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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