If you’re writing articles for the purpose of marketing, there is a very thin line between providing information and selling, especially when it comes to article directories. As a matter of fact, there is such a thin line that it is for that reason that you won’t find this article anywhere but here. Last thing I want is Ezine Articles to whack my account. So, if you’re going to write articles for profit, you better know where that line is and make sure you don’t cross it.

The first area where you have to be very careful is with your title of the article, not so much what it is per say, but how it relates to the rest of your article. Article directories, especially ones as strict as Ezine Articles, have very clear guidelines on titles. If your title says something, makes some claim, or whatever, the article itself better come through. For example, if your article title is “A Natural Cure For Acne” by George, you better talk about that cure in the title.

Now, if you were to title your article, “Is There A Natural Cure For Acne?” then you could get away with not revealing the cure in the article itself. You could write more about the arguments on the topic itself, how some say there is and others argue that they are just phony cures. By asking a question instead of making a statement, you give yourself some wiggle room.

Now, what about the article itself? Well, I’ve learned the hard way that you can’t talk about any products that you sell in the body of the article, period. The article must be purely informational and not be a sales pitch. Now, you can mention that you sell products in the article as long as you don’t mention any names and make any suggestions to check them out. You can talk about reviews you have done on products and reference them, but not to the products themselves.

Naturally, there are gray areas here and you can maybe get away with some things in one case that you can’t get away with in another case. But trust me, you have to be VERY careful.

The good news is, if you mostly write good articles, should you come up with a bad one from time to time, the worst that will happen is it gets rejected and you have to either redo it or submit it somewhere else. But if you make a habit of it, you can get your account suspended.

So, when writing for article directories, use common sense and err on the side of caution.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim
Sick of not getting your articles read? Fed up with resource boxes that don’t get the job done? Want to write articles that will turn you into a killer article marketer? Get my book on article writing and marketing located at:
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