Articles: aprilie 2013

luni, 8 aprilie 2013

You Need To Write-Write Now!

I've been shouting it for years, and I will probably keep shouting for many years to come. If you want to get some quality, free visitors to your website-You Need To Write An Ezine Article!

You can go ahead and admit that secretly you been toying with the idea anyway. You've fantasized about one day checking your email and seeing your name in the table of contents of your favorite ezine. You've imagine what it's like to know that hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people are reading YOUR words. And then there's the glorious payoff: Some of these people will visit your website. People who through reading your article have already established a relationship with you and are therefore more likely to pay real attention to what your website has to offer. Ahh, what a lovely dream...

But I'm telling you today to STOP DREAMING. Open your eyes, open up a new Word document and get started writing!

Of course, you need something to write about. I suggest one of two choices:

(1) Write about whatever subject your website covers. If your website is about Internet marketing, write about some of the ways your website suggests marketing online. If your website sells chocolate brownies, write about chocolate brownie recipes. If your website is a Drew Barrymoore fan site, please send me the URL immediately. Just kidding! Actually you could write and article about Drew's latest movie or her fight with alcoholism. The point is, if you have website-you have a topic.

(2) Write about something you know. We all have areas where we excel, as well as subjects that interest us. For instance, I know a lot about ezine articles so I write about them. One of the benefits of writing about something you know is what I like to call the 'Expert Factor'. If you write enough articles about a certain subject you will eventually get known as an expert in that field online. People will then trust what you say and will be even more inclined check out any websites or offers you endorse. In a nutshell-you gain credibility. And online that's a GOOOOD thing!

I'll just go ahead and blurt this one out because I know it's on your mind: Don't worry about being an expert writer. Don't shy away from writing ezine articles because you think you might misplace a few commas, semicolons or dashes. This is the Internet, not the Oxford Journal of Medicine. You're not trying to win a Pulitzer Prize. Just write your article the best you can, re-read it several times, run spellcheck, and then go from there. I also recommend waiting at least half a day and then coming back and re-reading your article. This allows your brain to basically re-boot and you may find some errors you overlooked before. But don't stress; You should see some of the typos I have made.

I'm not going to bombard you with everything there is to know about ezine article writing today. This article was designed to just wet your whistle a little bit. To get you in the mood so to speak. To get you wanting to write and to give you ideas on what to write about. I assure you there will be other article in the future that touch on all the other aspects of ezine article writing. For now, though, I'll leave you to your writing; Me, I've suddenly got a taste for some chocolate brownies...

You can Master Article Marketing In 7 Days or Less

Let me clarify my definition of an "article marketer". An article marketer provides helpful information in the form of articles written about the industry they work within. Article marketers focus on writing quality content and publishing techniques to complement their existing marketing channels.

It is a win/win situation. The author gains many benefits for being published, and the reader satisfies a thirst for knowledge of the topic being discussed.

Have you considered article marketing?

Anyone can enjoy the benefits of writing content articles for the Web. I am living proof.

2 years ago I was introduced to the idea of using articles as a marketing strategy. Like so many other ideas we are subjected to, it didn't sink in right away. Excuse after excuse, I let procrastination stand in the way.

I had never written an article before ...

As I began to see more and more SEO consultants and successful marketers discussing article marekting, I decided to dig in deeper and see what all the fuss was about. It sounded good, and I wanted in too.

Ironically, I begin to read articles about writing articles. Article after article the concepts begin making sense. I understood why article marketing worked, I understood how article marketing worked ... but I still had no clue how to start my first article.

I discovered my first article topic quite by accident one evening. Here's how. (Be on the lookout for conversations like this that may take place between you and your colleagues every day.)

While in a general discussion with another site administrator I realized the KEY to successful articles or any ad copy.

Find a problem and solve it. That is what we all want - we want solutions to our problems!

The scenario went like this. My colleague offered live event webinars and needed a easy way to update specifics of these classes to members. Further more, I wanted a way to tell people about the live training without the burden of updating these live events through HTML on my web site.

Having some background experiences with blogs, and actively testing different blog creation scripts and services, he welcomed my advise on adopting RSS as an option to easily feed us the training class schedules.

It solved his problem of updating the live class schedules to us, and my problem of updating the content for my visitors. Realizing the solution to a problem - the research for the article began.

I started in the search engines, read some forums, and gathered facts.

The facts were then picked apart to determine the benefit of each fact. I used those benefits as the central focal point of my article.

My first article "Got Blog" was written and published soon after. Taking that first step and writing that first article, opened the door for me to be able to write a second article, then press releases, and Ebooks now too.

That article was submitted to only 15 free directories, and then I left it alone and went on to other projects.

By digging through all those articles about articles, I inadvertently learned "top notch" techniques from successful article writers themselves.

I felt that learning by this method was so helpful to me, that I created a free guide called "All About Articles the Marketing Advantage ". This guide incorporates all the great articles and techniques that gave me the confidence to build my first article campaign.

The guide was not created until a year after I had published several of my own articles and seen the successful results for myself.

One year later ... there are over 140 sites - many of which I have never heard of, some of which are high traffic and successful sites, proudly telling people some interesting tips on using RSS - each one with a healthy link back to my website for more information.

I found the above information by doing a keyword search on Google using the exact phrase of the byline used on that article.

Article writing and circulation has been the single most rewarding "free" promotion effort I have accomplished in my years of trial and error! Be inspired, if I can do it, you can too!

Writing Is Fun!

***Writing Is Fun!***

When I was establishing my consultants practice in 1990 I set about creating a book. The book was aimed at helping people to progress in their careers and shows how to assess yourself, prepare an interview winning resume', market yourself and win the job at interviews, plus other real life tips.

Anyway I enjoyed the writing process, thought the book was good and sold a few copies. The effort of writing the book was not rewarded by the number of copies sold. I did not really have a low cost route to market.

In building my web site and writing a weekly newsletter I have realised that I do enjoy writing and drawing on my experiences. So recently I have been thinking of writing another book for sale on the internet.

Guess what? I got my original book out, re-read it and I am editing it as my next internet publication. The point of this article is to tell you what I realised when I read my 'masterpiece'.

I had been living in the corporate world and the book was written in corporate style. Formal, the grammar was convoluted, too many long words. It was not easy to read and I did not like the style. The content is excellent but I did not like how the book was written.

Bearing in mind when I originally wrote it 15 years ago I read and re-read it in an effort to do a good job. That I now do not like the writing style came as a shock. Which shows that our skills and perceptions are changing all of the time and no matter how good we think we are at any one thing we can always do better.

If you've got anything that you created a while back it may be worth having another look at it. Your style may have changed and you may be able to improve it.

My son writes for his living and he has experienced the same with some of his early writing.

By writing for the web my style has changed, hopefully to a more readable form because I still like writing.

Tip: learn from the mistakes of others, you can't live long enough to make them all yourself.

Writing in the Shower (or Wherever You May Be)

I just glanced at the clock. 7:35 am. That leaves me ten, maybe fifteen minutes to write before it's time for me to head for my day job. What can I possibly accomplish in so little time?

A lot, as it turns out. My current schedule only permits me to devote snippets of time to my passion, my true vocation. On some days, despairingly, I spend those precious moments staring helplessly at a blinking cursor, or with pen in frozen hand; on others, my fingers fly across the keyboard and words appear almost effortlessly across the screen. What makes the difference between writer's block and productivity?

The difference lies in how I spend my time away from the keyboard. At work, while driving, or when taking a shower. Sitting in the waiting room of a doctor's office, standing in a grocery store check out line, working out. When I spend all of this non-writing time thinking about non-writing stuff--my bills, my to-do list, a misunderstanding with a co-worker or whatever--I find that I am not prepared to write when those brief, precious time slots for writing become available.

But when I use non-writing time to think about writing--to brainstorm ideas, actively listen to conversations around me, consciously notice the details of the room I'm in, the person I'm with or how I am truly feeling at any given moment--I come to my tiny slivers of writing time equipped use them well.

