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As a continuous post from our most recent post on the Top 21 Most Worthy Article Directories, we have pulled out a few pointers about some factors you should consider before submitting to various article directories because knowing that they may be doing more harm than good can save you loads of time.
1st Thing: Look Where You Submit
As in life, the more you have something, the more likely it is going to have less quality. Well, the same thing applies to submitting links to various article directories too. If you submit to thousands of directories, in terms of getting backlinks, they are going to be considered as “junk” backlinks which does your site little to no good. This is where you should be able to tell apart when you crossed the line. Ideally, I recommend to only submit articles to only the top 20-30 article directories to maintain it’s medium link quality as well as it doing the job of populating the search engines about your articles. (Remember “junk backlinks” will do little to nothing to help you rank higher in the search engines)
2nd Thing: Is It in The Right Category?
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What I see most happening to writers is that they commonly put it in the wrong category, which discards your articles of possibly being submitted into various article directories. When you are submitting your articles to the directories, you must think about about the readers and how they might find your article. If you are writing about dogs and you submit an article about dogs in the technology section, would that really be benefiting your readers? I really recommend experimenting with the categories, so in terms of deciding which is most beneficial, you decide which is the most helpful for attracting new readers.
3rd Thing: Remember to Leave Some Recognition
You are submitting to article directories for a reason right? To promote you and your site’s pages to overcome your competitors in the search engines, and to lure in more readers. You want to fill out your profile as much as possible because leaving recognition such as your name or blog URL, can drastically increase the chances of attracting new loyal readers. Remember article marketing is to increase your site’s SERPs, (Search Engine Result Pages) but as well as to bring in more welcoming visitors to your site. Simple things like filling out your profile or author bio can really attract curious readers straight to your web page.
4th Thing: Research Your Article Directories
As you now know that the more directories you submit your articles to, the less quality it has. It is very important to do research to individually handpick article directories that are more likely to bring you visitors. Researching article directories through Alexa to see how much traffic it is getting, is critical for getting the best results. Remember you can only choose 30 article directories out of the thousands of article directories.
5th Thing: Be Careful About Softwares
One thing you should really be concerned about is softwares that claim to “automatically” submit your articles to hundreds of directories. Most article softwares are only made to cause trouble in terms of getting Google angry. My recommendation is to either not use them at all or go for a “semi” automatic software where it is made easily for you to copy and paste. Although automatic article submitters may seem to be time conservative, it really isn’t actually. Search engines like Google hate automatic softwares and might even consider penalizing your sites for it. Automated article directories are like spammers because they stuff hundreds of article directories of articles pointing to one little site in seconds which is obviously unnatural. A big company like Google can obviously tell apart which links are unnatural and which aren’t due to the amount of backlinks in a small given time. Semi automatic softwares or just manually submitting your articles is the way to go. Anything that is automated to help you rank higher in the search engines, besides automated RSS feed submitters and search engines submitters, will most likely not help your site at all and will only penalize your site. Stay on Google’s good side and don’t take any paths that you believe you will be penalized for it, even if it’s a slight hunch that your site will be penalized for it, just don’t do it. It isn’t worth the risk.
Don’t take article directories for granted and choose only the ones that you feel will be most beneficial for your sites. Article marketing is one of the most standard methods of getting general backlinks and readers. Just follow these rules or should I say things, and you will be sure to be on the fast track to getting the best results.
