Mary Hanna asked:


Successful free article submissions to directories on the internet is an effective way to market your article and get more traffic to your websites. Submitting to an article directory is a great way for people to find a free article written by you. There are a few problems with this system but you can overcome them and become more proficient in marketing articles. The trick is to submit your articles without being considered a spammer.

The weakness of the article submitting techniques is that it is very time consuming. I have submitted articles in three different ways: by Hand, and with Article Submitter and Instant Article Submitter software. Many directories require a login, ID and password, so each directory must be visited and a login established before submissions are accepted.

When submitting by hand, you have to cut and paste each section of the article into the individual directories. There are a lot of sections; first the Title, then the Category (very important I’ll get into this later), Author, Author email, Website Address, Keywords, Article Summary, Article Body, and About Author box. That is nine cut and pastes to submit to ONE article directory. If you wish to submit to 150-200 directories, a good part of your time is spent doing grunt work which does not allow you to pursue other avenues of traffic generation.

Now we come to the “semi-automated” submission software programs. Yes, they are easier, some more than others, but you still must go to each directory individually. It is crucial that you select a Category for your article. If this is not done the article directories will know you are using automatic submitting software and will treat your article as SPAM. Many directories especially frown on the “Automated Article Distribution Services” for just that reason. Therefore you will not be published and not only have you wasted your time writing your article but you may be classified as a spammer.

Within the “Article Submitter” Software, they have 138 auto fill and 25 manual fill directories listed. A visit to a majority of the directories must be done first in order to establish a login. You have the option of adding other article directories on your own, which is a nice touch.

The software will open to a page that is a form for “User Information”. There are typical information requirements you would find in any sign up sheet like, name, company, email, website, etc. Then hit the tab for “Articles” where you will place the article for submission. You will fill in the Title Section, Article Body (including About Author), Summary and Keywords. Then choose the “Websites” tab. You can “select all” or pick and choose. Click on “Auto Fill” and it will take you to your first directory. A flaw here is that you can only have one article posted in the article section at a time.

Sounds easy, right? Well with “Article Submitter” you must be very careful. Once you have chosen your Category check each section. This software does not always put the right information in the right box and leaves some boxes blank. Again, if the directories feel you are using software carelessly they will delete your article. The manual sites are just that, manual top to bottom. It took me a full day for each article so it is still a time consuming process.

Then my partner found “Instant Article Submitter” which I have tested thoroughly. It is by far the easiest and quickest available at this time. Set up is still a bit tedious, once again you have to establish your logins, but only once. And I found them much more accurate in filling in the necessary submission forms. Yes, you still must choose your Category but only once for each niche.

They have 100’s of Article Directories listed but there is a tab where you can mark your “Favorites”. At first I was a little intimated but it is easy to follow and saves you a lot of time. I submitted to over 150 directories in about 4 hours and that was my first time using the software, so I was on the learning curve. Be careful not to hit the “Next Site Button” until after you have the confirmation that your article has been acknowledged.

So that has been my experience with these three systems for submitting articles to a Article Directory. I do not recommend hand posting it is much too difficult.

For me the most convenient and least cumbersome was Instant Article Submitter for getting my articles out there to many Article Directories in the least amount of time.

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Milac Celis asked:


Can your really get paid to write articles online?

Writing can be a passion or just a hobby to many people, or simply a basic mean of communication such as speaking, with no particular relevance from an occupational standpoint.

It strikes me to see how many people I know are knowledgeable in many fields or have so many entertaining stories to tell without realizing that this simple fact can make them money, because yes, a lot of people get paid to write articles online.

Indeed, writing articles is not about being a professional writer with an editorial background of some kind, it is just about sharing some thoughts, knowledge or even anecdotes that might be useful or entertaining.

You will not have the need to be the greatest writer in the world, all you will have to do is write about something that you feel comfortable with and voilà, you are ready to be paid for your articles.

Of course it is not enough to have something you can write about, it is also important to find the people interested in what you are writing and therefore pay for your articles.

This is the other important part of the equation, and one that poses no real difficulty at all, because you can actually find several places around the web where your content will be needed and well paid for.

