Have you done a lot of hard work preparing articles for your article marketing campaign only to have your articles deleted by the editors of article directories? You're not alone. As the number of articles written and submitted to article directories has increased so have the standards for article acceptance. So, in order to assist my fellow article marketers I've come up with the most common reasons articles are deleted from article directories and broken it down by article sections.

Article Word Count - The article's word count will prompt deletion of the article when the count is too small or too large. Most article directories want at least 350 words, but not more than 1200.

Article Category - Choose your article category carefully and ensure that the category you choose matches the article's content. Choosing a category related to something other than the articles content such as your website's category will get your article immediately deleted.

Article Title - The article's title tells the reader exactly what your article is about. The article's title will get your article deleted when:

1. The article title is in ALL CAPS.
2. The article's title has a url in it or html.
3. The article's title has misspelled words or excessive punctuation.
4. The article's title doesn't match the content of the article.

Article Keywords Section - In the article keywords section you should place keywords that would help someone find your article in a search. The keywords section will get your article deleted when:

1. The keywords section contains keywords not related to the article content.
2. The keywords section contains urls or links.
3. The keywords section is blank.
4. The keywords section contains sentences or paragraphs.

Article Summary - The article summary should be just what it sounds like - a summary of the article's content. Ideally the summary is one short paragraph that gives the reader an idea what to expect in the article. Reasons why the summary can get your article deleted include:

1. The article summary is the same as the title. That's not a summary.
2. The article summary contains multiple paragraphs.
3. The article summary doesn't match the article's content.
4. The article summary contains links or urls.

Article Body - The article's body is the meat and potatoes. It's the content that the reader is looking for, but it's also the most problem ridden section when it comes to getting your article deleted. The problems leading to deletion include:

1. The article body doesn't have paragraphs.
2. Poor grammar.
3. Misspelled words.
4. The article body has poor formatting such as too many lines between paragraphs or no lines between paragraphs.
5. The article body is written as an advertisement instead of an information article.
6. The article body has links or urls.
7. The article body has html included.

About The Author/Resource Section - The about the author section or resource section is where you get to advertise yourself and gain links to your website. However, you can easily get your article submission deleted when:

1. You place more than three links of any kind in the section. The number of links allowed is a total which includes urls and mail links.
2. Any link in the section leads to a porn site or other objectionable site.
3. Any link is an affiliate link where you get paid for people to click on it.

Of course article directories do vary in their requirements but it's safe to say that if you don't make any of the mistakes I've listed here you've got a great chance of getting your article approved. So, follow the rules and your articles will begin bringing you the benefits of article marketing.