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Last week when I checked in with a client and asked about her progress, she told me she hadn’t submitted her articles to any of the popular article directories. I know she wrote lots of blog posts for the 30 Day Blog Challenge. It’s simple to edit those articles slightly and submit to the online article directories. But she hadn’t done anything with those articles except post them to her blog.

When I asked her why she hadn’t submitted these articles, she said she had heard that having the same article on more than one website would stop readers from finding her site.

She’d heard that duplicate content was a very bad thing. And wanted to avoid the penalty in the search engines.

There are several different versions of what actually makes up duplicate content. At that time, the number of pages on a website did have some influence on page rank for the site.

Some people wanted to make their website look “bigger” to the search engines. They would write (or find someone to write) a few articles. Then they would put the same article on many pages of their website.

Of course, the search engine programmers soon fixed their programs so that content counts once per domain. You don’t want to put a post on your blog and also put it in an article directory on your site.

One reason the search engines favor blogs over static websites is that each post on your blog becomes a new page. It’s easy to update your content, and your blog grows with each article you post.

However, to reach more readers, you need to have your content on as many websites as possible. The top article directories have high page ranks. They have lots of readers who can find your articles and follow the link back to your site. You can gain new visitors to your website and readers for your work.

In fact, article directories encourage people to take the content from the article sites and publish it on their own websites. They require that the resource box (that is the box with your author information in it) remain the same as you published originally. This can lead even more people back to your website through the link you include in your resource box.

Some people like to put new articles on their blog first. After the content is indexed by the search engines, they will submit to the article directories. That’s a good method to follow.

If you are submitting your articles to Associated Content and asking for an up-front payment, you need to submit your content there first. They won’t offer an up-front payment for material that’s already been published.

It can take a few days for EzineArticles to approve your article. They will check to be sure the same article doesn’t appear on the Internet with a different author’s name. Your article won’t be approved if there is a question about who owns the copyright. While you are waiting for EZA approval, you may submit the article to other article directories.

Spread your articles all over the Internet. This can help brand your name and draw readers to your blog. Just be sure to link back to your blog in your resource box.

I’ll do a follow-up article about how to make a resource box that draws readers back to your website.

Do you submit articles to article directories? Which directories have given you the most visitors to your website?

Leave a comment and share.

Write on,

Lynn

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