Forum Moderators: not2easy
For reasons of avioding shameless promotion I will keep this a general as possible.
I am currently developing a site that will cover 4 areas:
1. Good Looking Website Designs (for inspiration)
2. A directory of SEO and Web design resources
3. Latest news about internet technologies
4. (the main one I'm asking about) A collection of articles written by SEO's and Web designs about tips, tricks, advice and the industries in general.
Obviously I am going to review all articles before they go up and I will be the main editor (as well as writing articles myself). However, my question is What would you want in return for posting an article on my site. Money is out of the question as this is going to be a non-commercial site. I am thinking that at the bottom of every article is a very brief bio of the author (name and website). This brief bio will have the name linking to their main bio and the website linking (with their choice of keywords) to their website. Would this interest the industry veteran's or do I need more. You opinions please.
atob
c
As far as returns is concerned, I would definitely like an acknowledgement of my work...........so your idea of putting my name as the author under my article is good!
IMO, What more can a writer ask for than an acknowledgement of his work!
I also allow use of my articles on other sites with the only condition that name, site name, desription and link are added too.
In terms of contributors, ive had articles from site owners, industry professionals (usually related to professional assosciations), authors and individuals that have an interest in my subject area.
Some articles contributed are original works, some are published on others sites (usually the authors own site, but perhaps a few more too) and some are parts of books (a lot of ebook authors promote their work this way).
Hope that helps.
Scott
I'm glad that I seem to be hitting it right. Just a minor snag to deal with.
I would first like to know the quality of your site : how good your site is, who is your target audience etc.
Target audience, no probs. Quality ... hmm ... brand new site. I guess I'm going to have to find people who don't mind a little leap of faith.
atob
c
If yours is a brand new site, that's no problem! As long as it has good content, and there is scope for building it up!
All the best!
As for determining the quality of your site, I suppose having a good look around for myself might be enough of me. I don't know how else to tell a quality site. Does anyone have any pointers on determining what kind of reputation a site has? Looking at its backlinks? Seeing if there's any press about it? Checking its PR and going through its content yourself?
If yours is a brand new site, that's no problem! As long as it has good content, and there is scope for building it up!
Scope is certainly not an issue. Mind you my visitors don't know what I'm thinking so I'll see what a few testers get from my site. As for good content, well ... there is none at the minute. The articles will be the content.
<raising thinking cap>
Does anyone have any pointers on determining what kind of reputation a site has? Looking at its backlinks? Seeing if there's any press about it? Checking its PR and going through its content yourself?
Backlinks - I tend not to look here, thank to the trend of link farms and link exchanges.
Press - Small website will tend not to have too much press. A news group in the same industry will generally give you a feel for an already established site though.
PR - Depends on whether it's an established site. Also, alot of sites hit the middle of PR 4 - 6 ville. What can this tell you?
It's Content - Oh hell yeah! Generally a non-hideous design and some good content will grip me.
One you missed out - Recommedation's from other. I always bite to that one.
atob
c
That's what I meant by backlinks. An easy way to see who's linking to the page and may have written about it.
If there's link-farming going on, then I don't know that I'd want to touch that page. If all I'm getting is a link, I'd prefer it to be a clean link.
atob
c
They must include their full name and an email address that I an contact them on, it wont go online if they dont want it to.
Craig
The only way I'd write you an article is if only part of the article was being posted and viewers had to come to my site to read the rest.
However, if your site was hugely popular, had excellent quality content, was a leader in it's field etc., then I might settle for a bio and linkback.
As for good content, well ... there is none at the minute. The articles will be the content.
My suggestion would be to build some content first rather than relying on contributed articles to do that for you i.e. work on 1, 2 and 3 first :-)
Seriosly though, i think it could be a good idea - you would perhaps need to be careful not to use that particular site to promote your own SEO work ;)
/claus
There are plenty of authors who scoff at the idea of writing articles for a bio/link. But there are many who love this relatively "free" publicity, and you can often submit the same article to multiple ezines and/or sites.
You really have to find those who are willing to write for the exposure you can offer them. It will be harder for a new site, but with established sites, you will often find people will come to you.
Don't forget to include a page on your site with "Author Submission Guidelines". This makes it clear that you DO accept submissions, what you offer in exchange for articles, and how the author can submit an article to you.
Thanks all.
atob
c
