All of you reading this, whether you are a writer or not, should start brushing up on your writing skills. Information based marketing is the wave of the future (and present), driven by the rise of the internet. Articles are a good way to convert prospects into customers; this accounts for the popularity of articles as marketing tools.

Tools already exist for article distribution, which is great for getting articles out there and seen. This, however is only one aspect of it. Let's have a look through some of the errors many make before submitting to article directories:

1) Confusing promotional value with informational value.

When you write articles, branding, lead generation and promotion are all important objectives, certainly. The biggest reason for writing an article, though, should be to convey information to readers. If you focus too much on the first three aspects, and not enough on information, you'll lose your audience and the promotional aspects as well. You have to write something that people will want to read, first and foremost.

2) Failing to take advantage of the promotional benefits offered by articles.

Articles can definitely get back links to your site. Don't ignore the fact that you can also generate traffic and improve your search engine rankings with your articles. This can be done through effective use of keywords. Don't overuse them though, this makes for an unnatural looking article which is difficult to read and too obviously geared towards marketing. Part of achieving success in article marketing is getting your article distributed by publishers who have a sizable readership of their own. The improved search results are another plus.

In and of themselves though, these things don't make you money. There are other ways to direct your article marketing into something that can make you more money, and get more visitors to your website. Plan out your strategy and ensure that your article fulfills that purpose.

3. Creating useless content.

It might be the case that while writing articles, the foremost thing on your mind is getting more visitors to your site, with traffic generation being an afterthought. However, not all article directories are automatically going to accept your article. There are guidelines they will require article submissions to meet in order to be accepted.

By writing articles which are high in quality, you vastly increase the odds of your article being shared with other publishers. This can quickly build you an enormous audience. You'll get the best results from your articles if you are writing things that publishers want their audience to read. Follow the guidelines directories set out, research thoroughly, make sure to spell check and copy edit, etc. If you yourself are not the best writer, consider hiring one to create content for you.

Really, it's up to you; you can get a little traffic from substandard content, or a lot of exposure with high quality articles. Articles submitted to directories do not, nor are they intended to receive as much exposure as one target marketed to a specific demographic. If you know the difference between these two types of content, it will give you a leg up in the process of writing and submitting articles.