Mary Hanna


If you are looking for articles to incorporate on your Website, in your newsletter or any other online endeavor, your best bet is to use an article directory. You can use the articles provided in the directories to fill your ezine or post on your website if the topic is relevant to your enterprise.

If you not know where to find an article directory go to an online search engine under “article directories.” There are many of them, some topic unique like a directory for freelancers, or a directory for women in business. However, there are directories that carry a multitude of categories. Unless you have very tight “niche” markets go to the directories that have a large number of subjects.

There are five leading categories of article directories - just out additions, niche directories, e - commerce directories, directories with multiple categories like Article Bazaar, and other article submission sites. Latest additions - those article directories who post articles that are just out - could be very valuable in finding unused new content. If you are in a hot niche marketplace using the latest addition sites would be for you. Getting the freshest content when you’re in this situation is very vital.

Some of the latest article directory additions are spiritual niche directories, work etiquette articles, a directory of crafts and/or ceramic, multiple article directories about Websites, and many others with a large amount of topics.

In the niche article directory collection there are article directories on holiday and vacation rentals, real estate and other property, finance and business for the novice, one article directory that dealt exclusively with articles about dogs or cats, article directories about cars, a directory that had nothing but articles about Clickbank, directories on weight loss, health and fitness, and one religious directory listing whose topics were on wisdom, philosophy and life in general.

Self-help tips were the subjects of each article in one directory, another had a family descent and family history focus, then there was one about weddings, while yet another article directory dealt solely with beachwear.

E-commerce article directory subjects included one article directory on home business, another on women with children, a third on business equipment, and one as specific as women in business in a certain state.

Whichever directory or directories you choose, (post in many for more exposure), it is recommended to submit your own free articles - a very helpful way to get your name out there as an professional in your undertaking and bring customers back to your site and its products and services.

If you are afraid of writing in your field go to Article Bazaar, click on the Writing Category and then on Article Writing and you find all kinds of tips to get you started. Directories are another important tool you should be using in your marketing strategies. We hope to see you posting on Article Bazaar soon. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Mary Hanna


Successful free article submissions to directories on the internet is an effective way to market your article and get more traffic to your websites. Submitting to an article directory is a great way for people to find a free article written by you. There are a few problems with this system but you can overcome them and become more proficient in marketing articles. The trick is to submit your articles without being considered a spammer.

The weakness of the article submitting techniques is that it is very time consuming. I have submitted articles in three different ways: by Hand, and with Article Submitter and Instant Article Submitter software. Many directories require a login, ID and password, so each directory must be visited and a login established before submissions are accepted.

When submitting by hand, you have to cut and paste each section of the article into the individual directories. There are a lot of sections; first the Title, then the Category (very important I’ll get into this later), Author, Author email, Website Address, Keywords, Article Summary, Article Body, and About Author box. That is nine cut and pastes to submit to ONE article directory. If you wish to submit to 150-200 directories, a good part of your time is spent doing grunt work which does not allow you to pursue other avenues of traffic generation.

Now we come to the “semi-automated” submission software programs. Yes, they are easier, some more than others, but you still must go to each directory individually. It is crucial that you select a Category for your article. If this is not done the article directories will know you are using automatic submitting software and will treat your article as SPAM. Many directories especially frown on the “Automated Article Distribution Services” for just that reason. Therefore you will not be published and not only have you wasted your time writing your article but you may be classified as a spammer.

Within the “Article Submitter” Software, they have 138 auto fill and 25 manual fill directories listed. A visit to a majority of the directories must be done first in order to establish a login. You have the option of adding other article directories on your own, which is a nice touch.

The software will open to a page that is a form for “User Information”. There are typical information requirements you would find in any sign up sheet like, name, company, email, website, etc. Then hit the tab for “Articles” where you will place the article for submission. You will fill in the Title Section, Article Body (including About Author), Summary and Keywords. Then choose the “Websites” tab. You can “select all” or pick and choose. Click on “Auto Fill” and it will take you to your first directory. A flaw here is that you can only have one article posted in the article section at a time.

Sounds easy, right? Well with “Article Submitter” you must be very careful. Once you have chosen your Category check each section. This software does not always put the right information in the right box and leaves some boxes blank. Again, if the directories feel you are using software carelessly they will delete your article. The manual sites are just that, manual top to bottom. It took me a full day for each article so it is still a time consuming process.

Then my partner found “Instant Article Submitter” which I have tested thoroughly. It is by far the easiest and quickest available at this time. Set up is still a bit tedious, once again you have to establish your logins, but only once. And I found them much more accurate in filling in the necessary submission forms. Yes, you still must choose your Category but only once for each niche.

They have 100’s of Article Directories listed but there is a tab where you can mark your “Favorites”. At first I was a little intimated but it is easy to follow and saves you a lot of time. I submitted to over 150 directories in about 4 hours and that was my first time using the software, so I was on the learning curve. Be careful not to hit the “Next Site Button” until after you have the confirmation that your article has been acknowledged.

So that has been my experience with these three systems for submitting articles to a Article Directory. I do not recommend hand posting it is much too difficult.

For me the most convenient and least cumbersome was Instant Article Submitter for getting my articles out there to many Article Directories in the least amount of time.

Copyright © 2006 Mary Hanna All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.