187 replies
Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.

Is this worthwhile?
The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
Is this habit or is any link better than no link?
What gives?

thanks
#eza
  • Profile picture of the author mootonandy
    I still get a few hits a day from my articles so its probably worth submitting there I think. You also get a PR6 do follow link.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by mootonandy View Post

      I still get a few hits a day from my articles so its probably worth submitting there I think. You also get a PR6 do follow link.
      I hate to break it to you, but you aren't getting a PR6 link. If you check it, the link your article appears on is a PR0, at least to start. The same as any other brand new web page.

      EZA's home page may be a PR6, but any juice from that is diluted to hundreds or thousands of lower level pages.
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      • Profile picture of the author mootonandy
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        I hate to break it to you, but you aren't getting a PR6 link. If you check it, the link your article appears on is a PR0, at least to start. The same as any other brand new web page.

        EZA's home page may be a PR6, but any juice from that is diluted to hundreds or thousands of lower level pages.
        I see. I did still get a large rank increase when I got 25 articles written submitted there. Same thing happened another time when I used article marketing robot.
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        • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
          Originally Posted by mootonandy View Post

          I see. I did still get a large rank increase when I got 25 articles written submitted there. Same thing happened another time when I used article marketing robot.
          Don't get me wrong. Having backlinks is better than not having backlinks.

          And for less competitive keywords it may not take much to see a boost in ranking.

          But the original question was why people were still using EZA. For me, any direct traffic or SEO benefit is an unexpected bonus. If I get it, cool, I'll take it. If not, no big deal.
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    • Profile picture of the author tantivy
      Originally Posted by mootonandy View Post

      I still get a few hits a day from my articles so its probably worth submitting there I think. You also get a PR6 do follow link.
      true. if you submit a good article it still gives you traffic, if not then there's still the link juice. still applicable from my point of view.
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    My reasons have nothing to do with Google rankings.

    My main reason for using EZA is to identify websites and blogs that use outside content in the subject area of the article. In other words, identifying syndication opportunities.

    Any direct traffic or SEO benefit is an unexpected bonus...
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  • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
    Banned
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.
    We do, yes.

    Many professional article marketers do, anyway. (As we've been saying in many threads here since the update).

    We're not using it for its own traffic or its own backlinks. That isn't article marketing - it's just article directory marketing, and as you rightly say, that idea's been slapped silly (though, to be fair, it was silly to rely on article directories for their traffic and backlinks even well before the update).

    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    That's a plus, not a minus.

    When someone finds one of my articles by putting one of its keywords into a search engine, I'd really hate for them to find an article directory copy. Why would I want my traffic going off to an article directory when I only get 20% of it back, that way? I want them coming to my own site where I originally published the article (and had it indexed) before I submitted it to any article directories for all the reasons explained here.

    And article directory backlinks you can forget: all the expert SEO authors were saying, even a year or two before that update, that typically you'd need something between 50,000 and 100,000 of them to give you the link-juice to that from one backlink from a relevant authority site. Article directory backlinks are non-context-relevant, PR-0 backlinks.

    Article directories are depositories of freely available content for people to syndicate.

    This is why experienced article marketers are still using EZA.

    We want people who are looking not in Google but inside EZA: these are researchers, webmasters, ezine/newsletter-compilers, and so on, but they're not potential customers. They lead, though, to targeted traffic (and some high quality, relevant backlinks) when they syndicate our articles, which is why we submit them there.

    For many of us here who've tried it this is a far more profitable, stable and secure approach characterised by building a real, asset-based business based on continually increasing residual income from work already done, and this is the true value of article directories.

    Originally Posted by mootonandy View Post

    You also get a PR6 do follow link.
    If only!

    I'm afraid what you get is a PR-0 link.

    Nobody is born understanding the intricacies of article marketing, and no new web-page (on your site, on my site, or on EZA's site) is born with any page rank.
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    • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
      So agree with Alexa.

      Internet Marketers always seem to believe all traffic has to come from Google.

      Ezine articles/article directories are a great way of getting your content out there without coming directly from Google. You may not get major traffic directly, but when you write good stuff and people republish it, then not only are you creating alternative sources of traffic but you are exponetially expanding the readers of your content and the likeihood of more people clicking back to your site.

      I see the 'article views' count as not just how many times people found it on Google, but also as an indication of what content other webmasters have been searching for, possibly to reproduce. (Gives me an idea of topics which will help get me out there even more)

      It offers you an alternative way to get your content out there, all with redirects back to your site.
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    • Profile picture of the author mootonandy
      Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post




      If only!

      I'm afraid what you get is a PR-0 link.

      Nobody is born understanding the intricacies of article marketing, and no new web-page (on your site, on my site, or on EZA's site) is born with any page rank.
      I see. I did get a big rank increase once from when I had 25 articles written and submitted to there - so there must be some SEO benefit from the links u get from there.
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      • Profile picture of the author schttrj
        Originally Posted by mootonandy View Post

        I see. I did get a big rank increase once from when I had 25 articles written and submitted to there - so there must be some SEO benefit from the links u get from there.
        Okay, here's something to think about. Tell me which site uses an article directory article any more? Even it was never used by those QUALITY sites. They always contained unique articles.

        Now, the low-quality site that is using your article on their site, this can actually affect your SEO in a bad way. Have you ever thought about that?

        But yes, as you already said, if you are doing this for link building, KEEP DOING IT. Because that's what ultimately counts in the Google world.

        A do-follow link from a QUALITY domain!
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

          Tell me which site uses an article directory article any more?
          Countless successful professional article marketers here are using EZA on a daily basis, as a way of getting their articles syndicated (which is, of course, the purpose and function of an article directory and reason for their existence) to relevant sites which can produce targeted traffic as well as some far higher quality backlinks than one can get from the article directory itself.

          It's a highly valuable stepping-stone - as explained extensively on the previous page of this thread and in many others, by so many of us.

          Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

          Now, the low-quality site that is using your article on their site, this can actually affect your SEO in a bad way.
          That's utter nonsense, exactly as it has been on previous occasions when you've asserted it, Ron - and in this context it's simply factually incorrect and deeply misleading.

          The syndication of articles to low-quality sites (such as article directories themselves, which Google continues to devalue further with every algorithm-change they introduce) may not help your site in any measurable way (and why should it, when that's not its purpose anyway?) but it has NO "bad effect" on your SEO. :rolleyes:
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          • Profile picture of the author Aussie_Al
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post


            That's utter nonsense, exactly as it has been on previous occasions when you've asserted it, Ron - and in this context it's simply factually incorrect and deeply misleading.

            The syndication of articles to low-quality sites (such as article directories themselves, which Google continues to devalue further with every algorithm-change they introduce) may not help your site in any measurable way (and why should it, when that's not its purpose anyway?) but it has NO "bad effect" on your SEO. :rolleyes:
            Geez Alexa you have the patience of a saint!
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          • Profile picture of the author schttrj
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            Countless successful professional article marketers here are using EZA on a daily basis, as a way of getting their articles syndicated (which is, of course, the purpose and function of an article directory and reason for their existence) to relevant sites which can produce targeted traffic as well as some far higher quality backlinks than one can get from the article directory itself.

            It's a highly valuable stepping-stone - as explained extensively on the previous page of this thread and in many others, by so many of us.
            Tell you something, the next time you state a fact, show some proof! Though it is a public forum and people are used to saying whatever they like, I believe people here actually trust what you say. So make sure you are correct before you spout out something.

            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            That's utter nonsense, exactly as it has been on previous occasions when you've asserted it, Ron - and in this context it's simply factually incorrect and deeply misleading.

            The syndication of articles to low-quality sites (such as article directories themselves, which Google continues to devalue further with every algorithm-change they introduce) may not help your site in any measurable way (and why should it, when that's not its purpose anyway?) but it has NO "bad effect" on your SEO. :rolleyes:
            Tell you something, many things in this world are NOT as they SHOULD have been.

            Get practical, Alexa. Rolling eyes won't get you anywhere.

            Just for a fact, I work in a SEO company. So, think before you say something.

            EZA is NOT a low quality site, remember that. Check out its domain PR. But THOSE sites who take your article from these article directories, most of them are...

            Before you say "factually incorrect and deeply misleading", get your facts straight. You still live in a fantasy world, as do many writers like you.

            SEO is a pretty simple yet tricky field. You are yet to know that.
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

              EZA is NOT a low quality site, remember that. Check out its domain PR.
              Domains don't "have PR", Ron, however many suppliers of SEO services might like people to imagine that they do.

              Only pages have page rank.

              EZA's home page has a page rank of 6, but articles published in it have page ranks of 0.

              How could it be otherwise?

              Nobody is born with an inherent understanding of article marketing, and no newly published page on anyone's website is born with an inherent page rank.

              Please excuse my not dignifying the rest of your comments with any response.
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            • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
              Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

              Just for a fact, I work in a SEO company. So, think before you say something.
              Just for a fact, I worked on the Bing development team.

              Alexa is right.

              What most SEO companies don't seem to grasp is that their entire business model is based on tricking an initial ranking algorithm that isn't very good. It can't be. It's got to assign ranks and deliver results so fast, it simply doesn't have time to be smart. Instead, once a site's been delivered in the results a certain number of times, it undergoes additional offline processing.

              When you've faked a crap site onto page 1, which isn't all that hard, that offline processing dumps it back to page 30. So you have to fake it back to page 1 again, over and over, until eventually it just won't go back there anymore and you have to do a complete site redesign.

              And when you get paid a monthly fee for delivering high rankings, this is exactly what you want. You want your client to see that you are doing something, so there needs to be the occasional "slap" where you can go "we'll fix it!" and drag him back up to page 1. And when it stops working, you just go "those *******s, they changed their algorithm, it's a conspiracy" and charge extra for a redesign.

              Now, pay very close attention here.

              If things work the way Alexa and I are saying they work, we don't stand to make any money.

              In fact, it doesn't make us a dime if you start ranking your sites using the methods we explain. Doesn't cost us one, either.

              So ask yourself just how trustworthy it makes you to come in here saying "they're lying, you should do stuff my way" when doing stuff your way is how you make your money.

              Economics is like a minor superpower. People respond to incentives, so if you can just figure out where people's incentives are, you stand a pretty good chance of figuring out how they'll behave. And when someone's paycheck is based on the world believing a load of crap, they might not be so keen on the world figuring out it's crap.
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              "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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              • Profile picture of the author schttrj
                Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

                Just for a fact, I worked on the Bing development team.

                Alexa is right.

                What most SEO companies don't seem to grasp is that their entire business model is based on tricking an initial ranking algorithm that isn't very good. It can't be. It's got to assign ranks and deliver results so fast, it simply doesn't have time to be smart. Instead, once a site's been delivered in the results a certain number of times, it undergoes additional offline processing.

                When you've faked a crap site onto page 1, which isn't all that hard, that offline processing dumps it back to page 30. So you have to fake it back to page 1 again, over and over, until eventually it just won't go back there anymore and you have to do a complete site redesign.

                And when you get paid a monthly fee for delivering high rankings, this is exactly what you want. You want your client to see that you are doing something, so there needs to be the occasional "slap" where you can go "we'll fix it!" and drag him back up to page 1. And when it stops working, you just go "those *******s, they changed their algorithm, it's a conspiracy" and charge extra for a redesign.

                Now, pay very close attention here.

                If things work the way Alexa and I are saying they work, we don't stand to make any money.

                In fact, it doesn't make us a dime if you start ranking your sites using the methods we explain. Doesn't cost us one, either.

                So ask yourself just how trustworthy it makes you to come in here saying "they're lying, you should do stuff my way" when doing stuff your way is how you make your money.

                Economics is like a minor superpower. People respond to incentives, so if you can just figure out where people's incentives are, you stand a pretty good chance of figuring out how they'll behave. And when someone's paycheck is based on the world believing a load of crap, they might not be so keen on the world figuring out it's crap.
                Well, I didn't get your point.

                But yes, I will just make one more try to explain my point.

                DO article marketing. Because you ain't got anything better.

                DON'T rely on article syndication. Your articles get stolen or lost in the huge amount of articles being poured in everyday. If one gets syndicated, consider yourself "lucky".

                But the site where it reaches may not be a QUALITY site. Because as many of you have seen, most sites that use duplicate content are crap sites. So not much leverage. Maybe you get a few visitors from that site but ultimately no SEO help.

                Yes, a few extra backlinks...well, I would reconsider it since QUALITY is a big factor after the Panda update.

                Then don't go that deep either. You gather links from different article directories. You rise up in SERPs. Simple. Yes, these links don't count much value these days, as is heard. But still you have got no other way.

                So, go for a PR6 EZA site, rather than rely on your article being syndicated in a PR0 unknown obscure site.

                Hope I have been explanatory enough.
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                • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
                  Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

                  Well, I didn't get your point.
                  The point is that you are wrong. You only understand what you do, and you only do that because it's what makes your company money.

                  If your income depended entirely on what you did for yourself, not on what other people paid you for doing their stuff, you would rapidly discover that SEO the way you're doing it is only really good for extracting continuity payments from clients.
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                  "The Golden Town is the Golden Town no longer. They have sold their pillars for brass and their temples for money, they have made coins out of their golden doors. It is become a dark town full of trouble, there is no ease in its streets, beauty has left it and the old songs are gone." - Lord Dunsany, The Messengers
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                  • Profile picture of the author Robster0880
                    Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

                    The point is that you are wrong. You only understand what you do, and you only do that because it's what makes your company money.

                    If your income depended entirely on what you did for yourself, not on what other people paid you for doing their stuff, you would rapidly discover that SEO the way you're doing it is only really good for extracting continuity payments from clients.
                    so true and so misunderstood at the same time!
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                • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                  Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

                  DON'T rely on article syndication. Your articles get stolen or lost in the huge amount of articles being poured in everyday. If one gets syndicated, consider yourself "lucky".
                  There's a big difference in the kind of passive syndication you insist on calling 'duplicate content' and the active syndication that results in both human traffic and quality links.

                  If 'syndication' means dumping quantities of articles on a load of directory sites, many of which are never visited by humans, and crossing your fingers, you may be right.

                  Most of your syndication may well be by content scrapers like the 'hands-off autoblog' set, and many of those won't bother with the niceties of honoring terms of service.

                  If you broaden your definition to actively seeking channels that want your content, and are willing to put it on pages intended to earn their own pagerank (since you insist that it's important), directories like EZA are only the first step in one part of the process.

                  Yes, pirates are going to steal what you post, but if you post the right kind of content, serious sites will pick up your articles. Once identified, you can start building an ongoing relationship and cut the directory out of the picture altogether with those publishers.

                  Yes, you may get that PR6 link from EZA's home page - for a few seconds to, maybe, a few minutes if it hits the recent articles list on the home page. You may get a link from a category page once removed from the home page for a little while, until that article is buried ever deeper in the archives. But those links are to the article on EZA, not to your site.

                  Even if you get a link from the home page, your own site is two levels deeper than that, so you aren't getting the juice from a PR6 page.

                  And that's ignoring the concepts of context and relevance...
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            • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
              Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

              Tell you something, the next time you state a fact, show some proof!
              I'd just love to see you post some proof of what you say which seems to be against anything Alexa and everyone else is saying.

              DO article marketing. Because you ain't got anything better.

              DON'T rely on article syndication. Your articles get stolen or lost in the huge amount of articles being poured in everyday. If one gets syndicated, consider yourself "lucky".
              ...and there's the proof you've no idea what you're saying.

