MaryAnn Shank writes:

I see a sub-category for “Finance:Commercial”. I’m not at all clear on this. I do work with a lot of companies seeking financing, in opposition to individuals looking for financing. I am more accustomed to seeing that topic as “Business Finance” or “Business Financing”. What is it that “Finance:Commercial” is intended to cover?

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

MaryAnn,

Hmm, there isn’t any sub-category with the words “Commercial”.

There is a category called “Commercial Loans” that is about business loans & commercial paper/notes.

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MaryAnn Shank writes:

Yes, it is the “commercial loans” category that I am referring to. It is under the general topic of “finance”, which is otherwise PERSONAL finance. It would seem to make sense to break the BUSINESS finance (one topic) away from the others.

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Lance Winslow writes:

Perfect timing considering the Stock Market [DOW] was up 416 points today, after hitting a 52-week low and nearly crossing a thresh hold which might have sent it down another 1,000 points.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Yeah, the stock market is like a roller coaster and the Fed dumped the market with more money supply. Too bad the dollar’s value is still headed South. :-( …but the upside is that our products & services are cheaper/better value to International customers who can buy American goods “on sale.”

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Christina Sponias writes:

Hi Chris!

I’m too busy with my new site lately; this is why I didn’t participate of your blog’s discussions.
The site is ready but is not online yet: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com

Now, about the several new categories, I don’t like them. Too many categories!
I noticed that you have now Anxiety as an independent category and that you moved 2 of my articles from mental health to anxiety!
I believe you made things harder for the visitors that come to EzineArticles. They have to read a lot looking for what they need!

I think it would be better if you would have all the articles that belong to the main category together for the visitors and also several subcategories where the specific articles would appear again. This is very easy to do.

You could have on Mental Health for example all the articles about depression, anxiety, etc together, besides giving to the reader the option to look exactly for what he or she wants in your catalogue with specific sub-categories, where the specific articles would appear again.

Someone may not find what he or she wants because he doesn’t know how to look for this information and he may even feel discouraged when having to search among so many categories until he finds what he wants.

Besides that, many people don’t know what exactly they are looking for and they just want to read everything they can about certain subject until they find something interesting. The way you shared the information, this is not possible. The reader has to define very well what he or she wants to read and go directly to the right category or keep changing category.

Fortunately most people use search engines to find what they want, instead of coming to EzineArticles and looking for information in this huge collection of categories!

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

You said:

RIGHT!

Fortunately, most use our in-house or Google search engine to find the content they are seeking and very few browse by category.

Those who browse by category are doing so AFTER they are already here due to a search.

EzineArticles search factoid: We serve up 50,000+ search queries a day from users who are already on the site.

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Christina Sponias writes:

Yes Chris, but since they are in the site, they may start looking for something else.
Then things become complicated for them, with all these categories!

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Lance Winslow writes:

I like the additional categories, I hope that you are able to move many of my articles into these new categories. Also, I plan on subscribing to several of them myself as they are topics that I am very interested in, the flow of money in quite exciting to watch and think about: http://www.worldthinktank.net/pdfs/TheFlowofMoneyAllegoryBeachBall.pdf

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Christina Sponias writes:

Hi Lance! I didn’t meet you in the discussions for a long time.
Why do you like the several categories?

Well, there are tastes for everything!

I saw now that my new site is finally online: http://www.scientificdreaminterpretation.com

Its preparation was a real marathon!
Please, tell me what you think when you have time.

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Lance Winslow writes:

Christina,

I like the many categories for many reasons:

1.) As a reader it helps me sift through the articles I would like to read, kind of like an online library by category.

2.) I can reach my specific Ezine Editors niches, if its easier for them to find my niche articles, they will pick more of them up, more exposure for me and my online marketing efforts.

3.) I realize that more niches will bring different types of Ezine Editors here, that may not have wanted to sift thru 1000s of articles to get to the good ones. Once the find me, they will go look at the other articles I have written in those specific categories.