Take this morning, for example. Rather than daydream or worry or fret during my shower, I decided to ask myself the question, "What can I write about today?" I had just polished and submitted two short articles to a trade magazine the day before, and was faced with the ugly prospect of staring at a blank screen. What would I put there when the moment came? Ah, I thought, I haven't written an article about writing in a while, and have nearly two weeks before my next issue--could I start a new one today? About what? What would motivate, inspire and/or inform my readers? Perhaps many of them also face full days that leave only short, scattered opportunities to write. What can I tell them?

Hence, the first several paragraphs of this very article. And the satisfaction of knowing that, later in the day or early the next, I can pick up where I left off--no blank screen staring back at me.

Believe me, these 10-to-15 minute time slots for writing add up. In three to four days, you can have the first draft of a 500-800 word article, one or two query letters, a book outline, a scene for your novel, or several greeting card sentiments. Over the following few days, you can polish them. Submit them to appropriate markets when they're ready to go. Grin with a sense of accomplishment. Then start the whole process all over again.

I am completing this article during a 30-minute stint on a Saturday morning, a week before my next issue goes out. I'll have plenty of time to edit and improve it over the next few days, by which time I'll have other projects started as well.

I urge you not to use "being too busy" as an excuse not to write, and not to get published. Certainly you may have only precious moments to spend at your keyboard. Come to those moments consistently prepared, watch those moments add up and those projects take shape, and your writing dream will come true.

Writing For The Web: Where To Get Article Ideas

A friend and I were talking the other day about writing. He liked to write, but even so his biggest problem was finding things to write about. My friend was astounded at the volume of writing that I do - at least one article and something as many as six, per day. Where do I get all of the ideas from?

I, in turn, was astonished myself. Why on earth would anyone have any trouble finding things to write about? In fact, my main problem has been I have so much to write about that I often find myself locked in a silent battle over which subject should be put on paper first.

People find it even more amazing when I tell them I try very hard to only write about positive events and provide helpful articles. Only rarely will you find any of my writings containing criticism, complaints or, worst of all, whining. Occasionally I will write an article which recommends against purchasing a product, seeing a movie, reading a book or visiting a web site, but these are the exception.

The world is a huge, amazing, wondrous place. Things are going on around us all of the time. There is so much good to see and do all over the planet, so very many wonderful things going on all over the place, that it's easy to find something to communicate about if only you open your eyes and look.

One of my passions is the internet. I've written over 1,000 articles about all aspects of this massive communication medium. Much of this is taken from my 23 years of experience in the computer field, and the rest is from research, reading and, most of all, questions from other people.

Although much of my writing is about the internet, I also find time to communicate about many other subjects as well. These include relationships (marriage and romance), raising children, building a career, handling office politics, current events, hobbies and history. I have yet to find a subject which I don't have something useful to contribute to other people.

How do I find so much to write about? Let me tell you some of the ways: Many of my article ideas some from real life - For example, I have a long and happy marriage, so I like to write articles which help people with their relationships. I've also worked hard most of my life, as have most people, building a career, which is another area where I enjoy passing along tips to help others.

Question and answer sites - Sites like askme.com and askjeeves.com are perfect places to visit once in a while looking for ideas for articles. I visit and just scan the questions (and there are thousands of them), looking for anything which looks interesting. When I find something, I write an article.

Newsgroups - There are over 70,000 newsgroups. Most of these are worthless, but several thousand of them contain useful information and varied conversations. Lurk in any active newsgroup for a while and you should find something worthwhile to write about.

Yahoo and DMOZ - Visit any big directory site and you will find thousands of subjects to explore.

Egroups and Topica - There are thousands of email discussion lists available at these two sites. Sign up for a few and get articles ideas from them.

There are many other places to look for article ideas all over the internet. I tend to avoid looking at things like ezines, ebooks and web sites for article ideas. Why? Because when I look for article ideas I am not looking for answers.

What I tend to look for is questions. What kind of questions are people asking? Is there a question which begs some further analysis and a little more explanation than a simple sentence? It does not matter if someone else has already answered, as my primary purpose is not to provide raw information. My primary purpose is to help people understand. You can find out raw information from any number of books or encyclopedias, but finding out how to clean up the clutter in your bedroom, well, that takes something different. That requires the experience and knowledge passed from someone who has had to go through the experience of cleaning many times, so many times that it has become easy.

Interestingly, I've found that television is not as worthwhile as one would expect for article ideas. Excluding a few reviews, I've found television to be a vast wasteland, void of anything but the most trivial or violent concepts in our society. The exceptions are, of course, channels such as Nova, History channel and Discovery.

So the next time you are trying to figure out something to write about for your own ezine, web site or ebook, just check out a newsgroup, elist or directory on a subject which you find interesting. Sooner or later, you will get an idea and you can start writing.

Writing Articles

You say, I can't write an article, I have no knowledge of writing. Let me tell you yes you can!

Why write an article?

It can help you build your business! Yes, writing articles can help build your business. You say how can this help? First, imagine if you will, you have posted your article in an online publication, it has been accepted to be posted online (we will cover how to submit your article latter). Now all of a sudden you have 100 people reading your article, think of what could happen if out of that 100, 10 visit your website or email you for more information about what you are doing.

What has just happened? You have created some potential affiliates or buyers for your products.

If you have a website this can help your rankings in the search engines.

How to start:

1. Think of a subject that you have knowledge of! It can be from cooking to website marketing anything you know is good! You can even ask you favorite relative, friends, whoever for some help, by using their knowledge on a certain subject.

2. Keep notes of what you want to write, the notes should be kept in the order you want to write. This may take you a while to organize but it is well worth the time. This way when you start writing you will not get confused on what you wanted to start with and the order you want to write it.

3. Use a good word processor that can help you with your grammar. I use Microsoft Word; it allows me to set it up to write formal letters it will even give you definitions of why you should change the grammar.

4. Start your writing! Simple isn't it?

5. At the end add a recourse box, with you name, email or website, for example; Joe Smith is an Independent SFI Marketing Group Representative. You may contact him here then post your website or email.

6. Also, include that is free for reprint as long as the resource box stays intact.

Where to place your articles:

Now that you have written your first article, what's next?

1. Find a group to join that welcomes articles.

2. Submit your article to free enzines (on line magazines, on line publications) Do searches for free article submissions sites submit your article. If they like it they will post it, and instantly you are an author!

3. Email me your article and I will post it on my website. I will give you some constructive criticism if there is something I feel you can do better on.

Pretty simple, and you thought you couldn't be an author! Congratulations you are!

Writing Articles For Profit

Article writing has suddenly become very popular among online marketers lately. A lot of people are taking advantage of this fact to make extra money.

So just how can writing articles make YOU extra money?

Firstly the obvious answer is to write keyword dense articles on specific subjects and offer them for sale. These will be quickly snapped up by people trying to create niche market sites to sell a product within that niche. They will also be in demand with people setting up content sites to make money from Googles Adsense (you could also do this yourself as you write the articles).

Research the most popular keywords at http://www.wordtracker.com to find a niche which will give you a good idea of what to target your articles at.

Secondly, a series of articles about one niche can be placed in one volume and turned into an ebook, or course which can be sold with very little overheads. Using one or two of the articles to submit to article directories like http://www.ArticleCity.com or http://www.DEBSArticleSite.com and adding your bio with a link to your ebook salespage will quickly add some traffic and lead to sales.

You can also use articles to promote affiliate products. Search at http://www.clickbank.com and find a product you can market from it's marketplace. Make your new link and use a service like TrackThtaAd ( http://www.trackthatad.com/?s=13753) to mask the link. Then write articles using keywords related to the product and submit those to article directories (see above).

There are a lot of ways to make money from writing articles, so get out there and start writing and submitting them today.

Writing Articles as an Affordable Internet Marketing Method

From Overture, a keyword suggestion tool, you will see the millions of searches done to a certain keyword. When these keywords are typed on search boxes of search engines, indexed websites containing articles with those keywords will be displayed. And this is what leads traffic to websites with keyword-rich articles. Yes, the magic word is articles.

