Yesterday we received this question and I thought I’d walk you through it, but also talk about how you can find these kind of answers if you get stuck.

What are article directories:

Article directories are places where you can post/publish your articles. From here your article can build links back to your site. You can  get quite a bit of traffic from people searching the article directory itself for information. You articles can also be picked up to be published by other publishers getting your message out to a wider audience (and build more links)

Why do I want other people publishing my work?

When you publish an article at an article directory one of the best things about it is someone else can come and use your article on their site or for their newsletter or any where else people use content. The reason this is so good for you is they must keep your author’s box/resource box intact. Which means all the people that read that site or newsletter will now see your link. These are people you otherwise probably never would have access to. This is a key way to get more traffic to your site.

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SIDEBAR:

I once had an article picked up from Ezinearticles.com that was used as a featured article in a newsletter that had a circulation in the 10s of thousands. I didn’t even know it, until someone I knew sent me a congratulatory email on getting published in this person’s newsletter.

I was wondering where all that traffic was coming from So it is a really good thing for other’s to publish your stuff.

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While that was very exciting you need to know there are a lot of unscrupulous people on the internet, people just looking to swipe content to use for themselves. There are people who will strip the html out of your resource box, or even just yank the whole box.  There’s really nothing you can do about them doing this, so don’t waste a bunch of time emailing them and threatening them, it really won’t work, and all you will have done is waste your time ~ but you can add your url to your resource box, so if the html for your keyword link gets pulled people will still have a way to get to your site.

How do I publish articles to article directories?

Each directory has its own system, there will usually be directions or some place that tells you how it all works. Make sure you look through the terms of service, and the publishing instructions before you post to a new directory. Each directory has their own terms of service. Some are more lenient about affiliate links, some have no tolerance at all. It is up to the discretion of the site owner if they decide to close or lock your account, so you really need to follow the rules.

I remember when I first read the terms of service at EZA I was a little panicky. I had never published an article before. It still seemed like this “really big deal” to “publish” an article I was pretty overwhelmed. Don’t let it overwhelm you. Get the basic gist or feeling of the site and then plug on ahead.

How do I add links to my articles?

Many article directories will ask you keep your self serving links or even all links in your resource box. They do not want links in the body of the article. Fair enough.

There are two ways you can create links in your resource box.

1. Text editor:

Some directories will have a text editor you can use to create your links. If you are working with a text editor you can simply highlight the text you want to make the link out of and then click the “chain link” icon at the top of the edirot. (the icon will only be clickable once you have highlighted text)

2. html linking

Linking with html is pretty simple once you understand how it is done.  You need 2 pieces of information your url you want the link to point to, and the words you want people to click on (anchor text).

When you have both of those things you just use this code ~ substituting your real url and your anchor text.

How do I know how and where to make my links?

When trying to figure out how to link in a particular article directory you need to look around and usually there will be instructions or helpful tips to help you figure out exactly how this site works.  However, most have basically the same format, though the pieces may be in different places. Keep in mind the resource box/author box is where your links most likely need to go. If you don’t see a text editor (lots of icons at the top of the box you write in) you probably need to use the html option.

If you have any other questions about article directories feel free to ask below. If you have other internet marketing questions we’d be glad to answer them!

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