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3 Prep Items To Master Before Submitting Articles To Mass Publication

CJ — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:21:31 +0000

Now is the time to start getting those creative writing juices flowing. Article marketing has, as it chief benefit, a fecundity for information marketing that nothing else rivals. Modern communication technology brings with it the popularity of information-based marketing, an age-old technique for getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers.

This is why article writing, submissions and publication is so popular.

Besides posting your writing to your own blogs, and perhaps posting as a guest poster on someone else’s blog, submission of your articles to article directories brings a viral aspect to the exposure of those articles. The more eyes on your writing, the better, right? Best to do so correctly for maximum benefit.

So, before you run off to submit your articles willy-nilly to the directories, let’s take a quick look at 3 things you need to consider for successful article writing and submission.

1. Understand that what you are promoting is not the same as what you are writing.
Promotion of your articles works for three aspects of your online business: lead generation, branding and promotion for the sake of promotion.

But the reason for writing an article is not at all about any of those three items. It is about educating your reader. Your reader came in search of information s/he could obtain freely—that’s the nature of the Internet. Whatever you want to know about, you can pretty much find something about it on the Information Highway.

So, if your article does not inform and educate, your reader will find it all too easy to click away and you will have lost the promotional benefits of your writing. Stay focused on your subject, be clear and concise in relaying to your reader what s/he wants to know.

2. Use every promotional trick you can to maximize article success.
Not only will article marketing supply you with valuable backlinks, it should also bring new readers and better search engine results. This means doing serious keyword research, and then using those keywords strategically throughout your article.

You don’t want to overdo it, of course. Keyword stuffing is still possible and will still land you in search engine limbo. Use common sense and limit your keyword density to somewhere between 1% and 3%.

Anchor text links are excellent for use in terms os search engine optimization, but not every article directory allows them in the body of the article. You may be able to use them only in your resource box.

3. Do not bother submitting an article to any directory or other publication without reading that directory’s guidelines first.
I have owned a couple of article directories in my time, and was continually surprised at how many people would try to submit articles that were clearly not appropriate according to the rules I set forth for that directory. For example, if you found an article directory called Child Development Site, would you submit articles about male enhancement and other adult subjects? Common sense says no. And yet, they arrived every day. It happens because thanks to mass article submitters, the guidelines are not even read by the human writer. It is a complete waste of everyone’s time, because articles that are not appropriate will NEVER be accepted.

So, even if you are using a mass submitter, take the time to read the guidelines of the directories in your submitter list. You don’t have to read all of them in one day, but do make the effort. Don’t waste your time submitting inappropriate articles.

Article Writing To Sell A Product

CJ — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 01:57:31 +0000

When I owned QualityArticles.com, I would get articles that were outright “plugs” for physical or digital products, websites, services and various other kinds of specific things. In other words, articles that said nothing more than, “This product is great. Buy it from me!” I would reject them out of hand.

I thought it was simply careless, lazy writing. I thought these writers just chose to ignore the subtlety of marketing.

But today, as I was thinking about what more I could say about article writing, I started thinking about these writers and it ocurred to me, maybe they just don’t know HOW to write an article that does not blatantly sell a product, but DOES lead to their product’s sales page. So that is today’s topic.

How To Write An Article That Informs, Not Just Sells
The basic premise you need to remember is that people do NOT want to read yet another commercial pitch. We all want the highest and best for the Internet, and also, to not have it be full of garbage—or sales pitches. Be honest, you get up and go into the kitchen during those 30 minutes of commercials between every 5 minutes of the show you watch on TV, right? I know you do, so do I.

There’s a reason why it’s called the “information highway.” What we want on the Internet is information. Your articles need to inform and educate. So, if you are selling a product, or some such, how do you do that? You want the world to know how awesome your product is, correct? But you cannot simply write about your product.

Instead, you write about the PROBLEMS your product solves.
You talk about about the SOLUTIONS to those problems (the intrinsic values of the solutions, not specific products that would solve said problems). Then you offer, through your resource box, a way for your reader to do more investigation of a possible solution—your product.

Alright, let’s put this into action. You have a kick-butt affiliate product. It’s going to make you a bunch of money, provided you can drive traffic to the sales page. What are you going to talk about?

