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.
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