Article Marketing: Danger Signs
Marketing your articles is a fantastic way to gain needed
exposure on the internet. Article directories are being
introduced at a breakneck pace, but they are not all equal. In
fact, listing your articles on some sites can be nothing but a
waste of your time and could cause you to lose your valuable
reputation. How so? Read on for more information.
One of the nicest compliments I have been paid is when a manager
of an article directory approaches me to submit articles to his
or her new site. Generally, this happens when they have
discovered that I list a large number of articles to a high
quality site, such as Ezine Articles, and realize that I
have the ability to produce articles in spades.
Truthfully, I am very selective about joining new sites
and only do so after examining how the site is set up and
whether it is received by members of the article marketing
community. The following list contains some of the danger signs
of article directories that do not quite measure up:
No contact information. I want the person who manages the
article directory to be personality driven. A little self
promotion goes a long way! Sure, if they don't have what they
say they have, it will soon become apparent that they are
blowing in the wind. If it isn't possible to uncover the
personality behind the directory, chances are they really aren't
that involved with the day to day operations.
No blog, no forum. Talk to me! Literally speaking. A blog
and/or a forum are necessary parts of a successful article
directory site, in my opinion. I want to get the article
directory owner's input on article marketing, and I want to
leave a comment when inspired. Those article directories that
encourage active participation are certainly the high achieving
sites. Their success means your success...plain and
simple!
Feed it to them. Yes, a news feed that includes the
articles submitted to the site is a must. RSS is a terrific way
to maximize article exposure. I give article directories that
have this feature an edge over all others as it tells me that
they are serious about article marketing.
Statistically speaking. What, no stats?! If you cannot
measure how many people have viewed your articles, downloaded
the same, emailed them to someone, or left a comment, I have no
use for you. Article marketing = statistics. You cannot possibly
measure the success of what you write without some sort of
feedback. Stats provide it!
Page rank. I want the article directory to pull down a
Google page rank of at least 5. Heck, if my own article site can
pull down a PR6, then I would expect an article directory to do
at least the same! I give new sites 2 or 3 months to get their
page rank up before deciding whether to submit to them or not.
Things I look for that are pluses: press releases;
preservation of back links; easy submission of articles;
approval within 48 hours; circulation of my articles via Google;
a contact form to get a hold of the directory manager; continual
growth of the site; and introduction of relevant new features to
attract authors, content seekers, and the like.
Any site that fails to measure up is, in my opinion, a bad
neighborhood. You wouldn't want to live in a bad
neighborhood, so why would you feature your high quality
articles there as well? Your reputation is golden; submit only
to those sites that can enhance your reputation not lessen it.