Are you going to talk about the product, itself? Are you going to write about the value your product will give your customers? No! That is the purpose of the sales page.

You need to address the PROBLEM that your product will solve. Draw the reader in by describing the problem. Share with them the difficulties that this problem brings. Share a personal ancedote, if you have one.

Then, you can start talking about solutions to the problems. Solutions… not a product that will solve the problem, but the actual “what-it’s-going-to-take” to solve the problem. The values intrinsic to whatever solutions there might be.

Example: I sell MicroNiche Finder, one of the best solutions out there for the problem of proper keyword analysis. But instead of just saying that, I do the following:

I point out the problem intrinisic with finding the right keywords, describing in detail how it is rather difficult and daunting, especially to newcomers.

The “solution” would be to find a way to streamline the process. I would even give steps to help eliminate PART of the problem, right there, in the article, for free. In the case of MNF, I would talk about the free tools that exist, pointing out that they are only partial solutions.

Lastly, I write about the benefits of finding a complete solution, and this is the paragraph that will lead to my resource box where my call to action and sales page links are.

Bottom line: Be informative with everything you write.

Article Writing Is As Simple As 1,2,3

CJ — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 06:39:37 +0000

Many people find article writing difficult to do because they are not used to writing. It can be very daunting to sit down and write, if it is something to which you just are not accustomed. If you have the money, the work can be outsourced. But, for many people starting out online, money is tight and so they can’t afford a freelancer.

While it is true that you can get articles written cheaply, for a couple of dollars, but they are likely to be very poor quality. For a decent 400 to 500 word article you are looking to pay between five and ten dollars, possibly more depending on the niche and the author.

However, you can write the articles yourself, and it’s not that difficult to do if you follow a system.

Below is a system that works very well–it is one that I use myself when I’m fighting writer’s block. You can be writing high quality articles surprisingly quickly with this technique. It really isn’t that hard and it enables even the most novice of writers to create decent articles rapidly.

Okay, here we go:

Decide upon the niche you are writing in.
Determine which keyword(s) you are targeting in your article. Now, this did not used to be part of the writing process, but with the reach that is possible with the power of the Internet, doing things like SEO just helps you get noticed a little sooner.
Determine the subject your article will be about.
Type into Google some of your keywords and see what problems and issues people are facing in that niche. What do they want to know? What is their pain? What solutions are they looking for? What is it, about your keyword, that you need to write that will solve your readers’ question?

Make notes and keep this information handy. We start the actual writing next:

Write a powerful, interest-building title with your keyword at the start, if possible. If it just won’t come to you, at first, that’s okay. After you’ve been writing the article for a fewmintes, something may come to you that you can use to construct an attention-getting title.
Write 3 or 4 statements describing the problem.
Write three sentences that each asks the reader a question about your subject.
Think about the solutions to your reader’s problem. Try to come up with more than one thought about the answer to the problem.
But only write one sentence about the most innocuous or easiest plausible answer. Remember, you want your reader to be forced to click your link to read more. Therefore, you will:
End you article with an invitation to read the better answer.
10a. If writing for article directory submission, this last section (#10) should become your resource box.
Now go back to each step from step #6 and expound on each sentence. Here’s good news: your paragraphs need to be short. 2, 3 and 4 or 5 sentence paragraphs are exactly what you need. Anything much more than that, and I guarantee you will lose your audience.

The Internet has done a strange thing to people; it has taught them to read by skimming. This is why bullet point and bolding of certain words or short phrases are highly recommended. People skim an article and if something catches their eye, then they will stop and read deeper.

To make it easy for your reader, 8 or 9 short paragraphs will suffice. That amounts to only about 450-500 words.

It can be very daunting to sit down and write if it is something you are not used to.

And there you have a good quality, unique article that you could spin or just submit to an article directory or use on your website. Content is king on the Internet, and unique content provides you with an edge over the competition.

This method will help you to quickly write articles, and it won’t be long before you can write a high quality article in under ten minutes. With practice, you will be able to do them in five to seven minutes easily!

And remember the more articles you have out there, the more you can potentially earn!

