EzineArticles Diamond Level Membership

March 10, 2011 By Lisa Angelettie 4 Comments

EzineArticles Diamond Level Membership

My favorite article directory for new marketers has just unveiled a new (and seasoned:) level of membership – the diamond level. EzineArticles Diamond Level Membership This is not a level that you pay for, but one that you earn – which really is a take on my entire philosophy of entrepreneurial writing.

Let’s face it, there are many writers on directories who consistently submit TONS of articles (most of the time these are outsourced articles), but what you don’t know is that there are reader complaints about these articles made to the directories. There are typos and grammar errors. EzineArticles has their share of these types of “junk authors” as well – which is the inspiration for creating this membership level.

It’s important to remember that the key to article marketing success and continual traffic is to write high-quality content and abandon thoughts of writing a large quantity of ‘so-so’ content. That is exactly why EzineArticles.com has finally rewarded writers who choose quality over quantity with a new membership level which offers new benefits.

Benefits & Features of EzineArticles Diamond Level

You’ll receive faster article review times, faster Member Support responses and unlimited article submissions. Premium members will still receive fastest review and support priority times, but Diamond members will receive priority before Platinum member submissions and email support.
A diamond image will be next to your by-line name to let readers know you are among the most trusted members we have.
More experienced editors will review your article submissions.
You are the best of the best and you’ll be held accountable to that. Therefore, problems in one article could cause you to lose Diamond status.
The Diamond upgrade is account-wide. The primary member is responsible for the quality of all articles and alternate author names on the account.
Upon request, you may be granted the ability to write articles in the 250-400 word range providing you continue to deliver high value to your readers.

How To Qualify For EzineArticles Diamond Membership

You must have at least 10 live articles in your account.
Your Author Bio must be 100% complete, including your author photo.
You need to submit a request for the Diamond level upgrade through yourAuthor’s Area:
1. Login to https://Members.EzineArticles.com/
2. Select “Account Manager” from the dropdown menu, and then select “View Account Status”
3. If you qualify according to the six points, fill out the form for Diamond Membership and select “Send Request”

Should I Request Diamond Membership?

Absolutely. This is not a “easy” membership to obtain. Standards are high, so if you meet the qualifications which you should if you’ve gone through my training course Articology :), then this level will set you apart from the more average submissions made by the competitors in your niche.

What do you think about EzineArticle’s Platinum & Diamond membership levels?

Article Directories – Worthwhile or Worthless?

January 6, 2011 By Lisa Angelettie 8 Comments

Article Directories – Are They Worthwhile or Worthless?

A lot of people are frustrated with their article marketing results. I know because I get some of the “huffy-puffy” emails asking me to fix what’s broken. Often they do not see the type of traffic they expected from their article submissions.

So the first thing that I make clear to all of my clients when they come to me with this issue is that submitting to article directories is NOT a worthless task. It is not outdated or a waste of time. Article directory submissions are in fact very relevant, still work, and are absolutely worthwhile.

The real key is knowing where to submit and how to submit your articles properly. I teach a lot of this in detail in my Articology training program, but I’m going to break it down quickly for you right now so that you can move forward this year making article directory submissions that are totally worth your time invested.

FIRST – Become An Article Directory Snob

Realize that you do not have to submit your article to hundreds or thousands of article directories to make an impact. That’s article submission slumming! I NEVER do that and I still receive highly qualified traffic to my sites from my articles on a daily basis.

The reason why making massive amounts of submissions is not the key to effective article marketing is because all article directories are not created equal. Just like any other website, there are good and bad article directories — and it is a waste of time – and sometimes can even be a detriment to you, to submit your articles to these low value directories. So with that knowledge, now you understand that you have to be a bit snobby. A bit selective. Only pick the best.

SECOND – Do Your Article Directory Research

A lot of entrepreneurs hate research. I don’t mind it. Whichever way you roll though – it has to be done in order to work smart and not hard. Select the best article directories for exposure in your niche, submit consistently, and you will see traffic results – guaranteed. Here’s how you do a little quick research:

1. Look at the traffic statistics of an article directory. If the article directory is not getting more traffic then your site – it’s out.

2. Try searching for site info on your directory in Alexa.com. While Alexa does not give totally accurate traffic stats (it only tracks visits from browsers with the Alexa toolbar installed), it is a good barometer of the traffic any given site is getting. A low number in Alexa is good, especially if the traffic # is under 100,000.

