(This should probably go in the content/writing section but, since so many posts about articles appear here, I thought I'd put it here instead.)
I think most folks know my feelings about using
article sites. Don't do it, just host them yourself.
But, lately I've been thinking about the kinds of articles and the traffic from them. My site is really just an online notebook/blog w/ random tutorials.
One thing I've noticed about my traffic.
* Howto's (informational posts) receive most of their traffic from Google.
* Opinion pieces (blog type posts) mostly receive organic traffic.
I don't really try to create a ratio of one to the other.
I mostly add a howto or notebook type post when I come upon an idea or solve some problem when I could not find the answer on google. These mostly exist as resources for myself, I just share them incase someone else runs into the same problem. These often receive a fairly constant rate of traffic (90%+ from SEs)
My opinion pieces are often the result of discussions with other developers, responses to interesting blog posts, or just as my side in an online debate. These often get an initial large spike of traffic that dwindles to a low trickle (90%+ Organic).
Maybe it's just narcissism or ego but, every once in a while, I do searches to see what folks are saying or look for responses to my posts. If it's interesting, I usually link back. I'll often respond and/or edit my post with new information. My way of connecting the conversations. Sometimes this revives the life of the post.
On to the issue of article sites. Don't be discouraged because articles on your site don't get a lot of initial traffic.
Read Jeff Atwood's post on
How To Achieve Ultimate Blog Success In One Easy Step. It will take a little time. But, you need to make the initial investment or you will never get the payoff. Another thing will happen, the more you write, the better you will get at it.
If you are an obsessive link builder, you'll find that people link and respond to posts that they find interesting. When they promote their own posts, they have a side effect of promoting you.
How do you get involved in the conversations? Start with meta-blogging. Write a response to a popular blog post on your site. Promote it a little. After a little while of doing this, you'll find that your readers will promote your site for you. Once this happens, you can be a source of conversations instead of simply responding.
Good luck with working with people to solve problems and make the world a more interesting place.
