Last month, I began promoting Jason Potash's “Article Announcer.” I always take time to research new products on the market. I don't believe in “magic bullets.” There is a principle taught in physics, chemistry, biology and even Algebra 101. Nature seeks dynamic balance, equilibrium. If you add something to the left side of the = sign, the right side moves to balance it.



I anticipated a reaction to the introduction of this new software. I was right. I chose to submit last month's article, “Penury Perpetuates Poverty” the “hard way,” one by one to various submission sites on the Internet. Out of about 80 submissions, I discovered about 25% have temporarily (I hope) ceased accepting new authors/articles. Some submission pages came up with a 404 Error upon clicking the “submit” button.

One came up with the following: “Wére being plagued by so many automated submissions, duplicate article submissions, etc. that we spend too much time in selecting the real articles that matter. For this reason we are temporary not accepting new submissions until we have implemented some security measures to block bad submissions. We hope you understand. Please come back in about 1 month to submit your articles.”

Some have extremely obtuse instructions. Some simply don't work. Some are very specialized. Some are email submissions only (which opens the door to being spam'd). Some of these bounced. One may have had his ISP overloaded, shut down, and later began accepting articles again.

Right now I'm checking each site if my article was accepted. I know it is “loading the dice” when I access Google, Yahoo, MSN and search on [“Robert Leggett” Penury]. I was getting over 600 listings and dominated the first few pages of these search engines. I'm even listed on sites where I never submitted.

Of course just after doing my first “submission run” I periodically checked Google. Wow! Exposure just kept growing! Then, one day, I got no listing at all on Google. Yahoo still liked me a little. The following day I was baaaaaack. I need to research why Google didn't like me that one day. Now my search engine hits have settled down to a more realistic number.

Shortly after going to press, I continued checking latest submission and submitted my next article, “Discover your Creativity.” I am “paying my dues.” I must know how this all works. It is new to me. Once I see everything has settled down and a more stable balance has been achieved, I will seriously consider purchasing Jason Potash's “Article Announcer” - if it saves me time. Always intelligently automate whenever possible!

“Doing it the hard way” I have discovered my articles must have strong headlines. They must contain words search engine spiders like. They must have valuable content. Don't take my word on this. Check out a lot of “Submission Guidelines” at different directories. Through necessity, I must become a better writer.

This exercise was time intensive. I have profited more not taking a “magic bullet” approach. Other benefits include “sharpening up” our webZine “Cyberspace Marketeer,” offering greater content and more user-friendly design. I have just added a new page which includes 37 user-friendly Article Submission Directories.

Recently I received the following [edited] message from one of these Directories: “You can now save your default RESOURCE BOX and up to 2 additional RESOURCE BOXES for your default author and alternate author accounts - SAVING YOU THE TIME from having to copy and paste it each time you send in a new article. :-). Think of the additional time you can save with this new feature? Perhaps you might want to head to the gym earlier or better yet, send in another article now that you can do it in less time! :) *hint hint*”

They want you! Write and rewrite your articles you plan to submit. Research different submission sites. If you publish your own eZine or webZine, some sites accept these listings, too. Some sites also accept News Releases. Get a feel for these submission sites. Work with them. When you eventually decide to put much of this on automatic, you will have a much better overview of the process.