Most of us tend to believe that article submission software do their jobs wonderfully well, automatically. I wish it were true! Once we’ve submitted our articles using submission software, we move on, only monitoring to see if the number of back links increase steadily. In fact, we may not even know which of our articles brought us the back links. Any more levels of details, like which of our articles actually got published in which article directories, and which of these got recognized by the various search engines as back links,… these are info hard to get. Nor do we have time to monitor at this micro level.

But unless we have some level of control over the process, chances are we may be missing something for far too long. For example, some directories may never accept our articles, for some reason. Some directories may always fail due to internal errors (like database errors, slow loading, and changes effected in their urls/ forms/ variable names), till the errors are rectified. Some directories may have been deleted, or may not longer be article directories, and may have been redirected. True, as users, we won’t have much time to bother about these levels of details, but the submission software should.

One of the simpler things a good article submission software should do is to monitor each article submission, and create a report for us to see which of our articles were submitted, when, and which ones failed while submitting to which directories. And whenever a submission fails, the submission software should attempt to re-submit to the failed directories for the next few days, at least once a day, for a reasonable length of time, say one month. And make sure that an article version meant for a failed submission is not used for another directory while re-submission.

This strategy would help make sure that you get the full value of your every article. And get you more back links, more SE rankings, more traffic, sales and profits.

Search Engines like Google prefer blogs and sites that build back links at a uniform, gradual pace. If they detect unnatural spurts of back links to your site, they discount these links, and may even sandbox your site.

So, if you submit your articles by any automated process to 100’s of article directories at a time, and if the directories approve them quickly (which they will if your articles are good), chances are the back links you get may be discounted by SEs like Google. (Yes, if the content submitted to the directories is identical, that may be again discounted; the solution to this, as we’ve seen elsewhere in this blog, is in re-creating 100’s of unique, non-duplicate, versions of the article and submitting one per article directory, also changing the anchor texts, title, etc.)

However, your time is valuable, and you may not be able to keep submitting your articles by hand to different directories, one at a time, keeping a record of where you submitted which version, on which day. This may become practically impossible if you have many articles to submit.

So, how do you submit your articles and yet pre-empt SEs from penalizing you for mass submission? The answer lies in ‘automated drip-submission’, a software that submits your articles only to a certain number of article directories every day, while simultaneously keeping track of the submissions.

Submit the article you’ve prepared for re-creation to a scheduling software. The scheduler would schedule different versions of your article for submission to different article directories on different days. If, for some reason (like the non-availability of the site in question, or time-out), a few of them don’t get submitted, the scheduler should try to re-submit, or submit to alternative directories (postponing the re-submission for another day). The scheduler would also keep track of which versions have already been submitted, so that you don’t submit the same version to more than one directory.

How many articles should the scheduler be made to submit per day? No one knows for sure, but consensus appears to be that up to 20-25 a day should be just fine. So, if you’re planning to submit to about 500 article directories, the entire submission process (of every single article) should be over in less than one month.

This strategy should help your blog (or site) earn back links, at a gradual and natural pace. SEs should be happy, and you should be happy too!

“For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.”

So goes a nursery rhyme.

An article succeeds only when every element contributes its bit. A failure of just one element could result in the failure of your article. One of the key elements of your article is the Resource Box (or the ‘Author Bio’ as it is also called). Don’t let your good article fail, with poor spinning, or a bad submission strategy, or an inappropriate Resource Box. Learn the secret success strategies for your Resource Box, and create a winning Resource Box.

Article Resource Box Secret Strategy #1: Tell, don’t Sell.
An ad is different from an article. A good ad should sell, but a good article should just inform. It’s like the editorial ‘info’ pages in a good magazine. A magazine article is read with a different mindset than an ad. The goal in an article is to create a ‘wow’ feeling, and make the reader look to see “who is the author, and what more can I learn from her/ him”. The Author Bio should read more like a factual statement of how the author can really help the reader learn all there is to learn in the niche. Please see an example of a reasonably well-writen Author Bio:

Richard J. Runion is the President of Geostar Publishing & Services LLC. He has published successful eBooks written by several Subject Matter Experts in diverse fields. He offers a unique ‘article writing & drip-submission’ service for internet marketers who don’t have the time, or content, or interest to write & submit articles. His blog on Article Marketing giving revolutionary new free tips is fast becoming popular, as it is comprehensive and well-researched. You can read his blog at: http://www.1ClickArticleMarketing.com .