Discursive Writing | Another Look

CJ — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:51:09 +0000

To understand discursive writing, think about why we write in the first place. It is a method of communication and manipulation. When one writes, one hopes to convince the reader of a concept. The aim is to educate the reader.

Mental skills are necessary for understanding concepts. In order to write so your reader understands, you must deliver information in a way they can use those mental facilities—observational, analytical, analogous, etcetera.—so your reader can then classify and remember the information. That is successfully accomplished using discursive writing.

It is interesting how the word “discourse” (from whence we get “discursive”) comes to us. Traced back from the Latin to French, it means, literally, “to run back and forth.” Which, in the case of writing, means to give your readers a thorough look at both sides of an idea, primarily by stating one side, then the other and back to the original premise.

Thus, you can organize your article in three ways: extolling the “pro” side, the “con” side, or both pro’s and con’s of your subject in a balanced way.

To write discursively means to give valid points for the education of your reader. There are 4 types of discursive writing:

Explanation – This type of article is designed to tell the “why” or “what happened” of the subject.
Argument –An attempt to convince the reader about the subject.
Description – Answers the questions, “how is it what is it?” Gives qualities or properties indemic to the subject.
Definition – Announces the nature of the subject. Answers “what it is?”

Planning To Write The Discursive Article

Write an interesting introduction that clearly indicates your stance (are you ‘for’ or ‘against’ ?).
Give your first point, with supporting evidence, followed by second, third and any subsequent points.
Tell the “other side of the story,” delivering points in such a fashion as to indicate what others believe, i.e., “Some would have you believe…” “Moreover, others feel that…” etcetera.
Restate your position, reiterating your points (without repeating them verbatim).
Draw to a conclusion and end your article.

With these points in mind, it should be easier for you to understand what you need to deliver to your reader in order to convince them that your point is valid, and ultimately lead them to the action you wish to produce in them, whether to read further, or to purchase a product, or believe a certain way. Keep these points in mind when planning to write your next article and you will be successful.

Newbies Article Marketing Primer

CJ — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:25:31 +0000

First time Internet Marketers learn quickly that there are numerous way to publicize and advertise. So, if you’ve got a product, or a website or a service that you’d like to offer to the world, what is the best way to spread the word? And, perhaps, more importantly, what’s the cheapest way?

Article marketing is the way. It’s quite easy and, best of all, it free!

Writing The Articles
For the purpose of article marketing, the typical article runs from 350 to 750 words, making this a very east task to accomplish. It only amounts to 6 to 9 paragraphs… short paragraphs, at that! Take into consideration everything you want to tell your future readers. Make an outline of your high points. From this, you will easily begin to construct the paragraphs.

Make the entire article easy to read. Paragraphs should be short, 2-4 sentences. If you were faced with a single paragraph that spanned half a page, would you bother to read it? As it is too easy for people to “click away” from your article, it is in your best interest to make the reading of your article as easy as possible.

Bullet points are very popular these days. The “information super-highway” has become like the Autobahn, and the faster you can get your message across to readers, the more likely they will be to actually read what you have to say. Use bullet points for your readers to scan.

What To Do With Your Article
Now that you’ve written the article, where do you send it to get the most exposure? Well, first things first. Many out there will warn you about the duplicate content issue. It’s really not as bad as some would have you believe. I have covered the issue extensively in other articles, so I will not rehash it here. Suffice to say that the best thing to do is to post the article first to your own website. Google gives more weight to the first instance of an article that it finds.

Next, start sending the article to article directories. Directories, like eZineArticles.com and others, are repositories for articles where webmasters may come and take articles they like for their own websites, with the one requirement being that they leave the article completely intact, including the author’s resource box. The resource box will have links back to your site within it.

Some writer’s use article spinners to create variations to send out to article directories, further avoiding the duplicate content issue. You can do this, if you so desire, but remember this: if Google penalized duplicate content more harshly than they actually do, then all those article directories would have been shut down long ago!

After directories, the next place to go is Squidoo, Hub Pages and other authority sites where you can create a page. Google considers these sites authority sites and will give more weight to the links back to your site from there. Create a page at these sites and include your article, replete with your links.

Other things you can do involve social marketing, like Tweeting about your article, posting about it in forums and commenting in other people’s blog posts of similar subjects.