Your Guide to Successful Writing and Speaking
Article Writing
10 Article Writing Keys For Newbies
This article on the 10 (no, 11… yes, 11) tips for newbies is not written from the catbird seat point of view of the article host or database manager. Rather it is by and from the perspective of an author who remembers the early misgivings. It is written especially for the beginning article writer. The Tennessee Mountain Man has written and submitted hundreds of articles for publication to thousands of article hosts and database managers and still finds article writing his nemesis.
1. Necessity vs Desire:
Articles and Blogs are necessary in today’s scheme of search engine indexing. Not what the newbie wants to hear. Just remember what the Bible says, “there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man”. That’s right! All of us hate article and Blog writing at times, and some of us dread the journey to pen and paper (or keyboard as the case may be) all the time. Many a webmaster would call them “a necessary evil” as they are not generally anyone’s best liked house keeping chores.
2. Just Start, It Gets Easier:
First it is sometimes difficult to get a subject or theme and to get the first couple of lines scribbled down. The Tennessee Mountain Man knows authors who literally get sick thinking about the process. Lighten up. Once an author has a starting point and gets passed the initial thoughts, article and Blog writing usually goes fairly smoothly.
The main thing is that you get started. Pick a subject you know something about and just start. You will be pleasantly surprised at just how easily ideasflow. Don’t assume everyone knows what you know. They don’t. Will Rogers once said, “all men are ignorant, just on different subjects”. And, so it is!
3. Good vs Perfection:
Your old English comp professor is not looking over your shoulder. This paper does not have to be perfect. That is not to say it does not have to be on point or to say that it does not have to be correct. It does or at least it should be. But, perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, seldom possible. Too much detail and you run the risk of losing your reader on several levels. Too long and
most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to wade through the material regardless of how important it is.
4. Blog Length vs Article Length:
Most publishers want a minimum of six hundred (600) words per article – some will let you slide with four hundred (400) words. Blogs can be much smaller. Blogs can and maybe should support appropriate pictures and embedded links.
Just don’t over do it. Too gaudy or too slow to load and you have wasted your time, ticked off a potential reader, and probably upset a host who can ban you from their publications. Articles, on the other hand, typically cannot carry these extra touches according to the requirements of most publishers.
5. Format:
Prepare your article in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. There are many tools from which to choose to get the job done. A search for ‘free ASCII editor’ or for ‘free plain text editors’ will provide one with a multitude of free options. Word Press is a popular choice. If all else fails simply use notepad to turn out your masterpiece.
6. Spelling and Grammar:
Once you have your article or Blog run it through a good spell checker and a good grammar checker. Microsoft Word works well for these purposes. Just don’t use the MS Word copy for publication of your article. Rather use it’s suggestions to make any necessary corrections to your plain text copy. The MS Word copy will work for Blogs although the Computerman prefers other editors.
Just like the days when you were pushed by Profs, you will find Article and Blog writing skills become easier with time and practice.
7. Publish and Announce:
Once your Blog is ready you may want to use some automatic tools to publish and announce it. First do a search for Blog hosts and select those which best suit your needs. Join one or more and publish your Blog there. Then search for Blog announcers and rss announcers and use them to get your Blog noticed.
Now that you have that out of the way find an article wizard that will post your Articles to free publishers. You can post them one at a time by hand if you are really bored and have absolutely nothing else in life to do. Using an automatic poster you can publish to hundreds of hosts in an hour or so. The only way to go.
8. Patience:
Now, have some patience. Here is where you lose control. Many of the men and women who host articles are timely and your articles will be reviewed within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours. But, many others will be days and weeks down the road therefore never date an article – a sure way to get rejected.
9. Rejection – “sorry your article has been declined”:
Be prepared for most hosts to reject your articles. Do not take it personally. It usually has little to do with you or your article.
Some databases routinely reject articles for spelling errors when there are none or where there is more than way to spell a word. And, just as in any other endeavor some hosts are simply too lazy and get so far behind, the easiest and fastest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject everything. You will learn who these are over time.
Then there are those who run your articles through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, irrespective of how they are used, your article gets no farther. These are the people who can’t publish the Holy Bible because it contains words that offend them or their readers. Don’t worry about these folks who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.
