An article directory is a large database of content arranged by topic, from articles on topics puppy training to copyright law.
The big deal about article directories is this: Submit content to them in exchange for a link back to your website.
Posting some relevant information on your niche is a great marketing tool and has two main benefits. The first benefit of posting an article is for search engine optimization. One key element of SEO is backlinks, links existing on other sites that link back to your website. When you post an article on a directory, you get to include some backlinks.
As search engine spiders crawl the article, they will hit the link and follow it to your website. And you want a ton of spiders crawling your website as often and long as possible.
Besides merely attracting search engine spiders that can help you rank higher in Google, posting an article can bring in some human visitors. Let’s say you have a website on kitchen remodeling. Your site has helpful tips on choosing the right cabinets or is an e-commerce site where people can purchase custom counter tops. It doesn’t matter.
Someone might come across your article during a Google search and choose to follow the link to your site. In this case, which happens all the time, you got a visitor because of the article submission that you would not have otherwise attracted.
There are tons of article directories, and you could spend a lifetime trying to submit content to all of them. In most cases, just submitting an article to the best two or three will give you enough support. Start by just posting content to EzineArticles and GoArticles.
These two directories have the most credibility and are the most popular. Scan through some of the articles currently posted on these directories, and you will see that the articles are not very long. They are typically about 500 words in length and don’t provide too much detailed information.
Just having some published articles with backlinks is the important part. Having the article you submit be excellent is not nearly as influential. So, write an article for a directory in just a couple of minutes. It shouldn’t be your best stuff. If its taking you more than 30 minutes to write, you are trying too hard to make the content really good.
You want great, useful content on your website. For article directory content, this is not the case. Remember that you need to submit orginal content. You do not want to submit duplicate content, such as an article you are also posting on your blog.
Articles you submit need to be original but only to some extend. You can do a simple re-write of other articles to save time and energy. There are even programs that write content for you! Check out Instant Article Wizard and consider investing in a cheap program like this that can spit out tons of articles for you, freeing up your time to be spent on more interesting elements of internet marketing.
After mastering article directories, you’ll want to look into getting your business listed in an online business directory.
Tags: seo, website traffic, link building, article directory, content
Like the blog? Buy the book.
