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PNP.com Archive |
E-Ezine - Free marketing resources,articles,website promotion tips
Properly Formatting Articles
- Article Submission!
By: Martin Lemieux
Do you submit articles online? Did you know that 90% or more of all
articles submitted are wrongly formatted? Learn how to make it easier for
editors world wide by following these simple-to-use steps on formatting
your articles for submission online!
How Do I Know How To Format An Article Properly?
My company owns and operates 5 article directories that have over
10,000 articles listed online. I've seen every type of article submission
there is. We typically get 100's of submissions every single day!!!
Convinced? Let's move on!
Before we can get into the steps to take for formatting articles, we
need to learn about the different types of submissions you may come
across.
1) Real Time Article Submission:
These types of directories simply offer an online contact form which
you can copy & paste your article into. Most of these forms go to the
editors/webmasters email account directly. If you don't format your
article properly, editors may simply delete the email since it may take them
a lot longer to add your article to their site.
2) Author Login Article Submission:
These types of article directories require that you sign up as an
author to get your own personal account. You then need to login and submit
articles. These directories usually have all their article format
requirements listed when you submit your articles. This process is where many
fail to format their articles properly.
3) Text Only Article Submission:
Some "Real Time" directories and "Author Login" directories demand that
you ONLY submit raw-text when submitting your article to them. In this
case, they do not want HTML edited text, they just want the raw text in
order to give them the ability to format your article by their own
editor requirements. Below I will show you how to format a "raw-text"
article the right way.
4) HTML Edited Article Submission:
Some, not many but some ezine article directories allow you to
pre-format your article with simple HTML included within the article. Typically
these directories are strict on what HTML code commands you can add
within your articles. Below I will show you easy to use HTML that will not
offend any editor’s world wide.
Now that we have gone through the types of ezine article directories
out there that we may encounter, we can now break down how to format your
articles for the above submission types.
======FORMAT #1======
1) Article Formatting - Text Only (Raw Text)
This type is the most commonly used for all article directories. The
reason why editors want you to submit raw text only, is because when you
submit HTML formatted articles, you may compromise the websites FONT
properties, COLOUR co-ordination, and will probably make the destined
directory look pretty gimmicky. Many webmasters spend a lot of time on the
"look & feel" of their directory. By not adhering to their
specifications, your articles might simply get deleted as fast as they are
submitted.
Step 1) Always use "Notepad (Windows)", or "PlainText (Mac)" for
copying & pasting your articles to and from Word Document, etc. Ideally, you
want to simply type your article right unto "Notepad" or "PainText".
"Notepad" & "PlainText" are simple programs that don't jumble up your
article with dead code hiding in the background.
DO NOT USE MICROSOFT WORD...
Programs like Microsoft Word are THE WORST to copy & paste your
articles from. This style of program always hides useless code in the
background that only article directory editors will be able to see.
As an editor, if we see this garbage code generated from Microsoft
Word, we will simply rip your article out of our system and copy it into
"Notepad". Once we do that, you will have lost any bolding, italics,
active links that you may have wanted within your article.
DO NOT USE YOUR WEBSITE...
Just like Microsoft Word, when you copy & paste articles directly from
your website, you will ultimately copy all the code along with it. This
website code will result in deletion of your article right away or
editing from an editor that you didn't want happening.
HOW TO LOCATE NOTEPAD & USE IT EFFECTIVELY...
Click on: Start - All Programs - Accessories - Notepad
Once notepad is opened, you need to make sure that "Word Wrap" is NOT
active. Without de-activating word wrap, your article might get
submitted all broken up with major line breaks, and may end up looking like
Mickey Mouse wrote it.
DE-ACTIVATE "WORD WRAP"...
In order to check to see whether or not word wrap is active, simply
click on "FORMAT" up top. Make sure that "Word Wrap" does NOT have a
checkmark beside it. If a checkmark is present, click on the checkmark to
remove word wrap.
Now that notepad is ready for use, it's time to copy & paste your
article within it. You can copy & paste your article directly from either
Microsoft Word or your website. You'll notice that once you do, all the
"bold", "italics", "website links" won't be active. This is exactly what
you want. Take a minute to go through and find areas where you had
active links. You'll need to add the actual website address were it's
needed. If you find it difficult to edit your article with "word wrap" off,
simply re-activate it for the time being.
Once you've edited your article and fixed any improper line breaks,
you're now ready to start submitting your article. Simply remove word wrap
from Notepad and copy & paste the information directly into the article
submission form.
If you use Notepad(Windows) & PlainText(Mac) properly, there is no
reason why editors may delete or edit your articles accordingly.
One last thing! Make sure to make use of proper paragraphs within your
articles. There is nothing worst than viewing an article that never
ends and looks like one massively long blob of text.
======FORMAT #2======
2) Article Formatting - HTML Ready (Simple code)
This step gets a little trickier. I will have to assume that you have
some basic knowledge on using HTML!!!