Content is king. You can say that again. That is why writing articles is one of the most utilized Internet marketing media today. Internet surfers just can't get enough of information on various fields. Providing information through these articles is a surefire way to drive hot traffic to your web site.

Why is this so? Here are the benefits that writing articles can give your Internet business.

1. It's absolutely free.

Too good to be true? Not. Okay, you have to pay for your Internet Service Provider. That's it. All you need is your thoughts, your computer, and your hands. If you have those, nothing will stop you from typing words that will make you complete that article for your website. On which aspect of that process did you really shell out any cent? Maybe later when your electric bills come.

2. Your website will be noticed in a short period of time.

Submit that article of yours to article directories that get the most web traffic and in no time your web site will be crawled. That is if you don't forget including your resource box or byline.

3. Obtain back links automatically.

When you submit your articles to directories, surely, other websites will make use of your article too. With the copyright terms of your articles, the URL of your website will still be intact and will subsequently direct more traffic to your website.

4. Improve your reputation.

As an Internet marketer, if you plainly display your products on your website, you will not gain much conversion rate. Conversion is when your traffic converts to sales. You have to show that you are knowledgeable on your field. And what better way to show that than by writing articles that will allow you some bragging rights, right?

Just make your creative juices flow and jot down or key in those ideas quickly to jumpstart your article writing momentum. With those benefits listed above, a writer's block is the last problem you will ever be able to surmount. But that's another story...

Writing and Walking - Beating Writer's Block

Writing and walking are a seemingly odd mix of topics for an article, but they go well together. Particularly if you write during breaks in your walk.

Writing Journals

Whether you are writing articles or the great American novel, you will inevitably suffer from writer's block. A good way to defeat the block is to go for a walk or hike in a park or open local area. Walking gives you a chance to think through things, let your mind wander and clear out the riff raff.

As you walk, your subconscious will be working and kicking out ideas to get you going again. You don't want to lose these ideas, which can be a problem when you are a few miles from home and your computer. Frankly, nothing is more frustrating than getting an idea and then losing the thread while you hustle home.

I primarily write information articles for web sites. Unlike a novel, the pure volume of articles is problematic. Coming up with hundreds of unique topics can be maddening, particularly if the subject matter is rather dry. Just imagine trying to write 100 articles on tax issues! One tends to end up staring at the wall for hours on end.

I come up with my best ideas while walking on the beach here in San Diego, California. While the beach and tax articles might seem an odd mix, the ghosts of IRS agents apparently congregate on the beach and ideas become plentiful. I've tried two methods of keeping track of ideas while walking.

I first tried taking a dictation machine with me, but it didn't really work out. You would be surprised how loud the ocean is on the recording. I also found it difficult to pick up the thread again when I sat down to listen to my ramblings. Fortunately, writing journals turned out to be a better option.

An author friend of mine that publishes novels suggested taking a writing journal with me on the beach strolls. He apparently had great success working out plot twists for his novels while hiking around Palomar Mountain, a good hiking spot to the east of San Diego. I gave it a try and the rest is history.

I prefer writing journals to dictating for a few reasons. Initially, it is easier to just sit down wherever you are and write out an idea and story lines. I also find it easier to pick up the thread when I plop down in front of my computer to actually start writing.

Writer's block is a problem for every writer, regardless of the type of writing. If you're having problems with it, you might try going on a walk and taking a writing journal with you.

Write Right for the Right Reasons

It seems that I must get dozens of newsletters and ezines in my email box every day. That does not include, of course, all the Internet Marketing groups that I belong to that send me a listing of all articles posted each day. It seems like thousands of new articles are published every week just on home business ideas alone. The pure volume of written material can be intimidating.

Why are there so many articles out there? Surely most of them go unread, right? I think you'd be surprised. The simple truth is, marketers write articles because they work. Let's take a look at what original articles do for you, the writer. First, you've worked hard for the knowledge you have. If you could share some pearls of wisdom and help someone out, wouldn't you? Not only that, but the more people that find your knowledge helpful, the more you establish credibility and name-recognition. Second, articles are a way of keeping your subscribers in touch with you. The more compelling your subject matter, the more likely you will re-visit the site that originated the material. Third, and probably most important, is the wildfire effect that articles have. As you write more original material, more people are bound to publish what you've written. That creates exposure as well as linking to your site.

When my business partner and I started writing original articles, we watched our websites' page rankings soar and the Alexa number drop (which is good). Not only that, we started seeing our names and articles in the search engines too. Slowly, the keywords that are most pertinent to our site are starting to be associated with our site (as far as the search engines are concerned) and that is never bad.

I know what you're saying. I can't write and I don't have anything to write about. Hogwash. Even if today is your first day in the Internet Marketing field, you bring with you a lifetime full of knowledge. Even if you don't know the first thing about affiliate programs, pay per click advertising, or viral marketing, write about something that you know about. What do you know more about than most people around you? Parenting? Accounting? Tulips? Write about that. You never know who's reading.

You say that you can't write. That's okay. Just make your first article a paragraph or two. Answer these questions: Why would the average reader be interested in your subject? What questions might a person want answered on your subject? What information can you provide that will address those questions? Where can the reader go to get more information on your subject? What will cause the reader to think about your subject even after they close the article?

If you don't know where to start, begin at http://groups.yahoo.com and I can almost guarantee you'll find a group that interests you. Not only will your market niche probably be represented there, you'll also find general business groups that can be helpful and educational. Now I don't want to make any wild claims. I'm not saying, "Write articles and make $10,000 a month with no other work." You laugh, but I've seen it. What I'm saying is that articles are a great way to create exposure for your website, your product, and your presence as an expert in your field. Try your hand at writing a few and pretty soon you'll not only get the hang of it, you'll start seeing some amazing results come from your efforts.

Most everyone likes giving their opinion. Give yours to help out the next guy/gal and expose the world to what you and your business have to offer.

Remember, be good to yourself and never underestimate the power associated with the intensity of your passion.

Wishing you Success,

Scott Foreman
scott@build-passive-income.com

This article may be reprinted for use in newsletters and websites provided that the information box is kept intact. Email notice of intent to publish is appreciated but not required: newsgroups@build-passive-income.com

Publishers! We'll pay you to run this article. Sign up for our Affiliate program and we'll pay you up to $24.98 for every person who converts on our site. Change the link in the bio box to your affiliate link: http://www.build-passive-income.com/affiliate

Write Articles And Captivate Your Readers

To get your name out there, write articles and allow them to be freely reproduced (with a resource box pointing back to you.) A well-written article can:

- help build your profile

- draw traffic to your site, and

- help build a database of clients through associated e-courses or newsletter.

How do you write the article? You can come up with the content - How do you grab those readers and make them come back for more?

As you can construct and edit an article (it has a beginning, middle and end; and you can check the grammar and spelling); if you want to WIN readers - think about what they want to know.

Put your readers first. Give them what they want and they'll be queuing up to read anything you produce.

A blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the topic - is a follows:

== 1. What Do Your Readers Want ==

You may know what they want because you're an expert in the field. If you don't know the subject well, you'll have to research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems? Can you provide an answer?

== 2. Start With An Attention-Grabber ==

Work on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like "Have you wondered why people find it difficult to lose weight?" It's dull and it's not targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the difficulties "people" have losing weight? They care about THEIR weight problem!

The opening paragraph should give the reader that warm "Hey, this is about me!" feeling. - "This could be the answer I've been looking for..."

Example: "Diet gurus make it all sound easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the "Big People" stores would be out of business. For those of us tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. It won't cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived."

== 3. Write As You Speak... Then Edit! ==

The sample opening above illustrates the importance of the tone used in your article. You need 'meat'to make it worth reading.

Write your article in a natural style that's akin to normal conversation. If the first draft is too informal - fix that when you edit. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they want entertainment too! Let your personality shine.

== 4. End On A High ==

Most articles fizzle out! Writers often don't know how to end on an upbeat note. They either stop dead or come up with a trite ending like: "So what are you waiting for? Get started today!"

The beginning and the ending of your article are the parts that make the biggest impression. Creat a feeling of anticipation... and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish.

