WRITE FOR PUBLICITY

WRITE FOR PUBLICITY

By Shelley Lowery

Designing a great website is only the first step towards

creating a successful web presence. In order to succeed,

you must develop a steady stream of traffic to your site.

The first and most important step is getting your website

listed in the search engines. Keeping your website ranked

in the top 30 positions is a never ending battle and

shouldn't be solely relied upon for developing traffic.

If you've been on the Internet for a while you've probably

subscribed to a few ezines (newsletters). Most ezines

will include a feature article written by the editor or a

guest author. If you've ever read an article written by a

guest author then you've probably noticed, at the end of

the article, a few lines of text about the author, referred

to as "bylines" or "resource box."

The writer gives the publisher permission to publish their

article free of charge in exchange for the publisher

including the author's bylines. The bylines are basically

just an advertisement for the writer. They usually contain

a couple of lines about the author and a web address.

By writing articles and allowing them to be published free

of charge, your articles will have the potential to be

viewed by millions of Internet users. They may be

published by several ezines with subscriber bases of a

few hundred to several thousand. In addition, they may

be displayed in ezine archives or on high traffic websites.

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.

When you begin writing your article, avoid using your

standard word processing programs, as they do not allow

for proper formatting. Instead, use a text editor such

as NotePad. It should already be installed on your desktop.

When you begin typing your article, use a hard carriage

return (hit enter) when your text reaches 65 characters,

including spaces, and leave a space between your

paragraphs. This will enable the publisher to easily

copy and paste your article into their publication and

significantly increase your chances of being published.

Most publishers receive many article submissions each

week and only select a few to be published. Here are

some basic guidelines to help you increase your chances

of being published:

- Your article must be properly formatted. Publishers

won't take the time to format your article, they'll

simply use another article that is properly formatted

- Keep your bylines down to 6 lines or less

- Select a descriptive title to intrigue your readers

- Use proper grammar and spelling

- Avoid articles that are nothing more than a sales

pitch, as your chances of being published will be

minimal

- Avoid referring readers to an affiliate URL as this

will make your article appear to be biased and

untrustworthy

- Write your articles with a sincere desire to teach

and inform. Talk to your readers and share your

expertise

Once you've written your article, you'll need to develop a

list of publishers that may be interested in publishing it.

Visit the following site to help you locate ezine publishers:

http://www.meer.net/~johnl/e-zine-list/

Search through the database for publications that may

be interested in the type of article you've written.

Contact the publisher and ask them if they accept

article submissions.

Here are some additional promotional resources to help

you get published:

http://www.web-source.net/article-announce

http://www.ideamarketers.com/

http://www.e-zinez.com/writers.htm

Writing and distributing free articles on the Internet

will be one of the best promotional decisions you'll

ever make. Not only will it provide you with free

publicity, but if your articles are good, you'll become

a trusted professional in your area of expertise.

Shelley Lowery is the Webmistress of Web Source - Your Guide to

Professional Website Design and Development. Join The Syndicator,

our new, free article syndication program and display complete

articles w/photographs on your website that are automatically updated

each week. http://www.web-source.net

This Report may be Distributed in any way and even resold, as long

as all information, including bylines above and physical URL's are left

intact and article remains unchanged.