How to Create and Profit from Your Own Article Directory

As someone who writes a new article each week and submits it to online article directories, the thought has occurred to me more than once that I should have my own article directory, as well. Your own article directory can serve as yet another lead-generation tool for your primary website, serve as yet another place to showcase your expertise, and help you create another stream of income for your business.

Here's what you need to do to create and profit from your own article directory.

1. Choose a compelling domain name. Start matching keywords that a searcher would use to find your type of business with the word "articles" and see what kinds of results you get when you search for those terms. You'll also want to check how popular the search is for those terms with a tool like Wordtracker. Normally I suggest that you buy only the .com version of the domain, but in this case, any version will do, as this site simply serves as a lead generator. Buy the domain name that best fits your target market.

2. Install software. There's a free piece of software that you can use to manage your article directory called Article Dashboard. It has to be installed on your hosting account and can be customized with your own graphic header. It also permits others to create accounts and submit articles to your site, helps you manage authors and review submissions, and much more.

3. Create keyword-rich categories. Do a bit of research and determine the type of info that your target market researches online. Create article categories that match those search requests.

4. Complete basic SEO. Create your title, keyword, and description metatags and embed those into your directory. If you're unsure how to do this, use this handy online metatag creator that I use: http://www.invision-graphics.com/meta-tag-generator.html

5. Upload your articles to your directory. After completing the customization of your site, become your first author and submit all of your articles to your site. Make sure you have a compelling resource box appended to each article that will make visitors want to check out your website.

6. Find other articles for your directory. There are many thousand article banks online. Some of the more well-known ones are ArticleAlley.com, ArticlesFactory,com, EzineArticles.com, IdeaMarketers.com, and SearchWarp.com. You can search manually for articles that are relevant to your target market and place those within your directory, or you can sign up as a distributor/publisher at the article banks so that you'll receive articles on certain topic areas when authors submit them to the article banks. My article distribution service permits this, as well. Or, if you want to be the primary expert, let other authors find you and let your article directory serve to showcase just your articles.

7. Monetize your site. One way to earn profit from an article directory is to place Google Adsense ads on your site. You can place them across the top, down the right or left side, or at the end of the page for individual articles. Place banner ads on the site for relevant products for your target market for which you are an affiliate and/or participate in some type of banner exchange program if you can ensure that the only banners displayed will be appropriate for your target market. Create an Amazon search box on your site that displays products relevant for your target market. While you won't earn tons of money from these strategies, every little bit helps, right?

8. Create a call to action. If one of the purposes of your article directory is as a lead-generation tool, you must place a call to action on the site. You can use a hover ad to encourage someone to sign up for your email newsletter and/or get your free ecourse, ebook, etc. Or, you can place a graphic or an ad on your site that encourages visitors to click through to your primary site.

9. Install your stats package. Website metrics/statistics will tell you how your site is performing. Your hosting company may provide some basic statistical info as a part of your hosting account, or you can get more detailed info from free programs Google Analytics or StatCounter.com.

10. Generate traffic. If you've done your research, much of your traffic may be organically driven to your site based on searches on specific keywords popular with your target market. However, you can also use Google's Adwords program or other PPC (pay-per-click) engines to drive traffic to this site.

The primary goal of Internet surfers is to find free valuable content that gives them a solution to a problem. An article directory is the perfect place to provide that relevant content, help you generate leads for your primary site, and make a few bucks from site advertising in the process.