7 Article Writing Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make

Posted on 05. Jul, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

It is worth bearing in mind that not all article directories have the same rules for your article submission. Using the following article writing tips will give you the very best chance of having your articles accepted by the editors at first reading without you having to do re-writes or, at worst, having your article rejected because of some minor technicality.

Just the other day I received an email from a directory owner, (only 1 spelling mistake and no paragraphs but hey!, they make the rules), with a warning to it’s authors that any spelling mistakes, bad punctuation, grammar and so on would result in the article being rejected out of hand.

From an authors point of view this is a little drastic as, whilst we don’t expect the article editors to spend an excessive amount of time proofing the article, we would like the opportunity to adjust minor errors.

Not everybody has friends and family who can help proof their articles prior to submission and no matter how much care you take to grammar and spell check, the odd mistake is bound to happen. The more prominent article directories and submitters, like Ezine Articles, Article Marketer and Go Articles to name just 3, always give you a chance to correct any errors.

Remember that different sites have different formatting and submission rules and ezines /newsletters may require each line formatted to a certain CPL.

Here we go.

Tip 1:

Use Title Case For Your Article Titles – The first letter of each word is capitalized. Do not use a period at the end of a sentence but you may use a ? and an !

Here is a little known tip about article titles. I once made the mistake of using a bland headline. Well, it was basically my initial heading for the article when I first starting writing it without any of the “punch” to draw in the readers and I forgot to amend it.

The article was rejected and it was only because an article editor took the trouble to tell me about it that I became aware of this issue. So, put some punch in your titles!

Tip 2:

If you have a choice of, say, 3 categories and your article will fit only one then just use that category. You do not have to use all 3 just because the options are there. An article can be rejected if you have selected a “close” but not relevant category.

Tip 3:

Check the number of links you are allowed in your resource box. If in doubt then just use 1. If possible you must use anchor text links to help you with off-page search engine optimization. The use of anchor text links is very important. Keep the information in your resource box factual and hype-free.

Tip 4:

Do not use links or HTML in the body of your article. Some sites will allow the use of certain tags but if you are mass submitting your article you probably won’t even see the allowable tags anyway.

Tip 5:

Avoid using repetitive decorative symbols to form dividers in the article body such as the double underline, hash or dollar signs.

Tip 6:

Do not write an advertisement for your affiliate product and definitely no affiliate links, even in your resource box.

Tip 7:

Some article directories will not accept a series of articles in parts so don’t put Part 1 or Part 2 in the title. Also refrain from placing wording similar to “the next article in the series will be about ” at the end of your article.

Your Article Writing Campaign Timeline

Posted on 04. Jul, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Copyright (c) 2008 OnlineBizU.com

I hear comments frequently that I appear to be “all over the place.” Someone will search a topic and see an article I’ve written, and then follow a link to a teleclass I’m leading, read a press release I’ve submitted, or read about me in someone else’s newsletter. You, too, can create this sense of being everywhere with one simple action that you take each and every week: writing one new how-to article.

I’ve been using article marketing as my primary marketing strategy since 2005, and I have experienced tremendous results with it, things like being asked to speak at events, appearing in print publications, selling my information products to new audiences, and having people hire me to coach them based solely on the article archive they have perused on my website.

I have a very defined timeline and schedule that I follow rigorously each week to make article marketing work for me as a successful Internet marketing strategy. Here are the 8 steps I follow weekly to repurpose and maximize the use of every since article that I create:

1. Write the article. I schedule a block of my time every week on my calendar as my business development time, or time I’m devoting to the growth of my business. As article marketing is key to that process, I devote a couple of those hours to creating a 600-800 word how-to article that solves a particular problem or issue of my target market. Many times my topic is inspired by conversation with my clients, by questions I receive through my blog, or by repeated inquiries about strategies that have worked for me.

2. Run it in ezine. Once the article is complete, the first place I publish it is in my email newsletter. Since I publish weekly, I have to write one new article every week for that publication. There’s nothing like a deadline to keep you accountable (even if it is self-imposed)!

3. Place it on website, along with ezine archive. The article is then placed on my website and archived there. In addition, I archive back issues of my ezine on my website and frequently refer visitors to those issues as well as current subscribers who may have missed receiving their issue one week.

