Last Updated on April 20, 2020

The Bum Marketing method gained a lot of traction over the past few months. More and more people promote article submission as an excellent way to obtain backlinks and to drive traffic to your niche sites.

Personally, I didn’t have the impression that submitting articles to directories brought me so much traffic to be worth the pain of writing and submitting those articles. However, trustworthy people like Courtney Tuttle endorsed article submission as being a good method of gaining white hat backlinks, so I reconsidered my thoughts and I started to write again articles for free distribution.

But where do you submit your articles if you decide to give it a try? Where do you get some free content from? Here you can find 77 article directories, most of them free:

1. ARA Content:
   • free membership
   • you can take articles for your websites
   • there is no article submission form, but you can contact them via the Contact form and find out how they get their articles
2. ArticleMarketer:
   • This is an article distribution service, not a directory
   • It has a free article submission option (which promisses to reach about 13,000 people) and two paid versions
   • No html is accepted in the body of the articles
   • They have an affiliate program: you get 25% of all sales you refer
   • I’ve tried the free version; I received maybe 4-5 messages for each of the articles that I need to make adjustments in order to have them sent out. It seems like I’ll never pass their writing rules.
3. ArticleResponder.com
   • This is a collection of articles about how to write articles that get published.
   • Some article contain email addresses where you can submit your articles for distribution
4. BusinessKnowHow
   • they receive articles from the following areas: home office, small business, advertising, sales & marketing, human resources, legal and accounting issues, management, productivity, retailing, mail order, direct selling, multilevel marketing, gift baskets, medical billing and transcription, writing, editing and publishing, and using computer technology in small and home businesses.
   • submissions are free, but they don’t grant your articles will be included
   • you don’t have to open an account to submit an article
5. EzineArticles
   • From their TOS: You declare that you will not send in any articles with direct affiliate links in them. We reject articles with direct affiliate links. It is ok, however, forward/redirect to an affiliate link from the top-level of a domain name you own. For example, it is permissible to forward to an affiliate link from: http://your-company-name.com/
     …but it would not be permissable to forward to an affiliate link from:
     http://your-company-name.com/page.html
     http://your-company-name.com/subdirectory/
     http://your-company-name.com/subdirectory/page.html
   • it is free, but you have to sign up for an account before being able to send articles
   • this is the one I use, and it works. Some of my articles were taken and published on other sites, giving me backlinks
6. aabusiness: business articles announcement list (Yahoo Groups, 5900 members)
   
7. aageneral: general interest articles announcement list (Yahoo Groups, 3900 members)
8. aainet: internet oriented articles announcement list (Yahoo Groups, 3500 members)
   
9. ArticlePublish : ARTICLE PUBLISH Group: Yahoo group (714 members) where you can submit your articles to be included in free e-books (if selected)
   
10. ArticlePublisher : ArticlePublisher Group: another Yahoo group (1500 members) where you can send your articles to be published
11. articles4you2use4promotion: another article publishing Yahoo group with 937 members
12. Articles411:
    • free article directory
    • you need to open an account before being able to submit articles
    • the articles should not contain affiliate links. It is acceptable, however, to mention the URL’s of helpful sites or your own website which redirects to the recommended affiliate product. So, you actually can include affiliate links, via redirections
13. Articlesubmission : Article Submission E-Gazette: Yahoo Group (662 members) where you can send your articles to the group memebers. Advertising is not allowed, and the author cassette shouldn’t sound like an advertisment for a website, although it is permitted to have a link to your website in there
14. Articles_archives: Yahoo group with 2157 members, seeking articles on improving writing skills, publishing, business articles, Internet Marketing articles, and articles on writing-related topics. Articles should be between 1500-1800 words in length.
15. Article_announce : An article announcement list providing free content to hundreds of ezines, newsletters, magazines and web sites. Free articles!: Yahoo group counting 9600 members, where you can submit articles about: business, internet, marketing, home and family, health and fitness, or general interest.
16. Article_announce_list : Article Announce List: Yahoo group with 3000 members. You can submit any kind of technology-related article.
    
