Unfortunately, Jason Potash's new product launch wasn't as smooth as he undoubtedly wanted it to be. He originally had 500 copies but more than that were ordered (nice problem to have!) causing a wait while more kits were produced.

Then the site went offline, causing much buyer panic.

To compound the disaster, his fulfillment house went out of business before all product was shipped. This certainly wasn't Jason's fault, but contributed to the hysteria in the forums.

My take on Article Announcer:

After a considerable time, I received Article Announcer. I was unhappy with the delay, but after using Announcer for several days I am pleased to announce that it is an incredibly valuable tool and well worth waiting for. It will save me awesome amounts of time. Notice that I said "will" save - future tense - because there is a definite learning curve. The actual mechanics of using the Article Announcer software are simple, but there is a lot of involvement required.

There are three specific groups that Article Announcer contacts ...

Article directories: Jason has included a nice list of directories. The way the software works is that we fill in certain information fields, and then the Article Announcer software auto-fills the directory forms. Jason warns that with a few directories this isn't possible, and he is correct. Further, a few directories want articles emailed, and Article Announcer isn't useful for those.

There have been some forum comments that Article Announcer is a "spam" tool. Nothing could be further from the truth!

First, each directory entry must be entered individually. For some directories, it's an instant click of a button to submit an article. Some of them require minimal editing. Regardless, you can't "click a button and mail to thousands of sites".

Secondly, there is no virtue whatsoever in hand-submitting each article. The value is in the content, not in the submission process and such criticisms are utterly ridiculous. Why is an article more valuable if it's submitted by hand or via software? The time we save can be spent creating more quality content.

Its possible to enter new directories that aren't included in the original software. I entered five and only one of those will auto-fill the form. I don't know if this is the fault of the software or the way the directory has set up its requirements.

One thing I'm not sure of yet is efficiency. For instance, I was submitting four articles. Is it more efficient to stop on one directory and submit all four articles? or to go through the entire directory list with one article and repeat with the next directory? Don't know yet.

Announcement lists: there are a small number of general announcement lists already in the software. Jason recommends finding more specific ones and teaches us how. I have to say, though, that I haven't been able to find any good ones yet. Perhaps I haven't looked long enough.

Ezine publishers: this was the weakest section, in my view. A huge percentage of the emails I sent came back as bad email addresses and several ezine publishers asked to be removed instantly. Supposedly this list was screened, but of course we know how quickly emails address can go out of date. It's very possible that these publishers received so many submissions from Article Announcer users that they changed their contact information quickly.

There are a couple of features that I would like added and hopefully they will be included in future updates.

First, when adding new articles it gets tedious to keep entering the same information again and again. I would really like either a "clone" feature or a dropdown menu so that I can fill in the form more efficiently and quickly.

The second issue is major: Article Announcer really, REALLY needs a way to back my data. I've spent a lot of time editing entries, including articles, purging some sources and adding others. I would really hate to lose all information and have to start over.

One suggestion: get a separate email address. I actually bought a domain name. Unfortunately, I bought a ".info" simply because it was cheap and I'm not using it for anything else. I say that's unfortunate because some of the article directories insist that it isn't a valid email address. It is, of course, but apparently they only accept older names like .com and possibly .net.

There is other material that comes in the Article Announcer box, including a long conversation with John Reese on the subject of article writing. This is old hat to me, but newer article writers may find it quite useful.

Support hasn't been all that terrific because I've sent several emails that were ignored.

Overall, this review might sound negative, and there have been some definite problems with this new product. However, from everything I've heard Jason Potash is an upright sort of guy and is doing everything he can to smooth this out and make his customers happy. So, for the really important question ...

Would I buy Article Announcer again? You bet! In spite of the problems, I see it as one of my most inportant tools in promoting my websites and stores. Now that I have spent hours working with it, making it suit my needs, I can see the awesome power of the software. It's a definite thumbs up for my business.

Article Announcer