In fact, you can earn as much as $45 for a simple article (not a Pulitzer price article), or $25 to post comments on blogs, or even $400 for a story. Whatever your preference, the fact is that there are many ways to exploit your writing skills (even if you have almost none) and this can translate in a significant amount of fast cash for you, because you will actually be paid as you write.

Experience the joy of getting paid to write articles online at Freelance Home Writers

mark fleagle asked:


First Page Google Rankings Are Easy

Key Steps To your website traffic future

If you are interested in getting free search engine website traffic than you need to take a look at article marketing. Article marketing can be a very rewarding website traffic generator but you need to have a article marketing plan in place to be successful. You need to set a goal of writing and submitting at least one article per week to have any impact on your website traffic. The most important element of a article marketing plan is follow through. Don’t get side tracked with excuses.

For example I have A fishing site and I post a minimum of 1 article per week about fishing. One article may not sound like a lot but you are building links with these articles that will last a lifetime. Also quality and respectability are strong factors when writing articles. If you don’t have a goal to recognized as a expert in your selected “niche” then don’t bother with article marketing.

Also article marketing is not a quick hit marketing technique that will get you 1000’s of hits to your website. Your traffic will grow gradually over time. But I can guarantee this traffic will be quality targeted traffic. I have been using article marketing for about two years now and my sales have doubled.

I have identified below some key steps you can use to develop your own marketing plan.

#1 Identify your “niche” market. Do not waste your time starting to write articles until you have completed this step. The more specific you are when you identify what you want to write about the better success you will have.

#2 Create a keyword , keyword phrase list of at least 50 keyword phrases. These words need to be associated with the “niche” market you have chosen. I do not recommend you start out targeting single keywords, select keyword phrases about your niche that are two and three words in length. Concentrate on using keyword phrases that are two and three words in length. The reason I say this is because writing articles that concentrate using just single keywords are very hard to get listed on search engines. It is much easier to get listed with two and three keyword phrases. To develop your keyword phrase list go to Google Adwords and use their free keyword tool. It is an excellent marketing tool. Type in a single keyword that is associated with your “niche” market. Adwords will generate a list of two and three keyword phrases for you. Make sure you download or copy this list for future use when you are writing your articles.

#3 Now you are ready to start writing articles! What I do in my writing is just start writing what comes to mind that is pertinent to the niche I have selected. If you have to do any research do it before you start writing. This is also an excellent way to help with your articles structure. I typically will focus on using three different phrase for each article. As a rule of thumb I try to write articles that concentrate on three keyword phrases. Each new article I write concentrates on 3 new keyword phrases or a variation of existing ones I have used. One thing about keywords or phrases is that you do not want to repeat the same targeted word or phrase more than once every 100 hundred words. Take for example, if I were writing a article about article marketing and targeting the phrase “ Article Automation” and the length of my article was say 700 words, I would need to make sure this key word phrase was not used more than once every 100 words and no more then 7 times total. There are some twists you could use like mixing it up and instead of using “crappie fishing you could use “crappie angling” Its up to you. Just don’t repeat the same phrase in a 100 word count, the search engines penalize you for doing so and your article will not score well. Remember concentrate on the quality of your article when inserting keyword phrase. It’s important that you get the attention of the reader.

#4 Your next and final step is creating and developing a good article directory list to submit your articles too. All article directories are not created equal so I suggest you use the following simple steps list the sites you want to submit to in a priority by Google ranking sequence. To get a listing of directories just do a search using the key word “article directory” as your search term. The results will give you 1000’nds of sites to use in your list development. I Do suggest two very important article sites that are worth mentioning that you should put at the top of your list, and they are ezinearticles.com and Searchwarp.com. I use a free Google ranking tool that is simple to use to locate each sites ranking. Type in the following keyword phrase “website ranking tools for Google” at Google’s search box to find a free ranking tool suitable for you, or just e-mail me and I send the link I use. Concentrate your list on rankings of “6”,”5”,”4”,”3” . Article directories with these rankings will get you the most website traffic.

Now your ready to start article marketing! Good Luck In your efforts, Sincerely Mark Fleagle.

