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Best Practices Guide
to Article Marketing
Want to increase your chances of internet marketing success? Making sure your articles get the widest exposure is what this Best Practices Guide is all about.
Dictated by Editors, Publishers, and Content Sites
This is the stuff publishers all over the Net have told us they are looking for content-wise. Article directory sites call this their "submission guidelines." We call it great info that gets your articles published in more places.
Each site has their own rules, and something that might be accepted by 1 place may well be rejected by 97 others. The beauty of Article Marketer is that we have consolidated the myriad rules, expectations and guidelines into this handy guide so that you can properly format your articles for publication.
Following these guidelines will make your articles irresistible to more publishers and get you the marketing exposure you're looking for. And during your Diamond Assurance™ review, which is free with every article submission, the Article Marketer editorial team checks each and every article for any problems that might prevent publication. If anything needs fixing, you'll be notified so you can quickly repair it and send it on its way.
Self Promotion
Most authors submit articles to drive traffic to their websites. The goal is to get as many relevant backlinks as possible, to
- immediately drive interested visitors your way;
- boost your PageRank;
- improve your search engine results.
There's a right way and a wrong way to do this. The right way is to provide good quality content in the article body and promote your business or website in the About the Author box.
The wrong way is to overuse your website's URL and/or company name in the article itself, turning your article into nothing more than a sales pitch. Blechh! Content publishers don't like it and they won't use "articles" like that. Go with the right way.
The Basic RuleProvide information in your articles that your target market finds useful -- even if those readers never visit your website or buy anything from you. That's a very important point. While you are certainly marketing your services, make sure you primarily focus on the reader's needs - not your own need for sales.
Present your information in a creative and interesting way so it does more than simply introduce your company, tout your services or invite people to your website.
Self-Serving LinksSave those self-serving links and advertising for your About the Author boxes. Publishers web-wide turn their noses up at "article spam," or articles that are really thinly disguised advertisements. And they won't publish articles that are merely 1,000-word pitches for products or services.
Join the ever-growing down-with-spam movement and limit your advertising to your About the Author boxes. Why would a publisher want to fill his site with long-winded ads? Just remember that publishers want fresh, real content and you won't go wrong.
Special Cases for LinksOf course, for every rule there are exceptions and this one is, well, no exception. There are three special cases when it's perfectly acceptable to include links in your articles, without the risk of publishers automatically rejecting your articles.
Special Case #1 - Well-Known Sites
You may include links to popular or well-known sites, like Google, CNN, Microsoft, etc. Publishers are familiar with these sites and will not feel that the author is engaging in advertising. Want to know the definition of a "well-known site"? Use Amazon's Alexa traffic tool and if the site is in the top 50,000, it's a well-known site.
Special Case #2 - Multiple Competing Sites
You may safely include links to competitive sites in an article that is a review or comparison of an industry or solution. In order to do this without risking automatic rejection, include at least three competitors, with fully qualified links, and speak with some authority about each one. A link to your site (even though it would be considered a self-serving link by itself) may be included as one of the competitive sites in the article.
Special Case #3 - Multiple Complementary Sites in "Helpful Resources" Articles
If your article is a "helpful resources" piece, go ahead and feature links to resources around the Web. Include at least three resources, and make sure they all relate in some way to the article's theme.
For example, if you mention a travel agency, a place to download website templates and the restaurant on the corner, can you clearly show how those three sites are related? Can you explain how they work together to help a reader solve a problem? If you can, great. Otherwise, your article will look like spam and it will get rejected.
Be smart. Stay away from spam. That stuff will kill ya.
Note:
Some sites won't allow any links, even the "special cases" that most sites will accept. Some publishers don't allow affiliate versions of links, even though those publishers do allow non-affiliate versions of the same link. Just keep this in mind -- even if these special cases apply to your article, some site may still reject it.
It's possible that a site that routinely rejects your articles will eventually ban you. For example, if you write mostly review articles containing legitimate links and they simply don't allow links, one publisher may decide not to accept any of your articles. This is like being banned from a sushi restaurant when you hate fish. It's just not a problem. As long as you follow the guidelines, there are plenty of other publishers out there who'll love your stuff. Carry on.
