Top 25 Article Directories

Article submission tools make article spamming extremely easy. Hold on, it's not that simple. Submitting your article to hundreds or thousands of article sites can actually hurt you, since Google spiders are finely tuned to spot spam in its many flavors. You're much better off to submit your article to five of your favorite article sites and a couple of niche sites, and resist the temptation to blast your article to every pathetic article site on the planet.

To help you see which sites you might consider submitting to, I've listed below the top 25 article directory sites by their Google PageRank (10 being high) and Alexa traffic rank (1 being high). A disclaimer: The Alexa rankings are flawed and seem volatile, but give a relative measure of traffic to a site. Google PageRank (PR) is notoriously inaccurate, but can be seen as an indicator of Google's relative trust in a site -- sort of. The list is not exhaustive and includes both general article directories and some popular niche directories with an Alexa rank of under 50,000. Sites are listed in ascending Alexa rank order, with the PR 6+ sites boldfaced for your convenience.

Rankings as of 05-May-2007	Google PageRank	Alexa Rank
EzineArticles.com	6	499
GoArticles.com	4	3,592
ArticleDashboard.com	6	5,255
SearchWarp.com	5	6,032
ArticlesBase.com	4	8,735
iSnare.com *	6	8,791
SelfGrowth.com	6	9,653
Buzzle.com	6	9,698
ArticleCity.com	6	11,526
IdeaMarketers.com	4	13,121
ArticleAlley.com	5	14,259
Web-Source.net	5	15,375
SelfSEO.com	5	15,945
Amazines.com	5	17,509
ArticleTrader.com	5	17,633
SearchGuild.com	6	20,008
WebWorldIndex.com	5	22,233
ArticleSphere.com	4	24,462
BusinessKnowHow.com	6	28,036
PromotionWorld.com	6	29,707
ArticlesFactory.com	7	30,664
ExcellentGuide.com/article	6	33,740
ContentDesk.com	4	33,894
ArticleCube.com	5	36,322
AfroArticles.com	4	42,283
ArticleBiz.com	6	49,044

A Different Aspect of Article Marketing

When most marketers think of article marketing, the only thing that comes to mind is "Article Directories."

I've actually posted a similar thread months ago but I still see it and I wish more people would realize this, so I'm going to say it again.

First, don't get me wrong, article directories are valuable and you should be submitting to them, in moderation. But, article directories should not be your only route.

Some of the biggest IMers, AKA Gurus, like Willie Crawford, still to this day run strong article marketing campaigns. Do you HONESTLY think that they write an article, submit it to EzineArticles and move on?

No, they put their articles in the spot-light where targeted viewers will see.

Forums that allow article submission. Forums hold thousands of extremely targeted viewers. Sites that allow paid, sponsored articles (IdeaMarketers) etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

Also, lets look at the real value of article marketing.

The REAL value isn't about the links you get. It's about the long-term customers, JV's and "followers."

If you are writing good, informative articles, I would be willing to bet you've made much more money from each article than you think!!

A few months back, I was contacted by one of the biggest "Gurus" in IM. He contacted me because he had just finished reading an article of mine and he was extremely interested in the subject matter.

That single article resulted in thousands of dollars in sales!! He ended up promoting a product of mine that was related to the article and he still does to this day.

Article Marketing is bigger than many folks think!

How to earn $3,000 in less than a month?

Can you really earn $3,000 in less than a month? Not only is it possible, it has been done by a lot of people!

The first step in learning how to bum marketing is to find a profitable keyword. A keyword or a keyword phrase is what people are looking for. What you need to do is find a general keywords then narrow down to the specific words you will use in your articles. For example, dog training is too general, but German shepherd dog training is specific. A good rule of thumb is to search for terms that have 1000 - 5000 Google search results. Be sure you put quotation marks around your potential keywords in order to get accurate results. Word Tracker is by far the best keyword research tool. It is not free, but it will save you a lot of time.

Then you need to write your article around the keywords you pick. I recommend that you use a software like Instant Article Wizard. Within 10 minutes, you can create an article on any keyword you like, and it is all unique content and keyword-rich. All you need to do is fill in the blanks with your keyword. I have used Instant Article Wizard for months, and the results are very good.

How to Write The Perfect Author Resource Box

If you want to really make your article "SELL" then you've got to craft the perfect RESOURCE BOX. This is the "author bio" that is below your article body and it's also known as your "SIG" (short for SIGnature).

Here are the essential items that should be in your RESOURCE BOX:

• Your Name: You'd be amazed at how many folks forget to include their name in the RESOURCE BOX. Your name and optional title should be the first thing in your resource box.
  
  
• Your Website Address: in valid URL form. Example: http://Your-Company-Name.com/
  
  
• Your Elevator Pitch: This is 1 to 3 sentences that encapsulates the essence of what makes you and your offering unique. Also known as your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).
  