              You don't know what directories are really for and you've no idea about syndication. If you think you're lucky to get your articles syndicated and most get stolen by crap marketers, that goes to show you need to improve how you write your articles and indeed how to go about marketing them.

              You do article marketing like you do because you ain't got anything better to produce.

              Sorry, you said it.

              Just for a fact, I work in a SEO company. So, think before you say something.
              Well I don't need to work for an SEO company because I can make money by myself. So, as you're calling for the proof and you "work" for an SEO company, lets see you prove her wrong.
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            • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
              Originally Posted by schttrj View Post

              Get practical, Alexa. Rolling eyes won't get you anywhere.

              Just for a fact, I work in a SEO company. So, think before you say something.

              SEO is a pretty simple yet tricky field. You are yet to know that.

              Well I own my own SEO company and do work almost entirely for companies not Imers (Still offer a few knick knacks here and there. This forum kind of brought me back to online work so its a habit) and Alexa is right. Yes Google HAS in fact started sending out warning and notices for incoming links but by and large getting your content syndicated somewhere that you didn't choose is NOT going to hurt you. If you claim otherwise then its you that have the burden of proof since Google (still the leading Search engine by far) has stated repeatedly that the vast majority of incoming links will not hurt an established site.

              Now the recent reports of notices (which could signal some significant need to change linking patterns very popular here) relate to obviously bought links, unnatural linking patterns and pagerank manipulation but I think you would be hard pressed to make that case from a syndicated article on a PR N/A or zero page that would be obviously syndicated particularly if you follow what Alexa states about publishing on your site first.

              As for Alexa on SEO in general. I've read a good amount of posts from her where she meanders into the field and frankly she is more spot on than a lot of people on here offering their "SEO" services.
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        • Profile picture of the author Tom B
          Banned
          Originally Posted by schttrj View Post


          Now, the low-quality site that is using your article on their site, this can actually affect your SEO in a bad way. Have you ever thought about that?
          Since you're demanding proof, you can start us off with proof of this statement.
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    • Profile picture of the author reyteon
      Hi Interesting tips on why to use Eza. I have written a few articles there and they have helped build credibility. I also love scribd for same reason...
      thanks,
      toneemarie
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by GoodnightSweetRatRace View Post

        Hey,

        I know article syndication can be one of the best ways of getting targetted traffic, and recieving relevant backlinks. But I'm just wandering, is this only worth the effort if your in popular Niche's, where there are many bloggers looking for content? Only reason I'm asking this, is because most of my Niche's are small, with very little competition, and I can't imagine my articles being discovered. :confused:
        GSRR, you may focus on "small, with very little competition" niches for your money sites, but even those are part of larger, more popular niches and markets.

        Before you abandon the idea of finding publishers for your efforts, look at the bigger market to see if someone aiming to cover a broader scope could use your content to fill gaps in their own.

        Here's a hypothetical example...

        Let's say I own/run a blog on everyone's favorite subject, dog training.

        You focus on a small part of that subject, electronic training collars.

        You notice that, while my site is both comprehensive and authoritative, I don't have much of anything on electronic collars.

        So you email me and offer some of your content. I ask to see it. It's so good, I decide to publish it on my site.

        We both win. You get both a link from my authority site and my implied endorsement of your expertise. I get solid content to fill a gap I didn't even realize I had, so my site's authority is further enhanced.

        You can look at your market like an archery target with your specific niche in the bullseye. When you run out of oppotunities for syndication within the bullseye, step out to the next larger ring and see how you can fit into that. And so on...

        You should never run out of oppotunities.
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidTT
    honestly it still works pretty good for me. Obviously the google farmer did slap a few articles but non the less, it still drives traffic and sales for me so I cant complain.
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  • Profile picture of the author tpw
    Just because you don't understand the value of EZA anymore, does not mean that it has no value.
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  • Profile picture of the author Britt Malka
    I am still using EZA, yes, and for the same reasons I've always used them.

    But I just did a search for my latest article, and found several copies of it online... but without my resource box or name. I know I can try to contact all the blog owners, but it will take a lot of time. Is it worth it?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Britt Malka View Post

      I am still using EZA, yes, and for the same reasons I've always used them.

      But I just did a search for my latest article, and found several copies of it online... but without my resource box or name. I know I can try to contact all the blog owners, but it will take a lot of time. Is it worth it?
      It is for me, yes. (But it doesn't take me a lot of time at all: I have two standard emails ready written, and all I do is "fill in a couple of blanks" and send them out as and when needed).

      My primary objective is to get my resource box added to what's been published, not to get the content removed (that's very easy, but something I want to do only if I fail with the first email).
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      • Profile picture of the author jimmel196
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        It is for me, yes. (But it doesn't take me a lot of time at all: I have two standard emails ready written, and all I do is "fill in a couple of blanks" and send them out as and when needed).

        My primary objective is to get my resource box added to what's been published, not to get the content removed (that's very easy, but something I want to do only if I fail with the first email).
        I have written and asked about the copyright infringement problem in the past. I'm sure you are much more organized than I am because I only have 5 live articles on EZA and I am having a difficult time keeping up with all of the copyright infringers. I couldn't imagine having hundreds or thousands of articles. I have noticed a lot of the abuse is a portion of my article for which they post the Ezine ID# which takes you to my article and not my website. I have attempted to approach many of the people about attaching my resource box but I never get a response. I must say that the DMCA Takedown method has been very successful when it is a hosting company that you can email the notice to. Some hosting companies, Hostgator being on, requires a certified letter which is very inconvenient to do. It almost seems like a lost cause.

        One question; If my article is used by someone who omits the resource box, do I get any benefit from the article? Thanks. Jimmy
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by jimmel196 View Post

          One question; If my article is used by someone who omits the resource box, do I get any benefit from the article? Thanks. Jimmy
          Hi Jimmy, yes, it can happen. They're not normally doing you any harm, though.

          As you say, a DMCA notice takes care of them.

          You get some benefit from it if they include a link back to the EZA copy, in that possibly some of their readers (if they really have any) may click on that link to read the whole article and then click on the link in your resource-box and arrive at your site. And those are visitors you wouldn't have had without the article (or part of it) being re-published. So it's "gain", from your perspective, rather than "cost", anyway, even if it's not "great gain".

          The reality is that most of the people who do this are doing it with autoblogs or some similar automated set-up anyway. They tend - overall - not to be great sites, not to be very valuable, not always to survive for very long, and so on. But not really worth worrying about, in my opinion.
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        • Profile picture of the author jimmel196
          I'm sorry, I should have found a way to include this in my previous post. I realize this is not necessarily in line with the thread and I apologize for that. I have an amazon review site. I have been writing articles and posting them to my website first and then to EZA, GoArticles, Squidoo and a few others. I am linking back to my main website from the articles. While linking my latest article on Squidoo, I was advised that I had reached my maximum number of links back to my website, which I believe is 10. What should I link any future content to from any content that I post om Squidoo? Should I link It directly to an amazon product or to another page or piece of content on my main website? I am unsure what to do and would appreciate any advice. Thank you. Jimmy
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          • Profile picture of the author WebPen
            Originally Posted by jimmel196 View Post

            I'm sorry, I should have found a way to include this in my previous post. I realize this is not necessarily in line with the thread and I apologize for that. I have an amazon review site. I have been writing articles and posting them to my website first and then to EZA, GoArticles, Squidoo and a few others. I am linking back to my main website from the articles. While linking my latest article on Squidoo, I was advised that I had reached my maximum number of links back to my website, which I believe is 10. What should I link any future content to from any content that I post om Squidoo? Should I link It directly to an amazon product or to another page or piece of content on my main website? I am unsure what to do and would appreciate any advice. Thank you. Jimmy
            Well are you trying to drive traffic to your site or just make money?

            If you want to drive traffic- there are a lot of other options besides Squidoo, GoArticles, and EZA.

            If you're just trying to make cash from lenses, you can use Squidoo's Amazon feature. You won't make a ton per lens but it can add up with multiple lenses.
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            • Profile picture of the author jimmel196
              Originally Posted by Justin Stowe View Post

              Well are you trying to drive traffic to your site or just make money?

              If you want to drive traffic- there are a lot of other options besides Squidoo, GoArticles, and EZA.

              If you're just trying to make cash from lenses, you can use Squidoo's Amazon feature. You won't make a ton per lens but it can add up with multiple lenses.
              I am primarily trying to drive traffic to my website. If you would share some of your other suggestions for this I would appreciate it. Thank you. Jimmy
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  • Profile picture of the author dracoboar
    Originally Posted by Greg Wildermuth View Post

    I still use it but I don't give them original content. Like Alexa and everybody else says, I put it on my blog first, then submit to EZA. Submitting to EZA takes me all of 3 minutes and it still gets me some traffic.

    I am curious how you get around the "original content' requirement that ezine articles has?

    Do you rewrite the article or just submit it and see if it sticks?

    Thank you in advace for any comments as this is very educational
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by dracoboar View Post

      I am curious how you get around the "original content' requirement that ezine articles has?
      EZA has no such requirement, and never has.

      After Google's "Panda update" a few months ago, they announced on their blog that - for the first time - they were considering instituting such a requirement, but then a couple of days later they (very wisely) announced that they'd decided not to. (They would have lost many - perhaps most - of their best authors over it).

      Article directories don't require previously unpublished content at all - that's just an urban myth of internet marketing.

      Like countless other article marketers, I have over 1,300 articles in EZA (and many of them are in other directories, too), all of which had previously been published in identical form on my own websites first.

      This helpful, detailed thread explains the importance of not giving article directories previously unpublished articles.

      In the introductory email series EZA send out to new authors, they specifically request the submission of articles previously published on the authors' own sites/blogs.

      Originally Posted by Britt Malka View Post

      But even if you use a standard email, you have to spend time digging up the email address and all, don't you?
      There's almost always one on their blog/site. And if not, just sending it to "admin" and "info" and "support" at theirdomain.com covers it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Britt Malka
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Article directories don't require previously unpublished content at all - that's just an urban myth of internet marketing.
        That is true, except for StreetArticles. They only want unique, never-before published articles. They are different from other article directories in other ways as well. They don't allow a resource box as you know it, but you can have links inside the article with your keywords as anchor text.

        I still don't know how well they perform, though. Two of my four articles are on their top list (they only have one), and that gave me a total of 4 clicks. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, I don't know. I'm used to more from EZA, that's for sure ;-)


        There's almost always one on their blog/site. And if not, just sending it to "admin" and "info" and "support" at theirdomain.com covers it.
        Thanks You're right! I thought of WHOIS and stuff, but why make it difficult when it can be simple?
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by Britt Malka View Post

          That is true, except for StreetArticles. They only want unique, never-before published articles.
          I don't think Street Articles is an article directory, is it, Britt?

          I may be wrong, but I thought it was an article submission site more like Infobarrel and all those others? And that that was why it required unpublished content. The articles there aren't available for publishers, ezine-compiler and webmasters to syndicate freely, I think, as they are in directories? :confused:

          Maybe I'm mistaken, but I've just been looking at the site, myself, and it certainly doesn't appear to be an article directory ... I can't actually find any suggestion of that there, at all ...
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          • Profile picture of the author Britt Malka
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            I don't think Street Articles is an article directory, is it, Britt?
            Good question. I think that was how they described the site, when they launched it, but I don't have access to Wealthy Affiliate at the moment. The words are between the keywords (meta) on their site, and when people call them an article directory in a blog comment, they don't correct them, but that could mean nothing.

            Especially since the only way to share an article is by sending somebody to the site.

            So they might not be an article directory after all? No, it seems that you're right. Ha, I just thought I was clever there to mention an exception

            Please accept my humble excuses.
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Noooo, not at all, I was just hoping not to have to go back to loads of other posts where I've said "article directories don't require previously unpublished content" and add in the words "apart from Street Articles" ... :p

              (I don't count "Buzzle" since they don't accept links at all now!).
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      • Profile picture of the author Dwight Anthony
        I still get good residual traffic just from the articles i have on there, so i really believe it should be part of your traffic strategy and really write for readers as opposed to search engines.
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      • Profile picture of the author heavyjay
        That was a heck of a thread. I'm just a part timer, but the first thing I ever read about duplicate content said it related to duplicate content on your site.

        I wish I could remember where I saw it. I know it wasn't that thread, but it was probably somewhere here on the WF.
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        My New Blog - isn't much on it and your critique is more than welcome!
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      • Profile picture of the author Mahadevan
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        EZA has no such requirement, and never has.

        After Google's "Panda update" a few months ago, they announced on their blog that - for the first time - they were considering instituting such a requirement, but then a couple of days later they (very wisely) announced that they'd decided not to. (They would have lost many - perhaps most - of their best authors over it).

        Article directories don't require previously unpublished content at all - that's just an urban myth of internet marketing.

        Like countless other article marketers, I have over 1,300 articles in EZA (and many of them are in other directories, too), all of which had previously been published in identical form on my own websites first.

        This helpful, detailed thread explains the importance of not giving article directories previously unpublished articles.

        In the introductory email series EZA send out to new authors, they specifically request the submission of articles previously published on the authors' own sites/blogs.



        There's almost always one on their blog/site. And if not, just sending it to "admin" and "info" and "support" at theirdomain.com covers it.
        Hi Alexa,

        My question is not directly related to the above quote but is linked to it.

        You see, I am promoting a brand of Jewelry on my money site for which the articles or posts mention the brand name as well as talks highly about it so that people visiting my site get encouraged to click the buy button.

        Now the problem I am facing is when I submit any of these articles to ezine, they find it violating their terms of service and reject these articles. If I have to make a lot of changes to make them appear less 'promotional' then these articles would not only lose their flavour but also become very different from the original post on the money site.

        If i now get them published on Ezine, wont i lose the advantage of them not appearing on my site first as you have always recommended? The articles may have to be tweaked quite a bit and I would have to also avoid mentioning the brand name etc. Will this not make the article very different and by publishing it on Ezine, would I get the benefits of true article syndication?

        On the other hand, publishing the 'tweaked article' on my site first before submitting to Ezine may also not be appropriate given the fact that there would be many common sentences.

        Am stuck at this point as to what to do and request your thoughts on how to get around this. I do not want to lose out on the obvious benefits that a published article on Ezine will get me.

        Mahadevan
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        • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
          Banned
          The girl probably isn't awake yet, so I got you buddy.

          Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

          Hi Alexa,

          My question is not directly related to the above quote but is linked to it.

          You see, I am promoting a brand of Jewelry on my money site for which the articles or posts mention the brand name as well as talks highly about it so that people visiting my site get encouraged to click the buy button.

          Now the problem I am facing is when I submit any of these articles to ezine, they find it violating their terms of service and reject these articles. If I have to make a lot of changes to make them appear less 'promotional' then these articles would not only lose their flavour but also become very different from the original post on the money site.
          Articles that you submit to directories like EZA should never be promotional. Potential syndication partners do not want to publish a sales pitch (that is obviously not cleverly disguised if EZA is denying it). They want articles that are either informative or entertaining to their readers. This is non-negotiable.

          Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

          If i now get them published on Ezine, wont i lose the advantage of them not appearing on my site first as you have always recommended? The articles may have to be tweaked quite a bit and I would have to also avoid mentioning the brand name etc. Will this not make the article very different and by publishing it on Ezine, would I get the benefits of true article syndication?
          Well, if you do things as you say, they aren't really the same article are they? So you don't have to worry about the "new" piece of content competing with the already indexed piece on your site.

