Submitting Articles To Article Directories

Article Writing | I like to surf around different internet forums that deal with internet marketing, link building, traffic building, and search engine optimization. Lately, I have seen a lot of questions about using articles as a marketing tool. The question has been this: “How much traffic can I get from submitting articles to article directories?” I would honestly love to tell you that you get loads of traffic. On the other hand, I would love to be able to tell you that you wouldn’t get a lot of traffic. However, I cannot tell you either way because it really just depends. It depends on these things:

• How many articles you submit
• How many directories you submit your articles to
• Where you submitted your article
• Quality of your article
• Usefulness of your article
• Value of your article

So if article writing appears so iffy, why do it? One thing I will say is that article marketing is not something you will usually see results from overnight. Article marketing is a great long-term investment for promoting your website, building links, and generating more traffic. Article marketing is only iffy if you are looking for a short-term or fast, quick way to generate traffic. My best advice is to avoid writing garbage content. Provide useful information in your article. Keep a constant mindset that you are writing for people and not to see the traffic stats go up through the roof.

You are not writing for numbers! You are writing for people. If you are writing for numbers, you may begin to feel discouraged because your traffic will not usually jump overnight. Quite simply, it takes time to realize the positive effects from article writing. I know that I am guilty of taking shortcuts and forgetting about the reader in my articles. Sometimes I am feeling lazy and think, “Well I’m writing this article. My link will be on my article, so, therefore, people will click my link and all will be well.” That is wishful thinking on my part! The truth and reality of that statement are that nobody will care to click to my website if my article is not worth reading. 

They won’t even make it through the article to see my link! That’s a shame. If your article fails to meet the reader, you also miss out on another important aspect. You miss out on the chance that the reader will take the article and distribute it to other people with your link attached to the article. That’s even more possible traffic you are missing out on! Quality is so essential to article marketing. The other factors of article marketing have no match for a quality article. 

You could submit to few article directories and many would read your quality article because it is an article worth reading. To summarize, write quality articles that meet the reader. Give the reader exactly what they want. Do not take shortcuts because there are no shortcuts in article marketing. Article marketing can be a time-consuming process, but if done right, it will really, and I mean really, pay off in the long run.

Structure Your Article for Maximum Impact

Writing articles is one of the best ways to promote your service or product since it establishes you as an expert in the field and you can get hundreds, if not thousands of links back to your website. But not all articles are created equal. In order to get the maximum benefit from your article writing they should have a consistent layout and structure. Follow these tips to give structure to your content and your articles will have a much bigger impact and stand a better chance of getting published.

For people whose literate capabilities extend to that last school essay that they handed in with a sigh of relief, writing an article is a daunting task and the end result often looks like a wasteland of grey text. A good article is written in such a way that it pulls the reader in and guides him through the content.  Conforming to a standard format also makes it easier for article directories and sites that publish content to pick up your article and publish it. It also contributes to a professional image of you, the writer. 

Here are the components of an article and how you should use each one for maximum benefit.

~ Title ~

The title of your article, like the title of your website, is probably the most important part of your article. And, much like the title of your website, you are writing for both the search engines as well as human beings. For the sake of the search engines, include your main keyword or keyword phrase in the title. For the sake of your reader, you have to create a title that will “pull the reader in”. In other words, your title must persuade the reader to read the rest of your article. 

But here is a tip from Chris Knight of EzineArticles – do not start your title with: 

“7 tips for …”

or 

“5 ways to …”

The first 3 or 4 words are the most important, and by doing this you are wasting important space! Rather use your keyword or keyword phrase at the beginning, followed by the number or ways, or tips that you are going to discuss.

For example: Organize your office: 7 tips for never losing that $1000 check again

Another tip for coming up with a killer title is to use some of the headline making software that helps you come up with compelling headlines for your sales letters, like Headline Creator Pro. While you might not actually use the headlines it suggests, you will quickly have a list of 100 headlines to play around with and modify. Just be careful though of not loading your title with too much hype – you are, after all, writing an article and not a sales letter!

~ Summary or Introduction ~

The summary, or description, of your article is often overlooked. This might be the only piece of text that will be displayed when your article shows up in an article directory. Sometimes you have the option of submitting the summary separately, other times the article directory software simply takes the first paragraph or so of your article. I suggest that you focus on the first paragraph of your article to provide you with your summary and introduction at the same time. 

