonable, is it?

          It's hard to understand why the review time is so significant to people, anyway. When you point out to people that if they submit 2 acceptable articles per day to EZA, EZA will publish exactly the same 60 of their articles per month, regardless of whether it takes them 1 day or 10 days each to do so, and that what matters is "steady flow" rather than speed, people do seem to acknowledge the point, but I suspect that some still feel they want their articles to be approved faster. Difficult to make sense of this, really, but there you are.

          Mine took about 7 hours, typically, to be approved before. At the moment, they're a little slower: a couple of times I've waited more than just "overnight", but it honestly wouldn't make the slightest difference to me at all if they took 7 days instead.

          The rejection reasons, I think, are "bizarre" mostly to people who don't read the editorial guidelines, and their updates, carefully enough. As you can see from all the comments in this thread, there are many other perspectives, too.
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        • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
          Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

          I take what you say on board, but do you honestly want to wait over two weeks for your article to get reviewed and then rejected for a bizzare reason? It's a watse of everyone's time and this business is hard enough to crack, without businesses making it more difficult for their own selfish reasons.

          Mark :confused:
          My articles go on my sites first, get indexed and promoted so submitting to EZA is not massively important to me. I am also patient and when I understand why something is taking longer than normal I am happy to wait.

          'Businesses making it more difficult for their own selfish reasons' Blimey I would say the absolute opposite. They have had one heck of a wake up call and must have lost a lot of revenue with the loss of traffic. How can them trying to sort out the mess they are in be called selfish?

          I've no doubt that they will be back to normal soon, but remember this - neither you nor I are entitled automatically to have content on that site. It doesn't belong to us so we do not get to choose what is acceptable.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Lett
    As much as I hate to say this, it might be a case of EzineArticles overestimating their value.

    The reason why they became so popular in the first place is because they were a free article directory with high authority and good traffic. If you remove any of those three factors, their value drops dramatically.

    Does anyone else see it this way?
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    • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
      Originally Posted by Brian Lett View Post

      As much as I hate to say this, it might be a case of EzineArticles overestimating their value.

      The reason why they became so popular in the first place is because they were a free article directory with high authority and good traffic. If you remove any of those three factors, their value drops dramatically.

      Does anyone else see it this way?
      I think this might be a case of you overestimating your value(And 99% of other marketers as well)

      EZA became popular for the wrong reasons. Those of us who have our content syndicated, do not use EZA for SEO or traffic, but as a bridge to build connections with ezine publishers, and blog owners, who put our content in front of their readers, sending us boatloads of traffic, making us money.

      This is true value of EZA


      Chris
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      • Profile picture of the author Brian Lett
        Originally Posted by Chris Worner View Post

        I think this might be a case of you overestimating your value(And 99% of other marketers as well)

        EZA became popular for the wrong reasons. Those of us who have our content syndicated, do not use EZA for SEO or traffic, but as a bridge to build connections with ezine publishers, and blog owners, who put our content in front of their readers, sending us boatloads of traffic, making us money.

        This is true value of EZA


        Chris
        Chris, you might have a point.

        Although for the record, I am a Diamond Level Author on EzineArticles (highest level), and have 185 live articles. The Diamond Level was created after the Google algorithm upgrade to replace the previous highest level of Platinum. Moreover, nearly all of my articles are over 500 words, even though Diamond Level authors only have a 250 minimum word count requirement, as opposed to the now standard 400 words.

        However, I get what you are saying. The truth is that personally, I am happy about the changes with regards to what it means for myself. At the same time, I am unhappy that other people are having problems.

        Brian
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by Brian Lett View Post

          At the same time, I am unhappy that other people are having problems.

          The only people unhappy with the situation are those who are not yet ready to step up their game.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    Anyone who wants to build their article marketing campaign through Ezine, will need to be prepared for some major setbacks.

    What you consider a setback, I consider an opportunity...
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    • Profile picture of the author Marketing Cheetah
      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      What you consider a setback, I consider an opportunity...
      I don't know what does it exactly mean. But it sounded real cool
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  • Profile picture of the author tfos4941
    I don't use Ezine myself but here is my thoughts...

    By increasing the word count from 250 to 400 they are obviously trying to improve the quality of the articles in the directory. This needs to be done as most of the articles i have read on their are just a waste of time.

    It is understandable that they want to earn some money from all the people that use their service to make themselves money. Charging $97 a month is a lot of money though.

    I guess they will lose a lot of users by doing this and the ones that stay and pay the money will have a lot less competition and may end up better off?
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by tfos4941 View Post

      Charging $97 a month is a lot of money though.

      The $97 per month option is not new. It has been around for a year or two.

      Notice that I said, "option".

      They have always advised us to take that "option", so it is nothing new as far as I am concerned. Rather, it is an option that has been overlooked by many until now.
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    • Profile picture of the author PatriciaJ
      Originally Posted by tfos4941 View Post

      I don't use Ezine myself but here is my thoughts...

      By increasing the word count from 250 to 400 they are obviously trying to improve the quality of the articles in the directory. This needs to be done as most of the articles i have read on their are just a waste of time.

      It is understandable that they want to earn some money from all the people that use their service to make themselves money. Charging $97 a month is a lot of money though.

      I guess they will lose a lot of users by doing this and the ones that stay and pay the money will have a lot less competition and may end up better off?
      I guess they won't be too bothered about losing some of the users. Nobody has to pay any money if they don't want to and yes I think the authors who stick with them may well end up better off.
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      • Profile picture of the author thedog
        Well all I know is, they took 19 days to approve one of my articles recently.

        This is pretty bad, I've been a member for about 8 months. I've only 13 articles up, and haven't been given platinum status yet.

        If they think this sort of carry on is going to make me pay $97 a month, they're sorely mistaken. In fact, they only reason you'd do this is if you haven't already got platinum status.... so why would anyone, new to IM for out almost $100 a month, when there's a good few other free options out there.

        I hope they go the way of the dodo.
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        • Profile picture of the author tpw
          Originally Posted by thedog View Post

          Well all I know is, they took 19 days to approve one of my articles recently.

          This is pretty bad, I've been a member for about 8 months. I've only 13 articles up, and haven't been given platinum status yet.

          If they think this sort of carry on is going to make me pay $97 a month, they're sorely mistaken. In fact, they only reason you'd do this is if you haven't already got platinum status.... so why would anyone, new to IM for out almost $100 a month, when there's a good few other free options out there.

          I hope they go the way of the dodo.

          The $97 per month ensures in part that your articles are approved/disapproved in 72 hours or less.

          I don't see them going the way of the dodo at all...

          They have been around since 1998, and for these first 13 years, they have always been one of, if not THE biggest and most trusted article directory on the Internet.

          They have prospered for more than 13 years in an industry where the average life span of an article directory is one year and the average active status of an article directory is 8 weeks.
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          • Profile picture of the author thedog
            Originally Posted by tpw View Post

            The $97 per month ensures in part that your articles are approved/disapproved in 72 hours or less.

