Zack Lim writes:

Hi Penny,

Excellent 3 tips on writing a proper article so that the article will get approved for the first time. A good reminder that the content is the part where we give value and the resource box will be the part where we will get the rewards if the reader like the content.

I personally few that as long we focus on giving quality content to the reader, most of the article should be approved on the first time. This is personally my mentality when I write my article.

Cheers to the EzineArticles team for working hard to approve all the articles :)

Zack

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Penny, Managing Editor writes:

Zack,

Thanks for the comment. It’s true that when your primary focus becomes pleasing or providing a good reader/user experience, your articles are pretty flawless; the articles will become vehicles on their own and you can’t fail :)

Fact: The top 3 article rejections are:

1. Self-Promotion
2. Grammar/Spelling
3. Invalid Links (We check every link in every article and review for quality content and to ensure they work)

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Sean M Kelly writes:

Hi

I find these emails very useful, thanks. I’m relatively new to EzineArticles although I’ve submitted a number of articles in the last few weeks. Here’s a couple of tips I’d recommend to other writers:

1. Hold an intention when you’re writing to give real value to the reader – in whatever topic you are writing on consider it from the readers point of view and what their needs are. In a nutshell the more value you can offer in the article the more likely the reader will want to read it all and more of your articles

2. Always preview your article and use the spell checker and correct your mispellings

3. Print out a copy of EzineArticles editorial guidelines (see http://ezinearticles.com/editorial-guidelines.html ). Read through it and circle key points that you need to remember. Keep it close by when writing articles for reference. After writing an article scan through it looking at the key points to remember and modify your article where appropriate.

4. Now that you’ve written a valuable article in a quality way, feel good about it. When it’s approved and live keep an eye on how many people read it and again feel good. Know that you’re making a positive difference in someones day!

Good luck with it all
Sean M Kelly

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Joy writes:

Thanks for that helpful information. I hadn’t actually realized we could include a SSL anywhere but in the resource box.

Joy

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Geoff writes:

Thanks for those three useful tips. It`s a pity more authors don`t take the time to read up on the do`s and don`ts prior to submitting their articles to help avoid rejection.

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Danielle writes:

Thanks for a re-cap of the guidelines – I learned something new especially concerning the SSL and NSS links.

I’m having trouble with an article titled “Playing Badminton – Top Health Benefits of This Increasingly Popular Sport”

It is rejected with “Your article body does not fulfill the promise made in the article title”.

Yet the article body contains nothing but health benefits of playing badminton with no selling.

Is there any way to get more specific feedback?

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Danielle,

Technically, it’d be SSL and NSSL… but I’m not sure we want to create a vocabulary here because SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer and that’s confusing.

—

Suggest that you contact our member support team and ask them specifically what our issue was with that article.

September 18, 2009 at 8:16 AM

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Rockon writes:

when I write my article. It`s a pity more authors don`t take the time to read up on the do`s and don`ts prior to submitting their articles to help avoid rejection.

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Lance Winslow writes:

Good stuff, I very much look forward to your weekly blog posts. It helps me do my job better.

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Anna P. Best writes:

hi – I’m thrilled at becoming a Platinum member, and it was relatively easy:
1. I’ve been submitting 1 article per week for the last 10 week. 500-600 words
2. I’ve taken note of the advice on titles and how to attract a reader
3. Fortunately my grammar is OK so that hasn’t been a problem
4. I’ve read lots of stuff on my chosen topic for ideas and input – but never copied another article
5. I’ve used the html permitted to make my articles look interesting and professional
6. If there’s something I haven’t understood, I’ve used EzineArticles’ advice service which has been enormously helpful

Each time it gets easier and faster to complete.
Thanks EzineArticles

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Dave writes:

Its not fast enough. I find your service a JOKE.. waiting up to a week sometimes 2 weeks to get approved or get told.. sorry change this and then have to wait another 1 or 2 weeks.

Thats Bull

Either approve them same day or get lost

Im using other sites that are faster

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

I hear ya Dave.

Improving our SPEED is a top priority.

Other sites may be faster; but faster doesn’t always equal better.

Know that we are investing heavily in improving our article review and member support response speed.

September 18, 2009 at 1:47 PM

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Cheryl G Burke writes:

Chris,
Once again you have proved your gracious spirit! I enjoy experiencing the unlimited love shown by your return comments!
Continue in the Blessings of your belief!

Living at the Pace of Peace,

Cheryl G Burke

September 19, 2009 at 2:27 PM

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Sofia Hogan writes:

The content value is what is going to draw people to your articles, again and again. Focusing on a specific topic/niche, writing clearly researched information, proofing and ultimately marketing the article to your audience will go a long way in making the articles valuable to audience.

Good Luck Everyone!

Sofia

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mani writes:

What is general error? Not discussed anywhere
What niche or rules can cause general errors?

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

A “GENERAL ERROR” is one where the reason we weren’t able to accept your article yet is beyond the 30+ templated ways we know how to tell you why we weren’t able to accept it.

It means, “Please contact our member support team via email to ask why we weren’t able to accept it” and we’ll give you a specific private answer.

In order to control consistency of response, NONE of our Editors are allowed to interact directly with our members via email and only our member support team is able to be your ‘advocate’ to help you fix or change the article so that we can accept it.

September 19, 2009 at 6:32 AM

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Willox Perez writes:

Awesome stuff! you guys do your best to correct I mean there are so many members! and none of the other sites can top the results. Plus Ezine provides excellent support! it may be tough in the beginning since it takes long but I just have one word to say PREMIUM :) haha best thing ever!

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Thanks Willox for the nice Premium membership plug. :)

Some think that we are going slow on purpose in order to attract more Premium members. It’s not true at all because we have another massive incentive to increase our speed because we know if we don’t, we lose member engagement and that’s as important (if not even more important) than having a base of Premium members.

