It is an accepted fact that article marketing is the best, free way of attracting traffic to your website but getting your article published at the top article submission websites can be fraught with difficulties. Here are my top tips for getting your articles accepted first time round and my top 5 article directories.

First, the article directories: I have had articles ranked on the first page of Google for my chosen keywords at all of the following:

Ezine Articles
Go Articles
SearchWarp (soon to become WryteStuff)
Article Content King 
Articles Base

Now for the tips:

Tip #1 All the top article submission websites have different rules for acceptance of articles so before you start, check out their Author Terms. To make life easier for yourself, create a spreadsheet listing the directory names down the side and the following headings across the top.

a. Minimum number of words – this is usually 400 but can vary
b. Summary – some directories want one, some don’t
c. Links in article body – some directories permit this, others don’t so you’ll have a number in this column
d. Links in resource box – again, permitted numbers vary, so make a note.

For me, these are the most important things you need to know before you submit but read the rest of the terms carefully and if anything strikes you that you’ll need to remember, add a column for that information.

Tip #2 If English isn’t your first language or you don’t write English well, then pay a ghost writer as all the top article submission websites demand good grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Tip #3 Use your keywords in the title and make sure the title will attract readers. For example "how to bake the perfect cake" rather than "how to bake a cake".

Tip #3 If a summary is needed and you don’t want to write a separate one, then you can usually use the first couple of sentences of your article.

Tip #4 Don’t over use your keywords in the article body; 1 to 2 percent is quite enough and when you do use them, make sure that they fit naturally into the text. The body of the article is where you build trust and display your expertise on your subject.

Tip #5 To hold the attention of your reader, use short paragraphs, bullet points or lists. Long paragraphs will make people lose interest.

Tip #6 Your resource box is where you are allowed self-serving links but most top article submission websites will not permit links to affiliate sites. In addition, the page to which you’re linking must be content rich or your article won’t be accepted and it must also be relevant. If you’re telling people that they can learn lots more about how to recognise if their cat is sick, don’t send them to a page which tells them how to train their cat to use a litter tray.

If you follow these tips you shouldn’t have any trouble getting your articles accepted at the top article submission websites.

Liz Canham has been involved in article marketing for nearly ten years and as well as writing for her own websites, frequently writes for others. She has compiled details of hertop article submission websites and more ways of getting free website traffic, so visit Liz’s website Liz-e-Biz.

Article Source: Top Article Submission Websites – Tips for Getting Your Article Accepted

I guess most of you want to get traffic to your website free but you don’t know how. There are a number of different free ways of creating website traffic but my favourite is article marketing.

Article marketing is quite hard when you first start out and you’re not used to dashing off an article in twenty minutes or so. Your first attempts may take an hour or more but don’t despair because it will get easier and quicker with practice.

For your first article, I would advise choosing a topic that you’re really familiar with. If you do that, then at least you won’t have to do lots of research in order to find something to write about.

When you’ve chosen your topic, you’ll need to devise a title for your article. I would advise doing some keyword research so that your article will appear in the search engine listings giving you more readers and thus more clicks through to your website.

Choose a keyword phrase which has a quite high search volume per month, say between 1000 and 5000 and which has less than 20,000 competing pages. You should also consider how easy that phrase will be to insert into your article and still appear natural to your readers. The object is to impart information, not just write rubbish or your article won’t be accepted by the better directories.

Once you’ve chosen your title, write an introductory paragraph using your keyword phrase at least once. If you can insert it twice without making your prose sound odd then do so. It’s worth reading aloud to yourself to understand how others will see your article.

There are a number of ways in which to continue with the body of your article. Numbered or bulleted lists are popular and are easy to read. Tips and how tos attract readers with a particular problem to solve or you can just use prose but do try to make it flow and have the paragraphs appear in a logical order. Use your keyword phrase once or twice but again, make sure that it fits in naturally with what you’re saying.

Finish with either a paragraph which précis what you’ve said or which reminds your readers why they’re reading the article.

Finally, you’ll need a resource box or author’s bio which will encourage your readers to click through to your website. This is a topic on its own and I’ve written a separate article about how to structure your resource box.

So you see it’s quite easy to get traffic to your website free using article marketing but you’ll have to work quite hard at it initially.

Liz Canham has been involved in article marketing for nearly ten years and as well as writing for her own websites, frequently writes for others. To read more on creating website traffic and particularly how to structure a resource box, visit Liz’s website Liz-e-Biz.

Article Source: Get Traffic to Your Website Free – Use Article Marketing

Do you want to be #1-10 on Google and other search engines? Do you want quadruple your Web sales in five months? Promote your business to the top with these 7 reasons to write and submit how-to articles.

