As the publisher of an article directory, I see this all the time: writers and other marketers who are so desperate to get their promotional seen they really don't think about how they are marketing, where they are marketing, or who they are marketing to.

As an article writer myself, who has gone from almost no listings at all in the last year in Google, to over 46,000, I'd like to give you a little insight into to how you can get your articles read and seen so that get you the traffic and sales you are looking for.

1. Target your market
This should be obvious. If you're writing articles about real estate, find sites that accept articles on real estate. Find directories that accept articles on real estate. Then your article is more likely to get accepted.

Some article writers assume, wrongly, because a certain type of article is related to a subject, that article will be published on a certain type of site.

Not so. It's a good idea to explore the content of a site before submitting, unless it's a general article directory. This will tell you whether this article is a good fit or not.

2. Don't submit an ad or a press release
I get this one a lot. My question to people like this is, "What makes you think I'll publish your ad?"

I pay for my web hosting, domains, and all the other expenses incurred in running an online business. Why should I help you? Why do I have to waste my time deleting your junk from my site?

I'm a writer and then a marketer, but in the case of site content, I'm a marketer first. I want top notch content on my site. Good articles. Articles that will help my readers. The best way to help my readers is to publish articles that are related to my topic.

Now, if the site does publish ads and press releases, by all means, submit. However, make sure that you have properly targeted your market. Website publishers are busy people, and it only takes a second to hit that delete key.

3. Make your article interesting
One of the first things I learned in journalism school is to translate technical material into plain language so that readers can understand it.

The same applies with articles. If you use a term that is unfamiliar, explain it in the body of your article. Don't send your readers on a wild goose chase trying to figure out what you mean.

Make your article easy to understand.

Use short words, short paragraphs, and short sentences. If you've ever read a newspaper, or "Time" magazine, or even a romance novel, you'll find out that these are written on about a seventh grade level.

This is so that readers can get through the material quickly. It's easy to understand.

4. Don't use HTML to format your article unless the publisher specifically says you can.
One of Article Directory does all of the HTML formatting for the writer. Therefore, when the writer uses HTML in the formatting, those characters show up. I either have to remove the HTML or delete the article. The article almost always gets deleted unless I really want the article on my site. Then the writer gets a personal email.

5. Check your work
Now I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of this one.

I write at the speed of light and type at the speed of sound. This means that I'm thinking faster than I can get the words down on paper. This can quickly make a mess of my articles.

The easiest way around this one is to read your article out loud. This forces you to slow down. You'll catch a lot of your grammar and punctuation mistakes, and smooth the flow of your writing.

Give your links one last check to make sure they work, and you're ready to go.

If you want to get more mileage from your articles, the best way to do this is to target your market, write a good article, and give your reader information that is helpful, interesting, and easy to understand.

You'll maximize your listings in the search engines and multiply your traffic and sales exponentially.