Summary:
Article Submission is without doubt really essential in building a good online business and promoting your services and products. You can get huge and targeted traffic to your site from a well written and researched article. However, the next step, after writing the article is highly critical- you must submit your articles to the right websites, in the right way. Below are some guidelines, that when followed will lead to high quality back links, and better search engine placements. Apart from that, you will also create a reputation for yourself as an expert in your niche/ business area.
- Write informative and knowledgeable articles - Google’s Panda update fell hard on some article websites- mainly because of their low quality content. That is why there is a much greater emphasis on high quality of articles and write ups. So make sure that what ever you write, it is informative, well researched and highly relevant to your niche. If you are putting yourself across as an expert, then you must sound like one. If the article isn’t factual as well as entertaining, people won’t finish it. You have to be very impressive right from the start as you have only a few seconds to make people ‘not click’ the close button. The more valuable the content within your articles, the better will be their performance in the article directories. Think of issues that are relevant to your target, and then pen down what you think will justify the topic completely.
- Do not submit to multiple sites mindlessly - Yes, the main purpose of article marketing is getting as many back links as possible- in order to get higher search engine positioning. But if you send your articles to millions of directories, it may be noticed by the search engines, and you may be penalized for getting links from poor and irrelevant sites. Search engines prefer good quality links and that from reputed and relevant sites. Massive links from low quality sites, will push you further down in search engines ranking.
- Most preferably do manual submissions to chosen sites - Article submission to multiple sites can be challenging, as well as tedious. There are many automatic submission software available, but they are not recommended. When you submit your articles manually, you have a better chance of getting them submitted and listed. This is because many submission sites require you to enter login details, which is a requirement that can be missed by the software tool. Furthermore, not all directories follow a single pattern of rules, that is why one tool may be good for submission on one site, and unfit for the other one. Like in the case, some articles directories allow HTML after the article, while few allow in body as well. In some cases, you are allowed only few tags by the directories. So, the basis is this- do submissions manually, and it should not be difficult if you have a list of select directories. You must determine which article directories are showing up in Google search, and make sure to send your articles here only.
- Read and follow the article sites’ terms and requirements - If a site is hosting your article, give a few minutes to reading its term of services before making your submission. This will aid you only as your article will not be removed due to non compliance with some terms. Mostly, some article sites will not allow you to have links of your affiliates in your articles. When you follow their terms of service, your article has a much higher chance of being accepted.
- Spin your articles - Do not submit the same one everywhere. Firstly, it creates a duplicate content problem. This could lead to Google penalizing you. Secondly, it is really bad for your reputation as an expert. If people search for your niche, come across the same article by you everywhere, and nothing much else, you do not establish your self as an expert for the users. So it is important to create different versions of your copy, and then submit it to different sites, so that at least it would not come across as the same piece.
- Use keyword variations in anchor text, while submitting to various sites - In order to make your backlink pattern look real, make sure that you submit to a select number of article directories, and always use some keyword variation for the anchor text of your backlinks. Following this practice will not attract the search engines’ attention towards you! Do not let high keyword density get your article rejected. Make sure that your keyword density is no more than 2% of your article word count.
To Conclude: You must make sure that your articles have the option of being shared on various social networks. This will speed up its spread all over the web. Be informative, and choosy in where you submit, and you can get high benefits.
