The job of actually submitting your articles to the article directories is already easy. This is because of the article submission software already available online. (There's good free software available as well as retail versions.) And while it's nice to be able to submit to more than one article directory at a time, it's only a start. Because the big picture is that you need to give the readers what they want, first and foremost. Anything less and you're just wasting your time and effort. (You won't waste your readers' time, because they'll just scan your article for about 5-10 seconds before they realize the article is boring and/or not filled with valuable content before they click away.)

The following mistakes are commonly made by many people when it comes to writing articles, and how to correct them or avoid them altogether:

1. Submitting articles that do not help readers in any way.

Either way, the article won't get read (at least beyond a few sentences or so). And remember that if your article doesn't get read all the way through, then your author's resource box will not get read, either. And if your author's resource box doesn't get read, the link back to your site (backlink) will not get clicked. Since this is the big reason you'll submit articles to the directories, it pays to take the time to make your articles as informative and as interesting as possible.

But most peoplemarketers (including me) that submit articles to article directories are not talented authors. Maybe you are, maybe you're not. No problem. In any case, don't fret over each article; don't worry that it's not exactly like you want it. Instead, make sure it does a good job explaining the article subject. If you're also able to make your article interesting and witty at the same time, great. But make sure you give the reader great content; make the reader feel he or she is getting valuable "secrets" or perhaps old information presented from your fresh point of view.

2. Confusing the reason to submit an article with the reason for writing it.

There are 3 key benefits associated with the reasons why you want to submit articles to the article directories. These benefits are: Promotion, Branding, and Lead Generation. There is, however, only one reason why an article is written...and that is to inform your readers. If your article fails to do that (or do that well), then it won't achieve these 3 benefits, because nobody will be interested in reading the article. So never, ever forget that the primary purpose of writing an article is to inform your readers. The reason you submit an article to the directories are for your own "selfish" reasons; but think only of your audience when you write the article.

3. Not taking advantage of the promotional opportunity of submitting an article.

You probably already know that submitting articles is ideal to get more backlinks back to your website. This is great, but you can get tons more traffic and better search engine placement from the same article by doing the following:

Ensure you mention keywords at various places throughout your article. And not just any keywords, but 3-5 word keyword phrases. (These are called "long-tail" keywords.) These long-tail, 3-5 word phrases may not get as much search traffic as shorter, 'main-stream' keywords, but you will convert many more visitors into buyers with them! Think quality traffic and not quantity traffic.

But don't put too many keyword phrases in, such as in this example: "SCUBA diving in the Bahamas is a wholesome activity because SCUBA diving in the Bahamas is clean and doesn't disturb the environment. SCUBA diving in the Bahamas is fun because SCUBA diving in the Bahamas"...etc. (You get the picture. Obviously, "SCUBA diving in the Bahamas" is the long-tail keyword phrase that is overused.)

As a matter of fact, if you just write naturally you will likely end up using your keywords the optimum amount of times at various places. But this means that you must write effectively; that is, you must write an informative article to begin with. This ensures your keywords will show up naturally because it "forces" you to use them.

Also don't forget about anchor text. Use anchor text where you can--especially in your author's resource box. (Most article directories will not allow you to use anchor text in the main body of the article.)