You can save time and make your article writing and promotion easier by putting some very great tools to use. Below I've included 5 tools that can help you.
1. Article Formatter
If your articles aren't properly formatted before being submitted they have a very high chance of getting rejected. Formatting your articles also shows respect for the publishers you are submitting to. The following tool will not only format your articles to any line length you desire, but give you a total count of characters, words, and lines. To format your articles very quickly, just visit http://www.fwointl.com/FWOFormatter.html.
2. Tracking Software
As you start writing articles, and especially when you have been writing them for awhile, you will need a way to keep track of everything you've written. You can do this using a free program called Writer's Database. Writer's Database is a program that will keep track of everything you've written, potential publishers, submissions to those publishers, writing that hasn't been submitted yet, and more. You can find it at http://www.ultima-thule.co.uk/
3. Text Converter
To make it simple to add your articles to your website you need a simple tool for converting them to HTML. Using such a tool will greatly reduce the time you spend getting your articles up on your site. You can find a free one at http://www.cyber-matrix.com/txt2html.html.
4. SP*M Checker
Whether you submit your articles directly to publishers or to article directories, you can increase the chances of them being picked. Every time you write an article, run it through the checker at http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker. This will check your articles for things that have a probability of triggering SP*M filters. Once the check is finished, you get a detailed report that will show you what you need to change.
5. Spell Checker
I know that this seems pretty obvious, but checking the spelling in your articles is a must. When you submit articles that are full of spelling errors you project a very unprofessional image and turn people away from what you have to offer. Tiny Spell is a free program that will allow you to check the spelling of words in any Windows application. http://www.megspace.com/computers/tinyspell/
Using these tools will not write your articles. That is completely up to you. But using them will dramatically decrease the time you have to spend writing your articles and getting them ready to submit.
This article was posted on July 26, 2004