Offering advice to help solve a problem gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic about themselves. Don't make promises... but offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits. Experiment with using a humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative.

Here's a final tip: create a cheat-sheet. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.)

Do this, and you'll be cranking out articles everyone wants to publish!

Write a Better Technical Article in Half the Time

Good technical articles are challenging to write. They're time-consuming, demanding to research and hard to organize. But they're valuable weapons in the PR and marketing arsenal, and you need them.

If you can outsource the article, great. That's what writers like me are here for. But if you can't - or don't want to -- then read and apply the tips below to save time and energy on research and writing, and come out with a much better product.

Get Ready

1. Review your resources - hard copy like books and articles, Web access, interview contact information.

2. Arrange for interviews if you need them, it always takes a while to track down the interviewees. Note: If you're ghostwriting an article for a company, you may not have an interview past the initial meeting.

3. Make sure you know the following: a) the reader's challenge, b) the key message relating to their challenge, and c) the type of reader you're writing to.

4. Understand the main message the client want to communicate. Many technologies are similar, but your client will have a defined slant on their implementation. (If they don't, they should - this is your chance to offer them your strategic message building services.)

5. Even "vendor-neutral" articles are written with a point of view - either the writer's or the company the writer is working for. This is only a problem if the article bias makes for a misleading article, or tells a whopping big lie.

Outline

6. Never skip this step, for your own or your readers' sakes. Outlines speed up your writing, and readers will follow your argument much better.

7. Organize your research into three themes. Some thematic organizations are obvious - for example, I wrote an article on three steps to optimizing your storage. In other articles, there may be several possibilities. There is probably no one right choice, so if two or three seem fine to you, just pick one and go with it.

8. Remember your junior high school/high school/college outline lessons? They apply. If you don't remember your lessons, here's a reminder: I. Introduction (Outline problem, introduce solution, state theme) II. Body A. 1st major point B. 2nd major point C. 3rd major point III. Conclusion (short case study/example, restate solution, concluding paragraph)

9. Put your outline on paper and let it guide you as you go. It's not iron-clad - if a new organization presents itself while you're writing you can change it - but don't do it too much or you'll defeat the outline's purpose.

Writing the Rough Draft

10. Here's the key to writing your rough draft: Just Do It. Write without thinking about it. Paste in random chunks of text from your research. Write some more. Write in any bizarre, random order. All you want to do at this point is get down large masses of information onto paper.

11. Keep going until you've got 2-3 times the words you actually need, then you can stop.

12. Once you have your mass of information on paper, you can organize it into your outline. No big deal - just cut and paste paragraphs under the points they best fit.

13. Now that you've slapped all of your rough text and research into your outline, guess what? The draft is done. Congratulate yourself and take a break.

Subsequent Drafts

14. Now it's time to whip this rough mass into shape. Start by saving your rough draft under a different name. You're going to be doing a lot of deletions in this stage, and you don't want to accidentally delete something you meant to use.

15. Working with the new copy, start your edits. Paraphrase the notes you have from other sources -- memos, product briefs, other articles, brochures. (Journalists do it all the time. It's called "research.")

16. I'll often download online research but mark it in a different color, so as not to commit the embarrassing - not to mention illegal -- mistake of repeating someone else's writing. When I've learned what I need to from the research, I capture the facts in my own words and delete the original notes.

17. Borrow freely from your client's Website and other materials. Don't repeat the text - that's bad policy and bad writing - but you're not going to be accused of plagiarism. Laziness maybe, but not plagiarism.

18. Music can be helpful on writing assignments. Personally, I like Vivaldi for drafting and movie scores for revising. Quite the combo. (As I write this sentence, The Last of the Mohicans is playing. Baroque is better for the draft stage.)

19. You might find that dictating works better for you at the rough draft stage. Probably not the old-fashioned kind, where the hard-bitten boss called in his trusty secretary to "Take a memo!" You're more likely to use an application like Naturally Speaking. This type of application needs a lot of training beforehand - the application, not you - but can be very helpful for writers who try to critique themselves out the gate.

Writing the Final Draft

20. You've done the rough draft, 1st draft, and are into the 2nd draft. You've put everything in your own words and are observing your outline structure. The article is starting to sound less like something you'll get blamed for, and more like something you might actually claim.

21. Edit for readability, grammar and style.

22. Use active voice in all your writing. "Active voice" is a sentence construction where the subject performs the verb action. Don't go to sleep on me, this is important. Example: "The dog bit the boy." Quick, active, easy. Here's an example of passive voice: "The boy was bitten by the dog." Yikes!

23. Technology writing is full of hideous passive voice construction. Here's another example from a technology marketing document: "This successful vendor interoperability was demonstrated at the Summit in Chicago." Ack! Instead, write: "Vendor teams successfully demonstrated interoperability at the Summit in Chicago." See how easy that was? PLEASE use active voice. Everyone will be so much happier.

24. If you learn nothing else about business writing in all your born days, learn to write in active voice. Subject all of your sentences to this simple little exercise and you will improve your writing 100%.

25. Please don't be boring, but don't get too cute. I will stick in something funny every once in a while -- mostly because I get a big kick out of myself -- but don't get too chummy.

Final Draft

26. You're almost there - you see light at the end of tunnel, and it isn't a train. Now is the time to polish sentence structure and word choice, and punch up your paragraphs.

27. Polish your opening paragraphs. Add a snappy lead, define what you're talking about and why it's important, and list the three or so points you're going to make.

28. Read through your article and make sure you've made those points. If you did an outline, the main points should already be subheads. (See why an outline is so great?)

29. Polish your conclusion. The conclusion doesn't have to be undying prose, but do restate your points and conclusions.

30. Read through one more time for overall readability.

31. Run your spelling and grammar check.

32. Save and send - but be careful to send the right file! I accidentally turned in my rough draft once instead of the completed final. Luckily this was with one of my oldest clients, so they contacted me and asked me for the real article. A new client would simply have assumed complete incompetence on my part.

33. And for the final tip: everything gets easier with practice. Good thing, too.

Write A Better Newsletter!

You've decided to write your very own Newsletter to promote your business, communicate with your customers, or just for FUN.

You've read hundreds of newsletters.

You've also noticed many of these newsletters lack original material.

They are identical in format and/or article content!

Don't Fall Into That Easy Trap!

The following tips will help the new newsletter writer/ publisher create a better newsletter.

Know Who You Are Writing For.

This sounds simple enough, you must know your readers. What are their demographics. Are they male, female, young, old, middle income, high income, getting by, just starting out, looking for business opportunities, looking for work at home jobs, stay at home moms, business women or men. Learn to select the articles that reflect your readers interest.

Establish A Publishing Schedule.

Professionals publish on a regular basis.

Make that your goal!

A regular publishing schedule will also assist you when you accept articles from writers. The contributors will have an idea when to submit articles. And this will also assist in scheduling your ads. You will know how to schedule ads, knowing what issue they will appear in, according to your publishing schedule.

Stick To Your Plan Like Glue.

If you plan your issues the 1'st of every month stick to it. Don't publish erratically. You will lose readers or they may forget they subscribed to your newsletter because of your irregular publishing schedule.

Proofread.

Proofreading is very critical to the publishing process. Every publisher must proofread the newsletter before it is sent out. Take the time to correct any spelling or grammar errors. This will improve the quality of your publication. Run your spell check program and then go over the text with your own eyes looking for common errors the program may have ignored like substituting two for too, or their for they're.

Experiment With Style.

Change your format. Add different types of articles. Ask readers to send in their questions or opinions. Have surveys. Trivia bits, breaking news, quotes, even your favorite jokes. The change in format will keep readers interested while improving your writing skills in various formats.

Research

Research your articles online. Add interesting links to more relevant information. Links to another free resource, software, interesting downloads, are always welcomed.

Invite New Writers

Writing a newsletter is overwhelming to most new publishers. Seek help from writers online. Ask your readers or writers to contribute to the newsletter. Offer a resource box in your newsletter to all contributors as compensation.

This will prompt queries from many writers. And of course you can easily download articles from many article directories online.

