Why is it here, at ViralMarketingEtc.com? Because submitting free articles is one of the forms of viral marketing. You provide the content with your links and other people cheerfully spread it. If it’s good, of course. That’s viral marketing, all right.

Unfortunately, not all article directories are equal, and eZineArticles.com, although picky, still #1 and most important article directory around.

A short list of the reasons is (but check the videos anyway):

1. Combination of isses 2-10
2. Stolen or ripped content (includes PLR articles because they may be submitted by others; if you ghostwrite, request exclusive rights)
3. Blatant sales and promotion – that’s not what articles are for. Use resource box for that.
4. Keyword abuse – yes, we all want search engine ranking, but don’t make your article a gibberish, unnatural or spammy. About 1 keyword for 100 words and write for people, not for search engines.
5. Spelling and grammar (yes, that’s my sin, especially because of jumping between normal and notebook keyboard). Also, just one space after commas and periods, no more, no less. Ask somebody to proofread.
6. Affiliate links. Not even in the resource box! Not even redirecting link (unless you are ready to sacrifice the whole domain for that one link, see more in video).
7. Excessive links. Only two self-serving links are allowed in the resource box. Two more for other (not yours) sites. None of self-serving links in the artcile itself. Other two (non-self-serving links) after the third paragraph only.
8. URLs with no content or dead links. Your links should work and point to something sensible, not pure advertising, empty pages or sites under construction.
9. Localized niche articles. Not just generic, if writing an article about a particular locale (like city), give specific information, e.g. specfic coffee shops in Chicago if your article is about coffee shops or flavors in Chicago.
10. Formatting issues. No special MS Word symbols (quotes, ellipsis, dash…). Simple text format is the best. Empty line between paragraphs (hard line breaks). Limit HTML tags. Don’t use <ul>, <ol>, <li>, just include numbers and bullets into the artcile.

All social networking sites are not actually social networking. They are just the tools that make social networking easier and father reaching. You still have to do social networking yourself, you just can reach more people, but robots cannot make friends! That’s not Futurama yet and your spambot is not Bender.

Anyway, I always respected Seth Godin a lot, and now I respect him even more. Here it is:

That said, “social networking” is probably a misnomer. If you consider it your personal media outlet, that’s about what you get from Twitter or YouTube. You don’t become friends with people just because they saw your advertising on TV, but it does not mean it’s useless. Cost/value ratio — yes, that’s a big topic for sure.