Are You Committing These 3 Articles Marketing Mistakes?
The following is a guest post from Ben Pei at Peiprofit.com, where he teaches how to make money blogging. I waited for Ben to finish active duty to hopefully respond to comments directly 
.
To all bloggers out there, now is the time to start getting those creative writing skills back.
With modern advanced technology in communication comes the popularity of info-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is why article writing, submissions and publications are also getting popular.
There are already many platforms and services that people can use to make the process of distributing their articles more easily. Though this is invaluable in getting the contents more exposure, which is only half of the story.
Are you making one of these common mistakes that most people do before submitting their contents to article directories?
1. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.
In article writing, there are three key benefits to why you are promoting them; branding, lead generation and promotion, which are all part of your optimization efforts.
But there is only one reason why you write an article, and that is to inform and educate your readers. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will fail to achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading them.
You need to figure out first how to get people to read what is in your article, then make them click on your resource box. I would touch on how to write your resource box it makes people click on my next installation.
2. Failing to maximize the promotional opportunities of Article Marketing.
You may know already that your articles can help you generate additional links back to your blog. But do you know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results from that very same article?
Mention keywords at strategic places. Just be sure not to overdo them. Some are even using anchor text which is also an effective method. But it is important to know that majority of the directories are not able to support this. Do remember to use them wisely without spamming.
Remember that is not only about the links back to your blog. Part of doing well in your article marketing is getting picked up by publishers with a large number of readers and gaining the ability of leveraging other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results also are great benefits that you would be looking for.
But these things do not put much money in your pocket. There are other factors that can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that can boost your earnings. Not just increase the number of visitors to your blog.
Start out with a plan and see to it that your article will serve the function that you intended it to have.
3. Publishing content that does not help your readers.
Maybe in the process of writing articles, you are thinking that all that is you wanted is links back to your blog. And any visitors it can generate are fine.
Guess what? Not all article banks directories are going to accept your content automatically. Oftentimes, they have some guidelines and specifications on the articles that they are accepting.
You can double the number of blogs you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share with other people. All it takes is one publisher with a hundred thousand readers to increase your potential readers overnight.
Write the articles that publishers want in their publications if you want your article marketing to work the most effective way for you. This also means you have to obey the standard guidelines, spell checks, researching on a good topic and even hiring a writer to produce a good content on your behalf.
In the end, it is all really a matter of choice on your part. You can start getting a little exposure from increased links back but on a very basic level. Or enjoy massive exposure from a little extra time making quality contents.
It will be your choice. You may not be aware of the fact that an article submitted on directories is not meant to have the same level of exposure as highly-targeted content ones geared on a narrow group of readers.
Learn the difference between these two and it will surely help you know what kinds of articles to write and to submit.
Ben made some excellent key points here, which I attempted to highlight for your benefit. Definitely check out Ben where he teaches you how to Make Money Blogging, I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. 
Dennis
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Tags: article directories, Article marketing, Article Submitting, Article Writing, branding, Information Marketing, Lead Generation Techniques, promotion, Resource Box, SERPS, targeted traffic
Jaq @ Net Age Web Design
Kev
Latief@AnotherBlogger
sherry
November 30th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I attempted to highlight the key points I found in italics.
November 30th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I think when you start article marketing most people do make these little mistakes. I know I have and learned that submitting everywhere is not always the best.
If you stick with a handful of good places to submit articles, you will get the necessary exposure you want.
Bruno Auger´s last blog post..The Technology Of Indexing
November 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Bruno you comment sniper you
I’ve read plenty of articles (posts) with all kinds of “for & against” mass submission. I suppose each has valid points.
November 30th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
I had once tried to publish content that try to bait my reader of directories with short and simple article but it didn’t succeed.
November 30th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Halim - welcome to the community!
One article isn’t really going to do much. Article marketing is a continuous journey meant for traffic over the long term.
December 1st, 2008 at 12:37 am
@Bruno - You got it right! There is not point trying to submit your article to every possible directories. Just stick a handful of the more popular ones and you will do well.
@halim - It is common that you do not see results rightaway because articles marketing is a viral method, meaning it takes time to spread. Just keep working on it..
Ben Pei´s last blog post..Making Money With Residual Affiliate Income Opportunities
December 1st, 2008 at 12:38 am
I never ever tried article submission sites. But your point that I might enjoy the traffic on a long term basis is a genius
Blogging from Scratch´s last blog post..Site is for sale and November Income Report
December 1st, 2008 at 12:39 am
By the way Dennis, its my honor that you posting my article. Thanks..
Ben Pei´s last blog post..Making Money With Residual Affiliate Income Opportunities
December 1st, 2008 at 2:53 am
Nice Article. Give me new idea for next my article. Great Job. Thanks.
December 1st, 2008 at 3:20 am
I know writing articles can be difficult. I didn’t even think about the publishers picking up my article for their data base.
I try to focus on educating and how to articles. I also try to include Google’s new LSI..related keywords about 7 per article. So if I am writing about cake I will mention other deserts.
