Article Submission Guidelines: 5 More Title Tips!

How much time do you spend crafting a title that is attractive to publishers and readers?

Do you painstakingly construct your article and then just slap on any old title at the last minute?

If you do, I encourage you to become aware of the article submission guidelines for most publishers in respect to titles.

Publishers have requirements for titles, and if your article has a headline that does not abide by those requirements, it can be declined without a second glance. No matter how well written your article is, it can be declined because of a slip-up with your title.

The good news is that these title rules are easy enough to stick to once you're aware of them. This article teaches 5 title tips that can help your article be welcomed by publishers.

An excellent article headline has these characteristics:

1 - An excellent article title is the appropriate length--not too long and not too short.

How short is too short? Your title must be at least 2 words long. Remember the idea is to create a title that tells the reader specifically what the article is about. You may need to use more than just two words.

How long is too long? Length requirements differ among publishers, but a good rule of thumb is not to exceed 100 characters.

2 - An excellent article headline is not promotional.

That means that you do not mention your company, your products, your services or your website URL in your title. Save that sort of information for your resource box, and keep it out of your title and article body.

3 - An excellent article title does not go overboard on the punctuation. So, if you'd like to use a question mark at the end of your title, one question mark will suffice. The same goes for exclamation points.

4 - While we're talking about punctuation in article titles, it is also best not to end your title with a period.

There is a theory that a period at the end of an article title stops the momentum of the reader, which is not what you're going for! Whether or not this is actually true, it's a good idea to leave off the period because many publishers have rules against periods at the end of titles.

5 - Create varied titles.

Yes, all of your articles will be on the same general topic as your website, but your titles should not look the same (nor should your articles!). Suppose that you're writing about auto insurance. All of your articles would not be entitled 'Auto Insurance'.

Publishers do not like receiving the same article repeatedly, and if all of your article titles are the same or virtually the same, then it can look like your articles are the same too.

Conclusion:

You've gone through the trouble to write a great article, but don't stop yet! Resist the urge to phone in your article headline. You need to put as much effort into your title as you put into your articles.

Remember, your title is what draws people into reading your article. Your title needs to clearly indicate what your article is about and also be interesting enough to tweak a reader's interest.

If you craft your title according to publishers' submission guidelines, then your headline can actually be a tool that speaks to the quality of your article, helps get your article picked up by more publishers, and helps attract more readers!


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For more info on how you can use article marketing to reach thousands of potential prospects for your website, go now to http://www.submityourarticle.com/report . Steve Shaw is an article marketing expert and founder of the popular article distribution service http://www.submityourarticle.com used by thousands of business owners.