Here are the top 4 HTML commands you typically can use:
1) Font properties (Bold,Italics,Underline)
2) Header Command (H1 / H2 / H3)
3) Bullets (Dotted / Numbered)
4) Active Web Links
Anything besides those are usually forbidden within most article
submission websites that allow HTML to be used. Within your HTML editor, I
suggest you prepare your article these commands only...
Do's & Don’ts:
DO NOT - Use "Microsoft FrontPage". This program is not good when
trying to create simple code that will be acceptable throughout the
submission process. Editors usually delete articles that have been edited by
Microsoft FrontPage.
DO NOT - class="something"... This is not necessary for websites other
than your own.
DO NOT - <"span="Something","something"">... This style of command is
real difficult to remove from within articles and usually take up a lot
of extra time for the editor. Time they may not be willing to take.
DO NOT - <"font face="Times New Roman" size="3"">... This is usually a
NO NO for most sites simply because the website you're submitting to
might be using another type of font which does not match the one you
submitted. Also, sometimes size does matter. I would refrain from using a
font style & size all together.
DO NOT - Use any images at all. Images never stay active forever and
affect speed time. I'll bet that 99.9% of ezine article directories
online do not allow image tags & commands within your article. Even if you
need to show a graph or something similar to prove a point, it is
usually not acceptable. You'll need to find other ways and use text instead.
DO - Use "p" for paragraphs instead of "span" & class" tags.
DO - Use either "strong" or "b" for bolding text.
DO - Use "em" for italics.
DO - Use "u" for underline text.
DO - Use "ul" to create a list of information with dots/numbers.
DO - Use "H1","H2","H3" tags for larger headlines if it's accepted.
DO - ahref="www.yoursite" if permitted, for activating links.
That's all you really want to use when preparing your articles with
HTML commands. Anything more than those specified above usually are not
accepted and may mean the difference between articles that get accepted
by editors, or simply deleted by editors.
=== IN CONCLUSION ===
Make sure to pay special attention to ezine article directories "Editor
Guidelines" and follow the guidelines. When formatting articles, use
only "NOTEPAD" or "PLAINTEXT" for raw-text submissions and use only
simply HTML tags for HTML accepted articles.
Some article directories may reward you if you closely follow their
guidelines and only submit properly formatted articles to them. Just
remember, 99% of article submissions are incorrect. As more and more authors
start submitting articles, you'll want to set yourself aside from the
rest. Your articles will get approved quicker and the less chances
you'll have that some editor simply deletes your articles all together!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martin Lemieux is the owner of the following ezine article directories.
Be sure to register for an author account, and get extensive promotion
for your articles!
Submit Articles To:
http://www.Article99.com - Business Related,
http://www.MyFamilyLiving.com - Family Related, &
http://www.recipe99.com - Food Related
By: Martin Lemieux
Do you submit articles online? Did you know that 90% or more of all
articles submitted are wrongly formatted? Learn how to make it easier for
editors world wide by following these simple-to-use steps on formatting
your articles for submission online!
How Do I Know How To Format An Article Properly?
My company owns and operates 5 article directories that have over
10,000 articles listed online. I've seen every type of article submission
there is. We typically get 100's of submissions every single day!!!
Convinced? Let's move on!
Before we can get into the steps to take for formatting articles, we
need to learn about the different types of submissions you may come
across.
1) Real Time Article Submission:
These types of directories simply offer an online contact form which
you can copy & paste your article into. Most of these forms go to the
editors/webmasters email account directly. If you don't format your
article properly, editors may simply delete the email since it may take them
a lot longer to add your article to their site.
2) Author Login Article Submission:
These types of article directories require that you sign up as an
author to get your own personal account. You then need to login and submit
articles. These directories usually have all their article format
requirements listed when you submit your articles. This process is where many
fail to format their articles properly.
3) Text Only Article Submission:
Some "Real Time" directories and "Author Login" directories demand that
you ONLY submit raw-text when submitting your article to them. In this
case, they do not want HTML edited text, they just want the raw text in
order to give them the ability to format your article by their own
editor requirements. Below I will show you how to format a "raw-text"
article the right way.
4) HTML Edited Article Submission:
Some, not many but some ezine article directories allow you to
pre-format your article with simple HTML included within the article. Typically
these directories are strict on what HTML code commands you can add
within your articles. Below I will show you easy to use HTML that will not
offend any editor’s world wide.
Now that we have gone through the types of ezine article directories
out there that we may encounter, we can now break down how to format your
articles for the above submission types.
======FORMAT #1======
1) Article Formatting - Text Only (Raw Text)
This type is the most commonly used for all article directories. The
reason why editors want you to submit raw text only, is because when you
submit HTML formatted articles, you may compromise the websites FONT
properties, COLOUR co-ordination, and will probably make the destined
directory look pretty gimmicky. Many webmasters spend a lot of time on the
"look & feel" of their directory. By not adhering to their
specifications, your articles might simply get deleted as fast as they are
submitted.
Step 1) Always use "Notepad (Windows)", or "PlainText (Mac)" for
copying & pasting your articles to and from Word Document, etc. Ideally, you
want to simply type your article right unto "Notepad" or "PainText".
"Notepad" & "PlainText" are simple programs that don't jumble up your
article with dead code hiding in the background.