Vishal Thakur asked:


You are working hard trying to support your affiliate business. You have spent the important time in article writing and now want to engage in a little article promotion to get your name out there. You want to build that traffic back to your website so you can sell those affiliate products. However, you need to find a fine article marketing plans. A good article-marketing program will make sure that the articles you write are ready for cyber-time prime time. A good article-marketing provider will guarantee your articles meet the requirements of a host of publishers around the net. A poor article-marketing program is one that does not take the time to explore your article for any content or format no-no’s. Your busy running your business and taking time for article writing can be a challenge in itself. For this reason it’s great to have a third-party check over your article. Their well-trained eyes can search for any flaws that will hinder your articles widespread Internet distribution.  For more details go to www.article-submitters.com. A good quality article-marketing plan has an editorial component that makes sure your article is ready to go to publishers. Characteristic of a superior article-marketing program is one that offers you deep and wide distribution of an unlimited amount of articles. A good program will permit you to submit as many articles as you want for one fixed price.

You are working hard trying to support your affiliate business. You have spent the important time in article writing and now want to engage in a little article promotion to get your name out there. You want to build that traffic back to your website so you can sell those affiliate products. However, you need to find a fine article marketing plans. A good article-marketing program will make sure that the articles you write are ready for cyber-time prime time. A good article-marketing provider will guarantee your articles meet the requirements of a host of publishers around the net. A poor article-marketing program is one that does not take the time to explore your article for any content or format no-no’s. Your busy running your business and taking time for article writing can be a challenge in itself. For this reason it’s great to have a third-party check over your article. Their well-trained eyes can search for any flaws that will hinder your articles widespread Internet distribution.  For more details go to www.article-submitters.com. A good quality article-marketing plan has an editorial component that makes sure your article is ready to go to publishers. Characteristic of a superior article-marketing program is one that offers you deep and wide distribution of an unlimited amount of articles. A good program will permit you to submit as many articles as you want for one fixed price.

This means you can budget precisely for article marketing and then write to your heart’s content. A poor article-marketing program will only allow you a set number of articles to submit for a certain fee. This restricts you for articles you can submit, which in turn restricts the number of click backs you will get to your website from these articles. A good article-marketing program will also send these unlimited articles to the widest distribution list possible. They will also have a long list of categories you can choose from to target a market precisely. A poor article-marketing program will offer you fewer choices for publishers, which can hamper your article promotion campaign. A good article-marketing program will let you distribute the articles you write over time. They do not perform just a one-time distribution. A poor article-marketing plan will not offer you this feature. You want to build traffic to your website so you need regular distribution of your articles to keep your name and links out there continually. You are wise to select a service that allows you to upload your articles and schedule their distribution to when you want them to go out. In other words, you set the timetable, not the article-marketing provider. In calculation, a good article-marketing program will let you track the development of your article submissions. In this way, you can stay in control of your article distribution campaign.

With a tracking system at your disposal, you can track where all of your articles are and how much exposure they are garnering. You can then see at a glance which articles are giving you the highest return on the time investment it took to write them. To know more about it login to www.yourown-article-directory.com. You can track submission dates and view scheduled distributions when you have access to an article-marketing tracking system. A poor article-marketing program will not offer this benefit, or will offer one that does not provide the depth of information you require. Finally, a good article-marketing program will make sure your article receives distribution in a careful manner that delivers many links quickly.  They will also distribute your article so that it receives a regular stream of new, relevant links over time. A poor article-marketing campaign will send out your article writing efforts haphazardly, with no game plan in place to encourage consistent traffic to your website.

David Fishman asked:


Write about things you are knowledgeable in, and have passion for. Feel passion when you are writing, and your writing will improve. Article writing is one of those exercises that for a few people produce truly phenomenal results online. Some online article authors are total amateurs, but their writing is also quite good. Quality is so essential to article marketing. You don’t want your web site to look like it’s cheap and aimless.

There is no better way to increase traffic than having content and submitting this content to article sites. Many webmasters are using RSS Syndication and it is becoming the way content is delivered to websites on the internet. Creating unique good quality will help with the search engines and visitors. Without good, relevant content the Internet would be nothing. Many webmaster agree that relevant good quality content is king. The pages will be indexed in the search engines because the keywords are relevant and match the content of the article.

