Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound writes:

Chris, I’m noticing that many of the categories you’ve been adding recently are on very narrow topics—all the more reason why writers should be submitting their articles to you.

If you target people in a very niched market, write for them!

Why? Because you can bet that when they’re searching for information on a niched topic, they’re using very specific keywords and keyword phrases like “sleep apnea” and “cheap timeshare.”

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Robin Henry writes:

Our son was about 9 years old when he attended a time share seminar with my wife, daughter and me on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

One of my favourite sayings to him then, in relation to his school work was, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.”

Towards the end of the seminar when my wife and I had decided to buy a two week timeshare (to offload part of an inheritance that had created a tax problem), we told the sales rep. He called the seminar to attention and told everyone that Mr and Mrs Henry from Mount Isa had just bought a timeshare … everyone clapped. It felt a bit circus like.

Next, he turned to us and said in a loud voice, “here’s your coupons for a free lunch for you and the kids.”

As quick as a flash my son said to me, “Dad, you told me there’s no such thing as a free lunch!”

I didn’t know what to say, but over the next few days I managed to convince him that when you buy something for $14,000 AUD and get a $50 lunch, it really isn’t free.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Joan,

This is one of those very odd issues because the greater majority of our authors think that the category they are in determines how much traffic their article will receive.

The reality is only a very small percentage of the total article traffic equation has to do with the category it’s in.

We’re providing more categories because it’s one of the main reasons many authors tell us they haven’t sent in their articles even though the reality is that it’ll have a very small impact on how much traffic their articles will generate.

My gut feeling is that the category an article is in impacts the total traffic to the article by 5-8% if it’s in a very narrow category vs. general or broadly-related category… and I also have this gut feeling that many of our authors think it impacts the traffic they will receive by 40-80%…even though I’m certain there is no fact to that high of a percentage of impact.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Robin,

The funny thing about people who buy TIMEshares is that they have completely ignored the TIME value of money… but I digress. :)

I loved Cairns, Queensland when I visited there last and can’t wait to return in a few years.

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Strephon Williams writes:

Chris wrote: This is one of those very odd issues because the greater majority of our authors think that the category they are in determines how much traffic their article will receive.

The reality is only a very small percentage of the total article traffic equation has to do with the category it’s in.
———-end of quote
Chris has more ideas that are part of the comment above. See his Comment 3.

Please help me understand. I am new to Web marketing thinking.

Right now I am re-designing my sites according to silo thinking. Here you have the top of the tree homepage on one subject and then the tree flows down with subtopic pages, which must all be only about the main subject. Thus the chief category govens all the linked pages for a subject site.

In having eZine categories does it not follow that subjects should be specific enough to get articles in that category that only deal with the subject of that category?

If a subject is broad then hundreds of subcategories are possible to write to, thus bleeding the subject focus.

This means that readers on search engines want specific subjects to read in and not general subjects or categories.

Thus your eZine subcategories should be specific to attract both subject specific readers and expert writers.

Our of the pool of subject specific writers you get qualified leads who come to your site because they perceive you an expert in that subject specific field.

Or, Chris, are you saying you don’t believe in the silo effect in structuring your own eZine directory?

Not just theory. I have stopped writing general articles on a given subject and am moving to subject specific articles that directly support all my levels of Website pages.

Focused writing gives forcused response.

Should I write specific or general for effectiveness, untimately to drive readers to my site who want to buy expert information from me?

This is all I understand so far on these issues. As I say, still new and still learning.

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Luigi Frascati writes:

As someone who specifically writes on real estate matters I praise (for once – probably the last time) the inclusion of Real Estate Law as a new sub-category. As real estate and the law frequently overlap, this was a much needed improvement.

In any event, with respect to the ‘negative compliment’ I posted the other day and our difference of opinions in the matter of the usefulness of all these new sub-categories, I also wanted to add that no matter what EzineArticles is the only one place to be if one intends to publish articles online.

To paraphrase Scarlet O’Hara in Gone With The Wind, Ezine Aricles “is the only one place worth living for and the only one worth dying for …”.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Strephon,

You’re asking a series of complex questions that I have many opinions on, but I want to give a simple answer using eBay as an analogy:

When you list an auction on eBay, you’re allowed to list it in up to 2 categories… yet most people find your auction via a direct search of some kind to your auction.

EzineArticles works very similar to eBay in terms of how traffic is delivered to each article except we only allow 1 category for your article to be in.

I see proper article categorization as a FINE TUNING thing and not a critical component to the relation as to how much traffic your article will generate.

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Luigi Frascati writes:

EBay was exactly what I had in mind the other day when I suggested three categories per Article (I said three instead of two merely to complicate the Editors’ lives – two should be enough).

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Lance Winslow writes:

Wow, I get so excited to see new categories and I particularly like the notation after the “Paranormal” category; Ghosts, vampires and other spooky things. And sometimes when I write article late at night, I tune into the Art Bell Radio Show and listen to all the late-night callers calling in, it is a hoot indeed. With 13 million listeners, while I bet there is a huge following and need for articles in those categories too.

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Elizabeth Adams writes:

Hello, Chris …

The idea that there could be some new subcategories is very exciting. Do you have a “suggestion box” for them, or something? Some way for your authors to submit subcategories for your consideration?

I ask because I’m about to submit an article about something which doesn’t match any of your subcategories. Not that I could find, anyway.

Is it possible that your article submission form could be tweaked to include a little box into which authors could type their own idea of the appropriate subcategory, with the understanding that it’s just a suggestion?

That way, you could embellish your subcategory database effortlessly and instantaneously!

Regards, Elizabeth …

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Elizabeth,

The suggestion box is here:
http://www.EzineArticles.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1720

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David Phillips writes:

Great to see there’s a new paranormal category. Here on Anglesey we’ve recently had a surge of interest in the paranormal, with interested groups visiting old lighthouses and dilapidated buildings.

I agree with Elizabeth about the need for a suggestion box which will widen the choice for readers further.

Regards,
David

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Elizabeth Adams writes:

Hello, Dave …

Yes; what was in my mind’s eye at the time I mentioned it was a suggestion box right on the submission form itself. As in, first you select from among the subcategories offered as part of the submission process, and then you offer a suggestion as to a subcategory which you think might be more meaningful. Tallied up over time, these suggestions would tell their own story, and it would spare the editors from having to strain their brains any more than they’re obliged to do already.

It should be noted, though, that the more subcategories there are, the more unwieldy the whole thing becomes. If everybody picked a unique subcategory for their article, then nobody would ever be able to find anything!

And, while one can say there’s a search box, that’s not the same, somehow, as being able to actually look at what’s there … at the high points of it, anyway.

So it’s probably an armchair-quarterback kind of thing … easy for us to say, but not so easy for them to do.

And it stands to reason that the people who read all these articles all day long are probably a lot more familiar with all the subcategories than we could ever hope to be, so we have to assume that they have some kind of system in place for determining when it’s time to break out another subcategory, all things considered.

Regards, Elizabeth …

P.S. As for the new paranormal category, I’m glad to see it. It’s an uncharted frontier.

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