The author is introduced, with relevant details that should interest article marketers, esp. the ones who have no time, or content, or interest to write. Revolutionary new free tips are promised for every article marketer. There’s no hard selling done here; just a mild but reasonably powerful introduction of the author.

It doesn’t shout:

“This author’s Amazing New ‘1 Click Article Marketing’ Service Could Change Your Life & Fortunes! For Ever. Just 1 Click By You… And Rich Will Take Care of Your Article Marketing. At ‘1 Click Article Marketing’, Rich Handles All The Hard & Time-consuming Tasks. Writing Articles For You Exactly As Per Your Requirements, If You Want, Re-Create 500+ Unique Articles Out Of Each, And Submit To Each Of Our List Of 500+ Top Article Directories (Which Include All The Highest PR Ranked Sites We Know). Click Here Now, And Order ‘1 Click Article Marketing’ Services at: http://www.1ClickArticleMarketing.com .

Article Resource Box Secret Strategy #2: Vary the anchor text across article directories.
SEs would see the links along with their anchor text. If all the anchor texts are identical, the SEs would presume that the articles may have been mass submitted, and/ or the links have been engineered, with the result that your site may be sandboxed, or may get fewer credits for your back-links. SEs believe that natural linking should have varying anchor texts. So, re-create multiple versions of the Author Bio and submit to the different article directories, with different versions of the aricles and article titles.

In case you happen to be writing and submitting articles on different subjects, vary your complete Author Bio.

The sequence of submission to article directories matters. In what sequence should you submit your articles to them? Let’s formulate a strategy.

Ezine Article Submission Strategy #1: Post In Your Own Blog/ Site, First.
This is a no-brainer, as everyone with experience knows. Since content is King, why lose it? By posting in your own blog/ site first, and making sure it’s indexed before posting elsewhere, you’re making sure the content in your blog/ site is not reckoned wrongly as duplicate and ignored/ penalized.

Ezine Article Submission Strategy #2: Submit To The Best (One) Article Directory, Next.
The one I recommend based on my own experience, which is also the ‘near unanimous’ choice of many other experienced article marketers is ezineArticles.com . This has a high PR rank (PR6, at the time of writing). Though there are a few with PR7, ezineArticles has the best standing with the whole industry, including Google. You’ll get the maximum traffic from this one posting. And if you’ve handled all other issues (like anchor text) well, you’ll get back-links that count a lot, too.

Ezine Article Submission Strategy #3: Drip-Submit To Relevant Article Directories, Next.
After making sure that your article has, in deed, been approved and posted in ezineArticles, post in as many of the relevant article directories as you can. Only you will know which ones are relevant to your site, based on your own knowledge and experience. This is likely to be a very small number, unless you’re in a big market, not just a small niche.

Don’t mass-submit. Submit in trickles. I prefer to submit around 20 to 25 per day.

Ezine Article Submission Strategy #4: Finally, Drip-Submit To 100’s Of Article Directories, Sequentially, Based On Their Relative Importance.
Leaving out article directories with specific focus outside your niche, and the ones that are mere link farms or are non-functional, submit to as many directories as you possibly can. How do you rank the article directories in terms of their relative importance? I use a combination of two parameters. One is, of course, the PR rank. (You can use Alexa ranking instead, if you like.) The second is the list of the article directories that gurus recommend (please see ‘Warrior Forum’). You may alternatively create such a list from the ones that major article submission software submit to. I have my own formula to rank the article directories.

Again drip-submit; don’t mass-submit.

Ezine Article Submission Strategy #5: Use High Quality Unique Versions Of Your Article For All These Submissions.
Don’t submit the same one version all around. And don’t use article spinners to spin; they will kill the spirit of your articles. In case you have a ‘blog post’/ ’site page’ with similar content, perhaps you may avoid posting it also as an article in your blog/ site (that is, you may skip strategy #1), as it may become over-kill.