            I don't see them going the way of the dodo at all...

            They have been around since 1998, and for these first 13 years, they have always been one of, if not THE biggest and most trusted article directory on the Internet.

            They have prospered for more than 13 years in an industry where the average life span of an article directory is one year and the average active status of an article directory is 8 weeks.
            Seems a lot of people are getting annoyed with their carry on of late.

            Treating new writers like this seems like an odd business model. I mean, almost 20 days for an article to be submitted?

            How are they going to attract new talent with this attitude?

            Also, I can think of better ways to spend $97 a month to get traffic to my sites.
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            • Profile picture of the author tpw
              Originally Posted by thedog View Post

              Seems a lot of people are getting annoyed with their carry on of late.

              Treating new writers like this seems like an odd business model. I mean, almost 20 days for an article to be submitted?

              How are they going to attract new talent with this attitude?

              Also, I can think of better ways to spend $97 a month to get traffic to my sites.

              LOL

              I won't pay the $97 either... Not enough value for the money...

              But I don't fault them for the slow turn-around right now, because they are in response mode to the Farmer/Panda update, which has forced them to re-examine the 4 million plus articles that were in their database, prior to this latest Google algorithm update...

              I figure that 20 days is rather speedy, considering the massive content overhaul they are having to do at the moment.

              Prior to Feb 24th, how many articles in their system were less than 400 words?

              I'd say millions... And they notified all of those writers and told them that they needed to fix their articles NOW in order to prevent them from being deleted from EZA...

              When you tell writers that millions of articles must be fixed and re-approved, that is going to bury their editors under an avalanche of re-approval requests. :p

              The 20-day turn-around certainly isn't personal, nor was it designed to squeeze you for the $97 per month. Rather, it is simply a reflection of the "pending article" avalanche they are under at the moment.

              Give them six months, and they will get their approval times back to normal.
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              • Profile picture of the author thedog
                Originally Posted by tpw View Post

                LOL

                I won't pay the $97 either... Not enough value for the money...

                But I don't fault them for the slow turn-around right now, because they are in response mode to the Farmer/Panda update, which has forced them to re-examine the 4 million plus articles that were in their database, prior to this latest Google algorithm update...

                I figure that 20 days is rather speedy, considering the massive content overhaul they are having to do at the moment.

                Prior to Feb 24th, how many articles in their system were less than 400 words?

                I'd say millions... And they notified all of those writers and told them that they needed to fix their articles NOW in order to prevent them from being deleted from EZA...

                When you tell writers that millions of articles must be fixed and re-approved, that is going to bury their editors under an avalanche of re-approval requests. :p

                The 20-day turn-around certainly isn't personal, nor was it designed to squeeze you for the $97 per month. Rather, it is simply a reflection of the "pending article" avalanche they are under at the moment.

                Give them six months, and they will get their approval times back to normal.
                Cheers, I thought they didn't like me

                Can you offer any good alternatives?
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                • Profile picture of the author tpw
                  Originally Posted by thedog View Post

                  Cheers, I thought they didn't like me

                  Can you offer any good alternatives?

                  IdeaMarketers.com
                  ArticleStars.com
                  GoArticles.com
                  ArticlesBase.com
                  Articles4Reprint.com
                  Website-Articles.net
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          • Profile picture of the author lancelotfl
            Originally Posted by tpw View Post


            I don't see them going the way of the dodo at all...
            The Information Highway is littered with the carcasses of businesses that felt they were big time and could do as they pleased. Netscape and AltaVista anyone?

            I hope EZA has done tough market research and not underestimated their appeal. One of my sites is on the first page of Google with 28 million competing sites. I never used EZA. I used Unique Article Wizard and EVO II.

            I'm looking for traffic, not looking to become a Famous Writer. I don't need EZA at $97 per month. My gut feel is that we're looking at more Information Highway roadkill. $27 monthly, maybe. $97 monthly is probably going to be their doom.

            Best regards,
            Michael Murray
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Originally Posted by lancelotfl View Post

              $97 monthly is probably going to be their doom.
              It's barely relevant, Michael.

              Hardly anyone is a "paid member". That's just a fee for "timed release" for people to whom that's an essentially important factor in their business. Which means very few people indeed.

              They've had the "premium membership" for ages, but 99.x% of their users have no need of it. That won't be changing, either.

              It's simply a minor, add-on service of no relevance at all in this context.

              Originally Posted by lancelotfl View Post

              I'm looking for traffic
              Article directories are an extremely poor way of generating traffic, and getting worse all the time.

              That's a bad usage of them, and of course not what they're there for.

              When a potential customer "finds you" through a search engine by using one of your articles' keywords as his search-terms, what do you want him to find: an article on your own website, or an article in an article directory, with maybe a 30% chance of him getting from there to your own website? It's a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it?
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  • Profile picture of the author Fernando1954
    Has anyone applied for the Diamond Membership Level, if so has it made any difference to submitting and acceptance process.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chri5123
    It is ALL they could do with the Google Slap.

    However I will say this:

    "They will lose A LOT of people using them because of the reasons the OP states!"

    If you provide really good content and well written articles you will not have a problem.

    However I believe that many marketers will not be prepared to put in THIS much effort to get articles approved when there are other options out there that are just as good or better...

    Back to the original point - it is all they could do with Google's changes and if you think it is strict now expect more changes soon.

    Answer: Grow YOUR business and not Chris Knight's - no offense if you see this Chris - I just observe how many people do not GET Article Marketing which works and Article Directory marketing which is on the slide.

    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Tomwood
      For people who have real quality articles and can get approved this can only be a good think less competition and more airtime at the top of the list
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    • Profile picture of the author Wills
      I'm actually enjoying the changes. I know it is annoying getting articles rejected, but I have noticed that things are settling down now.

      The good part is; the views are higher than normal now cause less articles are being approved. This should motivate people to write better articles, because they will get noticed more, and not get swamped in 250 word "click here to find out more" articles.

      Edit: I don't mean any disrespect to anyone here. I had a couple of articles I had to modify as well, so I'm not saying you are a bad writer for getting rejected.
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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by Wills View Post

        Edit: I don't mean any disrespect to anyone here. I had a couple of articles I had to modify as well, so I'm not saying you are a bad writer for getting rejected.

        Yeah, I had to modify two articles in EZA as well.

        And word count was not a factor with either of them.

        LOL

        I cannot wait for them to get back to normal, so that I can return to poking them with a stick.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Chris: This is your fault....



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  • Profile picture of the author Rachel Incoll
    The new changes at EA don't bother me...I haven't had any of my articles rejected yet since the changes have come in (submitted about a dozen) & they've been getting approved in about a week. I'm currently Platinum & haven't applied for Diamond yet but will shortly.

    While I don't agree with all of the EA policies, I think they've definitely made some positive changes this time.

