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When I started article marketing, I knew I could write articles, but I didn’t know where to submit them to. Then I discovered EzineArticles, which everyone said was the best. But I was always keeping my eye open for an article directories list that I could really trust.

The problem was, every list I found looked great, but there wasn’t any methodology given as to how it was compiled. Basically, it was the just the personal opinion of the list author.

My article submission strategy became something like this: submit to EzineArticles, plus a couple dozen other sites that had decent PR and Alexa. As far as strategy goes, it was pretty poor.

Then I recently came across Jack Duncan’s Ultimate Article Marketing List. It is an article directories list that has been selected scientifically, and took him hundreds of hours to complete.

If you’re looking for the ultimate article directories list, you really need to check this one out. There are 98 article directories in the current edition, ranked according to a score that includes many factors, including page rank, percentage of overall pages indexed in Google, on page SEO factors, article directory traffic, clickability (on page readability factors) and much more.

Jack scoured the internet, coming up with a list of 6000 unique article directories. He then narrowed that huge list down to just 98. The cream of the crop. Directories where you can be sure you have an excellent shot at ranking in Google for your keyword. Directories that you won’t be wasting your time if you submit to them.

If you’re serious about your article marketing, you really need to checkout the Ultimate Article Directories List. Not only will you save wasted time, but you will be enhancing your marketing efforts by only investing in high-value sites. Definitely a “strongly recommend” in my books.

If you’re promoting a product or service online, article marketing can be an effective way to boost traffic and sales. However, it often takes product owners too long to write an article, so they go hunting for an article writing service instead.

Before you go looking for an article writing service, you need to first consider your motivations for doing so. Like anything else you outsource, you should measure it against what it would cost you to do it yourself. Personally, I’ve developed a system that allows me to write an article in 10 minutes, so I can do six per hour. If I outsourced the same six articles, I would like pay $60. That means I’m working at a $60 per hour productivity level, which is higher than I currently pay myself, meaning I should write the articles myself.

However, if you find yourself unable to write at that speed (you can learn – it’s easier than you think!) or consider your time more valuable than that, then you will probably be looking for an article writing service. What should you be looking for?

The biggest thing that I’ve considered in the past (yes, I have and still do outsource some articles) is the level of English and the quality of the resulting articles. If you hire an article writing service that is producing substandard articles, then that is going to reflect poorly on your business. In some well educated markets, you will immediately turn off your prospect just by showing them something with very poor English.

Beyond English, I look for a sense of creativity. Is the article writing service capable of producing unique content that hasn’t just been dredged and rehashed from other article directories?

If you can find an article writing service that does both of these things, at a reasonable cost, then you just might be onto a good thing. However, if you’re interested in writing your own articles, if you could learn to do it quicker, then you should checkout my 10 Minute Article System. It’s just the thing for you.

People often wonder “how does article marketing help with SEO?”

The answer to that question is highly dependent on how the article marketer goes about doing it. However, for the sake of this article, I’m going to assume that you’ve written a correctly optimized article, focused on one keyword, using the keyword in the title and properly throughout the body as well.

Further to that, I’m going to assume that you’ve submitted your article to a directory that has actually put some work into making sure their articles receive SEO benefit. There are thousands of article directories out there, and please beware that they are not all created equally. Only a relative handful are actually truly optimized. Anyways, let’s assume you’ve submitted to one of these.

So if you’re wondering how does article marketing help with SEO, the simple answer is that you get backlinks from all your articles. In fact, you get keyword targeted backlinks because you get to choose the anchor text for the links that point back to your site. A large part of Google’s ranking algorithm depends on links, and their text, so this is a great way to get a large number of targeted backlinks to your site.

A second, usually smaller benefit comes from the page rank that will flow back to your site from the article. Every single page on the internet has at least some minimal level of page rank when it is created. Over time, if Google deems that article relevant enough, it will rise in the rankings, and possibly also increase in page rank. At this point, the links pointing back to your site will become more valuable because they are not only keyword targeted, but they are also coming from pages of increased page rank.

