Best Article Directories
This is the third in a series of posts on article marketing.
In previous posts we’ve discussed the pros and cons of article marketing and then how to do article marketing for the most benefit. In this post we discuss where you should post your articles.
There are thousands and thousands of article directories now and if you read the post on the pros and cons of article marketing you’ll know why. Internet marketers, particularly affiliate marketers, are after link juice in any way, shape or form and love to submit to any and all article directories. That’s thousands of the same article spun and re-spun to thousands of article directories.
To make that easy, there are plenty of services now that will take your money to do the submission for you to thousands of article directories at a time. And, while I don’t care for article spinning, automating submissions is certainly a time saver. Just remember, though, that duplicate content spread to a thousand websites has little value other than possible increased traffic (though often times not probable depending on the article and the article directory itself), so you have to decide if the cost for those services is worth it to you. My recommendation is to manually submit your article to only one or a few of the best depending on your need.
A few of the more popular article directories are as follows:
- Ezine Articles is the the most popular article directory and syndicator on the web. It has a PageRank of 6 in a scale of 1-10, and, according to Alexa, it’s the 185th most popular site on the web. Just click “submit articles” and follow instructions to get started.
- eHow is a how-to directory with a PR of 8 and Alexa ranking of 124. You are allowed backlinks in both your profile and resource section.
- Buzzle is next on the list. It has a PageRank of 5 and according to Alexa it is in the top 200 sites. Not so easy to get in here, though. You have to apply to be an author, and it can take a few weeks, but it’s worth the wait.The fact that they are selective is probably a plus in Google’s eyes.
- Hub Pages is another very popular site to share your knowledge. Hubbers (HubPages authors) earn money by publishing their Hubs (content-rich Internet pages) on topics they know and love, and earn recognition among fellow Hubbers through the community-wide HubScore ranking system. PR 6, Alexa 178.
- Article Base accepts links in the body of the article as well as the signature (resource) box. It accepts both embedded and raw HTML format for links. PR 6, Alexa 353
- Go Articles is another reputable article directory. With a PageRank of 6 and an Alexa ranking of 3,500, an article published here is sure to bring you some tasty link juice as well.
- Squidoo is a very popular publishing platform and community that makes it easy for you to create “lenses” online. Lenses are pages, kind of like flyers or signposts or overview articles, that gather everything you know about your topic of interest–and “snap it all into focus.” Squidoo allows follow links in the body of the copy. PR6, Alexa 206.
- Zimbio.com is not really a directory in that it does not distribute your article. (PageRank 6) Each post or article can contain contextual dofollow links. You can also add a link to your blog or website.
- Article Dashboard has a Google PageRank score of 4 and its Alexa traffic rank is about 5,000. Click the sign up link in the top right hand corner.
- Technically not an article directory, but SlideShare is a great place to share presentations, documents, and videos. You get no-follow links back to your site in your profile, but any link is better than none, and this is a very popular site which can lead to a good amount of traffic. PR 8, Alexa 280.
- Free Library has a Google PageRank of 7 and an Alexa rank of 3,000. This one accepts links in the body of the text.
- Gather is a social networking portal. Here your article will be discussed and commented on by Gather members if it is noteworthy. If the article is sensational your traffic is guaranteed. PR 7, Alexa 1,700.
- Article Alley is known for it’s feed syndication. PR 5, Alexa 2,100.
- Idea Marketers are strict about content but more lenient than other content directories about how many links you can put to your site within an article or you bio. They do not set a limit. PR5, Alexa 4,000.
- SelfGrowth.com is the largest network on the web for people looking to improve their lives and for experts to guide them. It has over 1,000,000 visitors a month! If personal growth is your expertise, you definitely want to be here! It gives “do-follow” links back to your site. PR 6, Alexa 3,637.
That may seem like a small number of article directories compared to the thousands that affiliate marketers submit their articles to, but don’t forget the cautions (specifically duplicate content) and the limitations (low visibility, low PR). While it’s good to get exposure in places other than your own website, most of your time and energy should really be going into building quality content on your own site. Most article directories pass very little value anyway.
Just remember. You only need ONE good inbound link to push your site ahead of your competition. So, play smart.
And most importantly, write brilliantly – whether it be on site or off.
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