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Smartads.info Author & Editorial Guidelines:
Authors Must Adhere To Our Terms of Use!
Author & Editorial Guidelines:
We reserve the right to change our author & editorial guidelines at any time. These guidelines where created by Martin Lemieux, owner of Smartads.info on April 21st, 2008.
1.0 - Global Author Regulations:
1.1) Must Be Original Content, NO Copied Content:
All articles submitted to Smartads.info must be original content that was written by you, your coauthor, or client. Any articles caught copying another persons original content will be immediately deleted and the author account submitting the copied content will also be deleted from our system.
1.2) Authors/Visitors Have the Right to Report Problems With Your Articles:
We've included a "report article" script in order to help other authors/visitors with issues they may have concerning the content within your articles. We reserve the right to either; accept or deny any reports that are made and we will contact you about any issues brought to our attention.
1.3) Quoting Content From Another Article is Accepted:
We will allow authors to quote other articles AS LONG AS you provide the author and source of the content. You cannot quote another persons original content in the effort to call it your own.
1.4) Do NOT Submit Content You Bought or Submit Content Created From A Ghost Writer Who Duplicates Their Articles Over & Over!
Content spamming is NOT tolerated within Smartads.info. Do not submit content created by a ghost writer UNLESS you are positive the content is original. Authors caught spamming our directory will be immediately deleted without warning.
1.5) Miscellaneous Info:
- You declare that you are the sole owner and author of the articles you submit.
- You give us permission to publish ALL of your articles on Smartads.info.
- Our editors may reject any article without notice.
- We reserve the right to add banners & 3rd party ads within your articles.
- We reserve the right to select a different category for your articles.
1.6) NO Pornography, Warrez, Hacker, or Terrorist Material Will Be Accepted:
Smartads.info depends on Google Adsense ads to keep it going. Because of this, we follow the guidelines laid out by the Google Adsense policies & procedures. Under the Site Content policies it states: "No ads may be displayed with Adult, Hate, Warrez, Hacker, or Terrorist" material. Authors caught submitting any of the listed material will have their articles deleted immediately without warning and their account will be reviewed by Martin Lemieux, Smartads President & Smartads.info Chief Editor.
1.7) No Bashing or Hate Allowed:
Authors may not submit content that degrades, is about hate, or attacking any other human being. We will allow discussions about a persons program policies, but we reserve the right to deny any content that talks about another human being that is not positive in any way. Government policy bashing may be tolerated depending on the issue.
1.8) Author Names:
Each article must be associated with an author, or company name. Unlike so many other directories, we DO accept company names as the source of the article AS LONG AS the articles you submit have been originated from your company. We will not accept "blanks" missing either the 1st, or last name. Authors with "blanks" within their name will be contacted 1st and if they do not respond, they will have their accounts deleted or suspended.
1.9) Website Links:
Authors have a maximum of 3 active links allowed within the article body along with the author resource box. 3 links total only. You may have 2 links with your article body, including 1 more within your author resource box. You cannot post 3 links within the body, and then 3 more within your author resource box.
1.10) 3rd Party Website Links:
We will not activate outside sources, or resource links within your article. Our editors will only activate links within your author resource box if not already activated. We reserve the right to de-activate links that equal to more than our 3 link policy(1.9).
2.0 - Article Content Regulations:
2.1) Article Title:
Your article title should tell visitors exactly what the article is about, it should not try to promote your companies services, or products.
- HTML is not allowed within your article titles
- Do not post the authors name
- Do not post a companies website address
- Do not post your own website address
- Product/Program Reviews Must Start With "Review of"...
- Do not use "Quotes" within your article title
- Do not use excessive ...... .... ----- ____
- DO NOT USE ALL CAPS. Please Capitalize Each Word Instead
- Do not repeat your title within the description, or article body
- Try to keep your title between 70-120 characters long
- Do not stuff keywords over and over
2.2) Article Descriptions:
This section allows you the ability to describe the content within your article. Descriptions are also displayed within our article categories.
2.3) Article Body:
This is the most important section within your article. The body of your article must be informative and may not sound like an advertisement of any kind.
- Body Length:
The article body & description must not be less than 400 words total. Articles that are shorter than 400 words will be returned to the author in order to add more content.
- Absolutely NO Hard Breaks:
Paragraphs within your article body should wrap to the other line without any hard returns. Hitting [ENTER] after 60-65 characters is not accepted. We will send your article back to you if you use hard breaks for each line of text.
- Do Not Use Double Lines:
Article marketing is not like writing essays for University, or College. We do not want to see article content with double lines between each line of content. Please write your paragraphs that flow together. Do not hit [ENTER] & [ENTER] after each line of content.
- Authors Name:
Do not re-post the authors name up top. Our system will automatically do that for you.
- No Reprint Rights Within The Body:
We do not want to see publisher reprint rights within the body of your articles, this is what the author resource box is intended for.
