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Google

WestHost Web Hosting

TWFW

The Writers Store

The Writer Magazine

Write 4 Kids link

iUniverse, Inc.

Kodak EasyShare Gallery

Kodak Store

Clipart.com

www.DickBlick.com - Online Art Supplies

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Free Article Sites
A Win-Win Proposition

by
Jeff Colburn

Free article sites can help to promote your website business whether or not you're a writer.

For those of us who can write, they're a gold mind of promotion. I put my newsletter articles on them and get free promotion all over the world. People from all across the country, the Middle East and Europe, have contacted me. People use my articles in their e-zines, ebooks, magazines and newspapers.

You will find that there are two main types of free article sites, general and specific. The general sites will take almost any type of article. This is useful if, like me, you write articles on various topics. You know that no matter what you write there's a place for your articles.

The specialized sites are very helpful too. Some of the sites I utilize only take articles about computers, website design or advertising. While they won't accept all of my articles, I know that articles on these topics will be viewed by more people because visitors to these sites are looking for very specific topics.

Free article sites are just as useful for those of you who can't write. That's because you can go there to find an article to publish on your website or in your own newsletter. This lets you regularly add new content to your site which will keep people coming back to see what's new. It also saves you time since you only have to find an article, not write it.

When you're looking for an article site for your writing, be sure they offer the following features.
  • Finding the "article submit" page should be easy.
  • It should be easy to submit your article. All you should have to do is fill in boxes with your name, resource box information, article title, article and the topic of the article. Some sites may have you fill in a couple more boxes, but that should be it.
  • Be sure that your article will include your name or business name, website address and copyright. Even better is having a resource box, which lets you include a small blurb about yourself or your business.
    While not necessary, a site that has statistics about your articles is nice. When I go to www.IdeaMarketers.com I can see how many people have gone to each of my articles. This lets me know how popular each one is so I can cater my future writing projects.
Here's a list of just some of the free article sites out there. You can find more free article sites by using www.google.com or www.ask.com and searching for phrases like "article bank" or "free article site."

Here's a site that lists free article sites:
American Web Works - www.americawebworks.com/free_article_submission_sites.htm

After you've started posting articles to these sites, I'd suggest that you Google yourself every so often. When I do this, I find that my articles are on dozens of sites that didn't know about. Last week, I even found one of my articles on a Russian language site, and my article was the only English one on the page. The reason you find all of these before unknown sites is that most people who use your articles will do so without contacting you. But don't worry, that's fine. The whole idea is to get your articles out there.

After I've Googled my name, I click on the Google link to see my article. I make sure that at least my name and website are listed, and preferably my resource box. As long as people know I wrote the article, and where they can contact me, I'm happy. In fact, I contact everyone I find this way and thank them for using my article. If my contact information has been left out, I politely ask them to add it, and include in the e-mail exactly what I want them to add. This makes it very clear what I want, and makes it easy for them to comply since everything is in the e-mail. If they refuse to add my contact information, then I start doing what I talked about in my article "Stop Thief!!! What You Can Do If Someone Steals Your Website's Contents" at www.creativecauldron.com/articlewebThief.shtml

I also keep track of all the websites and publications that use my articles so I can use them in marketing and promotion efforts. Since websites come and go so quickly, I like to copy the web page with my article on it onto my hard drive. Then I can prove, if need be, that my article was really there. For publications, I will often ask for a tear sheet.

Go to the free article sites to list your articles for free promotion, or use articles for free content. Either way it's a Win-Win situation.

Do you want to learn how to make your website work for you and not against you? Then visit The Creative Cauldron NOW to find the answers to your questions, and achieve what you want in life. Go to www.TenCommonWebMistakes.com to download the FREE report "Ten Common Mistakes Found On Websites, And How To Fix Them."
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