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Maximize Your Article Directory Submission

You are ready to kick off your article marketing campaign. You have some great aricles put together and you've located the best directories to promote your articles. But stop!

There are still a few steps you will need to complete before you are really ready to begin submitting your articles to publishers and directories.
  1. Make Your Article As Attractive As Possible. Is your article formatted so it is easy to read and/or scan with short paragraphs, subheadings, and bullet points? Are you using plain text and only plain text in your article?
  2. Clean Up Your Act. Have you checked for spelling, grammar, and other surface errors? You will lose credibility with a lot of mistakes. Read your article out loud. You will be surprised how many mistakes you can catch with this method not to mention how many awkward sentences you can locate for revision.
  3. Offer Useful Information. If you article offers an useful tip or a solution to a problem then make sure you highlight this in your headline and summary. Don't try to sell with your article. Sell yourself, your information, your expertise, and your experience, but not your products. In the long run you will gain far more exposure by selling your knowledge.
  4. Keep It Short. The ideal length (studied by many experts in the field) is a word count of 250-500 words. If your article is twice this length then try to break it into two articles (and so on). If a 500-word article performs the same as a 5,000-word article why give readers more than they can absorb in an easy read.
  5. Create Your Resource Box. A resource box is a small paragraph (directory and site requirements vary so keep it as short as possible) with your name, the name of your business, a short tagline, and most important the link to your website (in url form: http://YourSite.com). Don't get too lengthy but you might add at the end a one-three sentence pitch for your site that can easily be trimmed off if some directories have a low character count for the resource box. Don't forget to include a call to action here. For example, Find more advice from Deanna Mascle by clicking here... You an also include an anchor url related to one keyword or keyword phrase that you want to build backlinks for. Do not abuse or overuse this strategy. Rule of thumb for resource box is that it be no longer than 1/5 the length of your article. If this balance shifts too much it will affect your credibility.
  6. Write A Summary. Many directories will ask you for a summary of your article so it easier to have this prepared before you begin submitting. Keep it short and succint. Usually just a few sentences.
  7. Generate Your Keywords. Many directories will ask you for a list of keywords or key phrases for your article so it is easier to have this prepared before you begin submitting. I would prepare a list of 10-20 words (comma separated) with the most important first working down to the least important.
Once you've completed these seven steps you are ready to submit. Taking a few moments to complete these steps BEFORE you begin submitting will save you time and stress as you work through the submission process -- not to mention allow you to craft the most effective resource box and summary possible.