Hope Wilbanks writes:

What an excellent suggestion, Chris! I’m headed there to do some updating inside my account now…

By the way, thanks to the EzineArticles.com team for the great mousepad! I received mine last week…what a cool surprise! :)

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Jonathan Farrington writes:

Chris,

Excellent idea but I cannot find the facility to sort by most viewed? Only newest or oldest – am I having a “duh” moment?

Best

JF

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

JF,

After you’re in “VIEW MY ARTICLE REPORTS”, after you select your author name if you have more than one author in your account… click on VIEWS.

That will sort your articles by MOST VIEWED.

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Jonathan Farrington writes:

Got it!

Thank you oh wise one :-)

JF

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Derek Dashwood writes:

I will add to Jonathan’s thank you oh wise one. I am on my way there now. Derek

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Allen Graves writes:

Chris,

What a great suggestion! Plus, it reinforces the fact that article marketing today is about the traffic…not the links!

I am so tired of people thinking that all article marketing is about is getting backlinks to your main website.

Keep up the great work and PLEASE keep up the awesome tips such as this one.

Allen Graves

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Jim writes:

Chris

We have been doing this on our most viewed pages on our websites and it makes a difference. I will be following your suggestion. I know it will have even more of an impact to our traffic.

Jim

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Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Oh! I LOVE this! Not only will I be improving on my most read but I will have a more clear sense of what people value in what ‘I’ write. This is darn cool!

I was thinking about all of it, what makes one of my articles more interesting to some other than the whole keyword thing, or if it is in fact ONLY keywords. I have been experimenting a bit in my last few entries, trying to see if keywords are the only reason – for me anyway. I need to define my free gifts in my resource box as I consider creating another website. I am rambling a bit I know.. but tic tic tic.. it all makes me realize that more can be done and now I can more easily see ‘what’. It gets confusing at times.

Yes I am going to revamp my top 10. Yay!

Oh man… EzineArticles is the BEST!!

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Allen Graves writes:

After thinking about this for a little longer,

If I was getting great traffic to one of my articles through organic search engine traffic then I wouldn’t want to change it too much…in fear that I would lose those rankings.

I would leave my most viewed articles alone for the most part and try to do some work with my LEAST viewed articles first.

JMO,

Allen Graves

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Pjbass writes:

I will like to know how to be a member of Ezine. SOAR HIGH. fandplove.blogspot.com is a nice place to be for relationship challenges and solutions.

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Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

OK.. I checked where you said and saw only:

Sort By Date
[Newest][Oldest]

Showing NO ‘Most Viewed’.

I looked and looked.. am I blind?

I did see Article Diagnostic Center in another spot, so looked to see what that was. I have never noticed it before, sheeze. I saw that I had some articles that had link issues. They were fine though.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Kathy,

The Article Diagnostic Center doesn’t exist yet officially. You’re seeing us test it.

I think you’re looking at the article editing view. Instead, go into AUTHOR TOOLS, into VIEW MY ARTICLE REPORTS.

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judy cullins writes:

Thanks Chris for your article to update articles.
To market well, we have to update according to new Google rules and changing Web. I’ve started already last week and am adding better key words in title, first paragraph and will add even more key words throughout the article. I does take time, but I want to keep expanding, not shrink into oblivion.

The new rules also make me edit all the books I’ve written on article marketing. We are always in revision if we want to grow. Thanks again,

Judy Cullins

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Pat Hubbard writes:

Hi Chris,
I know that some of my articles are too long. This gives me license to break some of them into more than one article, does it not? If so, more articles for me, right?
I was always afraid of duplication if I went this route.
Thanks for this blog. It is so helpful. Many of us are here quietly, reading and not saying anything, but that doesn’t mean no one is here evesdropping, ha.
Pat

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Pat,

YES, break them into more than one article is generally a good idea… EXCEPT in this case.

I would never cut back the word count on any of my top 10 articles by views… I would only ADD more words to them if I felt I could add more value to them.

In your case, identify your top 10 articles by view count, then either leave them alone or add more value to them — and starting with article #11 on, cut the word counts down into the 450-750 word range.

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Alyssa Johnson writes:

Hi Chris,

My first thought on reading this is “why mess with a good thing?”