- Author Contact Information:
Author business contact information should remain within the author resource box, not within the article body.
- No self-promotion allowed:
Do not submit articles that keep stating "With my company you get to learn about this and that".
- Informative: Talks about the industry.
Self-Promotion: Talks about how their business is performing within the industry.
- Informative: Talks about new industry standards.
Self-Promotion: Talks about new company standards compared to the industry.
- Informative: Talks about other players within the industry.
Self-Promotion: Bashes other players within the industry.
- Informative: Offers resources for visitors to check out.
Self-Promotion: IS the resource.
- Informative: Has proof or references to back their statements.
Self-Promotion: Offers company quarterly statements, and/or news clippings.
- Self Promotional Warning:
We try not to delete articles submitted to us, but unfortunately for authors, Smartads.info is a "business related" website offering tips on building a business. Articles that are deemed too self-promotional for our main article categories will be added to our "problem articles" section and will remain there until the author in question revises their article, or delete's it completely.
- The Future of Press Releases Within Smartads.info:
In the new year, we will be introducing a fully functional press release section where companies may submit self-promotional news about their companies and will also be able to submit press releases to pre-determined categories.
Please refer to our "Network Updates Blog" for details and releases.
2.4) HTML Tags:
HTML should be used by professionals only. Too many amateur HTML programmers submit unwanted HTML tags, and also submit improperly formatted website links.
- Acceptable HTML Terms:
Martin Lemieux (Smartads.info Owner) has created a full article sample for you to browse through and learn how to created HTML for your articles. HTML can be used within your article body and within author resource box.
- Paragraphs Tags:
<p>Paragraph tags should only be used at the <p>beginning of your paragraph... and at the end.</p>
- DO NOT POST <p> </p> Between every paragraph. This form of spacing is hard to remove and is not allowed within our system.
<p> </p>
Our editors look down at authors who abuse the paragraph tag in this fashion.
- Bold & Strong Tags:
<b>Bolding</b> & <strong>strong</strong> text is acceptable within your article body as long as you make sure to </b> close the tag so that your entire article doesn't end up being bolded entirely.
- Line Breaks: <br>
Breaking to another line is necessary. Please do NOT use line breaks for each line of text that you have. This forbidden strategy is called "hard breaks" as mention above. Use <br> line breaks within your paragraphs to show multiple paragraphs instead of one continuous blob of text. Use <br> instead of <p> </p>
- Underline Tags:
<u>Underlining some text is acceptable</u>. Underlining your entire article, or an entire paragraph is not acceptable. Use this tag to highlight certain keywords or main points within your articles.
- Using Italics:
<i>Italicizing</i> certain text to quote someone, or just to create a different effects is acceptable. Many authors like to use italics within their author resource box.
- Creating a Bullet List:
This is a great feature when showing multiple options!
<ul>
<li>List feature number one
<li>List feature number two
<li>List feature number three
</ul>
- Creating a Numbered List:
This is a great feature when showing multiple options!
<ol>
<li>List feature number one
<li>List feature number two
<li>List feature number three
</ol>
- Creating Active Links:
<a title="Creating Links" href="http://www.smartads.info/" target="_blank">Creating Links</a>
Creating links is acceptable (3 link maximum per article), BUT you must maintain a perfect link tag. There will be no substitutes here. Anything wrong with your linking code and we WILL return your articles as problematic. Your active link code should include a title, website, open a new windown, and anchor text.
2.5) Banned HTML Tags:
HTML should be used by professionals only. Do NOT use programs like word document, or Microsoft FrontPage to edit your articles using HTML tags.
- No Font Properties Allowed:
Font types & font styles create a mess of article directories. We do not allow font properties to be added to Smartads.info at ANY given time. Infact, font properties should only be used within your own website, nowhere else.
- No Header Tags (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6):
Your article title will be listed as the header of the article, the rest will not be displayed as a header tag.
- No Div Properties Allowed:
We do not allow special <div> properties like; centre justify, and right justified.
- No Span Properties Allowed:
We do not want to see special span properties changing the font types & structures.
- No Image Tags Allowed:
3rd party images are not allowed within articles. If you wish to have an image, please submit your author profile picture. This will give you greater exposure online.
- No Table Structures of Any Kind:
We do not want to see multiple table structures even though stats & figures sometimes look better within a neatly structured table. Please do not add tables, the code will be removed and whatever information is left will be displayed as is.
No JavaScript Allowed:
Just don't submit it! Javascript will be automatically removed and your account will be flagged as problematic.
No PHP, ASP, Pearl, Python, C++, etc:
Again, all unwanted code will be removed and your account will be flagged as problematic.
- No CSS Styles Allowed:
Case Cading Style Sheets allow you to manipulate fonts, tables, image properties which we do not allow within Smartads.info
- No other code other than the tags mentioned within section 2.4 are permitted!
