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You are putting in the effort to create quality articles. Now you are ready to submit them to the article directories. There are hundreds if not thousands of them, you scratch your head and ask yourself, “Where do I start?” Don’t waste your time submitting to all of them. Actually you really want to submit to only the best directories. Here I am going to list the top ten article directory sites that you should make sure that you get listed on.

These ten sites are listed below in order of page rank on Google and Alexa Ranking. You know the smaller the page rank number the higher it is up on Google.

1.GoArticles.com is owned by Canadian publishing giant, Jayde Online, Inc., and has been around since 2000. PageRank: 3 (http://GoArticles.com)

2.Searchwarp.com is a very nice article directory, it feels more like a friendly community than an article directory. It’s very colorful and vibrant. You can also publish your photo with your article. Searchwarp has been around since 2002. PageRank: 3 (http://SearchWarp.com)

3.Isnare.com is an outstanding article directory owned by Glenn Prialde of the Phillipines. Isnare has been around since 2004. PageRank: 4 (http://Isnare.com)

4.IdeaMarketers.com is a great article directory that will not only let you submit articles; you can build your own ezine as well. IdeaMarketers is owned by highly respected entrepreneur, Marnie Pehrson. IdeaMarketers has been around since 1998. PageRank: 5 (http://Ideamarketers.com)

5.AmericanChronicle.com is another one of my favorite article directories. Actually, it’s a family of 21 different article directories. Like Buzzle below, it’s technically an online news magazine. And also like Buzzle, you can still submit your articles to them, once you pass their approval process. AmericanChronicle has been around since 2004. PageRank: 5 (http://www.americanchronicle.com/notices/submit_info)

6.Buzzle.com features its own directory, free e-mail, message boards, news, articles and short stories online. Buzzle provides information on health, travel, science, technology and lifestyles. Technically, Buzzle is an online news magazine. But you can submit articles to them, once you pass their approval process. Buzzle has been around since 1999. PageRank: 5 (http://www.buzzle.com/authors/become-author.asp)

7.WebProNews.com is an articles and newsletter database covering a variety of ebusiness topics including SEO, SEM, and Affiliate marketing and ebusiness site design/development. WebProNews has been around since 2000. PageRank: 6 (http://WebProNews.com)

8.ArticleDashboard.com bills itself as “the premier source of free content for newsletters, ezines, and websites.” The site also offers free syndication services for authors and publishers. ArticleDashboard has been around since 2005. PageRank: 6 (http://ArticleDashboard.com)

9.ArticleCity.com bills itself as “your one-stop source for free articles.” And not only can you submit articles; you can submit press releases as well. ArticleCity has been around since 1999. PageRank: 6 (http://ArticleCity.com)

10.EzineArticles.com is a matching service between tens of thousands of expert authors and millions of readers & publishers looking for expert solutions to millions of problems. EzineArticles is owned by highly-respected entrepreneur Chris Knight, and is arguably the king of article directories. EzineArticles has been around since 1999. PageRank: 6 (http://EzineArticles.com)

My final piece of advice on submitting your articles is this, do it yourself. If you don’t have time to do it yourself then hire someone to do it for you. Don’t use software that is going to do it for you. Doing it yourself will save you time and frustration and it will allow you to stay on top of the which sites are doing their job and which sites have vanished from the net.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of ProArticle.com. Pro Article provides writers with Tips and Techniques for improving their writing skills. To learn more INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Tips For Successful Online Writing”

I am going to attempt to tackle explaining Google Rankings here in as few words as possible. My plan is not to bore or confuse you with tons of terms; instead in 500 words I am going to tell you what you need to know to make sure that your websites get the rankings you want and deserve. First, we are going to work with the assumption that you know what Google is and why having an excellent ranking is important.

First, what we are dealing with today is Google Page Rank, also known as PR. This is a feature that Google uses to score a website. It is based on the external and internal linking of a webpage. It also bases the rank on the page criteria of the web page that is being linked to the webpage and the webpage that is being linked from. So what does that mean, it means that your ranking is going to be impacted by the pages you link to and the pages that link back to you. You can very easily see what your PR is if you download the Google Toolbar. It will actually tell you the PR of every webpage you visit. I highly recommend that you down load this bar because the only way that you can improve your ranking is to know what your website and the pages in your site are currently ranked.

We discussed the linking, both external an internal. Briefly here is what you need to know. The first type of linking is Internal Linking. Internal linking looks at the pages within your website. You home page will typically have highest PR. You want to make sure that you are linking your webpages together in a themed approach that will stress the importance of decreasing the linking that is done between 2nd and 3rd level directories and pages. A good source to refer to so that you can understand this concept is “Surviving the Google Update”.

