Phone (Call or Text): 559-871-1613|brandonchopkins@gmail.com

Brandon

About Brandon

I own and manage a professional reputation management services company. We specialize in ranking results. If your negatives are on page 1, what else is really important? Contact us to get rid of your negatives!

Top 5 Places to Submit Articles for Links and Traffic

Recently, Brandon explained why he uses articles for gaining links and traffic. However, some people were wondering exactly where they should be submitting their articles. Yes, there is article submission software available, but it best to do this discriminately and by hand. Don’t get discouraged when wading through the increasing number of article submission sites. Just like site directories, you have to separate the good from the useless.

Below are the top five places to submit articles for links and traffic. If you are wondering how I determined this list, I merely narrowed down the most popular sites that allow bylines and backlinks by checking each article directory’s Google PageRank and Alexa rating.

1. EzineArticles (PR: 6, Alexa: 426)

EzineArticles is widely regarded as the best free article submission site. Content on this site is ranked well in Google, as you’ve probably already discovered just through casual use of the search engine. EzineArticles currently has over 50,000 RSS feeds, as well, which means you can get some massive exposure through the site.

2. SelfGrowth.com (PR: 6, Alexa: 7,699)

    This is a unique place to make yourself known. Touting itself as a “self improvement encyclopedia,” SelfGrowth.com currently receives over 1 million visitors a month and accepts articles from the public. If you have an article that encourages any kind of self-improvement, then this is a great place to submit it.

    3. Buzzle (PR: 5, Alexa: 4,914)

    Buzzle once had a higher PageRank, but its traffic is still steadily growing. Articles on Buzzle are fast competing with the search engine ranking of EzineArticles, so keep this site high on your list. Buzzle authors also receive added exposure when they are randomly featured throughout the directory.

    4. ArticleCity (PR: 6, Alexa: 34, 723)

    Offering free articles for reprint, this a great place to both submit your work and acquire free content for your site or newsletter. There are many niche categories on this site to fit your various needs.

    5. ArticleBiz (PR: 6, Alexa: 61, 404)

    This growing site also offers both exposure for writers and reprintable content for Web developers. If you are smart, you will take advantage of both opportunities. While ArticleBiz may not have the clout of other sites on this list, it is steadily growing in popularity and is definitely worth your time.

    There are many more article directories across the Web, but you shouldn’t spread yourself too thin by tracking down every last one. Instead, focus on making yourself known on the most highly ranked article sites. Not all directories were created equal and article submission is only one of many ways to market your site and obtain backlinks.

    This article is contributed by Heather Johnson, a freelance writer as well as a regular commentator on the topic of airline miles card. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

    By |April 29th, 2008|Link Building|11 Comments
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    Alex Dombroff Contest! Win $100 Easily!

    UPDATE:Alex Dombroff Contest is over.

    Background: A friend, Alex Dombroff bet that I couldn’t rank better for his name than he could. Of course I can, he just didn’t realize who he was up against!

    Then I told him that my readers could easily spank him for his own name, Alex Dombroff, in the search engine rankings. He disagrees (and still disagrees!).

    So I’m willing to put my money where my mouth is and give you $100 if you are ranked #1 for the phrase “Alex Dombroff” (without quotation marks) in Google on April 15th. That is a little more than two weeks away so you’d better get to work! What better way to celebrate the US tax day than we a SEO and SEM contest?

    You can use any method you choose, Squidoo, Blogspot, Craigslist, etc. You must link back to this post about the contest and leave a comment tell me what site you’re promoting. There are even a lot of great Alex Dombroff domains available still!

    How to Enter contest in 3 easy steps.

    1. Create a website or page (any site, any page, any domain).

    2. Link from that page to this contest page to prove your ownership.

    3. Post a comment in this post linking to your entry page.

    Pretty easy! Winner will get $100 Paypal (or other method of money transfer) on April 15th. Good luck, let’s show Alex Dombroff what we can do!

    Update: Obviously I won’t win my own contest, so if this page is ranked #1 then the winner will be whoever is next highest behind property I own.

    Update 2: Hey Alexander, if you’re reading this, just wanted to say, “I told you so!”. Did you check out Alexander Dombroff in the serps yet?