17. EzineZone : EzineZone: Yahoo group (547 members) where ezine publishers can submit articles for reprint, with permission, by other ezine articles publishers.
18. Free-Content : Web Editors & Authors Article Exchange: Yahoo group where you can send your articles to be taken and reprinted by article sites webmasters. It has more than 3800 members
19. Free-Reprint-Articles : Free Reprint Articles and Free Content: Yahoo group with more than 3700 members, accepting articles on any topic (except from hate, spam or illegal activities)
    
20. Freeezinearticles : FreeEzineArticles: Yahoo group, 486 members
    
21. Freelance_promotion : For the promotion of work by freelancers of all trades: Yahoo group, 700 members, any topic
22. FreeWrites : FreeWrites: Yahoo group, 887 members, any topic
23. Freezinecontent : Free Zine Content: Yahoo group, 2611 members, any topic, maximum 4 articles per day, per writer, are accepted
24. Free_eContent : Free_eContent: Yahoo group, 1139 members, any topic; very picky, writing about your business is not an article, you have to provide interesting, informative content
25. I_Need_Content : Ezine that sends out only articles that make it to the “Only the Best” articles category: Yahoo group, 2707 members. Quote from their instructions: “Authors: What will get your articles listed in the GREATS? Great stories, great advice, fresh content, and unique perspectives. What will NOT get your article accepted? Overdone subjects with no new information, simple lists, bad grammar, run-on sentences, misspelled words, curse words, no breaks for paragraphs after 4 or 5 sentences, bitter or angry prose, or blatant advertising couched as an article.”
26. PromoteYourArticle : PromoteYourArticle: Yahoo group, 1166 members; you can send articles about internet marketing and advertising
    
27. Publisher_network : Newsletter Publishers! Swap your article: Yahoo group, 2600 members, receiving all kinds of articles to be published in newsletters
28. QC_Reprint_Articles : Quality Checked Reprint Articles: Yahoo group, 1641 members, receiving all kinds of articles, emphasyzing on quality
29. ReprintArticles-Paradise : ReprintArticles-Paradise: Yahoo group, 1591 members, receiving all kinds of articles; it doesn’t look serious, and there are spelling mistakes in the text for authors. No restrictions are mentioned.
30. Article Word: free to join, you can submit articles in any category. After approval, they will also be included in the below mentioned directories (points 31-36)
31. The All I Need
32. HealthMyself
33. FamilyAgain
34. Lukor
35. eBusinessPlanet
36. TheMarketingBiz
37. TheWhir: News, Free Content, Resources: free, you don’t have to open an account for sending an article
38. Submit Your Top 7 Tips To Top7Business: free, accepts only one format of article: opening paragraph followed by 7 tips and closed by your resource box
    
39. AddMe Newsletter Submit Articles: Free, the articles must focus on an aspect of website and/or business promotion and be between 50 and 150 lines long (lines of 65 characters).
40. Amazines.com: free, but you need to open an account to submit articles. They cover lots of categories
41. ArticleCity.com: free, no need for an account in order to submit articles. Cool feature of articles bulk submission available
    
42. Latest Additions – ArticleHub: free, no need to open an account, the articles can cover any topic. Strange and ugly layout, based on a blog software.
43. Articles911: lots of article summaries, no place for submitting your own. When articles titles are clicked, we are redirected twice: first to work911.com, then to the original site where the article was published. I suppose the webmaster is securing traffic to both his sites in this way.
    
44. articletrades.com: this sucks! It is one page, with several custom search engines defined, and with no possibility to sumbit or see any article. I included it only to tell you to avoid it.
    
45. ArticleWareHouse.com: free, but you need to open an account for articles submission. They say they even pay for articles sometimes (I don’t know what sometimes means)
    
46. Author Connection: free, needs registration
    
47. BusinessToolChest: free, no need for registration; home business related articles
    
48. WorldWide Information Outlet: free, all submissions are streamlined from ArticlesOn.com
49. ArticlesOn: free, requires registration; make sure to read the submission guidlines, as they are quite restrictive
50. http://www.clickforcontent.com: you can only take articles, no submission service is available. Ugly site, anyway.
    
51. ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers: the only way to get published here is to apply for becoming a columnist, which means you’ll have to provide articles on regular basis, in case you are accepted. The main page is PR7.
    
