Congratulations! You've written your first article (or possibly your 10th or 100th!)

As you no doubt already know, writing articles is probably the most effective way to establish yourself as an expert in your field and increase the traffic to your website. So you diligently write articles and then spend hours posting them to Article Submission websites. "There must be a smarter way?" you think each time you submit your articles. There is! Let's look at simple techniques to get the most out of the time you will be investing in article submissions.

Organization Saves Time

Create a simple spreadsheet to organize each submission. The spreadsheet should contain the following:

? URLs for all submission websites

? User names and passwords for each site

? Submission format (text, HTML, hyperlink URLs, etc.)

? Submission date

Prep Your Article

Most submission sites allow HTML coding, so spend the time to code your article before you start your submissions. Other sites post warnings that copying and pasting directly from Word will cause the article to be improperly formatted. Be sure you have a text version (created in Notepad) available. A few select sites require you to code the carriage returns into your article. Again, having a text file with HTML tags ready and waiting makes the submission process flow smoothly.

Know the Rules

Here are some simple Do's and Don'ts to help increase your success as a self-publisher.

Do's

1. Always read the submission criteria before submitting your article.

2. Format your article to 60-65 characters/line when submitting to announcement lists or by email.

3. Use proper English, spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization and sentence structure.

4. Make time to manually submit articles. Most automated article submission services are frowned upon in the publishing industry.

Don'ts

1. Do not write solo ads: You're here to share your knowledge. No sales pitches allowed.

2. Do not include affiliate links: Again, education is the goal, not sales.

3. Do not submit more than one article per week: Most publishers receive thousands of articles daily. If you submit more than 1 article per week, chances are, your second submission will be discarded.

Remember: You don't have to go it alone. If you're overwhelmed by the writing or submission process, hire help.

Deborah Carraro is the Founder and Owner of Vascorp VA Services. Vascorp VA Services is the virtual support specialty company for solo professionals and entrepreneurs. We work late so you don't have to! Vascorp brings you the very best in virtual assistant services: shopping cart integration, affiliate program management, web design,ebook design, desktop publishing, business consulting services and more! She publishes a monthly newsletter Vascorp VA Advantage. To subscribe or find out more, please visit http://www.vascorp.com/va.