    As much as they've been one of the most respected article directories on the net for a while, I've also noticed they've let a lot of rubbish in over the last few years.

    Give everything a few more months to settle down and I think these changes will be great for writers who actually write quality, informational articles - there'll be less competition from the rubbish .

    Cheers

    Rach
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    • Profile picture of the author Brianne
      It's obvious that Ezine had to make changes, and tighten up on their submission policies. Although it may make things difficult right now, I do agree that things should smooth back out in a few months. As a company they had to conform to this new direction for higher quality content, or else their years of successful business (as well as their reputation) would just drop off the map.
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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by Brianne View Post

        As a company they had to conform to this new direction for higher quality content, or else their years of successful business (as well as their reputation) would just drop off the map.

        Not to be negative towards you, but to poke EZA with a stick...

        EZA took this new direction in response to their traffic and revenue dropping...

        Their reputation has been going down for years, but it was not until the drop was felt in the pocketbook that they decided to remedy the direction of their reputation. :p
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        • Profile picture of the author Brianne
          Originally Posted by tpw View Post

          Not to be negative towards you, but to poke EZA with a stick...

          EZA took this new direction in response to their traffic and revenue dropping...

          Their reputation has been going down for years, but it was not until the drop was felt in the pocketbook that they decided to remedy the direction of their reputation. :p
          That's fine. I'm not taking offense.

          I agree that EZA has had issues, and I for one can't stand all of the shoddy articles they had floating in their directory. However, they still hold a big name and many people benefit from their service. Hopefully, with these changes we can look forward to better article filtering, and better overall quality. EZA "cleaning house" is the important thing, and it is definitely a good thing for everyone. Whether it was inspired by their pocketbook, or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Lett
    @tpw,

    Please look at the full context of my statement by reading the preceding sentence to the one which you quoted.

    I stated:

    "The truth is that personally, I am happy about the changes with regards to what it means for myself. At the same time, I am unhappy that other people are having problems."

    If you are going to quote me, I respectfully request that you please quote me in full.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Brian Lett View Post

      However, I get what you are saying. The truth is that personally, I am happy about the changes with regards to what it means for myself. At the same time, I am unhappy that other people are having problems.
      Originally Posted by Brian Lett View Post

      @tpw,

      Please look at the full context of me statement by reading the preceding sentence to the one which you quoted.

      I stated:

      "The truth is that personally, I am happy about the changes with regards to what it means for myself. At the same time, I am unhappy that other people are having problems."

      If you are going to quote me, I respectfully request that you please quote me in full.

      I feel that most Warriors are intelligent people.

      I saw what you said, and I believe that anyone who sees my post will have seen your post as well...

      Skimmers will miss your post AND mine...

      Readers will read both...

      The fact that I left out your other words meant that I agreed with you...

      My comment was to you and about the "other people having problems"...

      If you are going to get upset with me over something, I respectfully request that you make sure you are upset with me for the right reasons... :rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author Dillinger411
    Ezine took a beating in the Google Farmer update back in February. They were penalized for having too many low quality or remixed articles that were feeding off the PR of the site. Now ezine has a PR of 3. Article marketing is a waste of time for SEO in my opinion because of the time involved though Squidoo still provides some value as a lens to your money site. A well thought out and well written article can send traffic to your site but $97/month is ridiculous. I pay that much for SEOMoz and get way better value from them than from some crappy article site that looks like it was designed 10 years ago.
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  • Profile picture of the author Marketing Merit
    I've had several articles rejected in the past for being promotional. Quite how you're meant to write a book review without including the title of the book was somewhat beyond me!! :confused:

    Ezine is clearly in turmoil at the mo and some of their actions are akin to taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut! It seems that they are running around like headless chickens and anyone trying to rationalize Ezine's decisions will be undertaking a somewhat futile task.

    Nonetheless, I believe it's a question of waiting for the dust to settle whilst Ezine find their feet again. Ultimately, the changes may actually benefit serious article marketers as they eliminate the low end competition.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by tpw View Post

      I cannot wait for them to get back to normal, so that I can return to poking them with a stick.
      Originally Posted by Marketing Merit View Post

      I've had several articles rejected in the past for being promotional. Quite how you're meant to write a book review without including the title of the book was somewhat beyond me!! :confused:

      That is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about when I said that I look forward to being able to poke them with a stick again.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    If anyone is new to article marketing then, they're getting in at the wrong time as far as submitting articles with Ezine the top directory.
    I think the exact opposite, that EZA's recent, long overdue, minor changes will actually make it slightly easier for anyone with the potential to be successful at article marketing to get started.

    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    1. The minimum word count is now 400 words and was previously 250
    That will certainly help people out. 250-word articles were a waste of time and space. Those are for people whose understanding of the word "article" involves a chunk of text with some keywords included to which a backlink can be attached. That's a very good way of stacking the deck really firmly against yourself when it comes to making a living through article marketing.

    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    2. You can only submit 10 articles instead of 25 before having your account reviewed for future submissions.
    That's designed to make it easier for people to get to Platinum. The previous 25-article submission requirement applied only to people on "basic plus" (i.e. those whose previous submissions had caused problems, preventing them from being upgraded to Platinum at their initial assessment after 10 articles).

    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    3. They are taking longer than two weeks to give you a decision on new articles
    They're slower than usual at the moment, yes. That's because they've just had the worst couple of weeks in their history, probably. That'll soon change. And anyway, since when is "fast approval" so important? It makes absolutely no difference to me. If I submit 2 articles per day to EZA, they'll still publish 60 of my articles each month. Who cares how many days they take to do it?

    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    4. They are refusing so many articles now and trying to get you to buy one of their paid services, which starts at $97 a month for a premium service or $697 a year.
    The two are unconnected, Mark. Buying the paid-for service isn't a way of getting articles accepted.

    For those who use article directories wisely and stick to their editorial guidelines, EZA - far from what you make out - is actually an improving opportunity. Anyone wishing to combine some of the "information" in this thread with a broader perspective may find this recent thread of some interest.

    Originally Posted by eddie.dillinger View Post

    Now ezine has a PR of 3.
    I think you meant to say that their home page has a PR of 3?

    Your articles don't go on their home page.

    Websites don't "have page rank", Eddie. Pages have page rank. EZA articles now, just as before, just as articles in any other article directory, all go on their own new PR-0 page.

    Originally Posted by eddie.dillinger View Post

    $97/month is ridiculous
    People who need "timed release" of publication seem to find it very worthwhile. I wouldn't dream of paying it, myself, because my business doesn't depend on that at all. But those are the people for whom it exists. Why are you calling that "ridiculous"?

    By the way, it works out at $57 per month, not $97, if you pay annually.
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    • Profile picture of the author rts2271
      Why all the effort with EZA? They are dead. Google has them in their sites and they will be a search site owned by a squatter in 3 years.