DO NOT USE MICROSOFT WORD...
Programs like Microsoft Word are THE WORST to copy & paste your
articles from. This style of program always hides useless code in the
background that only article directory editors will be able to see.
As an editor, if we see this garbage code generated from Microsoft
Word, we will simply rip your article out of our system and copy it into
"Notepad". Once we do that, you will have lost any bolding, italics,
active links that you may have wanted within your article.
DO NOT USE YOUR WEBSITE...
Just like Microsoft Word, when you copy & paste articles directly from
your website, you will ultimately copy all the code along with it. This
website code will result in deletion of your article right away or
editing from an editor that you didn't want happening.
HOW TO LOCATE NOTEPAD & USE IT EFFECTIVELY...
Click on: Start - All Programs - Accessories - Notepad
Once notepad is opened, you need to make sure that "Word Wrap" is NOT
active. Without de-activating word wrap, your article might get
submitted all broken up with major line breaks, and may end up looking like
Mickey Mouse wrote it.
DE-ACTIVATE "WORD WRAP"...
In order to check to see whether or not word wrap is active, simply
click on "FORMAT" up top. Make sure that "Word Wrap" does NOT have a
checkmark beside it. If a checkmark is present, click on the checkmark to
remove word wrap.
Now that notepad is ready for use, it's time to copy & paste your
article within it. You can copy & paste your article directly from either
Microsoft Word or your website. You'll notice that once you do, all the
"bold", "italics", "website links" won't be active. This is exactly what
you want. Take a minute to go through and find areas where you had
active links. You'll need to add the actual website address were it's
needed. If you find it difficult to edit your article with "word wrap" off,
simply re-activate it for the time being.
Once you've edited your article and fixed any improper line breaks,
you're now ready to start submitting your article. Simply remove word wrap
from Notepad and copy & paste the information directly into the article
submission form.
If you use Notepad(Windows) & PlainText(Mac) properly, there is no
reason why editors may delete or edit your articles accordingly.
One last thing! Make sure to make use of proper paragraphs within your
articles. There is nothing worst than viewing an article that never
ends and looks like one massively long blob of text.
======FORMAT #2======
2) Article Formatting - HTML Ready (Simple code)
This step gets a little trickier. I will have to assume that you have
some basic knowledge on using HTML!!!
Here are the top 4 HTML commands you typically can use:
1) Font properties (Bold,Italics,Underline)
2) Header Command (H1 / H2 / H3)
3) Bullets (Dotted / Numbered)
4) Active Web Links
Anything besides those are usually forbidden within most article
submission websites that allow HTML to be used. Within your HTML editor, I
suggest you prepare your article these commands only...
Do's & Don’ts:
DO NOT - Use "Microsoft FrontPage". This program is not good when
trying to create simple code that will be acceptable throughout the
submission process. Editors usually delete articles that have been edited by
Microsoft FrontPage.
DO NOT - class="something"... This is not necessary for websites other
than your own.
DO NOT - <"span="Something","something"">... This style of command is
real difficult to remove from within articles and usually take up a lot
of extra time for the editor. Time they may not be willing to take.
DO NOT - <"font face="Times New Roman" size="3"">... This is usually a
NO NO for most sites simply because the website you're submitting to
might be using another type of font which does not match the one you
submitted. Also, sometimes size does matter. I would refrain from using a
font style & size all together.
DO NOT - Use any images at all. Images never stay active forever and
affect speed time. I'll bet that 99.9% of ezine article directories
online do not allow image tags & commands within your article. Even if you
need to show a graph or something similar to prove a point, it is
usually not acceptable. You'll need to find other ways and use text instead.
DO - Use "p" for paragraphs instead of "span" & class" tags.
DO - Use either "strong" or "b" for bolding text.
DO - Use "em" for italics.
DO - Use "u" for underline text.
DO - Use "ul" to create a list of information with dots/numbers.
DO - Use "H1","H2","H3" tags for larger headlines if it's accepted.
DO - ahref="www.yoursite" if permitted, for activating links.
That's all you really want to use when preparing your articles with
HTML commands. Anything more than those specified above usually are not
accepted and may mean the difference between articles that get accepted
by editors, or simply deleted by editors.
=== IN CONCLUSION ===
Make sure to pay special attention to ezine article directories "Editor
Guidelines" and follow the guidelines. When formatting articles, use
only "NOTEPAD" or "PLAINTEXT" for raw-text submissions and use only
simply HTML tags for HTML accepted articles.
Some article directories may reward you if you closely follow their
guidelines and only submit properly formatted articles to them. Just
remember, 99% of article submissions are incorrect. As more and more authors
start submitting articles, you'll want to set yourself aside from the
rest. Your articles will get approved quicker and the less chances
you'll have that some editor simply deletes your articles all together!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Martin Lemieux is the owner of the following ezine article directories.
Be sure to register for an author account, and get extensive promotion
for your articles!
Submit Articles To:
http://www.Article99.com - Business Related,
http://www.MyFamilyLiving.com - Family Related, &
http://www.recipe99.com - Food Related
PNP.com
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