Remember, just as in everything else in life, for every rule there is an exception
10. Keep the faith, and keep cranking out articles:
Since most authors, especially newbies, prepare only one copy of an article against the advice of most seasoned authors it is important that the newbie keep his chin up – keep the faith. That will be easier as more and more of your articles are accepted and published driving visitors to your website while creating those all important back links.
It is not necessary that every host to accept everything submitted to them. After one or two hosts publish your article on any given subject, the search engines tend to penalize you anyway by ignoring additional postings. This is close to spamming and while it could help someone find you, it probably won’t. It is not necessarily, the more the merrier. The additional listings will not increase your page rankings or links reported by the search engines. It is more important to get published by hosts with the highest Google page rank possible.
Now, one BONUS TIP for you: Along with “the rejection slip” will usually come a suggestion on how to “fix” your article and a request that you resubmit it. Don’t waste your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have written a new article from which you get much more punch. Enough publishers will pick your article up so move on and save yourself some time and heartburn.
Everybody has a thought or idea at least once a day usually at the most inopportune time. How many good ideas have you lost because of waiting? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Capture that thought before it is gone forever.
Your Fortune is in the Follow Up!
Would you blow your entire annual marketing budget on just one ad to run once during the Superbowl?
Of course you wouldn’t. You know that people seeing your message just once wouldn’t be enough.
Then why do we tend to spend our time and dollars on single-shot marketing, rather than repeated messages?
The answer is… most folks just don’t know any better. Or, perhaps it seems boring to repeat your message over and over and over and over.
But the truth is, your fortune is in the follow up!
This past weekend I went to hear direct marketing master Bill Glazer (my marketing mentor who runs Glazer-Kennedy Inner Circle (along with Dan Kennedy) speak at a conference here in Los Angeles. During his talk, he shared with the audience how he spent the last few decades of his life running Baltimore’s #1 retail men’s clothing store, Gage Menswear, along with his late father.
Bill talked about one of his first direct mail campaigns, and how during the planning stages he announced to his dad that they were going to mail a special promotional offer to the same list not once, not twice, but three times. His father was appalled and yelled at Bill that he was crazy and was wasting their money!
Bill persisted and mailed all three pieces of the campaign. Well, their results revealed that mailing the exact same offer three times not only increased their response, it DOUBLED their response! Pop was floored, and he sure was delighted with the flurry of sales that came in. From that point on he also trusted Bill with their marketing dollars.
Why does repeating your message work? online newsletters writing
It’s simple… people are inundated with messages every day. Last statistic I heard was each of us sees over 3,700 distinct messages a day! That means you need to repeat yourself over and over if you’re going to break through the clutter, actually get their attention, get them to read or listen AND get them to respond.
Your assignment is to now look at all areas of your marketing and advertising in your business, and see where you need to add some follow up.
Some quick places to look at:
Your Ezines – Are you publishing your ezine enough? Once a month just doesn’t cut it anymore. You should be reaching out and “touching” your prospects and customers at least once a week, if not more. (If you’re running out of ideas or you’re not sure how to do this without bugging folks, my ezine system takes care of that for you!)
Teleseminars and Live Events – When promoting events, you’re going to need many more than one or two announcements or mailings. As a general rule, when I’m really trying to fill up a teleseminar (phone seminar) I sent out at least three emails dedicated to the promotion. For live events, you need dozens of messages, and well ahead of time. Most of the trainers I know start marketing no less than six months ahead of any live event they’re hosting!
One-on-One Marketing – If you cold call or mail out letters to prospects, how many times are you following up? Don’t be afraid to call or mail again. I myself have finally responded to an offer after I’ve been contacted several times, and was glad the vendor took the initiative to follow up.
Advertising – Instead of blowing your budget on a few large ads per year, try running a smaller ad much more often! Also most publications, both online and offline, will usually give you big discounts for purchasing more than one ad at a time. (I do this with ads in my own ezine, Straight Shooter Marketing.)
Remember, many marketing experts who test all these strategies say that repetition is the key. So don’t even feel you have to be creative with your marketing – just saying or mailing the same thing over and over is better than not saying it or mailing it again.
