increasing traffic with articles?

[cbscreative]

Roy, your point about writing getting someone involved in their web site is certainly valid, and it will even serve to get a new site crawled by search engines. When the article directories first appeared, they were generally a good way for people to get good content. It even helped build credibility because the early adapters were usually publishing to share their knowledge and gain exposure.

It didn't take long for them to turn into a wasteland of useless garbage as they turned into an SEO trick. For a new author to submit now is like throwing a tin can into a landfill IMO. Your point about copy generators creating content just shows how the cheaters seek to gain some advantage without having to work for it. Article directories are plagued with this.

For the extra time it takes to seek and gain appoval of specialized/niche sites, the payoff is worth it. One article on something like Tom's Harware Guide would be worth more than a thousand on Go Articles. Granted though, the thousand could help make someone good enough to get published on an authority site.

[royhunters]

Ok so consider this, you write an article and submit it to Ezine, you have 3 links in the article pointing to different destinations on your website.

Does this not create a one way link?

Yes I know, I know the quality of that link is not so great, but that link is just a s good as the links we put at the bottom of our posts? I found your blog because of it, I am considering a new theme for my wordpress blog as we use the classic one... So do your links work for you?

Vangogh, there comes a time when your blog writing graduates and becomes better than the company you submit the article to, like Seth Godins' , like yours, and probably any that CBS writes... But we are talking about basics here. Is there any benefit to publishing your article on a blog directory?

The article was already written for the website, why not publish it on those directories for the added benefit that can come from it? Even if it is small, a link is a link, and if it gets you traffic, traffic is traffic.

[vangogh]

Roy what you're saying about the links in the ezine article is true. My point is you can probably do better than the directory so why settle. In years past the advantage of the directories was all the times your article would get downloaded and you might get 20 or 50 links from different sites.

I think search engines have caught on and now you're really only after the single links from the directory itself. Nothing wrong with that, but with a little bit of work you can probably find a better place for your content that would serve you better.

My thought is look for those opportunities first and if none work out then try the directory. However if your content is really good it would probably be better to publish it on your own site than give it to a directory. I wouldn't give anything other than your "B" content to a directory.

[royhunters]

Well My articles are B content compared to yours

I think you are looking at this as an either-or situation. I do not publish anything on any of those sites that is not published in my website blog first.

In fact, most of them just ping my site for the update. Technorati, Squidoo, Digg, Blog Catalog, I did nothing but tell them I had a blog and showed them where it is. When you click my link in technorati to read the article, they send you to the blog on our website, same as the others. I think Ezine is the only one that keeps a copy and gets uptight if you did not let them have it first. But once I show them I own the blog the article they thought was a duplicate, they shut up.

Blog Catalog actually gives you the wordpress plugin Js-kit so your comments show up on their site as well as yours and visa versa

[vangogh]

Thanks for the compliment.

Not an either/or, but rather a case of priorities. I'm not at all against submitting to an article directory. I just think you should try other things first.

I also wouldn't consider the sites you're mentioning as article directories. There's nothing at all wrong with pinging the sites you mention. I think those are good things and I have nothing against submitting your content to a site like Digg as long as you do it within the unwritten rules of the community. I'm all for creating a Squidoo lens too. I'm not familiar with Blog Catalog.

The directories are ezine, go articles, etc. The sites where you submit an article and then others download it to republish. I think they have benefit, but limited benefit. I'd sooner look for a blogger on your topic and try to see if you can guest post or maybe look for opportunities where sites that don't always accept content will accept a post of article. I come across at least one site every week in my feedreader that's asking for guest posts.

When you put your content in front of an audience similar to yours I think you have a much better shot of getting real eyeballs on your site and you'll probably pick up some new subscribers. Some of those eyeballs and subscribers will also end up linking to you. To me that's a better use of your content. However if you've written something and no one will take it on their blog and you don't want to publish it on your blog then by all means submit to an article directory. Just try the other options first.