One of the benefits of submitting articles to article directories is that once the article is there in the directory it is not archived as time goes on. There are niche directories that only accept articles within their niche. One of the best article directories are very easy to use and provide members with a lot of help in the form of online tutorials and help screens. Article Directories is the one place where webmaster and authors can submit articles and get published. Article directories exemplify the best kind of website that Search Engines love the most. The first benefit of writing articles and submitting them to article directories is that it establishes you as an expert in your particular field.

Many publishers come to article directories looking for articles to publish, they take the article and post it on their site. When writing your articles, you need to focus on providing specific information the publisher will find beneficial.

Using a niche article directory is a great way to publish specific articles and sell products in that niche. This enables them to publish your article faster and with fewer errors. The giant article directories need approve hundreds of articles a day. Submitting your articles to directories is free. Article directories are websites that house free articles. Anyone can write an article and use it to promote their website. The distribution of articles through free article directories is one of the best ways to promote your website.

Want to know if this process has actually done anything for you. You are writing for people. If you are writing to get traffic and you are not receiving it, you might get discouraged but don’t be, the link benefit in the long run will bring the traffic. One can use this method to try and draw in user traffic as well as use other procedures to bring visitors to their particular site. Writing and submitting articles is the most effective way to publicize your website, build one way links and promote your website.

Your link that you include in your article should point back to your site, but should also reflect the theme of the site. It can take several months to get into some directories so it can be frustrating but don’t give up keep submitting articles.

David Fishman asked:


To boost your sites ranking and popularity write articles and publish them, you can do this using article directories. Using the directories you can submit article and become an expert in your area, this is one of the fastest routes to create your expertise in your area. Niche article directories will give you plenty of exposure. This enables them to publish your article faster and with fewer errors. What’s even better is that submitting is completely free. Article Directories are the best places to establish one way links pointing back to your site.

Since Web 2.0 people are now talking about content, content, but when everyone talks about content they are talking about good content. If you have good and relevant content the search engines love this and visitors love this to. Using content that is quality is very powerful when dealing with the search engines. Without good, relevant content the Internet would be nothing. When the article gets indexed in the search engine the article will be in the same theme as the keywords, search engines ranking will increase because this is natural.

Quality is so essential to article marketing. You don’t want visitors coming to your site and thinking your site is worthless and not worthy of them staying on your site. Be careful when linking to other sites, sites that are spam or are banned from search engines will lower your rankings and might even penalize you in some way.

If readers enjoy what they read, a simple click on the agreed hyperlink will instantly lead them to your site and increase your web traffic. First of all, the more back links to your site, the higher your search engine ranking and page rank will be. Also, the more webmasters use your article, the more exposure your link will get. Generating traffic is paramount to having a successful website.

There are three different types of directories that webmasters should submit their web site to. Along with the use of search engines, and article databases, a Webmaster will be pleasantly surprised at the free advertising available on the Internet. Finally, the increase in web traffic that webmasters will reap is truly astonishing indeed. One of the easiest and most effective ways to bring visitors to your site and improve your search engine rankings is through the use of article directories. Article directories contain articles that webmasters can put on their website for free.

To start increasing your links include your keywords in your bio area and link them to your site. When you submit articles to an article site make sure the links are anchored with keywords that are themed with the article. Since directories are free it sometimes takes months to be accepted. The best thing to do when you submit is to put it out of your mind. It can take several months to get into some directories so it can be frustrating. The first article you submit is guaranteed publication in a top article directory.

When a publisher comes to an article directory, they are looking for something they can post on their site that is beneficial to their readers. Make sure when writing the article you write on the specific information that the readers will want to read.

mark fleagle asked:


First Page Google Rankings Are Easy

Article Marketing Key Steps:

Article Marketing is a excellent way to get free Search engine traffic . The key is having a solid article marketing plan. You need to set a goal of writing and submitting at least one article per week to have any impact on your website traffic. You must follow through and stick to your guns and make sure you publish the number articles you have set in your plan for each month.

My article marketing plan calls for to write and submit 1 article per week for my fishing site, now some weeks I write more, but never less than 1 per week. One article may not sound like a lot but you are building links with these articles that will last a lifetime. Also quality and respectability are strong factors when writing articles. If you don’t have a goal to recognized as a expert in your selected “niche” then don’t bother with article marketing.

