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About Article Directories
There are many places to upload your articles to the Internet and literally thousands of web publishers needing fresh articles daily to upload to their sites to interest their visitors. It's one of the easiest ways to promote a product.
I have uploaded literally dozens of articles to hundreds of different article databases and though each article might generate just one sale a day, sales grow proportionately to number of articles uploaded as well as number of sites actually featuring my articles. It is easy, it's totally free of charge, it takes literally minutes to upload an article, hence the reason I recommend this marketing medium to you and why I have also included some excellent free books to this package to help you learn more about creating order winning articles.
* There are general (mass market) and specialist (niche market) article directories, for example ezinearticles.com and propertysold.com, respectively. There are hundreds of general and specialist article directories. It's a good idea to make a list of article directories and update it every time you see a new source for your articles.
* A question you will one day ask, when you see how profitable this project can be, is: Can I automate my submissions, is there any software that allows me to do this?'
The answer is YES and NO. There is software available, quite inexpensively, and several firms able to splatter your articles all over the Internet in minutes at very low cost. I use one or two myself but there are problems you should be aware of. Article directories differ in their requirements, some need a 'tempter' piece, a kind of preview for your article, included separately in their directory, some don't, some frown on automatic submissions and some bar automated entries. It's best to submit articles manually, that way every article on every directory will become a good source of income for you.
* There is an exception I often apply myself if I'm in a hurry to get links to my web sites (created myself or affiliate pages that I don't create and upload myself). I use automation software and specialist submission firms for these articles but I also use a pseudonym, a pen name, so if I get barred it won't reflect badly on articles submitted in my own name.
* Article directories vary according to what you can and can not include in articles you upload to their site. You should study individual directories before uploading your articles. Some do not allow affiliate links to be used in resource boxes, namely where people clicking on the link go directly to a company selling products using your affiliate link as mediator. But this is surmountable using a process called 'forwarding'. It works like this: Some affiliate links are long and complicated, even the article creator might key it incorrectly and lead readers up the proverbial 'garden path'.
And that is probably one reason why some directories like choose not to accept raw affiliate links like this in their article submissions:
http://www.promotemyproduct.com/affiliate/product1/affiliateID=12546789876&ProductID=fdkrktsBsz
That link is fictitious, I hope, but try committing it to memory or re-keying it correctly first time round.
'Forwarding' is a process whereby you use your own domain name, something like: www.avrilharper.com but unlike the normal process of uploading a page for this site with that long affiliate link embedded behind a picture or shorter link, you use a company like GoDaddy.com who allow you to 'forward' that awkward link directly to your easy-to-remember web address, like www.avrilharper.com
In one easy step, you buy the domain name, go to the 'forwarding' section of the hosting company's site, key that long and awkward link into the appropriate box, press 'forward to', add your domain name, press to submit. Check you keyed in the correct wording, this is a one time only requirement, and you are ready to go, ready to start making money.
Now when anyone keys the easy link into their browser, in this case http://www.avrilharper.com they'll go directly to the affiliate program you are promoting behind:
http://www.promotemyproduct.com/affiliate/product1/affiliateID=12546789876&ProductID=fdkrktsBsz
Via this forwarding process, your article ends something like 'Visit www.avrilharper.com for information about ……………. (whatever you are promoting on someone else's site with your affiliate link as go-between)'.
Some article directories will allow that long link to be embedded behind words of your choosing so readers see something like 'CLICK HERE' as opposed to: 'For more information go to: http://www.promotemyproduct.com/affiliate/product1/affiliateID=12546789876&ProductID=fdkrktsBsz'. It's a kind of masking device that saves people having to view or key in long complicated links.
* You can also use article directories to find articles to publish on your own web site. But there is a slight catch here. Content is what attracts search engines, but imagine if thousands of people pick up the same article from the same directory, how does Google or other search engine determine which of all of those sites to list first when Internet users key in words or phrases that feature high in this particular article? The answer is they probably don't! The search engine will probably ignore the lot and look for something else, something different, without heavy competition. There are ways to overcome this problem and it involves adding your own input to introduce that other person's article while staying well within the rules relating to copyright. Read more about this is 'How to Upload the Same Article as Everyone Else and Make Yours the One Most Internet Users Read First'
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