The importance of article submission

Many website owners find the task of creating a website and then promoting that website a daunting prospect. This is especially true for anyone who is creating their own website for the first time. Although they may have great knowledge about their website niche, this is not enough when it comes to generating traffic to the site to get the information read. Unless a website owner is creating a site on an obscure topic, the likelihood is that there will be millions (or sometimes billions!) of websites to compete against for search engine traffic. This means that the site needs to generate the all important backlinks that play a significant part in many of the top search engines algorithms for high search engine placement. This is where writing and submitting articles to article directories can be very rewarding, but this is not the only benefit that article writing possesses:

- Aswell as the backlinks that are provided to a website, an article also provides an opportunity for an author to display their expertise in a particular field. The hope is that readers would then be encouraged to find more of your articles and to visit your website for further information that would be of interest to them.

- In all probability the visitor to the article directory who has decided that an article is of interest to them is reading the article because the article topic interests them. This means that any visitor that chooses to then visit a website in the resource box can be described as a highly-targeted visitor. It’s one thing getting a visitor to a site, it’s another getting a targeted visitor - they are already interested in the topic your website represents!

The level of success that one can achieve from article submission is largely dependant on the article quality and the value of the information it contains for the reader. The article topic will also determine the success and readership of that particular article. For example, it is likely that there is a greater audience for marketing related topics than there is for a niche like coin collecting. This is certainly not to say that an author cannot reap great benefits by submitting such an article. In fact it could be argued that an article written about a topic such as coin collecting has less competition within the article directory sites, allowing the possibility for a potential targeted reader to find it easily.

Article writing and submission holds benefits for all authors, no matter the topic of the article. Concentrating on the quality of an article and how informative it is for a prospective reader is important, but sitting down and actually giving article writing a go is essential for all webmasters in order to drive targeted traffic to a website.

Article submission should not be underestimated - it is one of the best promotional tools a website owner possesses.

Questions and answers about article marketing

The following article is one of a series of articles which focus on Article Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and Internet Marketing. All of the articles are based on real experiences and research done over twenty years as a personal and business coach. They are also written in response to questions which I have been asked as well as address common challenges that people have with affiliate marketing, article marketing, internet marketing or running an online business in general. I sincerely hope that you find the following information of value. One idea, one tip, one clue can make all the difference.

Article Marketing - Your Answers To Questions On Article Marketing

Article marketing is probably the most effective list building and link building strategy in existence. Article directories allow you to include a resource box for every article you will submit. Inside this resource box, you could include a link to your website and specifically to your newsletter subscription form. If you submit just one article to 100 article directories, you'd immediately receive 100 back links to your website. There are thousands of article directories on the 'net today!

Now, let’s say you submit, for example, 5 articles to a hundred directories, you'll get 500 back links easily! The best part about this strategy is that quite a number of article directories have high page ranks. We're talking about PR4, PR5, and on occasion, PR7 websites! Having a link to your own website in a website which has a high page rank would give a significant boost to your own pages' search engine standing!

All seems terrific with article marketing, but as with everything else, there are growing concerns as to its real value.

Let's take a look at five of the most common questions which are asked about article marketing...

If I submit the same article to many article directories, won't it violate a search engine's policy against duplicate content?

No, it won't. Since we're dealing with high ranking websites, the search engines would assume that the submitted content is their original work. This is the reason why a lot of article directories are pretty confident about the articles they display. The problem that they encounter, really, is with regards to the credibility of their services.

They don't want to be known as a repository of junk content, that's why they have outlawed the posting of PLR articles as well as articles full of affiliate links.

If you always submit quality, informative content that readers are looking for, you’ll never have a cause for concern.

Does this mean that I could submit articles which I have already posted in my own web pages?

You need to take care here. The search engines will assume that the higher ranking websites are the originators of the content, your web pages would be distinguished as duplicates, and this could possibly lead to the de-indexing of your website or, at least, that particular article page. You wouldn't want this to happen.

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Affiliate, Article and Internet Marketing in general isn't as easy as many would have us believe. I fully understand (through my own experiences) that it is a lot easier said than done. However, you are here, right now, because you have a desire to improve your business, grow your business, and be more successful. These articles are here with the sole intention of helping you to make the whole process a lot easier.

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Can I submit as many articles as possible to as many article directories as possible?

Yes, you could! In fact, this is very much advised, to build up your link popularity and secure for your website a great page rank.

However, please bear in mind that search engines, and Google in particular, become quite wary about a website that suddenly experiences a great increase in the number of its back links. It is advised that from the outset, you decide how many articles you can submit and at what intervals, then stick to it. Consistency is the key here.

Does article marketing really work?

Yes, definitely, article marketing does work! If your article's page views remain in low levels, ask yourself

Is your article title compelling or intriguing enough to want to read the whole article?

Is the actual content of your article interesting enough? Does it cater to a wide audience?

Is your article informative enough to consider recommendation?

Is your article readable enough to give your audience an easy time in digesting the information you want to share?

These are the factors that contribute to low page views. Doing some necessary editing to correct these problems will dramatically increase the number of times your article will be viewed.

