You surely want your articles get the widest exposure and we want to assist you in doing this. So we have put together some valuable advice that everyone can apply when creating thier articles. The aim of this advice is to make your articles irresistible to more publishers and get you the marketing exposure you're looking for.

Context South Africa

There are many article directory websites on the internet. Most of them contain content that is particularly suited for the American and European markets. As a result, the content is not always applicable to the South African context and it is very difficult to find articles on such sites that are applicable. Yes, some articles are of an international flavor and are relevant in any context, but finding them amongst the thousands of articles can be time consuming.

ArticleDirectory.co.za is the first article directory website in the South African Domain space (co.za) with a special South African context. The aim is to provide South African authors with a free online article directory that will enable better article marketing in context of the South African internet. For publishers the aim is to provide a resource of quality articles with relevance to the South African audience.

When writing articles, as a South African business, try to make them relevant to the South African context. Since our publishers are mostly South African, the more relevant your articles are to the South African public, the more attractive they will be. 

Promoting Yourself or Your Business

Most authors publish articles to get:

• More Links
• More Exposure
• More Traffic
• More Sales
• More Money

However, the act of publishing an article does not ensure that publishers will automatically want to republish it. To make an article attractive for reuse there are some basic things that content publishers want, including:

Publishers want:

• Good quality content in the article body
• Information of value, not a sales pitch

Publishers prefer for your business promotion information to be in your Author Bio box. However, publishers understand that you are publishing articles in order to promote your business and do not mind if there are one or two self serving links in the main article body.

What they don't like is to have more than two self serving links. To many self-serving links will automatically be considered spam and articles like this generally look like thinly disguised advertisements instead of valuable information people can use.

Publishers must consider the integrity of the content the deliver. If they don't, then they will lose their audience. As a result they will avoid sales pitches. Be smart. Stay away from spam. That stuff will killing your article marketing dead in it's tracks.

Stick to well structured articles that deliver valueable information with one or two well positioned self serving links will be more likely to be reused.

Some Basic Rules

Write content with your target market in mind. Make the information useful. When writing think about how you would provide advice or a consultation to a customer, this will build credability in the readers mind and will motivate the reader to learn more. By focusing on what people need to know, you will attract more publishers and set in motion the chain of events needed.

Be creative when writing. When writing about a product or service, explain the problem and the solution to the problem. Let the reader know that there is a solution to the problem and explain how to solve the problem. Remember, it's about their needs, not about your business. By focusing on their needs they will indirectly be getting the message that you are the expert they should be speaking with. There is no need to tell them that you are the expert, your Author Bio does this for you.

An Example

Imagine that you are an accounting or bookkeeping business and you want to attract more visitors to your website and make them customers. What would your article theme be?

Perhaps something like "Accounting News You can Use" where you write articles on topics such as changes in tax regulations and what they mean for the man on the street, or discuss the topic of tax returns, when they are due and how to get them done.

Providing articles of this type will be very useful to small business owners and they are more likely to read your articles whenever they appear because they know that they can make use of the information you have given them in their business. Over time, you will be perceived as a familiar person in their lives and somebody who is approachable, knowledgable and trustworthy. Think about it ... who they gonna call when they need help?

When to use Self-Serving Links

There are three special cases when it's perfectly acceptable to include links in your articles:

• Well-Known Sites - You may include links to popular or well-known sites, like Google, Yahoo, iAfrica, Property24, etc. Publishers are familiar with these sites and will not feel that the author is engaging in advertising.
• Multiple Competing Sites - You may safely include links to competitive sites in an article that is a review or comparison of an industry or solution. In order to do this without risking automatic rejection, include at least three competitors, with fully qualified links, and speak with some authority about each one. A link to your site (even though it would be considered a self-serving link by itself) may be included as one of the competitive sites in the article.
• Multiple Complementary Sites in "Helpful Resources" Articles - If your article is a "helpful resources" piece, go ahead and feature links to resources around the Web. Include at least three resources, and make sure they all relate in some way to the article's theme.

For example, if you mention a travel agency, a place to download website templates and the restaurant on the corner, can you clearly show how those three sites are related? Can you explain how they work together to help a reader solve a problem? If you can, great. Otherwise, your article will look like spam and it will get rejected.