          That is besides the point though. To get the most out of your articles on your site as well, you don't want to go to heavy on the "marketing". So my advice would be to change up the articles on your site as well. If you are going to pre-sell, it needs to be so subtle that you don't even realize it is there.

          Your list is where you get to do the actual pre-selling and selling. Don't forget that.


          Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

          On the other hand, publishing the 'tweaked article' on my site first before submitting to Ezine may also not be appropriate given the fact that there would be many common sentences.
          Just take off the article that was considered to be too promotional in the first place. It is not doing you any good for what you are trying to achieve. Replace it with the better article, don't supplement it.


          That's the best I have at 3am. Alexa will surely fill in any blanks for you.

          EDIT:
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          • Profile picture of the author Mahadevan
            Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

            The girl probably isn't awake yet, so I got you buddy.



            Articles that you submit to directories like EZA should never be promotional. Potential syndication partners do not want to publish a sales pitch (that is obviously not cleverly disguised if EZA is denying it). They want articles that are either informative or entertaining to their readers. This is non-negotiable.



            Well, if you do things as you say, they aren't really the same article are they? So you don't have to worry about the "new" piece of content competing with the already indexed piece on your site.

            That is besides the point though. To get the most out of your articles on your site as well, you don't want to go to heavy on the "marketing". So my advice would be to change up the articles on your site as well. If you are going to pre-sell, it needs to be so subtle that you don't even realize it is there.

            Your list is where you get to do the actual pre-selling and selling. Don't forget that.




            Just take off the article that was considered to be too promotional in the first place. It is not doing you any good for what you are trying to achieve. Replace it with the better article, don't supplement it.


            That's the best I have at 3am. Alexa will surely fill in any blanks for you.

            EDIT:
            Hey Joe,

            Appreciate your willingness to help out and your thoughts on my query. You make some very significant points indeed.

            Request other members too for their take on this as well.

            Thanks

            Mahadevan
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Hi Mahadevan,

          I can't add much to Joe's answer, above ...

          Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

          I do not want to lose out on the obvious benefits that a published article on Ezine will get me.
          Those benefits are that people can re-publish the article in places that have targeted traffic for you. (There are no other benefits: the EZA backlink isn't worth anything, and of course no article marketer wants to get traffic from an article directory). But nobody's going to re-publish a promotional article, and almost nobody's ever going to re-publish one that mentions a specific product at all.

          What I'm really saying is that if even EZA themselves are declining articles on grounds of "promotion", then those are articles that can't realistically be syndicated anyway.

          Articles off your site are "for niches", not "for products", and are really for traffic-attraction (traffic from the places to which they're syndicated, not from the directory!) rather than for mentioning specific products or promoting anything. I'll stop, because I'm only saying the same as Joe ...
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          • Profile picture of the author Mahadevan
            Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

            Hi Mahadevan,

            I can't add much to Joe's answer, above ...



            Those benefits are that people can re-publish the article in places that have targeted traffic for you. (There are no other benefits: the EZA backlink isn't worth anything, and of course no article marketer wants to get traffic from an article directory). But nobody's going to re-publish a promotional article, and almost nobody's ever going to re-publish one that mentions a specific product at all.

            What I'm really saying is that if even EZA themselves are declining articles on grounds of "promotion", then those are articles that can't realistically be syndicated anyway.

            Articles off your site are "for niches", not "for products", and are really for traffic-attraction (traffic from the places to which they're syndicated, not from the directory!) rather than for mentioning specific products or promoting anything. I'll stop, because I'm only saying the same as Joe ...
            Hi Alexa and Joe,

            Though I kind of understand your drift, I wish to still seek clarification as under:

            a)Are you saying that the "tweaked" articles so as to suit the terms of Ezine can be submitted to them and I should not be worrying much about those articles getting placed higher in the ranking than the ones on my own money site? Just wanted to confirm here that these "tweaked" articles are basically very much the same articles but without the brand names and devoid of any blatant promotion.


            b)The ones on my site are the promotional ones and in the absence of a list as of now, I am currently working on the premise that visitors to my site will read the articles and may click my links to make a purchase. I have read that often people buy stuff that they want and may not always want to opt in and therefore I feel the absence of an opt-in on my site at the moment may not hurt me much if I am looking for some affiliate sales or possibly one time transactions.

            I am aware that is the way to go for the long term and I should be building a list to sell to the same people more often but that will have to wait for some more time as I am not yet ready with any freebie or still have not figured out how to keep the list members suitably engaged and interested.

            c)So should I understand that the "informative tweaked articles" on Ezine and other directories are therefore more suitable for syndication as opposed to the promotional ones on my site and I should go ahead with the submissions so that I am able to attract visitors to my site and hopefully they would read the more aggressive promotional posts there and possibly buy through my links?

            I am sorry for being so verbose about this but just wanted clarity and a sense of direction of what to do next.

            Please let me know if my above assumptions are in line with what you have recommended.

            Thanks

            Mahadevan
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            • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
              Banned
              Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

              Hi Alexa and Joe,

              Though I kind of understand your drift, I wish to still seek clarification as under:
              People are seeking my advice :rolleyes:!

              Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

              a)Are you saying that the "tweaked" articles so as to suit the terms of Ezine can be submitted to them and I should not be worrying much about those articles getting placed higher in the ranking than the ones on my own money site? Just wanted to confirm here that these "tweaked" articles are basically very much the same articles but without the brand names and devoid of any blatant promotion.
              I'm going to assume you are talking about article rankings after syndication and not when it is sitting on EZA. It seems like you have that down. Just in case though (and for anyone else reading), if you are ever in a situation where an article EZA outranks your site something has gone very wrong.

              I can't speak for Alexa; but if I was in the situation you were in I would simplify matters to the strategy I know will work. Follow these steps:

              1. Tweak the article so that it is set up for syndication. Not seeing the articles in question prevents me from giving specific advice; but you seem smart enough to figure it out on your own.

              2. Remove all copies of the original article. If it was too promotional for EZA, then it is too promotional for your own site. As said previously, leave the pre-selling/selling to your emails. Your website should be all about teaching or entertaining your readers, and little to nothing else.

              3. Use the regular "syndication posting schedule": A. Post tweaked article to your own site and let it index B. Syndicate it to all partners you already have and C. Drop a copy off at the article directory for passive syndication.


              Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

              b)The ones on my site are the promotional ones and in the absence of a list as of now, I am currently working on the premise that visitors to my site will read the articles and may click my links to make a purchase. I have read that often people buy stuff that they want and may not always want to opt in and therefore I feel the absence of an opt-in on my site at the moment may not hurt me much if I am looking for some affiliate sales or possibly one time transactions.

              I am aware that is the way to go for the long term and I should be building a list to sell to the same people more often but that will have to wait for some more time as I am not yet ready with any freebie or still have not figured out how to keep the list members suitably engaged and interested.
              Ah, this is a problem then. You have gone the opposite route that I have and started off before being completely "list marketing ready". It can be done I believe; but differs from what I (and what I believe Alexa) usually do.

              Huh. Let's see if I can help with theoretical ideas since I don't have any practice with your strategy. If your website is going to be the one and only place that you try to make a sale (only in the beginning I hope), then yes promotion is going to have to be a little more prevalent.

              None of the promotional articles you are going to write for your site should be used for possible syndication. The best thing to do would be to craft new, syndication worthy content that supplements what is on your site. Could you just tweak what you already have and put it up? Sure, but I doubt it would be as effective. Write something new that adds to what your site is going to tell potential customers.

              Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

              c)So should I understand that the "informative tweaked articles" on Ezine and other directories are therefore more suitable for syndication as opposed to the promotional ones on my site and I should go ahead with the submissions so that I am able to attract visitors to my site and hopefully they would read the more aggressive promotional posts there and possibly buy through my links?
              With the strategy you are implementing, yes that is what you would want to do. As I said above though, think about creating new content that is non promotional and supplements what you are going to say on your site. Don't just "tweak" what you already have.

              Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

              I am sorry for being so verbose about this but just wanted clarity and a sense of direction of what to do next.
              Take solace in the fact that none of your questions were stupid questions :p.
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              • Profile picture of the author Mahadevan
                Joe,

                Cant thank you enough for the time you have taken to understand my issue and give your thoughts.

                Yes,i seem to have taken the opposite route and more skewed towards transactional affiliate marketing than nurturing a customer list. Well, it is an approach and also the reason for my current problems.

                I think this is what i will do from what you have suggested and my own understanding of the process.

                a)I will submit tweaked articles to the directories for passive syndication and hope that visitors directed to my site will buy something at the site.

                b)Retain the promotional articles on my site for those visitors to encourage them to make that purchase. Cannot afford to remove them as i dont have an opt in or list yet.

                c)Not worry about the fact that the "tweaked articles" may rank higher and take solace in the fact that the resource boxes in those articles would lead people to my site.

                d)Work towards building a list in the future.

                I think I have tested your patience sufficiently and will stop now. Thanks for letting me know however that my questions were not totally without merit. Maybe, there is a a learning for others in a similar situation like mine.

                Look forward to thoughts from Alexa, Anne, John McCabe, Keith Kogane, James, Allen Graves, Richard Van, to name a few of the many luminaries who have provided so much useful information on article marketing through the various threads.

                I know I am asking for too much but there is no harm in trying to fulfill the desire to learn more and take action I guess.

                Thanks for your patience and I think i have rambled enough.

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

                  d)Work towards building a list in the future.
                  You could have started building a list in the time it's taken you to write posts in this thread.

                  Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post

                  Look forward to thoughts from Alexa ...
                  Well, please excuse my response being "forthright", but - much though I agree with all the detail of all the advice Joe's given you above - I think all the efforts you propose above will turn out to be largely wasted if you don't start list-building now. Today. Before you do any of those other things.

                  I can bore you silly by repeating everything I've said about this in 50 other threads, but that won't help either of us, will it? So, with apologies for sounding "Robert-The-Brusque", I'll just mention again that I think it would just be a misguided and inappropriate effort to do all those other things without starting list-building first.

                  Until you do that, everything else you're doing is directed toward producing only 10% of its potential reward at the expense of the other 90%. And I'm understating that, if anything.

                  Sorry - I know it isn't what you wanted to hear, but that doesn't prevent it from being true.
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                  • Profile picture of the author Mahadevan
                    Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                    You could have started building a list in the time it's taken you to write posts in this thread.



                    Well, please excuse my response being "forthright", but - much though I agree with all the detail of all the advice Joe's given you above - I think all the efforts you propose above will turn out to be largely wasted if you don't start list-building now. Today. Before you do any of those other things.

                    I can bore you silly by repeating everything I've said about this in 50 other threads, but that won't help either of us, will it? So, with apologies for sounding "Robert-The-Brusque", I'll just mention again that I think it would just be a misguided and inappropriate effort to do all those other things without starting list-building first.

                    Until you do that, everything else you're doing is directed toward producing only 10% of its potential reward at the expense of the other 90%. And I'm understating that, if anything.

                    Sorry - I know it isn't what you wanted to hear, but that doesn't prevent it from being true.
                    Point well taken Alexa. I know that the advice you give is well intentioned and your forthrightness is most welcome.

                    My problem is that i do not know how to create the optin box and currently do not have any freebie to give away. I am therefore apprehensive about soliciting visitors to join my list. Moreover, I know that I need to keep them engaged through regular inputs from my side and that is also something that I cannot figure out how to manage at this point in time.My niches for the two sites in question are jewellery and health.

                    Any tips on how to go about building the list and retaining members would be great to have.

                    Thanks

                    Mahadevan
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                    • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
                      Banned
                      Originally Posted by Mahadevan View Post


                      Any tips on how to go about building the list and retaining members would be great to have.
                      1. The "opt in box": I know aweber makes it very easy to code an opt in form that is ready to insert onto your site. If you intend to make a stand alone squeeze page for the opt-in, look in the Warrior For Hire section for a good web designer (assuming you don't know how to design the page yourself).

                      2. Building the list: You already know how to put your target audience in front of your offer. Keep syndicating your articles. Make that resource box link hit your landing page that includes the opt in form, or the separate squeeze page if that is the way you want to go.

                      3. Incentive: To further give your readers reason to opt in, you already understand that you need a "free report" or "gift" of some other kind. If you can continuously write syndication worthy articles for your niche, then you have the talent to put a short report together.

                      4. Retaining Subscribers: More of the same really. You know how to create the content. Your emails just gives them another place to get it. If you want to follow my route, you can craft the emails with information you aren't giving out publicly anywhere else.

                      Originally Posted by tantivy View Post

                      true. if you submit a good article it still gives you traffic,
                      Unless you are talking about traffic from your article being syndicated, no you do not get traffic.

                      Originally Posted by tantivy View Post

                      if not then there's still the link juice. still applicable from my point of view.
                      This is entirely wrong, no matter what point of view you are looking at it from. A PR0 no-follow link is applicable? To what?!
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                      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                        Joe has given you the straight scoop on acquiring the actual opt-in form.

                        The freebie incentive, while desirable, isn't purely necessary. I've signed up for lists without one, but those have promised me timely information I couldn't easily get elsewhere, or a writing style I found entertaining and hard to duplicate.

                        Here's something to keep in mind:

                        If the only reason people are signing up to your list is to get the freebie, you are going to have problems keeping those people around ling enough for them to buy anything. And the jump from "free" to "buy" is larger than most marketers can jump with many of the freebie hunters.

                        You can add a freebie whenever you have it ready, but don't let that stop you from making the opt-in option available. Let them decide if they want to hear from you or not. Just make sure your current subs get a chance to get the freebie just like the new people.
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                        • Profile picture of the author Honest Abel
                          I think we should all thank Alexa Smith especially and also others including the "Happy Hooker" (great pun) and myob for generously providing such insightful and useful information. It takes time to read other's posts and write thoughtful helpful replies.

                          I totally agree with what Alexa and others are saying concerning EZA and other article directories. However, I do want to add that there is a bit of a monkey wrench in all of this in how EZA's business model is set up.

                          Correct me if I am wrong but they get the overwhelming majority of their revenue from adsense revenue. This is derived from adsense blocks on the articles submitted to their directory.

                          I do not see how they derive any revenue from the "real purpose" of an article directory, i.e. having one of their authors be very successful at syndication does not seem to make them any money. Please correct me if I am wrong.

                          When Panda hit, the over-riding reason they seemed to have such a sense of urgency was that they took a BIG hit on their adsense revenue. The changes they made in how articles are reviewed/accepted seemed to be all focused on getting at least some of this revenue back.

                          Yes, they talk about wanting quality over quantity but this seems to be motivated more by "winning back" Google's "infatuation" with them. I remember a time when an EZA article could get a top 10 rating very easily. Google seemed to give EZA articles extra weight in fact. EZA lost this in Panda and had been losing it for a while before this too.

                          So, I sometimes view what EZA publicly says as a bit hypocritical to their real intended goals. The more adsense ads they serve, the more money they make. That is their bottom line I think regardless of whether or not they care to admit that and however they can get there seems to be their real underlying goal. In other words, it doesn't hurt them any for so many newbies and other marketers to confuse "article

                          I also wonder if there is any way that the "true purpose" of an article directory as Alexa and others so eloquently describe in their posts, i.e. a database of articles that may be syndicated, could ever make an article directory company with the number of employees need to run it well enough revenue to be truly focused on attracting the best authors and syndication as the real goal. I suppose it would HAVE to be a paid membership model. Any thoughts?

