54 replies to this topic

[Barbra]

I use www.thephantomwriters.com for article submission and find it a good service. It costs $50 per article but he sends it to hundreds of databases and lists. I think it would cost more than that to have a VA do it manually.










<Links edited from post. Please see [url=http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?act=boardrules]Forum Rules[/url].>

Edited by BobetteKyle, 28 June 2005 - 12:38 PM.

[Scottie]

Welcome to the forum, BarbraSundquist!

[jwhitakr]

Hi everyone - I've recently written a couple of articles and added them to my site. I've spent some time to add them to the various online article sites, but it really seems like there are dozens and dozens of article sites to submit them to. I don't feel like this is a good use of my time.

I have seen a few sites that offer article submission services, but they charge a fee (lowest I've seen is about $10 / article). A couple of questions on this:

1) Is there a no-cost or lower-cost option for distributing an article?

2) If pay-for-submission services are the way to go, what does everyone recommend using? So far I have only seen a recommendation for thephantomwriters.com

Thanks in advance for any help!
- Justin

[Jill]

Justin, please see our previous threads on  article submission services[/hr].

[jwhitakr]

Jill - I took another look through the various posts, and did find some useful links for free services. I will try those out and see how successful I am - although I still think it seems to take more time than it is worth.

After looking through the various posts, I was not able to find any opinions or suggestions for pay-for-submission services (at least not any recent ones). Anyone have any suggestsions?

Thanks in advance!

[copywriter]

Pay for submission services are a good value if you will spend less money by buying the service than you would if you did the submissions yourself.

For instance, if you make $50 an hour and it would take you 2 hours to submit to all the article sites you've found, the total cost would be $100 (worth of your time). If the service only costs $50, you've actually saved $50 by using them instead of doing it yourself.

If you have more time than money, you can certainly search for "free article directory" on the Internet and find more sites than you know what to do with. Submit away!

[BobetteKyle]

...but they charge a fee

.

I still think it seems to take more time than it is worth.

Yes, it does take time. That's why you'll pay a fee to have someone do it for you (plus, it saves you the added legwork of finding sites and groups to submit to).

What copywriter said is good. Same goes for any outsourcing...it's a function of how much it would cost you in opportunity cost (value of your time) and how much you'd pay to outsource. You have to also take into account how much additional profit this would bring to your business.

As I see it, the advantages of having each article out there are: (1) your expertise is showcased, (2) additional inbound links to your site and (3) "ads" for your products/services (in the form of resource box).

It works better for some than others (if the articles suck, for example, it could backfire) and multiple articles over time work better than a single article because you begin building brand recognition, exposures, etc. It's an individual decision. If you don't believe you'll gain an extra $10 in profit (or $60 or whatever) over the next couple of years from having an article distributed, then you shouldn't do it. If you think you will, then .

[Martin C]

Pay for submission services are a good value if you will spend less money by buying the service than you would if you did the submissions yourself.

Just out of interest when you use a submission service do you get a full report to say where the articles have been published - or do you just assume that they have been published.

The article submission services have always struck me as very similar to the search engine submission services.

A lot of article databases require you to submit the article using their own customised submit method, some require a summary of the article, some will accept HTML format some won't, some require the article to be provided in multiple format such as text, HTML and PDF format.

They nearly all require the article to be categorised using the article databases websites own categories.

I appreciate that there are a few that support a common format that would allow for the process to be automated. Do the article submission services rely on automated procedures or are they getting people to manually submit them?

If they are being submitted automatically how do you know if they are being listed under the correct category?

[jwhitakr]

Thanks copywriter and BobetteKyle for the helpful info!

I do understand what you are saying re: the opportunity cost of submitting them manually to each and every free article site...but I'm not sure that the cost of submission really makes sense to me at this time, since this is the first time I've written any articles. I think I'm going to pick and choose a few free article sites and try my luck with those.

I'm also going to try to continue writing articles on the same broad topic to hopefully increase awareness and market myself as an expert. We'll see how that goes.

[copywriter]

Just out of interest when you use a submission service do you get a full report to say where the articles have been published - or do you just assume that they have been published.

I used to have an article submission service. When I did it, I would provide a list of websites but would not provide a list of those on my email list due to privacy policy restrictions.

The article submission services have always struck me as very similar to the search engine submission services.

Keep in mind, the SOLE purpose of the article distribution service is to get your article exposure in front of publishers. No one except the individual site owner or ezine publisher can guarantee your article will be published. It's not the job of the distribution service to get your article published. It's their job to get your article exposed. You have to have the talent and subject matter that's good enough to be published. That's your job as the author.

A lot of article databases require you to submit the article using their own customised submit method, some require a summary of the article, some will accept HTML format some won't, some require the article to be provided in multiple format such as text, HTML and PDF format.

They nearly all require the article to be categorised using the article databases websites own categories.

I appreciate that there are a few that support a common format that would allow for the process to be automated. Do the article submission services rely on automated procedures or are they getting people to manually submit them?

Yes, they are almost all different. You have to tell the submitter what category/categories your article would fit best into. Most article submission services are done manually to be sure all articles are formatted corrected and that they meet the criteria of each, individual site/ezine. Thus the reason it is so dang time consuming.

If they are being submitted automatically how do you know if they are being listed under the correct category?

You assume they are.

Some people use automated software for submitting. I tried several out a couple of years ago and they all fell very short of my expectations. Because the article sites are so different, it is almost impossible to effectively automate such a process.