Dina at Wordfeeder.com writes:

I was thinking on behalf of EzineArticles myself last night. Not these exact thoughts, but along the same lines.

I would say just go to a huge site that dominates the search engines, find out how many pages they have (how? I don’t know) and then make that your content goal.

As for China, when I was 11 I wanted to write a story about a bunch of kids at the beach, digging a hole to throw their pal into, but they dig too deep and slide through a mudslide/portal in the earth, ending up in China. The rest of the story was going to be about the language barrier and culture shock they have to endure to try and get back home.

But then I realized, I was just ripping off that movie The Goonies, in a way.

Which is why I now work as a copywriter and not a screenplay writer.

Much more than you ever wanted to know.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

I think one of the main reasons for wanting to build an even more comprehensive site is not for the purposes of dominating any search engine, but to become a solid destination in and by itself.

:-)

If you ever write that screenplay Dina, I’d be the first to watch the movie.

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Dina at Wordfeeder.com writes:

Yeah, I knew you were going to say that. But if you can find the numerical data you need by tunneling sidepaths on the internet somehow, use it.

:)

(Dig the hole to China.)

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Jeff Herring - The Article Guy writes:

Hi Chris

Remember when there was no Google? There were certainly other search engines around. The question they asked that drove them was how do we provide the best results to the user’s key word query.

All that to say the question you are asking is a good one. At the same time, the question that occurs to me is does EzineArticles.com want to provide an article on everything or provide the very best articles on a wide range of topics.

For instance, I’ve always thought it odd that “Relationships” is under “News and Society” when it could be an entire main category by itself.

And Dina – Goonies is one of my favorite movies, and I’ve watched it many times now that I have 2 boys because I like the lessons that it teaches.

Many movies are variations on a theme – redemption, pursuit, rescue, etc. So your movie will be a variation on a theme, not a knock off of Goonies.

Like Chris, I’d be there on opening day. Why limit yourself?

Jeff

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Dina at Wordfeeder.com writes:

Re: Why limit yourself?

Why Jeff, 11 year old Dina thanks you for supporting her dreams.

Currently, the goal is “continue to grow a copywriting empire on the web” and that is the motive behind my every action.

Because EzineArticles helps me toward that end, I continue to support Chris and the team as well as publish my articles here. And because I have aligned myself with this site, sometimes I even brainstorm ways they can become even more powerful and take me along with them.

Screenwriting is a culture that I don’t quite fit into, and the dream of a kids’ adventure movie is a fleeting fancy.

Advertising is where I belong, and where my true passion lives.

However, if in my retirement I end up writing the movie, you can bet I’ll send you both complimentary passes to the Premiere.

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ianmack writes:

You can actually find if Wisconsin is directly on the other side of the globe to China, with this nifty google map mash-up http://map.pequenopolis.com

(I realize you were speaking metaphorically..but hey, still pretty cool).

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Susan Scharfman writes:

Cheers to your outside the box thinking, Chris. My head doesn’t allow me to reason in terms of statistics. But the time-tested principle of the seven plots (expanded to ten or eleven now) comes to mind. So there is really no limit to where you will go with EzineArticles. I think the only goal you should set is one step at a time to infinity. Christopher Booken’s book, ‚¬“The Seven Basic Plots‚¬ provides clues to what you already know about what people want to know,
do or be.

(1) Questioning the Master ‚¬€ How to find God, be sexy, gorgeous, charismatic, get what I want in three easy steps, etc.

(2) Rags to Riches ‚¬€ How to earn it, get it, be it

(3) The Quest ‚¬€ How to get the guy, get the girl, get the job; conquer my dragons

(4) Voyage & Return ‚¬€ From mundane earth travel to spirituality, ‚¬“Stalking The Wild Pendulum‚¬ and everything in between.

(5) Comedy ‚¬€ My Dog, My Cat, My Kids, My Relationships, My Life, War & Politics

(6) Tragedy ‚¬€ My Dog, My Cat, My Kids, My Relationships, My Life, War & Politics

(7) Rebirth ‚¬€ Love, loss, redemption, beauty and the beast; hair dos, makeovers; overcoming illness and addictions!

Your question: ‚¬“How will we know when we hit the point that the depth of EzineArticles.com meets 99.9999% of every users query?‚¬

I am no seer; it’s just my inner philosopher babbling on. But I don’t believe the Google boys knew the depth or length of where they were going. I think by suggesting there might be limits to EzineArticles’ growth you impair it, when actually there is no limit. Through your efforts and ingenuity, you and your team are exactly where you are supposed to be right now. When you began, did you know you’d be where you are now? Life is moving faster every day. Keep going, keep inventing and watch what happens.
99.9999% is just a number.

I love Winston Churchill’s indomitable spirit. ‚¬“Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.‚¬

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Ian Mack!

Thanks for that gift of info!

You made my day.

Turns out, if I dug a hole directly below my office all the way to the other side of our planet, I’d end up somewhere in the Indian ocean directly South West off the coast of Australia!

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Edward Weiss writes:

Chris, even Google doesn’t meet every users inquiry. Believe me, a lot of their search results don’t even come close to what I’m looking for.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Edward,

And sometimes “NO RESULTS FOUND” is an answer all by itself…

Susan,

I loved your Churchill quote!

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Matt Keegan writes:

It is all about benchmarking. Most authors that I know point to EzineArticles.Com as being the definitive article distribution site on the internet. Maintaining a high standard of editorial quality is essential, in my opinion, to whether EzineArticles.Com will continue to be perceived in that light. So, no matter how large this site gets I hope that nothing is lost in the process. In fact, I am sure that Chris will continue to add to the site’s value as he has relentlessly been doing thus far.

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