      This should be a direct call out to IM people to build your article base on your own blog / site you own and host. Drive your own traffic to YOUR web resources. Do not put all your eggs in the search basket. In short become your own article directory for YOUR content.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

      That will certainly help people out. 250-word articles were a waste of time and space. Those are for people whose understanding of the word "article" involves a chunk of text with some keywords included to which a backlink can be attached. That's a very good way of stacking the deck really firmly against yourself when it comes to making a living through article marketing.

      Let's be honest.

      A 250-word article is usually written as a classified ad.

      Article Marketing was never intended to give classified ad writers another platform from which to advertise.

      "Articles" are intended to share value with readers -- value that readers want to receive.

      In article marketing, we get to put a resource box with the article that works much like a classified ad, but not until the reader has been given real value by the writer.

      I have always said that publishers will want to publish what we have written if we give their readers value.

      If publishers see your articles as nothing more than a long classified ad, they may rightfully feel that you should pay for advertising in their website or newsletter instead...
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    • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
      As some other contributors above have already pointed out, this simply hasn't been an issue for me. Okay, maybe they are a tad slower in approving articles now, 48 - 60 hours instead of the 24 hours I had come to depend upon, but I haven't had an article rejectedsince they updated their policies.

      In the long term it has to be good for EzineArticles - the quality of their content will be vastly improved and they will attract quality writers as opposed to purveyors of garbage. This will surely bring back publishers seeking high quality content for their publications, who, most likely, had been driven away in the past.
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  • Profile picture of the author daddykool
    See the wood from the trees, the only reason these sites are doing this, is they know their lifespan is limited, not just because of the recent changes on the big G, but because video / audio is not an option for them to branch into, to cover the massive losses and placements recently...

    Get into video or audio and you will not have to worry about paying someone $700 bucks a year just to get crappy traffic... :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author bettersocial
    Have they actually asked people to modify their old articles?

    I have almost 600 articles on EZA and haven't been asked to modify a single one of them.

    To me, this really is an opportunity. The ROI with article marketing had been a bit disappointing to say the least - all my good content would get buried beneath piles of garbage. Seriously, many articles on EZA are just paragraphs full of gibberish. Perhaps now I'll see better results.

    I've been away from IM for some time so haven't followed all the developments as closely. Just submitted my first few articles after the farmer changes today itself. Let's see how long EZA takes to approve them.

    Honestly, for me, the changes brought on by Google have compelled me (in a good way) to change the very way I work with IM. Instead of trying to turn a quick buck, I now want to make large, established websites with hundreds of pages of content that Google just can't ignore. No more micro-niche sites for me. I'm now putting in the extra effort to create sites I don't mind putting on a business card.

    I had interviews for some top MBA schools recently, and when I talked about my IM endeavours, they asked me for some of my sites. That's when I realized that I really don't have any sites that I can proudly show off. That was a signal that my approach needs to change.
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  • Profile picture of the author Damani Tabor
    I am not surprised to hear this. Chris Knigth of EZA had expressed his desire to consistently find better ways to 'monetize' his service. You can hear an exchange he had in an interview on Meetinnovators.com Search "Meetinnovators Ezine Articles". He has been encouraged along that line for a while now.

    I will say, the site needs a design overhaul. Then the perceived value would be greater and the new actions would not be so bitter to swallow.

    Time to ramp up activities on the alternatives.

    Forum, what next three article directories approach the rank and reach of EZA, in your opinion?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Damani Tabor View Post

      Forum, what next three article directories approach the rank and reach of EZA, in your opinion?
      For me, none does, really. I'm using article directories for syndication, and although I've used many others in the past, I've achieved significant syndication from article directories only with EZA.

      I also submit to GoArticles and ArticlesBase.
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      • Profile picture of the author sanssecret
        Seriously, I think everyone (else) should give EZA a very wide berth. Definately not worth using them at all.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I think the question is rapidly becoming "how many rants about EZA do we need each day?" How many detailed answers explaining the situation are needed each day?

      Chris at EZA has a right to impose any restrictions and guidelines he wants - it's his site. He will do what is necessary to adjust EZA to best survive the changes google recently made.

      If you think 400 words is asking too much and you feel EZA is "unfair" - then submit your articles somewhere else. That's the simple answer.

      Many people who have had articles previously accepted are being turned down now - that's the point of increasing the standards. Either you write to meet the new level - or you don't.

      kay
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      • Profile picture of the author Edie47
        Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I think the question is rapidly becoming "how many rants about EZA do we need each day?" How many detailed answers explaining the situation are needed each day?

        Chris at EZA has a right to impose any restrictions and guidelines he wants - it's his site. He will do what is necessary to adjust EZA to best survive the changes google recently made.

        If you think 400 words is asking too much and you feel EZA is "unfair" - then submit your articles somewhere else. That's the simple answer.

        Many people who have had articles previously accepted are being turned down now - that's the point of increasing the standards. Either you write to meet the new level - or you don't.

        kay
        I agree totally with you, Alexa, and the others who support the changes EZA is making. They are bring the site up to the standards that really should have been there in the first place. Going forward, if Chris continues to follow through with upgrading EZA, the directly will only get better and better.

        Those who don't like the changes can go somewhere else and let the rest of us enjoy the fact that EZA is growing up and becoming a much more mature (content-wise, not age-wise) article directory that will provide even better opportunities for writers in the future.
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      • Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

        I think the question is rapidly becoming "how many rants about EZA do we need each day?" How many detailed answers explaining the situation are needed each day?

        Chris at EZA has a right to impose any restrictions and guidelines he wants - it's his site. He will do what is necessary to adjust EZA to best survive the changes google recently made.

        If you think 400 words is asking too much and you feel EZA is "unfair" - then submit your articles somewhere else. That's the simple answer.

        Many people who have had articles previously accepted are being turned down now - that's the point of increasing the standards. Either you write to meet the new level - or you don't.

        kay
        Exactly! In fact my recent articles have all exceeded 1700 words. And people whine about 400... tunnel vision dude, they just don't see what's good for them

        Question, currently doing Amazon product reviews and detailed articles regarding things closely related to those products. Aside from finding outlets from where to post articles related to that certain product to obtain - traffic, subscribers and a quality link.

        What other angle could I take - I mean in-terms of what I could write about. Any place "any" of you guys or gals know that may accept product reviews or is dedicated to the release of 'just' product reviews.

        Just anything more than relating some sort of how-to or relating Article that requires the product in question.

        Not getting too far and there's only so much I can write that relates to my products before I run out. Doing the usual bookmarking, forum participation, press releases, video marketing and so forth.
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  • Profile picture of the author KatyaSenina
    I don't bother with them anymore. At least not for now. I mean, 2 weeks just to approve? That's crazy!

    I moved on to Buzzle (don't mind writing one unique article that hasn't been published before), Articlesbase and Goarticles.

    Originally Posted by Brian Lett View Post

    As much as I hate to say this, it might be a case of EzineArticles overestimating their value.

