Getting My Articles Around The Web

[KeyWord]

Good morning to any US East Coast moonlighters!

I've been writing an article a month for the past year or so and want to start using that to attract more visibility both by others reading my articles and through gaining links from search engines.

I've got a few questions and would appreciate any comments or ideas.

As a quick background, my articles are general about effective web design (some marketing angles)

My questions are:

1. If I start submitting them to various free article submissions sources around the web, what risks will I have in submitting them to potentially "bad" places? Are there bad place to submit them to?

2. My business is in Long Island, New York. One place I was considering submitting to locally to gain local exposure is the Long Island Exchange. But when reading their terms I felt very uncomfortable, like my articles were going to be abused. What do others think about their terms?

3. What are the ideal things to look for in an article submission place?

Thanks in advance for your time and your help!

[ihelpyou]

Hi Kenn, That page did not load for me.

I don't know much about submitting articles, although I would think you don't want to submit to just anyone.

A few in here write articles all the time, so maybe they can help.

[KeyWord]

Hey Doug.

Thanks for chiming in.

I just tried those 2 links in my post, no problem here .. so I'm not sure.

I would like to hear from the other article writers.

[Quadrille]

If you are proud of your work, and consider it to be above the run-of-the-mill, then why choose to spend time and energy placing it all over the place, mixing with other stuff that has no quality assurance, no security, and a strong likelihood of abuse?

Surely a better way would be to make the best of your work on your own site, allowing others to take and use your work on your terms?

Much easier to manage, easier to police, more likely (much more likely) to have it reach your target audience and bring you credit - and potentially income.

If you know who your audience is, you can optimize specifically for them. All these syndication sites do OK, but they're pretty generic at best, and a form of vanity publishing at worst.

Would you go to such places for expert info?

[KeyWord]

That makes sense.

So some things to look for:
- where do my target audience go for articles, perhaps try getting my articles there (logical)
- think about what other articles in that area say about the quality of my articles

The long island site mentioned above is specific to my locality which is a plus.

What do you think about their terms?

I feel turned off by them.

Kenn

[Connie]

I'm not a lawyer but it looks to me like you would loose your own copy rights. So you would not be able to publish your own articles on your web site.

Q may have some more insight into this.

[Quadrille]

I didn't see any terms. I saw an agreement to surrender all rights in perpetuity to a publisher for nil reward except the fact of publication.

If you think that could conceivably be a fair deal - let alone a good deal - then go for it. And I doubt you get a better deal anywhere else.

Publication yourself gives the same rewards with no surrender of your intellectual property; no contest, surely?

If you want to get seen on the web, I'm not sure why locality is relevant?

Where do you go for articles? I'm guessing Google, and maybe niche directories, and referals from people and sites you trust.

So you optimize for Google [i]et al[/], you apply to relevant directories, and you become active at meeting places for the specialty - just as SEO writers are active in places like this.

[spectregunner]

I may be a bit long winded here, but.....

Everyone know that I am an ODP editor, and many of the folks here know that I have a background as (among other things) a writer and a journalist.

I've written one or two essays on the ODP, because I believe that there is a lot of false information floating around.

I began to occasionally submit short essays to the varous public forums where the ODP was likely to get discussed.

Any number of those essays were killed on sight and I got banned in a few places for daring to suggest that the ODP was a "good thing" and not the great satan.

One of the places I posted was here. The post drew some favorable comment and some unfavorable comments, and I received some friedly comments from the moderators and some guy named Doug, whom I noted had great hair.

I posted again, and again, and again and pretty soon I was writing essays specifically for this audience. I didn't really know much about SEO (still don't), but I did discover that this was an environment where, as long as I kept it civil and didn't promote anything bad, I could provide as much information and insight into the ODP as I wished.

Now I'm one of those moderators, and work really hard at not making a fool of myself, surrouinded as I am by a very, very smart crew of fellow moderators who have forgotten more about SEO than this old guy will ever learn.

Well, I told you that so that I could tell you this: Find the equivalent of an IHY forum that covers the topic area of your writing, and allows for an honest and open exchange of ideas. I'm not saying you should begin posting htem here, that is not my place, and this may not be the best place for them, but post where the work is recognized as your own and no one is trying to make a buck off of your effort.

Don't give everything away at first, test a few places to see what kind of reception you get.

Provide information, not thinly disguised sales pitches. If you can establish yourself as someone who is credible and knowledgeable, you don't need a sales pitch, people will find you. They will hunt you down. And it is really nice when you get an e-mail out of the blue asking if you want to discuss doing some work.

Heck, I'm definitely NOT looking for work as a result of my participation here, but I found some anyway.

That's why we live life and don't just mail it in.

Just give it some thought, if it is not right for you, then it is not right for you.

Now, if only posting here would do something about my (lack of) hair.

[chrishirst]

:thumb: :notworthy