Article writing can pay off big. The thing is to write 3 a week if you cannot afford to hire a writer. Article Marketer is great they distributor your article to about 65 or more directories all in one day really cheap.
Kim Dion´s last blog post..Article Writing For Niche Traffic
December 1st, 2008 at 4:26 am
Excellent post, I think article marketing can be confusing, and having an objective in mind is important.
JR @ Internet Marketing Strategies´s last blog post..Internet Marketing Bloggers Doin It Right
December 1st, 2008 at 4:46 am
Excellent instructions.It sounds good to follow some of the tips.I like articles and thanks for providing good information that i am actually in need.
gadgalia´s last blog post..Caravan Towing With LPG
December 1st, 2008 at 11:30 am
Blogging, definitely give it a shot and keep us posted on your progress!
December 1st, 2008 at 11:32 am
Anton - welcome to the community! I hope the idea works out well, keep us posted and be sure to come back.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:34 am
Kim - welcome to the community!
Excellent advice, although I could never personally do 3 per week like others do…at least not yet.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:36 am
JR - very good point. Always have a clear understanding of what you will write about before pulling up the paper (so to speak).
December 1st, 2008 at 11:38 am
Gadgalia - welcome! I’m glad you found it useful at this time, do be sure to come back!
December 1st, 2008 at 11:40 am
Ben my man, you did well young jedi, I am proud. LOL
Seriously though, great article. You may be a guest anytime.
December 1st, 2008 at 11:42 am
Btw Ben, both comments got caught by Akismet. Dunno why, but thought you should know.
December 1st, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Submitting articles to directories is pretty easy as long as your content is informational and gives something to your readers.
I try to provide some benefit to all my articles and try not to waste my readers time.
Great post Ben!
andy´s last blog post..Make Money with InLinks.com
December 1st, 2008 at 2:11 pm
We are all guilty of these 3 mistakes. #2 is particuarly true. Using keywords the right way can serve as excellent search engine bait and traffic from our articles. Good article.
-Jeff Schuman
December 1st, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Very good post, Ben.
I would add that another mistake I often see is picking a bad title for ones article. The title must contain the keywords that you would expect someone to be searching for, and it must be interesting enough to get someone to click through.
BTW, I’d have to say the title of this post is very good (on both points).
~ Steve, aka the trade show guru
Steve | Trade Show Guru´s last blog post..Stay at Home Dads and Goulash
December 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Is it just me or has even the “most reputable” article directories been accepting low quality articles?
I have found that I have to really dredge through a lot of junk stuff to find 1 good article that has info.
Maybe i read so many informative blogs now that I have grown very picky.
Sheryl Loch´s last blog post..When was a Site Last Updated
December 1st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Jeff - welcome to the community!
December 1st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Sheryl - I haven’t been to a directory in a while, but maybe others share your feelings.
December 1st, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Steve - very good points on the title.
The mistake I can’t believe I’ve seen is actually forgetting the resource box.
December 1st, 2008 at 8:49 pm
The “ezine publisher” idea is what I’m beginning to focus on because that’s who has the readers…a simple google search for MYKEYWORD+EZINE+NEWSLETTER will bring up many to choose from
Caleb´s last blog post..Article Marketing Reloaded
December 2nd, 2008 at 10:52 am
Caleb - good luck! I look forward to seeing your eZine or newsletter.
December 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 pm
Thanks,
I really enjoyed this post, sometimes we just need a little reminder for why we choose to blog in the first. We all all love to write, or I hope most of us do. There is also great satisfaction to be derived from hitting the last period, or full stop where I am from in New Zealand on a great article that you have written from scratch.
But the kicker is when others tell you that it is great, excellent article Ben well done.
Paul Leadbetter´s last blog post..Adsense Earnings - 6 Winning ways to Improve Your Adsense Revenue
December 4th, 2008 at 9:51 am
I must agree with you Paul. It takes me so long to write most articles, I nearly do a gig when I hit the end. LOL
December 4th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Here are a couple of useful article marketing tips. I mostly submit to ezinearticles.com because of traffic and rankings. You cannot go wrong with them. I also use Dragon Naturally Speaking to write articles. It can transcribe as fast as I can speak. It is a wrist saver.
TomG.
December 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Welcome fool! I’ve heard of the dragon among others. Is it really that good at transcribing? Most aren’t…
December 6th, 2008 at 5:19 am
Good point, Articles are a very important key for backlinks and traffic!
December 6th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Right on dad, and welcome aboard!
December 6th, 2008 at 10:38 am
I was using article marketing last year; ezine articles is pretty straight forward and have beefed up their stats in a helpful way.
Another paid source turned out to be a negative experience; they never once accepted an article without criticism, some of it was so vague I never understood their point (”This seems more like a summary than an introduction” or something like that) and after several attempts was so turned off I stopped submitting.
After reading this I have to agree; a well-written article lives on long after you have forgotten it.
Thanks for an insightful post.
Kim
Kim´s last blog post..Free Blogging Software
December 6th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Hey Kim, thanks for the comment, and welcome to the community!