1. Reach 10,000 to 150,000 targeted potential customers or clients every week Online that translates to increased sales. These people sign up for the no-spam ezines that you submit your articles to. They want what you have.

2. Spend less than seven hours a week for big results. Once you learn the learn the "articles system" from an internet marketing coach, your word will reach these big audiences hungry for free information. They need your articles for their ezines and web sites, because content brings the visitors to a web site.

3. Get free publicity from the worldwide web. Like me, in just eight months, think of getting your URL listed on 1000 other web sites, and, in 3 years, on over 4500 web sites. That too, translates to boosted sales.

4. Get seven times the impact of other promotion methods such as press releases, ads, talks, or link exchanges. When those many thousands of people online read your articles, they will see that you are the right savvy person in your field. Their trust builds, and they will eventually buy from you. Be patient with this process, because big results may take up to eight months.

5. Get frequent web visitors because you have also listed your articles on your web site. Have your web master add a link at the bottom of each article straight to your sales letter for each service and product. Content rich sites attract new buyers. Search engines notice the key words within your articles, and your site will rise to the top quickly. This is how your Internet coach got to be #1 in Google with the words book coaching.

6. Reach thousands of potential buyers when you submit one or two articles each two weeks to related web sites. These sites post your articles with a link back to your site. The more articles you submit, the better you are known as the savvy expert in your field.

7. Parlay your numbers when someone says, "I’m publishing your article on this site, or it’s going into this ezine." How? Write a short thank you and offer to put this person’s email on your ePublishers email list to which you submit new articles to weekly.

This easy, little time investment of submitting articles will yield money results far beyond most traditional marketing paths.
 

 Judy Cullins © All Rights Reserved.

Article Source: Top Seven Reasons to Publicize your Business with Articles

After several months of studying the art of marketing businesses by using informative articles I’ve been really impressed with the tremendous information that’s out there. By writing a content rich, helpful and informative article you can set yourself apart as an expert in your field and generate traffic to you and your business. Most of my study has been in the field of Internet marketing, but as the wheels of my mind have been turning and with the experience I’ve had with Direct Sales, I want to encourage you, Direct Selling Mom, to explore this as a way to expand your business… and provide a new outlet of fun for yourself too!

Why in the world do you want to spend time writing articles? If you’re like me, you’re business life is already too consuming and you need to spend less time on your business, not more! First, it’s FUN! Here’s your chance to let your creative juices flow! You know how much you love your products. And at your parties, you love talking about them to the party guests. But now, you have a chance to take it another level. Do you sell scrapbooking products? Share your heart about the importance of creating a legacy of memories for your progeny. Passionate about candles? Write an article about the warmth of hospitality in your home that can be created by simply adding some beautiful candles to your decor.

Think beyond the specific products in your line and create from your heart! You’ll see… it’ will stretch your mind and you’ll love every minute of it! Second, it’s profitable. As you send out valuable content either online to article directories or offline to your local publications, you’re establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Because each article has a resource box, an author section with your information – name, email, website, email and/or phone, the people who read your article, will know who to contact… YOU! Third, it sets you apart.

Direct Sales is a competitive business and most likely if you’re in company that’s more than a year or two old, you’re not the only representative around. By writing articles and establishing credibility, you’re setting yourself apart from other consultants in your own company and in competing ones as well. How to start?

Here are some quick suggestions:

1. Read some other articles online that fit in with the theme of your particular product line.

2. Pick your favorite product from your direct sales catalog. Take a long look at it and think about WHY this is your favorite. What can it "do" for your customers… what’s it’s value.

3. Write down your thoughts about the product in list form. Look through the list and find some "key words" that really stand out.

4. Using those key words, start to build a story about the experience of the product…. not the specific product itself. This is where you really begin to write an article rather than a sales pitch.

5. Now just keep writing…tweak, change, set it aside for a day and come back to it. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t come to you right away, especially if you’re not a writer by nature.

6. Take a risk and have a good friend read and critique your thoughts. Be open to her ideas and rewrite again. When you think you and your article are ready, it’s time to submit it to your local paper or to online article directories.

Just do an Internet search for "article directories" as a good starting point. So much information is available online for maximizing this avenue of marketing. Take advantage of it … and watch your business grow! About the author: Annette Yen of Sailing to Success.com is a 20 year veteran of Direct Sales. Take your business the next level with article writing when you Click here for Easy Article Marketing

Article Source: Using Article Marketing In Your Direct Sales Business

As the publisher of an article directory, I see this all the time: writers and other marketers who are so desperate to get their promotional seen they really don’t think about how they are marketing, where they are marketing, or who they are marketing to.