Article submission is, by far, the toughest part of article marketing. True, there are software products and services that appear to help in submission. But none of them takes into account all the problems of article submission, and addresses them successfully. If you set for yourself the following article submission strategies and manage to execute them well, you’re likely to stand much taller than your competition, and benefit from the increase in sales and profits.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #1: Submit Only Re-Created Unique Versions Of Your Articles.

Like all the other successful article marketers, you want to make the best use of your every article. How can you match your competitors and even better them? First of all, you can avoid article spinning. Create multiple versions of your article and submit one version per directory. Your article will be more unique, and get better SE recognition. It will also read well, and get you buyers from among from your article readers.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #2: Vary the article title & description.

This will help in the SEO process, similar to Strategy 1. Not only in establishing every version as unique and getting SE rankings for your site, but also in securing SE rankings for multiple versions of your article, thus increasing the chances of your article being read.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #3: Vary The Anchor Text.

Varying the anchor text in all the links, whether in the body or in the Author Bio, is critical, to avoid SEs like Google sandboxing your site or devaluing your links. Comply with all the rules of the article directories, esp. the ones related to permissible links. Pay greater attention to the rules of the more important article directories. It’s ideal to find the lowest common denominator of the rules of all the directories, and comply with them, so your site will have the best chance of getting many links.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #4: Submit To The Appropriate Categories.

Typically, most article submission software submit articles without bothering about the category to which your article should belong. Some of them simply submit to the ‘Others’/ ‘Miscellaneous’ category, presuming they are ‘playing it safe’ (which is bad, since your articles are getting sidelined, at best). This happens because article directories don’t have a standard set of categories. So, it is difficult to submit to the right category, even manually, as it is tedious and frustrating.

The ‘admin’s of most article directories may simply disallow your article if your article is submitted to a wrong directory. Many of them are finicky about it. From the angle of SE ranking also, your site would benefit most from submission to the right category. In addition, looking at it from the angle of the web searcher, your article stands a better chance of being discovered when submitted to the right category. So, it is in your overall interest that your articles are submitted to the right categories, always.

A good Article submission software should map every category correctly to every other directory, which is the only way to automate and manage this task.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #5: Drip-Submit Your Articles; Don’t Mass-Submit.

Don’t submit all the 100’s of Unique versions of your article in one go. Submit them in drips, for slow, natural back links to develop, to gain ‘full credits’ for your links. Most submission software mass-submit articles; this may land up your links in the supplemental index of SEs (like Google). True, article directories may take time to approve, but even so, you lose control once you mass-submit. And you’re likely to be suspected by SEs of using black hat techniques to get links.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #6: Track Every Submission.

“What cannot be measured cannot be controlled”, as the saying goes. Your submission software should give you a report of the article submissions, preferably with the date and time of each submission. Have a separate email account (say, Gmail) to get mails from these directories so that you know what’s happening in all these article directories, whether your article has been approved, or rejected for some reason, or they want to communicate something else to you. You can read these mails at leisure, and not permit them to clutter your main mailbox(es).

Article Submission Secret Strategy #7: Resubmit Articles That Fail.

There must be an automatic way for your submission software to do this. This will minimize ‘article leaks’.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #8: Include Your Article In Your Blog/ Site, And In Your Own Article Directory.

Add one version of the article to your own blog/ site, and even one in your very own article directory in your niche (which can be easily created and maintained). Content is king, as they say. Why waste it, particularly when you have 100’s of versions of your every article, and you can have one for your own site? Since, the versions are all unique, you will get maximum credit for every one of your articles.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #9: Include One Version Of Your Article In Your Newsletter.

This is again a no-brainer. This will act as a reminder to your list. (If you don’t have one yet, create one right away.) This need not be a solo mail, but include other communication you want to send out. Just include this in your autoresponder, appropriately. Don’t forget adsense, RSS feeds, amazon links, etc., if your newsletter is in ‘html’ form; else create ‘html’ links to include revenue earners like adsense, RSS feeds, amazon links, etc.

Article Submission Secret Strategy #10: Recycle Old Articles, Wherever Possible.

A cat has nine lives. Your article can have even more. But remember to rewrite them (particularly, update them based on any changes since you last wrote), before re-creating multiple versions and submitting.

Best Wishes!