Following a few basic formatting rules will help you get more articles published, and of course, more traffic to your website.



Rule 1 - Format your article to be visually appealing and easy to scan.

Publishers are scanning hundreds of articles for publication. Readers are searching thousands of sites for information. When readers and publishers open your article, your topic and major points should be obvious. Format your text in sections that provide a quick visual scan. Highlight important points. Your goal is to immediately catch the publishers' attention before they lose interest and jump to the next article search.

Rule 2 - Get to the point, quickly.

Your first sentence should let your reader know what to expect. And your first paragraph should reinforce that first sentence. Your first paragraph will further define your topic and lead your reader into your article. Your article content must be consistent to what you promised in your title. The article title and content work together to convey your message. And your article content must bring value to readers, search engines and publishers who are searching for specific content related to your topic.

Rule 3 - Keep your sentences simple.

As you write your article, consistently remember your reader. Your content should consist of short, easy to understand, simple sentences. Also, remember that not every reader of your article knows your industry lingo and terminology. Keep industry acronyms and abbreviations to a minimum or provide an explanation. Plan that your article can be read and understood by anyone that picks up the article, not just someone specific to your industry.

Rule 4 - Short paragraphs are easier to read.

Short paragraphs break up large blocks of text and adds to the ability of the reader to quickly understand and scan the text. Short paragraphs can also help you emphasize a topic by making it stand out from other text.

Rule 5 - Make spelling and grammar a priority.

Your spelling and grammar should be nothing less than perfect. Simple, grade school grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes are unprofessional and ruin your creditability as an article writer. Article distributors will not correct your errors. They will either reject your article, or they will publish it with all the errors for the entire world to see. Once your article is published, it's published.

Rule 6 - Break up your content.

Another way to break up large blocks of text is to highlight major points with numbers, bullets and subheadings. You can also take advantage of font styles by bolding words, subheadings, titles or phrases. If your reader quickly scans your article, do your main points stand out?

Rule 7 - Use keywords early.

Use your keywords early in your title and your content. Search engines only search your title and the beginning paragraphs of your article. But don't overload your article with keywords. Article distributors are quick to notice an abundance of keywords and may refuse to publish your article. The best place for top keywords is in your author block or resource box at the end of your article. Those keywords will prompt your reader with a call to action and a link to your website.

Rule 8 - Review, review, review.

Review your article for readability, meaning and flow. Read your article out loud for flow, logical order and understanding. Ask a friend for a critique. Scan your article like you're reading a submission from another author.

Review your article for punctuation, grammar and spelling. Then review it all again. Use spell check software, but don't assume that it will catch all spelling mistakes. Reading your article backwards will prompt you to look at each word individually, rather in a sentence structure, providing another way to check your spelling.

Review it all one more time. Remember your article represents your knowledge, your business, your brand and your professionalism. A good article with grade school mistakes won't represent your business well, nor will it be picked up a publisher.

If you're regularly writing and submitting articles, writing for your reader and following these basic article publisher rules, you'll increase your chances of publication. You'll produce well written, easy to read, professional articles that publishers will want to add to their newsletters, ezines and websites.