September 19, 2009 at 6:22 AM

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robert writes:

3 Quick Tips for Writing and Publishing Articles…

1. Go to your library and check out a few books on editing. (Edit Your Self) is packed with tips.

2. Copy, organize, and print the tips in a binder with plastic covers.

3. Write 10 articles at a time and then go through your manual crossing of each item on the plastic cover with erasable markers as you check your articles.

3. As you learn how to edit, remove common sense tips from your manual to make it shorter- i.e., (checking for periods at the end of each sentence).

This is how I started. And now I write my own sales letters and info products.

p.s. I have only published a few dozen articles and I guarantee you will become a great writer if you stick with it long enough.

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Automan writes:

Hi,

I have read this blog post and I am very much convinced with your idea of writing perfect article. Thanks for sharing your views!!!

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Andrew Kings writes:

I have just submitted my first article here and second article ever! Yes, I do find your views on the perfect first article interesting and will adhere to them, as they are ‘common’ sense. However, I (maybe blindly) wrote my article before discovering this page. So, if I can make a constructive suggestion, could you possibly direct all newbies onto this page first as I would have appreciated reading it before submitting my article. Having said that, I love the site, and will be writing articles regularly, but please don’t take too long accepting mine!

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lissie writes:

Just to clarify – links in the body of the article are no-followed butt those in the resource box are do-followed. At least that’s what shows in my Firefox plugin.

Or in other words there is no point to putting a SS link into the body of the article.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

Lissie,

That is correct.

September 22, 2009 at 10:06 AM

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Chris A Smith writes:

Just a quick question on what counts as “informative” content in a link.

I have over 100 articles on EzineArticles and for the first time in the resource box I linked to a table that lists golfers and their winnings. I was rejected because apparently a table is not informative.

Is informative defined as text only or do you take into consideration the context of the sentence that the link is associated with?

Thanks

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Penny, Managing Editor writes:

Chris A Smith,

This is difficult for us in some cases as the, “what constitutes informative content” is in the eye of reader. When we review this content we ask, “What value did this page provide to the reader?” and “Does the content on the page meet the same standards that we expect from the article?”

If your content delivers what you promised, then you should have no problems. However, if you promised one thing, ie. “Go to website for more information on …” and your site failed to deliver, we won’t accept the link. This doesn’t make sense and confuses your reader.

Always keep in mind your reader and you shouldn’t have any problems. A table is not always the best place to bring your readers unless the language in your article directs them to the purpose of that table. This table then serves as providing an example to further clarify your point.

We want you to look good and we want your link to deliver as much value as your article did. :)

Here are some more tips on your landing page content from a valuable blog post that I think you will find beneficial: http://blog.EzineArticles.com/2008/05/landing-page-tips.html

September 24, 2009 at 8:47 AM

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Laurie writes:

I would like to say that with the problem last week (or so) when the EzineArticles server crashed and then this huge promotion on top of it, the fact that EzineArticles double reviews articles before publishing them, makes them the TOP Article Directory website in my book.

You won’t find a bunch of spammy crap on EzineArticles and might I remind complainers that the service is FREE.

Hello? I don’t understand people who demand better service when it’s for FREE to begin with.

Where else can you get this kind of traffic without buying it?

But of course, the people who want it right now, right away are usually the ones who submit spammy articles that take up on the time of editors while good articles have to wait! ;)

As a former managing editor of a small town weekly newspaper, where I had to not only review, BUT edit articles for inclusion in the weekly newspaper, I feel for you guys. It’s not a fun task.

I don’t always agree with the editorial decisions, but I am wise enough to understand that I can agree to disagree, but if I want my article on EzineArticles, I still have to abide by the guidelines.

Bottom line, we are all GUEST EzineArticles experts here.

I for one, am a grateful guest!

Thanks for the good job. Thanks for the quality article directory website.

Laurie

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mark writes:

It is one thing to be rejected for your very first article not conforming to your guidlines because you did not know the rules but to be suspended for it and receive no response from support tickets for almost a month now is just downright rude so I had to open up another account with EzineArticles so I can submit my work.

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Christopher M. Knight writes:

I see one email from you Mark at the email address you used for this blog comment sent to us 7 days ago. That email will still get a response as we’re 2000 email tickets behind at the moment and give priority to Premium & Platinum members before Basic members & non-member queries.

This delay in response is not normal for us as we just hired more people who are already training to enter our Member Support team next month to increase our response speed.

I’ll respond privately to your query right now, but I should also share for your benefit and everyone else’s that we don’t allow more than one account per human. In order to get your account reinstated, we’ll need you to identify your other account so that we can merge or shut down one of the two. We only allow one account per human in order to build long-term trust profiles with our members.

September 30, 2009 at 8:01 AM

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Lance Winslow (Lance to you) writes:

Well Mark, if that’s true, then you violated another rule, thus, you will also eventually be re-suspended. There is a reason for each and every rule here. It’s to protect the integrity of the system, which benefits all the authors here. Without standards it would be a free-for-all, and it would not serve the Internet public with the information they seek, in that case everyone loses.

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John Aberle writes:

Penny, I enjoyed this article and appreciate the tips.

I want to elaborate, though, on your points about self-serving links as recently I had a tough time getting an article approved because of a self-serving link. The first one might have been an affiliate link, I don’t recall. The second time it was rejected for a self-serving link, it really was not self-serving as I deliberately went with a link from a Yahoo! search. However, I agree that the article was so strongly biased towards Soft Sell Marketers Association that it sounded like I have a vested interest. I got approved by deleting any link. What I learned from this is to avoid even sounding like I have a vested interest in the site if I’m going to include a link.

John
HelpCustomersBuy.com

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