Like the title, it should create curiosity in the mind of your reader to entice them to read further. Please remember that a good article tries to solve some problem for the reader – try and describe what problem THIS article will solve. Describing the problem by means of a story or example help to make it real in your reader’s mind. A personal example also helps to establish you, the writer, as a real person and creates a rapport with your reader.

~ Body ~

The body of your article will bring across your main solution to the problem that you have sketched in the mind of your reader in your summary and introduction. Please remember to stick to ONE topic! It is very tempting to branch off into different directions, especially if you are enthusiastic about your area of expertise. If you find that you are wandering off into other areas, even if they are related to your main topic, consider saving that information in a scratch pad and make another article out of the material.

DO use bullet points or subheadings to break up your article. Bullets and headings catch the eye and once more pull the reader into the text. But some article directories do not allow HTML code or other formatting inside your body. My suggestion is that you write for ‘text only’ as a standard. Simulate bullets and headings by making use of numbers, capitals, or a special character, like the tilde (~), or star (*).

Ending

The ending should summarise the reasons why the article solves the problem stated in the title and the introduction. Try and end with an interesting point or final quote, to invite readers to further investigate the topic. 

Resource box

The resource box is the place to write a mini-ad for your site, service or product. You can send people directly to an affiliate link here, or direct them to your site. Try to make the link contain your major keyword or keyword phrase, for maximum ‘backlink’ benefit - if you can.

If you follow this simple layout structure (obviously combined with great content!) for your articles you will find that 

-         more article directories will accept your articles for submission

-         you present a professional image that instils confidence in your reader

-         your articles will get published on more websites, leading to more traffic 

          

in short, your articles will get the exposure they deserve!

The Different Methods of Article Writing

Article Writing | If we were to try to list all the different article writing styles that exist or will exist, we'd probably end up with an encyclopedia, because writing styles are like fingerprints. No two are completely alike. But there are some basic development structures that are, more often than not, used by the vast majority of article composers. 

After all, there are very few reasons why you'd want to write an article in the first place, and so every article written will most likely have a similar purpose based on these few motives.  For example, you have the desire to either sell a product, build content for your website, establish yourself as an expert in your field, any combination of these, or all of the above. 

That's about it unless it's merely your job.

So there's usually some fundamental similarities among articles that can be drawn upon when you're setting out to write one yourself. 

Take a look . . . 

1. Product Introduction and Advertisement 

When writing an article, it's not customarily wise to blatantly advertise your product directly. Readers are looking for information that will help them understand how to do something, or for recommendations about what to use. If they wanted to be advertised to, they're simply going to the Classifieds and pick out the best product for the money. 

So when you're setting out to write an article about a product, it's best to build your article loosely around the product without actually naming it or describing it. 

That's what your sales page is for, right? 

Thus when you want to write an article introducing a product, set out to create a scenario describing a situation where a product like you're marketing could be used. Start with the problem that needs solving and conclude with some possible solutions. What you're doing is building an argument and leading the reader to an obvious conclusion. Finish it off with your bio box that leads them to your sales page. 

2. Building Content 

The key to building good, solid content for your website is somewhat different than writing an article to introduce your product. With your product introduction, your article is, obviously, product driven. But when you want to build content, your motivation would be more niche driven, or keyword specific. 

The objective is to fill your website with keyword rich article content to entice the Search Engines to spider your site with as much enthusiasm as possible. The more information you can supply on a specific topic, the more your site will be viewed as important and useful to the general web surfer. 

The Search Engines want people to use them, so when they find such a website, they're more than happy to list it. So to accomplish this, your article would start out with a single keyword or key phrase that's specific to your website to establish the purpose behind it. 

By sticking to this specific topic, you'll be assuring yourself of a well-written article that fits right in with your website's theme. 

3. Establishing Yourself as an Expert 

Of all the reasons for writing articles, this one should be viewed as a long-range approach. The concept behind it is to gradually produce articles based on one particular field in order for your readers to learn to associate your name with that one field. The intended outcome is to establish yourself as a teacher, and one who has good recommendations to give. This, in turn, will help you develop a following of people who would actually go out of their way to find articles you've written. 

This is a great way to build a mailing list too. 

Once you've written several articles about a topic, you can then add a link in your bio box to a free report or ebook. When the readers click on the link, they're taken to a page that requires them to sign up to get the free publication. 

