If you're going bananas wondering why a few of your articles aren't doing as well as you would like in the hits/views and popularity...there might not be anything wrong with your articles at all. The problem may be, that you just need two sites to get a second opinion.
Actually, I have three sites counting my personal website, but the traffic there is not as much as my directory and writing site.
"You need a certain amount of nerve to be a writer." Margaret Atwood
What happens if a few of your articles aren't doing well? Push the panic button? Change the title of the article? Re-write the "hook" or the teaser? Polish the article" Start all over again? You might not have to do any of this stuff?
If you have two sites, you can compare the progress of your articles, and I will share with the reader a few of my findings at both of my sites. All the information provided, is as of November, 2008, and all these articles were written and posted about a year ago.
Article title: What are We Doing to Each Other as a People? I first wrote this piece in early 2007, and it bombed at both places! So much in fact, that I pulled it off both sites, and put it in moth balls for a year. I changed the title, and re-wrote and polished it, etc. In November 2008, this piece sits in the #55 spot at EzineArticles.com and is not doing very well. But...amazingly at Authors Den, it sits in the #2 spot of more than 75 articles, as it has climbed rapidly to the top!
Article title: Welcome to the Funny Farm; (Mental Health); At EzineArticles.com, this piece sits in the #35 spot, and at Authors Den, it sits in the #4 spot.
Article title: Get Inspired...Get Motivated...Get Going: At EzineArticles.com this piece sits in the #60 spot and at Authors Den, it sits in the #6 spot.
Article title: Why Can't the Government Grow Up? At EzineArticles.com, this piece sits in the #52 spot, and at Authors Den, it sits in the #7 spot.
Article title: The SpaMobile Has Arrived! (Beep-beep) At EzineArticles.com, this piece sits in the #50 spot, and at Authors Den, it sits in the #8 spot.
As the reader can see, there is quite a difference at both places with these few examples. About 20 of my articles are similar to these examples...and what to do about the situation? Nothing! As long as my artlcles are doing fine at one site or the other, then I leave them alone.
The only way changes will come about, is that the article is NOT doing well at both places! Then, it's time to put the patient in the operating room and do a little surgery! I did that recently to one of my articles, which was doing terribly at both places. I changed the title, and pretty much re-wrote it, and now it's showing a little life. About 2-3 other articles are in this category, and I'll probably have to do the same.
"A synonym is a word you use, when you can't spell a word you first thought of." Burt Bacharach
But...I have 101 articles now...and having problems with 3-4 is very good, in my opinion, so I'll take it! Of the 20 articles at EzineArticles.com that are dragging their feet...and those same pieces are doing fine at Authors Den, so there will be no changes to the pieces.
Since I started writing in 2006, I've kept records on traffic at both places on a weekly basis, and and at one time, the traffic to both sites was pretty much the same. But, since August, 2008 things have changed and the traffic at EzineArticles.com has gone down...and the traffic at Authors Den has gone up. So much so, that I am getting three times as much traffic at Authors Den as I'm getting at EzineArticles.com. And, I have no idea what the reason is for this. That's probably one reason why my articles are doing better at Authors Den, than at EzineArticles.com...at least for now.
I must remain at EzineArticles.com, because that is where my articles are pulled by webite owners to publish on their websites. (Free content) The reader can go to the following link, and see where my articles have been published, which is over 420 websites on the Internet.
http://humordoctormd.homestead.com/articlespublished.html
But, don't count out EzineArticles.com out just yet. I currently have about six articles that are moving quickly up the charts, and in a short time, are in the middle of the pack, etc. So, I'm very pleased about this.
"You don't write because you want to say something...you write because you've got something to say." F Scott Fitzgerald
I don't make changes to my articles for the sake of change! There has to be a good reason for change. As long as my articles are doing well at one site or the other, there will be little or no change, etc. That's why I encourage people to get two sites...to compare!
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Free stuff! (10 links to view);
Articles; fillers; humor; quotes; ideas; captions;
Great for websites, newsletters; ezines, etc.
http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewnews.asp?id=29439