Can you name the paid source for us?
December 6th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Well I was glad to find out that I am not making the mistakes. What I would like to have resolved once and for all is the issue of duplicate content. I agree with Kims Comment about services that just criticize like article manager….arrrgh!
But hey all in all i have had 9 out of 10 positive experiences so I will not complain!
December 6th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Excellent Pat!
Actually Google recently and finally brought down what can pretty much be said as the definitive word on DC on their official blog, you should check it out.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Unfortunately, mistake #3 is the most common one. I’m amazed at the amount of low-quality articles I find at article directories. Many are professionaly written, but deliver ZERO value to readers. And such articles can be found even at the most demanding directories.They have good grammar, spellling, punctuation, a promising headline… but their content is useless. So, the mere fact that a writer had his/her article approved by an article bank doesn’t necessarily mean said article will really help readers.
December 9th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Karen - welcome to the community and thanks for the awesome comment!
You’re absolutely right. I doubt though that even the most demanding take the time to actually read each wrticle (or do they?).
I would assume, their main concern is noticing things that outright break their TOS….try to get affiliate links through on the same directories and see what happens. LOL
It’s a shame really as a crap article imprints “crap blog” in the readers mind and hey will never get clicks.
December 12th, 2008 at 1:12 am
That’s good stuff, Ben, and a great guest post. We all hope to write for others, and hope people get a benefit out of what we write. And if they do, then we’ll get our benefits later on also.
Mitch´s last blog post..Is Social Media Hurting Your Online Business?
December 12th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Thanks Mitch! Damn I should keep such post for my own blog. My articles are getting more comments here than my own blog. LOL
Ben Pei´s last blog post..Who Else Wants To Be Like Shoemoney?
December 12th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Ben - comments are one thing, but guest posts are meant for traffic…did you check stats in the following days?
Guest post here anytime my fiend!
December 12th, 2008 at 10:40 am
That’s just how it goes sometimes, Ben. But I’m betting people are newly visiting your blog now, seeing as they’ve enjoyed this one so much.
Mitch´s last blog post..Internet Marketing and Home Business - Guest Post
December 13th, 2008 at 12:22 am
You’re right. I have got some boost in new traffic. Hmmm can I feature another post here? =D
Ben Pei´s last blog post..15 Of The Biggest Questions In Online Marketing Answered
December 13th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Anytime after the new year my friend, anytime.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Hmmm, Although the post is about writing articles, I am learning as much by reading the comments about guest posting.
I need to get my but in gear and do some of both.
Ned Carey´s last blog post..The Power of Positive Thinking
December 21st, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Both can take you far Ned, keep us updated.
January 5th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Very good article marketing tips. While there are so many forms of website promotion, I too am a big fan on using articles because it is a great way to bring targeted visitors to a website, assuming that you ARE writing on the appropriate topics.
Velvet Blues´s last blog post..Velvet Blues Is Now Comment Friendly!
January 5th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Very good point there Shirley. I really need to get into it this year as well.
April 16th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
These are great reminders for me as I write articles. Writing effectively and getting results is almost an exact science, which is something that doesn’t come natural to me. It’s a learning process, and the more you write, the easier it becomes. The most important factor is providing real value to your readers. It’s also important to just be yourself and write as though you were talking directly with your readers.
Alan @ Work At Home Resources´s last blog post..I Hate Thieves! Blogger Steals My Content!
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 7:28 am
@Alan @ Work At Home Resources,
“the more you write, the easier it becomes”
This is for sure my main issue. Once I get going I am like the wind! lol However it may take me a few hours just to start the dumb article.
Alan @ Work At Home Resources Reply:
April 17th, 2009 at 10:24 am
@Dennis Edell, If I don’t have a specific topic I want to write about it, then it’s very difficult for me. Sometimes I’ll take a PLR article and completely re-write it and expand on the topic, which is a lot easier if you don’t know what to write about.
If I’m knowledgeable or have a lot of ideas for a particular topic, it’s hard to stop once I get going. But I’m like you, it usually takes me a while to get going.
There’s no way I can churn out articles every 30 minutes like some people. That’s just nuts.
Alan @ Work At Home Resources´s last blog post..I Hate Thieves! Blogger Steals My Content!
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:34 am
wow this was a great article it’s really helpful and ben sure made a lot of great points. I do agree with his reasoning the guy too knows what he is talking about
i did make several of these mistakes because i did half the battle with my content just by submitting to article directories i know realize i should utilize guest posting as well
i guess their are always better ways to get the most backlinks as well as readers but you need to find the best place that has a large community of readers and bloggers that would be interesting in the kind of content you submit
almir´s last blog post..Vital Tips That Can Aid Any Blogger
Dennis Edell Reply:
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:53 am
@almir, Please read the email i sent you this morning; you just made the same mistake.
Please, unless you are replying to different people using the reply links (as I have done here) combine all comments into one.
almir Reply:
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:38 am
@Dennis Edell, oh i i’m sorry dennis i did read your email
almir´s last blog post..Vital Tips That Can Aid Any Blogger