Article marketing is not a quick hit traffic generator, This process takes time and your website traffic increases will be over time. There are some ways to jump start your efforts by automation but you need to learn the basics before using these tools. But I can guarantee this traffic will be quality targeted traffic. I have been using article marketing for about two years now and my sales have doubled.

Now let’s get to the meat of my article and look at key steps that are needed to make your article marketing efforts successful.

#1 Identify your “niche” market. Do not waste your time starting to write articles until you have completed this step. The more specific you are when you identify what you want to write about the better success you will have.

#2 Create a keyword , keyword phrase list of at least 50 keyword phrases. These words need to be associated with the “niche” market you have chosen. I do not recommend you start out targeting single keywords, select keyword phrases about your niche that are two and three words in length. Concentrate on using keyword phrases that are two and three words in length. The reason I say this is because writing articles that concentrate using just single keywords are very hard to get listed on search engines. It is much easier to get listed with two and three keyword phrases. If you have a low advertising budget, like most of us, I would like to suggest an excellent free keyword phrase generator that is offered by Google adwords. This service is free and you do not need to deposit any money. Type in a single keyword that is associated with your “niche” market. Adwords will generate a list of two and three keyword phrases for you. Make sure you download or copy this list for future use when you are writing your articles.

#3 Start writing articles that use some of the keyword phrases from your list . Start out writing by inserting your two and three word phrases as you go. One thing about keywords or phrases is that you do not want to repeat the same targeted word or phrase more than once every 100 hundred words. Take for example, if I were writing a article about article marketing and targeting the phrase “ Article Automation” and the length of my article was say 700 words, I would need to make sure this key word phrase was not used more than once every 100 words and no more then 7 times total. There are ways to mix your phrases up to get the same ranking without duplicating your phrases; example instead of using “article automation” you could use “automate articles” and not be penalized by the search engines for excessive keywords. Remember concentrate on the quality of your article when inserting keyword phrase. It’s important that you get the attention of the reader.

#4 Create a list of article directories to submit your article too. There are some steps to this that I recommend you use because all article directories are not created equal. You need to build a list of directories that prioritized by their Google rankings. First thing you need to do is go to Google and type in “article directory” in the search box. The results will give you 1000’nds of sites to use in your list development. There are two sites you must put on your list right now and they are ezinearticles.com and searchwarp.com. I use a free Google ranking tool that is simple to use to locate each sites ranking. Type in the following keyword phrase “website ranking tools for Google” at Google’s search box to find a free ranking tool suitable for you, or just e-mail me and I send the link I use. Just a note when developing a list use sites with rankings of 6,5,4,3 first, these sites will get you some traffic over time.

Now your ready to start article marketing! Good Luck In your efforts, Sincerely Mark Fleagle.

Tiva Kelly asked:


Writing articles can be a great way for you to promote a business, a new idea, or even an opinion. A good article can bring people together to learn about or discuss anything related to your service or product, or any new or interesting topic.

The most important step in writing articles is to make sure the information is presented in an interesting way, and that is clear and easy to understand. First, think about a topic that would bring attention to your article, and that you have gathered enough information or data to write about. If you are writing to promote work, think about what topics may interest a consumer or other business. Writing articles does not always have to be the same information found in other sources, but rather new and interesting facts that can bring additional knowledge or interest to your topic.

Since you can use any topic, writing articles can be an easy way for others with similar interests to notice you, and also to share whatever knowledge you may have on that subject. Always use a simple writing style, so that anyone who reads the article can easily understand the contents, and write in a way that is most like your own style.

Coming up with a proper heading is very important since it can generate interest in your target to even read your article. The heading should be three or four words that best describe the topic of the article. Sometimes, it is easier to come up with a heading after the article is written, but some prefer to create it beforehand. When selecting a title for your article, remember that you can always change it later to fit what you’ve just written.

The type of heading you use should depend upon what the article is about. If you are writing a news article, the heading should have a timely or interesting point within it. Any other articles should have a heading that catches attention, since that interest will drive people to read what you have to say. Keep headlines short, simple and easy to understand. When submitting an article online, use keywords that are contained in your article title, which are often searched for on the Internet to bring viewers to your work, and also make it easier for people to find your article.

