Continued from page 1
Avoid Two Part Articles
Some articles are so broad in their scope that they cannot be covered in a single article. If you write an article like this, you should provide publisher with each part of article and allow publisher to link to various parts.
Some authors include a section which reads “This is second part of a two part article. To read first part, please goto http://www.mydomain.com/article.html”. Many publishers will not publish this style of an article if they are not able to carry both parts of article and keep links internal. After all, a publisher publishes articles to become known as a resource. If they have to recommend their readers go to another website for basic information they need, publishing article becomes counter- effective.
Make Formatting Easy
Publishers read hundreds of articles sifting through vast number of submissions for best articles. The last thing a publisher wants to do is spend time formatting an article. With most articles, this is not a problem.
Define Sections of Your Articles
Using section headlines makes splitting up an article much easier for a publisher and also makes your article more readable. As an example, text you are reading right now is under section “Make Formatting Easy” and subsection “Define Sections of Your Articles”. Defining various sections of your articles will make formatting articles very easy for any interested publisher.
Watch Out for HTML
Articles that include various programming code, such as CSS, HTML, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, or similar code, can be difficult to incorporate into an article website. Most publishers should have programs that convert code automatically to escaped code which will avoid any problems. You should check with publisher first to find out their desired format, though, if you have a lot of code throughout your article.
You should also never submit your article as an HTML formatted article unless publisher specifically states that they accept HTML formatted articles. Most publishers will not even bother to read content of an article that is formatted with HTML tags.
Avoid Tabs and Word Processing Formatting
When writing your article, use as little formatting as possible. Avoid using tabs as they do not translate to Internet very well. Assume that publisher is going to receive your article in a plain text format. Therefore, do not bother with adding bold text, italic text, etc. unless publisher gives you tools to do so.
Articles that use strange characters and tabs may present too much of a formatting challenge for publisher.
Write Articles That Can Stand By Themselves
Publishers are looking for same thing that readers are looking for, high quality, well-written articles. An article that offers just a few tidbits of information or acts as a teaser to tempt reader to visit your website is not an article that anyone really wants to read.
An amazing thing happens when you write an article that contains quality content and is well-written. Not only will you get published, but by not wasting your reader’s time with your attempts to advertise your own website, you will actually improve your credibility and trustworthiness to your readers. You will become recognized as an expert in field you are writing about. People will be more likely to visit your website as you are source of information that you are writing about.
A good article should be able to stand by itself. A reader should be able to read your article and walk away having gained something substantial from reading article alone.
Using Resource Box
The resource box is your time to tell reader about yourself and to finally advertise your website. This is where all benefits of writing articles comes to fruition. If reader likes your article, they will visit your website, that is, if resource box is written correctly.
The resource box should be short, to point, and never include more than 3 links. The resource box is your opportunity to tell reader who you are and where they can go to learn more from you. If you are brief and to point, your resource box will quickly become your biggest source of traffic.
Some writers try to insert as much information into their resource box as possible. The problem with this is that readers are not interested in reading a long biography of author, or reading several lines of text advertising author’s site. At most, reader will be interested in knowing who wrote article and where they can go to learn more about author and author’s business.
Conclusion: Think of Readers
If you want to get your articles published, you need to give publishers what they want. That just happens to be same thing that readers want: quality content without a sales pitch. When writing your article, keep your readers in mind. Do not think of them as prospects, and do not think of your article as an ad copy. Think of your article as your opportunity to prove to hundreds of thousands of readers just how much of an expert you really are.
An amazing thing will happen when you give readers and publishers what they want. You will find yourself published on websites you never knew existed, you will find your articles discussed in forums, and you will find that people will look to you and your business as a trustworthy enterprise. Those benefits of article writing will be sitting in your lap.
Mark Daoust is the owner of Site Reference. Site Reference accepts high quality article submissions. To submit your articles on Internet Marketing, Website Development, or Search Engines, goto http://www.site-reference.com/submit.php