Here are a few popular article directories:

Follow the tips in this article to make your newsletter stand out above all the rest!.

Visit SmallBizBits for your free newsletter template!

http://www.geocities.com/smallbizbits/free.html

Article May Be Freely Reproduced In Your Online Newsletter Or Website. Include All Links And Resource Box.

Why you see the SAME AUTHORS all the time!

Isn't it funny how you've started to read an article about why me, and a certain select few authors write articles almost daily?

CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT!

#1 reason why people fail online is because they fail to deliver fresh content. Let's forget search engines for a second, instead let's concentrate on the end user who visits your web site.

Let's say "Jim" has been to your site once before and all of a sudden he sees your web site for something else and decides to visit. But what, oh no, it's the very same thing he saw 1 month ago. What happens to Jim? Just another statistic from your web site that will never get repeated.

On another note, let's say Jim happened to see your link in search engines again, except this time, you've revised your web site template. Jim is now intrigued and excited to see what is new, but oh oh, you have the same bloody content as the last time. Jim is yet again another statistic.

NOW - Let's say, not only have your revised your images, template, graphics, you've also been committed to adding 1 article on your site every single day. Jim is happier than the pope himself since you've played right into Jim's hand.

We all search online, for some of us, it's sheer boredom, for others, it's doing what your not supposed to be doing at work and so on. The whole point is, if nothing changes on your site, how do you expect to stimulate people to come back. Getting people to your site is the easy part, getting someone to come back is very tough.

So back to the title: "Why you see the SAME AUTHORS all the time!" It's not only a matter of adding an article everyday to bring people back but at the same time, search engines act almost like us. They see new content (they=search engines), they also get excited and browse around to see what you've added, not to mention that they also index all your pages for search engine listings.

Let's go a little further and bring attention to this newly found content. Many people out there are hiding their new content within folders and sub-directories and so on. What I suggest is having a small little box on your front page that just details some daily new content. Try keeping the content you add within this box up there on your site for about a week or so, just so that new visitors have a chance to view it and search engines have a chance to index it.

So in the end, a site that doesn't grow daily will have accomplished nothing online. A web site that caters to the needs of the many, will have more success than it can handle.

What you put into the world, will ultimately come back to you in the same amount.

Cheers!

Read more of Martins articles online here: http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

Why Write Articles to Promote your Book?

Reach 15,000 to 100,000 targeted buyers every week Online. That's the best reason I know to write and submit how-to articles to opt-in ezines and top web sites. get more book sales.Now, that's real exposure! And it's totally targeted because these people visit sites and subscribe to ezines who feature your topics of expertise. Your coach now has over 105 articles circulating and these have brought her over one-third her monthly income.

The second best reason is that promoting your book through articles is fre*e. You subscribe to ezines, then submit your short Online articles to your online subscribers. All you do is write and submit your article once a week to ezines and top web sites. Your coach's articles are now on 900 other people's web sites with a URL link back to her site. Think about those increased sales, mainly because they are targeted.

The third best reason is that this promotion method takes little time to accomplish, maybe nine hours a week. You write a short article from 300-800 words, get it edited and send it off. You can send to over 10 opt-in ezines at once with just one click. That's exposure to over 15,000 potential customers. You may spend an hour writing at first, but soon, you will produce a great article much faster.

If you don't want to learn how to do this from a good coach or teleclass, enroll an inexpensive assistant, and let her do this promotion. Delegating this task has made your coach's time promoting even less than nine hours. You can expand your business and book sales so much more when you follow the coach's motto: "Do what you do best and hire the rest."

More Reasons to Write and Submit Articles

4. Submitting articles is 7 times as effective as advertising because when you submit many articles, you become known as the savvy expert. Your potential buyers appreciate your fre*e information and will eventually trust you enough to buy from you.

Just the sheer numbers of these articles you submit with your proper signature box at the bottom can bring 10-50 new ezine subscribers each time. This free advertising box attracts people to your Web site, where, if you have proper copywriting with marketing pizzazz, you will sell many books or services.

Start writing a few articles, keep them until you have ten to submit.As you submit them, write a new article once a week. When you submit 20 or so, you will become a household name. Ezine publishers and sites will publish them People who visit the site or read the ezine will also ask you if it's OK they use your article. Of course it is!

They will send your articles to their business associates, who, if they produce an ezine or have a Web site, will also publish your article. Talk about viral marketing! You can also write short tip articles from 100-300 words. You coach now expands her market to people who don't want a lot of information--just the facts, please.

Coach's Tip: Be sure to send a thank you each time someone emails you saying they want to publish your article. After you thank the, ask for permission to add their email to your ePublishers email list. When you keep track of all supporters in an email list, they become your 24/7 sales force. Your coach sends new articles and tips each week to over 150 ePublishers she collected emails from. Now, that's viral marketing at its best!

Entice your ePublishers to say "yes, ePub" in the subject line back to you by offering the benefit that it's straight to their email door and they will get the latest, up-to-the-minute information on your topic.

5. You receive global attention when other Web masters feature your articles because they will include a short bio, articles description and key words to help the search engines find you. Your rank in the search engines will go way up like mine to be one of the top ten web sites in your field. .It's exciting to get a call from China or other countries wanting your book or service. All of this means more book sales, and you don't even have to leave your office. Your coach is now number three in google and 35 other search engines.

6. The more exposure your articles get, the more you are perceived as the savvy expert, and when potential customers visit your web site, they are more likely to buy not just one book or service, but several.

7. You can recycle your articles over and over to get even more exposure and sales.. First, you can include your new article or tip in your own ezine you send out to potential customers. Tweak it a bit to submit to the opt-in ezines and top web sites. Don't resubmit within one year it unless you make pertinent revisions. You can change the slant with another audience, or you can change the title, shorten or lengthen it.You can take a small amount of information out of one article and repackage

it into a short tip. Ask your coach the best way to write a tip.

8. Your articles could attract authors in your field who need free material for their book. Debbie Allen, shameless promoter herself, who wrote "Confessions of Internet Promoters" took three of my how-to articles for her latest Internet marketing book. Now in it's 2nd printing my revised three articles will pull even more interest. As she promotes her book, she promotes these articles. This word of mouth buzz will bring even more new business.

9. Take advantage of your Online audience. Remember, people go the net to get free information. If you give that freely, they are more apt to become loyal customers.Remember also, that because other Web site owners and ezine publishers don't have time to only write their own articles, they are constantly looking for your how-to articles. You can be published in hundreds of them!

Article writing and submitting is the best book promotion effort so far. With over 105 circulating the net, my web master makes them available by categories of Book Writing and Self-publishing, eBooks, Online Promotion, Web Marketing and Under 500 Words. People can just click and get any one article by autoresponder, so they get exactly what they want. Divide and conquer. Think of the different categories you can offer. Make a list of them and get the word out!

Start writing short articles now, and see how great Online exposure brings you what you want and need for your business success.

Why Ezine Articles Make Me Dance

I wrote my first ezine article in December 2001. I titled it 'The Power of Online Friendship'. It was five paragraphs long and contained 3 typos. I used it to promote 'The Free Promotion Tips Ezine', an ezine of mine that has long since faded into the Great Void of Cyberspace. I still think it's one of my most moving articles.

I danced around the house, riverdance-style, for about 10 minutes when I read the email from Chuck Bowden, the editor of Your Ad Space Ezine, who promised to use my article. That was quite possibly one of the happiest days of my adult life.

I'm aware that most of you have more thrilling lives than me and, therefore, would not find getting an article published online to be a crowning acheivement in your life. I, however, live a life of loneliness and solitude and would thank you not to rub your lives in my face.

I've written many more ezine articles since then and have had most of them used by various ezines and websites. Sometimes when I'm tired of sorting out spam or signing up for free promotional programs just to get 50 free visitors to my site, I like to type my name, followed by the word 'articles' into Yahoo or Google. I take a few moments to go throught the results and see where some of my articles have been used.

Sometimes I find that my articles are being used in some very interesting places. For instance a few of my articles have turned up on religious websites, even though I have never written an article with a religious theme. I guess the Good Lord really does work in mysterious ways.

