From: Royce Tivel

Date:


Dear Friend and Fellow Content Producers ...



Signing up for an article directory service is like buying a fine audio system. Everyone knows that to get the best sound, all of the system components must be of good quality: the audio output will be no better than the poorest performing component. For a directory service, the "weakest component" can often be found in the article-submission fine print. Restrictions there can seriously impact the visual "sound" quality of an article.

Article directories generally impose many restrictions for article-submission. For a very basic, text-only article, the restrictions may not be critical. For a more complex article, the restrictions can be devastating.

The restrictions generally prohibit all but the most basic article styling. No CSS styling is allowed. Articles are presented in a least-common-denominator fashion which results in a "ho-hum" visual experience for the reader. The author is not empowered to present content with a creative and personal "look and feel." Such a personal touch can not only make an article more aesthetically pleasing and easier to read and absorb, but can also be used to reinforce an author's "brand" on the Web.

We live in the Web 2.0 age. More and more, Multimedia, including images and videos, is becoming a core component of today's online content. The submission guidelines common to directory services—even at the best-known ezines—prohibit the inclusion of images or multimedia in the articles they publish. This restriction greatly reduces the content authors can present to their target audience.

To make matters even worse, when an article is finally published—often after a long review process—it is typically embedded within numerous ads—and the ads are designed to lure the reader into clicking away from the article. Website-Articles.net was created to remove both the limitations—and the distractions. Website-Articles.net is a new article directory service designed—from the get-go—for serious article marketers and content producers. The service was created by Allen Graves, a long-time article marketer himself, in order to overcome the limitations of other article directory services, including well-known ezines. The primary goal of the service is to empower article marketers and content producers to write and publish "stand out" and content-rich articles—that "get the clicks."

The Website-Articles.net home page caught my attention immediately. The enhancements for the service seemed almost to good to be true. According to the sales page, the service included these benefits:

• Images allowed
• Videos allowed
• Extended HTML-tag set
• Inline CSS styling allowed
• No ad display
• Multiple resource boxes
• 1-day approval of articles (M-F)
• Fast and personal support
• Access to valuable educational resources

In order to test the service, and for a small monthly cost, I signed up for a membership. The service is exclusive to members and the membership will be limited to 1,000. What this means is that the service will continue to be personal and responsive even after all of the membership slots are filled.

I quickly received my membership log-in and specified a secure password of my choice. I then began work on an article to test the service. Because of the submission requirements commonly found at article directories, I have had to write and publish my articles in two different forms: a text-only version (without HTML code snippets) and a content-rich version. I use the plain-text version for article distribution. The plain-text version has usually had to be severely restricted in content in order to pass the submission guidelines.

To create a content-rich version, I have had to copy/paste the text-only version into my favorite (X)HTML editor and then add the images and code snippets I want to display. I post the content-rich version of the article on my web-site or blog. Since the article I submit to directory services is very limited in content, and although I do make an effort to submit articles of value to readers, the reader must follow a resource link in order to see the more polished and detailed article version.

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to present a content-rich, polished article of value to the readers through the directory service? Do you think an interested reader who is presented with a quality, content-rich article would be more, or less likely to click a link in the resource box for similar content?

For the Website-Articles.net test article, I began writing the article in the usual way. I used my favorite text editor (TextPad) and wrote the article in plain text. Doing this is my standard procedure because it allows me to focus on what I want to say. Styling the article comes later.

Once the article was written, and still using TexPad, I sandwiched it between the body tags of a very basic XHTML template and saved the document as an HTML file. That way, I could, from within the editor, access a browser to preview the article as I applied the styling. In this form, I could also submit the article to the W3C Markup Validation Service to check the code for errors (more on this later).

To complete the article, I styled it using the HTML style=" " attribute within <div> and <span> tags (both tags are allowed at Website-Articles.net). In the very first <div> tag, I added global styling to produce an article "look and feel" that was visually pleasing and easy on the eyes. Neither the tags nor the styling are allowed by other article directories.

