From My Desk to Yours – 2nd Edition

By: Penny, EzineArticles Managing Editor

Welcome Back! Today I’m going to share some more helpful tips for getting your articles approved the first time and to also give you a little insight into what’s been happening behind the scenes here recently.

Receiving notification that your article has been rejected by our editorial team is never a fun experience. You want your articles approved and available to the public as soon as possible – we understand that. We want to be able to approve your articles the first time, too! Unfortunately, the bottom line is that any article that doesn’t follow our Editorial Guidelines cannot be approved for publication.

So whether you’re new to EzineArticles or you’re a well-seasoned Expert Author, it never hurts to brush up on our Guidelines. Here are 3 tips to help you follow the Guidelines and improve your chances for first-time approval for your articles.

3 Tips for Getting Your Articles Approved on the First Submission:

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Develop a Downtime Plan

When unexpected downtime hits, have a plan in place to capitalize on it.

Anybody who has spent some time doing article marketing knows this mantra well: Write often. Write Well. But what happens when unexpected writing or submission downtime hits (e.g. your ISP connection dies, your computer crashes, article approval times tank, etc.)?

Go to your Downtime Plan. This plan is a list of things you can always pick up and do at a moment’s notice. Items that could use a little polish to improve your results but don’t need to be done to keep moving forward.

Downtime Plan Items (without a computer):

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Top Expert Authors by Subscribers

Millions of monthly visitors are able to subscribe via email to receive automatic updates whenever you publish a new article!

One way of judging the popularity of an author is by the number of Article Email Alerts subscribers they have. Below are the top 31 Expert Authors based on their number of subscribers. Their subscribers have stated a clear desire to be automatically notified via email each time that author publishes a new article.

The Top 31 Leaders (listed by number of subscribers):

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Posted by Christopher M. Knight on September 14, 2009 at 2:13 pm

1,402 views | Comments (40)

Easily Post Your Articles to YOUR Site

Displaying a list of your recently published articles on your website or blog is easy with the power of RSS!

RSS (also known as XML) stands for Real Simple Syndication and is a way for people interested in certain topics to quickly get new information, news and other good stuff without having to wade through tons of web pages. RSS Pages are not meant for the human eye, but rather for RSS Readers or Aggregators.

Every EzineArticles Expert Author has an RSS feed of their articles, which means if you’re a Member with at least one published article, you have an RSS feed that contains a title, link, description and published date of your articles.

To Access Your RSS Feed:

1. Go to your Expert Author Bio
2. Mouse over this icon
3. Click on this button
4. You’ll be taken to a web page depicting your RSS feed. Copy the URL for that page onto your clipboard.
5. Paste the URL into the appropriate field in your RSS module or plug-in application.
6. For more information, click here.

Most website and blog authoring softwares have RSS capabilities in the form of plug-ins (WordPress), modules (Squidoo) or macros (WebGUI CMS). There are also HTML templates and add-ons like CaRP available online. You’ll need to review the documentation or contact your webmaster for details about how to add RSS to your site.*

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New Multimedia Help for Article Submissions

We’ve added a new “How To” video and updated the audio help files on the Submit an Article page!

Most EzineArticles Expert Authors would agree that submitting a new article is pretty simple – you just fill out the form. But for new authors, this form can appear a little daunting with its references to HTML tags, Teaser Copy, WYSIWYG and Keywords. So for years we’ve included audio help files to aid newbies through this process.

In an effort to make it even easier, we’ve now added this seven-and-a-half minute video that walks you through the entire article submission process:

Downloadable Versions:
           

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Article Marketing Tweets to Retweet

If you’re a Twitter user who doesn’t follow @EzineArticles, you’re missing a lot of great EzineArticles information and training!

The following is a list of (30) assorted author tips, insider info, fun facts, motivational moments and words of wisdom we’ve tweeted in the last month. Any one of these could have been just the tool you needed to turbocharge your article marketing efforts.

Just CLICK on any of the “ReTweet This” links to auto-populate your Twitter status field. Then just edit for length and retweet to your heart’s content!

