Building your list and adding prospects to your sales funnel with article submissions is the hottest sales lead generation trend on the Web today. However, the article submission process is one of the most boring and tedious tasks around. That’s why many authors, experts and businesses choose to outsource their article marketing efforts.

How can you choose the best company to handle this important process for you? Follow these tips to avoid being ripped off from unscrupulous merchants?

Here Are My Top 10 Questions to Ask Any Article Marketing & Submission Service Provider So You Can Reach Your Goals:

1. Are the sites on your company’s article submission list well known across the Web, or are they dummy sites that you set up? Some unscrupulous article submission service providers promise to post your article to hundreds or thousands of sites for a very low fee – like $15! What they don’t tell you is that these sites are ones they have created for the sole purpose of posting your articles. No one visits these sites. Search engines don’t index these sites. So no one will ever see these articles. Ask for a list of sites they submit to. If they don’t seem credible, run fast!

2. Do you focus on websites that will make me become a thought leader or are you just submitting articles to ezinearticles.com where anyone can get published as long as you follow the guidelines? If your article submission service provider only focuses on getting you links then you should look elsewhere – because you are only gaining a minimum benefit. You want to be published on websites that give you expert authority.  Think about it – who would you trust more: a) someone published on an article directory like Ezinearticles.com or b) someone published on About.com (like myself) and on sites like Entrepreneur.com, FastCompany.com, Beliefnet.com, Home Business Magazine, HealthyWealthyNWise.com, Self Improvement Magazine where you can find my clients? Who would you be more willing to give your money to?

3. Is this a targeted campaign, or a scattershot approach? Ask the company how well targeted the article submission process is going to be. Can they target specific audiences, like women over 40 with empty next syndrome or C-level executives looking to make a transition? Now, a word of warning – They will say, “Yes, of course!” In fact, many article submission services use the word targeted,  but how targeted can it be if they are submitting your articles to directories that have hundreds of thousands of articles on thousands of topics. You want your articles published on sites and blogs that your audience goes to every day for solutions you can provide. You want your articles published in ezines and newsletters that your audience relies on.

5. Does your company submit articles by hand or by software? And, if you submit articles by hand are you mass emailing? Most reputable websites that accept articles will not accept articles delivered by software.  They want unique content and they know articles submitted by software will be sent to every site imaginable. These editors can also tell by your email if you are submitting this article to thousands of websites just to get the link. So, you need to personalize your emails, which you can’t do by doing a bulk email and BCC all the editors you can think of.

6. Does your company edit your article? I’m the article writing and article marketing expert.  Yet, I still hire proofreaders to review my articles. Sure, you think you are a great writer, but there’s not a person alive who won’t benefit from a copy editor giving the article a second look. Not only do you want someone to review your articles for spelling, punctuation and grammar errors – but you want someone who will format your article for easy online reading. This way prospects will want to read your articles from top to bottom. You want someone who will add direct response copywriting and infuse credibility and brand-building elements into your articles. You want someone who will honestly tell you if an article will work or not – along with the information and changes needed to make it successful.

7. Will your company use sound search engine optimization strategies to make my articles search engine friendly. If your hire a good article marketing company, they will not only edit your articles but they will make your articles search engine friendly as well. This way, your articles can be found on Google.

8. Will your company handle the day-to-day correspondence with site and ezine editors? After GetLinkedInHelp.com Founder Kristina Jaramillo had her article published on RainToday.com – we reached out to the editor and let her know how much attention the article received. We told her how many new subscribers  signed up for Kristina’s report thanks to them publishing the article on their site. We also expressed interest in Kristina doing a podcast or webinar. Now, because we built and maintained relationships with the editor – not only does Kristina have her article on their site driving traffic to GetLinkedInHelp.com every day – but now she has a podcast interview and will soon be doing a webinar. If we submitted the articles and completed the project there – Kristina would not have received this additional online publicity and exposure.

9. Does your company submit articles in a way that Google respects, or do you blast articles out there? Google hates when people try to manipulate their rankings and will ding your article campaign if you send out too many articles too quickly. Make sure your article marketing company understands this. Otherwise, Google could blackball your article marketing efforts.

10. Do you coach me on what to do once the article is published? Now, you can rely on the website’s audience and the search engines to bring you more traffic. Or, you can learn how to get even more mileage from your articles by incorporating it with social media and email marketing efforts, plus much more.

Now, that you know what you should be looking for in an article submission service, I invite you to check out:

http://www.articlemarketingexperts.com/special

You too, can experience these results:

Reached Over 300,000 Prospects in Just 1 Week!

“Wow! I can’t believe you reached so
many people (Over 300,000 readers), in
just 1 week! You helped me establish
even more credibility, drive pre-qualified,
targeted traffic to my website and sell
more products and services. Thank you
Eric!”

Yanik Silver
www.surefiremarketing.com

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17 New Orders from Articles in 1 Day!

“WOW, Eric Gruber’s  Article Marketing Service is working!! As a result of my articles being published on sites like Modern Mom, Body Concept and newsletters like Through Your Body I got 17 orders just yesterday. I’m totally amazed!”

Tracey Mallett
Fitness Expert
www.traceymallett.com

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