Article Rejection - What Are The Causes

Article marketing has become a huge trend in Internet marketing today. Many marketers are using articles as their primary, and even sole, form of traffic generation and search engine optimization. However some marketers lament that article marketing doesn't seem to work for them, especially as their article submissions are often rejected.

To make sure that more of your articles get published, follow these simple guidelines and you will have a better chance of seeing your articles online.

1. Subject line is all CAPS. You should only capitalize the first letter of each word. All caps signifies shouting.

2. Misspelled words and incorrect grammar. Ensure that you read and re-read your article before submitting it and check for spelling errors.

3. Article is too short or too long. Most article web sites prefer articles in the 500 to 700 word range.

4. Article is improperly formatted. Different word processors treat characters differently. Sometimes a dash or an apostrophe display as question marks. Using a text editor is better than a word processor.

5. Subject spamming. If I receive a number of articles on the same subject and by the same author with similar titles and summaries then I will suspect article spamming. Rather than sort out which articles might offer quality unique content I simply reject them all.

6. Too many links. Most article sites allow links in the author's resource box but having more than one or two will get your article declined.

7. Links in the articles. Not many article sites allow links in the text of the article. It is best to just have them in the author's resource box.

8. Improper bolding. It is understandable if sub-paragraphs are being bold or an occasional word bolded for emphasis but you should not bold your links.

9. The article was not submitted to the right category. If I'm in a nice mood or I'm really interested in the article then I might recategorize it. If I recognize an author who regularly delivers quality content I might recategorize it. If it is in the right broad category I might move it to a more specific subcategory. However if it was submitted with no apparent thought or effort then I will most likely reject it. If the author can't be bothered to select the right category then why should I take the time?

10. Incorrect HTML. Ensure that your HTML - especially your links - are formatted properly. I have seen many errors that make your link ineffective. The most common errors are using an apostrophe instead of a quotation mark at the beginning and end of the link and not closing the link properly.

11. Articles don't make sense. This is usually caused by writers using some sort of a rotator or thesaurus to change the positioning of sentences or words so that when using an auto submitter, the articles are different at all the various article web sites. I understand the reasoning to have unique articles but some of these programs don't work as well as you would like.

12. The article does not belong in this directory. Usually this is true of a large percentage of my niche directory rejections. If the directory is about Internet promotion don't submit your articles about breast augmentation!

13. Submitting ads instead of articles. It is best to write an article related to your product or web site instead of blatantly advertising whatever it is you are trying to sell.

This is not an all-inclusive list and reflects only one man's observations. But, I do have about 10 different article sites and also some blogs that accept articles automatically. I screen the articles daily and these are the guidelines I use to accept or reject articles.