52. ConnectionTeam.com: free, the only categories accepted are: business, personal development, health and fitness, and writing. You are allowed to submit maximum 2 articles per day.
53. Women in Business at Digital Women: free, no registration needed. Articles must belong to the following categories: marketing, finances, home business, women-owned businesses, and they must have maximum 1500 words
    
54. Dime-co: free, and you can submit your articles as a guest if you don’t want to register
    
55. Expert Articles: free, registration is required. No affiliate links allowed, but you can use redirection form your domain to an affiliate site
    
56. Ezine-Writer.com.au: free, registration required, many categories covered
    
57. Ezine Trendz: paid (three subscription plans available: $25 per one time article submission, $20 per article for twice a month submission, or $15 per article for once a week submissions). Articles must be business/marketing related, and they should not exceed 1000 words.
    
58. Freesticky: free, no registration required, only submit articles that relate to content, content management or deployment, publishing, writing or anything that a content author or publisher may find interesting
59. Holistic Junction – share ideas and locate healing arts schools, holistic products & services: free membership allows you to submit only literature and art articles.
    
60. HowtoAdvice.com: free, no registration, but your articles have to be really helpful for users and concise
    
61. Learning Folder: free submission, but there’s no indication of where your articles are going to be published. It looks like a cheesy landing page, but the author has a nice smile.
    
62. LinkSnoop: free, no registration needed. Instructions: “Article” means useful information, not “sales letter, machine-generated garbage, keyword-stuffed, nonsensical strings of words and punctuation. If you wouldn’t show this to your freshman composition teacher, do not submit it here.”
63. ArticlesExpress: free, requires registration. The registration link is so well hidden between ads, that I can’t figure out how they managed to collect 84990 articles
    
64. Marketing communications resources: marketing articles, or marketing communication articles are the only ones allowed. It is free, but it looks lousy, and patched all over with banners and text ads. The author must be very hungry.
    
65. Marketing-Seek: free, requires registration. The registration link doesn’t show on the main page, you have to click login in order to be able to register.
    
66. Master Syndicator, Deliver Your Content to Hundreds of Sites Automatically!: this is a software which costs $97. I did not try it, but it has a demo version on the sales page, for those who are interested
    
67. Power HomeBiz Guides: free, no membership required, no advertising allowed in the articles. Only business-related articles are accepted
    
68. ProfitPage: free, but I could not find any submission form or link, or email address where articles can be sent
    
69. ReadyContent.com: Bullshit, custom search engines displaying ads. No articles, no content, no submission possibility. To be avoided!
    
70. SelfGrowth.com The Online Self Improvement and Self Help Encyclopedia: free, registration required, the articles must be self improvement related
    
71. SimplySearch4It: free, but it doesn’t accept new articles for the next one-two months
    
72. http://www.SubmitYourArticle.com: mass distribution service, you have to provide them your name and email address, and they send you the details: for $37 per month, they distribute 8 articles to thousands of sites. The offer comes with 30 days money back guarantee. I didn’t try it.
    
73. The Phantom Writers: paid distribution service. The cost is variable between $35 and $20 per article, depending on how many articles you contract
    
74. Vector Central: free, submissions are received via Article Announcement, an independent service
    
75. Webmaster Article.net: free, submissions are received via PublicBrain.com
76. PublicBrain: free. Available categories: webmasters, golf and cars & trucks. You have to contact them in order to become an editor.
77. Webmasters’ Library: free. Webmaster related articles: tutorials, reviews, tips, tricks.
78. MyWebAuthor: built on WordPress, free submissions. No affiliate links, but you can mention the URLs of helpful sites or your own website which redirects to the recommended affiliate product.
79. Kokkada: the same comments as in 78. You need to open a free member account in order to submit your articles.
80. Articles2u: the same comments as in 79.
81. ArticleSnatch: free, up to three links per article are allowed.
82. ContentDig.com: free, you cannot link to direct downloads. You don’t need to open an account to submit articles.
83. GlobalInternetFortunes.com: free, accepts articles from few categories: Health & Wellness, Home Improvement, Affiliate Marketing, Real Estate and Self Improvement.

Do you know some more? Please add them in the comments. I will check your additions and include them in the list (you can see that there are already more than 77 resources, thanks to our readers).