Choosing
an Article Submission Service is a risky business. Here are the Top 10
questions you should ask before spending your hard-earned dollars .
Building your list and adding prospects to your sales funnel with article
submissions is the hottest sales lead generation trend on the Web today.
However, the article submission process is one of the most boring and tedious
tasks around. That’s why many authors, experts and businesses choose to
outsource their article marketing efforts.
How
can you choose the best company to handle this important process for you?
Follow these tips to avoid being ripped off from unscrupulous merchants?
- Are the sites on your
company’s article submission list well known across the Web, or are they
dummy sites that you set up? Some unscrupulous article submission service
providers promise to post your article to hundreds or thousands of sites
for a very low fee – like $15! What they don’t tell you is that these
sites are ones they have created for the sole purpose of posting your
articles. No one visits these sites. Search engines don’t index these
sites. So no one will ever see these articles. Ask for a list of sites
they submit to. If they don’t seem credible, run fast!
- Does Google index the sites
you submit to? If Google doesn’t, then you are wasting your time. Ask them
for a list of success stories. By going to Google and typing the headline
in quotes, you can check whether or not Google indexes the articles they
submit.
- Does Alexa index the sites
your company submits articles to? Alexa.com is a website that tracks the
traffic of all websites. Go there and type your website URL and you’ll see
where your site ranks among the millions of websites. It’s easy and fun to
do. Try it! Now, ask the marketing company to provide the names of 10
sites they will submit your article to. See where they rank on Alexa. Do
they even rank on Alexa? If not, watch out!
- Is this a targeted campaign,
or a scattershot approach? Ask the company how well targeted the article
submission process is going to be. Can they target specific audiences,
like health, or marketing or C-level executives? If they can’t, then you
are wasting your money reaching audiences that aren’t interested in your
message.
- Does your company submit
articles by hand or by software? Most reputable websites that accept
articles will not accept articles delivered by software. They want unique
content and they know articles submitted by software will be sent to every
site imaginable.
- Does your company edit your
article? I’ve written six books on marketing and the Internet that have
been translated into six different languages, and I write and submit
articles on a weekly basis. Yet, I still hire proofreaders to review my
articles. Sure, you think you are a great writer, but there’s not a person
alive who won’t benefit from a copy editor giving the article a second
look.
- Will your company use sound
search engine optimization strategies to make my articles search engine
friendly. If your hire a good article marketing company, they will not
only edit your articles but they will make your articles search engine
friendly as well. This way, your articles can be found on Google.
- Will your company handle the
day-to-day correspondence with site and ezine editors? You can spend hours
answering questions from website and ezine editors. The best firms
handle the routine correspondence for you. They bring you in only when you
need to answer an important question. You should avoid firms that don’t
respond to editors because your articles will never be published by highly
targeted websites. They can say they submitted the article, but you won’t
have any pickup.
- Does your company submit
articles in a way that Google respects, or do you blast articles out
there? Google hates when people try to manipulate their rankings and will
ding your article campaign if you send out too many articles too quickly.
Make sure your article marketing company understands this. Otherwise,
Google could blackball your article marketing efforts.
- What do you charge? It has
been my experience that the article submission process, if performed
correctly, can take up to 10 hours or more to submit your article to 100
sites. That doesn’t count the proofing, editing, optimizing, consulting
and following up. All this work takes time and effort. If the price
seems too low, remember the old saying, “You get what you pay for.”
You
want an article submission company that cares about your success. Many
fly-by-night artists just want to take your money and run. Make sure the
service you select takes the time to get to know you, your marketing goals and
your audience? Follow these tips to ensure you get what you pay for! If not,
you could be headed for disaster.
I
hope to see you all over the Web.
About
the Author:
Internet marketing pioneer, Dan Janal has influenced several
generations of Internet Marketers including the top executives from IBM,
American Express and Reader’s Digest. If you're ready to jump-start your article submission
efforts and make more money online, then get your FREE tips now at http://www.articlemarketingexperts.com/articlenewsletter