                          It would be nice to have a system that actually rewarded GOOD writing and I don't just mean grammar and punctuation. Writing that also requires actual research, not just the regurgitation of the information everyone else is passing around. Writing that digs deep into a subject and ferrets out facts and insights that have yet to be discussed. Writing that has style and is a joy to read instead of the same ol' dry boring stuff that has become so pervasive on the net.

                          Anyway, that's my two cents. I would love to hear what others think.

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                          • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
                            Banned
                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            I think we should all thank Alexa Smith especially and also others including the "Happy Hooker" (great pun) and myob for generously providing such insightful and useful information. It takes time to read other's posts and write thoughtful helpful replies.
                            As I type this I am searching for someone named the Happy Hooker to congratulate them on the most epic username ever.


                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            I totally agree with what Alexa and others are saying concerning EZA and other article directories. However, I do want to add that there is a bit of a monkey wrench in all of this in how EZA's business model is set up.
                            There always is, isn't there? Man having everything in black and white would be so much easier. Oh well, let's do it!

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            Correct me if I am wrong but they get the overwhelming majority of their revenue from adsense revenue. This is derived from adsense blocks on the articles submitted to their directory.
                            Nope, you are correct in your analysis.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            I do not see how they derive any revenue from the "real purpose" of an article directory, i.e. having one of their authors be very successful at syndication does not seem to make them any money. Please correct me if I am wrong.
                            Outside of trying a paid model (and hoping writers buy it for the "prestige"), you're right. They don't get paid for someone like me getting my articles syndicated.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            When Panda hit, the over-riding reason they seemed to have such a sense of urgency was that they took a BIG hit on their adsense revenue. The changes they made in how articles are reviewed/accepted seemed to be all focused on getting at least some of this revenue back.

                            Yes, they talk about wanting quality over quantity but this seems to be motivated more by "winning back" Google's "infatuation" with them. I remember a time when an EZA article could get a top 10 rating very easily. Google seemed to give EZA articles extra weight in fact. EZA lost this in Panda and had been losing it for a while before this too.

                            So, I sometimes view what EZA publicly says as a bit hypocritical to their real intended goals. The more adsense ads they serve, the more money they make. That is their bottom line I think regardless of whether or not they care to admit that and however they can get there seems to be their real underlying goal. In other words, it doesn't hurt them any for so many newbies and other marketers to confuse "article
                            EZA is definitely talking out of both sides of their mouth. They rightly want to make as much revenue from their site as they can. The best way for them to do this is through their Adsense revenue. They are banking on having high quality content help them rank again.

                            As an author, that doesn't matter to me one iota. Let them try whatever they are going to try to make money. As long as I still get the passive portion of my syndication strategy from them, it's all good. Hell, if they go the other way and shut down tomorrow, not much is going to happen to me outside of "Oh, well sucks for them. Wonder what's for breakfast?"

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            I also wonder if there is any way that the "true purpose" of an article directory as Alexa and others so eloquently describe in their posts, i.e. a database of articles that may be syndicated, could ever make an article directory company with the number of employees need to run it well enough revenue to be truly focused on attracting the best authors and syndication as the real goal. I suppose it would HAVE to be a paid membership model. Any thoughts?
                            Keep in mind that all of us who define the use of article directories are describing what it is meant for as an author. No one is saying that it is EZA's business model. They have an Adsense/paid membership model. Completely separate and irrelevant towards what we use the site to accomplish.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            It would be nice to have a system that actually rewarded GOOD writing and I don't just mean grammar and punctuation. Writing that also requires actual research, not just the regurgitation of the information everyone else is passing around. Writing that digs deep into a subject and ferrets out facts and insights that have yet to be discussed. Writing that has style and is a joy to read instead of the same ol' dry boring stuff that has become so pervasive on the net.
                            Have you tried active article syndication? Or have you just put articles on EZA, waited for someone to take your work, and never had it happen? The system that rewards good writing does exist; but no website is going to do it for you. Go do the work yourself. That's what all of us do, with the majority of our syndication partners coming from forged relationships outside of EZA. Any syndication from there (see again: passive syndication) is just an added benefit.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            Anyway, that's my two cents. I would love to hear what others think.
                            I think it's time for some pizza. My .02
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                          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
                            Banned
                            Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

                            I am searching for someone named the Happy Hooker to congratulate them on the most epic username ever.
                            Look just above Mr McCabe's avatar.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            I do not see how they derive any revenue from the "real purpose" of an article directory, i.e. having one of their authors be very successful at syndication does not seem to make them any money. Please correct me if I am wrong.
                            You're entirely right.

                            Their business model directly conflicts, in this sense, with the use we authors get from their site. They get paid when users leave their site (and not to come to our sites!). However, those users (whose visits to EZA have declined so dramatically over the last year) are mostly people who've gone there from search engines. Not the people we're submitting our articles for at all, for all the reasons described in this post: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post5075780

                            The publishers who go there are in search of content for their ezines (hence the site's name) and websites. I don't think they're so distracted by AdSense as "general browsers": they know what they're looking for (and they're searching inside EZA, not so much in Google).

                            So no conflict there that matters, from our perspective.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            Yes, they talk about wanting quality over quantity but this seems to be motivated more by "winning back" Google's "infatuation" with them.
                            Yes, perhaps so. They're running a business, after all: it's natural for them to want to increase revenue.

                            They do have other income sources, too: their course, and their premium memberships.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            I remember a time when an EZA article could get a top 10 rating very easily. Google seemed to give EZA articles extra weight in fact. EZA lost this in Panda and had been losing it for a while before this too.
                            Yes, I agree.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            So, I sometimes view what EZA publicly says as a bit hypocritical to their real intended goals.
                            Yes, maybe so.

                            Originally Posted by Honest Abel View Post

                            It would be nice to have a system that actually rewarded GOOD writing and I don't just mean grammar and punctuation. Writing that also requires actual research, not just the regurgitation of the information everyone else is passing around. Writing that digs deep into a subject and ferrets out facts and insights that have yet to be discussed.
                            I have such a system, myself - as do so many others here: article syndication. But one has arrange most of the syndication oneself. Some passive syndication from EZA is just a welcome (and free) addition.

                            You make interesting points, above.
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                            • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
                              Banned
                              Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                              Look just above Mr McCabe's avatar.
                              Huh, different kind of Hooker. Well there go all my jokes. I'm outta this thread .
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                              • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                                Honest Abel, first off, thanks for appreciating my play on words.

                                Second, I don't see anything disingenuous about EZA stressing a desire for quality over quantity. They simply choose to minimize what they say about their motivation for doing so. Other than that, I don't see any holes in your analysis.

                                Given that relevant links are still somewhat important, EZA does derive benefit from syndicated articles. At least, they do when people publish articles from EZA in accordance with their terms of use. Each properly posted article contains a link crediting EZA as the source of the article. At the height of the Adsense craze, those thousands of backlinks, built over a span of several years, contributed to the fact that ranking an article on the site was fairly easy.

                                As they rebuild their reputation (and revenue) with Google, links from having articles syndicated will again be important, which brings us full circle to stressing quality over bulk in their article acceptance.
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                              • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
                                Originally Posted by Joe Robinson View Post

                                Huh, different kind of Hooker.
                                You're thinking of Xaviera Hollander. Her book of that title is available on AmazonAmazon , as is the movie trilogymovie trilogy . (Not affiliate links.)

                                There is a part of me that feels guilty for knowing this.
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                        • Profile picture of the author KenJ
                          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

                          Joe has given you the straight scoop on acquiring the actual opt-in form.

                          The freebie incentive, while desirable, isn't purely necessary. I've signed up for lists without one, but those have promised me timely information I couldn't easily get elsewhere, or a writing style I found entertaining and hard to duplicate.

                          Here's something to keep in mind:

                          If the only reason people are signing up to your list is to get the freebie, you are going to have problems keeping those people around ling enough for them to buy anything. And the jump from "free" to "buy" is larger than most marketers can jump with many of the freebie hunters.

                          You can add a freebie whenever you have it ready, but don't let that stop you from making the opt-in option available. Let them decide if they want to hear from you or not. Just make sure your current subs get a chance to get the freebie just like the new people.
                          This is quite brilliant! You think like I think.
                          I love authenticity.

                          KenJ
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  • Profile picture of the author Britt Malka
    I agree with you. I don't mind them using my article, of course, but when they use their own name on it, and don't use my resource box, I don't like it. I just saw a full page on Google with other sites with my article on, and yet in the Ezine's stats, it says that "zero" has used it.

    But even if you use a standard email, you have to spend time digging up the email address and all, don't you?
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  • Profile picture of the author Kierkegaard
    The page that your article appears on will be a PR0 but it will be a PR0 page on a PR6 domain. Which, as I understand it, is preferable to being on a PR0 page on a PR<6 domain.

    Anyway, I don't need to understand it. All I need to understand it that it takes a couple of minutes to stick an article on EZA and I get traffic.
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  • Profile picture of the author dracoboar
    I have been thinkig of altering my article mrketing approach from the sledgehammer to the surgeon and looking for syndication partners.

    Does anyone use buzzle as well as ezine? I always thought buzzle required original content as well as ezine so I chose ezine, but now that I know ezine doesnt require unique content can i not use buzzle as well?

    ty again
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by dracoboar View Post

      Does anyone use buzzle as well as ezine? I always thought buzzle required original content as well as ezine so I chose ezine, but now that I know ezine doesnt require unique content can i not use buzzle as well?
      Buzzle allows no external links at all, so it has no value to article marketing. (Recent development there - changed only a few weeks ago, I think).
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Gehr
    Don't underestimate the value of EZA.

    EZA revamped their approvals systems to up the ante on submissions to abide by Google's Panda Farmer.

    Quality has always been king, and although EZA were accepting gibberish in the past, those days are gone, and woohoo for that!
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    • Profile picture of the author dracoboar
      Originally Posted by Peter Gehr View Post

      Don't underestimate the value of EZA.

      EZA revamped their approvals systems to up the ante on submissions to abide by Google's Panda Farmer.

      Quality has always been king, and although EZA were accepting gibberish in the past, those days are gone, and woohoo for that!


      well yes and no. In my sledgehammer approach my overseas employee writes about 20 articles a week for ezine and 99% get through, most of which isnt top quality.

      however now that I am switching my article mrketing strategy (thanks to this thread) I will have her doing something else like blog commenting
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by dracoboar View Post

        I will have her doing something else like blog commenting
        The backlinks are far better than EZA's, if you find relevant sites and make comments that add enough value not to be moderated/excluded: no comparison at all.

        EZA can still be brilliant at getting articles syndicated, though (but that may not be an ideal proposition, admittedly, for an overseas author who's writing 20 articles per week that aren't quite "top quality" - those sound more like articles that will be accepted by EZA but not actually get syndicated ...).
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        • Profile picture of the author dracoboar
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          The backlinks are far better than EZA's, if you find relevant sites and make comments that add enough value not to be moderated/excluded: no comparison at all.

          EZA can still be brilliant at getting articles syndicated, though (but that may not be an ideal proposition, admittedly, for an overseas author who's writing 20 articles per week that aren't quite "top quality" - those sound more like articles that will be accepted by EZA but not actually get syndicated ...).
          Ty Alexa you hve been extremely helpful for me today.

          I plan on using content i create myself for syndication bait and I will handle the followup myself.

          I believe that my overseas employee is capable of making legitimate blog comments on blog I choose for her to follow, but this begs another question.

          Would I be better off having her commenting on relevant blogs, or using her original content to create a series of decent quality relevant blog myself which link back to my money site?
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            Originally Posted by dracoboar View Post

            Would I be better off having her commenting on relevant blogs, or using her original content to create a series of decent quality relevant blog myself which link back to my money site?
            She can perhaps do both (using quite a bit of the same material for both, probably?), but publishing it first (and having it indexed first) on your own blog(s) with links to your money site, if doing so?

            And good night ...
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  • Profile picture of the author Kierkegaard
    Originally Posted by Greg Wildermuth View Post

    when people steal my content and republish it (with the resource box intact), I sometimes get decent traffic. Not great traffic, but still, as long as the research box is intact, you'll get traffic from those sources as well. That's been my experience anyway.
    I'm not sure what you mean by "steal"?

    The whole idea of EZA is that your articles will be republished - with the resource box in intact. If they delete the resource box then it is theft.

    You can expect a LOT of traffic if your articles are picked up by authority sites in your niche.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Alexa.....2 questions...

    1. As soon as you publish an article on your own site - do you then immediately publish it on EZA?

    2. Would you be willing to share your email templates, where you "fill in the blanks" as you said.
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  • Profile picture of the author domainarama
    Duplicate Content Warning:

    If you first publish an article on your own blog/website then later submit the same article to EZA MAKE SURE you use the same author name on the blog/website as on the EZA article. I use a lot of pseudonyms. When I've submitted under one name to one place and another name to another place EZA can get very confused and cause problems. Keep your identities straight (and your whiskey too).
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  • Profile picture of the author Boricua
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.

    Is this worthwhile?
    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    Is this habit or is any link better than no link?
    What gives?

    thanks
    I love EZA, one of my articles recently reached the 100,000 views, just one article. It has kept in the top 3 positions for the main keyword. Many Google Adsense clicks for them and for me. They really work quite well for long term traffic if you optimized your articles correctly.
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  • Profile picture of the author anthony2
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.

    Is this worthwhile?
    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    Is this habit or is any link better than no link?
    What gives?

    thanks
    you can still get internal traffic from Ezine Articles.
    even tho it was a huge drop off in traffic because of
    google
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by heavyjay View Post

      That was a heck of a thread.
      Just the 642 posts ...

      And to be honest, half of them are nonsense, with people who haven't read the thread at all repeating all sorts of urban myths, but it becomes pretty clear, reading it, who knows what they're talking about and is actually making a living, I think?

      Originally Posted by heavyjay View Post

      I'm just a part timer, but the first thing I ever read about duplicate content said it related to duplicate content on your site.
      This is absolutely right.

      It might have been this thread? That's a pretty good, brief explanation of the subject, although even there one has to be able to identify and ignore the people who have misunderstood what the words mean.

      "Duplicate content" (as opposed to "syndicated content"), as Google uses the words, and in the sense in which they're significant to internet marketers, refers to multiple copies of the same text on one website. But so many people wrongly use the words to refer to multiple submissions of the same articles to different article directories that many of the conversations on the subject become frankly unmanageable, with so many people talking at cross-purposes. :rolleyes:

      Originally Posted by ramone_johnny View Post

      Alexa.....2 questions...

      1. As soon as you publish an article on your own site - do you then immediately publish it on EZA?
      After it's been indexed on my site, yes. (That's normally well within 24 hours).

      Originally Posted by ramone_johnny View Post

      2. Would you be willing to share your email templates, where you "fill in the blanks" as you said.
      With apologies, I can't, Johnny, because I don't disclose my niches, and even the templates will give that away to people who've received the emails from one of my many niche pen-names (some have been Warriors!).

      But I can summarise/paraphrase their contents:-

      First email: Hi, it looks like your webmaster's mistakenly left the resource-box off my article <title here> when re-publishing it from <source here>. The resource box is shown below, and I'd be really grateful if you'd please be kind enough to append it to the article, pronto, with the link(s) in clickable format, as per the terms of service of <source directory> from which you've kindly re-published it. I also have similarly written articles on <related subject> including one which won a Pulitzer prize and had the critics collapsed in hysteria, and if you'd like me to send copies of those for republication, with links intact, please let me know and they'll be on their way - no charge. Looking forward very much to seeing my link reinstated promptly, please ... best wishes and good luck with your site ..." etc. etc.

