Article Submissions – How To Proceed

Article Submission is a great way to spread the word about your services and knowledge, boost your website’s popularity in search engines and increase links to your site.  However, submitting to multiple article sites can be fraught with pitfalls if you plan on simply submitting the same article over and over. Different article directories will require different types of formatting. Making sure you submit appropriately means the difference between acceptance and rejection – and some sites have a three strikes and you are out policy.

Don’t miss your chance to hit a grand slam!

The number of characters in titles can vary widely from site to site. Links may be restricted to one, or they may allow up to three. Resource boxes will have specific instructions as to what is allowed and what isn’t. Article submission software can get you into big trouble, so do submit your articles manually, or hire a professional article submission service to manually perform the process for you.

There are some things you can do that will make submitting much easier. Writing the article according to an approved template can help, but if you only have one it is not foolproof – in fact, you should have a specific template for each article directory you choose to submit to.  SEO friendly article writing can help your article rank well in search engines.

Most article directories want articles to be a minimum of 350-400 words – several place the bottom limit as high as 500. 1000 words is the top range – one page articles are best, and you can link related articles together instead of having one huge long article. Courier 10 point is an excellent choice, as it forces even word processors know for using special characters resulting in wonky formatting to straighten up and play well with content management systems. Single space your copy, and double space for paragraphing without indentation.

Use single quotes when possible instead of double quotation marks. Use spell checkers and grammar checkers, and have a third party proof for you if possible. After you check everything ten times, your article is ready for submission. Use a stripper such as Notepad to get rid of any excess formatting (for example, copy and paste from Word into Notepad, then cut and paste from Notepad into the article submission system.) Double check for spacing, paragraphing and other formatting.

Title should be 60 characters or less, with keywords close to the beginning of the title. Pay attention – some article directories use title case, while some don’t. (Title Case is Like This, With Nearly All Words Starting With a Capital letter.)

Most sites will require a short summary of around 250 words describing the point of your article. You will also need to fill in the resource box (do NOT be promotional here!) Some directories allow you to tag your article with keywords. Do NOT spam.

If your article has been appropriately optimized and submitted, you should receive a valuable link to your site and your article may even show up in search, driving traffic to it, and from it to your site. Alter your article slightly for each site to avoid duplication across the web.