EzineArticles Tips and Training Snippets:

• Every rose has a thorn… Looking to spice up content? Take a current debate in your niche and use pro vs con lists to explore both sides. [ReTweet This]
• To improve your output, try timing yourself. Keep stats on how long it takes you to research and write each article. [ReTweet This]
• Tip for #HAHD – Review the last 3 months of questions your clients have sent: Write articles that answer their questions (via @dansho) [ReTweet This]
• Smaller articles (400-600 words) are easier for readers to digest than massive ones. Break up longer writings into smaller stand-alones. [ReTweet This]
• Formatting Tip: Paragraphs shouldn’t exceed 5 full sentences. Also, allow 1 blank line to separate each thought. [ReTweet This]
• Interesting exercise: Pretend to be a member of your target audience. Search the web like you don’t know what you’re doing. What’d you find? [ReTweet This]

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Posted by Christopher M. Knight on September 4, 2009 at 11:31 am

1,223 views | Comments (2)

Article Templates Get a Visual Upgrade

Having trouble picking which article template to use? These new icons can help!

If you’re a fan of our article templates, you’re going to love our newest upgrade – Article Template Icons. These icons now accompany every article template in our blog inventory. Their purpose is to give you a quick visual synopsis of each template’s look and layout so that you might easily choose the most appropriate one for your next article. And from now on, you can expect every new article template to be accompanied by one of these icons.

If you’re not currently using article templates, now might be a good time to start!

Some of the advantages of article templates include:

• Inspiration – Stuck for ideas? Browse through the article templates in the blog until one sparks an idea for your next set of articles.
• Speed – Rather than spending time on creating the proper structure for your articles, you can invest the time you save into writing new articles!
• Ease – These templates make it easy to build high-quality articles that are designed to inform readers while also driving traffic back to your website.
• Clarity – Since these templates have been well thought out in advance, you’re articles will flow smoothly and have a clear introduction, body and conclusion that will make your articles clear and easy to understand.
• Style – Each of these templates is designed using the suggested EzineArticles layout and structure that insures an attractive, easy-to-read article that’s almost guaranteed to get results.

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Posted by Christopher M. Knight on September 3, 2009 at 11:41 am

1,562 views | Comments (16)

Eliminate Article Writing Distractions

Use these tips to help you focus and turn more of those article ideas into actual articles!

Distractions are a part of life. Often, they can be a good thing. We need a distraction or two in an otherwise busy day. Without distractions, work would be well … just work. On the other hand, distractions that get in the way of your article writing productivity are just plain … distracting.

Sometimes you just need to write. Now. You have to focus and plow through. During those times it can be downright annoying to have the phone ringing or a colleague (or child) constantly appearing at your desk. In an effort to increase your productivity and decrease your stress level, we offer these …

8 Sure-Fire Tips for Eliminating Distractions:

1. Declutter your Desk – Stuff is distracting. Even if it’s just sitting there. It’s still distracting you. Pictures, clippings from magazines, bobblehead dolls – all of it. Lose it. Papers on your desk? Go through them and file them. Work in an uncluttered space and you’ll find your head is clear enough to focus too.
2. Be Comfortable – We’ve all been there. The chair is to high – or low. The room is too warm – or cold. Your sweater is too itchy. The coffee is bitter. Chill out! Get comfortable. Even if it takes a few extra minutes. If you work from home – try sitting on the couch and putting your feet up. You’ll be able to focus on your writing if you don’t have hunger pangs constantly distracting you.
3. Be Alone – Sometimes it’s just too much to have other people around. Take your laptop or your pen and paper and go somewhere alone.
4. Turn Off Notifications – If your Twitter notification keeps popping up – or your wife keeps IM’ing you about tonight’s activities – how do you expect to be able to focus on what’s in front of you? You can’t! Turn off the notification settings on these programs so they aren’t constantly dinging and beeping at you!
5. Use a Text Editor – Word processing programs have lots of great features – spell checks, grammar checks, insert a picture feature – you name it. But if we start to worry about what the copy is going to look like before it ever gets written, well, then we probably won’t get anything written at all. Open up a plain text editor on your computer like notepad – or go get something like Editplus – and just type … in whatever font appears first (unless it’s Wingdings. Don’t type in Wingdings).
6. Use a Piece of Paper. – You just can’t do it. You just can’t stop Tweeting, IM’ing and reading about Jon and Kate + 8 on the darn computer. Your mother keeps Facebooking you status reports about her tuna casserole. Fine. Turn it off. Get away from your computer or get it away from you – and go get an old-fashioned piece of paper and pen. Now … write.
7. Wear Headphones – Put on some music and some headphones and block out the rest of the world. You’ll find that the music soon fades to the background and all you hear are the words that you’re writing in your head.
8. Go Somewhere Else- Do you just find your home or office too distracting to write? Take a couple of hours and go to the public library or a local cafe (it doesn’t have to have Internet – remember?). It may be a little noisier, but it won’t be noise that pertains to you, so you’ll have an easier time blocking it out.