As an article writer myself, who has gone from almost no listings at all in the last year in Google, to over 46,000, I’d like to give you a little insight into to how you can get your articles read and seen so that get you the traffic and sales you are looking for.

1. Target your market

This should be obvious. If you’re writing articles about real estate, find sites that accept articles on real estate. Find directories that accept articles on real estate. Then your article is more likely to get accepted.

Some article writers assume, wrongly, because a certain type of article is related to a subject, that article will be published on a certain type of site.

Not so. It’s a good idea to explore the content of a site before submitting, unless it’s a general article directory. This will tell you whether this article is a good fit or not.

2. Don’t submit an ad or a press release

I get this one a lot. My question to people like this is, "What makes you think I’ll publish your ad?"

I pay for my web hosting, domains, and all the other expenses incurred in running an online business. Why should I help you? Why do I have to waste my time deleting your junk from my site?

I’m a writer and then a marketer, but in the case of site content, I’m a marketer first. I want top notch content on my site. Good articles. Articles that will help my readers. The best way to help my readers is to publish articles that are related to my topic.

Now, if the site does publish ads and press releases, by all means, submit. However, make sure that you have properly targeted your market. Website publishers are busy people, and it only takes a second to hit that delete key.

3. Make your article interesting

One of the first things I learned in journalism school is to translate technical material into plain language so that readers can understand it.

The same applies with articles. If you use a term that is unfamiliar, explain it in the body of your article. Don’t send your readers on a wild goose chase trying to figure out what you mean.

Make your article easy to understand.

Use short words, short paragraphs, and short sentences. If you’ve ever read a newspaper, or "Time" magazine, or even a romance novel, you’ll find out that these are written on about a seventh grade level.

This is so that readers can get through the material quickly. It’s easy to understand.

4. Don’t use HTML to format your article unless the publisher specifically says you can.

One of Article Directory does all of the HTML formatting for the writer. Therefore, when the writer uses HTML in the formatting, those characters show up. I either have to remove the HTML or delete the article. The article almost always gets deleted unless I really want the article on my site. Then the writer gets a personal email.

5. Check your work

Now I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of this one.

I write at the speed of light and type at the speed of sound. This means that I’m thinking faster than I can get the words down on paper. This can quickly make a mess of my articles.

The easiest way around this one is to read your article out loud. This forces you to slow down. You’ll catch a lot of your grammar and punctuation mistakes, and smooth the flow of your writing.

Give your links one last check to make sure they work, and you’re ready to go.

If you want to get more mileage from your articles, the best way to do this is to target your market, write a good article, and give your reader information that is helpful, interesting, and easy to understand.

You’ll maximize your listings in the search engines and multiply your traffic and sales exponentially.
 

Jinger Jarrett is a writer and internet marketer living in Alpharetta, GA. She will gladly publish yor articles, press releases, announcements, and reviews, when you visit her article directory at http://www.101articles.com
 

Article Source: How to Get Your Promotional Articles Accepted by Publishers

Now that you have your website set up, how do you get traffic?  Believe it or not, articles are a great way to advertise your newly started online business.  And you can do them practically free.  Any stay at home mom working online will be able to successfully market their online  business.

It is really not hard to market with articles.  An online business idea may have been hard to come up with, and you may not feel you can write about it.  Now what do you write about.  Let’s see.  Products are great subjects to write about.  For instance, if you sell hams, write about thanksgiving dinner, or pigs on a farm, or how to prepare recipes featuring ham.  Or you can visit adwords keyword tool to look up possible key phrases about your website to include in your article.  It is free!!!!

After you have a subject, let’s go to the next step.  Article posting websites actually compete against one another for your article business. And it is free!!!!  Go to Google and type in article submission websites.  Make sure you are sitting down to see how many websites want your business.  Your work from home mom business must comply with certain minimum word count restrictions.  So please read the submissions guidelines.

Okay, you still are just a stay at home mom business and do not like to write.  No problem as you can outsource the writing of your article.  Go to Bing and type in article outsourcing.  Money will be required here.  But a great article may not cost very much if you shop around a little.  Another item you may want to purchase is an article spin wizard. You type in one sentence with so many variations.  Then when you run the wizard, a different combination comes out every time.

A resource box at the foot of the article is usually posted with your article.  The box will hold your business information and website address.  If you are allowed, post hyperlinks in the text straight to your website.  This is called anchor text.  It is a great marketing tool.  And your advertising is on its way.

Stay at home moms and women can learn about starting an online business. Visit http://momscashmachine.co .
 

Article Source: Composing Articles Is So Difficult