4 Submit article to directories. This is when the magic begins. This process alone is responsible for the bulk of the recognition I receive in my industry. By submitting to directories, my articles are picked up and placed on blogs, in ezines, on websites, in print publications, on YouTube as video, just to name a few ways I’ve seen my content distributed online. The duplicate content penalty handed out by Google seems to have lessened, as many of the sites using my content now seem to have been returned to the Google index.

5. Blog it. Many people refer to receive their information via a blog feed, so the various sections of my email newsletter are distributed to my blog over the course of a few days. In addition, my content is also posted to other blogs I host at MySpace, Facebook, several niched social networking communities to which I belong, and larger content sites like SelfGrowth.com and Squidoo.

6. Podcast the article. Since my time is pretty limited each week, the thought of coming up with another new topic to place on another medium is simply overwhelming. Instead, I have created a special introduction and conclusion for my podcast and read that each week, along with the content of my article. This podcast is then submitted to various podcast directories to appeal to all of those who prefer to listen to learn rather than to read.

7 Make it a press release. Press releases have changed dramatically from the time I began to use them in college when I was publicity chair for any number of student events. Now, the audience for an online press release is not just the media, but your target market and consumers as well, who may stumble across your search engine optimized release while searching for information on a specific topic.

My favorite service to use is PRWeb.com. I take one of my articles each month, typically one of my best tips articles, and turn it into a compelling press release and have it distributed through PRWeb for $120. For this fee, you have the opportunity to add supporting materials to your release, like audio and images, as well as tracking statistics and social bookmarking options.

8. Create a teleclass from your content. Teleclasses are a quick, inexpensive way to create a devoted following. If you write a tips-based article, it’s quite easy to create a teleclass where you discuss your bullet points and add examples and stories to further illustrate those points. I now hold monthly teleclasses created exclusively from the content of articles I have written.

Strategize how you can replicate this article writing campaign in your business. You don’t have to do it all alone — many of the tasks can be delegated to your assistant. Once you have refined your process, you’ll see your business grow by leaps and bounds!

Article Writing and Submission for Pennies

Posted on 02. Jul, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Let’s forget all the other traffic generation tactics for now, and just focus on article marketing. The question is, is it for everyone? What exactly is article marketing? What does it entails? What are some of the benefits? And what exactly needs to be done? Is there any hidden costs?

These are some of the questions that must have occurred to any article marketer at some point. But the most important question is, what is the return on investment? To answer that question, we shall attempt to answer all the other questions, and in the process derive the answer to our most important question.

First, I must state that there is no such thing as free traffic. Even if you don’t pay for them. That’s because if you don’t buy your traffic, chances are, you’ll be spending time generating that traffic. Forum posts and article marketing are just two such examples. But the truth is, time is the most valuable resource. So if you are going to have to spend a lot of time generating that traffic, it’s probably not worth your effort at the end of the day.

And that’s what every article marketer should be asking themselves: Is the time and money spent on article marketing well invested? What is the return on investment if I am to spend X amount of time and dollars to write and submit a single article? To save you the trouble of having to test things out, I have the answers ready for you.

From my own tests, each article you write and submit will bring you an average of five to six visitors a month, on a consistent basis. How many visitors each article brings you depend on many factors, such as the quality of the article, the keywords used, and the directories that the article was submitted to. But on average, my results show an average of five to six visitors a month. Notice that those figures do not look unreasonable, and are certainly very much achievable for anyone.

So six visitors a month, means six people clicks on your link to visit your website. If you are to buy those clicks, how much would you pay for them? Depending on your niche, clicks from quality search engines could cost as much as a dollar and up. As the market gets more and more competition, the bid prices for bid will continue to rise. And at a dollar a click, six clicks will be worth six dollars. If you consistently get an average of six visitors a month for ten months, that’s sixty dollars worth of traffic for a single article. Now ask yourself, how much did you spend creating and submitting that article?

Assuming you outsourced your article writing and submission for pennies, your return on investment could be a thousand percent and up after just one year! And it doesn’t stop there. As long as your articles are still out there, you’ll continue to receive traffic.

So don’t write off article marketing just yet. There are article writing and submission services that’ll take all the work out of your hands for just pennies.

10 Article Writing Tips for Effective Article Writing

Posted on 30. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

If you must have to advertise and write articles on the net you have to do it right. The art of persuasion is by and large carrying out a win-win situation. It is presenting an instance that visitors find favorable to agree with. It is making them an offer they can hardly refuse. Article marketing which can spawn higher tick through rates and lower cost per tick.