      And if that doesn't get me anywhere, then after 7 days ...

      Second email: this is just a standard DMCA notice (they're available everywhere, including in several threads here), written to the site-owner, with a copy to his registrar (found from a "whois"), his host (found from "who-hosts.com") and Google. That gets either the content or his site removed really quickly. Usually. Unless they're using "bulletproof hosting in Nepal" or something (but very few people are, and even they don't want Google delisting them, so they tend to take it seriously).

      I completely agree with Domainorama, that you have to keep your pen-names and your whisk(e)y straight. Clearly if you publish an article under the name Alouicious Ponsonby-Smythe on your own site, and then submit it to EZA under the pen-name Arabella Parsnip-Swede, they're going to wonder whether you've stolen it, and reject it while they're wondering. This is what some people have done, who occasionally pop up here and say "EZA rejected an article because I'd already published it on my own site". Of course, what's really happened is that EZA rejected it because the names didn't match. :rolleyes:
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      • Profile picture of the author dblgdee
        Thanks everyone for the informative discussion
        The research and information angle was being neglected.
        Supply good content and people will eventually find you

        I realise it can be important but finding and chasing after plagiarizers can be time consuming??

        Some additional considerations

        Ezine articles still continue to receive 1st page llistings in Bing
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      • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        After it's been indexed on my site, yes. (That's normally well within 24 hours).

        With apologies, I can't, Johnny, because I don't disclose my niches, and even the templates will give that away to people who've received the emails from one of my many niche pen-names (some have been Warriors!).

        But I can summarise/paraphrase their contents:-

        First email: Hi, it looks like your webmaster's mistakenly left the resource-box off my article <title here> when re-publishing it from <source here>. The resource box is shown below, and I'd be really grateful if you'd please be kind enough to append it to the article, pronto, with the link(s) in clickable format, as per the terms of service of <source directory> from which you've kindly re-published it. I also have similarly written articles on <related subject> including one which won a Pulitzer prize and had the critics collapsed in hysteria, and if you'd like me to send copies of those for republication, with links intact, please let me know and they'll be on their way - no charge. Looking forward very much to seeing my link reinstated promptly, please ... best wishes and good luck with your site ..." etc. etc.

        And if that doesn't get me anywhere, then after 7 days ...

        Second email: this is just a standard DMCA notice (they're available everywhere, including in several threads here), written to the site-owner, with a copy to his registrar (found from a "whois"), his host (found from "who-hosts.com") and Google. That gets either the content or his site removed really quickly. Usually. Unless they're using "bulletproof hosting in Nepal" or something (but very few people are, and even they don't want Google delisting them, so they tend to take it seriously).
        More than helpful.

        Cheers cupcake
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        • Profile picture of the author Gary J Martin
          Why not? If you are writing content for a blog or website, it only takes a couple of minutes to throw it on EZA too.
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          • Profile picture of the author smallbusinessguy
            Originally Posted by Gary J Martin View Post

            Why not? If you are writing content for a blog or website, it only takes a couple of minutes to throw it on EZA too.
            If you try to throw the same article you wrote on your blog, they will throw it back before you can say stop.

            EZA, in my opinion, is not worth it. It's good to get indexed. Beyond that, I don't see any real benefits.
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            • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
              Banned
              Originally Posted by smallbusinessguy View Post

              If you try to throw the same article you wrote on your blog, they will throw it back before you can say stop.
              This isn't right at all.

              They even send out an email series to new authors in which they specifically invite people to do exactly that. It may help you to read post #17 above?
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              • Profile picture of the author smallbusinessguy
                Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

                This isn't right at all.

                They even send out an email series to new authors in which they specifically invite people to do exactly that. It may help you to read post #17 above?
                That was NEWS!!! In fact, I had 9 articles submitted and 4 of them were rejected. When I checked, the 4 of them was already syndicated to goarticles.

                This has happened many times with my account and also accounts I have created for some of my clients.

                Maybe after panda update they change their rules!!!

                Thanks for the quick tip
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                • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
                  Originally Posted by smallbusinessguy View Post

                  That was NEWS!!! In fact, I had 9 articles submitted and 4 of them were rejected. When I checked, the 4 of them was already syndicated to goarticles.

                  This has happened many times with my account and also accounts I have created for some of my clients.

                  Maybe after panda update they change their rules!!!

                  Thanks for the quick tip
                  Nope, business as usual. Been that way for years.

                  Any chance that the rejected articles were rejected for some other reason?

                  The most common is submitting the same article using a different author name. They will reject for that every time they catch it.
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  • Profile picture of the author O0o0O
    I have to echo the others here that the primary reason to write submit articles to article directories is for other webmasters to syndicate your content onto their own sites. That's where the true valuable traffic will come from.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      A little while back, I was playing with the numbers, and posted some here.

      Quick summary...

      I took a sample of 15 of my oldest EZA articles from 2005, before I'd really honed a strategy. The resource boxes weren't all that good or all that bad.

      The long-term clickthrough rate was about 1.1%. The syndication rate, estimated conservatively by taking the number of times the republish link was clicked, was 3.6%.

      These 15 articles covered 6 different niches. Average length was about 850 words, while the best one in terms of syndication was almost 1,500. [Edit: the best one did better than the rest combined.]

      Needless to say, these are not my best, either in terms of content or performance, just some of my oldest.
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      • Profile picture of the author heavyjay
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post


        [Side track: It is scientifically possible to have genetically identical twins with no overlapping parents. A gold star for anyone who can explain how...]
        @JohnMcCabe

        Double first cousins?
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  • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
    Yes, long time fan of EZA, I use the site for my own info / research, and for sharing my own content. And I'm very happy that they're cleaning it up, too
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    • Profile picture of the author JRemington
      EZA are always the first directory I submit to.

      However, I am starting to find that they are taking themselves a bit seriously by refusing articles just for the sake of it.

      They tend to start to refuse some articles if I submit groups of them, which is what I tend to do as I save time by submitting my articles on the same day of the week.

      When I look at my earlier articles, they actually let slip a few typos and yet later on refuse articles of higher quality, free of mistakes for some obscure reason they they can't explain.

      Maybe they have a big head with being the number one article directory. But like Google, you should consider them and bend to their rules.
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  • Profile picture of the author vanalli
    EZA has been good to me over time. I have about 70 articles there, with 35,000 views between them and more than 5,000 clicks. I haven't noticed big shifts since the update, but I'm willing to continue using EZA for the timebeing at least and I think you'd be foolish to discount it completely.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
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    • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
      Originally Posted by ramone_johnny View Post

      Looks like the poor dude's slowing down in his old age: he seems to be scoffing at only about 1/3rd the speed he used to. And all that salt looks to be making him a bit dry and fluffy round the edges, too.

      I fear he won't be with us for much longer, at this rate.

      Though nor will I, truth be told, because these threads are starting to give me the green apple splatters.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

        these threads are starting to give me the green apple splatters.
        It's actually a great shame, because (if my p.m. inbox is to be believed) the first page of this thread was interesting, useful, helpful to people, and an example of the great value of the forum.
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        • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
          Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

          the first page of this thread was interesting
          It was also damaging to the market positioning of the SEO industry. Don't you know anything? EZA is only good for backlinks, the quality of your site and your content is irrelevant, and you will never make money if you're not in the top three of Google.

          That will be $97. A month. Forever. :rolleyes:
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          • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
            Banned
            LOL ... the funny thing is that the person in this thread who does best from article marketing, I'm pretty sure, and earns far more than me, typically has his sites on about page 20 of Google, or something (in fact I'll give odds he doesn't even know or care where many of them are ranked!).
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            • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
              Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

              LOL ... the funny thing is that the person in this thread who does best from article marketing, I'm pretty sure, and earns far more than me, typically has his sites on about page 20 of Google, or something (in fact I'll give odds he doesn't even know or care where many of them are ranked!).
              Actually, I happen to know that he takes a sincere interest in where stuff appears, on which page. I think it's probably just that he - not unlike myself - oddly finds "Page 3" the most titillating.

              *whistles*
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              • Profile picture of the author myob
                Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

                Actually, I happen to know that he takes a sincere interest in where stuff appears, on which page. I think it's probably just that he - not unlike myself - oddly finds "Page 3" the most titillating.

                *whistles*
                Oddly like yourself, his heart titillates to know that article scintillation titivates article syndication through goggling syntax, not Google's systole. Words that pluck at the heartstrings on page 3 of targeted outlets rank by real, hot passionate palpitation, and outpull the cold calculated robotic pagination on Google Page 1.

                "I remember the time I was kidnapped and they sent a piece of my finger to my father. He said he wanted more proof."
                - Rodney Dangerfield

                *Gives the finger*
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          • Profile picture of the author Mike Anthony
            Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

            It was also damaging to the market positioning of the SEO industry. Don't you know anything? EZA is only good for backlinks, the quality of your site and your content is irrelevant, and you will never make money if you're not in the top three of Google.

            That will be $97. A month. Forever. :rolleyes:
            You have a good point with some tiers of SEO. That is true of the low end and the bot blast pushers but it isn't true of the entire industry. In fact Alexa's approach lends itself to doing something that far too few people who sell SEO services in the IM niche even are capable of doing - Getting a webmaster to give you a link on a page with PR.

            I'd hazard to guess that with her approach she gets those kinds of links whether through the syndication aspect of her article marketing or though guest posting. This is classic solid HIGH quality link building but it won't be popular here because it takes time and expertise and can't be had for $97 a month. In a SEO agency with good paying clients that approach is welcomed with open arms because frankly in the niches where the big boys play PR zero backlinks don't cut it even to get to the front page and you can't go buying homepage backlink services across the board because other SEOs will send you up the flagpole when they see your entire portfolio is bought.
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  • Profile picture of the author thebitbotdotcom
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.

    Is this worthwhile?
    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    Is this habit or is any link better than no link?
    What gives?

    thanks
    I stopped using EZA after the Panda update. Of course, everybody's situation is different, but after analyzing my own data, I decided that EZA was of no reasonable value to me.

    I have found that working with Google directly is much more beneficial. EZA is like middle man.

    Sure, it's great if you are just starting out with a new site and are not quite sure what to do, but all of the serious bloggers I have began networking with don't use it. They all focus on their own sites and Google first and foremost.
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    • Profile picture of the author myob
      As several have mentioned using EZA has nothing to do specifically for ranking. I still use EZA, but certainly never for the backlinks or even direct traffic. Through EZA, my articles find a new syndication source 2-3 times a week on average. In addition, self-syndication results in about 5 new context-relevant outlets every day. As I have often mentioned, all of my sites are in some of the most hotly competively niches, and have never ranked anywhere above the murky depths in the SERPs. Almost all traffic is driven directly by syndicated articles, and all search engines including Google are totally irrelevant in any of my marketing strategies.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
    Alexa, Im curious...

    Im finding a lot of my articles on less than quality sites that simply have the article title, and the article introduction, then a link that typically reads "read the original article here" ...with a link back to ezine.

    There's no backlinks to my site at all???
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by ramone_johnny View Post

      Alexa, Im curious...

      Im finding a lot of my articles on less than quality sites that simply have the article title, and the article introduction, then a link that typically reads "read the original article here" ...with a link back to ezine.

      There's no backlinks to my site at all???
      I've sometimes found these.

      They're breaching EZA's terms of service, of course (not that EZA will do anything about that), as well as your copyright (though they perhaps imagine - wrongly - that they're not, by including a link to the EZA copy), and you're completely within your rights to do something about them, if you want to.

      I don't usually bother, myself. My impression is that something like my "first email" above is very likely to be ignored anyway, by people doing this, and I honestly don't feel sufficiently strongly about it to start sending them DMCA's. They're not actually doing me any harm, anyway. :confused:
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    I have EZA's widget at my websites showing my new published articles, and EZA tweets my articles when they are published on my behalf, my articles are syndicated, and I have numerous followers/readers there.

    Besides that, many of my articles are still sending daily traffic to my websites, but not as much as before.

    Fortunately my sites are getting more traffic from Google after their search algorithm change. However, even though my sites have more traffic from Google visitors, these visitors spend less time there than my EZA readers do.

    Wish EZA would have its ranking back and keep sending many visitors to my sites like before, and my sites would keep getting more traffic from Google at the same time, of course.

    It's a shame that we lost this powerful traffic generating method. Now article marketing is helpful, but not as much as it used to be.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by clever7 View Post

      Now article marketing is helpful, but not as much as it used to be.
      For many of us, Google's "panda update" has made article marketing a better proposition than it used to be, not a worse one.

      As you can see so many people commenting in so many threads here.

      Removing so many of the article directory articles from the higher ranks of the SERP's has made it a bit easier for us to rank our own sites.

      Your comment applies to "article directory marketing", I can see (and nobody can pretend that that's a great business model any more), but not to article marketing per se.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    schttrj,

    according to my very intelligent 8 year old cousin who just sat and read through this thread, your a doofus.

    Her words, not mine.

    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author Kierkegaard
    Now, the low-quality site that is using your article on their site, this can actually affect your SEO in a bad way. Have you ever thought about that?
    If your site is linked to by a lot of sites lurking in so-called 'bad neighborhoods' then you may in fact be penalized by Google.

    However, it is unlikely that a huge amount of known spammers would take your articles from EZA and use them on their sites.

    In order to rank a site Google focuses on many things in order to maintain a useful service for its users. When it comes to ranking a site, G. gives most credit to that which is the hardest for the webmaster to manipulate. It is very easy to give a web page a title with a good keyword but it is much more difficult to get a PR 8 authority site to link to you.

    Anything that looks like you have attempted to manipulate incoming links (buying them, link farms, etc.) will result in being penalized by G. This could be by having your domain pushed down the rankings 50 places or by being de-indexed.

    Article directories, by their very nature, give you control over an incoming link. By submitting an article you can put a link to your site on their site. G. knows this but there have been no recorded cases of anyone being punished by them for using article directories.

    You would know that you were being penalized because pages that formally ranked well will disappear way down the SERPS.

    The question you'd have to ask yourself is why 100s of known spam websites were syndicating your articles? If it is because they are 100s out of 10,000s who are syndicating your articles then this is just means that you're a very popular writer. But if these websites are the huge majority of the people using your articles then something odd has happened.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      You are spot on with everything but this opening statement:

      Originally Posted by Kierkegaard View Post

      If your site is linked to by a lot of sites lurking in so-called 'bad neighborhoods' then you may in fact be penalized by Google.
      I think you have it backwards.

      In the past, Google has said that linking to bad neighborhoods can cause lowered rankings, specifically noting link farms and spam sites. They have also said they don't penalize for inbound links from those types of sites for exactly the reason you later cited.

      The webmaster or site owner can't control inbound links. If webmaster A could wipe out webmaster B's rankings by submitting B's site to the right number of bad sites, the only commercial site that would ever come up would be Google.

      So they simply ignore those links unless, as you mentioned, they catch out the webmaster deliberately trying to inflate their ranking by buying links, etc.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
        Banned
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        In the past, Google has said that linking to bad neighborhoods can cause lowered rankings, specifically noting link farms and spam sites. They have also said they don't penalize for inbound links from those types of sites for exactly the reason you later cited.
        This ^^^^ exactly.

