Article Submissions

Browse the internet and you'll find a pleuthora of article submission sites. Sites seeking free submissions, sites you have to pay to submit to, sites that will offer your articles to others for payment.

Articles create inbound links and can generate buzz about your topic, your site, or yourself -- depending on what you're pitching.

I'm a regular over at Digital Point Forum. I like to read "Today's New Posts" and ask and answer questions. Most of the time I search there for an industry specific recommendation or to get reviews on products, people, and services before paying for them myself. I figure, people want to share experiences. If it's a good one they'll let you know if you ask them. If the experience was bad, there's a good chance a post has already been made about it.

After seeing all the article submission sites I was curious which to spend time on and which to ditch. You'll notice most sites require registration ranging from the normal form to pages upon pages of info and a required "author bio" page. Some even require photos to be uploaded. It's a lot of work just to get registered and then you have to hand submit the articles.

So when I found a DP member offering a way to submit an article to 80 of these search engines I was interested. I clicked through to the site (Article Submission Site List) and found the list. Now I just need the file to try it.

I'm interested to see how this works. I try to get my articles out there a few times a month, between writing for my site, my clients, pet projects and myself there's usually one or two articles I can manage to post. I may be better off with a submission list like this. At least it'll cut down on the additional sites I will visit to hand submit. It's an extensive list, though by no means all inclusive. I'd still suggest looking for additional sites, but if you're tired of submitting articles for hours after you've written them and registered to the various sites, OKd the verification email, and uploaded your photos you may want to give this a shot also. I'll review it once I get the file and see how it works.

Wikinomics on NPR

NPR played a segment from an interview with co-author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything Don Tapscott. On Talk of the Nation the subject has come up of the evolution or revolution of the internet.

It's an interesting topic for marketing folks. Advertising folks may take note too.

Wikipedia, the social networking encyclopedia site, has been quite popular. There's also Wiki-how and any number of wiki type sites. Open source programming is a type of wiki. A user generated content (UGC) explosion has occured. People want to be hands on, involved, users want to help develop and create the end product or the on-going project.

People want to see something great come from their efforts. Wiki, UGC, and open source projects create these better products. Better products increase awareness and drive users to get involved.

NPR's Michel Martin is launching her fourth collaboration entitled Rough Cuts with Michel Martin which utilizes listener feedback during the development process rather than as a BETA version of the program or a limited release. Not many projects begin this way. Michel Martin likens it to building a car in a garage. Usually all the work, the entire process takes place behind closed doors then is exhibited for public consumption once it's reached a particular stage or completeness. Her new program is a different appraoch, as is the wiki revolution.

Listen to the broadcast, Don Tapscott obviously wants to sell his product but the host deflects overt sales speak and it turns into a good conversation with call ins and specifics. Keep your ears open. Even if you're not a regular NPR listener you'll probably find this interview and topic helpful in your web workings. Staying in front of the mass serge is what it's about in our industry.