Article Content
This is a family-friendly operation so stay away from things that would make your mom--or the local police chief--red in the face. Avoid porn and other adult-oriented material and don't bother submitting content containing hate speech, racial intolerance or violence. Advocating drugs, terrorism, weapons or anything illegal in your articles will get you nowhere. Keep your language clean.
In short, be sure your articles are appropriate for any audience. Offending people's sensibilities is not a great strategy for getting published anyway.
English Only PleaseAll articles must be in English, plain and simple. We deal with English directories and publishers.
Press ReleasesPress releases are a great way to get the word out about a current event or new product launch. They make crummy articles, though. If you've written a press release, don't waste your time submitting it as an article. It won't get published. Try a press release distribution site: PRWeb and PRNews Distribution love that stuff.
Unique ContentUnique adj: being the one and only of its kind.
Does this definition apply to your articles? If not, you're headed for rejection city. Have a bunch of cheap re-brandable PLR (Private Label Rights) articles lying around that you want to submit? Re-write them in your own words and add some unique perspective based on your experiences.
Unedited PLR articles are like the email spam that plagues your inbox. After the 15th time that Nigerian guy requests to use your account to transfer funds, you stop opening that annoying email, right? Publishers feel the same way about those tired old PLR articles.
Through the Diamond Assurance™ review process, our real, live, human reviewers read every single article submitted, so changing a few words in a PLR article they've already seen a dozen times won't work.
Wouldn't you notice a slightly changed version of that Nigerian email? Maybe the sender changed it to Palm Springs. And instead of a prince, the funds are in escrow from a retired recluse who needs your help. We both know you won't fall for it. Well, be real -- the editors and publisher around the Web aren't going to fall for it either.
Unedited PLR or "synonymized" articles may be deleted without notice. Not to worry. They wouldn't have gotten published anyway. And we're not going to waste the server space on 'em.
For the widest publication, create unique content. If you need some writing help, visit Article Marketer University for a bushel full of great free writing resources. Don't want to write? Get high-quality, custom-written articles; you own the copyright, and submit under your name.
Product ReviewsMany users search the Internet looking for product reviews. This kind of information makes a good article. Keep in mind that a product review of a single product is considered a sales pitch for that product. Publishers will generally reject an article that reviews only one product.
If you'd like to review a product in your article, be sure you review that product and at least two similar or competing products. This makes your article truly informative for readers, and publishers will appreciate this good content.
Keyword StuffingYes, it's important that your article be found for specific keywords. However, simply repeating your keywords over and over is considered "black hat" and will cause Google and the other search engines to frown. You don't want that.
Remember that your article is content for someone else's site. That site, if it's relevant to your topic, is already going to have a good representation of that keyword. Overusing keywords could get a site banned by Google. Publishers take that VERY seriously, and if your article contains an excessive repeating of the same word or phrase, they will drop your article like a hot potato.
Spelling and GrammarJust like in the fourth grade, spelling counts here too. Unlike fourth grade, in business your poor spelling and grammar really impacts your bottom line. Your article reflects on you and your company. If it's filled with errors, you make yourself look bad.
Check your articles carefully for spelling and grammar problems before you submit them, and use a spell-checker. If English isn't your native language, or if you struggle with grammar and punctuation, consider hiring a professional to proof-read your articles before submitting them.
HTML TagsInclude HTML tags only in the HTML version of your About the Author box, not in the article itself. Publishers are very careful about the code they will allow to be incorporated into their pages; one missed bracket can cause real havoc.
In your About the Author box, use only the basic HTML tags. Specifically, avoid using <html>, <head>, <title>, <meta>, <body>, <p>, <font>, <div>, <span> or <class> tags. No image or scripting tags are allowed. Avoid formatting attributes like "align" and "color".
HTML can be tricky for the uninitiated. Make sure you create well-formed HTML tags. If your link is broken, it won't take readers to your site, and the value of that backlink is gone. Make sure you close any open tags (with < and >), and that you're using plain text characters throughout.
Read more about adding HTML to your About the Author box in our FAQs.
Special CharactersAvoid special characters like "curly quotes" and emdashes. These typically appear if you're using Microsoft Word, and simply pasting your article into NotePad won't remove them. These graphical characters look great on a printed sheet, but they don't translate into web copy very well. Typically they appear as weird numerical codes, question marks, or they simply break your HTML codes.
Check out our quick and easy tips to fix these special characters. Better yet, avoid them in the first place.