        Google has some strange policies and procedures, to be sure, but they're not idiotic enough to start penalising people's sites for things that could be entirely outside their own webmaster's control. And they say so openly (albeit without actually using the word "idiotic", funnily enough).

        But it's by no means unusual, in "internet marketing chats" (i.e. in forums, advice guidebooks, and so on) for "possible/probable lack of any upside" mistakenly to be interpreted as "potential for downside" ... and sometimes that even becomes distorted enough to be taken as and presented as "a Google penalty".
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      • Profile picture of the author Kierkegaard
        Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

        If webmaster A could wipe out webmaster B's rankings by submitting B's site to the right number of bad sites, the only commercial site that would ever come up would be Google.

        So they simply ignore those links unless, as you mentioned, they catch out the webmaster deliberately trying to inflate their ranking by buying links, etc.
        If it is possible to wipe out your own ranking by paying to have your links on bad sites then it is possible to wipe out someone else's ranking by paying for links on bad sites.

        The only way that Google can 'catch out the webmater deliberately trying to inflate their ranking by buying links' is by finding a suspicious pattern in the backlinks. Google has no way of knowing (and doesn't really care) if these links were bought by the site owner trying to cheat the system or a rival trying to destroy the competition.

        The difficulty in pulling off this heinous coup is that your competition normally have well established websites with a lot of good quality incoming links. This is why they are outperforming you. Trying to discredit them by buying a load of links from bad sites wouldn't work.

        If you spot a site with little or no incoming links and you buy a package of dodgy backlinks then they will probably be penalized - because almost all their incoming links are from bad neighborhoods. The question is: how did you spot this site and what is your motivation to attack it when it is no threat?

        Now, the guy who suggested that posting articles to article directories is ill-advised because it could result in having your links on bad sites (that have picked up your articles) has overlooked the fact that even if some bad sites did there wouldn't be the majority and the incoming links from them wouldn't look suspicious.

        The basic fact of the matter is that if it is possible for you to engage in a linking strategy that results in a Google penalty then it's possible someone else can maliciously do it to you (unless Google has a way of knowing who ordered and paid for the links). The reality is that unless your site is weak there is little motivation for anyone to do this.
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  • Profile picture of the author nelaffiliate
    I guess its because people still get some traffic from it. Your articles can still rank well as long as you go after low competition keywords and write longer and good articles.
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  • Profile picture of the author dagaul101
    I think its more habit than anything else, and EZA still gets plenty of views
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  • Profile picture of the author tomewer
    Alexa,

    Your posts here have really changed my attitude towards Article Directory Sites. Thank you for your advice :-)

    Tom
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  • Profile picture of the author tomewer
    Alexa,

    You've set me thinking now...

    What would you consider more valuable - guest posting, or submitting quality articles to EzineArticles in the hope of being syndicated?
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by tomewer View Post

      Alexa,

      You've set me thinking now...

      What would you consider more valuable - guest posting, or submitting quality articles to EzineArticles in the hope of being syndicated?
      Ooh, it's really difficult to compare the two, because ...

      (i) Submitting quality articles to EZA in the hope of being syndicated shouldn't be anyone's sole way of trying to achieve syndication, and some of the success from article syndication is going to come from other efforts that go hand-in-hand with doing that;

      (ii) Submitting quality articles to EZA in the hope of being syndicated is a little bit of a numbers game: you might have a couple of great articles that never get taken at all and a third, not-quite-so-good one which happens to spread far more, end up on an authority site or two and bring a flood of highly targeted traffic;

      (iii) Submitting quality articles to EZA in the hope of being syndicated is something you can do whenever you feel like it, and without any restrictions at all, whereas blog commenting necessitates (a) identifying relevant blogs from which one fancies a backlink, and (b) getting one's comments accepted and published (not quite as predictable and reliable as it is at EZA!);

      (iv) The answer will vary greatly according to how good someone is at "writing for syndication": I suspect - from what I see - that the overwhelming majority of EZA authors are, in any case, actually "writing for clicks" rather than "writing for syndication", i.e. they're trying to do article directory marketing rather than article marketing, and are depending on article directories for their own traffic and for their own backlinks, which is a big part of the reason why the turnover of article directory marketers is so high, with the majority (understandably) either dropping out in disillusionment or re-appearing 6 months later to start a thread called "Article Marketing Doesn't Work Any More" - you must have seen a few dozen of those here? - because, of course, for them it didn't. This "skews the results of the comparison greatly". In other words, for many, "the hope of being syndicated" is very different from "the reality of being syndicated".

      Anyway, my answer is "do both".
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      • Profile picture of the author plongmire
        Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post


        I suspect - from what I see - that the overwhelming majority of EZA authors are, in any case, actually "writing for clicks" rather than "writing for syndication", i.e. they're trying to do article directory marketing rather than article marketing, and are depending on article directories for their own traffic and for their own backlinks, which is a big part of the reason why the turnover of article directory marketers is so high, with the majority (understandably) either dropping out in disillusionment or re-appearing 6 months later to start a thread called "Article Marketing Doesn't Work Any More" - you must have seen a few dozen of those here? - because, of course, for them it didn't. This "skews the results of the comparison greatly". In other words, for many, "the hope of being syndicated" is very different from "the reality of being syndicated".
        Hey Alexa:

        I am following your suggestion on how to write for syndication, and even went and got some resources to find new places to send my articles to...and yes even post them to EZA at times. But my question is...

        I do want my articles to produce clicks...and or traffic to my site, so I think my question might be, is it ok to do both...

        Write really good content, as you describe, and yet market the crap out of that article, For instance...

        I make videos out of my articles, so those go to youtube, I also make PDF's out of them and send them to the Scridb places in the world, and even do Ezine, I also post the articles in places where I know my market is,

        But I also have a growing list of publishers where I send my stuff to, and have had some of my articles published already...

        Of course I always post to my site first...and even have some niche blogs on forums that I will post the same article too. To be honest I dont care which site ranks or where it ranks in google, because I promote it through social networks and other places...

        So I think my old article marketing habits are still there, but I am now writing not so much for speed, but for quality content, and sending it to syndication networks, but also still sending to my old haunts as well...is there a downside to this?
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by plongmire View Post

          So I think my old article marketing habits are still there, but I am now writing not so much for speed, but for quality content, and sending it to syndication networks
          What do you mean by "syndication networks"?

          The idea is to build up your own syndication network, through building relationships with publishers who will syndicate your work to their own sites (and/or ezines), so that you get the benefit of their pre-targeted traffic.

          Originally Posted by plongmire View Post

          but also still sending to my old haunts as well...is there a downside to this?
          I don't think so ... and it sounds like you're doing plenty of good things.

          You're linking from all these articles to your own site's landing page, presumably, so that you get the traffic? (And - less important - your site gradually accumulates all the SEO benefits of those relevant backlinks?).

          If you're getting articles syndicated successfully to relevant sites, in your niche, with pre-targeted traffic, then you're certainly doing the right thing, anyway.

          And there's no harm at all in submitting them to EZA, too, after everything else you do with them. (I do this, also - EZA is my "last port of call for active syndication" with every article ... and I do very often still get some further passive syndication from that, too).
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  • Profile picture of the author tomewer
    Wonderful, thanks. Your entire approach is completely different to an awful lot of what I have been reading - but it makes a lot of sense. Would you mind revealing what else you do to drive traffic to your niche sites?
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    • Profile picture of the author GeekChick
      I just want to say a big thank you to Alexa for the excellent, excellent information in this thread. And, in fact, in the older thread you linked to... which I read. All of it.

      I'm a long-time WF lurker, but not a total newbie. However, the primary place I've done my learning did, in fact, drill in the duplicate content myth. They did a really good job of it, too. These two threads have really given me a huge leap forward, an understanding of syndication, and how to work more efficiently and build my business. I've had all my questions answered about the role of submitting content to article directories post-Panda.

      This is the year I'm making the change from a dabbler to someone pursuing a family-supporting income. Thanks for your help on the way!

      Best,
      Kim
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Marketing through article syndication is not at all very complicated. Many people seem to expect this process to be much more than it really is. The simple elegance of article syndication is a very powerful marketing model, which so often gets mired in confusion and special interest promotions of shiny "new" products to make "article marketing" appear to be rocket science. When article syndication is expanded to its full potential and awesome power, it does not take very many articles at all to beat the competition in the most hotly competitive markets.
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  • Originally Posted by Greg Wildermuth View Post

    I still use it but I don't give them original content. Like Alexa and everybody else says, I put it on my blog first, then submit to EZA. Submitting to EZA takes me all of 3 minutes and it still gets me some traffic.
    Hey Greg, great strategy. Original content on your blog = authority. Then EZA your article = strong PR back-links and targeted traffic. It makes sense.

    I think another key point which was probably already made, is not to put all the eggs in one basket, so to speak. By diversifying, changes like panda won't wipe you out. I still use EZA but utilize many others methods as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author tuscan
    Even though I'm new at this I think I get it, Google doesn't like EZA as much as it once did. But can somebody tell me why?
    I am currently considering investing in an article writing course from a great teacher to boost SEO but these threads aren't very encouraging. Maybe I should be looking at other types of SEO training?
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  • Profile picture of the author zachary0611
    Alexa Smith you have almost 10000 posts and 5000 thanks. Every article marketing related thread you seem to reply, too. Why don't you have a WSO?
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by zachary0611 View Post

      Why don't you have a WSO?
      Zachary, you look old enough to drive. Why don't you sell used cars?
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    • Profile picture of the author Britt Malka
      Originally Posted by zachary0611 View Post

      Alexa Smith you have almost 10000 posts and 5000 thanks. Every article marketing related thread you seem to reply, too. Why don't you have a WSO?
      I've asked her the same question I would love one!
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  • Profile picture of the author zachary0611
    If 5000 people thanked me on my knowledge of used cars I wouldn't be a used car salesman I would own several used car dealerships

    and thanks for adding me as a friend on facebook
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  • Profile picture of the author GaryEarle
    To Alexa, CDarklock and et al...

    I just received an education in "article marketing" that many so called "gurus" would have asked money for by reading this...AND the other thread...phewwww. Thank You. You have confirmed my suspicions about the duplicate content urban myth.

    Thanks
    Gary
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    • Profile picture of the author GeekChick
      As I was thinking about all of this last night and I have been contemplating how to go about promoting my existing site. I'm wondering if there's ever a reason that you would choose NOT to submit your content to article directories for syndication?

      My current site has about 120 pages of solid content, and another 40-50 of tutorials for a specific music method book and user-generated questions and answers. About 1/3 of my pages are in the top 10 of Google just on the strength of the content and a couple backlinks (I've never worked at backlinking). I've submitted about 6 articles to EZA... all unique, not the content from my site. The whole 'duplicate content' idea that I'm emerging from had the companion idea that the content on my site is supposed to be my very best content, and should be nowhere but my site.

      For some reason the thought of sending off my content to various places makes me queasy. I think it's years of the thought process I've labored under. I mean, the whole point is to build my traffic, my credibility as knowledgeable in my field, build backlinks, and in the end, build an income for my family. It makes sense that in order to do that, my content has to go further than my website, so I get more exposure.

      Can anyone help me wrap my brain around this?

      Thanks.
      Kim
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Originally Posted by GeekChick View Post

        ...For some reason the thought of sending off my content to various places makes me queasy. I think it's years of the thought process I've labored under. I mean, the whole point is to build my traffic, my credibility as knowledgeable in my field, build backlinks, and in the end, build an income for my family. It makes sense that in order to do that, my content has to go further than my website, so I get more exposure.

        Can anyone help me wrap my brain around this?

        Thanks.
        Kim
        Perhaps I can provide some very specific input. Most of the time my articles do get submitted to EZA for syndication because it seems to be the prime resource for my type of publishers. It serves as a showcase for my writing style in dozens of high profile niches. In addition to EZA, my best writing will be submitted to a growing syndicated network of 25,000 outlets. Each one of these outlets may have an active reading audience of from a few hundred to perhaps hundreds of thousands. These are real live targeted eyeballs reading my articles. To put this in numerical perspective, every article I write will generate an average monthly income of $5,000 - $7,000 when fully distributed within my syndicated network. As I have often mentioned, none of my websites rank anywhere in sight of Google. But with these kind of results from article syndication alone, it should not be any surprise that Google, page rank, backlinks, SEO, etc are all totally irrelevant in my niches.
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        • Profile picture of the author GaryEarle
          I say we string up MYOB and torture him until he reveals his syndication network! All THOSE in favor say AYE!!!!!!


          AYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

          Gary
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          • Profile picture of the author myob
            LOL!

            The list would not be helpful to hardly anyone, I can assure you. All of my niches are in extremely competitive arenas, which is the reason none of my sites rank above the murky depths in the SERPs.

            But let me tell you this again, as I have also often mentioned. Anyone can build a syndicated network for their niches, by following the advice of Alexa and other successful article marketers using this model.

            Invest $197 in the Directory of Ezines and submit articles to the ezine publishers in your niche.

            Also submit articles to targeted blogs and context-relevant websites.

            Buy a copy of Writers' Market, and submit articles to trade journals and professional magazines.

            Write articles for small regional newspapers (newspapers.com).

            Use EZA and perhaps other top article directories to show your stuff for syndication; not just to get clicks and backlinks.

            Make it a goal to add 5 new outlets each day to your network. (After 14 years, you too will have 25,000 syndicated outlets). I have been doing this for 14 years, so I do have a bit of a head start.

            An excellent resource which I highly recommend is Turn Words Into Traffic by Jim Edwards available on Clickbank for $39. It summarizes this model very well.
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            • Profile picture of the author New Atthis
              Originally Posted by myob View Post

              LOL!

              The list would not be helpful to hardly anyone, I can assure you. All of my niches are in extremely competitive arenas, which is the reason none of my sites rank above the murky depths in the SERPs.

              But let me tell you this again, as I have also often mentioned. Anyone can build a syndicated network for their niches, by following the advice of Alexa and other successful article marketers using this model.

              Invest $197 in the Directory of Ezines and submit articles to the ezine publishers in your niche.

              Also submit articles to targeted blogs and context-relevant websites.

              Buy a copy of Writers' Market, and submit articles to trade journals and professional magazines.

              Write articles for small regional newspapers (newspapers.com).

              Use EZA and perhaps other top article directories to show your stuff for syndication; not just to get clicks and backlinks.

              Make it a goal to add 5 new outlets each day to your network. (After 14 years, you too will have 25,000 syndicated outlets). I have been doing this for 14 years, so I do have a bit of a head start.

              An excellent resource which I highly recommend is Turn Words Into Traffic by Jim Edwards available on Clickbank for $39. It summarizes this model very well.
              The book you suggest is right up my alley and precisely what I was looking for at this point in time. I had to strip the link though in order to include your quote when expressing my gratitude for the excellent recommendation.

              Got it off Scribd for $9.99 too, for anyone also interested in purchasing the book for less. I'd include the link for that, but no can do!
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            • Profile picture of the author missmystery
              Originally Posted by myob View Post

              LOL!

              The list would not be helpful to hardly anyone, I can assure you. All of my niches are in extremely competitive arenas, which is the reason none of my sites rank above the murky depths in the SERPs.

              But let me tell you this again, as I have also often mentioned. Anyone can build a syndicated network for their niches, by following the advice of Alexa and other successful article marketers using this model.

              Invest $197 in the Directory of Ezines and submit articles to the ezine publishers in your niche.

