Ezine Articles
Use web articles (ezine articles) to promote your site
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A well-written article providing valuable and impartial information about a product can spread like wildfire.
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Website Promotion 4 - Ezine Articles
What are Ezine Articles?
Ezine articles originally meant web articles written for publication in an ezine (newsletter emailed to a group of subscribers who share a common interest).
The term is now also used to include web articles that are published in article directories. Most article directories accept web articles on any topic, but require each web article to be allocated to a specific interest category within the directory.
Article directories allow all web surfers to view ezine articles published in the directory, but also offer a service to publishers of ezines, blogs and websites, who might be looking for fresh material. They are permitted to take ezine articles from the article directory and republish them.
Each web article includes what is known as a "resource box", where the author may include personal information and links to a few websites relevant to the article. This is where the author generally includes a link to one page from her own website (not necessarily the home page).
How web articles benefit your website promotion
It is this backlink which benefits the website developer, by increasing traffic to the website:
- Web surfers who have read the ezine article in the article directory may click on the link to visit the author's web page.
- Search engines find the link from the ezine article to the author's web page, and give credit for it when calculating their ranking for the web page.
- Other publishers may take the article and republish it (together with its resource box), creating further backlinks to the author's web site.
Obviously, these benefits are greatly enhanced if the article directory is a top directory. Top article directories enjoy large traffic flows, a high ranking from search engines, and substantial interest from publishers.
Article Directories
The article directories publish ezine articles without charge, so this is a very cost-effective way of promoting your website. The only downside is that the whole process of creating an ezine article and submitting it to several article directories is quite time-consuming.
Most authors submit their web article to their favorite 10 or 20 directories. They may not all accept it for publication.
The time taken to prepare the submission in the format required by each article directory is a limiting factor on how many directories you can submit to. Also, additional submissions (to less popular directories) provide diminishing returns.
Ezine article submitters
Ezine article submission software partially automates the submission process, enabling you to submit to a great number of article directories (up to several hundred) in much less time than it would individually. This practice appears to be acceptable at present, but I think it will be discouraged by the major search engines and article directories in future.
However, even submitting an article to 10 article directories is time-consuming, so the software approach is worth considering.
There are some article submitters which will apply "spin" to your ezine article. This means they will change your article title, resource box, and article body to allow you to submit unique versions of your ezine article to many (hundreds) different article directories.
Make sure you are comfortable with the way they derive amended versions of your ezine article. Be wary, too, of how the search engines may view and react to these tactics.
Writing an Ezine Article
Writing an ezine article should not be more intimidating than authoring a web page. Some basic rules:
- Keep your article to between 400 and 700 words
- Choose the title very carefully, 10 words or less, main keywords near the front. Aim for high impact but avoid snazzy punctuation or capitalized words. The title should sell the article.
- Writing style can be more individualistic than for a web page. You can allow your personality to show (not too much!)
- Provide lots of useful information (high information density), but leave the reader wanting more. (He'll visit your web site if he liked what you gave him.)
- Use the same keywords throughout the ezine article as you used for your (linked) web page.
- Avoid selling. Your aim is purely to impart information, and perhaps entice the reader to your website. Selling will also be frowned upon by the article directory. (They won't accept your article.)
- All material must be original, purpose-written for this article. You may quote from other sources within your article, but sparingly.
Study the editorial policy of the major article directories for additional advice and requirements.
Formatting and submission of your ezine article
Most article directories require you first to register with them before they will allow you to submit articles. Then they give you a username and password to use whenever you submit an ezine article.
Submit your ezine article to the correct category within the article directory.
Use a basic text editor (e.g. Notepad) not a word-processor to create your web article, then copy and paste it into the article submission form. (Control characters used by word processors will cause problems.)
In addition to a plain text version of your ezine article, some article directories allow you to submit an HTML version which allows a certain amount of formatting.
Sometimes you are asked for an article summary (a character limit may be specified). This is worth taking the trouble to make it interesting. Editors will use it to decide whether they want to read your article!
If you are invited to submit a keywords section, limit yourself to three or four keyword phrases.
In the resource box you can include a section entitled "About the Author" as well as a link to your site. The article directory may have rules about how many links you may include here.
While there is quite a lot to learn about the ezine article writing and publishing business, the benefits to your website make it all worthwhile.
Our next tutorial looks at the phenomenon of social networking websites and how we can use them to help our website promotion...
Links / Resources
List of Ezines / Newsletters
List-City
More articles on who to submit ezine articles to:
5 Easy ways to promote your ezine articles
More articles on using web articles to promote your site:
Using Ezines and Articles to Promote your Business
Using Ezine Articles to Promote Products
Mission Seo: Why article submission is important
Lists of article directories:
Seo Researcher: Articles Directories List
Vre Toolbar: Top 50 article directories
Zinebook: Top Ezine and Zine Directories
Article submitters:
Article Submitter
Quick Article Submitter
Instant Article Submitter
Article submitters with spin:
Spin2submit
Software to help with web article writing
Instant Article Creator
Ezine Article Creator
More articles on web article writing:
Article marketing with Ezines
Master effective article writing
How to make your article title sell
Article directory editorial policy:
Ezinearticles.com Editorial Guidelines
GoArticles: Information and Guidelines for Authors
More articles on formatting and submitting web articles:
Ezine Article Template
Article-Writing Training Course
5-Minute Articles (watch the video)
Build Traffic: Ezine Articles Top Prev Next: Social Networks
Copyright © 2009 - 2011 EasyWebsitePrimer.com Last updated: September 2011
Write web articles (ezine articles) to draw attention (and traffic) to your website