You Can Write An e-Book
You might be thinking, “No way, I can’t write a book.”
You are wrong.
If you can write an article, you can write books, e-Books, and special reports using the same system.
Think about it. Each chapter in a non-fiction e-Book is equivalent to a long article. The skills you developed writing articles are the same as the skills you need to write an e-Book.
BUT, WHY SHOULD YOU WRITE AN e-Book?
It’s simple. Information products are the easiest products to sell online. You write it once, and your work is done. Your e-Book can be delivered to your customer automatically. All you have to do is cash the checks.
OK, maybe it isn’t quite that easy. e-Books are fast to complete and fast to get to market. There is no inventory to stock. No shipping costs. Start-up costs are low. The delivery process can be automated.
e-Books can also be made into audio products and sold as downloads on e-Bay, iTunes and soon on Amazon.com. You can get your e-Book recorded very affordably by a professional at HearYourBook.com.
HERE’S THE CATCH
Aside from actually writing your e-Book, there is one aspect that will take some work and some skill: Marketing.
You will need a plan for selling your e-Book. If your potential readers do not know it exists, they can’t buy it. This means that your probably need an effective sales page and some good marketing ideas. Everything you need to know is available for free online. All you have to do is search.
If you have to hire someone to put up your sales page and set up your sales process, it is worth the small investmentand just about the only monetary investment you will have to make.
BACK TO WRITING: YOUR TABLE OF CONTENTS COMES FIRST
Write your Table of Contents first, and use it as an outline for your book. Treat each chapter as an article and follow the same steps that your would take to complete an article.
There is one difference. Instead of striving to get your point across in a concise manner as you would when writing an article, expand on each topic. Take your time and explore each point completely.
When writing an article, especially for publication on the Internet, you need to use short sentences and short paragraphs. Sentences and paragraphs can be longer in an e-Book.
Spend a lot of time with the Table of Contents. Make your chapter titles interesting and follow a logical progression.
IF YOU CAN’T COMPLETE, DELETE!
As you write your e-Book, you will get some new ideas and some of your original ideas won’t seem right. Good! You are in charge. Just use your delete key and eliminate the chapters you no longer want to write and substitute the new chapter titles.
There’s no stress here. Just pick and choose what you will write about and skip the parts you are stuck on. You may find it easier to write about those topics when you come back to them later.
Copyright Georganne Fiumara
You Can Write An Article
Anyone can write an article and use it to promote their website. The distribution of articles through free article directories is one of the best ways to promote your website. Even if you have never written one, there is at least one type of article that almost anyone can write.
A Top-Ten Or List-Article
Choose with a topic that is relevant to your website and find a good keyword for it. This is the phrase that people will use when they use a search engine to find your article. If you aren’t sure how to do keyword research, just ask yourself what words you would use to search for an article on this topic.
Think of an aspect of your topic that can be made into a list. You’re going to write an article that has the “Top Ten Ways” to do something, or “Six Simple Techniques For” something, or “Five Questions To Ask” Whoever. Other possibilities include “Six Great Ideas For…,” “Top Ten Tips for…,” “Ten Secrets About…,” “Three Steps To…,” and so on.
Now just follow the simple outline below. Suppose the article is on ways that you can get free traffic for a website, and the key word is “free website traffic.”
1. Write a title for the article, using the keyword it, so searchers can find your article more easily: “Six Ways To Get Free Website Traffic.”
2. Write a description of one or two sentences, telling the reader what they will get from reading your article: “How many ways do you use to get free traffic for your website? You’ll learn six of the best here.”
3. “Sell” the article in the first paragraph, using the keyword again: “Free website traffic is a few clicks away if you know where to look…”
4. Create a numbered list, and explain each entry with a couple sentences: “1. Write articles. This is perhaps the best way to get free website traffic. Submit your articles to article directories, and readers find there way to your site by way of the link at the end of your article. 2. Exchange links with high traffic websites…”
5. End the article with a short paragraph, using the keywords one more time: “You can see that some of these ways to get free website traffic are easier than others, but why not try all of them. The real question is which will work best for your website…” This summary paragraph isn’t always necessary.
