Seems like every where you turn, someone is creating yet another article directory begging you to submit your articles to them. The only person you are helping by submitting your content to newbie article directories are the article directory owners themselves - because they are too new to have any traffic yet to give back to you in exchange for your valuable time.

Here's a checklist to help you determine if an article directory is worth your time to submit to or not:

[ ] Have they been in business for more than a year? Bonus points for those that have been in business for 5 or more years. Directories that are less than 6 months old are often still in the sandbox yet, meaning they don't have any traffic traction.

[ ] Can you figure out within 10 seconds of surfing their site who actually owns or is in charge of the site? Article directory owners that hide themselves from the public should be a sign that they don't want to be found.

[ ] Do they respond within 24-48 hours of your email requests? Did your email to them bounce back undeliverable?

[ ] Does the article directory have more than 1,000-5,000 authors listed? Sites with less than 1,000 authors are still cutting their teeth on being a directory owner.

[ ] Does it appear that the article directory was built with article bot scraped content? You can easily tell by looking for the unconverted MS word smartquotes within articles that are listed on the site. There is no honor in having your articles side by side of scraped content.

[ ] Is the article directory human powered vs. fully automated? Any article directory that is fully automated is usually a sign that the owner doesn't intend to police the quality of the content.

[ ] Do they provide RSS feeds, email alerts, forward to a friend function and other strategies to increase the distribution of your articles? Do they have thousands of members of their own double opt-in mailing lists to promote your articles?

[ ] Are they responsible with the advertising clients they have on their site? ie: No popups, no exit pops, no punch the monkey' ads?

[ ] Do they provide article reports to help you see which articles are getting traction or not?

[ ] Service based mentality: Do they have it or not?

[ ] Bottom line: After you've submitted to the article directory, does it generate traffic back to your site or not? Do you find your article distributed to other niche websites or do your articles get picked up by email newsletter publishers?

The reason you make your articles available for syndication is because you want to improve your targeted web traffic, enhance your credibility, drive leads to your products, grow your email list and more!

Unfortunately, you don't have unlimited time in your day to submit your articles to every newbie article directory that begs for your attention. Prioritize the best article sites that meet or exceed the above criteria to help determine which ones should get your valuable attention. It is better to submit 100 articles to a top quality article directory or niche site than it is to submit (1) article to 100 directories.

About The Author:

Christopher M. Knight invites you to submit your best quality original articles for massive exposure to the high-traffic http://EzineArticles.com/ expert author community. When you submit your articles to EzineArticles.com, your articles will be picked up by ezine publishers who will reprint your articles with your content and links intact giving you traffic surges to help you increase your sales. To submit your article, setup a membership account today: http://EzineArticles.com/submit/

(c) Copyright - Christopher M. Knight. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

¶ 10:24 PM 0 comments

Using SWOT Analysis as a tool to formulate Strategy is one of the most effective tool in Strategic Planning. It is a factual analysis due to its extensive data collection and analysis of the data collected. It is effective because the analysis covers a wide spectrum of business environment during data collection. Its takes into consideration external business environment as well as internal capabilities.

This is perhaps the most powerful usage of SWOT Analysis in the Strategic Planning Process. I am going to show you how to used the four factors of SWOT to develop Strategies

Assuming you have collected several data pertaining to the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Then you will use them to formulate strategy. Not sure how to do it? Don't worry, I take you through the steps.

Step 1 - Evaluate the surrounding

Let's take a moment to think about both of us as the coach for two teams of football teams.

Before the game starts, you and I have certain strategies that we want the team to follow. As the game progresses, there is sign of difference between the two teams in terms of the game as well as the condition of the team members.

Step 2 - Identify the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Now, it is time to evaluate the teams in the four factors of SWOT. Lets take the following examples as the result of the evaluation:-

Strengths - Your team is full of fighting spirit

Weaknesses -- One of your team members is hurt

Opportunities -- Your opposition team seems to loose stamina

Threats -- Your opposition team is full of energy

Note: Some of these factors seem to be conflicting each other. For the purpose of this step, this conflict is ignored.

Step 3 - Pair the SWOT factors to formulate strategies

Now, you would start to formulate strategies in the four categories. Namely:-

• SO Strategies (Strengths and Opportunities Strategy )
• ST Strategies (Strengths and Threats Strategy )
• WO Strategies (Weaknesses and Opportunities Strategy )
• WT Strategies (Weaknesses and Threats Strategy )

In this case, your strength is " your team is full of fighting spirit " and paired with your opportunities is " Opposite team is loosing stamina" . With this scenario, what would you do? Perhaps you formulate a strategy to " ATTACK ". There it goes, you just formulate a attacking strategy.

Then you do the same procedure for SW Strategies, WO strategies and WT strategies.

