Free Article Content

Copyright © Dolores Davis




Some webmasters try to use articles from free content directories
to get visitors to their site and make some money. This is mostly
important for those who have just begun working as an affiliate
for several companies and do not yet have any funding, yet need
to built small niche websites to visitors to their site so that
they can begin making revenue.

Although this can sometimes be the only option for those who are
running on a non-existent budget, it is not a way that will
effectively build your website or revenue. There are a few
potential reasons why this may be detrimental to your business
building efforts.

Problem #1 - Search Engines

Search engines will only look down upon your site if it has the
exact same duplicated content than other sites. The more sites
that share your content, the less it will help you achieve good
search engine rankings.

Good search engine rankings are essential in getting visitors to
your site so that they have a chance to click on your affiliate
links. If you cannot get visitors, then you will never make a
revenue. Working on the search engine optimization of your site
so that you will eventually be high enough in the results to get
customers, should be priority one.

Problem #2 - Getting visitors to click

Although getting your site high on search engine result pages and
acquiring site visitors is hard work, unfortunately this is only
half of the battle. You must also be able to convince those
visitors to click on your affiliate links. If your visitors see
the same content they have seen on a multitude of other sites,
they will be least likely to click on your links. This is because
most people want to buy things that are recommended by people
that they trust or whom they feel like are an expert on the
subject.

If your content is just duplicated from other sites, you will be
exposed as someone who does not really know what they are
talking about and therefore will not look heavily on your product
recommendations. This will reduce the number of website visitors
who will be willing to click through.

Problem #3 - Author Bylines

Most free content is only given to you if you agree to place the
authors byline under the article (you can get into trouble if you
try to use it without following the stipulated rules). This poses
a problem because most author bylines include links. When a
reader gets done reading a really intriguing article, there is a
strong possibility that they will click on the author’s byline
link rather than your affiliate links. This is the entire reason
why these authors offer free content to begin with, so that they
may get their name and links out there to the public. Using this
type of content may mean shooting yourself in the foot and losing
possible profitable website visitors.

Once you put these three problems together, you are looking at a
serious decline in revenue simply because you used free website
content from article directories. Although it may be the only
option for some, if you have the funds to buy your own original
content, then you should go this route. If you don’t have the
funds, however, you may be better off writing your own content
and then hiring professional services once you have made a profit
to work with.




(Feel free to use this article online and in your email
newsletters as long as you leave it intact and do not
alter it in anyway. The by-line and biography must
remain in the article.)





About the Author:

Dolores is a Home Based Business Operator,
Affiliate Marketer and a Network Marketer.
To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:

http://www.e4l.biz/money.htm?dody

http://davisisell.com/cgi-bin/c/classifieds.cgi?frames