    Does anyone else see it this way?
    I agree, they are acting very cocky. In the end I think this will do their business more harm than good. :rolleyes:

    Originally Posted by Chri5123 View Post

    If you provide really good content and well written articles you will not have a problem.

    However I believe that many marketers will not be prepared to put in THIS much effort to get articles approved when there are other options out there that are just as good or better...
    I believe some great articles were rejected. If you follow this forum you've seen many threads of people who really have put in the effort in writing their articles and still have been rejected. Why is that?:confused:

    Plus how is it gonna do your business any good if you have to wait 2 weeks for you article to get approved? :confused: Ok if syndication is your purpose, you're good. But if you depend on EZA for your traffic and monthly paycheck this is very, very bad.
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  • Profile picture of the author cody123
    Since the changes, I haven't had any issues with EZA. My articles have been getting approved with no problem. It seems to take a few days longer but they're approved with no problem. (perhaps because of the plat status?). My articles are approved in 1-3 days.

    I guess we'll see what happens. The key is to over deliver with valuable, informative content. I imagine there's a lot of spun junk being submitted with redirects to affiliate products. That alone decreases the value of article directories.

    Reading a good article should be like buying a best-selling book. You want your reader to walk away feeling like they got something of value from your work. I don't blame them for cracking down.

    I recently read an article from a guy who has over 130 articles on EZA and claims to make over 100K/year. His articles were absolute junk and obviously not written by someone well versed in the English language. I couldn't even get through one of them without feeling disgust at the fact that they were approved.

    I think the move will benefit those who take pride in their submissions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andrea Wilson
    I wont submit articles to EZA right now. If you are quite troubled with their slow review process then switch to other article directories for the mean time as well.

    Andrea
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Andrea Wilson View Post

      If you are quite troubled with their slow review process then switch to other article directories for the mean time as well.

      Andrea

      LOL

      I will take your advice one step further.

      If ever you are unhappy with how one website affects your business, ADAPT.
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    • Profile picture of the author jlucado
      For EzineArticles to remain an authority site with Google, these changes had to be made.

      Look at it as an improvement. It will be better for those who elect to abide by their new rules. Learn how to do that or leave it alone.
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      • Ezine seems to be the only Article Directory where you get a decent amount of traffic shortly after publication. Unless you do SEO on your articles from Articlesbase, Goarticles etc. I find the traffic to be barely worthwhile.
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  • Profile picture of the author Casper C
    They're leaving themselves open for attack. If the good service goes away, it leaves room for a competitor to take the reigns.
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  • Profile picture of the author O0o0O
    I would argue that they could still be in the green because, if they experienced a 90% decrease in traffic and search engine rankings, then they could downgrade their hosting program and workforce accordingly.
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  • Profile picture of the author MarksWineClub
    I think the slap of EZA and other article directories is a good example why we should be placing our best content on our own sites long term, that being said I don't believe for a second that EZA is done.

    The fact that they're making changes and attempting to upgrade the way they do things means it's more likely they're around 5 years from now, not less.

    I like the change to 400 word articles, I've gotten a ton of competition in my wine niche of late on EZA, most of it has been 252 word articles which are barely readable and shouldn't have been approved in the first place.

    I agree with a few others, that increasing barriers to entry creates opportunity for others willing to put in the effort.
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    • Profile picture of the author RightGood10
      Of course its a smart move, but with Ezine becoming stricter and more demanding I think in fairness Ezine should make there article layout look.... well........ nicer! It looks like some garbage website, every time I read an article on there, the whole time im doubting the legitimacy of its content due to the fact it looks old school and tacky.
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    • Profile picture of the author wildoc82
      I had a few article of mine rejected and understandably though because they were of not good quality. So I am happy in a way that yes this will make the articles more relevant and of good quality. But their turn around times is very long and they are giving vague reasons to turn down articles. So I guess we will just have to wait and watch. As far me, I am a little confused about using ezine as a part of article marketing strategy at least in the near future.
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    • Profile picture of the author dtaylor
      I have always had good luck using EZA and will most likely continue to use them as well as numerous other Article Directories.

      They (article directories in general and EZA in particular) have always given me traffic and backlinks.

      Of course you can put your article on your blog and drive traffic to it. That does not negate the fact that having your article turn up in Google because it is on a high PR site is a good thing and are not mutually exclusive. Do both as well as posting on other peoples blogs.

      Face it, a lot of good content on the web getting placed in front of an interested searcher by the search engines is a good thing for me no matter if it is from EZA, another directory, Squidoo or forums such as this.

      It's all good. Google goes up and down continually with what it pays attention to. Good content will always be valuable no matter where it is.

      Thanks,
      DTaylor
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  • Profile picture of the author markowe
    I am not sure EZA overestimated their importance, seems to me they just got greedy. Sure, they didn't approve just ANYTHING, but there sure is a lot of junk on there because they went for the volume - every new article, even 250-word job, was always going to be worth a few new Adsense clicks to them, which of course accumulte over time.

    On the other side, I have to admit to having used EZA just for SEO purposes in the past ('for the backlink'), rather than for its proper purpose (though I like to think I never published any outright crap), but I would be inclined to say that that 'backlink' is worth less than nothing these days, indeed has not counted for much for some time. I welcome the fact that they have 'come around' finally (well, Google brought them round with a swift hard slap) and perhaps a year down the line that backlink will be 'worth something' again. I might even devote more effort to 'proper' article marketing in the future, but I wonder how many others will bother - I never got out of Basic Plus for one reason or another and now I have been waiting 2 weeks for approval of a 750 word, original article and face having to do another 16 to get to Platinum. It will be hard to justify the effort simply in order to 'help rebuild' EZA after the Google-Hammer came down, even if I might have contributed to the problem in my own small way...
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  • Profile picture of the author veenafurtado
    Time will tell what will become of them.
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    • Profile picture of the author Nubitol
      Agreed. I joined EZA around 6 months ago and have submitted around 130 articles. Well, there were only 3-4 articles that I had to modify along the way (around 3%). After the slap, it's like 2 out of 10 of my submitted articles were asked to be modified and not to mention the almost two weeks waiting time before they approved my article.

      I guess it's better to stay away from EZA at this moment and let them cool their head and realize that its members is their most important assets. Hopefully all dusts have been settled in April/May.


      Originally Posted by veenafurtado View Post

      Time will tell what will become of them.
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  • Profile picture of the author Conjur
    All in all - good changes from my perspective. Also, once you qualify for Diamond level you go back to a 250 word minimum, or at least that is what happened when the moved me to Diamond. Their review and upgrade took less than two days. Personally, my articles have always hovered in the 425 - 475 word range so the lower word minimum doesn't really mean much to me.
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  • Profile picture of the author nadavs
    This change has affected me with more articles being rejected now (because they suddenly become less "informative"), but my strategy hasn't changed much. What doesn't go on EZA goes to other directories.