So the more expertise you show in your articles, the more sign ups you'll get. 

4. Combinations 

Of course, you can combine any of these methods and still come off with some great articles. However, you'd want to want to build on one method and incorporate the others in with less enthusiasm. For example, you'd be hard-pressed to prove yourself an expert and build a following if your articles were always obvious product endorsements. And your content building efforts would suffer if every article was more about your expertise than the niche topic its supposed to be about. 

So though it's possible, your best bet would be to choose one method, or one purpose and stick with it for each article. 

Whichever method you choose, it's vital that you provide good quality work. Articles are a lot like Classifieds in one important way. A good one can entice almost assured positive response and a bad one . . . 

Well, you know the answer to that.

Seven Tips to Successfully Write Web Articles

Online readers love free information. They scour the internet daily looking for specific information to solve their problems, help them be successful, live longer or get healthy. You should join the information revolution too! Publish your free helpful solution-oriented articles to the web.

But wait! There are a few things to keep in mind when writing for the web. Long paragraphs are usually acceptable for print media; they are not for the web. If you want to write articles that web users will love to read and put to use follow these 7 simple tips:

1. Make your article scan ready. A study by Jakob Nielson publicized as the guru of web page usability by the New York Times published that only 16 percent of his test users actually read the copy they found online; 79 percent of them simply scanned it. Your impatient web readers will want important information to jump out at them.  Some practical ways to make your text scannable are: headings, sub-headings, bulleted list, numbered lists, easy steps and/or typeface variation. For example, compelling headlines are considered an art. Are you drawn to the author’s article as “How to Write Web Articles” or “5 Tips to Write Winning Web Articles?”
2. Keep it short. Get and keep the attention of web readers by delivering short messages. You put effort into gaining your web reader’s attention; now make their click worthwhile with a brief compelling copy in bite sizes.  Start with the conclusion. Your readers may not make it to the end of your piece to get it. Web readers don’t want to get bogged down in long blocks of text. So get to the point early and use the rest of your article to support that main point.
3. Make Your Title Sizzle. Dull titles will not capture your reader's interest. It will make your article fade into the sea of other boring articles listed in article banks these days. You have to create a title that will reach out and grab your reader by the collar. To get your article read, start with a sizzling title. Make it short. Create interest. Include the main benefit or solution in your title.
4. Talk to Your Targeted Audience. Your information is not for everyone. Avoid generalities. Choose a friend or family member that’s interested in your topic. Write your article to them. Writing to a friend will make your copy personable and friendly.  You won’t come across as a fussy hen, do this, do this, don’t do that. You will connect with your readers as a friend giving advice. Your article will do a better job of building creditability for you. Creditability inspires trust and readers only trust their friends.
5. Add substance. Resist fluffing your articles. Include practical valuable information in your copy. Everyone loses when you don’t take the time to impart substance. It increases the reputation of the web being an unreliable source of knowledge. Additionally, lack of substance will block your road to profitable referrals. Do the research and/or draw from your knowledge and experience to illustrate. Your stories and real-life examples will meet your reader’s need for practical information and connect with their emotions. It’s a known fact emotion will move people to action. Whether you desire them to act by signing up or making a purchase, add substance and improve your reader responses.
6. Make it web professional. Create a more web professional look by using short sentences then format your page to approximately 65 characters per line. Long stringed sentences that stream from side to side of the web page look visually unprofessional. Select a layout for your article from several short article formats that include the how-to, tips list, question-answer, problem-solutions, and interview.  Make your introduction and summary short but do add one. Your web readers don’t want just a list of boring facts and information. They want to connect with you by reading your personable introduction and practical tips with a definite ending or summary. Remember excited readers become enthusiastic buyers and enthusiastic buyers will refer your product or service to all their friends.
7. Use your keywords. Thread your keywords throughout your short article as naturally as possible. Otherwise, your copy will sound stiff and dull. To gain visibility on the search engines, your site must be “indexed” by their robotic software. 

In its most basic form, they must be able to compare the code, keywords and other Meta tags with the actual content of the site. From this, they reach a conclusion regarding the context of the site. This and other factors will affect how well your copy or website places in the search engines.

You may use these guidelines for all kinds of web copy. The same elements of using keywords, making your article professional, adding substance, keeping it short and making your copy scannable will improve the quality of your articles. Practice the above simple principles and write winning articles to distribute on the web everywhere.