July 31, 2007 19:53
Category: Writing
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Well, why write article! I'm not trying to be naive when in fact I'm doing exactly the same thing. Which is nothing but writing yet another article. The point I wish to deal on is what prompts us to write article, and what do we expect when we write one.
There are 3 reasons why I feel article writing online has become a craze like it is today:
Importance Of Relevant Content
Rush to write article has taken off in earnest ever since it became 'known' that search engines put premium on contents. It's not that this was not the case earlier. The advent of Internet has been basically on the strength of contents that enriched the experience and knowledge of surfers.
Since search engines would like to present the most relevant results in response to queries, it is logical to expect that the pages that show up high in the results would contain the required information. So far it was fair.
Problem arose when canny webmasters could list their pages high in the SERPs by cleverly tweaking certain parameters - the early stage of search engine optimization - even though the pages would not have any valuable content at all.
Since this was not what search engines would prefer, the onus fell on them to alter the way the pages are ranked in search results. This they did progressively, as a result of which top rank would invariably call for targeted relevant useful information in the pages.
Search engine optimization still does matter, but it is no longer the sole criterion for a page to rank high.
Large Volume Of Contents
Considering the mushrooming of article directories, the message is loud and clear. Which is to have websites driven by large volumes of contents. Websites that are there for many years and have been steadily building up relevant contents invariably have top Alexa ranking coupled with high PR.
With that in perspective, it is no surprise that there is an urgency to write article as many as one can as if to bridge the gap of lost opportunity. While one does write article for his/her own website, the article directories too are playing their part to ramp up volume of contents. After all it's the age of article marketing.
Lure Of Incoming Links
Well, who doesn't know what non-reciprocal incoming links can mean to a website! And what else but to write article and submit it to as many article directories as possible is the sure answer to earn those links!
Even though the duplicity of content is a major factor to contend with, there is no lessening in the craving to obtain incoming links through submission of articles in directories.
To me the 3 factors contributing to the craze to write article are rather extraneous to the long-term advantage that may accrue to the reputation of content writer. I so feel because I believe the quality of content - the value it delivers - is compromised if you're on a writing spree. Does this matter?
Oh yes, if you ask me. As always with human tradition, the wheat holds more value than the chaff. Which, sans metaphor, means that an article that is loaded with valuable inputs and has a distinctly superior writing style will continue to occupy pride of place in readers' minds.
Anything of value is clearly not available in abundance. There is no reason to believe that good articles are any exception. If indeed that is so, prudence requires that we write article when we know it offers some value to the readers.
Coming to the question I asked in the heading, why write article in the first place, the answer to it for me is to build reputation by doing what I know will benefit my readers.