The first paragraph should explain to the reader the purpose of the article and offer a brief glimpse of the informative content of the article. You can include background information or a summary of the topic in order to set up the rest of the article. Keep the article flowing and easy to understand by writing out a basic outline beforehand. This can keep you from repeating information, or having paragraphs in the wrong order, or even worse, disjointed.

After the article is written, step away for a few minutes and then go back to it for proofreading. Check for grammar, misuse of punctuation, and words that can slip through the spell-check. Writing articles can be a great way to generate views to your other writing, or even a personal website. Use articles as a way to share your ideas or research and promote a new business. The possibilities are endless.

Peter Nisbet asked:


e marketing is without a doubt the most effective traffic generation strategy that ordinary people can use to promote their websites and make money. By ‘ordinary people’ I am referring to those for whom internet marketing is more than a just hobby, but who could not go so far as to refer to themselves as being ‘internet gurus’.

The ‘gurus’ frequently need do little more to make money than to promote each other’s products, since they have already done the hard work of building massive email lists, and optimized these to contain very reliable prospects that are more likely than not going to make a purchase - not every time, but occasionally as products that interest them are promoted.

For others, email lists consist primarily of interested people, but people that are not particularly interested in buying, but that might be persuaded to do so if you can get a good product in front of their eyes before the gurus do. Who would you rather buy from: some unknown peddling a product online, or a well known and highly respected internet marketer such as Joe Vitale or Brad Callen? No contest!

However, by writing articles on your niche, you can use article marketing to promote, not only your website and ultimately your products, but also yourself. If you know how to use article marketing to promote yourself, then you have a massive tool at your disposal that will do you more good online than any amount of promotion of your products could do.

Once your name starts to get known online in your niche, people will begin to respect you as someone that knows the business and the niche, and they will then be more liable to purchase from you. The way that you should go about this is remarkably easy.

Basically you write articles. However, make sure that your articles are written well, and if you are unable to achieve that then employ an article ghost writer to do it for you. Alternatively, and much more profitably, learn how to do it yourself. It is not difficult to learn how to write articles if you have a basic command of English. If English is not your first language then you might have a problem, although that too can be overcome with practice.

A good article consists of several sections, each one of which should be looked upon as a separate entity, and each optimized to the best of your ability, both with respect to search engine optimization and ’stickiness’ on behalf of the reader. What that means is that you want the reader to stay with it, and continue to read from one section to the next.

Although no section of an article can be regarded as more important than any other, there is the argument that each is more important than the next, because people will not read further once their attention or interest has been lost. Writing articles is an art, even without the content, vocabulary and grammar being considered. The structure of an article is a skill in itself, and if you can master the structural aspect of article writing, then the rest is so much easier.

If you are to use article marketing to promote yourself, it should be as both an author and somebody that projects themself as being an expert in his or her field or niche. To achieve that form of respect, you must consider each of the following aspects of your article writing:

The Title - The title should make the subject clear, and should also contain the primary keyword at the beginning. A keyword can be one word or a phrase, although it is best to be restricted to a maximum of three words. Hence, ‘article marketing tips’ is a good keyword, but ‘how to use article marketing tips’ is not. You can use the second example, but restrict the optimization to ‘article marketing tips’.

Also try to include a secondary keyword in the title, such as “Article Writing Tips: How to Profit from Article Marketing”. That is good, but you must also catch the readers eye, by offering them a benefit from reading your article, so a better title would be: Article Writing Tips: How to Make Money Writing Articles”.

See the difference? I am not suggesting these are brilliant examples, but the second title is better than the first, because it stresses the benefit of writing articles better than the first example.

The Opening Paragraph - If the reader is attracted by the title, you have to keep them reading by means of the opening paragraph. This should expand on the title, and offer them more benefits of writing articles, and perhaps explain how easy it is to make money or promote their website or products through article marketing. By reading on they will learn some secrets that will enable them to write articles that will make them money.

