One way many business owners market their businesses is by writing content for their online newsletters (e-zine), classes they teach, and articles they provide for other types of marketing strategies. Would you like to take those articles to new heights? Then provide your work to other e-zine publishers as well as newsletters and magazines, too.
What’s the difference between an article directory and article bank?
Article directories are one-way places on a Web site where the site’s owner lists their articles. The articles maybe available as free or paid content for other publishers. View an example of an article directory at http://coachmaria.com/articles/
Article banks are two-way Web sites or pages within a Web site. They are places where authors “deposit” articles to invest and where lenders “take” the article to use. The “interest” someone pay for using an article consists of a bio or resource box. Each article bank site includes guidelines for authors and potential publishers. Authors retain first rights – retain ownership – to articles placed on article banks. Some article bank sites publish e-zines that include recently submitted articles, ad swap requests and/or an “articles wanted” area, too. You’ll find many article bank Web sites listed below. If you know of a bank I’ve missed please send them to me.
For Authors
Are you a new writer? Gifted writer? Business owner who enjoys writing? Writing can be an excellent way to market services or products with little capital outlay. Any article posted to an article bank includes copyright year, name of author, short author bio (sometimes called a resource box), and a link to the author’s Web site at the end of each article. Some article bank sites or publishers may also request the authors’ picture and/or logo, too.
A few words of caution for authors.
Never give blanket permission to anyone to use your articles. Not an article bank, Web site or author. Instead, set boundaries and your articles will appear in places you’d enjoy visiting. When someone requests to use your article, check their Web site or request a copy of their e-zine. If you don’t like the Web site, the product or whatever – remember to say “no”!
If you don’t always catch your own writing mistakes consider hiring a Virtual Assistant or Copywriter to assist you with proof reading, submitting articles, or even keeping track of places your article appears. For more information on Virtual Assistants, visit http://coachmaria.com/business/virtual.html.
Place your articles on your Web site as a way for your potential clients or publishers to get to know you a better. If you provide your articles for free, make sure that your bio includes a link to your Web site or e-zine information. Also include an easy way for anyone to request permission to use your article as text or to copy the code directly from your Web site (if you allow that).
If someone wants to use your article and they’ll receive compensation, you deserve compensation, too. Money, ad’s in newsletters, paid membership, yearly subscription, a copy of an e-book for you to use and send your clients, these are all ways for you to be paid- in addition to receiving money of course! If the way someone suggests you’ll be paid, doesn’t agree with you feel free to say “no” to their request.
Don’t be afraid to re-use an article when links have changed or additional information is available on your subject. You can also shorten or lengthen your article, too!
Don’t send articles to article banks unless you know they’ll be acceptable. Each article bank has it’s own set of submission rules. Read them and follow them carefully.
For a list of article banks, go to http://coachmaria.com/articles/articlebanks.html Found an article bank that’s not on the list? E-mail me.
2003 Maria Marsala. I help business owners make and keep more of their hard earned money. Join “Elevating You” ezine and request a complimentary consultation at http://coachmaria.com/consultation.
