When you are speaking of article writing, the term “white hat” comes into play. What is a white hat, you are asking? Well the personification of the white hat comes from cowboy lore originally and means a good guy. There are two kinds of hats here – white and black. A black hat means someone that doesn’t play by the rules and is a bad guy. You really want to have a white hat when it comes to article writing. Why do I say this?

Being a white hat article writer basically means that you are writing your articles on your own with research. You do not plagiarize and write the article in your own words. You also Copyscape your work in order to make sure that you don’t plagiarize any copy that you have done research on. Your formatting is correct, spell checked and grammar checked before submission. The document is sent in the correct format with the correct keywords, subject matter, sub headings and word count. You are on time with submissions and followed the guidelines to the letter.

This is what being a white hat is. By doing this, you do not subject yourself to accusations of plagiarism. You use the search engines for your information, but don’t copy it. You also note what and where the information came from so that you have a reference. Let me talk just a little about plagiarism for a moment here. Plagiarism is a dangerous way to get your work done. It is also illegal and can get your client as well as yourself in a lot of hot water. By hot water, I mean lawsuits for copyright infringement. These lawsuits are not cheap and will get you fired and blacklisted.

I want to also present something for your information. There was a writer once that got into trouble for article stuffing. This is also something that a white hat will not do. Article stuffing is stuffing an article with more than the required keyword count and also using more keywords not relevant to the article to gain position on ranking. This got the writer in question fired and blacklisted from ever appearing again anywhere for any reason. This is a warning to anyone else who wants to try the “black hat” ways of doing something.

Being a white hat means following all the rules and not overusing keywords or phrases for higher ranking. This is what being a good net citizen is all about. Simply put, if you do things the right way, you are rewarded for your good work. The rewards will also help you to rank higher in SEO article databases and directory submission places as well. So be a white hat won’t you? While sometimes being a “black hat” looks like fun, in the long run, it is nothing but grief and the consequences can be severe for violating several cardinal rules of web article writing. Play it smart!

Have you ever wondered how article directories accept your articles and why they do so? Well you have come to the right place for this information. Article directories are part of any internet marketing program. These databases have millions of articles by as many different authors promoting different subjects and products. No two will ever be exactly alike unless written by the same author. These articles are written to drive traffic to the author’s site and to sell product that the author is selling. This is an excellent marketing tool and has proven very effective.

Now, let’s talk about submission to one of these directories. Your article must fit a format such as the following: summary, body of the article and resource box. A summary simple means that you summarize the article. The resource box is where you put your URL and contact information for anyone interested. Now you have written an article about say losing weight for example. It is in the correct format, so you search for and find an article directory to submit to. Finding article directories is fairly easy through the internet. Once you have chosen one, then you will request to submit your article to the directory in question.

Sometimes there are forms to fill out, other times you just need to type the article in and hit submit. Now be aware that there are certain guidelines that must be followed besides the article format. There are things such as no vulgarity that will not be tolerated when in the article body or anywhere in the article. This is just an example of one such guideline. There can also be a bit of a wait before your article will be accepted into the database. It could be as little as a few minutes to a week before they will accept the article.

Now if you have met the editorial guidelines, all you can do is sit and wait. Once your article is approved, it will be made live immediately and will also be searchable through the internet, usually by author or title. Now, let’s talk about why these directories accept articles such as yours into their directory. Simply put, it is a business decision. The more articles that are successfully submitted to these directories, the more traffic that both you and the article directory will receive.

The more diverse information there is out there, the better off the articles directory will be. Since this is also one of the number one ways to promote a site or product, is it any wonder that they accept articles from new writers. Bear in mind that as articles age, they become less fresh and are removed if not updated. So the changeover rate is pretty dynamic. So you now know how these directories accept articles and why. With so many different products and services out there, these directories are the first place to look when searching for a particular product.  They also have the advantage of being ranked on search engines.

When working with article marketing, you have to know how to convert readers into traffic for your site. How do you do it to begin with? The answer is simple. When you are creating the article in question there are several answers that you need to have and information that you need to know in order to convert readers into traffic. First, you need to know what you are writing about. What is the product or service that you are selling to the public? Do you know it inside and out?

Now, who is your target audience who will be reading this article? Are they doctors or laymen, computer nerds or self help aficionados? Knowing who your target audience is going to be is another must have answer. Now with that in mind, what language are you going to use to connect with your chosen audience? Do you speak in techno terms or are you addressing rap music fans. You have to know your target audience and what language that audience speaks in order to create the article for the product or service.

Here is one reminder for you about audience and language. Never use internet speaks or slang when writing an article. Please remember that this is a business and the people reading want to be able to understand you without puzzling out weird jargon that will only turn them off and drive them away. Now with that known, how are you going to connect with your audience and make them care about what you are promoting or selling. There are several ways to do this. One of the best is to create an open dialogue with your audience. Intrigue them, but watch the B.S. factor.

Let them know how your product or service can be beneficial to them. Create a buzz by looking at the product or service that you are selling from a different point of view and write your article that way. Make sure that all links and hyperlinks are properly spelled and are the correct click through. Remember to update your blog as much as you can and the same thing goes for your article and site. Keep all these factors current and respond to responses on your site no matter if they are comments, complaints or questions. Keep a level head when responding.

 Also put a face to the product. If you have video for example on your site, have it showing your employees or demos of the product. More people will buy if they can put a face to the name. It humanizes the product so to speak. Have interactive sites on your site. These are some of the ways that you can convert readers into traffic and are some of the most well known ways. While some of these things don’t happen in an article, they are nice to know and to utilize in order to convert readers into pure traffic to your site. By having a great article that grabs the reader’s attention and causes them to come look at your site, you will be converting readers into traffic.