I find that a lot of my articles get published on Work At Home Mom websites. I find this interesting (1) because as a male I cannot, technically, be a mom and (2) as a poor, blue collar, working class stiff I do not, technically, work at home. But my message still carries weight with all those housewives. They must be despaerate...

My overall point is: Writing ezine articles is a great way to get your name, website, product, etc. plastered all over the World Wide Web. No matter how well you promote and advertise there are just some dark corners of Cyberspace that you will not reach. You articles, however, over time, can find their way to these nooks and crannies and illuminate them with your words.

So my advice to everyone? Keep writing ezine articles! Not only do you get the satisfaction of writing them but you also get the joy of seeing your name (and you words) all over the Net. And then it'll be your turn to riverdance...

Where to Find Writing Jobs Online

A freelance writer’s best resource of finding jobs online are Job boards or sites. While some boards are geared specifically to the freelancer, many others also list other type of jobs.

Some job boards allow freelancers to register their profiles and credentials for prospective employers to peruse, others allow resumes and classified ads to be posted. Other sites such as www.elance.com enable employers to post jobs and freelancers to bid fees for the jobs. The site earns a place for any jobs awarded. There are other sites similar to www.elance.com such as www.contractedwork.com.

There are many writing job boards online and it is not that difficult to discover them. Some Jobs boards provide links to other job sites and the list could be a bit long.

Searching through the major search engines can also provide an exhaustive list of writing jobs. Use key words such as:

Freelance writing Jobs boards
Writers Wanted
Writing Jobs
Copywriting Jobs
Technical writing Jobs
Submission guidelines.

To make your task of searching for writing jobs online, we have provided you with the following list of sites. We hope you will find what you want.

If you have checked the above sites a number of times in two or three months and you have not got any job. I suggest you assess your skills and consider taking some relevant writing courses. You may also supplement these with a college degree in a relevant field to enhance your marketability. While doing so do some writing exercises and write articles on a wide variety of topics and post them on to articles submission sites online.

Well-Written Articles Can Help You!

You've heard it time and time again: if you want to get your name out there, write articles and allow them to be freely reproduced (with a resource box pointing back to you, of course). Largely, that is true. Well-written articles can:

- help you build your profile as an expert

- draw traffic to your website, and

- help you to build a database of potential clients through associated e-courses or a newsletter.

So far you probably haven't heard anything you didn't already know. What YOU are likely to be struggling with is the process of actually writing the article. Sure, you can come up with the content - but how do you really grab those readers? How do you keep their attention all the way through? And most importantly, how do you make them want to come back for more?

Let's assume that you understand the basics of constructing and editing an article (it has a beginning, middle, and an end and you know how to check the grammar and spelling.) Most of us can manage that. But if you're not content with simply "getting something out there" - if you want to WIN readers - then you need to start thinking about what they want to know, rather than what you want to tell them.

Put your readers first - every time. Give them what they want, and they'll be queuing up to read anything you produce. Give them something bland (or worse, blatantly self-serving) and they'll blast by you so fast you'll be spinning in the back draft.

The following four steps will give you a blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the topic.

== 1. Find Out What Your Readers Really Want ==

Sometimes you'll know what they want because you're an expert in the field, and understand the problems. If you don't know the subject area well, you'll have to do more research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems that need solving? Can you provide an answer? ("If they have a headache, give them an aspirin.")

== 2. Start With An Attention-Grabber ==

Spend time working on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like "Have you ever wondered why so many people find it difficult to lose weight?" Firstly, it's dull. Secondly, it's not targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the difficulties "many people" have with losing weight? They only care about THEIR weight problem!

Try to come up with an opening paragraph that gives the reader that warm "Hey, this is about me!" feeling right away. Better still; try to generate a rush of excitement - "This could be the answer I've been looking for..."

Example: "The diet gurus make it all sound so easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the "Big People" stores would be out of business in a heartbeat. Luckily for those of us who are tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. A way that won't cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived."

== 3. Write As You Speak... Then Edit! ==

The sample opening above also illustrates the importance of the tone you use in your article. You need 'meat' in each article, of course, to make it worth reading - but make sure it's not indigestible!

You're better off writing your article in a natural, relaxed style that's akin to normal conversation. It doesn't matter if the first draft is a little too informal - you can fix that when you edit. Naturally you don't want to irritate your readers with a too-breezy style, but too-formal is worse. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they hope to be entertained, too! Let your personality shine through.

== 4. End On A High ==

What's one of the biggest problems with most articles? They fizzle out! Writers often don't know how to end on an upbeat note. They either just stop dead or they come up with a trite ending like: "So what are you waiting for? Get started today!"

The beginning and the end of your article are the two parts that make the biggest impression. Start by creating a feeling of anticipation... and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish.

If you are offering advice to help them solve a problem (like obesity) gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic and good about them. Don't make rash promises... but do offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits of acting on your tips. You can also experiment with using a pithy/humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative - and don't rush it.

Here's a final tip: create an article-writing cheat-sheet for yourself. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more useful strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.)

Do this, and you'll be steadily cranking out articles that everyone wants to publish!

Ways To Increase Traffic by Writing Articles

Ways To Increase Traffic by Writing Articles Writing articles is the fastest and easiest way to get a stampede of people to your website who recognize your name by your signature and adhere to what you recommend.

Most people reason that finding information in articles, forums, and discussion groups is a primary method of getting good information, and odds are that they were somewhat of an expert on that subject, and if they were experts then products and services they sold or recommended were likely to be good.

You should always include a signature with your article, a few lines about your business, your website URL and/or email address. You will be amazed at the targeted traffic it will generate for you.

If you are having trouble getting started I understand, and can tell you that writing is hard work. But once you write the first article it seems to get much easier. In fact, you may discover that you have a hard time stopping!

6 Ways to get started writing articles:

1. Get a notepad and pen, or use a word processor or computer, and just brainstorm ideas for articles. The best source for an article is usually from experience, or knowledge you have acquired in the past. If you are at a total loss, go and read some articles in other's e-zines or websites. Once you get started you will come up with many ideas. Write each one down. If you think of a good title that includes a keyword about the article, write that down too, and include the keyword in the first sentence, or paragraph.

2. There are several ways writers work, depending on their personalities. You may like to order and organize your points first by making an outline of the information you plan to include or the points you intend to make. Then all you have to do is go back and "flesh out" the points, adding useful facts or links to more information.
Or, you may be a natural teacher, and write just as though you are explaining the subject to the reader in person. Either method is fine, just do what is comfortable for you. One method may work best for one kind of article and the other for another kind.

3. Add "personality" to your writing. Share some of yourself with your readers, make your writing uniquely your own. It's fine to read e-zines and others' articles to see what people may be interested in and spark your own ideas, but don't pattern yourself after someone else. People want to feel that they know You - Your knowledge and personality. This is what builds loyalty.
If it fits with your subject, don't be afraid to mention your product or service and give the URL or email address, but DON'T write a "glorified ad" and call it an article! That can offend a publisher so that they won't even consider articles from you in the future.

4. After you've finished writing your article, read it through aloud, preferably to someone else who will ask questions if they don't understand some point.

5. Run a spell checker! If you own Microsoft Word or something similar, run the grammar checker also. Have someone else proofread it for you. Even professional proofreaders will tell you that they try to have someone else proofread their own writing, because it is next to impossible to catch your own mistakes.

6. When you have finished your article and make the necessary changes, you will need to submit it to as many article directories as you can. Search the web for article directories to submit your article for free. There are also, paid services and software that will do the submissions for you, but you may want to wait until you have successfully written a few articles before you choose to pay.

Chet Holcomb of http://www.internetpromotions.biz is a successful marketing expert providing advice for web marketers and webmasters on how to promote your website, or product using marketing tools that work. His numerous articles provide a wonderfully researched resource of interesting and relevant information.

This article is free for republishing

Want To Start a Publishing Revolution?

Calling all publishers, editors, journalists and freelance writers. It's time to breathe more life into your copy. Turn your articles into living pieces that spark measurable debate, get closer to your readers and engage their mind and soul - we're talking revolution.

