How To Submit Articles: Your Beginner Questions Answered!
If you're new to article marketing, then you probably have a ton of questions floating around in your head about how to submit articles and what you should be shooting for when you do.
I've collected four of the most commonly asked beginner questions and included them in this article along with my answers. I hope these will be useful to you...
Question 1 - Does my website need to be indexed before I can start marketing with articles?
No, your website does not need to be previously indexed--in fact, submitting articles is a very efficient way to help your website to get indexed quickly and naturally. In fact, it's a lot more effective than manually submitting your website address to Google.
Question 2 - I am so confused as I've heard different recommendations for the word count of an article. Some people recommend as low as 250 words for an article, while others say 800 words is better. What is right?
Personally, I shoot for a word count of 600-800 words, as that allows enough room to provide substantial information on the article topic. If you're down in the 250 word range, that's hardly more than a paragraph, and the value of that length of article is severely limited.
There are a couple things to take into account when deciding how long your articles should be:
*Find out what the publisher's editorial guidelines are. Each publisher has his or her own guidelines, so there is some flexibility on what is acceptable. Most publishers will accept articles between 400-1500 words (or perhaps longer).
*Take into account what most publishers find ideal. That is different from what most publishers find acceptable. Think about all types of publishers, including ezine editors. Ezine editors will often have a certain word count that they're shooting for with free reprint articles that they choose to include in their newsletters. They want a piece of content that is meaty enough to give their readers valuable information, but not so long that their readers will not want to tackle reading the article. A nice in between range is 600-800 words.
*Think about what your readers are looking for in terms of the length of your article. Most readers have a specific reason why they are looking at content on the internet--they are in need of an answer to a question or information on a specific topic. They want to get the information they need and then move on. What readers are looking for is similar to what publishers are looking for--they want an article that is substantial enough to offer valuable information, but not so long that they feel like they're reading an encyclopedia. Again, 600-800 words is a good range for that purpose.
Question 3- Is it alright for me to take content from my blog and then submit the blog post as a free reprint article without making any changes to it? Or do I need to re-write the blog post before submitting it as an article?
That's an excellent question. I would advise that you totally re-write the blog post before submitting it as an article. The reason for this is that doing so will allow you to keep the content on your own website unique, which is beneficial to your website's SEO.
Question 4 - Can I write a title that says the article contains 5 tips, and then only put 4 tips in my article? I would then lure the reader to my website to get the 5th tip. Is that ethical?
Sorry, you won't be able to do that with free reprint articles. If the title says that the article contains 5 tips, then the article must contain 5 tips.
It is a good idea to use something to lure the reader into clicking the link to your website, but whatever "lure" you use (whether it's a free report, a coupon for your products or services, a free newsletter, or something else), you need to put that enticement in the resource box, rather than the article itself. So, you've got the right idea with trying to motivate the reader to visit your website, but you just need to come up with a different enticement.
As you're first learning how to submit articles, you'll likely have a question at every turn, but things will get easier the more experience you get. You'll get to know what publishers are looking for, you'll develop a system for writing valuable content, and you'll learn how to make the most of your article submissions so that you get the most traffic possible at your website.
About the Author
Steve Shaw has helped thousands of business owners worldwide build traffic, leads and sales to their websites, and he wants to help you do the same - grab his free report giving you a blueprint for attracting sustainable, dirt-cheap, long-term, targeted traffic to any website ... including yours! Go now to http://www.submityourarticle.com/report - some people have used the same information to boost their traffic by up to 600%!
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