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How Fast Are You? |
Is fast article submission really important? For some of us it is. It may not be if you are just going to submit an article or two and leave it at that. However, if you hope to use articles as a regular part of your marketing plan for your website, it becomes very important.
The first time I wrote an article to promote one of my web sites, it took me hours just to write it. Then the article submission process took another hour - for just one article directory. I was slow! Now, most articles take me less than an hour to write. I submit an article almost every morning to a dozen directories, and this takes me just fifteen minutes.
Now, does speed matter that much? Well, in the last twelve months, I have submitted 300 articles to directories (don't worry - you don't need to write this much to effectively promote your sites). Suppose I took twelve minutes for each directory submission, instead of the 75 seconds it actually takes me. That would be 525 hours extra in the last year, or 17 of my 30-hour work weeks!
Efficient Article Submission
It isn't about rushing or moving fast. You simply need a simple process or system for anything that you repeatedly do. A simple process makes article submission more relaxing, not less so.
Compose your articles in Windows Notepad files or any simple word processing program. Create a systematic way to format everything - one that works for you - and then stick with it. In my own files, I have the author's resource boxes prepared and copied many times, waiting for the addition of the articles. They can be modified for an article, but this is much quicker than writing a new one each time. I also keep one file of articles for each website.
Once I have written an article, I copy and paste it into the file again. Then I add bold tags or italics or heading tags as necessary to the first version. This way I have a version ready for the directories that accept HTML and those that don't. Each article also has a two sentence description and a list of keywords, ready to copy and paste into the submission forms.
I have a numbered list of directories I submit to, with the URL of the submission page ready to be copied and pasted into the browser to speed things along. I write the article titles on a list. As I submit them I jot down the number of the article directory. Sometimes directories have technical problems for a day or a month. With my simple tracking list, I can go back later to submit the article to those that were missed.
When submitting articles, you have to open and close (expand and minimize) files repeatedly as you fill in the submission form. To save time on forms that require my name, I copy the title and name together, paste it into the "title" box on the form, then cut the name and paste it into the appropriate box. This will make more sense once you try it - it means opening and close the file one less time.
I copy and paste the article description and the keywords into the form, if that article directory requires these. I copy the article body along the resource box. After pasting the article into the form, I cut the resource box and paste it into the appropriate box. Again, this is to open and close the file one less time. Look for any little tricks that work for you to speed things up.
If you have an auto-fill feature on your browser, use it. When forms asking for email, name, or anything else are highlighted yellow, you can usually fill them in with these tools. At directories that require my name and email address, I just click my auto-fill button, and those fields are filled in for me. I use this tool dozens of times daily, saving me a lot of typing.
I also highly recommend getting a keyboard with "cut," "copy" and "paste" buttons. These are much faster than navigating up to "edit," finding "copy," then opening it again to use the "paste" function. This little feature has saved me twenty hours of work in the last year alone - well worth the small price.
There are more ways that I speed up the process, but there is no reason you have to do it the way I do. The important point is that you should be spending more time writing good articles than submitting them.
Steve Gillman lost money on his websites until he discovered the power of articles. Six months later he was making a good living online. To learn how you can do the same, get your free online writing course at: http://www.999articles.com
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You may reprint the above article on your website or in your newsletter, as long as it is unchanged and the link in the author's resource box remains active.