              Also submit articles to targeted blogs and context-relevant websites.

              Buy a copy of Writers' Market, and submit articles to trade journals and professional magazines.

              Write articles for small regional newspapers (newspapers.com).

              Use EZA and perhaps other top article directories to show your stuff for syndication; not just to get clicks and backlinks.

              Make it a goal to add 5 new outlets each day to your network. (After 14 years, you too will have 25,000 syndicated outlets). I have been doing this for 14 years, so I do have a bit of a head start.

              An excellent resource which I highly recommend is Turn Words Into Traffic by Jim Edwards available on Clickbank for $39. It summarizes this model very well.
              I've bolded the bit in question. Is it the luck of the draw with this? I mean, Do you just email blog owners in your niche and ask them?
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              • Profile picture of the author capitalalchemy
                So now my curiosity is peaked - how do you determine who has published your article and on what site? I know that there are probably several methods for determining this, but I find EZA to be confusing to navigate for some reason - always have.

                The only problem that I see with this article syndication business is that you are going off of a little bit of luck in order to get your articles picked up.

                I understand that there is definitely a science to writing great articles that publishers will want to use, but it sounds like to me that you would have to do everything just perfect.

                Kind of like shooting the wings off of a fly.
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                • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
                  Originally Posted by capitalalchemy View Post

                  So now my curiosity is peaked - how do you determine who has published your article and on what site? I know that there are probably several methods for determining this, but I find EZA to be confusing to navigate for some reason - always have.
                  Simply take a string of text from somewhere within your article (preferably the middle or second half of it, so as to be sure to rule out "scraper sites" that might only publish short snippets from the beginning), paste it in-between quotes in Google - "like so" - and check out the results.

                  Or set up a Google alert so that you're automatically notified each time a new result is indexed that contains that snippet of text. This can save you a lot of time.

                  Originally Posted by capitalalchemy View Post

                  The only problem that I see with this article syndication business is that you are going off of a little bit of luck in order to get your articles picked up.
                  Clearly, what are considered good, appropriate or suitable articles is always somewhat subjective and will differ between publishers, but I've found Alexa's suggestions to be quite helpful towards increasing their mass appeal.

                  If you're going exclusively for "passive syndication" (i.e. "the lazy man's way"), one is, of course, reliant on suitable publishers seeking out your articles at EZA or elsewhere, and not every publisher is going to be actively looking. Which is precisely why we talk about active syndication, too. Go out there and seek out publishers by the sweat of your own brow. At least that way you're leaving less to chance: those publishers that like your articles will be confronted with an opportunity to take them. A little bit of work can pay great dividends.
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                  • Profile picture of the author AnniePot
                    Originally Posted by DireStraits View Post

                    Or set up a Google alert so that you're automatically notified each time a new result is indexed that contains that snippet of text. This can save you a lot of time.
                    This is exactly what I do. I love Google alerts and use it all the time; it saves me a lot of work.
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              • Profile picture of the author myob
                Also submit articles to targeted blogs and context-relevant websites.
                Originally Posted by missmystery View Post

                I've bolded the bit in question. Is it the luck of the draw with this? I mean, Do you just email blog owners in your niche and ask them?
                I would hardly consider it "luck of the draw". If you have relevant articles that would provide value to readers, send a sample article or two with a short query that you are able to provide similar articles on a regular basis. Use EZA as a reference to showcase your previously published articles. You can find these sites relatively easily by using the search engines targeting your keywords, and the better ones will always have contact info.
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        • Profile picture of the author GeekChick
          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          Perhaps I can provide some very specific input. Most of the time my articles do get submitted to EZA for syndication because it seems to be the prime resource for my type of publishers. It serves as a showcase for my writing style in dozens of high profile niches. In addition to EZA, my best writing will be submitted to a growing syndicated network of 25,000 outlets.
          Wow. Thanks very much for this. Having just landed my first print magazine freelance gig (they came to me after finding my website), I've just had my eyes opened to the possibilities and this whole idea is just blowing my mind!

          My niche, while not small exactly, has become more competitive over the last 5 years since I started my site. It's not a niche that has great earnings with Adsense; I could possibly put more into affiliate work but it's not terrific for that, either. It was started as a marketing tool for an offline service business I had, so I didn't really factor Adsense or affiliate stuff into my plans at first. Now it seems as though writing may be my most profitable enterprise, starting with building a syndicated network and perhaps my own eBook.

          I'm definitely checking out the Jim Edwards book on Clickbank. Thanks for that. I think this has so much opportunity!!

          Best,
          Kim
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by GeekChick View Post

        As I was thinking about all of this last night and I have been contemplating how to go about promoting my existing site. I'm wondering if there's ever a reason that you would choose NOT to submit your content to article directories for syndication?

        [snip]

        I've submitted about 6 articles to EZA... all unique, not the content from my site. The whole 'duplicate content' idea that I'm emerging from had the companion idea that the content on my site is supposed to be my very best content, and should be nowhere but my site.

        Can anyone help me wrap my brain around this?

        Thanks.
        Kim
        Kim, I do have content that I have not submitted for syndication, especially to article directories.

        The biggest reason is length. Over the years, I've found the best performing length for syndicated articles is generally in the 800-1500 word range. Some of my exclusive content is over 2500 words, and submitting it to directories would not be effective.

        Another reason is indeed exclusivity. Syndicated articles have two jobs to do - build trust in what I say and move the reader's eyeballs to my site. Once there, I want them coming back to my site regularly. While the whole 'duplicate content' thing is a myth, the idea of reserving your very best content for your visitors is not a strange idea at all.

        What you submit for syndication doesn't have to be your best content, but if you want it to spread, it should be your best writing...
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        • Profile picture of the author GeekChick
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Kim, I do have content that I have not submitted for syndication, especially to article directories.

          The biggest reason is length. Over the years, I've found the best performing length for syndicated articles is generally in the 800-1500 word range. Some of my exclusive content is over 2500 words, and submitting it to directories would not be effective.
          I have some lengthy content on my site as well, that is very good to know. I've generally written around 500 words for articles I submit to EZA; writing a bit more - which is, in fact, easier for me than getting a good article into 500 words - might be more effective.

          Another reason is indeed exclusivity. Syndicated articles have two jobs to do - build trust in what I say and move the reader's eyeballs to my site. Once there, I want them coming back to my site regularly. While the whole 'duplicate content' thing is a myth, the idea of reserving your very best content for your visitors is not a strange idea at all.

          What you submit for syndication doesn't have to be your best content, but if you want it to spread, it should be your best writing...
          This makes total sense to me. Thanks, John! As a friend of mine would say, it's the "both-and". Write great content that's unique to my site, and write great content that will go out into the wide world. Thanks for helping me clarify my thinking.

          Best,
          Kim
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        • Profile picture of the author wpo1408
          Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

          Kim, I do have content that I have not submitted for syndication, especially to article directories.

          The biggest reason is length. Over the years, I've found the best performing length for syndicated articles is generally in the 800-1500 word range. Some of my exclusive content is over 2500 words, and submitting it to directories would not be effective.

          Another reason is indeed exclusivity. Syndicated articles have two jobs to do - build trust in what I say and move the reader's eyeballs to my site. Once there, I want them coming back to my site regularly. While the whole 'duplicate content' thing is a myth, the idea of reserving your very best content for your visitors is not a strange idea at all.

          What you submit for syndication doesn't have to be your best content, but if you want it to spread, it should be your best writing...
          Hi,

          I work totally alone and just discovered this fascinating thread.
          I have spent about 30 months making niche sites with unique content and I have published about 1,500 unique articles on places like EZA and Gather to support them.

          That has always worked very well, but am I now to understand that I could have posted those 1,500 articles to my sites as well without incurring x2 content penalties?

          That is sad.
          Could I go back and add the 1,500 articles to my sites :-) ?
          Even if I could, it would be quicker to write new material.

          This thread has been very informative, but I hope that someone tells me whether I have understood it correctly.

          Regards,
          Owen
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          • Profile picture of the author AZMD
            Originally Posted by wpo1408 View Post

            Hi,

            Could I go back and add the 1,500 articles to my sites :-) ?
            Even if I could, it would be quicker to write new material.

            Regards,
            Owen
            You would want to have the articles that you write indexed on your site BEFORE submitting to EZA so writing new material, especially if it is quicker for you makes the most sense.
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            • Profile picture of the author wpo1408
              Mmm, I thought so.
              Crying shame though, isn't it?

              Thanks. :-)

              Owen
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              • Originally Posted by wpo1408 View Post

                Hi,

                I work totally alone and just discovered this fascinating thread.
                I have spent about 30 months making niche sites with unique content and I have published about 1,500 unique articles on places like EZA and Gather to support them.
                Isn't it just?


                That has always worked very well, but am I now to understand that I could have posted those 1,500 articles to my sites as well without incurring x2 content penalties?

                That is sad.
                Could I go back and add the 1,500 articles to my sites :-) ?
                Even if I could, it would be quicker to write new material.

                This thread has been very informative, but I hope that someone tells me whether I have understood it correctly.

                Regards,
                Owen
                Man... that is sad. I know this question is from a while ago but, while reading it, I had a brainstorm. I think we can still salvage some great use with all of those articles that can still provide you with passive income.

                If you go back and do a Google search for sentences from those articles, it may be that many of your articles have been passively syndicated from their submission to EZA. You can then send a message thanking those that syndicated your content and ask if they would like to be notified first, before any future content is given to EZA like Alexa does. By this time you will likely have hundreds of people to follow up with, making your role of connecting with potential syndicate outlets pretty easy.

                The next thing you can do is take those same articles and do some proactive syndication, seeking outlets whose readership would benefit from your articles but haven't yet found your work. You could do searches for all of your keywords, for instance, and approach the top 10 to 20 sites for each set. You could do a search of the top blogs on your topic in technorati and even do some offline syndication of those older articles. You could approach the top web sites in that niche according to Alexa. You get the idea.

                Even though you don't quite get the longstanding SEO boost that you would have gotten from the articles being first published on your site, there is no reason that you can't benefit from the traffic from those articles for a long time to come.
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                • Profile picture of the author wpo1408
                  Wow!

                  Thanks, AM.

                  Those are great ideas which I would never have come up with.

                  It is late here now, but I will be back at first light to start implementing your suggestions.

                  Thanks ever so much,

                  Highest regards,
                  Owen
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                  Behind The Smile ~ the Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya, Thailand ~
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                  • Originally Posted by wpo1408 View Post

                    Wow!

                    Thanks, AM.

                    Those are great ideas which I would never have come up with.

                    It is late here now, but I will be back at first light to start implementing your suggestions.

                    Thanks ever so much,

                    Highest regards,
                    Owen
                    Glad I could help, Owen!

                    Also, we are in for a treat. Tiff Lee has re-released her guide on article syndication - how 1 article she wrote a year ago continues to make her $1,000 per month. It's free and it's available in the signature on her post: http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...ml#post7027515

                    We are seriously so lucky. I remember one time I was linked to her report and she had taken it down! It was a free WSO and some people had attacked her ideas because, for some odd reason, some folks get really worked up at the thought that people are syndicating articles and making money; no spinning or endless article writing needed. Old ideas die hard, I guess. Anyway, she explains it in the book and it is a fantastic read!

                    Good luck to you! Here is to massive passive income through syndication!
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  • Profile picture of the author Britt Malka
    Originally Posted by Greg Wildermuth View Post

    Hey Britt,
    Everybody already said what I was going to say in the hour since I was here last!...

    But one thing I was just going to mention is that when people steal my content and republish it (with the resource box intact), I sometimes get decent traffic. Not great traffic, but still, as long as the research box is intact, you'll get traffic from those sources as well. That's been my experience anyway.
    Thanks, Greg

    The problem in this case was that they didn't use my resource box. Only my articles. Although I'm flattered that they liked it, of course, I cannot pay my rent with flattery
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.

    Is this worthwhile?
    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    Is this habit or is any link better than no link?
    What gives?

    thanks
    IMO you're better off using the content on your own website. Especially since Google is slapping sites hard for not having unique content.

    Plus, as long as you target the right keywords, have solid on-page SEO, and throw some decent backlinks at your sites & pages, it's really not that hard to hit page 1.
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  • Profile picture of the author GaryEarle
    Geek....

    Nice site then. So..dip your toes in the water. Experiment. Take 1 page of your site..1 page of content and submit it! What will it harm? Nothing young lady. You don't have to submit a page that reveals your proprietary methods. Pick one that is general and see what happens. START TESTING! See, we all have labored under many so called myths until someone stands up and says.....ENOUGH!

    I know that's what I would do. Test....test...then test again. You have minimal time involved!

    Just my opinion

    Gary
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    • Profile picture of the author GeekChick
      Originally Posted by GaryEarle View Post

      Geek....

      Nice site then. So..dip your toes in the water. Experiment. Take 1 page of your site..1 page of content and submit it! What will it harm? [snip] Pick one that is general and see what happens. START TESTING! See, we all have labored under many so called myths until someone stands up and says.....ENOUGH!
      Thanks very much, Gary. I do need to just start experimenting and branching out. I will choose some of my more general pages and get them out there! Like many, I've made my share of mistakes and unprofitable niches and getting distracted by all things shiny and new. It's time to just do some serious work on content, marketing, and backlinks. Oh, and my first product, in the works.

      Many thanks for your time and ideas!

      Best,
      Kim
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  • Profile picture of the author GaryEarle
    Damn...and here I was in a "torturing" Mood!

    MYOB, first of all thank you for sharing that. As I stated earlier, what has been contained in this thread has been highly educational for me. And this last post from you is kinda like icing on the cake as Ive made note of these resources. I'm a content writer, although my work is mostly done for others, and that's getting just a bit tiring.

    I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to write, I might as well monetize on my behalf and not others.

    So again, thanks for the input!

    (grumbles and puts away the clamps and the whips)

    Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author GaryEarle
    Kim The Geek...

    You are quite welcome....and like you....the "heavyweights" who took the time to put forth in this thread have readjusted my thinking a great deal. And to all of them I would like to say thanks again....

    And to You Kim....you should keep us posted in here on how you progress!

    Gary
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  • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    Even after being slapped silly in the farmer update, people continue to use eZine Articles.

    Is this worthwhile?
    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    Is this habit or is any link better than no link?
    What gives?

    thanks
    It is still a good quality back link.
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  • Profile picture of the author GaryEarle
    NEW ATTHIS.....

    Thanks for the tip about Scribd! Was just there....and there really wasn't a need to post a link...all one has to do is is use Scribd's search bar...and type in....Turn Words Into traffic..BOOM...there it is..$9.99...

    Thanks for the share
    Gary
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    • Profile picture of the author New Atthis
      Originally Posted by GaryEarle View Post

      NEW ATTHIS.....

      Thanks for the tip about Scribd! Was just there....and there really wasn't a need to post a link...all one has to do is is use Scribd's search bar...and type in....Turn Words Into traffic..BOOM...there it is..$9.99...

      Thanks for the share
      Gary
      Gary, glad it could it help. I noticed just now, however, that the Clickbank link for the book referenced by MYOB, who so generously offered the tip regarding the book, had an affiliate ID, which I'm assuming is his. If it is, I'm doubting he's hoping to pay the mortgage with any funds from the proceeds of potential sales, but still, I think it wasn't my place to add the Scribd tip. Sorry for that! I was all caught up in the moment though at not only being able to find the book, but also for such a good price!

