Writing Tips From an Article Directory Owner
by: ArticleZones.com |
Total views: 9 |
Word Count: 902 |
View PDF | Print View
Share This Article
Being the owner and webmaster of an internet article directory, I see all sorts of articles come through our website on a daily basis. Unfortunately, up to one half of those articles submitted to us never reach published status on our site.
In this article it is my hope that I can pass on some inside tips, straight from an article directory owner, to help authors and writers gain more exposure for their work by increasing the chances that these articles will be accepted by many directories.
First I would like to say, as we grow and on any given day, our directory receives between 50 and 100 articles from individual authors and distribution sources and roughly 50 to 60% of those articles are disapproved.
Unlike many article directories out there, we manually review and approve all of our articles. Each published article in our database has been reviewed by a human. In support of that, we provide a set of 'User Guidelines' to follow when writing and submitting articles and I am always surprised at how many people fail to read these guidelines. These guidelines are fairly common across most article directories and generally ask authors to check spelling, grammar and readability of their articles, submit to the correct category, stay within a certain word count, and so on.
In our review process the very first thing we check is the word count. If the word count of the article is within our specified range, then we check to see if the article has been submitted to the correct category.
A quick check of the article body tells us if an author has submitted any hyper-links in the body (we do not allow hyper-links in the article body itself). We then check the title of the article against the article body to make sure the article is what the title says it is. We scan the article itself and check for spelling and grammar problems, whether or not the article makes sense from a readability standpoint, decide if the article is informative and of use to someone and not just some blatant ad, or spam. Lastly we check the article keywords.
We WANT your article to be published. After all, you, as an author, took the time to write and submit the article to us. Therefore, we do everything we can (given some time constraints) to help your article get approved. Below are some typical reasons, when taken in total, for articles to be rejected.
1. Word count. I have seen 100 word "articles" and 2500 word "articles". Stay within the word count range required by the directory. 400 to 700 words is a general safe zone. Why? Many publishers only have so much space allocated to re-print an article. Staying within the word count range will help a prospective publisher decide on re-printing your article over someone else.
2. Spelling and grammar. Take some time to check and recheck your spelling and grammar. I can't stress this point enough!
3. How does the article read. This is a biggie for us. Many articles submitted to us make absolutely no sense at all. Poor writing style, lack of a grasp of the English language, or simply using sloppy article re-writing software that mixes up words will almost always result in your article being disapproved. We just don't have the time to go through each article and correct these problems.
4. Keyword stuffing and spamming. A general rule of thumb is to keep the number of keywords that you submit with your article to around 2-3% of the total word count of the article. Search engines are much more likely to index your article if you follow this rule then if you submit dozens and dozens of keywords with a 300 word article. Keep your keywords specific and on-theme with the information in article.
5. A rehash of the same article, disguised as a new article. Some authors insist on submitting the same article several times with just a few words changed at the beginning of the article, hoping (I guess) for more exposure. What they don't realize when they do this is, those articles are stacked together in our 'article pending review' bin and it's very easy to see when this happens. Submit the best version of your article one time, and one time only.
I believe that some authors loose sight of the fact that publishers insist on certain standards with what they choose to post to their websites, blogs, e-zines, newsletters etc. If an author manages to get a poorly written article past some 'automated' directory review process and that article is posted to a directory site, chances are that article will never find its way around the net as quality, informative content.
Generally, the reason for submitting articles to article directories in the first place is to brand yourself as an author, promote a product, a service or a website. Take the time to write and submit your articles considering what I have described above. Well written, informative and unique content articles will literally explode across the internet and in time and you will be rewarded with many back-links, interested customers and the knowing that you have provided useful and interesting information to many others.
Share This Article
Rating: Not yet rated Next Article - Ghost writers - Writers who do their job well and Previous Article - You Can Write Well
About the Author
ArticleZones.com is a small but growing Article Directory specializing in Unique and Informative Content.
Comments
No comments posted.Add Comment
Popular Articles about: Writing
1: Good Articles: Ways To Create Your Outline And Public Domain2: Writing a News Story on the Web? 15 Tips to Make Your Story Shine
3: Q&A with Dr. Ken Atchity, Literary Agent, Film Producer & Writer
4: Best Tips For Writing A Great How-To Article
5: make money writing articles: five article types to write
6: How To Create An Outline For All Of Your Article
7: Is Article Marketing Crucial For Your Internet Business
8: 3 Steps To Find "freebies" To Add To Your Ebook
9: Here's A Quick Way To Overcome Writer's Block
10: Three Reasons to Start a Freelance Writing Career
11: Copywriting: Services For Your Copywriting Clients
12: Ace Your Ad Copy
13: 7 Twenty-minute Book Marketing Tips That Will Sell Books
14: Psychic Authors Heal Readers
15: literary Essays
16: Essays belong to a literary species
17: Copywriting Like the Pros: Five Forms
18: Dig Baby, Dig!
19: Some Advice On Getting Your Articles Read And Juices Flowing
20: Term paper is quite a complex task that has many requirements
21: 4 Things To Look For In A Freelance Copywriter
22: Keeping a Journal Is a Smart Move
23: Ad Copy Secrets
24: Tips how to write term paper
25: Outline For a Best Term Paper
26: 9 Steps to Unique Articles!
27: Writing Articles for Your Website
28: Term paper outline and Tips how to write term paper
29: Best Research Paper Outline
30: The Five Parts of an Academic Term Paper