Then there is External Linking, this plays the most important role in determining your page ranking. Unfortunately this is the facet of your website that you have the least amount of control over. Why, because you can not possibly make a webmaster link to your site. “The actual amount of effect that Google’s PageRank has on the ranking of a website or web pages is debated, and it is probably safe to say that Google will not be letting us know anytime soon.” Source

I can tell you what every webmaster out there knows is this. That they higher your PR is the more frequent your website will be crawled and refreshed. You want the spiders to visit your site, and you want them to come often. But it isn’t about being linked to hundreds of sites, it is about being linked to the sites that Google deems worthy. This is where the page criteria comes into play, “When Google is determining the PR of Page A by evaluating the votes, or links, from Page B and others, it will also take into account the on page criteria and title tags of Page B and other links that are pointing to Page A. If Page A’s target keywords and theme are “widgets” then this is what Google will look for in the external links that are pointing to your site. If Page B, C, and D all have a high PR (above 6), and all have the keyword “widgets” in the on page criteria and title tag, Google will notice this and use these links when determining Page A’s Page Rank.” Source

This means that you want to think about the pages you are contacting that you want to link to. The websites that you are contacting should have the same theme as your site and it should have relevant content. So if your website deals with fishnet stockings and you are linked to a website that has an excellent PR in the bait and tackle niche… it is not going to help your PR at all. While the PR is high, the content is not relevant to your site.

Basically, there are three steps you must follow to help increase your Google PR:

1.Have a solid website.
2.Make sure that your internal links are themed based to minimize sub directories.
3.Make sure that your external links have a high ranking and are relevant to your website.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of ProArticle.com. Pro Article provides writers with Tips and Techniques for improving their writing skills. To learn more INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Tips For Successful Online Writing”

I am frequently asked if anyone can be a writer, and generally I say yes. Each and every person born has the capability of being a writer. The problem is that not everyone knows how to find their inner writer. I would even go as far as to say that many people are confused by the term writer. We all write every single day of our lives. Writing cannot be avoided, which means that we all know how to write.

Then what is the hang up? Why do so many people struggle with writing? The struggle comes from the viewpoint that all writers are creative and imaginative and that they are “word masters.” So how do you tap into that creative side that is hiding deep within you? How do you become a writer? Here are the simple things you can do to help you locate the writer within.

First you want to start small. For someone that has not written before and for the first time sits down and wants to write a book… well that is like trying to run a marathon without any practice. It isn’t that it isn’t possible, but it will be a painful process and chances are great that you will quit before you get to far. I recommend that you start with small projects. Keep a journal and write about your day and do that every day. Don’t just write, “I got up, did the dishes, the kids cried and I wanted to go to bed.” The goal of the journal is that you are practicing communicating with yourself. Do you want include details such as the way you were feeling, the smells of the day, the sights. “The sun was out.” Great, but did the sun hold your house in a warm embrace lighting up everything you did through the day. Or was the sun so bright that it was blinding which caused you to you shut the blinds just to make it through the day? Over time you will see improvement in your writing. The descriptions that you include, the spelling and punctuation that you use, you want to make sure that you are using complete sentences.

The next thing you are going to want to do is think about what genre you want to write in, or that you are comfortable writing in. Typically we writers chose to write in the genre we like to read. That doesn’t mean that you are stuck writing in that genre, but it is one you are going to be most comfortable in to start. The other issue I want to point out is that there are many genres of writing it isn’t just fiction and nonfiction. Here is a small list of the writing genres:

* Catalogs
* Greeting cards
* Poetry
* Short stories
* Speeches
* Magazine Articles
* Newspapers
* Books
* Business Brochures
* Sales Letters
* Technical/Manual writing
* Contracts/Legal

The list can go on and on. Once you decide which area you want to write in, you need to read in that genre as much as possible. Learn the different styles in each area, pay attention to the words used, the best authors in that genre.

Then you need to practice. Practice makes perfect. Stephen King was not born a prolific writer, he practiced. Write one blog post, write one email, and write 300 words. Give yourself a daily guideline and limit. Whether you are writing for 5 minutes or you want to write for an hour, decide and stick with it.

Finally go to your local bookstore or even the library or do a quick internet search and find a book on “How to Write.” The purpose here is that they will offer you writing exercises that will help you improve your writing. Keep this routine up for six months and you will have completely unleashed the writer within you.

Neil Bartlett is the founder of ProArticle.com. Pro Article provides writers with Tips and Techniques for improving their writing skills. To learn more and INSTANTLY grab his FREE report “10 Tips For Successful Online Writing”