      A good companion to that book is the ebook Xfactor wrote last year. I thought it would be mostly about Adsense, but what it mostly did for me was reinforce, in a big way, the power of the best way to do content publishing, which is so thoughtfully and carefully laid out here by following the posts and the nice links within them of Alexa Smith. I haven't yet read much by MYOB, but that's on the to-do list.

      Xfactor's ebook lays out the strategy through 240 pages of nothing but that and all of the backlinking strategies he has tried over the years and what he suggests today. It really is just all about adding value and common sense, but I need that to be reinforced. An excellent read for anyone interested in content publishing done right.
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      • Profile picture of the author myob
        Originally Posted by New Atthis View Post

        Gary, glad it could it help. I noticed just now, however, that the Clickbank link for the book referenced by MYOB, who so generously offered the tip regarding the book, had an affiliate ID, which I'm assuming is his. If it is, I'm doubting he's hoping to pay the mortgage with any funds from the proceeds of potential sales, but still, I think it wasn't my place to add the Scribd tip. Sorry for that! I was all caught up in the moment though at not only being able to find the book, but also for such a good price!
        Just to clarify, that reference link to "Turn Words Into Traffic", is not an affiliate link. I don't need the money. However, I am deeply disappointed that someone would consider this resource to be so cheap as to pass it around (illegally BTW) and steal from the authors who rightfully deserve compensation for their work. Use your Clickbank affiliate link for purchasing; the additional vendor bonuses and tutorials makes it actually far more valuable than the ten bucks you would save by buying it on Scribd.
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        • Profile picture of the author New Atthis
          Originally Posted by myob View Post

          Just to clarify, that reference link to "Turn Words Into Traffic", is not an affiliate link. I don't need the money. However, I am deeply disappointed that someone would consider this resource to be so cheap as to pass it around (illegally BTW) and steal from the authors who rightfully deserve compensation for their work. Use your Clickbank affiliate link for purchasing; it's not much more than the price you would pay on Scribd.
          It wasn't my aim to pass off an illegal tip. Call me naive, but I reasoned that the book was placed on Scribd by the owners of the book, who also received a percentage of the profits from Scribd. It looked legitimate to me and I didn't think, for a second, that Scribd was in the business of selling stolen documents.

          In addition, the book wasn't added by a person, but a publisher, Morgan James Publishing. Outside of trying to decipher for sure whether the authors have entered into a contract with this publisher, I don't see what more I could have done as far as conducting due diligence.

          For you to assert the book is being sold illegally on Scribd isn't backed up by any fact. This same publisher sells the paperback through Amazon. So either they are doing a fine job of fleecing the owners and duping the likes of Scribd and Amazon by selling this book, without the author's consent, all over the internet, or your assertion is a mistaken one.
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      • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
        Originally Posted by New Atthis View Post

        I noticed just now, however, that the Clickbank link for the book referenced by MYOB, who so generously offered the tip regarding the book, had an affiliate ID, which I'm assuming is his.
        Am I missing something?

        I just clicked on that link and there's just a normal URL, no sort of affiliate link whatsoever.

        :confused:
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        • Profile picture of the author New Atthis
          Originally Posted by Richard Van View Post

          Am I missing something?

          I just clicked on that link and there's just a normal URL, no sort of affiliate link whatsoever.

          :confused:
          It is when you click the order button and head to the Secure Payment Form on Clickbank that you will notice an affiliate ID at the bottom of the page. I did not think of this possibility until after I had posted about finding the book for a lesser price on Scribd and someone had already responded to my post.

          I didn't want to step on anyone's toes, which is why I apologized for mentioning where to find the book for a lower price. I also did not think, and still have not seen evidence, that the book is being sold without the consent of the authors through both Amazon and Scribd by the same publisher.
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          • Profile picture of the author Richard Van
            Originally Posted by New Atthis View Post

            It is when you click the order button and head to the Secure Payment Form on Clickbank that you will notice an affiliate ID at the bottom of the page.
            Ah yes but I think that's a cookie your end, when I do it on the CB page it says "aff = none".

            As for the other stuff I'm sure you were only trying to help chap.
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  • Profile picture of the author jkuhry
    I still use EZA... they take along time to approve your content but once its approved it golden.... but I still use many others sites for faster submissions.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    This thread should be retitled;

    Thread Still active, why?

    Chris
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

      It is still a good quality back link.
      This simply isn't so, Shannon. It's an extremely poor-quality backlink.

      Such poor quality that you'd need many tens of thousands of them to give you the link-juice equivalent to that from one backlink on a relevant authority site.

      Like any article directory, it's a non-context-relevant, PR-0 (or even "page-rank not available") backlink, for heaven's sake: you can't get much lower quality than that.

      EZA is (for many people) the very best article directory there is, but nobody's using it because of its backlinks.
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  • Profile picture of the author xavierfok
    Ezine articles are polishing up thier act by checking through the articles manually now. i think this would bring them back up again, but god knows when?

    i just did a search on the traffic that ezine articles has compared to articlebase, and i found they were still leading. if there was any article directory to submit, i guess it should still be ezine articles.

    Could anyone share if they have any articles that are written more than 2 years ago and currently still generating traffic? i would really like to learn how to write one article like that.

    As for syndication, can anyone share how they get targeted and paying customers?
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  • Profile picture of the author rowanman28
    Factoidz does better in Google than Ezine, and they pay you well for publishing. The only problem there is you have to become a staff writer after writing twenty articles before you can get away with "reviewing" a site, and adding your link, or at least you can't write advertisements

    I'd rather have a back link from an article writing site that does get first on the first page easily, and pays you really well in upfront payments and for views. The amount you make from writing there can be more than a lot of people make from sales on their websites.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      Originally Posted by rowanman28 View Post

      Factoidz does better in Google than Ezine
      It will do, clearly: it isn't an article directory.

      Originally Posted by rowanman28 View Post

      I'd rather have a back link from an article writing site that does get first on the first page easily
      Wouldn't we all? But it isn't an alternative to EZA, Rowanman. It isn't an article directory. Nobody's using article directories for their backlinks. Not successfully, anyway: that's not what they're there for at all.

      Originally Posted by rowanman28 View Post

      and pays you really well in upfront payments and for views. The amount you make from writing there can be more than a lot of people make from sales on their websites.
      I dare say. But of course it's a totally different business model altogether.

      Originally Posted by xavierfok View Post

      Could anyone share if they have any articles that are written more than 2 years ago and currently still generating traffic?
      Yes, I have. I've only been building my business in its present form for about two and a half years, so I can't claim to have an enormous number of them from more than 2 years ago, but certainly some are still generating traffic. And many from 1.5 - 2 years ago are generating new traffic regularly.

      Originally Posted by xavierfok View Post

      i would really like to learn how to write one article like that.
      Here's how I've written mine, if it helps.

      Originally Posted by xavierfok View Post

      As for syndication, can anyone share how they get targeted and paying customers?
      One of the forum's most successful article marketers shares his techniques here.
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      • Originally Posted by Alexa Smith View Post

        Wouldn't we all? But it isn't an alternative to EZA, Rowanman. It isn't an article directory. Nobody's using article directories for their backlinks. Not successfully, anyway: that's not what they're there for at all.
        Hey,

        I know article syndication can be one of the best ways of getting targetted traffic, and recieving relevant backlinks. But I'm just wandering, is this only worth the effort if your in popular Niche's, where there are many bloggers looking for content? Only reason I'm asking this, is because most of my Niche's are small, with very little competition, and I can't imagine my articles being discovered. :confused:
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        • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
          Banned
          Originally Posted by GoodnightSweetRatRace View Post

          I know article syndication can be one of the best ways of getting targetted traffic, and recieving relevant backlinks. But I'm just wandering, is this only worth the effort if your in popular Niche's, where there are many bloggers looking for content? Only reason I'm asking this, is because most of my Niche's are small, with very little competition, and I can't imagine my articles being discovered. :confused:
          My own niches aren't hyper-popular and hyper-competitive, at all. (I'm not in "make money online" or "IM advice" or "weight loss" or "dating".) It doesn't seem to matter, much. I suspect that in some very competitive niches, many of the "extra people" are purely other marketers, who may not be prime candidates to syndicate such articles anyway ...

          There are always ezine publishers looking for content, though.

          Not all websites belong to marketers. Sorry if this is "stating the obvious" but I know some people here tend to look at everything from a marketer's perspective only: they imagine, because they submit to article directories hoping to get traffic and/or backlinks out of it (:rolleyes, that successful marketers who use them are also doing so for those reasons; they imagine that because they have a niche site with the aim of making money, that anyone else with a site in their niche will also necessarily be a competitor; and so on.

          I got started, I admit, by "waiting for my articles to be discovered" by people using EZA as a directory, i.e. looking for content there, but there are many other, more pro-active ways (see post #103 above) -I just didn't really know about them at the time.
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  • Profile picture of the author John Romaine
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    BS free SEO services, training and advice - SEO Point

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  • Profile picture of the author thanhlan
    well I think the reason to go on using EZA is the 6PR backlink you get from the directory.
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    • Profile picture of the author DireStraits
      Originally Posted by thanhlan View Post

      well I think the reason to go on using EZA is the 6PR backlink you get from the directory.
      Well then you'll be extremely disappointed to learn that you don't actually get a PR6 backlink by submitting to EZA, at all. EZA's homepage may be PR6; your newly created article pages are PR-n/a or PR0. Some of the PR from other pages will trickle through to your page, sure (not that you'll be able to estimate how much, since Google's public-facing PR values are very infrequently updated and are displayed only in whole numbers), but certainly not that much.

      If EZA backlinks are working for you, then by all means continue to use them for that. But, again, let's be clear: they're not actually very powerful at all, and they're not PR6. And this is yet another myth that's been laid to rest countless times already.
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  • Profile picture of the author JDude
    Thanks for the read folks. Some interesting stuff.

    I have to wonder however, I see a few of you have mentioned copying your article to EZA right from your blog article. Do you spin it before doing that, or just put it up as is? If not, doesn't that count as duplicate content? I only ask because my experience with SEO comes predominantly from the adult entertainment market and duplicate content is something we really try to avoid.

    Thanks in advance for the input.
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  • Profile picture of the author celente
    I have over 1300+ articles sitting in EA, and some are mine and other are outsourced, i.e. I paid for them.

    They still bring in traffic, lots of optins and sales, so I will not be turfing them anytime soon.
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  • Profile picture of the author harrietfredge
    I find EZA useful enough, however, if you don't appreciate it much, you can always work for a site that will meet your satisfaction. Just don't give up writing good content articles.
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  • Profile picture of the author lancewan
    All

    My experience so far with EZA is that I can get my articles approved within 3 -4 days by making sure I follow their guidelines. I dont necessarily follow it to the letter but keeping close to them gets them approved easily and without a lot of fuss.

    The basics are make sure the titles is formatted correctly. Have the content well written and original, dont use PLR, dont copy anything used anywhere else and make sure whatever you write is engaging and informing.

    Although EZA allow links in the body they have to be informative and non self serving, anything self serving is reserved for the resource box.

    You can have inactive and active url's to sites you DONT own in the article body just as long as it adds value to the article itself - if it is self serving and you own it the article will get rejected and you will have to fix it.

    Once you go down the road of having to fix article that you submit they become very picky about anything you submit and they will take longer to review your articles before approving them until your submissions become better.

    As for the length of the articles, I am starting to work on increasing the amount of words I use and make sure the information is worth it. I will also be looking at syndication in earnest and writing for blogs etc but that will come at a later time.

    Overall Alexa and JohnMcabe are spot on from what I can see. Although I am by no means a am wizard I am quite proficient in creating article frameworks quickly to write them out. Making sure the content is more and in depth will take more work
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    • Profile picture of the author troybh
      As far as ezine is concerned why not publish on infobarrel, squidoo or hubpages instead. Your article can actually get a pr2,3 or even 4. Then you got a quality backlink and half the profits too. Seems no reason to publish on ezine ever. Am I wrong.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Shane Roe
    Originally Posted by dblgdee View Post

    The listings no longer appear on 1st page Google
    thanks
    Not entirely accurate either... Observe:

    Google
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  • Profile picture of the author plongmire
    This is driving me crazy and following the advice. I know this is probably a stupid question but can someone show me a resource box that you use...
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  • Profile picture of the author Talladino
    I have some articles on EZA and , yes the actual articles have lost rankings , but i have found that people are still using some of my articles. This does result in getting me more traffic, maybe it's IMers who knows.
    Even though google may not like them a lot now, it seems it is still a place that webmasters are going for articles to put on their websites, which does get the writers traffic, very similar to the blog networks people are using, to get it in front of eyeballs...
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    The only problem with a lot of articles directories is most of them are not niche sites so the link juice from your resource box is not as powerful, but of course getting your article picked up from another publisher does have it's benefits.
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  • Profile picture of the author trialjenym
    There are still people who uses Ezine Articles since they believed that they can also build their website through article writing. If you think that EZA is not helping you promote your website, then just stop it. In order to get good results out of your article marketing, one needs to do it regularly. In my personal experience, I submit articles on EZA like I was just doing my blog. I am quite satisfied with the results since it help me increase my web traffic. There are people who get what they want, and some just don't.

    Just focus on the things that will crown your efforts... just a piece of advice
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  • Profile picture of the author Joseph Robinson
    Banned
    Just a few months ago I was you, knowing nothing about the topic. I know exactly the position you are in. Feel free to ask should you have any other questions, for those willing to learn I have unlimited patience. The list you mentioned (and others hanging around, MYOB and tpw come to mind first) is definitely a good one to learn from. It's what I did.
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    • Profile picture of the author thedog
      With Google focusing on quality content so much, I think Ezine articles will do quite well.

      I found myself back there the other day, and will be focusing on them again.

      The duplicate content thing did annoy me at first, but that was just my lazy side

      Nice point Joe, best not to make your copy too salesy... it's all about quality and freshness these days.
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  • Profile picture of the author tyronne78
    I have twenty or so articles on ezinearticles.com. One thing they have an issue with is one of your "self serving" links in your resource box going back to the same article on your site or blog. What I usually do is publish a blog post and base it around a particular keyword,then get it indexed. Then submit an article to EZA based on a related keyword and point one of my "self serving" links back to the post on my blog that I just got indexed. Then of course my other link goes to my blog's homepage. Good strategy to use post panda.
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  • Profile picture of the author wpo1408
    Hi Attraction Marketing,

    Sorry, but that link is to a closed thread with no further refs to the book.
    I Googled Tiff Lee and got nothing either.

    Owen
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    Behind The Smile ~ the Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya, Thailand ~
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    • Originally Posted by wpo1408 View Post

      Hi Attraction Marketing,

      Sorry, but that link is to a closed thread with no further refs to the book.
      I Googled Tiff Lee and got nothing either.

      Owen
      Aww man! Thwarted at every turn! LOL

      Good for us, you can still get it from her profile

      View Profile: TiffLee
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      • Profile picture of the author wpo1408
        Originally Posted by Attraction Marketing View Post

        Aww man! Thwarted at every turn! LOL

        Good for us, you can still get it from her profile :

        View Profile: TiffLee
        OK, that worked!
        Thanks a lot.
        It's late again here in Thailand, so I'll start reading it tomorrow.

        Regards,
        Owen
        Signature
        Behind The Smile ~ the Story of Lek, a Bar Girl in Pattaya, Thailand ~
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