Not All Article Directories Are Created Equal

Two big reasons to incorporate Article Marketing into your online marketing mix are to 1). drive targeted traffic and 2). build quality back links to your site.  Not all article directories are created equal when it comes to accomplishing these objectives.

So, once you’ve written some high-quality, keyword-rich articles and are ready to launch your Article Marketing campaign: where should you begin? With literally thousands of article directories to choose from, how do you decide which ones are best for your business?

Here are 3 things to consider before choosing an article directory:

• PageRank – In simplest terms, PageRank (PR) is a numeric representation of how important Google thinks a page is.  The PageRank scale ranges from 0 – 10, with 10 being the highest.   If you are trying to build quality back links to your site, a link from a site with a PR of 6 is more desirable than one from a site with a PR of 1.

• Alexa Rating – Alexa.com provides statistics relating to traffic levels on other websites. The lower the ranking, the better (with “1″ being the best possible score). Alexa rankings are based on data gathered from web surfers who have the Alexa toolbar installed on their computers. I personally don’t focus on the Alexa rankings for this reason – the numbers are based on a self-selecting group (those who chose to download and install the Alexa toolbar) that may or may not be representative of my targeted audience. However, I do look at it when considering directories with low PR numbers (i.e., if a directory has a PR of 2, but shows a really strong Alexa score – I would be more likely to submit to it than if its Alexa number was in the millions).

• “Do Follow” vs. “No Follow” – some article directories are more “back link friendly” because they do not use the “no follow” tag following your links in their HTML coding. This means they are willing to let search engines “follow” (or “count”) your links – clearly a very big deal if you are using Article Marketing as a primary means of building credible back links to your site! If generating traffic is your main concern (vs building back links) – both “do follow” and “no follow” sites will work.  All things being equal, however, I would work with a “do follow” site over a “no follow” site any day.

Other factors worth considering when selecting an article directory:

• Industry-Specific Article Directories – some directories are targeted toward a particular industry or topic.  Because their targeted audience is smaller, these sites may receive less traffic than larger, more general article directories. In many cases, it is worthwhile to target one or two directories related to your industry or niche because the traffic they draw is so highly targeted.

• Compensation – some article directories will pay you for your content, either in the form of  front-end payment or on a performance basis (based on page views) – or some combination of both. These revenue-sharing models are becoming more common and might be worth considering as a way to build a small, but viable secondary income stream. (Note: this may apply more to freelance writers like yours truly, but still worth mentioning here).

Be sure to check out my list of  the Top 25 Article Directories in the Content Marketing Toolbox (under “DIY-SEO”).  This list includes up-to-date information re: the above factors to help you decide if each directory belongs in your mix for the 90-Day Content Marketing Challenge.

Til Next Time,

P.S. I’m working on a series of articles for the Content Marketing Toolbox as we speak. Check back soon for additional articles to help boost your Content Marketing efforts!