Submitting Articles to Directories – How to Get the Best Results

I have found allot of talk around the net with regards to submitting articles to directories to get the best results. Some will tell you to submit your article to as many directories as possible. Now this is just fine but here are some things that I have found along the way.

It takes allot of time to submit your articles to hundreds of directories, so intern people look for a submission service like Article Marketer and Isnare. These are great services and do get the job done. Others will use an article submission tool. Some of these submitters will automatically submit your article while others are semi automatic, where you are required to press ok after each and every directory site.

Now if you choose these options here is what I would recommend. Be careful of the services that tell you they your article will be submitted to 1'000s of directories. Many of these directories may not even be related to your article. For example an article on fishing does not really belong in a business article directory.

Be careful how much money and time you spend submitting your articles. Some Authors will change their articles around just a bit for each directory submission. I have found this can be a good practice if your article gets ranked on the same keyword search page from two different directories. Now you have two similar articles from two different directories filling up that search page. When using this practice change the title a bit while keeping the same keywords change each sentence of the first and last paragraphs along with a couple changes in each paragraph.

Now it is perfectly ok to submit the same exact article to several directories and I have heard allot of hype with regard to the duplicate content post. Rather than re-hash all the talk about the duplicate content rule I will just give you a link here from the Article Dashboard forum that I feel explains it all very well. here is the thread link and this post at the ArticleStars Forum

Now when using an article submitter I prefer a submitter that is semi automatic. This gives me the option to review each submission before I submitted to a directory. Many directories do not have the same categories as others this type of submitter will allow me to make sure the proper category is selected.

Now as an editor of the ArticleStars directory there is one thing that really drives me nuts. Many times I receive articles that are pure slop and many times not even an article. One thing I will say, search engine robots are very picky and will recognize a junk article. One example is an article of 300 words or more all in one paragraph. Use proper paragraph formats. Try and keep your paragraphs around 5 or 6 sentences long. Allow your paragraphs to flow together just as you were taught to grade school. This example is in consideration of the reader.

Next try and avoid repetitive one-sentence paragraphs. I see this all too often. This now does not even look like or sound like an article rather than just a list of statements. If you have something that you would like to list, then begin list with a paragraph and end it with a paragraph.

Don't write your article like an advertisement and just shove links into the ad like sounding article. Readers will run for cover. Instead write a review on the product or service. Give some back up statements for your comments within the review. Now you have warmed up the reader and it will not look like an advertisement. Avoid affiliate links! Use a landing page such as a blog, squidoo lens or a website. Refer to the link for more information.

Some of the detail I have spoken of relates more to article writing and there is allot of information on that around the net and the ArticleStars forum. Just remember when you submit your article, the person who is reviewing your article will consider many of these things when deciding to approve or accept the article into the directory. Many directories have very similar guidelines but they do vary so always check the guidelines to each directory.

With all of this said I can say I use to submit my article to around 150 directories and found that I got the same results as I did when submitting to just the top directories. In order to save time while submitting quality I now just submit my article to the top 25 or so directories and sometimes not even that many. When I am in a hurry I will just submit the article to the top 5 directories.

It is better to submit your article to a few directories with a submission that has a good quality article and categorized correctly, than to submit a poor quality to article to hundreds. Quality will always out perform quantity.

Oh, one other thing to keep in mind. Don't create a title that is all caps! Just look around the search returns on the net and see how many search return heading you see that are all in caps. Remember it is not an advertisement. If you want to stand out in the crowd, use choice of words to attract people, rather than CAPS or heavy punctuation!