Step 4 - Evaluate the strategic options

At the end of this paring of SWOT factors, you would have end up several strategic options. Do a quick evaluation of each of these strategies to the extent of meeting the company objectives.

Step 5 - Selecting Strategic Options

At this step, you would have a long list of strategic options. Too many strategies to implement may not be practical. Therefore, you need to shorten the list to perhaps maximum three strategies.

After you have completed all the 5 steps to use SWOT Analysis to Formulate Strategies, you have a list of strategies for you to implement to your business.

About the Author: Dr. LM Foong, PhD
He writes and publishes TQM articles, ebooks, case studies, trainer manual and presentation slides. Please Visit Resource Center in Total Quality Management for more TQM related topics

Subscribe to TQM Ezine (SWOT Analysis) NOW!!

¶ 4:39 PM 0 comments

Millions of men around the world suffer from an enlarged prostate condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia. The prostate gland is situated under the bladder and when it gets enlarged it puts pressure on the bladder. This creates a sensation of wanting to urinate frequently. Over 50% of men over the age of 50 suffer from an enlarged prostate.

Though most of the cases are non-cancerous (benign) and respond to conventional treatments, there are numerous side effects with the current set of conventional treatments on the market today.

In a recent study, a Botox injection has proved to be successful at alleviating this condition. Botox which is widely used for cosmetic purposes to erase wrinkles and other facial lines is now finding other uses. One such use is for the treatment of excessive sweating. Now Botox has proved to be successful in treating enlarged prostate, with very few or no side effects. When Botox is injected directly into the prostate, it relaxes the muscles within the prostate thereby allowing the person to completely empty the bladder. Other studies have shown that the actual size of the prostate gets smaller and even PSA levels come down. PSA levels are measured to evaluate the risk of prostate cancer among men over 40.

Though all of these results look promising, Botox is yet to be approved for treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia in the US. It is being used in other countries for this treatment successfully. Men suffering from the effects of having to wake up several times in the night to go to the bathroom are eagerly awaiting alternative treatment options such as Botox with fewer side effects.

Caroline Sanders is the lead editor of BotoxResults.com. BotoxResults.com provides unbiased information on various anti-aging and other relevent topics. For more information, visit http://www.botoxresults.com

¶ 10:33 AM 0 comments

Impotence is generally the disorder of sexual activities which include inability to perform sexual intercourse and inability to reproduction also. Our todays discussions will be an overview of the treatment of Impotence.

However, our space is limited here. We shall concentrate our discussions on erectile dysfunction which is an important cause of impotence.

What is erectile dysfunction?

The inability to keep enough erection during sexual intercourse for longer period is the erectile dysfunction to male. This brings to one man, inability to have enough sex with his female partner leaving both the partners unhappy. Continuous or frequent happening of this event leads them to depression.

What is the cause of this erectile dysfunction?

By scientific study it was revealed that insufficient blood circulation through the male organ before sexual intercourse was the reason for this erectile dysfunction for male.

What are the treatments of Erectile Dysfunction?

While other methods of treatment may or may not be easily available, there is an easy solution which we want to discuss here.

There are a number of oral pills like Viagra, Cialis etc. available in the market for erectile dysfunction.

Among them use of Viagra has been proved to be the most effective process for oral treatment against this inability.

Taking Viagra orally before sexual activity increases blood circulation through the male organ system causing sufficient and sustained erection.

Viagra - the little blue pill is brought to the market by Pfizer to help millions of male persons with Erectile Dysfunction.

No sooner the drug was brought to the market to fight erectile dysfunction after long time of research, than it was an instant success. After the drug obtained FDA approval, thousands and thousands of Americans suffering from this inability got the respite from the curse, and their sex life was totally changed.

As it is a prescription drug, initially, it was not easily available for the American citizens. The solution of this problem was carried out by the on line pharmacy. They came to the rescue and the drug is now easily available in the on line pharmacy, tanks to the internet technology and e-commerce. Now any person can buy Viagra online to get relief from sexual inability.

To use the drug, some instructions from the doctor are to be followed. It is to be taken one hour before sex and to be taken once a day and should not be used for other purpose. The drug is not suitable for women.

There are some side effects of Viagra e.g. headache, upset of stomach etc. Some times blurred vision is also reported. This is still under study.

Considering all aspects, Viagra has proved itself to be the best oral treatment for erectile dysfunction.

Are you suffering from erectile dysfunction? Buy Viagra on line and improve your sex life.

Nancy D'souza is an associated editor to the website http://www.eu-internet-pharmacy.com . It is committed to provide visitors with absolute information on online prescription drugs like Cialis, Viagra, Phentermine, Tamiflu and Levitra by most recent news, personal views, and articles on related topics.

For more information, visit: http://www.eu-internet-pharmacy.com

¶ 3:56 AM 0 comments