Although article marketing is one of the easiest traffic generation method to understand and implement, it can also be a total time waster if done incorrectly. That is because article directories will be rejecting the articles, and time that was spent writing and submitting the articles would have been wasted. Here are some of the most common mistakes that I have come across as a practictioner of article marketing.

One, the article title is too general. This is the first thing that the readers will see, and if they cannot determine if the article has exactly what they want to read, they will not click on the link and read the article. Besides, it is getting harder and harder to rank for general terms. So it's definitely better to have something more specific in the article title. For example, instead of saying "Search engine optimization services", choose something like "5 unique search engine optimization tips for new and advanced marketers." The second title certainly sounds more appealing and communicates directly with new and advanced Internet marketers.

Second, the article title contains keywords that are too common. This is somewhat similar to the first mistake above, except that although the title has more specific details, it's still too common. One such example is "Tips for Internet Marketing". There is nothing wrong with such a title, except that these titles would have been chosen by several hundreds of article marketers already. And most article directories are setup to accept only unique article titles. So the article will most likely be rejected during submission.

Third, the article summary is too short. Some article marketers submit articles with summaries that are less than a hundred characters. A few established directories reject summaries that are less than a hundred characters. So it is a good idea to write at least three or four sentences for the article summary.

Fourth, the article summary is the first sentence of the article. This is the wrong thing to do as well. The summary should not be the first sentence of the article. Instead, it should capture the essence or the most interesting parts of the article to catch more eyeballs and entice the reader to finish reading the entire article.

Fifth, the article body contains too much self promotional material. Self promotional material means blatantly promoting the author's own services, or including the URLs in the article body. For instance, the author writes about the features of his products and services without additional useful information. To avoid this mistake, try writing from a third party point of view. Write as if you are the reporter, and provide some useful information. Also avoid including URLs in the article body.

Sixth, more than two links are included in the article resource box. Most article marketers are not aware that a handful of established directories accept a maximum of two links only. So their articles will be declined outright. To get around this, rotate the resource boxes during submission, but all the time keeping the maximum number of links to two.

Seventh, the links do not contain anchor keywords. Part of the benefit of article marketing is that you will get better search engine rankings from your efforts. But if the wrong anchor texts are used in the links, your rankings will not improve. So instead of using a direct URL in your link, try to use texts that describe your products or services in the links.

If you can avoid the seven mistakes mentioned above, you will see tremendous success in your campaigns.