To make sure that more of your articles get published, follow these simple guidelines and you will have a better chance of seeing your articles online.

1. Subject line is all CAPS. You should only capitalize the first letter of each word. All caps signifies shouting.
2. Misspelled words and incorrect grammar. Ensure that you read and re-read your article before submitting it and check for spelling errors.
3. Article is too short or too long. Most article web sites prefer articles in the 500 to 700 word range.
4. Article is improperly formatted. Different word processors treat characters differently. Sometimes a dash or an apostrophe display as question marks. Using a text editor is better than a word processor.
5. Too many links. Most article sites allow links in the author’s resource box but having more than one or two will get your article declined.
6. Links in the articles. Not many article sites allow links in the text of the article. It is best to just have them in the author’s resource box.
7. Improper bolding. I can understand sub-paragraphs being bold or an occasional word bolded for emphasis. But, you should not bold your links.
8. Incorrect HTML. Ensure that your HTML – especially your links – are formatted properly. I have seen many errors that make your link ineffective. The most common errors are using an apostrophe instead of a quotation mark at the beginning and end of the link and not closing the link properly /a.
9. Articles don’t make sense. This is usually caused by writers using some sort of a rotator or thesaurus to change the positioning of sentences or words so that when using an auto submitter, the articles are different at all the various article web sites. I understand the reasoning to have unique articles but some of these programs don’t work as well as you would like.
10. Submitting ads instead of articles. It is best to write an article related to your product or web site instead of blatantly advertising whatever it is you are trying to sell.

This is not an all-inclusive list and reflects only one man’s observations. But, I do have about 10 different article sites and also some blogs that accept articles automatically. I screen the articles daily and these are the guidelines I use to accept or reject articles.

I am a little more lenient on the articles submitted to the blogs. I tend to allow links within the text more than at the purely article sites as the links are more acceptable in blog than in an article. This is just my way of thinking – others may disagree.

Anyhow, if you follow the guide above, I think that more of your articles will be accepted. Keep in mind that most of the article sites have their own set of submission guidelines and you should check them out before submitting. Happy marketing.