1) As in anything there are techniques that can make your job easier and your case more convincing. Although there are exactly no hard and fast rules there are strategies that are used commonly because they simply work.

2) Before anything else, know your audience. It is significant that you have targeted the right audience. Know their knowledge level because people who are able to understand what you are driving at can easily adapt your ideas.

3) Choose a topic that you feel comfortable with. It can be a topic or article which feels good when it can help others that may have struggled with the same problem.

4) Be repetitive. It is essential in creative writing. Repetition gives emphasis. This way a reader can easily understand what you are trying to say. Be repetitive in a good way. It could either be through an example, using a story, or quoting a famous person.

5) The figures of speech like metaphors, similes and analogies can be a writer’s best friends. Comparisons can make it easier for the readers to recognize the picture you are painting. It is like being in common grounds. There is nothing strange or something the readers are not familiar with.

6) Use power words that agitate and stir opinions. Your words have to be emotion-ridden. But at the same time they give solution as an answer that things will be better. These are words that eventually provoke response. But you have to make sure that the specific phrase has something to do with your business. Make every word count.

7) Consistency in ideas shows integrity and rational actions. Being consistent would make it difficult for the reader not to agree with you. It has been established in sociology books that consistency in our thoughts and actions is a valid social trait.

Connect to the future. Provide your readers with a glimpse of what is to come. Try to extrapolate recent events into probable future results. Here is where your credibility stands. If you are able to back up with remarkable credentials and obvious understanding of the subject matter, this will become a powerful technique of persuasion.

9) Never bother with commercials in your article. Your readers are humans who have al the right to benefit from your article. With the use of the resource box don’t fill it with commercials. This will establish your credibility as an expert author on your chosen topic.

10) As much as possible make your article short. Let your ideas flow naturally in clear and short article. Write an attention-grabbing title and give it away for free. Make an alliance with others and encourage them to give your e-book as bonus for their paid products.

3 Tips for Successful Article Writing for Beginners You Simply Cannot Ignore

Posted on 28. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Would you believe that on an average, on-line users realistically read about 20% of the text on a web page? So what is the use of writing long and in-depth web articles if the majority of online readers go only for a few paragraphs? When web readers visit your page, they are looking for clues and specific information they require. If articles are long and provide little for them to make sense, the reader will rapidly get tired of searching and will go to another potential source.

So any beginner who is venturing into article writing for the web should really look at these. That’s what I learned in my days as an article writer.

Tip1:
A freelancer should make the content as simple as possible. The sentences should be short with simple and common words. Sentences which are short and easily understood will grab the attention and interest of the audience. Please understand that your audience is a common man. Your objective should be that all your visitors understand you.

Tip2:
Give your content a personal touch. Make the audience feel that you are talking to them. Provide relevant information. Don’t clutter your article with too many things. Write in the form of paragraphs, focusing on one idea at a time.

Tip3:
Search engine optimization is important. Otherwise you won’t be found. But more important is your audience. Hence always remember that you need to strike a balance and write content that will be liked by your visitors an the Search Engines as well.
If you would really like to have more information on how to be a successful article writer, you can find lots of information here.

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The Biggest Lie Ever Told About Article Writing

Posted on 27. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Do you know the biggest lie ever told about article writing? Admittedly, it’s so subconscious that you’ll probably remember someone saying it at one point or another. And not to say, I know that you’ll never say anything like this.

And here it is: “I can’t write for god’s sake!”

The biggest lie ever told about article writing is that someone can’t write.

Face it. If you can talk to a friend, you can write. The trouble is that we are trained in school to write with profound complexity — The more sophisticated words you use, the more points you score. The more grammar mistakes you make, the less points you get.

Through the years, we get wired to writing scientifically as the ‘way to writing good articles’. Conversely, the opposite is the truth. Simple grammatical mistakes like using a ‘but’ after a period punctuation mark proves to do more good than bad in reality. It catches attention and focuses the attention of the reader on what you are about to say.

In fact, research has shown that the best articles are those written in a conversational tone. Know why? Because one of the habits of a reader is that they sub-vocalize what they read in their mind. Even now as you’re reading this article, I bet you’re reading it aloud in your mind. That’s sub-vocalization.

