Article marketing is still widely used by website owners who want to promote their content across the web. Although Google updates have made link-building somewhat less effective than it used to be, article marketing that is well done is still highly effective. The question is, should you use submission software, or manual article submission?
Submission Software
The most popular article submission software will promise 100% auto-submission to the best article directories on the Web, which will result in backlinks and a traffic boost. Most submission software costs money, though — that’s already one disadvantage of automatic submission over manual submission.
The strength of submission software lies in its ability to submit articles automatically and quickly. For large websites, or blog networks, the appeal of submission software is obvious.
Submission software can be either offered as an online service, or a program that you have to install on your computer.
Benefits
- Easy to use
- Fast
- Handles bulk articles well
Manual Article Submission
Manual article submission is slower than automated submission. You can do it yourself, or hire someone to do it. It’s all about creating content that meets the guidelines of article directories, blogs, and other websites that accept user-submitted content and sending that content to those websites.
You have to keep in mind that a real person submitting articles is able to spot new changes in the article submission guidelines. He or she can then edit the articles to ensure they are all accepted. A submission software cannot do that.
Benefits
- Ensures submission every time, even when the guidelines change unexpectedly
- Allows for last moment article editing
The Benefits of Manual Article Submission Over Submission Software
Submitting articles manually is often safer than trusting submission software. Here’s why:
- If the article directory changes its article submission guidelines, the submitter will notice that and make the required changes. By contrast, submission software will only fail to submit the article.
- When submitting articles manually, you need a user account on the website you’re uploading your articles to. That grants you access to more publishing and possibly formatting options.
- Categories for articles can vary in their arrangement from site to site – only a manual submitter can make sure the articles end up in the right categories.
- Article directories are increasingly labeling software-submitted articles as spam and they automatically decline them.
- Some article directories accept fewer links than others. Some don’t accept links in the text body at all. A submission software will not help you bypass these limitations, but only cause your articles to fail to publish.
Conclusion
In the end, manual article submission is the better solution. If you don’t have someone on your team who can do it for you, it’s better to hire someone than to use submission software.