Harsh mistress

I am sometimes asked about breaking articles up and submitting the separate steps needed in a "how-to" article.

I advise against making it 10 separate articles in general. And I'm not really a fan of the Part One and Part Two method as a matter of principle. However, there might be a case for choosing a different form for writing and submitting your article.

Should you submit the steps separately as an article for each step? Probably not.

Let's say you have an article with "10 Steps on How To Drive Bees Crazy and Create More Honey."

If your steps are short, that is, 3 to 5 words each, you really only have one choice and that is to submit it as one article.

That said, if your steps are a bit more involved you might consider breaking them up into separate pieces.

Most of the time you can decide which is the best approach for your article based on some simple guidelines.

A general rule of thumb:

1. If the tips are short and the article is under 700 words= 1 article

2. If the tips are a little longer or the total is more than 700 words = consider creating 2 articles (suggestion: submit one, link to the second half in your resource box. Title for number one: 10 steps to Starting Your Own Business: Getting Started - Steps 1 through 5)

3. If the tips are long, re-write them in an abbreviated version, then also write out the longer/more detailed versions. Post the single more abbreviated list to article directories. Then, refer readers to your site to get the detailed version(s) you have posted on your site. You could also ask them to signup for an email course that drip feeds them or provides them as a pdf. You could even offer the ten steps as a pdf or ebook/report without a signup and have the report branded with your site name, url, and include a link to an info product you have created or to several, or even to several products that you are selling as an affiliate.

So, you can see, there are different approaches you can take to writing and submitting "10-steps" kinds of articles.

Choose the one that works best for your business model, or better yet, use two or more variations to drive more traffic to your sites, get more newsletter signups, and eventually, sales.