What Article Directories Are Looking For

What Article Directories Are Looking For

Just in case you haven’t noticed, there are literally hundreds of article directories cropping up on the Internet. In line with Google’s Adsense program and other such programs, people are looking to get on the Internet with their Web page. One thing that most Web site owners have learned is that having articles that say something help rank them higher on the search engines instead of having jumbled up keywords on a page that doesn’t read well at all.

Article directories have a big job—every day, thousands of authors and want-to-be authors submit their articles to these directories. These authors aren’t seeking payment, but rather a link back to their site, exposure for themselves as writers and for their websites. It’s a scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours society. Many of the articles that are submitted to these directories are not articles at all, but rather blurbs of nothingness with little content and usually lacking readability. The revenue from Adsense for the article directory Web sites can be substantial, but only if they have quality articles posted on their site and if they can get it up quickly.

There is of course Spam to these article directory Web sites as well—repeat articles submitted one after another or copied-and-pasted content that has been plagiarized from the Internet and another author. This Spam and plagiarism scam is the bane of article directories and the editors that run them.

Article directories are looking for articles—if your article hasn’t been accepted, it’s likely for a good cause. The articles that should be submitted to an article directory should reflect your best work—remember, you are putting your name and your link to your Web site on the work, and the people who are looking at it could want to commission you to do more work for them.

The articles themselves should be clear and concise, error free and well-written. Don’t get verbose on the bane of your own existence or the antics of your dog—save these rants for your blog and keep them off the article directory sites. Your article should be lengthy, at least 400 words and definitely not less than 250 words. Anything less than this suggests a lack of thought by the author and a cheap attempt to get their name in lights with a link-back to their site without sharing anything meaningful.

It is also important to note that adult material, gambling and pharmacy content are against the terms of service of Google Adsense. Editors at article directories are careful to delete these types of articles that are submitted so as to not lose their Google Adsense account and revenues.

All in all, it is highly important to output quality articles that are informative and well-written. These types of articles are much more likely to get through onto the article directory. Avoid plagiarizing materials from the Internet at all costs—most of the larger article directories and even some of the newer, smaller ones run the copy you submit through Copyscape to scan for plagiarism. Editors at article directories are constantly barraged with emails from irate authors who claim their content has been plagiarized—the usual course of action for the editors is to delete the article completely.

Article directories are very popular and are consistently gaining in popularity as well as more and more Web sites pop up on the Internet every day in hopes of making a few dollars. Articles are used by Web site owners to increase their readership; however, it is important to note that the more copies of the articles that appear on the Internet, the lower the search engine ranking can be for any particular Web site that uses it.

BONUS : What Aspiring Authors Can Learn From The 2005 Publishing Year

'Tis the season for evaluating the year gone by! Over the next few weeks you'll see plenty of articles summing up the successes and failures in industries all across the board: television, movies, automobiles, retail. It's no different for the publishing industry. Already the New York Times has run an article examining publishing's good, bad and ugly decisions of 2005. There are many tidbits here and there in Publishers Weekly as well. While the overall message can seem daunting for an aspiring author (sales down, even some celebrity books didn't do well), there are a few choice nuggets you can pluck from the dust and use to energize your publishing process for 2006.

Beware of Mixed Messages

Yes, sales are down. Both the Association of American Publishers and the American Booksellers Association reported a drop of 2 percent in adult hardcover and overall bookstore sales. This continues a trend that's a few years old. However, the USA's major bookstore chains (Barnes & Noble, Borders and Books-A-Million) are planning to open about 80 new stores in 2006, ten more than this year. And we're talking HUGE stores, with the B&N ones topping out at nearly 30,000 sq. ft.!

Obviously, somebody is making enough money to justify these openings. Granted, such stores do sell more than books these days. Music, DVDs and expensive cups of java figure prominently in the sales ledgers. But I don't see Books-A-Million changing their name to Cups-A-Million! Bottom line: as long as the big guys think it's profitable to be in the book business, it can be profitable for you to be in the book business.

When Celebrities Fail

It seems like Martha Stewart had a banner year, doesn't it? She got out of prison, launched a couple of TV shows, made a spectacular return to the cover of her magazine and she wrote a book, The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Build, or Manage a Business. Despite her huge successes elsewhere, though, things didn't turn out so well for that book. The New York Times reports that after Rodale Books signed Ms. Stewart to a $2 million contract and planned a printing of 500,000, the book has sold just 37,000 copies since its October release.

I asked around about this and one editor wondered whether Ms. Stewart had crossed a line into overexposure land. But let's be clear about this and get the lesson right: this isn't just about seeing Martha Stewart everywhere and being too tired of her to want to read about her in a book. This is about whether Ms. Stewart had anything left to tell us that we don't feel we already know.

Understanding this nuance is important because in this time where having a "platform" is the "it" thing, you have to be quite savvy in how you put yourself out there. If you give away all your tips, secrets, strategies, life story, connections, etc., each and every time you're in front of people, you won't have anything left for them to look for in a book! Of course this only pertains to non-fiction authors and only for certain subjects. I'm sure Ms. Stewart's audience, for example, will never tire of getting new recipes and new household tips from her!

Classic Winning Move: Speaking Truth From the Heart

I'm a fiction writer, so it pains me to say it, but right now in the publishing industry non-fiction is king. And the stuff that people want to read includes thoughtful, heartfelt stories and essays from noted voices such as Joan Didion (The Year of Magical Thinking), Jimmy Carter (Our Endangered Values) and Kurt Vonnegut (A Man Without a Country). The lesson here is a simple one: be true to yourself, write what you feel and at some point your audience will find you.

I know that can be hard to believe when it seems you can't get anyone to read a query letter let alone a manuscript, but this is an industry that rewards persistence. There are many ways to get your story out there and in a few weeks you'll have a whole new year in which to find the one that's right for you. The choice is yours. Good luck.