You may have seen them online: vast databases that hold
thousands of different articles written by experts and not-soexpert
individuals on every imaginable topic from lion
droppings to screws on nuclear submarines. And what seems
like the best deal of all: they're free for the taking.
All you
have to do is run a small blurb (called a resource box) at the
bottom identifying the writer, with perhaps a short bio, and
a link back to the writer's website.
You may even have decided to download an article that
particularly took your interest, faithfully complying with the
wishes of the article directory as you pointed back to the
writer's web site. And you may have noticed no real
difference in your own website traffic, or maybe even have
reaped some compliments on your discernment at having
downloaded and shared with your customers such a fine
article.
But don't pat yourself on the back yet. Though you didn't
notice a difference in your web traffic, there's a fair chance
that at least some of the readers of this article noticed that
link and clicked on it, and if the author is selling a product
similar to yours, another fair to middling chance that they
chose to purchase items from him instead of you simply
because that's the last place where they landed.
One or two customers from your site – that may not seem
like too much. But if you look at the math, that could pay for
two or three good articles on your site by other talented
writers.
For the lucky author of the article you put on your site, that
means that they got at least a sale or two out of the article
they wrote. If several other people did the same thing you
did, they may have gotten more sales, making that article
they wrote and posted for free very lucrative indeed.
Before getting annoyed at this person for poaching your
customers, unbeknownst to you, consider this: you can do
the same thing.
Posting Articles to Article Directories
Whether you write your own articles or purchase them from
writers and article brokers like YourOwnArticles.com, you
can get articles up with your own resource box, with your
link to your page and your bio. It's simple. You put together
an article you think other webmasters that sell something
similar or identical to what you sell would be interested in
placing on their websites. You can write it, commission it, or
just purchase pre-composed articles from an article broker.
Then you go out to the article directory you like. Register as
an article contributor, and post your article online.
That's it. Or almost it.
Making Sure You Get Yours
Although article directories are supposed to ensure that
anyone using your article also gives you credit for the work
you've done, when you're working with thousands of articles
it's impossible to do this perfectly. Your best bet is to do a
periodic Google search for your articles to ensure you know
where they're posted, and also that they are properly
credited to you.
To do this, select a unique phrase of about five or six words
from the middle of your article. Copy the phrase into the
Google search bar, putting quotes around it, and then
search. Any site that comes up from this search should be
one that is hosting your article. Double check each one and
ensure that they are properly crediting you. If they're not,
report them to the article directory webmaster, and politely
email the transgressors yourself to ask them to credit you or
remove the article from their site.
If they don't comply, you can also try reporting them to
Google.
The most that will probably happen is that they'll be
blacklisted from the Google search engine, and the article
directory will yank their privilege of using articles from the
site. It's notoriously hard to catch criminals online, and for
the crime of plagiarism you're not likely to get much
satisfaction. But at least you'll know who to watch for in the
future.
You'll also have surveyed the sites that are legitimately
using your articles, which is important to know. Even if
someone's copying your information and using it without
your information, chances are good that you're getting some
good traffic directed to your site from everyone else. The
quality of the traffic, not the fact that some people will steal
your information, should determine whether you continue
using article directories.
