Article Directories: Good Idea, or Dead End?

Article Directories: Good Idea, or Dead End? So you were browsing the Internet and stumbled across this amazing thing - a huge database filled with articles, many of them about your very specialty, and all of them free to use! And now you want to know why on earth you should ever pay for anyone to write articles for you; after all, you have access to all the free articles you want.

There's a principle you should remember here: nothing is ever, truly, free. Even when you give away things for free on your website, it's with the hope of generating a sale from it. Article directories are no different.

Finding Article Directories

There are several major article directories online, including the following:

It's a great idea to contribute articles to them. In general, however, it's a bad idea to use articles they want to give you.

Every article in these directories is a viral marketing scheme. The idea is that you'll download their article and place it, for free, on your website. But with each of these articles, you also have to download what's called a resource box. This is a box with the name of the author, his or her URL as a clickable link, and sometimes a bio. You are barred from deleting this resource box if you're using the article for free.

Here's what happens: you have a website you've carefully developed to display your expertise. All over the website, you've used your knowledge, tastes, and personality to bring your customers what they want. But now you place an article with someone else's name on it, and a handy clickable link. Aha! says the customer. Another expert! And, because Internet audiences are notoriously fickle, he or she clicks on the link, taking them away from your website and into the website belonging to the article author.

The article has done exactly what it was intended to do - bring someone else more business. And you may lose more than the customer's momentary attention. If the writer of the article has a website that competes directly with yours, then you may have lost that customer entirely.

How To Use These Articles

There may be times, however, when you feel you really must use an article from an article directory. There is a right way and a wrong way to do this.

First, never violate the terms of the agreement of the article directory - in other words, don't remove the resource box from the article and try to pass it off as your own, and don't tamper with the link in the box in any way. It's ethically wrong, and besides, in small niche markets people talk more than you might realize; if the author catches what you've done (surprisingly easy to do) and starts talking about it on bulletin boards and egroups, you could find your reputation ruined very quickly.

Second, use articles from an article directory sparingly and with great care for what they say. Ideally, only articles that contain information or news of major importance should be used on your website. Articles by recognized experts in the field are also fine, though, particularly if you know that most of your customers know who this person is.

You can also use articles from an article directory if you have an affiliate link with the person who has written the article anyway. You get the free article from someone who's sending you traffic, and if you let them know you're running their article, they'll be flattered and might return the favor.

Look around in the article directory's terms of use. You may find that the directory allows you to purchase the right to use articles without the resource box. If you have this option, you should take advantage of it.

Using Article Directories Yourself

A better use for article directories is to upload your own articles and allow people to download them on the same terms as the other authors. It's viral marketing: you're giving away something and allowing other people to spread the virus - your information and the fact you are an expert - using their own resources. Next to active word-of-mouth advertising, viral marketing of this sort may be one of the best tools you'll ever find to publicize your business.

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