Finally, if you’re still wondering how does article marketing help with SEO, there’s the fact that most article marketers will submit their articles to dozens of different directories. Therefore, each of the benefits I’ve already mentioned are multiplied many times over each time the article is submitted somewhere else.

If you’re looking for article writing tips, I’m guessing that you’re a conscientious marketer who is looking for ways to improve your article writing skills and ability. If these article writing tips have helped you, come checkout http://www.10minutearticles.com and learn how I was able to cut my article writing time from nearly an hour to less than 10 minutes!

Article writing doesn’t have to be hard; in fact it can be made very simple by having a system that you follow. I’ve taken three article writing tips from the 10 Minute Article System to share with you today.

Tip #1. Pick a Keyword
Good article marketing (on the internet) always revolves around keywords. Offline it doesn’t matter so much, but online you must focus on a keyword. So pick a keyword for each article to focus on, and be sure to mention it a few times in your article. That keyword essentially becomes the topic of your article. Make sure you use it 1-2 times per hundred words.

Tip #2. Think of Three Subpoints
Of all the article writing tips I can think of, this is perhaps one of the keys to saving the most time. Once you’ve got your keyword or topic, take one minute and think of three simple points you can make about that topic. Write them down. Now, when you go to create your article, all you have to do is write a couple sentences on each point and you’ve got most of your article complete! Add an intro sentence and a conclusion, and you’ve likely got a 300 word article.

Tip #3. Create a Catchy, Keyword Optimized Title
Titles are very important to the success of your articles. If you’re looking for article writing tips make sure you find some dealing with titles. For SEO purposes, you must include the keyword in the title. However, for the “catchy” factor, you often need to make it more than just the keyword. Try making it a short list, like with this article “3 Easy Article Writing Tips” for instance. Or, “3 Ways to Lose Fat Today.” You can also make it a question or a how-to statement. Have some fun with it!

If you’re looking for article writing tips, I’m guessing that you’re a conscientious marketer who is looking for ways to improve your article writing skills and ability. If these article writing tips have helped you, come checkout http://www.10minutearticles.com and learn how I was able to cut my article writing time from nearly an hour to less than 10 minutes!

I’ve often been asked the question “How does article marketing work?“, so I thought I would give an answer for the uninitiated.

Article marketing has been around as long as there have been printed publications. It is definitely not new to the internet, though many people associate it with internet marketing. If you were to ask you local newspaper editor what percentage of their content was actually researched and written by staff, you might be surprised to learn that nearly 70% of the content in most papers is actually submitted to the paper by business owners, or by other people that are looking for publicity.

So how does article marketing work? Well on the internet of course, things look a little bit different than the standard process that happens with newspapers. In fact, on the internet, it is even easier.

You, as a marketer, need merely write an article that is in some way related to the product or service you are providing. It does NOT have to be about your product, but merely something interesting or useful in the same niche, or in some way related.

Once you have your article, you can submit it to online article directories, for free. Ideally, you want to have optimized your article for a particular keyword. The article should be kept short, so that people haven’t lost interest by the time they reach the end.

Now, the final part is what really makes article marketing work on the internet. Along with every article, the writer is given the opportunity to submit a resource box, sometimes called a signature box. This resource box should be used to present an offer to the reader, or at bare minimum, send them back to your website.

The value therefore flows both directions. The article directory gets a good deal, because people like yourself are constantly providing them with free and unique content, and the marketer gets a good deal because they are able to get their information in front of a much larger audience.

Depending on the directory that you submit to, there will be a short term burst of traffic from the article you write. However, the real power of article marketing comes from the long term value. Over time, your article (if the article directory is properly optimized) will gain rankings in the search engines. At that point you should start getting traffic from people that have searched your term directly in Google. Long term you can receive thousands of views from this, and if you have properly written your resource box you can expect to receive a percentage of those in clickthroughs to your site as well.

So, the next time you hear the question “How does article marketing work?” You’ll know the answer and you can educate the questioner!

To learn how to put article marketing to work for your business and website, visit http://www.10minutearticles.com to find the latest cutting edge strategies!