I agree that the “market has spoken”. It seems to me that the better choice would be to write more articles on those topics rather than updating the top 10 (since they’re already doing well). It almost seems like reinventing the wheel to update.

All of that said, maybe you know something I don’t ??

Thanks and keep up the great work!
Alyssa

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Alyssa,

To determine who is right here… we’d need to know the current average growth rate of each of your top articles over a good period of time.

Unfortunately, we don’t track the rate of traffic incline or decline on any articles.

The part of my argument that is hard to debate is that adding more unique value to an article can only make your article more attractive to the market, not less attractive… unless it only becomes more verbose or filled with empty strategies.

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Allen Graves writes:

As far as marketing and getting click-throughs, I think it would help tremendously.

However, would one want to take the chance of losing the organic search traffic from those articles?

Does the filename change when edited? I’ve never edited an resubmitted here before. I know that other directories change the filename and the search engines would lose the page.

I think that if the file name doesn’t change, and you edited your article tactfully, that it may help BOTH you ranking in the SE’s and your CTR.

- Allen Graves

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Teri writes:

Now editing an article and reposting it – I did that after editing just my my resource box only to have my aticles all rejected for using too many keywords!

These were articles that were already approved in the past.
I had to re-edit just the resource box, on 5 of them because the link in the resource box was no longer operative.

So is it possible that articles written in the past do not meet your criteria of today, and I will go through this whole process for nothing?

Further, will this delete the previous page views, or will the old articles still be on your site?

Thirdly- I didn’t get a mouse pad from Ezee?
lolol.

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Harry Hoover writes:

Great idea, Chris. I’ve been placing articles on EzineArticles since 2004 so I’m sure I’ll have some new insights.

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Ruth writes:

Great Advice! It also encouraged me to go into my “diagnostics” and fix all my problems at the same time.

Thanks,

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Peter writes:

Good idea in article makeover, definitely after writing and publishing the articles, we come out with new ideas. I myself had experienced it many times. You had shed more light in the way. Thanks.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Allen,

The filename does NOT change. The biggest risk our members have when they edit any article is that the article is pulled from the public site until we human review it again… but we give a high priority to article re-reviews due to our built-in motivation to bring the best content back live on the site.

–

Teri,

It is true that we hold all articles that are edited to the current days standards…and that those standards are always on the rise, year after year.

I can assure you that your page views are not deleted when you edit an article. They are accumulative over the life of the article.

See a private note sent to you.

As for the mouse pad, you’re in Canada… and we didn’t ship to Canada yet. That’s scheduled for late next week to the top contributors from Canada.

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Derek Dashwood writes:

I think I saw my answer, Chris. Some of my articles are too long, and I could not get accepted making a 1100 word 2 times 550 words, even though it was the first, and the ending of the story. not a duplicate. But you say not this time, so I will make do, even though since then you have taught me that 550-650 words keep the attention better. So, tighten up, say more with less. Thx. Derek

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Rick writes:

The point is more and better information. I have recently watched some Frank Kern and Eben Pagan videos wow are they good at FREE. The other point is more clicks to your website.

I really appreciate the information I get from “EA” on how many people go from each article to my website.

I have looked at my best converting articles and worked toward that. My best article converts almost 50 percent of viewers to my site.

Thanks again for the best Ezine Directory,
Rick Kern

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Ruth,

You’re a step ahead of the curve by going into our new Article Diagnostic Center… a service we haven’t yet officially announced.

Glad you’re making use of the tool that we spent 2 months putting together to help members identify articles they have listed with us that have dead or broken links in them.

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Jeanette writes:

Chris,

Thanks for the green light. I hesitated to update my articles because I didn’t want to burden you with approvals.

Joy~

Jeanette

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Judy H. Wright writes:

Hello from beautiful Montana:

Thanks for the kick in the butt today! I have been so busy working on a couple of books, that I have neglected my articles.

It is interesting to see what comes up with Google Alerts which notifies you when someone has used your article. It is consistently the same 2 or 3 titles out of 70 or so articles. (And almost always from EzineArticles.com)

Not only need to update some of the content, but also the titles.

Hey, there is a free eBook for you at:

http://www.UseEncouragingWords.com

Thanks again Chris.

