The article submission myths that people are so ignorantly led to believe today are perplexing at best and disgusting at worst. However, they're also getting rather dated despite blatant and consistent evidence to the contrary. In fact, some veteran article marketers have even theorized that there is a conspiracy by some of those who profit from these myths to ensure that they are perpetuated. So let's get right to the point: you should submit your articles to as many directories as possible, you should never spin your work, duplicate content (as you know it) isn't real, you can get high PR backlinks with articles and you will always outrank directories for your article if you index it on your site first. Article submission myths debunked, but read on for specifics.

Article Syndication Myth #1: You should only submit your article to one directory

One of the most common article submission myths is that you should only submit your work to 1 directory, or to a handful of "high quality" article directories. First of all, "high quality article directory?" What's that? Doesn't matter, because the reality is that article marketing is actually article syndication. You know, syndication - where the best thing that you can hope for is that your article will be picked up and republished to blogs and websites everywhere.

Let's examine that: you want your article to be spread all over the place, but you only want to do that by submitting to one directory? That's illogical. In fact, many of the same directories that could (and do) pick up the article from your one source are the same sites that you could submit your work directly to.

So here's the point: get your well-crafted, flawlessly edited original articles out to as many directories and republishers as you want to - just make sure the directory is relevant. (Meaning don't submit your article titled The History of Fish to a golf-related article directory.)

More importantly, consider giving traditional article marketing a try and submit your professional articles directly to the email inbox of editors who publish works related to your topic. And submit to as many good, relevant editors as you can find, because that's the principle idea behind syndication: to [distribute] something for multiple publication; transitive verb: to [distribute] something such as an article or comic strip for publication in a number of newspapers or magazines simultaneously. (Taken from Encarta Dictionary)

Article Submission Myth #2: You should spin your articles

If you're spinning articles you're gaming the system and it will catch up to you. However, this is hardly the point. The point is that spun articles are supposed to offer something new and unique to each article directory. The idea is that by spinning your article a few dozen or even a few hundred times, you'll be putting unique content out, and that "unique" content holds more weight than one original article distributed to hundreds of directories.

Let's examine that lovely jewel: If you spin articles, you're saying that in order to offer something new and unique to directories, you're going to take one article and transform it into an avalanche of unreadable garbage? Have you ever read a spun article?

Spun articles are worthless and any person with any amount of intelligence will immediately identify them as the crap they are. Of course, the major argument here is that people who spin articles don't expect they'll actually be read by humans, and instead only care about the link value.

Sigh.

1.) If you don't care about human readers, don't submit to article directories. In most cases it is a violation of their TOS to do so, spammer.

2.) The only directories that will publish spun articles are low authority, PR0 sites that no one cares about - especially not Google. Even 50,000 or 100,000 thousand of those links won't hold the weight of one link from a high authority relevant context site.

The time and resources spent spinning articles could be invested in crafting compelling and valuable original articles for syndication. Think about it: it takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to spin an article using The Best Spinner - IF you do it well and take the time to spin at the word level, ensuring that each new word flows to the next logically.

If you produce 50 spun versions from your spin-syntax copy and submit them out to 500 directories, you'll get a maximum of 50,000 links if you put two in each article. (Standard practice at most directories)

Of course, that 50,000 assumes that every single article directory accepted and published every single article, and any person who has ever used article submission software knows this won't ever happen. The high quality article directories will reject the spun articles because as we've said before, any monkey can spot those in an instant. So you'll get tens of thousands of worthless links on PR0 sites. Bravo.

Now, imagine if you spent the hour it took you creating that spin-syntax document and instead wrote one original article that provided real value to the reader and submitted that to the directories. Done this way, you'll not only get tons of great links, you'll also get human readership and the conversions we're all ultimately hoping for.

Article Submission Myth #3: Submitting to multiple directories is duplicate content

Duplicate content isn't a real thing - not in the way that most people have been led to believe. Instead, duplicate content refers to identical content on one site that can be found at different URLs on that same site. It can also refer to work that is not properly cited i.e.: stolen. Submitting your articles to multiple directories isn't duplicate content: it's syndicated content and it's perfectly O.K. with Google.

If you believe this duplicate content myth, then what you're saying is that you think Google only wants to see content that is exclusively found on one website and only that website throughout the whole world. Right?

Wrong.

One of the most significant benefits the internet provides is a place to share. People share photos, videos, poems, (ahem) articles, content, businesses they like and much more. According to this myth, sharing is a big no-no. I guess that's why sites like Facebook, EzineArticles and the Warrior Forum are so unsuccessful, right?

Article Submission Myth #4: All backlinks from article directories are worthless

This myth is frustrating because it is often perpetuated by seemingly intelligent and experienced article marketers. Of course, most of the pages that your articles will ultimately end up on will be PR0, but what it you submit a popular, high quality article? Are you saying that an article with a lot of views, comments and shares won't get PR? If you were, you're probably not now.

Good articles achieve high PR all the time, which means those links you have down in the resource box will hold a lot more weight. (Many directories - including high authority ones - are still DoFollow sites.) There are plenty of articles out there that are PR5, PR6 and higher. The key is to write well and offer something of value; the reader must be entertained, informed, engaged or compelled in some way. Do this and you'll attract readership, attract readership and your articles will get PR.

Article Submission Myth #5: Directories can outrank you for your article

This is a really lame myth. Can one instance of an article outrank another instance for the same keyword? Absolutely. If your website is a poorly optimized PR0 site with a newbie domain, of course you'll get outranked. Will the directory version outrank you for an exact-match title search? Probably not.

But as far as PR goes, if your site is properly designed and optimized it's not likely that another instance of your article will achieve PR. Index your work on your own website first. Once it's indexed that article will be held as the original source and will likely be the only version to obtain PR. Only after your article has been indexed should you submit it to directories.

The only other strategy that can achieve better results is to create one original article that will be posted exclusively to your site, and one "mirror" article written by hand to be 100% unique in every way, and then posted only to directories.

Of course, anyone who wants to continue to believe these myths is more than welcome to do so. Less competition. (Not that people who would practice these myths are competition...)