As it was in the beginning

Publishers have for many years relied on letters to get feedback from their readers and although email has opened up this method of communication it is still time consuming and difficult to process with only a fraction of the received correspondence ever being used.

Let's face it, as well as being an overhead for the publisher, to most people it is an unrewarding medium in terms of effort required and response received, just think of the number of letters that go unpublished and unread.

As it is now

The Internet has brought new channels of communication and has opened up opportunities that allow us to challenge traditional methods. The Internet is now a mature technology, no longer the preserve of the new fad brigade but a technology that has been embraced by a global population, young and old alike and it allows us now to re-evaluate the way things are done. Newspapers, trade journals, magazines and ezines now have the opportunity to change the mental process.

When people read an article they often would like to comment, and historically this has required them to feel strongly enough to put pen to paper; or with the creation of the Internet send an email. Sure emails are easier but it still takes time to craft an email and time for the majority, is what they haven't got. The letters page although interesting are at best a snapshot of comments; a well crafted and well written letter on any given subject may hold the view of the majority, or the minority, as it is a free text medium and difficult to measure.

As it should be

Now consider the advantages of linking articles to online surveys where as a publisher you will have the ability to obtain valuable feedback from your readers and in a form that can be easily measured. Just as important as you communicating with your readers is giving your readers a way to communicate with you where they know it will count.

Want a snapshot of opinion? Did they like that article? Did your readers agree with what was said or do they take the opposite view?

Now it's easy

In the past surveys would have taken considerable effort to design and publish and altogether was a process too long winded and therefore reserved for the niche and bigger topics.

However, using sites like http://www.SurveyGalaxy.com surveys and questionnaires can be created and published via the internet by anyone who has a pulse. Professional looking surveys and questionnaires created in minutes that make the perfect compliment to articles that prompt opinion and debate.

The advantage over letters and e-mails are that all the feedback is managed and measured and sites like Survey Galaxy will provide you with a real time poll that you can either keep to yourself or share with your readers.

It's not even one or the other now

Link each article to an online survey and not only extend the life of the article as people have a channel to express their views, but involve your readers in the discussion where they now know their opinion will be counted.

You think they would rather send an email? - no problem - include the facility within the survey and get the best of both worlds.

It's fast, low cost, and easy to do; it will engage and empower the reader, provide excellent feedback and having established a dialogue you then have the opportunity to link to other related articles.

Try it now and register your opinion of this article here:-
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1065

Use Textpad Program for Easy Ezine and Web Site Submissions To Bring More Sales

When you create your articles in TextPad format, something like Notepad, but much more versatile, you will have them in 65 characters across wrapped, just the right format. Then, when you are ready to submit your articles to web sites, you simply copy and paste the parts of the article into the web site you want to post on.

Use Textpad to format all of your email promotion, ezines, or articles to high traffic ezines or Web sites. This shareware program at www.textpad.com is free to use for some time, and you can buy it later. It can put all of your articles or other message into 65 characters across wrapped automatically.

Textpad formats my monthly ezine, "The BookCoach Says..." easily to reach over 3500 subscribers. It also keeps track of my list and when someone opts-in or opts-out, we use TextPad to locate the name in the files to add or subtract. I like it because we can send the ezine and articles straight from our office. To submit your own ezines or well-edited articles to opt-in ezines and Web sites, you will want this format unless you want HTML format.

While Textpad has no format like bold, or italics, this one program has helped me to produce and send out over 165 articles and 95 tips to share with more than 100 ePublishers and 980 Web sites (year one) and 21,000 (year four) with hyperlinks back to my sites. This is why I am #1 on www.google.com and 25 other search engines. You can have similar success.

Author's Note: TextPad allows you to send all of your emails including documents within the email, so your readers can open and see all immediately. When people don't have to download an attachment, they are more likely to open your emails. Think of the time saved. From using this format, hundreds of thousands of targeted buyers eventually will come your way---to your Web site, ezine, or to your email address.

Understanding Editorial Guidelines

Editorial guidelines, also known as writer's guidelines, are the rules set forth by publishers for contributing authors. In order to have your article taken seriously you must review the guidelines prior to submission. It is also recommended that you review previous editions of the publication to get a better feel for the types of articles favored by the editor(s).

Outlined below are the typical issues covered in editorial guidelines along with their definitions and any additional information you should know.

Length of article: The minimum and maximum word count of articles considered for publication. Online articles are usually expected to be 750 to 1,000 words while off-line publications will often accept a longer article.

Topics: The subjects of articles accepted by the publication. Never submit an off topic article as this is very annoying and may result in further submissions from you being banned.

Illustrations/Photographs: Some publications require/accept illustrations or photographs and will usually specify the size and format required for acceptance.

Editorial style: Consistency and accuracy governs the use of a style selected by the editorial department of a publication. Many publications require the use of the Associated Press Stylebook which covers spelling, capitalization, grammar, punctuation and usage.

Author Photograph: Some publications require or accept a photograph of the author usually included with the submission of the article. Guidelines will often cover the size and format of photographs.

Byline length: Also known as an author biography or resource box. Some publications have certain requirements for length, characters per line and what or how much contact information can be included.

Payment: Your byline is often the only payment you will receive for your article. However, some publications (particularly those in print) pay for articles by the word or per article.

Rights: Governs whether or not the publication will accept original or reprinted articles, how long they plan to use the material and whether the article can be used elsewhere at the same time.

Query requirement: A query is a letter written to the editor that proposes an article topic and asks permission to submit. Some publications require that you query the editor (by e-mail, fax or mail) prior to forwarding your article.

Submission methods: Methods of submissions may include via fax, e-mail or hard copy sent by courier or standard mail.

Editorial calendar: It is not unusual for a publication to establish an editorial calendar for each year far in advance. The calendar will cover topics, themes, article types and required submission dates broken down by publication dates.

Format accepted: Each publication will accept articles in certain formats such as Word, WordPerfect, text or Adobe Acrobat.

Audience: Demographics such as number of subscribers, gender, educational level, age and income level.

Notification: When you will be contacted about your submission. Many publishers choose to contact only if an article is chosen for publication.

Acknowledgements: In some cases you will be required to sign (either electronically or on paper) an acknowledgement that you have read the guidelines.

It is very important to understand and follow the editorial guidelines of your target publications in order to maximize your chances of publication. Not all publications will include all of the above items in their editorial guidelines. Contact the editor if any of this information is not disclosed and you need it to refine your submission.

Tracking Your Articles Properly

Writing articles related to your business is a great way to build your link popularity and also to provide more content for your site and other sites. Not too mention it's always nice when someone finds your site and uses it within their newsletter.

The only problem is, what if people dont tell you that they were using your articles??? How would you know who to reward?

I say reward because of another article I wrote, "reward those who publish your articles". It briefly outlines how to boost your articles popularity by boosting the other sites it's listed on.

Let's say for now, you just want to track your articles properly.

#1 Creating appropriate forlders within your "favorites". Every browser allows you to create a folder in order to hold your favorite web sites. Organizing your favorites folder is key when you plan to market your business 24/7. In this case, we'll create a new folder called "Articles Listed".

Within that folder, you'll want to start creating other "sub" categories for EACH INDIVIDUAL ARTILCE that you market.

For instance, let's say you have about 10 articles that you always promote, you'll want to add 10 folders within your new "Articles Listed folder". Make sure to give them a short but recognizable name that you would be able to distinguish which article it is for.

Ex. (I will use 3 of my title's)

Tracking your articles properly (Folder: Tracking Articles)
Writing Articles To Boost Your Traffic (Folder: Writing Articles)
Reward Those Who Publish Your Articles (Folder: Reward Publishers)

#2 Always keep the same headline for your article: I've visited many sites who consistently change the headline of the article simply to make it seem like a different article. Don't be shy, I'm sure we've all thought about it, infact, I am also guilty.

Starting now, let's all keep the same headline...

The reason for keeping the same headline is for 1 keeping a strong consistency with your marketing and 2 making it easyer to find your articles online.

