Editorial Guidelines for Submitting To EzineArticles.com

The article body is the place where an author shares their unique and informative content with the reader.

1. Specifications

   1. Word Count - The article body must be a minimum of 400 words and no more than 5,000 words. We recommend articles 400-700 words in length. These articles are long enough to provide essential information to readers, while being brief enough to be compatible with the average Internet user's reading habits. Articles between 400 and 700 words achieve better results than articles that reach 1,000 words or more.

      Note: Copyright information or quoted text may not be counted towards the article body's final word count.

   2. Do Not Repeat the Title and/or Author Name - This content is automatically displayed with your article.

   3. Copyright Information - You may include any copyright information at the bottom of your article. Any copyright information included at the top of the article will be moved to the end of the article body. This makes the article more distribution-friendly, and improves your articles' chances of being syndicated.

   4. Reprint Rights and Publisher Terms of Service - A reprint rights statement may be included with your article as long as it conforms with our Publisher Terms of Service and appears at the end of your article. Any valid reprint rights statements at the top of the article will be moved to the end of the article body.

      Do not place a reprints rights statement in your article conflicting with EzineArticles' Publisher Terms of Service. This includes any statement that asks a publisher to contact you before, or after, reprinting an article in any way.

      Reprints Rights - The reprint rights for EzineArticles state that any publisher can take and use any article on our directory as long as the article is republished in its entirety, with no changes or alterations to the title, article body, or the Resource Box.

   5. Do Not Sell - The purpose of an article is to educate and inform, not to promote. Deliberate sales copy in the article body will be immediately discarded without providing notice. Do NOT sell hard in the article body. This may include a self-serving URL, product pitching, or blatant self-promotion. Reserve promotional content for the Resource Box, where you may promote yourself, your company or organization, and your website.

   6. Teaser Content - We do not accept Teaser Content including phrases or links that require a reader to click away from the article or reference another source in order to receive the full benefit of what has been promised in the title. Your article body MUST contain all of the information promised in the title.

      Teaser Content - Any article content that requires the reader to click away from the article to read for further information, the article in its entirety, or another source in order to receive the full benefit of the article is teaser content. To provide a unique and quality experience, readers should get the benefit inside the article body. Directing the reader to gain the full benefit of the article elsewhere provides a poor user experience and damages the credibility of the author. E.g.:

      • Do: "To read more about this interesting topic, go to www.Your-company-name.com" so long as the article content delivers on the promise in the title.)

      • Don't: "To read the rest of this article, go to my website at www.Your-company-name.com"

   7. Articles in a Series Must Stand Alone - You may write a series of unique, interrelated articles known as an article series or article set. Each article must be able to stand on its own in terms of original content; it cannot contain teaser content, and cannot continue in another location.

   Recommended Reading:
   Break Up Your Long Articles
   Optimizing Titles for Articles in a Series

   Recommended Video:
   Turn 1 Article Into a Set of 8

2. HTML Usage

   1. HTML Tags Allowed in the Article Body - Properly used HTML can separate sections of your article and bring the reader's attention to important points. Used sparingly, HTML creates an easily read, visually appealing article. The following HTML tags ARE allowed in the article body:

      • <b>BOLD</b> - For displaying text in boldface.
      • <strong>STRONG</strong> - For emphasizing text in boldface.
      • <i>ITALICS</i> - For displaying text in italics.
      • <em>EMPHASIS</em> - For emphasizing text in italics.
      • <u>UNDERLINE</u> - For displaying underlined text.
      • <pre> and </pre> - For maintaining spaces and returns in original text and aligning a text-table.
      • <blockquote>Blockquote</blockquote> - For setting off a block of text on a page.
      • <xmp> and </xmp> - For displaying HTML code as examples, (HTML code will not translate into commands).
      • <ol> and <ul> - For creating a NUMBERED LIST or a BULLET POINT list.