Judy H. Wright aka Auntie Artichoke, the storytelling trainer

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Pedro Ruiz writes:

This is great “KEEP IT FRESH” I absolutely love the fact that if we keep our articles fresh more people are subject to viewing just to see what changes and updates are going on especially if the content is view worthy from the get go.

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Ray MacNeil writes:

I just resubmitted my most popular article with a new tip and now wait for approval. I’m now wondering if my original traffic will be counted when it is approved or will be considered a new article starting from zero?

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Mark from car questions writes:

Chris Your news letters have been really good. The last one about facebook actually got me to sign up. Adding you as a friend was also a big help!

This time you opened my eyes once again. I never thought of refreshing an articles content. In fact I thought you were just supposed to post it and move on to another article. Your strategy makes good sense. If you hit on something popular why not expand it!

I look forward to your next news letter (The pressure is on) Thanks for the good content!

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Ian Crossley writes:

Hi Chris

If we leave the titles the same, how will there be any more traffic?

Abundance to All

Croz

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Karen Cook writes:

Chris? Are you running for office? Yet ANOTHER great idea from EzineArticles!

After the widget idea, you could have coasted, you know.

Judy, thanks for the great eBook. Love the “child learning to walk” analogy. And the good karma!

Karen

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Ray,

Your articles do not reset in terms of viewcount when you edit them.

Ian,

The article title is only one component, and while it’s important — it’s hardly the only component that works into the traffic attraction equation.

Karen,

There will be no coasting here! More cool stuff on deck.

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Christina Sponias writes:

Hi Chris!

Interesting suggestion, but I don’t like the idea of editing my best articles and adding more value.
I prefer to write new articles and never go back to the old ones. When I write whatever I never finish writing until I’m completely satisfied with what I read, so I don’t have any reason to touch what is already perfect. Of course, it can always be improved if you deeply examine this question, but why not write a new one, with this additional information?

The unique thing that many times I want to change in my articles to make them more attractive is the title, because many times very valuable articles don’t receive the attention they deserve only because their title is not the ideal one.

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Chinmay Chakravarty writes:

Sorry to join in late. Excellent suggestion. Chris, I have a doubt though.

Sometimes we write very good articles on instinct or ebullient mood or good research or all combined. Now, to better that if we mess up the article and it eventually gets rejected, we lose on all counts. Many writers or filmmakers fail to better their masterpieces all their life. Inherent dangers of creativity?

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Susan Scharfman writes:

Chris: Do these updated articles go out on RSS feeds like the originals? Your approval emails do not include it in their message. Please let me know. Thanks

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Susan,

Updated articles do not get re-promoted in the RSS feeds or email alerts or anything that feeds from them.

We have no intention of doing so to prevent gaming of the system.

Could you imagine what would happen if everyone found out they could re-assert their article to the top of the email/rss promotion hill? It would be chaos and our users would suffer a bad experience.

What we could consider though: When we release a new feature later this year that we’re already building, we could give the option to email subscribers to get notified when an article has been updated from someone they are following. Will consider this seriously.

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Susan Scharfman writes:

Thanks Chris. I do understand. But tell me what to do about the email request I received regarding my older article about the Tangier, Morocco Legation Museum that still carries an outdated URL for contacting them?

The Legation, the embassy in Rabat and “Google Alert” have asked that my article be updated to show the correct URL. I did this the other day with “The Foreign Service, Journal Entry Morocco, Immediate Update.” But if the article isn’t getting out, neither is my message.

It’s causing tourist problems, even tho the State Dept. and Museum have tried to put out the right INFO. Is there some other way I can do this? Email won’t help since there is no one to email. Apparently people are holding on to my original article for reference, along with whatever else they are gathering for a trip to Morocco.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Susan,

Article marketing is not a medium that is suited to non-evergreen content. Sorry, never was.

I’ve pondered this dilemma for quite a few years and determined that it’s currently impossible to solve without brute force and a disruptive reorganizing of the article syndication galaxy.

Getting every webmaster and ezine publisher to update their archives whenever an article is updated would be a lot like cat herding… ie: They just don’t want to do it and don’t have a high enough incentive to care – minus the few who care about delivering a great user experience.

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