.: Easy Steps To Writing Articles
By:Ivan Kelly
Category:Home / Internet Marketing / Article Marketing
One of the most important skills to develop for anyone interested in building an online business is the art of creating a readable and interesting article. Learning to write articles not only helps to engage your reader, it it helps to make your name known far and wide and is a powerful tool for building traffic to your website.
It need not be lengthy. We're not talking about "War And Peace" here! 500 - 1,000 words is adequate for most purposes.
Let's look at an easy and productive way of writing that article.
1. Aim to be interesting, polished and informative. It isn't necessary to aim for a Pulitzer Prize - not at this stage, anyway. Aiming to produce competent work rather than a masterpiece helps to lift some of the burden.
2. Remove your limits
Reduce your subject to a single core word and then brainstorm around it. For example, if you're trying to write about "Study Skills", expand your thinking to "School". Now jot down everything that comes to mind when you think about School, and when you run out of ideas start asking yourself open questions around the subject and noting your answers.
Examples:
What did I enjoy about school?
What scared me?
What did I wish I'd known from Day 1?
This will help you get back into the mindset of someone struggling with school issues of all kinds and you'll start to get a feel for their concerns and worries.
3. Restore your focus
Once you've started to understand the general feelings of your readers, allow your mind to focus back on your original topic of Study Skills. From your new perspective, what questions would you ask? What would you want to know? Is this really a "Studying" issue or is it more about Time Management or being able to work without distractions or being paralyzed by the fear of not doing well?
4. Be your audience
Write each question on a separate sheet of paper; don't stop until you have at least ten and preferably more. Stay in the mindset of your readers until you feel you've asked every major question that concerns them.
5. Take a step back
Put your pile of question aside for a few hours, overnight if possible. Don't consciously think about them; just go about your day as usual. Give your subconscious time to process them without any further prompting from you. If new questions come to mind jot them down somewhere safe and then forget about them.
6. Get out your pen and write
When you're ready, sit down with your pages of questions and simply start to answer them. Writing your answers by hand can give you access to ideas that might be missed if you type them. Don't edit yourself at this stage. Using Speech to Text software or a digital recorder can also be helpful in bypassing the internal editor.
Imagine someone sitting in front of you asking for advice and just talk to them. Keep your tone natural and conversational and stay with the question-and-answer format.
7. Edit lightly
Trust your first instincts. Proof-read and correct any obvious errors, but don't do any major editing until your piece has had time to "sit" for a while. Again, leaving it overnight will give you a fresh perspective the next time you look at it, but even if your deadline doesn't allow for that it's important to give yourself a break from it.
When you're pushed for time, writing several articles at one sitting can create enough change of focus to make you "forget" the one you've just written.
8. Polish it up
Short articles are unlikely to need major editing if you've written them as described here. They will flow easily and naturally already and having each Q & A on a separate sheet makes it easier to select only the ones you want. Your job now is to put them in a reasonably logical sequence and make sure they're understandable and that the reader is led smoothly from one question and answer to the next.
9. Top and tail it
Write a brief introductory paragraph as a "teaser" for the main article. Many article directories now put the first paragraph of each piece into RSS feeds which are picked up by other websites, so you'll want to make sure that your two or three major keywords appear at least once in that first paragraph.
Write another short paragraph to summarize the major points of the article and provide some ideas for the reader to explore the subject further. Don't of course forget your own resource box: use the format [a href="http://www.yourwebsite.com"]Your Website Name[/a] (replace the square brackets with angle brackets) for your link, so when your article is converted to html your link will automatically be live.
10. Submit it!
This can often be the most tedious part of the exercise - distributing your article to interested directories and special interest groups. To do this manually can take many hours. If you intend to do your own distribution, focus on the major article directories to make best use of the time you have available. Alternatively, obtain a copy of submission software, such as Article Submitter Pro, which will partially automate the procedure. The most cost and time effective way is probably to use an article submission service, such as Article Marketer, who will distribute the article for you for a small fee.
