How to Distribute Your Articles

            Once you have completed the writing process, either by your own doings or through a freelance writer, comes the process of submitting your articles to various directories.  This can sometimes be a chore because there are so many various types of directories; it is easy to become overwhelmed.  However, if you follow certain guidelines for submitting your articles that you will consistently see results from them.  The first step in knowing how to submit your articles to directories is by learning about all the various types of distribution channels. 

            The main type of distribution for articles is through article directories.  A simple search through Google or Yahoo will bring up countless pages of article directories that you can send your material to.  However, some of these directories will have certain requirements that your articles must fit into in order to be considered for entry.  The main requirement for many directories is word count.  The majority of articles that are submitted will have a word count of at least 500 hundred.  While this is an option for some, others demand that you have this word count in order to be approved.

            The average article length for any type of material, whether informational or SEO driven is 500 to 700 words.  This is the perfect length for the search engines to search through as well as for the readers to read.  We live in a fast paced world, thus if you articles are drawn out and don’t get to the vital points immediately, than you will most likely loose a major percentage of your readers.  And if this happens, than it doesn’t matter how many directories you submit your articles to, you will loose sales and traffic to your website, which can end up loosing you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.

            Besides the generic article directories, there are other more specialized publishing sites that you can submit your articles to.  If your articles are specialized for the Ezine markets, than there are directories that publish them for various Ezines to use.  While not every Ezine will pick up your articles, if it is on a specific subject matter, your articles are more than likely to get published.  An example of this would be if your website is selling fitness equipment.  You have written several articles about health and fitness, all of which refer to a product or service that you are offering.  Besides your articles giving readers about fitness, they are compelled to at least read more about your products.  Once these articles are edited and ready to be submitted, you send them to the Ezine article directories.  Say there are ten Ezines that specialize in health and fitness, and they use these directories to find their content.  They will search through and discover your articles, thus placing them within their Ezine.  Yet, if you were to write an extremely generic article, or one that is full of sales pitches and no information, than your article will not be published by any Ezine. 

            This can prove to be extremely harmful to driving traffic to your website, especially if this is the only means of distribution you are planning on using.  In order for your articles to be picked up by an Ezine, they must be informative, interesting and have an overall practical use to them.  You can actually add all of these variables into your articles, while still selling a product or service, but you must be casual about it.  The Internet is literally engulfed in subpar articles, thus making the requirement for high-quality and highly-informative articles a necessity.  If you are not writing, or having articles written, that are high-quality than you are literally wasting your time. 

            Another great way to distribute your articles are through e-mail lists.  This is a great way to connect with your potential customers directly.  Instead of them searching and finding your articles through chance, they are able to receive your informational articles directly into their e-mail accounts.  However, you must be careful when doing this as to not “spam” an individual.  There are e-mail lists available for you to purchase, which are made up of individuals who have voluntarily added their e-mail address for certain topics to be sent to them, this can sometimes be quite expensive.  The best way to create an e-mail list is through time and through visitors to your website.  Have an option where visitors can add their e-mail for your “newsletters,” which can contain all of your articles that describe a new product or service they may be interested in.  Even if you are not creating new services, you can e-mail your contacts with new articles that basically say the same information, just in new words each time.  This is a great way to connect with your readers and create a sense of intimacy in a world that is rather cold and un-touchable, such as the Internet is. 

Peter Drew