Article submission has become a really popular and effective marketing tool used by websites to gain traffic. This is done by posting articles about different topics and subjects to as manu as possible article directories. Although this seems like an easy task it is not so simple and many people have begun to realize that there is a right and a wrong method of using this technique.

Article directories are websites where copywriters can submit articles that are categorized, based on a particular niche. Because they are a form of SEO there is a specific format and structure within which these articles should be written. First and foremost the articles must be well written, the appropriate length is among 400- 500 words, more or less. The articles also need to contain key phrases that are related to the specific subject, the ideal keyword density is 2-3%, having more than the required amount is known as keyword stuffing and is prohibited by most article directories.

There are a number of things that is recommended to be done to effectively gain from using this technique. When writing an article it is best to select a subject of interest to both yourself and other readers. it is also good to write on your subject of expertise, make the article informative, reader friendly and most importantly- true, do not make up infos to gain readers they are smarter than you may think. Be sure to use proper grammar and spelling, this can be easily accomplished with a spell checker. One vital thing that copywriters overlook is the title, this is a crucial part of the writing process, choose something catchy but make sure it is relevant to the article itself.

There are a few other pointers to keep in mind. It is a good idea to use headings, these should be within caps or bold. For vital pointers within the text make sure to highlight with italics or bold. Some websites just accept articles that are within plain text so the less formatting used the better; however colors should never be formatted. The main purpose of writing articles for submission is to gain readers; this is done by posting links, some sites restrict the amount of links used within the body of the article but there is usually a specific area where these links can be posted.

There are a number of methods to submit articles to directories. The best method is the manual submission, however, there are some people are using submission software which allows different types of submissions: automatic and semi-automatic. When using manual submission the user does the majority of the work, when using the automatic option the user is just needed during the initial stages within order to fill within specific infos, after that the software does the rest. The semi-automatic mode requires really little action from the user. This software is frequently times used not just because it saves on time but because they help to keep track of articles that have been submitted to various directories.

The main reason for the popularity of article submission is due to its countless benefits. The number one being the exposure and traffic websites can get gain from its use. Another good advantage is free promotion; some companies pay thousands of dollars to advertise their website however there is no charge for adding articles to directories. There are website owners on the hunt for original articles to distribute on their sites. Another good benefit comes within the form of search engine ranking; each distributed article will improve the rankings which will ultimately also improve the visibility of the website.

Although there are many benefits when using article marketing, there are also disadvantages. The main one, seems to be within the writing quality; however this problem can be easily rectified by hiring a ghost writer. They are usually inexpensive and are paid depending on the length of each article.

Author Bio: Dinu Vlad is an editor at http://e-articles.info, a free article directory that offers free reprint articles for publishers and webmasters. Articles are submitted freely.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: article directories,article directory,article submission,article directory submissions