Field-by-Field Instructions
The submission form is very simple. Just paste your copy into each field along the way. After processing articles for tens of thousands of authors, we've noted the common mistakes that cause articles to get sent back for correction. Read through these tips and watch your article sail through the Diamond Assurance™ review.
Title FieldArticle titles are always written in Title Case, with the first letter of each major word capitalized. Some tips to remember when writing a title -- skip the period, avoid excessive punctuation and remember that there's no need to enclose the entire title in quotation marks, as tempting as that may be.
The title field is for the title only. There are other fields for your byline and contact information. Keep them out of the title field. Read Get Off My Case! and What Makes A Good Title? for more good information.
Description FieldPublishers often use the description field as a teaser together with your title in a newsletter, on a directory page, or in an RSS feed.
Include some enticing copy in the description field that will encourage readers to click into your article. Because most publishers only grab the first bit, keep the description text short so that nothing gets cut off. Your best bet is 300 characters.
Save your title, contact information, or a byline for their appropriate places and keep them out of the description text. Readers can already see this information, so use this golden opportunity to give them yet another compelling reason to read your article. That's marketing, baby!
Some publishers don't use the description field at all, so make sure your article is complete without it. Also, avoid using decorative lines or separators in the description field.
If you just can't come up with something clever for your description field, rewrite the first couple of sentences of your article and use that. This can help "punch up" the opening of your article and catch more readers' eyes.
Article BodyThe article body field is for just that, the body of the article. Repeating your title, byline, contact information, keywords, word count, publishing guidelines etc. in the article body field is a waste of precious space. And it doesn't make for good reading either.
Remember that since some publishers don't use the description field (as mentioned above), you'll want to make sure your article body is complete without it. And, just as in the description, avoid decorative lines and separators in the article body too.
Want to include the copyright information? That's fine, just put it at the end of the article, not at the beginning. Also, note that word counts are automatically determined and included when we send articles out to publishers, so please don't include them in your articles
Your reprint rights and publishing terms are automatically distributed with your articles. Please do not include this information in the article body.
For readability, it's best if articles meant for the Web are formatted with short paragraphs, separated by a blank line (hard return). Long unbroken blocks of text are pretty difficult to read online. As a rule of thumb, a good length for paragraphs is 3-4 sentences. Check the paragraphs on this page -- it's very easy to read because it has short, punchy paragraphs.
Bulleted textBullets can really help your readers get the message. There are some important things to know:
- Don't use the special characters ">" or "<" as bullets. Some of the less-sophisticated content management systems will see these as HTML and may reject your article.
- Some authors are fond of creating a "text arrow" by typing an equal sign and a greater-than sign (=>). This arrow often points to rejection, so avoid using it.
- Another popular trick is to use --> as an arrow. However, that's part of an HTML code that could wreak havoc on some poor publisher's site.
A simple solution is to use the asterisk (*) or even a lower case letter O as bullets for your list.
Some bullet examples:
* bullet one
* bullet two
* bullet three
Some bullet examples:
o bullet one
o bullet two
o bullet three
Your readers will think YOU'RE SHOUTING AT THEM if you write sections in your article in ALL CAPS. Be polite. Using caps once or twice to highlight something important, or as common acronyms (HTML, USDA, NBA, etc.) is fine. Just don't create whole sections of your articles in uppercase. It's difficult to read. Use your inside voice.
Characters Per LineEach submission site has its own rules about the number of characters per line (cpl) that are allowed. Some want 65 cpl, others want 60 cpl, still others want 80 or 55 cpl.
Our distribution server automatically takes care of this for you, properly formatting your article for each individual site.
Paragraph BreaksJust hit the "enter" key twice at the end of each paragraph (leaving a blank line), and the servers will handle if from there. Hey, it's one less thing for you to worry about.
It's An Article, Not a MissiveWhen you read an article in a magazine, it doesn't start with "Dear reader..." and close with a sign-off and signature. That would seem odd. It's the same for publishing on the Web. Formatting your articles like a letter will severely limit your publication possibilities. And nobody wants that.
Hard Line BreaksPlease do not use hard line breaks (hitting the "enter" key) to adjust individual line length in your article. Also, if you're working in Notepad, make sure you turn off the "word wrap" feature before you copy the text. Notepad automatically inserts a hard line break depending on the width of your particular screen. Obviously, this won't work for anyone who doesn't have access to your screen.