   2. HTML Tags NOT Allowed in the Article Body - Our site does most of the HTML work for you behind the scenes. Several common HTML tags are not allowed because they are unnecessary. We also limit the HTML in articles to improve each article's chances of being syndicated. Complex HTML coding often discourages other webmasters from syndicating your article. Common HTML tags NOT allowed in the article body:

      • <javascript> is NOT allowed in any form.
      • <img src> or other IMG tags are NOT allowed.
      • <font> size, face, or color tags are NOT allowed.
      • <H1>, <H2>, <H3>, etc. or HEADER tags are NOT allowed.
      • <hr> or HORIZONTAL rule or line tags are NOT allowed.
      • <p> and </p> tags are NOT allowed anywhere in your submission. To create new paragraphs or align paragraphs, ensure there is at least one vertical space between each of your paragraphs by selecting "Enter" on your keyboard. Our system interprets vertical spaces between paragraphs as an indication a paragraph has ended and we insert a behind-the-scenes <p> tags so you don't have to. Note that all lines must be allowed to wrap naturally, so do not manually insert <p> or <br> tags to force line breaks.
      • <br> tags are NOT allowed in the article body. A <br> is used for creating a line break or stopping text wrap. "Enter" twice and force 2 hard returns after every paragraph. This will create proper spacing between paragraphs: one vertical space after every paragraph. (Note: <br>, or break tags, when used properly are allowable in the Resource Box.)
      • Emoticons are not used in professional writing, so they do not belong in your article. Any emoticons inserted into the article body or summary will be removed.

      • Microsoft Smart Quotes is NOT a valid HTML code and are therefore NOT allowed in your submission.

        Microsoft Smart Quotes - Smart quotes, also commonly called typographers quotes, are the result of Microsoft programs that automatically change text in an attempt to assist a writer. When this automatic change occurs, underlying code for these characters is changed.

        When these automatic changes or smart quotes are in an article submission, the text is converted to HTML code. This results in a document that is littered with poorly displaying characters and symbols. For this reason, all Microsoft smart quotes must be eliminated from your article before submitting it to our website.

        Recommended Reading:
        Microsoft Smart Quotes and Internet Article Writers Don't Mix

   3. HTML for URLs and Email Addresses

      • The proper HTML code for activating a link to a website is as follows:

        <a target="_blank" href="http://your-company-name.com">http://your-company-name.com</a>

        Note: Links in the article body are set to NOFOLLOW. Links in the Resource Box are set to DOFOLLOW.

      • The proper HTML code for activating an email address is as follows:

        <a href="mailto:your-company-name@example.com">your-company-name@example.com</a>

        Note: We do not recommend placing active email addresses in your submission due to spammers across the Internet.

   4. Other HTML Tag Guidelines

      • For every OPEN (E.g. <b>) tag, be sure to have a CLOSE (E.g. </b>) tag. One of the most common mistakes made is to open a bold tag and then forget to close it, causing the rest of the article to appear in boldface, which was not the intention. E.g.: <b>Words in a sentence.<b> instead of <b>Words in a sentence.</b>

      • Any allowed HTML which you choose to use in your article MUST be applied to a specific heading, subheading, or defined text. HTML cannot be scattered throughout the article body. This includes excessive use of italics, underline, or boldface of keywords or phrases.

      • Remove any excess vertical spaces (or whitespace) from the beginning or end of the article body and between paragraphs. Do not include any HTML tags that would create or force the creation of additional vertical spaces after the end of your article body.

      • Authors can choose to manually insert allowable HTML code in their article submission by turning WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) off. The Submission Form automatically turns WYSIWYG on, providing simple word processing tools, such as bold, italics, lists, etc., for ease of use as shown below:

        

        To Turn WYSIWYG off, select the "Turn WYSIWYG Off" button and the word processing element of the submission form will be removed, as shown below:

        

      • Ordered or unordered lists (<ul> or <ol> tags) can be easily created by using the list buttons with the WYSIWYG function turned on (see below). This will automatically create the necessary html to form the list within your article body.
        

Recommended Reading:
Essential HTML Skills For Article Authors - 7 Tips

Recommended Video:
HTML All Article Writers Need to Know
2 Minute Approval Tips: Follow EzineArticles HTML Tag Rules