The more your article is written like a speech, the more effective and easier it will be for your readers to understand and absorb.

Challenge yourself to write just about the way you speak and you’ll soon find that it’s not that hard. You’ll realize that what makes it harder to write at the speed of your speech is actually your typing speed.

Train your typing skills to suit your rate of speech. It’s also acceptable to use a speech recognition program that translates what you say into a microphone, into text that appears on your word processor.

The only trick is then to train the computer to recognize the words you say and translate it into text quickly and accurately.

Article Writing Breakthroughs – Announcing a Set of Rules for Excelling at Article Writing

Posted on 25. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

There are some powerful internet marketing tools, but in my opinion, none quite so powerful as writing articles. They are very adaptable and extremely versatile. Their ability to contribute to your business-growing efforts cannot be overstated. When you post your articles to articles submission websites, not only are you immediately presenting yourself as an authoritative expert in you chosen niche, but without any effort on your part, you are also developing a conduit for inbound links into your site. Again, the power of these two constituents cannot be overstated, and can also help in the process of building trust with your potential clients, which is the most sure-fire way to compel them to do future business with you. So here’s how you go about excelling at article writing.

A compelling title is what you ought to be prioritizing. Unless you can write a title accordingly, then your article may not be seen. The title plays a crucial part in getting online users to open and read your content. So don’t just focus on writing content rich material, make all the words as compelling as possible, and that included the title. A strong description will serve to show your readers what they can expect, and be offered, ahead of the game. Be sure to give close attention to your keywords too, as they are important for the relevant search engine searches.

If you can keep it short and to the point, you won’t bore your audience. Make it as easy as possible for them to understand and get your message. Don’t use complicated terms or expressions; it’s not a college examination. Keep a nice, simple, easy flow of words, and avoid any padding.

It will be helpful if you have objectives for all your work, so know the place or places you are going to pitch everything you write. Doing this should make writing your articles a whole lot easier too, as it will home in on giving you appropriate and informative content to write. Also the ways for posting your work to blogs, and article sites is different. For instance, you’ll need keyword summary, and resource box if you post article sites, but these are not necessary for a blog.

Remember, when you post you articles on yours, or any, blog, or your website, it’s a convenient facility that you can create an anchor text in your article. Now these texts can take your audience to other articles you’ve done, and promotes them, too. Also it reinforces your expert online status by supplying them with more information, more value. Not only that, but it keeps them within your site which will make your chances of a sale much better too.

Article Writing, Free And Easy Ways To Get Higher Website Rank

Posted on 23. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Article writing will still be the favorite choice of Internet Marketers in the years ahead. We have to come to grips with site design though. It is sad when you see website designers perfecting their craft without even giving a single thought to bringing traffic to the site.

A successful website does not become a success on the back of web design alone. What would that brilliant piece of web designing workmanship be without traffic? Who would be able to benefit from that brilliance?

Article writing saves on expenses and time. Does article writing surface as your preferred method of promoting your internet business? Surely it has no equal when considered from the same cost and time perspective. Lets look at article writing from a different angle.

Each article that you write for your website should contain a link within it to your money making web page. Moreover, you also need links that the search engine spiders will need to crawl in order to reach the other pages of your website.

The spiders will follow links from page to page. They take this accumulated information gathered from your webpages and hand it over to the indexers. If the search engines find that the information on all of your webpages dovetails nicely and they are similar; you should move higher up in page rank.

Higher page rank leads to more traffic. Remember too, if your article theme also dovetails with your website theme your page rank will receive an added boost. This is another double whammy effect of using articles to generate website traffic. You can easily win on both fronts.

Write your articles around keyword phrases. Strategically place those phrases throughout the article for optimization. They will then gain excellent rank in the search engines. Once you gain that rank, your articles become stand alone traffic generators that cost you absolutely nothing.

Consider this, your article contains information or content. The search engines love content. Your content is zeroed in on keyword phrases. These phrases link up perfectly with the searchers query. Once a match is found for your keyword phrase the search engines are all over your article.

This is free traffic. Lets back up a bit. Not only is this free traffic, it is free targeted traffic. Why do I say targeted? Simply because the person who typed in the keyword phrase is searching for something in your specific website topic arena. This in no way guarantees you a sale. But it does significantly increase the likely hood of one.

