October 13, 2008
· Filed under Communication and Writing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimization · Tagged article, criteria, directories, factors, submissions
When submitting articles to article directories, it technically doesn’t matter whether the directory is great and user-friendly or very hard to navigate. We just do what we need to do: submit the articles. But it is not unheard of to have favorites on our list of article directories. Over time, we find that there are those directories that are so easy to navigate on and submit our articles. We find that we concentrate more on working on our profiles in those directories than in the least desirable ones.
The vital technicalities of a directory that I look for in order to label it as one of my favorite article directories are the following:
1. Fast reviews and approvals: We can see how many article directories out there are getting slower and slower in reviewing and approving articles. Reviews and approvals could take months, and we can understand that due to the overwhelming amount of articles the directories receive everyday. But I have noticed that there article directories that don’t seem to be updating at all. So I usually keep track of the speed of the directories’ reviews and approval rate to see which are active and which are no longer up to date.
2. Dofollow links: I also like to see whether the article directories allow dofollow tags on the links or not. As the search engine crawlers cannot read nofollow tags, online marketers like me would prefer directories that allow us to gain a backlink through the articles or the resource box/author bio.
3. Keywords and tags: Another factor for the search engines to search for your articles would be through the keywords and tags. It should actually be up to us writers to put in the keywords in our articles for better crawling and exposure. But there are directories who ask for the keywords and tags when submitting the articles. This feature is a big plus for us who can’t seem to put in the right keywords on the articles.
4. Vast writer and reader community: Articles would be useless without the writer and reader community. The online community is the reason why social networking and communication through the Internet works. This could only mean that your article would only be successful in cyberspace when it is read and appreciated by other people in the community. I, for one, value directories that have a lot or writers in it because it follows that there are a lot of readers in it as well.
5. Clear and readable approved articles: I actually to read an article on paper rather than on the screen due to my sensitive eyes. But I can hardly go around and print the stuff I want to read before reading them. This is how I’ve come to appreciate the directories that clearly posts the articles in their sites. Take a look at the articles of Expert Articles, for example. It is pleasing to the eyes and totally readable.
Taking into account these five criteria of mine for outstanding article directories, I now have my list of favorite article directories:
Amazines
Unarchived Articles
Article Alley
Article Bin
Article Biz
Article Avenue
Article Cube
Article Depot
ArticleMark.org
Articles Base
Articles Factory
Buzzle
Expert Articles
Free Article Spot
Free Articles Zone
Go Articles
Idea Marketers
SearchWarp
Not every directory I favored above employs the dofollow tag, though. But I still included them in my list because I am satisfied when it cam to the other factors.
August 14, 2008
· Filed under Search Engine Optimization, Social Networks · Tagged points, scour, search engines, social sites
So what can we say about Scour.com?
I’ve only been using Scour for a couple of days, but I have yet to feel the excitement in garnering points and friend points from it. It has the essence of a social networking site and a search engine in one. If I weren’t an Internet Mareketer focused on SEO, I would probably be using Scour more and maybe even have fun at using it.
Maybe it’s because I’m still all stick and glue to Google when it comes to SEO. I also don’t see a lot of my colleagues using Scour. In the end, despite the excitement over it, Scour.com still remains to be just like any other social site.
Putting my opinion aside, how does Scour.com work? What are the points for? How is it like a search engine and a social site at the same time?
Well, like any other social site, you get to have your own profile at Scour. It generally just shows your points and Scour activities. Your Scour Points are earned whenever you search and refer the site to your friends and acquaintances. You’ll get 25% of your referred friends points and you just might get to cash in for your Visa Gift Cards!
Whenever you make a search on Scour, you’ll have the option to sort your search results by search engine (choose from Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or just leave it up to to Scour). With your search results is each result’s ranking and the comments that go along with it. This feature might prove helpful to many who would like to compare the rankings of a site in the three top search engines.
You can also vote on the search results on whether they were helpful to you or not. You can either vote them up or down. These votes are what Scour.com uses to rank the sites (if you opt not to sort the results by Google, Yahoo!, or MSN).
Last but not least, you can also connect with other Scour users. A social site surely wouldn’t be complete if you cannot connect with others and make networks. You can connect with Scour users that had voted on the same search results you voted, or just connect with anyone! Scour users are visible whenever they make a comment on one of the search results. This is a good chance to befriend someone across the Web, knowing you share the same interests.
I have yet to scour for more at Scour.com. So far, what I have written are just the basics of how Scour.com works. Additional information about the site would be that it also has a browser available for everyone. Scour.com can also be used at Facebook!
July 14, 2008
· Filed under Search Engine Optimization · Tagged backlinks, backlinkwatch, explorer, google, optimization, search engine, seo, site, yahoo
You could probably just search with Google to check on your backlinks. But experience itself has taught me that Google isn’t always the right place to go to when you need to check up on your site. Checking on your backlinks with Google will not bring you the search results you need. Personally, the <site:[url]> and the <link:[url]> commands only brought up irrelevant searches for me when I’m checking up on my sites.
Through my SEO projects, I’ve discovered two helpful tools that have been very useful for me when checking up on the backlinks of my sites.
1. Yahoo! Site Explorer
This is no bomb for the SEO masters of the net. I’ve only discovered this myself but Yahoo! Site Explorer has been a great help to SEOers and link builders for a long time now. Compared to Google, Yahoo! Site Explorer shows you more of your back links and gives you more details on them.
When using Yahoo! Site Explorer, just enter in you URL. To see only your backlinks and disregard your deep links, choose these options: Inlinks > Show Inlinks: Except From This Domain.
When using Yahoo! Site Explorer, it is also recommended that you install the SEO Link Analysis tool from Yoast.com. This tool goes perfectly well with Firefox. It helps you determine which of your backlinks are dofollow and which are basically useless in your link building efforts.
2. BacklinkWatch.com
I have also only discovered this recently (with the help of forums) and I found the site to be extremely detailed in listing all the backlinks of my sites. I haven’t done an extensive search about this website yet. But one try at it made me see that it is indeed worthy of its name. A site that I was working on had a lot of backlinks from forums and blog posts, and Backlinkwatch.com listed them all.
