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The DON'Ts of Article Submission © 2003 by Michelle Lee, http://www.UltimateResourceBarn.com ----------------------------------------------------------- You have probably know that writing articles can be a very successful Internet marketing technique. Submitting your articles to ezine lists and article exchange sites can be an effective way to promote your business. When you get an article accepted by ezines, especially those with big subscribers base, your reach to ready-to-buy potential customers is enormous! Submission to Websites such as Marketing-Seek.com is another means of getting exposure for your articles. Professionally written articles are also welcome as ezine publishers are on the look out for content to be published. I am sure you are convinced of the merits of writing articles and posting them to article resource websites and ezine publishers. Let's concentrate on two DON'Ts of submitting articles. (Yes, only two points, but enough to cause serious damage to your marketing campaign and wasted all your efforts in writing and posting those articles in the first place.) 1. Timing When you submit an article to a resource site, it usually goes into the "25 Most Recent" and is listed there. Then it's archived. It could stay for as long as 3 years on the website. During its entire life span, it waits for Information Seekers such as webmasters, ezine editors and the general public Internet surfers to pick it up. Ah, start posting all your articles to the website. NO, stop! Do not post all articles at one go. Let's go back a few steps. The Observation - When you post, it get listed in "25 Most Recent". When you post all, say 5 articles, all get listed in "25 Most Recent". The Implication - Someone post a new article. Then another person posted. And another person posted three of his ... and so on. Your 5 articles get push down further and further. Very soon, they are out of the "25 Most Recent" and go into "Archive". Once in a while, someone look into "Archive". Once in a while, someone read your 5 articles. Once in a while, they get published by someone. Ok, you may argue that you will always write new articles and you could post them again ... getting your article (and your name) back to "25 Most Recent", the first place where most article-seekers will look at. Please ask yourself this - is this injustice to yourself and your articles necessary? (The answer is obvious, isn't it?) Each article is a precious marketing tool. Use it wisely, time its "existence", plan its "appearance", stage its "entrance", maximize its exposure, especially on hot resource websites where articles get push down the "stack" pretty fast. Draft up a posting time release schedule for each resource website for all your articles. Or do it the other way round - post each article to all resource websites with good time buffer between submissions. Whatever is your strategy, just don't post all your articles to one site at one go. Timing is key, timing is everything. 2. Subject Heading If you are sending your article to ezine publishers, please please please, use an appropriate subject title. We all know how important subject headings are. This is in fact an old story. But like old habit that is hard to kick, people keep making the same mistake over and over again. Don't fall into the trap that comes with automation *every thing*. If your subject header for your article is "New Article For Your Consideration" which could jolly well be the default in some article submission software. It is NOT ok. If you are using a mass sending email software, do not use subject such as "Article Submission". Ezine owners are very busy people. They have tons of things to do. Now, taking short-cuts from time to time is a smart thing to do. Sure, automation saves time. However, make it easy for the readers. In this case, your target audience is the ezine publishers/editors. The content of your article should stand out right there and then, when the target audience opens his or her mailbox. The audience should NOT need to click on any link to make a good guess what the content of your article is all about. For the busy folks, one more click is just too many. Ok, you get my point. So what's next? The more experience will probably put "Article For Your Consideration - Top 10 Tips for Getting Top Ranking in Search Engine". No, no, no. This just does not cut it as well. Why? The subject column in my mailbox, whether it is web mail access or mail client such as Outlook Express, has a limited width. The default in Outlook Express is a 40 characters width subject column unless one bother to change the width to be longer. If it is "Article For Your Consideration - Top 10 Tips for Getting Top Ranking in Search Engine", I will probably just see "Article For Your Consideration - To..." and the rest are chopped off. Hmmm ... can't tell what this article is about. The ezine editor simply moves on to the next email! (Worst, email gets deleted!) The result is - your article submission never get read. Let alone get publishes. Then we get some submissions from some who like it short and sweet. The subject is typically just "New Article" or "Submit Article". Go back to the reasoning given in previous paragraphs. Do you think the article submission would even stand a chance of being read? Maybe ... when the ezine owner miraculously found lots of time on his or her hands and decided to read through the entire collection of article submissions in his mailbox? (When will that ever happen?) Therefore, please do exercise some due diligence. You have spent precious time writing your articles. The articles deserve that you execute the posting carefully by using a optimal subject heading. Taking the example given above, why not use "New Article - Top 10 Tips for Getting Top Ranking in Search Engine". With the limited subject column width, probably what is visible at one glance would be "New Article - Top 10 Tips for Getti ...". At least the important key word "Top 10 Tips" is visible and may spark off enough interest for the ezine editor to open your email and take a look. Beside giving clue to the intended reader what your article is all about, you are facilitating the ease of locating your articles easily in the mailbox. Won't you like it if you can just scroll down the whole list and locate just *that* article easily given the good subject headings? ---=====--- Up the chances of your articles getting publish. That is your original intend, isn't it? Please do not sabotage the chances. With a little fune-tuning here and there, your article may get selected and published in a respectable ezine of 1000s of subscribers. Happy article posting and good luck! © 2003 by Michelle Lee ----------------------------------------------------------- Michelle Lee is the publisher of the @UltimateResourceBarn Newsletter and owner of the ezine website http://www.UltimateResourceBarn.com . Both the website and newsletter are jam-packed with Informative Articles, Tons of Resources & Tools, Ready To Use Tips & Tricks, Proven Internet Marketing Concepts, Affiliate Programs & more. Claim your FREE eBooks + 1 FREE Ad view by over 10,000! mailto:subscribe@UltimateResourceBarn.com?subject=artclsub ----------------------------------------------------------- If you wish to publish this article in your own ezine or newsletter, you are most welcome to do so. However, please publish this article as it is. 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