    By |March 27th, 2008|Contests|4 Comments
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    Why I Use Articles To Build Links and Traffic

    Jason McGovern wrote:
    Hi Brandon -First off, I love your blog. Second, I was reading your link building in 2007 post, and wanted to request an expanded post on article submission. I would love to get your thoughts and ideas on this when you get a chance!

    Thanks for the email Jason! Articles. One thing I always wish I had more time for. However, also something I can’t ever justify outsourcing.

    For me, article marketing plays a crucial role in two ways. Whenever I decide to try out something new like Build a Niche Store or ClickBank ideas I always start with articles to test the waters.

    When starting a new site in a niche, articles are one of the first parts of my marketing plan. The reason behind this is that you can get a few easy links and some easy traffic. Once those articles are spread to the thousands of crappy article sites, the value of the link degrades, but you’ll still see some traffic every month in my experience.

    When I write articles, I try not to target a flooded market, or the main keyword.  I like to write my articles with a focus on a long tail keyword.  Once you can lock in a good position with a long tail keyword, it’s easier to build traffic and a following.  Think of it like a snowball rolling down a hill, all you need is a little push (article) and you collect more snow (rankings) on the way down!

    In addition to building links and testing the waters, articles can actually convert to sales. I used to have a Squidoo lens and 99% of my marketing for that lens was with articles. Consistently I sold about one ClickBank ebook per month. The net revenue was not much, but neither was the time commitment.

    All in all I still like articles as much today as I did 2 years ago. I do however avoid owning article directories. Too much work without enough reward.

    Thanks again for the question!

    By |February 27th, 2008|Link Building|13 Comments
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    Why I DO Track My Rankings and Traffic

    A few days ago Chris Garrett made a post titled Why I Don’t Check Rankings. Ironically enough, the post is ranked 6 for the term “check rankings”.

    Unlike Garrett I check my rankings, at least daily. Why? I’m in this game to make money. There is no other reason I spend a great portion of my day writing and publishing content. As much as I like my readers, I have offline friends and don’t really need online friends. Like you, I’m here to make money, plain and simple.

    I don’t care to be famous, I respond to interview questions because I want the links and traffic that come. More links, better rankings. Better rankings, more money. See where I’m going?

    Garrett says, “My approach is to write for audiences. I usually have my main audience and also an overlapping audience that I hope to attract with my most recent article.” That is something I understand. My audience is a search engine. I don’t care which search engine it is, I just want them to come to my site, and love it. If they love it and I rank #1 for a niche keyword, then beautiful.

    If I can get 30,000 uniques per month in my niche, but can’t make $300 I’m either wasting my time, or building something bigger. Most of the time when I exploit a particular niche and it explodes with social traffic, that traffic is completely a waste. It doesn’t convert, and social visitors don’t click ads.  Traffic isn’t my goal, my goal is where that traffic goes.  Did they click and ad?  Buy a product?  Or did they hit the back button and continue surfing?

    Before I go too much further, it’s important to note that Garrett and I obviously have different plans when it comes to building a profitable online presence. I’m not even sure that is his goal, so I don’t want to criticize his methods because his goal may not be the same as mine.  Maybe he blogs for the love of blogging. I blog to give you something to read, with the hope that eventually you’ll convert to an affiliate program, buy something, or at some point become valuable through RSS subscriptions or total readership. To date, that has happened pretty well. I have a full list of ads sold, a few links here and there and a few posts that have earned me some money.

    So why do I track my rankings? I want to make money. If I’m ranked #5 for a decent keyword, with some effort I can probably move that ranking up to #1 depending on the quality of the niche. If you have any #1 rankings, you know that the difference in net profit between #1 and #5 is INSANE!

    In conclusion, let me tell you a story from about 3 years ago. I was ranked number 10 for a high volume keyword on MSN. Keep in mind, MSN traffic is very low compared to Google. After about 30 days I moved from #10 to #1.

    At #10 position I was making about $5 per day. When I went to the #1 position, I was making over $150 a day (with MSN alone) with that one site. If I wasn’t tracking my keywords (like Chris Garrett), I never would have known that I was within striking distance. When I found out I was ranking in the #10 position for my keyword I immediately went to work and made great money.

    So why do I take the time to track my sites? To make some money of course!

    Do you take the time to track your keyword rankings?

    2011 UPDATE: Since posting this in 2008, I’ve been using Market Samurai to track my rankings.  Are you using MS or something different?

    By |February 26th, 2008|Make Money Online|8 Comments
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