All Entries Tagged With: "Article Directories"

Is Google Penalizing Article Marketers?

Every now and then I get a question about Google’s policy of discounting links from article directories. Is Google penalizing article marketers?

The question stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about article marketing. Article marketing is not about getting links from ~~search engines~~ article directories. It never has been about that. Rather, article marketing is about building links from other websites, building your authority and credibility as an expert in your niche, and driving traffic to your website. If you do it correctly, that’s what will happen. You don’t really need that link from the article directory.

What you want to happen is for your articles in the article directories to get picked up by publishers in your niche. If you write good articles that deserve to be published, those articles will be published by other bloggers and webmasters. When publishers use your articles, you’ll get your coveted links from that, but you’ll also get the traffic from those publishers’ websites. In addition to those search marketing benefits, you’ll be building your reputation as an authoritative source within your niche. That’s what article marketing is about. Don’t get shortsighted about links from article directories.

May 07, 2009 | allen | Comments 1

Should You Submit Articles To Niche Directories?

Article marketing is a time consuming activity if you do it right. But there can be some big payoffs. Should you spend your time researching and submitting articles to niche directories?

Yes, I say you should. But understand that very few niches have that many article directories that specifically focus on their niche. You might find one or two article directories that serve your niche and if you do then you should submit every article you write to them. But don’t just focus on those directories. Also focus on high traffic general directories with authority.

The key to article marketing is to get your articles seen in as many places as possible. You are trying to do two things: Drive traffic to your website and build back links. Anything you can do to further each of these objectives is a positive. Niche directories are great for delivering targeted traffic, but the links are also highly relevant links if you article is picked up by a publisher. General directories, however, will usually see more traffic than niche directories so I wouldn’t discount them.

Learn more about article directory submissions here.

March 20, 2009 | allen | Comments 2

13 Article Directories You’ll Find On Twitter

We decided to go looking for article directories on Twitter and found out there are quite a few article directory owners who use Twitter. EzineArticles, the most popular article directory online, sends out a tweet every time one of its members publishes a new article. Other article directories with a presence on Twitter include (note the links are directly to their Twitter profiles):

If you’re looking for article directories to connect with on Twitter, feel free to follow these directories or owners of directories. And be sure to follow me too.

March 10, 2009 | allen | Comments 1

Does Google Have A Duplicate Content Penalty?

There is still some confusion about Google’s duplicate content penalty. The truth is there is no such penalty. Google’s policy states that it will index the first instance of specific content on the web, but not the same content at multiple websites. What that means is if you submit your article to 100 article directories then Google will pick one of those directories as the original content location and not index all 99 instances of the same article.

Google says it will index the first publication of the same content, but that isn’t exactly accurate either. If you submit your article to 100 directories on the same day at the same time through a mass submission process then Google may make a good faith effort to find the original, or first published, article but its robot will not be able to discern small time nuances in the submittal process. It is likely that Google will give favor to the article directories that it considers higher authority websites, but that’s just my opinion. Still, Google’s policy is to index one instance of a particular content and to discount all the others. That’s different than imposing a penalty.

Even then, if that article is held in 100 different directories, you stand a much better chance of having it picked up by other publishers than you do if you list it in only one directory. Plus, other search engines may list each article that it finds online regardless of whether or not it exists on a separate website so submitting your articles to multiple directories is always a wise choice.

March 05, 2009 | allen | Comments 1

5 Niche Article Directories For The Committed Article Marketer

Anyone who has done any marketing at all knows that targeted marketing achieves the best results. If you do article marketing then you may have been led to believe that all the article directories are general directories, but it’s not true. Here are 5 niche article directories that you can use if you fit into one of these niches.

Real Estate – The Real Estate Article Directory (http://realestatearticledirectory.com/) is a great place to submit your articles related to real estate and related topics.
Travel – Articles Abroad (http://articlesabroad.com/articles/) serves the travel industry very well. If you have articles related to travel, world languages, real estate, or the environment then this is the place to submit them.
Arts & Crafts – If you’re a crafter or an artisan and you write articles about your craft the Art & Craft Article Directory (http://www.artsandcraftsnet.ca/articledirectory/) is the place to be.
Internet Marketing – Do you do any Internet marketing? Any at all? If you are involved in pay-per-click advertising, blogging, article marketing, AdSense publishing, domaining, link building, podcasting, or any of various other Internet marketing categories then the Internet Marketing Article Directory (http://www.internet-article-directory.com/) is the perfect place to publish your articles.
Computers – The topic of computers is a broad category, but it encompasses a very important niche. The Computer Article Directory (http://www.computerarticledirectory.com/) fills that niche very well. If your expertise has anything to do with Internet security, computer business opportunities, hardware or software issues, operating systems, search engines, web browsers, or any of various other categories related to computers then this is your article directory.

Do you know of any other niche article directories? Which ones do you use?

February 27, 2009 | allen | Comments 1