Underpinning your total article goal should always be customer satisfaction. An uncomplicated almost docile navigation through the information is a vital cog in the wheel of customer satisfaction. Pilot your reader through to the area you wish them to go.

You do this by simply putting yourself in the place of your reader. Hunt diligently for writing roadblocks. Remove them to ensure a smooth transition for your reader once a decision has been made.

Tips on article writing

Posted on 22. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Article writing requires a lot of skills as it displays a writer’s intelligence, knowledge and integrity. It is a medium of communication that is meant to convey a message to the readers. The impact of the message and its clarity depends on the writing styles of various writers. Some writers use their own thoughts and ideas and some take ideas from different resources and garner them together to make their articles perfect. Writing a good, informative and catchy article is very essential for a blog or a SEO technique. Here are some useful points which will help make the article interesting and helpful for the readers.

 Perfection is an important aspect of article writing. It, in itself, is a wider term as there is a great amount of effort required to write an article incisively. Perfection can be related to quality, in a sense that an article should be precise, thought provoking, specific, knowledgeable, and non-ambiguous. Some writers deviate from the topic and their thoughts, ideas, and opinions appear to be perplexed. The outcome is that the readers end up getting nothing out of it as the message conveyed is either redundant or illogical.

Article writing consists of some must-follow rules and guidelines. They act as strong foundation in achieving what a writer wants and what he/she needs to convey to the receivers/readers. These rules and guidelines include:

1)      Avoid too much detailing:

2)      Support your statements/facts with examples. People love to relate the benefits of things with real-life examples. 

3)      Authenticate your information and avoid using wrong information as it can be a marketing strategy of some people. 

4)        Proofreading for spell checks and grammar to make it perfect and error free

5)         Give direction to the reader and avoid using you “could”, “should”, “would” is sentences such as “you could start…” . Instead frame the sentence as:  “start your own programme”

6)      To the point opinion and facts; share your valuable insights by giving detailed information about the topic.    

4 Article Writing Mistakes Every Writer Makes

Posted on 20. Jun, 2010 by admin in Article Writing

Writing articles is one of the most effective ways to promote your business regardless of whether you promote affiliate programs, MLM, or your own products and services.

As an article directory owner, and someone who uses articles to promote my business, there are several mistakes I see article writers make that sabotage their articles. Below are several mistakes article writers make, and how you can correct them so you get more traffic and more sales from your articles.

1. Weak Titles

Your title should effectively describe what your article is about. Many writers don’t take the time to craft titles that get results. It may be laziness or simply a lack of understanding in how to write good titles. If you want readers to read your article and click through your resource box, you need to craft an effective title.

To do this, you need to treat your title like a headline. Write it as if you are writing a headline. You can search article directories to get ideas. You can also use keyword tools to help you find the right keywords to craft your article titles. Using the right keywords will help your article rank higher.

2. Misplaced Affiliate Links

Most article directories, including mine, won’t accept articles with affiliate links in the body. Sites like Ezine Articles, doesn’t accept article with affiliate links in the resource box.

If you must use affiliate links in your articles, better buy a domain and point toward your resource.

3. Long Winded Resource Boxes

I have children. Now I have grandchildren. I don’t have any pets, but one day I may just buy a couple of Rottweilers as pets because I love them.

Are you bored yet?

Although you may find these facts about your life interesting, readers don’t. When I read a resource box about a 34 year old car enthusiast who owns her own auto parts shop, I yawn and then click away.

The bottom line is: readers don’t care about the details of your life. They want to know what you have to offer, and what you offer in your resource box had better be the next logical step in your article. Your article gives readers a taste; your resource box had better contain the next course. If it doesn’t, readers will click away and you’ve lost them.

4. Unrelated Resource Boxes

Maybe you’ve written a great article. You’ve gotten the reader to read it all because you had an intriguing title and great information that makes your reader want to click through. Now it’s time to deliver.

If your article is about gardening, but your resource box is all about the next big thing in internert marketing, kiss your reader goodbye.

Readers want information. Your resource box should tell them where to go to get more information. If it doesn’t, you’ve wasted your time and alienated your reader.

If you’re making these mistakes in your article writing, they’re easy to correct. Correct these mistakes, and you’ll draw your readers in and get them to click through to your site. Isn’t that what good article writing is really all about?