    I have a premium account (the type of article marketing I do doesn't allow me to wait too much for approval), but I still see a slightly slower approvals.

    Hopefully they'll become less of a pain and more useful after they recover from their Google shock.

    nadavs
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Ken_Caudill View Post

    Pay a company to take my work and make Adsense money from it?

    Yeah, that's a great deal.
    For many of us, it actually is, Ken. As long as the copy of the work on our own site outranks the EZA copy (which has always been relatively easily achieved, and all the more so now, of course).

    They're taking your work in addition to you using it yourself, you know, not as an alternative?

    Two different sorts of people look at articles in EZA.

    There are "potential customers" (people who put one's keywords into a search engine as their search-terms and find the article in the SERP's). Obviously one wants those coming to one's own site, not going to EZA to read that copy of the article: this is absolutely fundamental to article marketing. These are the ones you're thinking of, above, when you mention AdSense: clearly one wouldn't want to lose these people to EZA's AdSense, indeed.

    But it's the second group which is the interesting, and profitable one. These are all the people who use article directories for their intended purpose, and are searching not at Google but inside EZA. They're not customers, obviously. This is how one gets one's work syndicated by using EZA, and it can end up on context-relevant, high-PR sites, bringing qualified buying traffic, targeted by others, and good backlinks (i.e. not article directory crap-links). This is where the real money is, in article marketing.

    People using EZA for only the first group of readers aren't actually doing "article marketing" at all (though typically they imagine they are): they're doing only "article directory marketing" which is, as you so correctly sarcastically state, "a great deal" (i.e. pretty useless). :rolleyes: :p

    The other group, though, is the relevant one.
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  • Profile picture of the author NddS777
    Hi To All,

    I am new here and hoping to add value.

    As i am pro-changes, i would just like to emphasize what was mentioned earlier, by focusing on quality rather than quantity, they will in fact be rewarding the authors/webmasters who deserve the credit and/or traffic.

    This will obviously be irritating for marketers who try to put together a few words hoping to make a sentence, but the fact is they're evolving and adapting lust like any other business, so i guess you will have to as well.

    Sure, they could perhaps work on their approval process but perhaps this is part of their strategy. Think about it, It is human nature to seek out and go after what is not easy to obtain.

    Anyways, these are my thoughts, sorry to any cheap-shotters out there.

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  • Profile picture of the author 60MinuteAffiliate
    I think it's time to add the same quality of content to your sites.

    Regards

    Colleen
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Smith
    I think the changes at Ezine articles (and Google) are a step in the right direction. I had an article directory a year or so ago and ended up taking it offline due to the high volume of utter crap that was being submitted and the propensity of brain dead auto submitter software that seemed to think topics like 'How To Cure Herpes' belonged in the 'Broadband Internet' category.

    The truth is that a large number of people have exploited article directories for a long time and now everyone has to pay. I see you raising your right eyebrow at that word... exploit ... but, in my opinion, submitting low quality content with high value keywords purely for the purpose of exploiting the article directorys' search engine ranking is an exploit of sorts.

    While I'm bandying THAT word around... article submitting software is an exploit - as is anything that automatically logs into an interactive site. Article spinning software is an exploit as it tries to 'trick' the article directory into thinking one article is many different articles.

    Having said all of that - there are some people who create really good quality articles - themselves - not by hiring someone. Those people are thinking long term rather than 'fast easy buck'.

    <sarcasm>
    I rarely post to article directories but I might start doing it again soon. I mean with all the crud removed I could do something revolutionary like write articles that do actually solve a problem and offer more information from my bio box. What a concept!
    </sarcasm>
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    • Profile picture of the author godoveryou
      I absolutely love the "Guru"-ism thrown around here, yet only a few people have noted the enhanced productivity in running your own sites that feature your articles.

      If you wanted to enhance a money page's presence in Google, don't use a site that's been punished by Google - that's building your house on sand. Sticking with Ezine hoping for some great reward of traffic or link juice is simple a sign of being afraid of change and a lack of willingness to adapt to new demands. It's the comfort associated with familiarity, but unless you KNOW your content will be "rescued" by any remaining willing and syndicating bloggers, why plant your roots on a sinking ship?

      If you want to tell everyone what a great author you are, then maybe ezine article count or approval speed means something...

      PS - I have a $700 reason to hope this wasn't true, so I hope I'm wrong but my business runs on sales, not hope. To each, their own...
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      • Profile picture of the author tpw
        Originally Posted by godoveryou View Post

        If you wanted to enhance a money page's presence in Google, don't use a site that's been punished by Google - that's building your house on sand.

        Google offers two types of value to an outbound link: zero value or plus value.

        Just because EZA is being punished by Google does not mean that posting your articles there will lead to a strike against your website.

        As Google has noted many times, if they put negative value on an outbound link, it would be easy to destroy your enemies and competitors.

        So Google will either give you a plus value or no value on your links.


        Originally Posted by godoveryou View Post

        my business runs on sales, not hope. To each, their own...

        LOL

        Great statement.

        I also run my business on sales.

        Without sales being derived from the process, article marketing only serves false hope or an ego stroke.

        I don't need to stroke my own ego. And false hope does not pay my bills.
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        • Profile picture of the author godoveryou
          I don't need to stroke my own ego. And false hope does not pay my bills.
          LOL, really?

          So you have some real value and evidence to provide for this baseless belief that I have yet to see you substantiate? Otherwise you're cheer leading is in complete conflict with the agenda you seem so desperate to defend.

          Evidence it, that's all you have to do. You do that - I shut up. Otherwise, it's just more "Guru"-ism
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          • Profile picture of the author tpw
            Originally Posted by godoveryou View Post

            LOL, really?

            So you have some real value and evidence to provide for this baseless belief that I have yet to see you substantiate? Otherwise you're cheer leading is in complete conflict with the agenda you seem so desperate to defend.

            Evidence it, that's all you have to do. You do that - I shut up. Otherwise, it's just more "Guru"-ism

            Which "false belief" do you want me to defend with proof?

            p.s. I am not a guru. Never have been.
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            • Profile picture of the author Bryan Zimmerman
              I laugh every single time I hear people talk about how the premium account is not worth the $97.00 and how it's only good for people wanting faster submissions and the ability to time out their articles at certain time of the day.

              I'm really kind of shocked by some of you who are "experts" in the field as well, because I would have thought you would have looked a little deeper into it since article marketing is your "bread and butter".

              Just a piece of what you can do with it, and a very SMALL piece at that is the recently submitted category.

              We all know, or at least I hope so, that the recently published list gets a decent amount of traffic on the top two or three slots as long as your title doesn't suck. Well, Ezine only approves articles between 9am and 5pm central standard time. That's a whole 9 hours that depending on the category, you are fighting with hundreds of other authors for those slots.

