Article submissions can help your business realize a significant increase in traffic, the creation of thousands of backlinks and the improvement of your brand's presence. However, many people who use article submissions as part of their overall marketing efforts have difficulty in getting their articles published by the maximum amount of high-quality, relevant directories. And while a percentage of some articles will never get approved for publishing (or even reviewed, for that matter), you can significantly increase your publishing rates by adhering to the following guidelines.

1.) Every article submission should be free of spelling and grammar errors

Think about it - if your article is full of grammar and spelling, word choice, syntax or punctuation errors, is any reader likely to take the work (and your business by extension) seriously? Article directories know that reader and search engine bots prefer high quality content and so article submissions that are flawed in these regards will in most cases be deleted without a request for edits. To prevent this from happening to your work, ensure that every piece is edited manually.

2.) Deliver on the Promise in Your Title

There's nothing more frustrating than clicking on an article link because you need the information it contains based on the title, only to find that the article either doesn't quite discuss the subject or doesn't discuss it well enough to validate the title. In most cases editors at directories will delete your article if you don't deliver on the title, but in cases where they don't you're certain to accomplish nothing more at publishing than annoy readers.

3.) Always use the Correct Format

Each directory or publisher has their own formatting requirements for a reason, and it's not because they simply prefer it that way. Computer systems, printing systems and editing systems may require that articles be formatted in a certain way in order to be processed for publishing. Not meeting these guidelines isn't just cause for a quick delete; it's also cause for banning your account because you can't be bothered to follow the Terms of Service. Pay special attention to each publisher's requirements on the formatting of:

*Titles

*Body

*Headings and sub-headings

*Names and Company Information

*Summary

*Resource Box

4.) Save your Links for Last

While it might be tempting to position your links as close to the beginning of the article as the directory or publisher will allow, the best place to make the sale or place your backlink is in the resource box. Remember: your article is designed primarily to provide useful information to the reader. Converting that reader should only be a secondary goal, which means that you should provide your information first - in the body - and ask for the sale or backlink after - in the resource box.

One of the biggest problems with article submissions software is that they do not allow you to format your article correctly for each directory's requirements. This is especially true of minimum word count requirements, HTML versus non-HTML resource boxes and the length of the summary. Therefore, manual submission to high PR, high authority sites is strongly recommended.