The Coming Article Directory Shake Out

I usually am not one to make bold predictions of events that may transpire. Still, the proliferation in the number of article submission sites leads me to conclude one thing: a shake out is in the making. How so? There are too many sites, too many poorly designed sites at that, and only so many sites quality authors will submit their work to. Is this a bad thing? No, not when you consider what an author gets in return for when he or she submits their work to a quality site: free publicity. Let's take a look at sites that win v. sites that just won't make it: Excellent Page Rank. A page rank of five or better is very good. Several sites are in this bracket, but even some of these sites have only one page that ranks this high. You know that a site is highly regarded if their blog is indexed and ranked high by Google. Ezine Articles is a prime example of one such site. Regular Feedback From Management. Granted, a lot of my email messages get tossed, but those coming from high performing article submission sites get read by me. Not only read, but studied. Yes, I look at the trends that the site manager is talking about and consider those trends for when I write my articles, shape my web sites and blogs, etc. Most people are naturally attracted to a winner...is your article directory manager a winner? Author Camaraderie. I consider a site successful if there is good natured banter between authors as well as with the site's manager. There is nothing healthier about an article directory site that contains active blogs and forums, visited by authors who pepper the site with their quips, suggestions, comments, etc. Where Are You Going? Many of today's article directories are little more than sites meant to harness pay-per-click schemes. No, this isn't an unethical practice but you have to wonder what would happen if their scheme ended. Would they close down their directory too? Just thinking about all that time wasted on submitting work to a now defunct directory...ugh! I prefer to go only with those sites that have a promise of continued growth and expansion. As I am aggressive with my use of the internet, I would expect the same from them. No, I am not naming which directories I think will not make it. In some ways it doesn't matter. Authors will "vote with their feet" and send their work only to the highest quality sites, just as it should be. The coming article directory shake out may not be entirely obvious either...the number of directories that close up may be unnoticeable but the number of new article submissions they receive will be, as well as their relevancy with Google and other top search engines.