Web Design Discussion

If you plan on writing and submitting many articles to article directories, ezines and other online publications you need to format them correctly. Publishers receive many article submissions each week so if you your article is correctly formatted it has less chance of being rejected.

Where to write your article

I usually write my articles in Microsoft Word because you can adjust the number of words per line and adjust the size of the text so you can read it easily. I then copy and paste it into notepad because the word processor does not use correct formatting for online publishers.

Another great editor is textpad (http://www.textpad.com). This is a powerful replacement for Notepad. I also also use it to edit web pages and scripts because of notepad’s limitations in this area.

Top 10 Steps to formatting your article

Most ezine publishers prefer short articles between 500 and 750 words. Short “tip” articles of just a couple of paragraphs are also very popular. Articles should be formatted to 65 characters per line or less, including spaces, and written in short paragraph sections.

1. Must be unique

Your article must be unique. This means you should not copy someone else’s article and submit it for publication. Editors will recognize this and may ban you from sending them any more articles.

2. Article length

Most ezine publishers prefer articles between 500 and 750 words. Read publisher guidelines before submitting your article because often there is a minimum and maximum length.

3. Title

Use a descriptive title that encapsulates what is contained in your article body. You need to satisfy both your readers and the search engines, so include your main keywords plus create a catchy title that grabs your reader’s attention.

4. Sentences

Format each sentence to 60-65 words before submitting it for publication. This enables people to read it easier than if you had long sentences.

5. Paragraphs

Write short paragraphs of 5-10 lines so you don’t make your reader’s eyes tired. Reading text on a monitor is harder on the eyes than reading printed material.

Points 6-10 on article formatting will be included in my next post.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2007 at 9:48 am and is filed under Article Marketing . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.