Special Cases for Hard Line BreaksOur reviewers are native English speaking human beings, they know the difference between a weirdly broken paragraph and properly formatted text. So, as with many things, there are some special cases where hitting the "enter" key at the end of a line makes perfect sense.
Special Case #1 - Recipes
Ingredient lists just don't work without hard line breaks. Use a hard line break after each ingredient so the piece looks like a recipe.
Special Case #2 - Poetry
Poems are another type of content that readers expect to be formatted a certain way. In fact, poems often lose a lot of their meaning without breaks in the right places. Feel free to add hard lines breaks as needed.
Special Case #3 - Lists
Include hard line breaks in lists so, well, so they look like lists.
There are two About the Author boxes on the submission form. One is for plain text, the other is for HTML with anchor tags. We'll send the right one to each publisher, based on their preferences. Always create both a plain text and an HTML About the Author box for each article, and be sure that each About the Author box stands alone.
Always include a way for your readers to contact you. A website address is mandatory, and you may also include your business phone number or an email address -- although spammers LOVE it when you do this, so watch out!
Make the About the Author box a call to action. "Visit Joe Schmoe's site and start making money today" and "Order today and receive a free gift" are fine examples of calls to action.
There are two versions of your about the author on the form - and each site has told us which version they will accept. That means that a given site will only receive ONE version - so make both About the Author boxes the same, with the exception of including anchor tags in the HTML version.
Always include the author's name. After all, it is the "About the Author" box. This is your opportunity to make the link between the outstanding content in the article, and the author that wrote it.
It's always better to say "John Smith is the author and can provide additional information about..." than to say "Get more information about..." It's just a sales/psychology thing. Go with it.
Make sure the author's name in the About the Author box matches the author in the byline because otherwise readers get confused. Publishers want to please readers, not confuse them. Avoid rejection by making sure the names match.
Separator lines, or the phrase "About the Author" aren't necessary. They're usually built into the web or newsletter template that will display your article. It'll look odd if that phrase appears twice.
You may change your About the Author box with each article. In fact, we recommend that you customize each About the Author box to pack a marketing punch.
About the Author box - Plain Text Special NotesThe plain text version of your About the Author box is required. Fill it in!
About the Author box - HTML Version Special NotesThe HTML version of the About the Author box is not required. Every site will accept the plain text version, so if no HTML version is supplied, the plain text will be used for all submissions of a given article. Go ahead and create an HTML version, though, because it looks better and places active links on the sites where it's accepted. Just be sure to validate the link and the HTML code.
Deceptive Linking PracticesDon't use the anchor link "Disneyland" and then use a URL that goes to someplace other than a Disneyland-related website. Deceptive linking is a violation of the Article Marketer terms of service, and will get your account shut down. No refunds for creeps who use deceptive practices.
Article Categories
You may select up to three categories for your article. Make sure they all make sense. For example, it would be difficult to imagine an article that simultaneously fits into the Pets, Internet Marketing and Cars and Trucks categories. Choose carefully.
Special Notes about Certain CategoriesImagine yourself a publisher, looking in certain categories for articles. What would you expect to find in each one?
It's very simple to figure out, in fact, you can use this thought as a guide to selecting the proper categories for your articles:
"If I were a editor putting out a newsletter in this category, would I want my readers to see this?"
Here are some common categorization errors to avoid:
Education, E-LearningThe article must be for educators on the topic of teaching. Although your article may itself be E-learning, that's not what education newsletters publish.
E-Books, NewslettersArticles in this category cover the topic of creating, producing and promoting newsletters and E-books. Although your article may itself be seeking placement in a newsletter or E-book, that's not what publishers in these categories are trying to find.
Free Tools and ResourcesArticles here point to free tools and resources. Although your article may itself be a free tool or resource, that's not what publishers are looking for in this category.
HolidaysArticles in the "Holidays" category are about holiday events, recipes, decorating, etc. While the word "holiday" can also mean "outing" or "vacation," this category is about National, State, Local, Religious or Secular holidays and all the trimmings that go along with them. If you're writing about a vacation, try the "travel" category, old chap.
Hungry For More?
Submit an article today, and watch it go to work for you!
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