4.) I am happy when other people can find and conquer their own niche rather than hating me for being in the top five spots of so many categories.

5.) So many times I have written articles, that do not actually fit into any categories, but they are good articles and information that needs to get out to specific readers, when those readers find these categories, because Chris makes special pages for them (meaning search engines find them) it brings them to me.

6.) Because I know when EzineArticles makes more money on Ad traffic he re-invests it in things that benefit the authors, ezine editors and EzineArticles. The more revenue generated by securing the top spots in the search engines on niches, benefits the entire EzineArticles community. I am part of that community.

7.) More categories, means it challenges me to try to figure out what I need to study, learn and additional categories of knowledge to attain; so our Online Think Tank http://www.worldthinktank.net can thing on and that perhaps I might be able to eventually have enough insight to write about to add something here. There are nearly 60 categories that I have “NO” articles in, which I would like to have at least one, but, I can’t do that until I study more, it gives me topics to learn about.

8.) I love to learn new things and when I subscribe to category email alerts, I have put categories in my Email Program under a main folder of “Must Read” and it keeps me up to date on topics, and I can easily choose the best new articles submitted by the best top authors here – Like YOU Chistina, I read your articles! You are one of my favorites.

In the interest of saving time and not taking over this topic, those are my primary reasons, but of course, I have so many more reasons why Multiple Categories are Great! I understand your points too, but I also think that there may be a solution that would solve my great reasons for loving it, and your reasons for not being all too thrilled with it.

However, since most people come thru the search engine directly to the article, it probably does not matter much in that regard, but it adds new writers, increasing synergy and more new readers to everyone’s specific niche.

Sincerely,

Lance

Nice website by the way.

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Christina Sponias writes:

Thank you for your kind comment, Lance!

I still don’t like the several categories because I believe that our articles are not well exposed this way, separated in so many specific categories: this way nobody can read them by chance when exploring EArticles, in their main category.

The other reason I don’t like this separation is because now it is harder to become the top author in any category, while if you can vary the subjects in one category, you can easily become the top author. If you have to write only about a specific matter, it is harder to reach the top.

I guess the specific categories are basically helpful for a few authors, not for the readers.

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Lance Winslow writes:

Christina,

Oh you are quite welcome for the compliment, I do not give them out much, but you deserve it for a job well done with very excellent articles. People could learn a lot from you. I hope they realize this.

My thinking is that it is easier for new people and veterans at EzineArticles to be number one in a category, especially refining their niche. Because with more categories like the ones above, many of those new ones, you can write only 10 articles and become the number one in the category.

At one time, I was number one in Every Single Business Category, talk about a difficult task, Some of those categories had 150 or more articles. Main categories are hard yes, but you are competing against pretty much everyone on the planet who is serious about your category. Anyone truly serious would also be smart enough to write content online and market thru article marketing, because pound-4-pound, it is one of the most efficient ways to market online.

I believe that the new categories are REALLY good for the serious author whether new or old. It only takes like I said 10 or so articles to be number 1-5 in the specialty niche. Second, its is great for the serious reader looking for information. Once they find the main category they see the niches and hone in on what they really want. It good for the reader. I am an avid reader, not just a writer:

http://www.carwashguys.com/0021803_2.shtml

You see in the larger categories there are 1,000s of articles to sift through, it takes a long time to read all those titles, after a few pages, it gets problematic, some give up, go somewhere else. Of course, this is just the people who come to the main site and start clicking categories or come to a new category that they found on the search engines, because Chris created a new page with specific niches. I think its brilliant and it makes new authors happy, adding synergy and new participation, including others to join the community. Also, it brings back readers who got sucked away by the competition, who just made lots of categories, but have so few articles per category, underwhelming the reader, almost tricking them to come to their site and then dismally performing. You see?

Its good all the way around, but I see your POV, and think that maybe, a slight tweaking in the future could really turbo charge this effort, but first it needs to sink into the search engines, look at the stats, analyze the data and then decide the best next move of the horse on the board.

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