Article Weblog

Have you fallen for the article marketing trap? Sending out second rate articles, worrying too much about word count and ignoring all the things that would make your effort more successful?

Article marketing has swept through the internet like an avalanche. Virtually everyone knows about the technique but very few are doing it well. Many people are actually ruining their reputation by ignoring article marketing best practices.

As an article newsgroup moderator and article marketing expert I am in the trenches everyday. Increasingly, I reject more articles than I accept. More and more often I hear complaints from publishers that the articles submitted to them are pure crap. Many of these publishers complain that article submission software is to blame. I have to disagree. Here is what I think is causing the majority of problems:

* People who want to use the technique without learning how.

* Private label articles flooding the market.

* Plaigarism and copyright violations.

* Lousy articles with no redeeming values.

* Off topic articles driving publishers crazy.

* Articles that are too short or too long.

* Writers who won’t divulge their identity and only use their by-line for advertising a website.

Can you connect the dots to find out where the article marketing problems lie? With the article marketer. The article marketer, like myself, loves the technique but is often strapped for time. Instead of writing unique articles or hiring a ghostwriter to write for them they get lazy. Stupidity and carelessness is also a factor but I bet being lazy causes most of the problems.

I believe that laziness is the root of all evil in the article marketing world. Any type of marketing with not work unless effort is expended and techniques are repeated regularly and reliably. Please do me a favor. If you can’t make the effort then don’t use the technique.

Article marketing done badly is far more damaging then not using the technique at all. It only works when you create quality work and follow submission rules. Don’t blame the publishers for your shoddy articles and don’t spend hours on forums complaining that the technique doesn’t work. It does work. It has worked for me and for many others but it won’t work for you if you insist on being lazy and irresponsible.

Make a commitment today to write well, submit only on topic unique articles and to hire help if you need it. Your best efforts will be the catalyst to better results and will support the growth of the article marketing community. Let’s use the technique wisely so that it remains a viable part of internet marketing.

© 2006, Davis Virtual Assistance. Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as the article and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are made live.

Bonnie Jo Davis is an article marketing expert who takes great pride in helping work at home parents, entrepreneurs, small business owners and enthusiastic hobbyists exploit the power of the written word. To learn how to grow your business with article marketing or to join her affiliate program visit http://www.WriteYourWayToProfit.com today!

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Your query letter can be a deal maker or a deal breaker. So, if your query letter just lies there, you’ve killed the sale immediately or your story or novel immediately. If you want that story — your baby — to be read, reach out of that query letter, grab the publisher, editor or literary agent by the neck and say, “Hey, you absolutely have to have this story!”
Query letters that begin with “Hello, My name is. . .” have as much chance of selling as vacation trips to Baghdad. Remember, your query is like a r

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You’ve read all the articles telling you that you should write articles, but there are hundreds of article databases out there. How do you decide where to submit your articles? I have a couple of strategies that bring me results.

First, I always read just a few articles from any directory I’m considering submitting to, to see what type of advertising is being used on their site. I do not want my family friendly articles on sites that allow what I consider to be questionable advertising. If the advertising is not family friendly, I will not submit my articles. I have also deleted my articles from sites that changed their advertising policies and began accepting non family friendly advertising. Continue to monitor sites that carry your articles.

Next, I submit only a few articles to a directory and then I monitor those submissions to see how long they take to go live. There is no way to know if a directory is active until you submit your articles. Just like any other business, directories come and go. Just because it was active last year, does not mean it is still active this year. Don’t waste your time submitting more than 3 articles at one time in the beginning. There are so many wonderful directories out there, that I refuse to invest my time submitting to directories that take months to approve my articles. If I submit my article today I expect to see it live within a few days. Remember the reason you are writing articles is to help others and get your name out there. If your articles are not live, your name is not being seen.

I prefer to submit to directories that allow me to check my stats on a regular basis. I want to know how many others are reading my articles. If your articles are not being read, then your name is not getting out there. Why are your articles not being read? Have you chosen a topic or written on a subject that folks are not reading? Or did you submit your article to a directory that is not getting enough traffic for others to read your article? Two very high traffic directories are www.ezinearticles.com and www.searchwarp.com I monitor my stats daily on those two directories. I also submit every one of my articles to both of these directories. They are the first two directories to receive all new articles I write. The stats from these two directories tell me that my articles are being read and are wanted by others. So, if I view my stats on another directory and see that my article has only been read once or twice, I do not continue submitting articles to that directory.

The last thing I do is to use both Google and MSN and search for my name. I want to know what directories are getting their pages indexed quickly and where my articles are showing up. I submit my articles to the directories that are getting me the exposure.

By using all of the above strategies, my articles are being read and folks are clicking through to my site.

Audrey Okaneko has been marketing online for several years. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

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