Article directories like Go Articles and eZine Articles are becoming increasing popular for helping with search engine rankings. So far I have written roughly 4 off-site articles, and I have seen great results. It has been the same for many other bloggers as well.
Here are some quick tips for getting the most out of off-site articles:
Short And Sweet
Your articles should be short, and they should get to the point right away. The only exception to this rule is if you are advertising a product. In which case you should lead up to the discussion of purchasing the product.
People read articles to get information right away, they don’t want to read a bunch of nonsense.
Lists
Most people who visit article directories tend to be tech savvy, so they love lists. Heck, even non tech savvy people like lists, don’t they?
Link To Your Site
Make sure you include a link to your blog somewhere in the article, otherwise it defeats the purpose of writing it for link juice. Whenever you mention another article you have written, post a link. Oh, and don’t forget to put a link to your home page in your biography.
Also, don’t forget that many article directories allow people to republish the content on their own blog as long as they leave it all intact, so more links for you.
Truthful Biography
Most article directories let you place a small biography at the bottom of your article (as well as any licensing information). Your bio should be short, and truthful. If you are a nobody and you claim you are making $500,000 a year from Adsense people will know you are lying. But if you are a nobody and you claim you run a bunch of niche sites and make more than x amount per year using various ad/affiliate programs, people will go “wow, they know what they are talking about.”
Lying won’t get you anywhere.
Make Sure It’s Yours!
Obviously, the post you are submitting to an article directory should be yours. I’ve had to deal with my fair share of people who take my articles and submit them to directories under their name. Don’t do that, it hurts both parties in the long run.
Use Paragraphs (and proper grammar/spelling too)
I cannot stress this enough, an article without paragraphs is not an article, it is gobbledygook. Also, why not double check, no triple check, your spelling and grammar? No need to look like a 5th grader, right?
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