Inline CSS is made possible by the HTML style=" " attribute. When the attribute is included within the <div> or <span> tags, any CSS property or value may be used between the quotes. By allowing display styling through inline CSS, Website-Articles.net has enabled me to leverage the styling I have already developed and tested. It is very quick and easy to copy the CSS properties and values I want to use at Website-Articles.net from existing CSS files and paste them between the quote marks of the HTML style attribute. There is an added bonus to doing this: readers clicking from the article to other content on my web site or blog will land on pages with similar styling. In this way, and over time, the styling will brand my online content. I used the allowable <img> tag to import the images I wanted to use for the "test" article. For me, being allowed to use images is a wonderful benefit. Here is why: I can create HTML code in my editor, take a screen shot of the code, and display the image—showing the code full sized—to the reader. In this way, the code display is sharp, easy to read, and attractively displayed—and will never cause submission problems. Of course, the code can't be copy/pasted by the reader, but at least it can be displayed. Getting a more usable form of the code could be a good reason for clicking a resource link, don't you think?

I used CSS properties and values , within the HTML style attribute, in both <div> and <img> tags for positioning the images and their captions. Being able to use images and captions and to control their display and styling at Website-Articles.net is a luxury; and this benefit can be passed on to readers—particularly if the images add useful content and are not limited to clip art.

After capturing or creating the images I wanted to use, I used Photoshop to optimize them for the Web. Many other paint programs can be used to accomplish this, too. In most cases, and because most of the "snapshots" were of code snippets, I saved the images as low resolution GIF images, which resulted in very small file sizes. This insured that browsers will be able to load the images very quickly. This is important since the images would be stored on my web site and imported from there: at this time, Website-Articles.net does not store images locally.

How fast images load is, in part, a function of the browser used. Firefox or Opera should have no problem quickly loading the optimized images. For myself, having to wait for images to load is a sure-fire turn-off and often causes me to click away from an HTML page. I certainly do not want my readers to experience this frustration. When the article was finished, and just before pasting it into the submission text box, I took one additional step. I submitted the article to the W3C validator. I always test the (X)HTML pages I create at W3C and correct any errors before publication. There is no excuse for ever pasting anything but valid code into the submission text box. Besides, if errors are detected, correcting them is a great way to learn more about writing valid (X)HTML code.

I logged into Website-Articles.net and accessed the article-submission page. I copied my thoroughly tested article (everything between the <body>&</body> tags of the template HTML document) and pasted this into the submission text box. I previewed the article to verify the display. I next entered the the article title, description, keywords, and resource-box details. Before hitting the submit button, I copy/pasted the additional information into my local copy of the article—just in case. I then hit the submit button. The article was reviewed and published the same day! Website-Articles.net is a new article directory service designed especially for article marketers but has many advantages for all content producers. Besides allowing the inclusion of images and other multimedia, the service has removed many of the limitations caused by the restrictive submission guidelines commonly found at other article directory services, including those at even the best-known ezines. In addition, there are no distracting ads surrounding the published article that can distract the reader away from the article.

Allen Graves, a long-time article marketer, designed the service—from the get-go—to empower members to create "stand out" articles and to maximize the clicks to their targeted web sites.

I created and published a rich-content article, which included images, captions, inline CSS, and an extended HTML tag set. I verified that the claims made by the owner, Allen Graves, were not exaggerated, including the promise of a 1-day article review and publication (M-F). The support I received while writing the article was both personal and prompt.

From my point of view, a good article directory service should not get in the way of publishing articles with the content I want to present to my readers, including images & multimedia, or get in the way of displaying articles that are aesthetically pleasing and easy to read—and get the clicks, too. From this point of view, Website-Articles.net is a cut above all other article directory services and met my expectations in every way.

For more information about Website-Articles.net, click the button below.

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