I just finished reading yet another forum post griping about EzineArticles.com.  

I don’t think the sun sets and rises with Chris Knight and his crew, but the constant vitriol spewed in EZA’s direction and all of the petty complaints leave me completely dumfounded.  

I’ve used the site personally and in conjunction with clients for about four years.  Over that time–and over the course of several thousand submissions–I’ve only had a few times where I confronted any difficulties.  When tiny issues did emerge, I found EZA responsive and quick to resolve problems.

I think there are things EZA could do better.  I think their paid membership plan has some flaws and I know from dealing with others that they do occasionally make editorial mistakes.  However, they’re the resident big boy in the article directory niche for a reason.  They might not always smell like a freshly baked apple pie on a beautiful spring evening, but they sure don’t stink.

Here’s the post I read:

“They actually made me wait like 4 days until an article gets anywhere near the 4th stage of approval and then they figured out I was promoting a product. I didn’t even put an affiliate link in there. I used Squidoo as my link to then direct it to my affiliate link. Can anyone inform me why they are denying my article?”

Here’s what I’m thinking:

• Four or five days for approval is still faster than many article directories.

• I am not a paid member, but I still generally note approvals within 48-72 hours.

• Reading their TOS reveals that articles that serve as little more than promotional materials won’t pass muster.  EZA isn’t in the “let’s publish your half-assed advertisement for free” business.

• Using a Squidoo lens as a landing page should be fine with EZA–assuming that the lens provides something resembling a half-decent user experience.  You can’t create a landing page that consists of little more than a reader to “click here”.  EZA will rightly interpret that as little more than a manual redirect and will pop you for it.  

• If you long to direct your article traffic directly to a sales page via your affiliate link, all you need to do is invest a buck in a “.info” domain and set up a top-level redirect.  EZA is kind enough to allow that, even though they might want to rethink that approach at some point.

• If you aren’t sure why EzineArticles has rejected your submission, there is a simple way to find out.  Try any of these systems:  (A) Read and understand the TOS before sending them material.  (B)  Read the email that accompanies their rejection of your article.  It will usually explain your misstep.  (C)  Ask them.  They tend to be pretty responsive.

• If they do commit an error in their assessment, they’ll fix it.  They might not fix it in ten minutes or less, but they will fix it.  

• Stop the whining.  The next time you’re tempted to get all huffy about EZA, please consider the following:  (A)  It’s free to use.  (B)  It still produces some of the best results out there in article marketing land.  (C)  Remember that they have a need to balance your interests with the real interests of site users.  (D)  Their editorial bar is actually set very low.  If you’re getting rejected again and again, they problem is more likely to stare back at you in the mirror as it is to be on their end.  (E)  If you are struggling to find a way to make EZA work for you, consider reading tips like these, consulting with an expert or hiring a good writer to help you out.

EZA isn’t perfect, but when you look at what they’re up against, they really do a pretty damn good job.  I like the site and what it offers to article marketers.  I retain the right to change my mind if they ever do anything super wacky.  Right now, however, EZA is the best thing going in their particular field.

If you’re complaining about them on a regular basis, there’s a fairly strong likelihood that your submissions are the kind of problematic efforts that slow things down for everyone else.  Stop adding to the problems and consider being part of the solution.