The Article Publication Cycle

If you have published at least one article, then you followed a process of publication. But did you maximize the process so that you leverage your article into the most traffic possible, both now and in the future.

Here are a bakers’ dozen tips for creating and using an Article Publication Cycle.

1. Write the article. Generally you want it to be 300 to 700 words. You’ll see some of the implications of article length as you read the rest of this list.

2. Post the article on your blog. When you posit it to your site first, you are generally indexed as the first author of the article, giving maximum traffic directly to your blog.

Now it’s time to tell everyone you’ve published the article.

3. Tweet about the article at least once or twice the day you publish it, then again once the next day.

4. Set up a twitter plugin so that your blog also sends out a notification that you’ve published a new article.

5. Send it to your ezine subscribers. You can send them the full article – or just an excerpt and send them to your blog.

6. Wait a day or two, then publish the article on EzineArticles.com This is “the” article directory, with the most traffic, many pages indexed in the search engines, and a large number of publishers watching to see what new articles they can republish on their sites.

EzineArticles.com has a minimum of 250 words for their articles so if you’ve written a longer article, you may be able to split it into two articles for submission there.

7, Be sure you set up the Twitter option in your EzineArticles account so that they automatically send a tweet when your article is published there.

8. Wait another day or two, then put your article into your article distribution service. Some distribution services require a minimum of 400 or 500 words for the articles they distribute. This is where your article length has an impact.

In some cases you will need to combine two shorter articles to make one long enough for distribution.

9. In between print publications, you can repurpose your article into multiple formats. For example, read and record your article into an audio. This gives you an audio to add to your blog, a product, or a podcast.

10. Take the same article and convert it to a video article, complete with the text and audio. You can add this video to your blog, a product or a video podcast.

11. Rinse and repeat! The secret to steady traffic is steady writing. Keep writing articles.

12. Document the processes you use in your publication cycle. You can do this with a written checklist and screen capture videos. Not only will it ensure you complete all of the steps, but you’ll be prepared for the next step.

13. Outsource the publication process! If you like to write articles, that’s great. Keep writing. But there is no reason to keep doing the distribution yourself. And if you prefer not to write at all, hire a writer as well.

The key to consistent traffic with articles is having a standard publication process in place. Without it, you miss some steps. With it, you can move forward faster and more efficiently – which leads to more time and profits for you.

Dr. Jeanette Cates is an Internet strategist who works with Online Business owners who are ready to create their Online Success. She shares more productivity and organization tips at http://OrganizeYourOnlineBusiness.com