6. Create a short “About The Author” or author’s resource box. Have just one link to your website in it. Talk less about yourself than about why the reader should visit your site. Entice and tease: “For more ways to get free website traffic, visit…” This is possibly the most important part of how to write an article for website promotion. For an example of a resource box that has worked, see below.
You Can Write a Good Paper!
Research Paper.. What are your associations of this word? Some will answer: college, higher, education, perspective job. When I come to recollect writing my first Literature Research Paper, my imagination draws a depressing picture of piles of books, newspapers, magazines, large library reading rooms and sleepless nights at the computer. Education is vital in our competitive society and each of us is likely to face the problem of creating his/her own writing. At schools, we write compositions, short essays, reports. As students we have to generate essays, research papers, term papers, etc. If we decide to continue our education in graduate school, again we are to submit articles, reports, and finally theses and dissertations.
But no college, no university provides you with simple realistic advice how to write, for example, your own Psychology Research Paper. That is why both students and post graduates are dashing about with no clear idea how to produce this titanic work of 30 50 pages. Nobody just explained them how to do itThere are so many requirements for completing your research paper or essay. Some tutors demand your own ideas and opinions, some professors cut them out, others expect their students make a close study of the given literature, and so on.Are there any universal requirements, some common rules that will facilitate the writing process? I believe that they exist. Otherwise I would not be writing this articleEach of us is creative and imaginative. Some of us know it, others hide it, and some just need to reveal it. But for most of us writing a research paper seems just a waste of time. Even if the topic does not interest you very much, working on it will help you to develop your creative potential, to get more confident as you will learn to write on your own.
Any writing from an essay to thesis can be written in a short period of time and does not require any peculiar talents. What you really need is concentration and right course of your efforts. The following Research Paper Help.
Tips will direct your energy and attempts into the right course:
- Choose your topic very carefully and thoughtfully
- Select and study the informational sources very seriously
- Start planning from the very start!
- Write express the experts opinion
- Share your point of view (back it up with the solid evidence)
- Keep your writing style distinct and clear.
- The conclusion flows naturally from the preceding paragraphs.
- It is time to write an introduction! Yes! (I know what am saying)
- Arrange your paper according to the standards.
- Be proud of your work!!!!
Research Paper What are your associations of this word? Some will answer: college, higher, education, perspective job. When I come to recollect writing my first Literature Research Paper, my imagination draws a depressing picture of piles of books, newspapers, magazines, large library reading rooms and sleepless nights at the computer. Education is vital in our competitive society and each of us is likely to face the problem of creating his/her own writing. At schools, we write compositions, short essays, reports. As students we have to generate essays, research papers, term papers, etc. If we decide to continue our education in graduate school, again we are to submit articles, reports, and finally theses and dissertations. But no college, no university provides you with simple realistic advice how to write, for example, your own Psychology Research Paper. That is why both students and post graduates are dashing about with no clear idea how to produce this titanic work of 30 50 pages. Nobody just explained them how to do it
There are so many requirements for completing your research paper or essay. Some tutors demand your own ideas and opinions, some professors cut them out, others expect their students make a close study of the given literature, and so on.
Are there any universal requirements, some common rules that will facilitate the writing process? I believe that they exist. Otherwise I would not be writing this article Each of us is creative and imaginative. Some of us know it, others hide it, and some just need to reveal it. But for most of us writing a research paper seems just a waste of time. Even if the topic does not interest you very much, working on it will help you to develop your creative potential, to get more confident as you will learn to write on your own. Any writing from an essay to thesis can be written in a short period of time and does not require any peculiar talents. What you really need is concentration and right course of your efforts. The following Research Paper Help.
Tips will direct your energy and attempts into the right course:
Choose your topic very carefully and thoughtfully
Select and study the informational sources very seriously
Start planning from the very start!
Write express the experts opinion
Share your point of view (back it up with the solid evidence)
Keep your writing style distinct and clear.
The conclusion flows naturally from the preceding paragraphs.
It is time to write an introduction! Yes! (I know what am saying)
Arrange your paper according to the standards.
Be proud of your work!!!!