In doing this you are also promoting yourself, because you are demonstrating yourself as being an expert in your niche of article marketing. Incidentally, article writing and article marketing are different skills: many people can write articles, but don’t have a clue how to use them in internet marketing.

The other sections of your article include the article body, the concluding paragraph that should lead into the resource, and the resource itself, which is where you advertise yourself or your website and provide a link to it. Also important is the summary, which should persuade people to read the article itself.

It is important to understand how to use article marketing correctly, so that you promote yourself, not only your website or product, and take a step towards becoming well known sufficiently for others to seek you out and trust your products. One final tip: Use your name and product in your keyword list.

William J Thomas asked:


always enjoyed writing. When I was younger, I can recall sitting up in my room and writing scripts for T.V. shows that were on at the time, such as ‘Chico and the Man’. Having recently went back and re-read some of them, I was surprised at the quality of the writings. Perhaps I missed my calling in life, but at the age of thirteen I was more interested in having fun and enjoying the creative process, than being concerned about making money with my writings. Nowadays, I no longer dabble with writing scripts and stories, my writing centers more on articles that can actually earn me money through the process of article marketing. This article looks at the basics of article marketing, and shows how anyone can turn simple articles into cash.

In simple terms, Article Marketing is the process of getting your article in as many places on the Internet as possible. While there are numerous ways to accomplish this, one of the most effective is through the submission of an article to Article Directories. The reason this arrangement works so well is because Newsletter and Ezine publishers, website owners, and other interested parties are always looking for new content to post on their sites, and the first place many of them turn to find this information is Article Directories. As a writer, your task is to provide the information that these people need, and in exchange you receive backlinks and traffic to your site. The more places that your articles appear, the more traffic you receive. While this process is commonly referred to as Viral Marketing, I like to call it magic, because once it’s started, it’s nearly impossible to stop.

When it comes to writing and distributing articles, there are a couple schools of thought. One says that you should write as many articles as possible, even employing ‘ghost writers’ to write articles for you. With this method, quantity trumps quality, and your main concern is getting as many articles and backlinks out as quickly as possible. The other approach is to write your own quality articles which attract newsletter publishers, ezine operators and others. While only you can decide what is the best approach to use, I would add that writing your own articles gives you complete control over the content, and allows you to place your name on an article that expresses your own unique thoughts and knowledge.

Once you have completed an article, you then need to distribute it to the Article Directories. What options do you have to achieve this?

1. Submitting Your Article Manually

This is the most time consuming and tedious method of all, and if you’re not careful, you’ll spend more time submitting your articles to directories than writing them. While there are literally thousands of article directories on the Internet, my suggestion is to focus on the major directories; these are directories with a huge readership. You can find out which one’s are the most popular by simply doing a search with the words, ‘best article directories’. While space prohibits me from listing them all, some that I consider must do are ‘Ezine Articles’, ‘Go Articles’, ‘Article Dashboard’, Idea Marketers’, SearchWarp’ and ‘ArticlesBase’.

2. Using Article Submission Software

Article Submission Software is supposed to automate many of the functions of article submission such as filling in forms. etc. However, my experiences with Article Submisssion software left a lot to be desired. A few of the problems that I encountered with it were having numerous sites listed in their directory that were no longer in business, many sites not loading, and having your articles submitted in the wrong categories. In the end, I had to go back and ‘cut and paste’ most of my articles into the directories which sort of defeated the whole purpose of why I purchased the software in the first place. While I would imagine that there are in fact article submission software that actually does what it claims, I would urge diligent research before purchasing this type of software.

3. Article Submission Services

Another option that you can use to distribute your articles is Article Submission Services. The reasoning behind using a article submission service is that you will get your articles distributed much faster because of their large network of contacts such as Newsletter and Ezine publishers. As mentioned previously, these publishers are looking for valuable content and they rely upon places such as submission services to obtain it. It’s a real win-win situation for all concerned. I currently use a submission service and it seems to working very well for me in that I have noticed a big increase in my backlinks since I started using them. If you are a busy person(who isn’t)this might be a good option for you.

Article marketing can be a great way to get the word out about yourself and your business. While there are several ways to accomplish this, by consistently submitting your articles to various article directories, you will see an increase in your traffic, and most likely your profits.