Most of you who write articles know that there are various article directories on the internet. Roughly, there are at least 600 article directories out there with EzineArticles, GoArticles, Article City, and Search Warp being among the most well known. Typically, I submit to as many as 20 directories at a time with some of those submissions shared with other directories. I can get a lot of bang out of just one article by submitting it all over the place with the result being scads of backlinks following to designated pages on sites that I or my customers control.
Most of these directories share the same software making the submission process easy especially if you do not want to go back and forth between different programs. One script that I like is the Article Dashboard script used by several hundred sites currently. Indeed, Article Dashboard even manages its own article directory and you can still download the software for free and start your own directory.
Are there any drawbacks to the new article directories? Yes, there are. The two biggest ones are these: some are very slow to approve articles, taking weeks to approve. One, in particular, warns authors that they reserve the right to clear their directory out at any time or simply not accept your article. Another area of concern are those directories no longer accepting articles at all. Some have converted to article writing sites while others have simply folded up. It is my belief that some article directory owners simply had no idea of the amount of work involved with maintaining a successful directory. Thus, some have quit.
So, what to do? In my case I stay on top of the directories and if articles are not being accepted any longer or they are taking an excessive amount of time for approval, I simply swap one directory out for another. Clients who pay me to write AND submit understand that this can happen so I update them with an email telling them of the situation.
In all, article directories are still a good idea even if some should suddenly shut down. The good ones will continue to rise to the top while the long neglected ones will fall to the side. Eventually, I believe that there will be some sort of shake out particularly if Google ? the company whose ads appear on most of these directories ? drops them. Hey, you knew that article marketing had a side to it beyond writing, didn't you?
Copyright 2006 ? For additional information regarding Matt Keegan, The Article Writer, please visit his blog for wit, quips, and freelance writing tips.