3. Do a Google search for the term “article directory”. What sites come up in the top ten? Most of them are article directories, and I am pretty sure that they all have great traffic.

4. It’s not a bad idea to pick article directories with a high pagerank. High PR means that Google places some importance on the directory and it’s content – which rubs off on you too. I like PR4 and up, but if it’s a micro-niche focused directory I will also go for a PR2 or PR3.

5. Okay – if you aren’t going to do a little work on your end, here’s an article directory cheat sheet.

THIRD – Check Out Your Article Directories First Hand

It’s important to check out the article directories you’ve hand selected for yourself when first starting out. This is why…

1. You need to check out the writer’s guidelines of every article directory you submit to. What article directories allow you links within the article body? Which ones don’t? What is the word count requirement? How long can your resource box be? This is important because every directory has slightly different guidelines and knowing how to submit properly will save you from getting your articles rejected.

2. Look around. Does the article directory have an active community of writers? Does the directory offer tips via their own blog or forum? Activity means someone is paying attention and probably will take good care of your articles quickly.

3. What kind of promotion does the directory do? Are they on any of the social media sites like Twitter or Facebook? I like an article directory that does it’s part to attract more readers to my articles.

Conclusion – Article Directories Are As Worthwhile As You Make Them

So the conclusion to the question posed by one of my readers (thank you for the article suggestion James Burow:) is that article directories are as worthwhile as you make them. The keys: Be selective. Do your research. Get the lay of the land.

What’s your thoughts on mass article submissions vs. selective submissions (snob submissions :)? Have any directories you’d like to recommend to folks. Good ones I mean. Share them with us in the comments section below.

Submit Your Article

November 16, 2010 By Lisa Angelettie 8 Comments

Submit Your Article

This isn’t quite a review. It’s more of a overdue recommendation I think, because one of the most frequently asked questions I am asked by clients as well as visitors to my sites is “Is there an article marketing submission software you recommend?” Let’s face it, article marketing is a numbers game AND the more short cuts we can use to expose our content to the largest number of people is a high priority on the article marketer’s list. I have kept quiet for many years, and would randomly give my recommendations – but now I’m speaking up. The only article marketing submission service that I recommend to my clients is: Submit Your Article.

In the beginning of my online career, I would recommend services and software based on affiliate revenue. Like many newbie marketers, I wanted to earn money through affiliate marketing, so I would promote the latest, greatest article marketing software programs or services. Well as you can imagine – that was big mistake!

Practically every one of those services I recommended was overpriced and the software programs were horrible. They were janky, spammy, and did not do a very good job. I learned that because I also invested in these same programs to publish and promote content for my first site (GirlShrink), and was terribly disappointed at the quality and the results.

Over the years I have tried many and I do mean many different article submission softwares and services and have only found true results, accountability, affordability, and reliability with one service and that is Submit Your Article. And yes that is an affiliate link, but it is the only link you will probably ever see from me for a service of this type. I use Submit Your Article myself and I have no direct or personal relationship with the owner.

So Why Submit Your Article?

There are a few reasons why I think this is the only article submission software to go with after testing many different options…

1. Submit Your Article actually has a network of real and well ranked websites, ezines, and article directories that they will submit your articles to. They don’t use a huge network of 0 ranked homemade blogs, created just yesterday, for the sole purpose of publishing your articles to. That is what a lot of article submission services do by the way! So buyer beware. Your submissions are a waste of time.

2. They use something called ArticleLeverage ® to help you create unique versions of each article you submit. This is optional of course and yes there are other services out there that offer something similar, but I find this is the easiest to use and does a good job of creating unique versions of your articles.

3. The price is right. This is an affordable service for the average marketer.

New Submit Your Article Gold Level

Submit Your Article is about to unveil their new Gold Level membership which will include some new and exciting features and functionality for creating and publishing unique content to the web and other publishers. As well as powerful link building! I don’t know the details yet (you know how marketers love to build up anticipation:) but I’m sure that it’s going to be features that are going to really enable you to create many unique versions of your articles and publish them to high quality publishers in a very efficient way. I can’t wait:)

The great news is that you can lock in your rate as a Gold Level member, but paying at today’s rate. So if you join today, you can start submitting your articles to their powerful league of publishers AND you can lock in your Gold member status just by joining. So if using an article submission service is something that you have been thinking about, and you were finally waiting for me to give a recommendation, this is it. Go learn more about it – Submit Your Article.

EzineArticles Diamond Level Membership