              Some categories have 22,000 articles or more in them and a lot of them ranked, and that list is on the bottom of every single one of them. That's a lot of potential traffic!!

              So everyone that doesn't have one is limited to those times. Now, everyone who has a premium account can submit after 6pm and take over every single one of those slots and ride that traffic for 15 hours and not have to worry about 100 articles coming out behind them.

              Traffic? I know of categories that you can get 300+ views in one evening from ONE article doing this. I don't care how "good" you are in article marketing, nobody would blow off that kind of traffic. If your click through rate is even half way decent, you're talking about 100+ views going to where ever it is you want to send them.

              That is only a SMALL piece of what you can do with it. Stop looking at the dollar figure that's on it and start paying attention to what you can really do with it. At least stop pointing people in the direction away from it if the only thing you think it's good for is timed submissions. You could be screwing someone out of a good opportunity to make some money just because you don't think any further than what it seems to be.
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              • Profile picture of the author tpw
                Originally Posted by Bryan Zimmerman View Post

                I laugh every single time I hear people talk about how the premium account is not worth the $97.00 and how it's only good for people wanting faster submissions and the ability to time out their articles at certain time of the day.

                I'm really kind of shocked by some of you who are "experts" in the field as well, because I would have thought you would have looked a little deeper into it since article marketing is your "bread and butter".

                I honestly never looked at it, Bryan.

                I did not know the value of it, and I was hoping someone like you would speak up. :p

                I only use EZA once in a while.

                I imagine if I used it daily like Alexa does, then I would have definitely looked into it. But I have only put 12 articles into EZA in the last two years.

                I don't have a problem investing in something that offers that kind of value. But I would still have to change my posting habits with EZA in order to get the $97 per month value.

                As many people know, I use other channels of syndication most of the time.
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                Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
                Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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                • Profile picture of the author Bryan Zimmerman
                  That's my point Bill, (wasn't directed at anyone specific, just in general because I see it all the time)

                  Most of the people who claim to be article marketing "experts" or others have dubbed them that, DON'T look into it other than what's on the surface, yet they go around and tell everyone "you're crazy to pay that, it's pointless other than faster approval times and submissions".

                  If you've paid it for a month or two and used it, then fine. Say that and state your reasons for not using it, but if you haven't, then it's not cool to go running around telling everyone else who may not no any better don't use it. That's not fair and a totally biased opinion that comes off stated as a fact.

                  Honestly, if you are an article marketer and HAVE paid for it and not seen what you can do with it and still down it, then I'm going to question how good someone is to begin with

                  Again, not directed at anyone in general, I've just seen this come up over and over and over and it's just not true.
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                  • Profile picture of the author peter gibson
                    Originally Posted by Bryan Zimmerman View Post

                    ...yet they go around and tell everyone "you're crazy to pay that, it's pointless...".

                    ...If you've paid it for a month or two and used it, then fine. Say that and state your reasons for not using it, but if you haven't, then it's not cool to go running around telling everyone else who may not no any better don't use it. That's not fair and a totally biased opinion that comes off stated as a fact.

                    .
                    Quoted for truth.

                    That ^^^ is the scourge of the warrior forum really. Regardless the subject matter, in most threads you usually find a group of whingers piping in without having the necessary experience, trying to diss a product or service just because the .38 seconds they spent with it didn't pan out.

                    And you're absolutely right, it's bloody frustrating to see it happen time and again, knowing that some newb might heed such nonsense advice and miss out on a tool or technique that could truly help their business.
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          • Profile picture of the author tpw
            Originally Posted by godoveryou View Post

            Originally Posted by tpw View Post

            Google offers two types of value to an outbound link: zero value or plus value.

            Just because EZA is being punished by Google does not mean that posting your articles there will lead to a strike against your website.

            As Google has noted many times, if they put negative value on an outbound link, it would be easy to destroy your enemies and competitors.

            So Google will either give you a plus value or no value on your links.



            I also run my business on sales.

            Without sales being derived from the process, article marketing only serves false hope or an ego stroke.

            I don't need to stroke my own ego. And false hope does not pay my bills.

            LOL, really?

            So you have some real value and evidence to provide for this baseless belief that I have yet to see you substantiate? Otherwise you're cheer leading is in complete conflict with the agenda you seem so desperate to defend.

            Evidence it, that's all you have to do. You do that - I shut up. Otherwise, it's just more "Guru"-ism

            I take it this is the proof you are looking for me to provide:

            Can a competitor do anything to damage my site’s performance in search results?

            We work really hard to make sure competitors can’t negatively affect other sites’ rankings. If you're concerned about another site linking to yours, we suggest contacting the webmaster of the site in question. Google aggregates and organizes information published on the web; we don't control the content of these pages.

            Source

            Google did not say they penalize a site based on bad links. They said, "if you are concerned"...


            Google and most other search engines use links to determine reputation. A site's ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site's value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating.

            However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results.

            Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such. This can be done in several ways, such as:

            * Adding a rel="nofollow" attribute to the <a> tag
            * Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file

            Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such excessive link exchanges and purchased links that pass PageRank. If you see a site that is buying or selling links that pass PageRank, let us know. We'll use your information to improve our algorithmic detection of such links.

            Source

            Not all paid links are a violation of the Google Webmaster Guidelines. But links that are bought and sold to affect PageRank are in violation of Google's Webmaster Guidelines and will be penalized.

            Article Marketers do not buy links from sites like EZA, nor do they exchange links with EZA.


            Quality guidelines - basic principles

            * Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users or present different content to search engines than you display to users, which is commonly referred to as "cloaking."

            * Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"

            * Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.

            * Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our Terms of Service. Google does not recommend the use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

            Source

            Your website can be hurt by linking to bad neighborhoods.

            But bad neighborhoods linking to you are not discussed.


            Matt Cutts responded to a query from Forbes.com concerning bad linking behavior by the Forbes website:

            That message typically indicates that we believe a site is selling links that pass PageRank, which is a violation of our quality guidelines.

            Source

            Forbes.com was hurt for "selling links to pass PageRank".

            In essence, Google does penalize links that are created to enable companies who sell links, in order to profit from the activity of selling Google PageRank.

            And they do engage is penalizing buyers who buy links for the same reason.

            Now EZA is not selling us links. They are giving us links for providing "value" to their users, as defined within Google's quality guidelines.

            Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
            EZA got hammered though, because they were letting people who were not giving real value get through to the end user.

            Their greed got the best of them.

            And now they have awoke to the cold, hard realities of having done so for so long.

            Regardless, the value of EZA is not in the link game and the SEO value of getting your article in EZA to rank well in Google.

            The value is in the Internal Traffic on EZA, and in the syndication of articles to other publishers.

            Yes, I know that last sentence is part of what angers you about my opinion.

            And my opinion does not so much support EZA, but rather the process of syndicating articles.

            So long as EZA continues to have publishers go to its website looking for content to syndicate, it will always have value for professional article marketers and the publishers who use it to find content to republish.