Article keywords: Writing, Write, Article, Viral, Marketing, Internet, Home Business
Article Source: http://www.articles32.com
Ivan Kelly managed a Direct Mail business with extensive mailing lists for ten years and has designed and promoted many websites. He also provides quality f'ree courses on key internet marketing subjects. A list of these f'ree courses is available at: http://www.WebStartAdvisor.com/info.html
.: New Article Marketing Articles
1). 8 Reasons Why Writing and Submitting Articles is The Way To Promote Your Business And Earn Money
If you want to earn money online, your online business needs traffic. Among all the various ways of advertising a website, article writing and submitting remains the most effective and affordable way to promote your online business.
2). Catering to Your Target Audience
One of the biggest mistakes that article writers make is to try to accommodate too many readers with one article. For truly effective article marketing, write each article with a specific audience, and their needs, in mind. A small niche audience is always better than no audience at all.
3). Shorten Your Pathway to Financial Rewards...Create the Better Mousetrap
Marketers, for years, have looked for a perfect solution to connect clients with consumers in a foolproof way. Presto! Marketing has evolved to meet the need.
4). SEO Ghostwriting for Online Publishers
Ghostwriting for online publishers is somewhat different from offline mediums for a number of reasons. Many offline ghostwriters find that they are not fully qualified to write for web-based publications.
5). Where to Advertise Your Small Business Online...Without Paying a Penny!
Without a large budget to accommodate the overwhelming costs of advertising in print publications, attracting the attention of buyers can be a serious challenge. Yet, the cost of reaching your audience: zero dollars.
6). Effective Landing Page In Article Marketing Must Give A Strong First Impression
An effective landing page is not whatever page. The main job it has to do is to make a strong first impression and call the visitor into action after the article marketing story has done the pre selling.
7). Three Points to Consider When Using Private Label Articles
Getting out of writing your own articles by using so-called "Private Label" articles seems like an ideal solution for the non-writer. But check out the downside before you pay for an expensive subscription.
.: Top Article Marketing Articles
1). Common Writing Errors and Misused Words
Agreement of Subjects and Verbs
It is important to make sure subjects and verbs agree within a sentence. This may sound simple, but it is a common mistake that is often seen in longer articles.
Incorrect-In the United States of America, personal liberty and justice has always been staples of American philosophy.
2). Simple Tips on Using Private Label Articles
Article marketing is by far the best free method of promoting your business and increasing opt in subscribers and your sales. Content is king. You can say that again. That is why writing articles is one of the most utilized Internet marketing media today.
But how if you are not comfortable writing your own articles? Many marketers just do not know how to put their thoughts into words.
3). The Top 10 Article Directories to Post Your Content
Words can be very powerful.
This is the contention of the many people who are into article marketing nowadays. This is because article marketing is the new way of promoting their business without having to resort to costly advertisements.
4). Improving Sentence Construction in Articles
Example of an unclear pronoun reference
To be successful in college, it is vital to follow several key steps, including attending class and studying thoroughly. This is the most effective way to achieve high grades.
5). Create An Outline To Write Better Articles
No matter how many times a person has done it, writing articles can be a task many would rather avoid. Now at a time when it could help you in your job or work, facing the task can be like facing the enemy. Creating an Outline makes this task much easier. What sets successful writers apart are the preparation, methods and procedures they use. This article will serve as a useful guide for you. Trust and rely on your outline because it will prove to be a very helpful tool when you do.
6). Did you hear about the Article Marketing Revolution?
If you are starting to promote your off line business on line, or creating an on line business then you need to know that even if you create the most beautiful and highly functional site, without any visitors it is nothing.
7). Creating Articles Around Niche Subjects For Profit
Choosing a good niche subject to base your website around is one of the most important aspects of making money off of your articles. This will give you a foundation to build from and you can target one general audience with a pack of keywords that they are most likely to be searching for.