  
• Your Call To Action: You've got them warmed up and now it's time to lead them to BUY from you or visit your website. This is where you "Ask For The Sale." Best to only give (1) specific call to action.

Here are some optional items you could include in your RESOURCE BOX:

• Your Ezine Subscription Address: While getting your interested visitor to surf your website is nice, capturing their email address can help you begin the confidence/trust process. If you're going to do this strategy, include a URL for your ezine subscription address and do not use an email address for the "join" address.
  
  
• Your Contact Information: Such as your business phone number or how to reach you for interviews or your press/media kit. Keep in mind that article marketing is a timeless strategy and you may not have an easy ability to retract what you put in your article once it hits major distribution.
  
  
• A Free Report: This could also be part of your call to action or your free bonus report that further enhances your credibility as the expert on the topic of your article.
  
  
• Your email autoresponder: I'm not a big fan of this strategy due to the fact that spammers will text-extract your autoresponder address and add it to their spam list. Perhaps this strategy was best for the 1990's and has now run its course.
  
  
• An anchor URL that is related to one keyword or keyword phrase that you want to build SEO strength for. Example: if I wanted to build search engine relevance/strength for the term "Article Marketing," I'd link up that term in my resource box to my website. This is an intermediate to advanced level strategy and should not be abused by over-doing it. Keep it simple.

What NOT to include in your RESOURCE BOX:

• A listing of every website you own. There is no faster way to dilute your credibility than by posting a half dozen irrelevant URLs that have nothing to do with each other. Best to only post ONE URL that is related to the topic of your article.
  
  
• A listing of every accomplishment you've achieved to date. No one cares. Keep your resource box brief and to the point. Yes, your resource box should be benefit oriented so that the reader finds value in reading it rather than your ego being justified.
  
  
• Advertisements or pitches for products that are not relevant to the topic of your article.
  
  
• Keep the size of your resource box so that it's no larger than 20% of your total article size. Too often I see resource boxes that are 50% of the size of the total article and this is abusive.

Your Perfect Resource Box Conclusion:

The BODY of your article is where you "GIVE" and the RESOURCE BOX is where you get to "TAKE" for your article marketing gift of information. The resource box is the "currency of payment" you receive for giving away your article. Be sure to include your name, website address, your unique selling proposition as briefly as possible and a simple call to action.

Quality or Quantity?

When I first started using article marketing my greatest concern was how many backlinks that I could build up to my site. Therefore, I just wrote fast and furious to create as many articles and to submit to as many article directories as possible. I could increase from 0 to 2000 backlinks in less than 3 months, but only 25 backlinks showed in Google. I submit only to quality e-zines and high PR article directories. I understand that this is now the criterion for Google to choose the backlinks. But it is worth in the beginning to have some links for Yahoo and Msn. These could be important in the future. I decided to track my progress, and then concentrate on those niches that were the most profitable.

Although I still enjoy getting one-way backlinks to my blog, my testing has led me down a different path. I have decided to take more time and write quality articles rather than concentrating on the quantity I was writing and submitting. In my personal experience it was the high-quality articles that bring the targeted visitors. And that is targeted traffic that follow the link in my resource box back to my website and either make a sale, sign up for my newsletter, or generate Adsense money.

In my opinion, a good article can build up your credibility in your field.

Do Not Promote ClickBank Products

I used to be earning $800 to $1400 monthly promoting clickbank products. I used basic bum marketing method - wrote some keyword-rich articles and submitted them to ezinearticles and guide the readers to my salepages. When any of my articles ranked in the Google's first page, my sales went up.

However, as you may face the same problem, if you want Google to show your article for a specific keyword, you must first beat all the competitors at ezinearticles. For example, if my keyword is "spyware remover", I need to be ranked in the first or second place when I type "spyware remover" in ezinearticles' search box. That's a huge problem. Even though the article gave me 1000 unique visitors in this month, chances are that I may get zero visitor if a new article beat mine at that keyword or keyword phrase. My top-sale article may disappear in Google forever.

What is the worst part? Most clickbank products only save 30 days cookies. If my article disappear from Google, I will lose all the potential sales generated by that articles. Therefore, I needed to write lots of articles to maintain my income every month.

Luckily I found the solution. Stop Promoting ClickBank Product. I switched my effort to promote a life-time cookies health products affiliate program called Micronutra. Think about it, if the health product is good, your customer will go back to Micronutra and buy it over and over again. And you have that customer for life. I personally tried the heartburn and asthma relief products, and they are doing extremely well for me.

Since I started promoting that affiliate program, I have increased my income month over month. Now it is close to 5-digits. And I no longer need to worry about my articles will disappear because I already had that customer for life. Don't bother with clickbank anymore. It is an affiliate program for beginners.

Of course, if you can find other health affiliate products to promote, it is equally good. Just make sure they give you life-time commission. If you are interested, Click Here to join Micronutra, it is totally free.