To all the writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to dig out those creative writing skills again.

With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques for bringing potential customers to websites and converting them into buyers. For this reason, article writing, submission, and publishing are also becoming more and more popular.

There are already many tools that can be used to simplify article distribution. While this is invaluable for getting the word out about your content, it's only half the battle.

Let us first take a look at the common mistakes some people make before submitting their content to article directories:

1. Confusing the reason to promote the articles with the reason to write them.

When writing articles, there are three main benefits to why you promote them: Branding, lead generation, and promotion, all of which are part of your optimization efforts.

But there is only one reason you write an article, and that is to inform your audience. If the article is not focused on this primary and most important purpose, it will not achieve the three promotion benefits because no one will be interested in reading it.

You need to figure out first how to get your readers to read the article and then get them to click on your resource box. You can do this by producing better content.

2. You are not making the most of article marketing's promotional opportunities.

You may already know that your articles can help you generate additional links to your website. But do you also know that you can get more visitors and better search engine results with the same articles?

Mention keywords in strategic places. Just make sure you do not overdo it. Some even use anchor texts, which is also an effective method. But it's important to know that most directories do not support this.

Remember that it's not just about links to your website. Successful article marketing also includes getting picked up by publishers with a large number of readers and the opportunity to influence other brands because of the quality of your work. Better search engine results are also a great benefit.

But these things do not put a lot of money in your pocket. Other factors can turn your article marketing efforts into an opportunity that will increase your earnings. Do not just increase the number of visitors to your website.

Start with a plan and make sure your article is performing the function you intended it to.

3. Publishing content that does not help your readers.

You may think when writing articles that you just want links to your website. And any visitors that can be generated from that are fine.

But guess what? Not all article banks and directories will automatically accept your content. They often have certain guidelines and specifications for the articles they accept.

You can double the number of sites you can submit to by writing articles that the directories want to share. A single publisher with a hundred thousand readers is enough to grow your potential audience overnight.

Write the articles that publishers want in their publications if you want your article marketing to work as effectively as possible. This also means following standard guidelines, spell-checking, researching a good topic, and even hiring a writer to create good content on your behalf.

Ultimately, it's all a matter of choice on your part. You can start by gaining some attention through increased backlinks, but at a very low level. Or you can get a tremendous amount of attention with a little extra time spent creating quality content.

It's your choice. You may not realize that an article published in directories does not have the same level of exposure as targeted content aimed at a small group of people.

If you know the difference between these two types of articles, you will surely know which articles you should write and submit.