2.6 - Author Resource Box:
Each article submitted to us has the right to include contact information about the author, or business who created the article.
- HTML Is Acceptable:
Authors who have knowledge creating HTML may submit pre-formatted resource information to our "Simple Text Editor" submission page.
- Do Not Submit HTML Into The WYSIWYG Editor:
Our dynamic (What You See is What You Get) editor does not accept HTML all that well. Most of your HTML will be formatted into code that cannot be displayed properly within Smartads.info. When using the WYSIWYG editor, make sure to click the [HTML] button.
- Author Information Must Not Be Longer Than The Article:
Unlike so many article directories world wide, we do not have many restrictions on the length of your author resource box as long as:
- The author information is not longer than the article itself
- The article is greater than 400 words in total
Shorter articles = Shorter author resource boxes.
- CoAuthors:
You may promote a coauthor within your author resource box if the coauthor took part in creating the article. Quoting other authors as the source is not acceptable if you did not take part in creating the content.
- Article Copyright & Publisher Reprint Rights:
All copyright information and publisher reprint rights should be listed within the author resource box only. This section is specifically dedicated for this vital information.
3.0 - Article Submission Regulations:
- Authors Must Select The Appropriate Category:
We understand that 450+ categories may take longer than normal to select the appropriate category for your articles, but we do require that you atleast try to submit to a proper category. Authors who submit many articles to the same, unrelated category will be flagged for spam.
- Smartads.info Editors Will Activate Links For You!
If by chance you do not activate the links within your author resource box, and you do not have any other links activated within your article body, our editors will activate the links for you.
- Smartads.info Editors Will Not Activate Dead Links:
If an editor from Smartads.info discovers that the website you are pointing to is; no longer available, under construction, or suspended, we will not activate the link for you. It will be up to you to edit your article later on and re-activate the link once your website is back up and running.
- Smartads.info Editors Will De-Activate More Than 3 Links:
If you submit articles with more than 3 active links, our editors will automatically de-activate any links within the article body. If more than 3 active links are still present, our editors may send the article back as problematic, or de-activate even more links until only 3 remain.
We do not like doing this, but some authors leave us with no choice. 90% of all articles sent back as problematic never get fixed by the author which leaves our editors to fix problems ourselves.
- Articles Can & Will Be Deleted If:
- Porn, Hate, Warrez, Hacker, Terrorist content is found within the article.
- The author refuses to fix problems within their article.
- The article in question is using Black Hat SEO tactics.
- The article is stuffed with keywords and is no longer considered an article.
- The article is displaying over 10 links all pointing to the same destination.
- No article title.
- No article body.
- No author.
- Duplicate entry.
- Spamming to our system.
- We reserve the right to delete any suspicious articles that do not adhere to our author guidelines.
- We reserve the right to delete entire author accounts if caught spamming Smartads.info, not following our guidelines, not responding to email sent by our system, or refusing to add an author / company name.
4.0 - Article Submission Software Recommendations:
- Smartads.info does not accept any money from any 3rd party article submission service, or software for allowing authors to submit to our system. We reserve the right to reject any software using our system to submit articles to.
Article Submission Software Code of Conduct:
- Software owners and service providers must use our system with respect and without spamming our article forms consistently.
- Software owners MUST maintain a recent copy of our article category lists in order to make sure all authors using their software submits to the appropriate categories.
We will provide an Excel Spreadsheet detailing all of our article categories for your submission software if requested. Simply contact us for details.
- Software owners should maintain a terms of use for authors, and provide article directories owners with a way to contact their support team should an author mistreat their software for spamming articles online.
- Authors who use article submission software are still bound to these guidelines and will in no way receive higher priority compared to authors who submit articles manually to our directory.
- Authors may request that we contact a certain submission software or service to allow article submissions within our directory.
5.0 - PR, SEO & Submission Managers:
- Services who submit articles for their clients must also adhere to these guidelines and should read them very carefully.
- Submission services should NOT use the author resource box to mention that they are an "seo provider" promoting someone else. The representatives should always use the author resource box to promote their client only.
- Submission services should always ask their clients permission to include a link to their website within the articles they submit on their behalf.
- Clients who are represented by a 3rd party article submission service have the right to edit, delete, or change their accounts, articles, profiles, listings, and extended bio's by contacting Smartads.info with proof of their account information within our system.
- Smartads.info reserves the right to update your clients information and deny access to any service representing one of our authors.
- Just remember to treat your clients with respect and to maintain a quality author account within our system including extended biography information, author pictures, directory listings, etc.
If you have any questions or concerns about our author guidelines, please feel free to contact me directly within this form >
Sincerely,
Martin Lemieux
Smartads President
Smartads.info Chief Editor
Copyright © Smartads.info - All rights reserved.
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- Smartads Re-Launches Smartads.info With New Web 2.0 Features!
