WHAT TO PREPARE FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS –

Normally, after signing up for an author account, you will be filling in a form for your article submission. You need to prepare the following sections that many article submission sites ask for:

1) Article Body

Of course, you obviously need to write the body of the article. Normally, as stated above, I write it initially in a blog like Blogger. Its structure is uniquely suited since it has sections to fill in your title, your biography, and the text of the article (the Blogger posting). The body of the article should not contain the title since this is normally filled in a separate field during article submissions.

Try to restrict it to the following HTML tags:

• <a> tag for links
• <p> or <br> to separate paragraphs *
• <b> for bold formatting **
• <i>for italic formatting **
• <ul>, <ol> and <li> for lists

* Some e-zines allow a normal page beak to separate paragraphs using a special CSS trick. Be aware of this, since you may need to remove the "p" or "br" to make it display properly on their website. Wherever possible, use the "p" and "br" in case the webmaster that uses this article doesn't use that CSS trick to separate paragraphs.

** You may have to remove bold and italic formatting for some article submission sites. You may want to use capitalization in your text version of the article for the sub headers. This keeps your text version easy to scan.

Then I like to copy and paste it into Microsoft Notepad, since this will remove the formatting automatically. This gives me a text-only version of the article. (You may still need to modify it - but this is the best starting place.) Both types of articles are needed. Wherever you can, you publish a HTML version. Where you can't, you publish the text version. Having 2 versions that are different in this manner reduces the possibility of duplicate content. If you additionally modify the article somewhat for each article warehouse - that would be even better.

Try to keep the article body between 800 and 1800 words. If it is much longer, consider breaking it up into two or more articles.

2) Article Title

This is very important! It should lead visitors into reading your article. It should arouse curiosity or otherwise motivate them to read the rest. It should also give an idea of what the article is about. Some places publish a list of articles showing only the title - or the title and the short description. Keep this in mind. You want them to read the full article down to the biography.

3) Short Description

This is a 1-2 sentence introduction to your article. It is a lead into your article, and not necessarily a non-biased description. Make the visitors eager to read the rest (and don't give everything away here).

4) Keywords

If someone was doing a search for an article about your topic, what words or phrases would accurately match your article? This is used in searches and is often put in Meta-Tags of the page with your article. Ideally you should have these words or phrases in your article as well - at least once.

5) Author Biography

This is VERY VERY IMPORTANT! Do not neglect this! This is where you tell a little about yourself and where you get links to your website. These links help the search engines recognize your popularity on the web. The more popular you are the better. Normally I put my expertise relative to the topic I am discussing. Also I put 1-3 links. These are HTML formatted links with my keywords embedded in them.

It is recommended preparing 3 links for the biography. But only put in as many links as the specific article warehouse allows. If you want to maximize the value of this process, edit the link text slightly each time you use the biography while keeping your keywords in there. That way your links won't be so cookie-cutter and will fare better in the search engines.

Simple strategies for article submission -

(1) Picture your ideal reader. Ask yourself: “What might compel that person to read my article and what outcome do I intend for my target reader?”

(2) Identify the reason why you think your article topic is important to write about. Does it solve a problem, answer a question, offer tips or strategies, and provoke thought or offer an opinion?

(3) Read the work of other experts in your niche for inspiration. Then create your next original article and infuse it with your unique expert perspective

(4) Walk away. Call a friend, take a walk, etc. Sometimes you just need a break to let your mind wander on its own. Then when your return to your writing workspace, clear your mind of all that clutter!

(5) Just write it already! Free association writing puts your immediate thoughts to paper or computer. Granted, it is a draft of a draft of a draft, but if you can come up with a couple of key ideas or sentences, you can craft an entire article around it.

(6) Keep something to record notes on with you at all times...you never know when inspiration will hit!

(7) Take a look at your writing environment. Is it hot in here? Are you distracted by noise inside or outside your workspace? Do your eyes hurt from straining or does your neck hurt from looking at a computer screen at the wrong height?

(8) Change your mindset. You don’t have to write the article, you get to write the article.

(9) Remember,the more articles you submit, the more backlinks you will get so try to do this on a regular basis.

(10) The article should be as such that the readers should enjoy reading it and keep on visiting the site very often.

(11) While submitting your articles to sites, one should be sure that they are added to the category that is most closely aligned with your keywords.

(12) The anchor text you use for the link to your site within the author information box.

(13) Submitting articles to top directories is not meant to be the backbone of a link building strategy, only an element of it.

Article Title Guidelines –

(1) Article Title Letter Casing: Your Article Title should use both lower and upper case lettering with the first letter of each major word capitalized.

(2) Article Title Punctuation: Your Article Title should use natural punctuation. In other words, Microsoft Word auto-formatting for apostrophes, double dashes, quotes and ellipses should be turned off and typed naturally. Also, it is not necessary to put quotes around your entire Article Title or punctuate it with a period.

(3) Article Title Length: Your Article Title should be at minimum two words long and at maximum one-hundred (100) characters long.

(4) Article Title Keyword Content: Your Article Title should be keyword-rich, but not keyword-stuffed. Too many repeated keywords or keyword phrases in your article may make the readability of your Article Title unnatural.

(5) Article Title Promise Content: Your Article Title should directly relate to the content in your article body and not include yourAuthor Name, Company Name or website.

(6) Article Title Content: Your Article Title should not include any slang or profanity. It is of no benefit t to you or the reader.