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10 Tips from the Front Lines

Our Member Support Team and Editorial Staff offer their suggestions for improving your EzineArticles experience.

We recently asked some of our front line team members this question: “If you could tell every EzineArticles member just 1 thing, what would it be?” Their answers ranged from the slightly obvious to the truly unexpected, but all are loaded with the wisdom of the people who work hand-in-hand with our members every day.

Here are their 10 best tips:

1. Please review ALL of the Editorial Guidelines prior to submission, not just the first 2.
2. Have somebody proofread your article … especially if you are not a native English speaker.
3. If your article cannot get past the submit form’s auto-checking features, then we can’t push it through for you. The new submit form is designed to catch errors before you submit your article.
4. Author Names must be just that, names. Not places, companies, things, or any other wacky words the author can think of.
5. Do not create multiple accounts! Often members will create another account rather than simply contacting us to fix a problem. Then they wonder why they are getting flagged for duplicate content.
6. Your author photo is designed to help you promote your author brand and create credibility for you. So please don’t upload a photo of a cartoon, your cat, or a random body part.
7. Keep material original. Don’t re-write the same basic content into multiple articles.
8. Ensure your EzineArticles author name matches the author name on articles posted on other sites. An author name mismatch will flag the article for ripped or suspect content.
9. Product reviews should be unbiased and not have an overly negative or promotional feel.
10. Read the blog every day. Almost everything you need to know can be found in there: Links to training, announcements, news, article templates, videos, interviews and a lot more. (Did you know that the Search field under Chris’ picture searches only the blog? It’s a great way to find answers in a hurry!)

I’m sure most of our members found at least one or two tips they hadn’t heard before. However, if you’re one of those article marketing veterans who knew all of these, tell the rest of us by adding a tip or two of your own to the list!

Things I’ve Learned Article Template

This simple and elegant article template takes advantage of something we all have … experience.

Often, when we look back on our career, we don’t think of ourselves as knowing nearly as much as we do. If we sit back and really reflect on the years we have taken to get where we are now, we are surprised to see just how much we have been through, how many mistakes we have recovered from and just how much we know now that we didn’t know way back then.

We know ourselves to be experts in our field, but how did we get there? How long did it take to accomplish what we have in our niche?

This reflection begins a perfect article for your readers.

1. Illustrate your own path to expertise in your introduction. Include a humorous story of a mistake you made (that you found out later a lot of people in your field make) or show a turning point that helped motivate you and get you on your way.

2. Make a list. Type up a list (just for yourself to start) of all the things that you’ve learned through the years in your niche. Any axioms or truisms you can share? How about ways you’ve found to deal with challenging clients or get to the heart of a bureaucratic issue?

3. Cull the list down to the top 5 or 10 things you’ve learned.

4. Give a quick personal explanation for each one of the items on your list. You should share an anecdote or make up an example situation to better illustrate your point. Tell us how you learned this lesson…and what could have happened if you hadn’t learned it.

5. Conclude on an upbeat note. Tell your readers how much time and energy you would have saved had you known these things beforehand. Let them know how much faster they’ll get ahead if they listen to you.

You’ve learned a lot on your road to becoming an expert. Share it by putting this template to good use! Having made mistakes is never a bad thing if you’ve learned from them – and you can help someone else avoid them, prosper and continue to look to you for guidance.

Leave a comment and tell us about the experience you bring to your niche articles.

Posted by Christopher M. Knight on August 28, 2009 at 8:58 am

2,217 views | Comments (20)

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