            Google Webmaster Tools credits one of my sites with 255k inbound links, the majority of which were gained through article marketing.

            But Google only accounts for 35% of my traffic on that site, and Google accounts for even less traffic on my other sites.



            As you can see from the screen shot, that website served 279,000 unique visitors and 1.3 million page views in 2010...

            It was not Google that sent most of that traffic to me... It was links from 255k web pages and my articles getting published in newsletters with subscriber lists of up to half a million readers.

            This site combined with two other of my sites generated +500,000 unique visitors and +6.5 million page views in 2010...

            For me, "my belief" in article syndication as an effective web promotion tool is not a desperate dream, but an everyday reality.
            Signature
            Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
            Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author Mehak
    if you are a good writer and have written keyword rich articles, then i guess it is worth paying for your marketing. However if people were getting the same services in the past for free then it does seem a bit unfair. This just shows how the world of IM can change overnight, so you should never rely on one type of marketing.
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  • Profile picture of the author SpikeS
    Maybe they just want to make the internet a more quality place to get information? I'm only just getting into IM but even I know there are millions of 'niche' sites filled with bull**** content and are plastered in adsense. Of course they use article directories to rank well...maybe if niche site builders actually picked niche sites they could invest time in, develop a quality site and sell relevant products on then there might not be such an issue?
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    Oh dear, it would seem the 400 word minimum hasn't had much if any effect;

    http://ezinearticles.com/?Tips-to-Re...ess&id=6001190

    Lol, read this article, the opening sentence alone is full of errors.

    http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Do-I-W...le?&id=6072611

    Lol, perhaps the 'author' of this gem should learn how to spell first, before giving advice on how to write super star resumes.

    EZA really need to change their links to NoFollow to get rid of this garbage.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author Simon Ashari
    As much as some may hate it, EZA can do what they want. There are also plenty of other article directories out there.

    I also agree with many other the other posts here. Good content should be going on your site (generating traffic and ranking for your own site rather than EZA).

    At the end of the day, if people keep creating content for EZA, then they will make the restrictions tougher and tougher (good on them).

    -Simon
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  • Profile picture of the author ratracegrad
    I am a platinum membership at eza with over 250 articles that have been viewed over 24,000 times. Never had an article rejected. I am the #1 ranked author in my primary category and ranked #3 in my secondary category. I applied for Diamond level and was denied saying I did not meet their requirements. They did not tell me which requirement I failed to meet.
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    • Profile picture of the author joymarino
      Originally Posted by ratracegrad View Post

      I am a platinum membership at eza with over 250 articles that have been viewed over 24,000 times. Never had an article rejected. I am the #1 ranked author in my primary category and ranked #3 in my secondary category. I applied for Diamond level and was denied saying I did not meet their requirements. They did not tell me which requirement I failed to meet.
      WOW...that stinks! SO sorry to hear about that. I guess my lil account with a fraction of your content is going to be stagnant for awhile then.
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  • Profile picture of the author millardsc
    I can live with most of the changes but the longer approval time really makes me not want to work with them much anymore.

    millardsc
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    • Profile picture of the author Gary Smith
      Originally Posted by millardsc View Post

      I can live with most of the changes but the longer approval time really makes me not want to work with them much anymore.

      millardsc
      I don't really understand why. If you had to take your articles to the EZA office and sit in a waiting room for 2 weeks until they were approved then I'd get it - but why not just keep writing and submitting articles. After a week or two the approvals 'stream' will start flowing.
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      PHP Developer and aging geek

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  • Profile picture of the author joymarino
    Originally Posted by shmeeko69 View Post

    If anyone is new to article marketing then, they're getting in at the wrong time as far as submitting articles with Ezine the top directory. They have seriously moved the goalposts form March 2011 and are making it very difficult for myself and other article writers to get articles approved with a free account. The following changes will certainly effect everyone...Mark
    I think this is an area where a LOT of people are going to step back for awhile. Perhaps when there is a huge decrease in articles that are submitted, they may re-vamp their new guidelines..?? This is good news for all of the other free article directories, however.

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  • Profile picture of the author rkcc4
    It seems to go from one extreme to another, if allowed free accounts for first 30 articles and then staggered pricing and features from $10 a month people would live with it. Sure some would just open multiple accounts but better to have thousands of $10 a month clients than a handful of $97 a month.
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  • Profile picture of the author walesfootball
    Has anyone applied for the Diamond Membership Level, if so has it made any difference to submitting and acceptance process
    I've just been upgraded to Diamond and had a couple of articles approved since which took about 5 days, prior to that at platinum my articles had taken around 15 days recently, I just assumed with all the changes there may be some kind of backlog and will probably reserve judgement for a few weeks.
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Gehr
    I think it's about time the bar was raised to improve content on the internet, and article sites, such as EZA are now duly slapped and repositioning to up the ante for article marketing.

    This is a good thing and way overdue.

    I personally don't see any problems with the new changes, in fact, it appears to me to make more sense than the previous rules, which seemed to have been compromised time and again in the past.

    This was a positive move in the right direction for the internet marketing industry, and just as any business needs regular reevaluating, these recent EZA modifications make improvements on information--which is what the internet is supposed to be.
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  • Profile picture of the author VOnline
    I still "try" to use Ezine. =]
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    Feel good about throwing out old clothes because you know there’ll be a new one waiting for you at the door.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    This will greatly decrease competition and be beneficial to those providing quality content.

    ~Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author calfred
    Actually, this is an unseen opportunity.

    80% of the existing EZA members will be discouraged from posting new articles.

    This will give 20% of other members more chance for better article exposure.
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    • Profile picture of the author Raindance
      Originally Posted by calfred View Post

      Actually, this is an unseen opportunity.

      80% of the existing EZA members will be discouraged from posting new articles.

      This will give 20% of other members more chance for better article exposure.
      Right Said Fred
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  • Profile picture of the author Raindance
    I would also like to add here that I had submitted an article on Ezine which I had made in 15 mins. I was waiting for someone and had some time on my hand so I made an article optimized for a keyword I wasn't much focusing on. Later, I edited it for some max 10 mins and submitted it to Ezine. It went live today. I don't think Ezine is being as bad as everyone says. Just keep your content unique. Even if you are rehashing something then add points from your own to make the information look updated.

    They took 9 days to complete the approval process. Don't make grammar or punctuation mistakes and make it as unique as possible, ezine will love you.
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  • Profile picture of the author backoffice
    Well..........whatever they are doing I believe thats called business.
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  • Profile picture of the author Susovan
    EZA has been a good article directory and to maintain quality of articles and also to ensure better quality traffic to our articles and thereby to our business sites, they provide for an "option" of paid service there is no harm in it.

    Apart from this if they are taking a longer time to accept your article, you should be happy as this would ensure that only qualitative writers would have their articles posted and hence the filter will help good writers and get better appreciation of their work in terms of traffic to their sites.

    Thanks
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