Additionally, some article directories really attract a few visitors only. But the popular ones like ezinearticles. com , goarticles. com, articledashboard and isnare. com should give you hundreds of readers in a month's time.

How sure can I be that my article and resource box will be kept intact by people who will use it in their own websites or Ezines?

Unfortunately, you can never be sure. This is why you have to run your own check from time to time. Search for unique phrases in your article, and click on the results. Determine if the webmaster honored your resource box. If he or she did not, you could ask them to include the resource box, or you could file a complaint with the article directory so that they themselves could act on the matter. As always, Persistence and Vigilance are the k

Article marketing strategies selecting the best sites ezines for your article marketing campaign

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Writing and marketing articles online is probably the most effective, most cost-effective way to publicize your website, and promote your products and services online. The Web is a printing press with an insatiable appetite for articles written by experts. There are literally millions of websites and ezines that are begging for good articles. They want people to submit good articles to them. They even search sites on the web for permission to use articles.

So, how do you know which sites to select?

Through my years of experience, and many conversations with the top Internet Marketers, in order to have the greatest impact, you need to use a 3-tiered article marketing approach targeting:

1. The major article directories like Ezinearticles. com, Goarticles. com, Ideamarketers. com and ZapContent. com
2. Smaller niche directory sites that are related to your content
3. Niche ezine and website publishers who need and want quality related content that will add value to their website or email newsletter audience

My consulting clients ask me many times, “ What is the best way to find ezines and websites that are the most read so my article gets the most exposure?” That should not be the first question you ask yourself. Yes, you do want to find websites that are highly visited and ezines that are the most read – but more importantly, you want to focus on finding websites and ezine publishers within your specific niche that have strong emotional connections to their audience.

Most likely, you are already visiting their websites or subscribing to their ezines. If you don’t know who has a great ezine related to your industry niche, there are plenty of ezine directories like bestezines. com on the net that can guide you.

Other strategies include:

- Research your competitors – where are there articles being published?

- Perform a Google search. Just type in your industry or article topic followed by the words article submission. That’s how I helped our client’s book jump to the #2 spot on the NY Times Best Sellers List. I typed into Google, “health article submissions”, “medical article submissions”, and “thyroid dysfunctions article submissions” and discovered (among many other sites) the contact information for an About. com editor – one of the top 50 sites on the net today. After receiving the submission, the editor blasted an email book promotion to her entire list, giving Mark Hyman MD 1500 additional opt-in subscribers and much higher sales in just one day.

- Think about which organizations, your audience may belong to. If you’re a sales lead expert, like our client, Mac McIntosh, then the chances of your audience belonging to an organization such as the American Marketing Association are very, very high. With more than 200,000 registered users and more than 2 million visits each year from a wide range of influential decision makers, Mac McIntosh’s soon to be published article on the American Marketing Association’s website will provide him with an excellent opportunity to connect with the marketing community.

- And, don’t forget to check sites for magazines within your niche. More and more publications, are looking for fresh, new content for their website, to drive traffic up in order to sell more print magazines in the long run. This constant updating of articles found only on the website and not in their print publications means more opportunities for writers and experts. An article written by you published on sites like Entrepreneur Magazine and Mothering Magazine will give your company the vast amount of exposure and credibility it needs.

Follow these strategies and you will have a sound article marketing campaign.

Which article directories should i submit my article to

There are an ever increasing number of article directories springing up, attemting to take advantage of the popularity that has become of writing articles as a form of website promotion. What people can be unsure of however, is which of these sites to post their article to. In this article I write about the article directories which I use.

Ezinearticles

Ezinearticles was where I posted my very first article. It seems so long ago now, where in truth it was probably only around ten months ago. This directory was recommended to me by a friend and in my opinion is certainly one of the best. Each article is reviewed before being accepted, this is not true of many of the other directories, especially the newer sites.

When you search for the title of your article a few days after it has been accepted in for example the search engine google, you are normally able to see it highly placed in the results. One of the first articles I submitted was called stuttering and its effects, this article is still placed in the top ten of google after many months.

If you are only planning on submitting your article to one directory this is the one I would advise that you use.

Goarticles

Many people have told me that they prefer to use goarticles when looking for an article to add to their site. For this reason alone, I always ensure that I submit my article to this directory.

Articlealley

The thing I like about articlealley is that they also include the article you submit to them on one or two of the sister sites. This is without you needing to do any extra work. Additional exposure is always good.

Articledasboard

I have been advised that this directory is becoming increasingly popular and is one I should be posting my article to. The site has a page rank of six which is always a good sign.

Ideamarketers

This directory is my fifth choice in order of merit and has many interesting articles.

It is hard to know how many of these directories people should be submitting their article to. I have been given lots of different advice on this subject and have decided to come up with my own conclusion. I personally normally submit my articles to around twenty of these sites but always the five above.

These are the other article directories I use:

amazines

contentdesk

theezine. net

yeeheey

isnare

impactarticles

activeauthors

morganarticlearchive

articlefeeder

articlecity

netterweb

simplysearch4it

linksnoop

articlehub

articlelocker

The one thing to remember is to only submit original content. Private label articles are becoming popular in some quarters, however I would advise to avoid these at all cost.

I hope article marketing brings you as many rewards as it has for me.