Picking a category

[CharlotteAndrews]

Hi all,

I'm very very new here and want to say thank you to everyone on these forums for all the great information I've already found. However, I have a question on a topic I haven't been able to find here.

What are your thoughts on picking a category for your article if it seems to straddle a couple of them? My example is a light-hearted article for moms about fun family outings with autistic children. (In Ed's capable hands right now--biting my fingernails.) I picked Disabilities. If it was about therapies, I wouldn't question that choice, but since it's just fun family stuff, it might have fit under Children. That's just my example--I would love to hear about any other examples that give some insight into how the experienced authors handle this issue.

Thanks in advance!

[jadedragon]

Common problem - just make your best choice. Also, add LOTS of keywords and variations on keywords. The search function buyers use actually searches keywords and it works on exact match. So add kid, kids, child, children, disabilities, disability, special ability, children's activities, and so on.

[Gouldm80]

Hi there. I'm gonna jump in on this conversation if you don't mind. I've been posting my articles in mostly the generalized categories so that more buyers would see them when they search...is that a mistake? I'm kind of hesitant to put articles about specific things into specific categories for fear that they might be missed by a more general searcher. Any advice here will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Mike

[HayleyWriter]

Actually, you are better off if you choose a specific category, because CC has a function for customers where they can get email alerts of new articles in a specific category they are interested in. This may increase the number of customers who see your article straight away and may increase your sales. However, I do find that many customers will use the search function, so using a lot of relevant keywords is the key to getting to article seen. If my article fits several categories, I choose the best fit or the one that I think is the most likely place the customer will think of to look in for the article I have written. I then make sure I use keywords that indicate the other categories too, like jadedragon suggested. The search function looks across all the categories, so that's why the customers will use it to find articles.

Hayley

[CharlotteAndrews]

Thanks for the thoughts. I don't think I have been using the search terms enough. I put some in each time, but I'm not using all the variations like you mentioned. Very, very helpful suggestion! Thank you so much.

[Gouldm80]

Thanks for the advice, Hayley. I'll start being more specific in my categorization. These forums are terrific!

Mike