#3 - Finding All Of Your Articles: Now let's find them for you... (Hoping that you already created your folders within your favories menu?)

I preffer using Google's Toolbar for this but it is not required. Let's all go to: www.google.com and start looking.

Why google? Simply the best...

Take your 1st article and cut and paste the EXACT title within the google search. Now add "" at the beginning and the end of your title

Adding "" at the beginning and the end will narrow your search to exactly what's in between.

For ex. "Tracking Your Articles Properly" would give me better results than if I were to search: tracking your articles properly. Actually I do recommend you try both methods just in case.

Now once you have found a site that has listed your article, add the exact page your article is listed within the proper folder you created within your "favorites menu".

Once you have completed this task for all of your articles, it will be very easy to keep up with your new articles. Another thing is, if you plan to reward those sites, you now have them all seperated into proper categories.

I hope this helps you out even a little like it did for me...

FREE GIFT: Get my personal list of sites to add your articles! Simply send a "blank" e-mail to: article_listings@smartads.info and get my list right away.

Top 10 Common English Goofs by Web Authors

In reviewing and browsing web sites over the years, I have compiled a list of the most common misuses of English by web authors. Here they are in Letterman (reverse) order.

10. Who, which or that?

"Who" (or "whom") refers to persons. "Which" refers to animals or things, never to persons. "That" can refer to either persons or things.

Examples:
The girl who was hungry.
The dog that wagged its tail.
The software which I wrote.

9. Anyone vs any one

"Anyone" means "any person," not necessarily any specific person. It could refer to multiple people simultaneously.

As two words, "any one" refers to a single person.

Examples:
Anyone can download my software. But the software can only be used by any one user at a time.

8. Commonly misspelled words

All right
Dependable
Independent
Recommend
Responsible
Separate

7. Don't put punctuation at the end of a URL

While not technically an English grammatical error, don't put a period or anything immediately after a URL reference. Doing so will usually invalidate the URL. You might call this an internet grammatical rule.

Example:
Notice the lack of a period in the following sentence. My URL is http://article-promotion.blogspot.com

6. Software not softwares

"Software" can be singular or plural. Never use "softwares."

5. Do the quotes go after or before the period?

Put quotes after a period or comma. Put quotes before a colon. Put quotes after a question mark unless the entire sentence is a question. This is a US English standard. British English usage can differ.

Examples:
He asked, "Are you hungry?"
She replied, "Yes, I am hungry."
Did she say, "Yes"?

4. There, their, or they're

"There" is used in two ways. It can specify a place. It can also be used as an expletive or empty word to start a sentence.

"Their" is used as a possessive form of "they".

"They're" is short for "they are."

Examples:
I live there, not here.
There are nine planets in the solar system.
The two boys raced their bikes.
They're both tired after walking up the stairs.

3. Powerful

Too many developers describe their software as, "XXX Software is a powerful, easy-to-use, ... ." I searched download.com and found 2149 descriptions or titles of software containing the word "powerful." Powerful has many meanings, most referring to how effectively something is performed, as in muscular. A car with 450 horsepower is clearly more powerful than one with only 200 horsepower. But what is powerful software? If you mean feature-rich (like Adobe Photoshop), then say so. If your software does only one thing, but it does it completely or thoroughly (like CounterSpy), then say so. But please, no more powerful software.

2. Site or sight

A "site" is a place.

"Sight" refers to your sense of vision.

Examples:
A web site is a place on the internet that you visit with your browser.
A beautiful sunset is a marvellous sight.

And, finally, the most common English blunder by web authors is:

1. Its or It's

Use "it's" only when it means "it is." Unless you can replace "it's" with "it is," use "its." Never use "its'."

Examples:
It's raining today.
The dog wagged its tail.

Conclusion:

English is very difficult for persons whose native language is not English. It is also difficult for many English-speaking authors.

Unfortunately, most of the common grammatical errors will not be caught by a spell checker, so you have to manually check your writing for them.

An excellent reference is the short and timeless book, The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. A free online version of this book is available at http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

I hope that web authors can use this article to recognize and correct some of the most common grammatical blunders that abound on the internet.

The Stuff E-mail Query Letters are Made of

Your mother always told you how first impressions were extremely important. That's why whenever you go to meet an editor, you dress impeccably, walk confidently and talk as if you just got out of training with Oprah Winfrey.

But as you sit down to write that email query, you forget everything your mother told you and send editors a query that couldn't have lacked any more even if you wanted it to. The subject line reads "Query" or something in close proximity with the language spammers use

The ONLY Thing You Need to Know About Writing Articles

You don't need to be a great writer to write great articles, just be fast and entertaining. There is only ONE SINGLE THING you need to know about article writing.

Tell a story.

Stories are easy to follow and interesting. Why are the Chicken Soup for the Soul books interesting? Because they're stories people can relate to. (I bet the most "interesting" person you know is the one with the best stories to tell.)

With a story, there is progress for the reader and events are locked together: this happened, then this happened, then this happened. It's easy to skip over the stuff that wastes space.

Have you ever read a book, or watched a movie, WITHOUT some kind of story or journey? If you did, the cover of that book probably said something like "Dictionary," "Owner's Manual," or, "Book of Poetry." If that was a movie, the VHS cover probably said, "Run this in your VCR to clean the heads."

Learn to be at least a mediocre storyteller. You'd never see a good storyteller telling a story for 5 minutes in front of a campfire, then say, "Wait a minute, let me start over." All you need to be a good storyteller is have a lot of practice. Write every day or week. Write well enough so your writing doesn't require a lot of editing, after OR during the writing process.

Write fast. If you are writing about something you love you already know exactly how to say it. When you have something to say, get it on paper as fast as possible and don't stop writing (or typing) until it's done. No need to be fancy.

Do NOT write on "autopilot." Everything you write in your article should be an answer to some sort of question. This makes sure you are making progress instead of aimlessly adding fluff. Get to the point.

I'm not saying every single thing you write has to be a story full of inspiring imagery. Your stories don't even have to be obvious. If you are doing how-to article the story part of it might be 5% or less (Point 1, Point 2, Point 3... barely a story, but there is still a step-by-step order).

Advice-type articles might contain 80% to 90% story. That's because you have less to say, therefore more room to say it, so you can tie your points in to the way the birds crash into the water where you live, or some other hippie ramblings.

When you get to the end of your story, it's very easy to bring it back to the beginning. Think of the one word that sums up your entire article. Write your last couple of sentences and end on that word. That's the so-called secret to writing material that people will read, but at the same time can be written quickly.

The Language of Freelance Marketing

For freelancers, knowing the basic terminology "before" they begin can be a valuable lesson in earning a few extra dollars in that initial stage. When I started my freelancing career, I knew nothing of rights, simultaneous submissions, querying or varying payment rates. All I knew was-- I could write. Everything else, I learnt on the job. You will too. But just to make your stay a little less frustrating, and a lot more enjoyable, I've listed a few concepts that will help you immensely as you contact editors and try to make them pay you for your words.

It's yours as soon as you have those words on paper. You don't have to register copyright to claim it, though if you're writing a novel or book, it's a wise investment. Registered copyright is proof enough for a court of law, and is extremely valuable in cases of dispute. However, for short materials like articles or essays, copyright needn't be registered. You can however, club a number of essays and register them together.

Reprints

Reprints are articles, essays or pieces that have already been published. If you own the copyright (more on that later), and want to sell the piece again to another publication, it will be termed as a reprint. Most publications pay much less for reprints and some don't accept them at all. However, for a freelancer, sometimes reprints bring more income than original articles do.

Rights

Earlier, magazines asked for all rights to articles. Even today, in many countries, including my own (India), most magazines want to keep all the rights ensuring that the articles in their magazine remain unique to them. However, this trend no longer exists in America, Canada and England, and is making headway into other nations as well. Now, almost all magazines in these nations refrain from asking for all rights to the work. Others have opened their doors for reprints, which is a boon for writers. Let's look at some of the different kinds of rights.

All Rights: This means that the article must not have been published before, and cannot be used again after it has been published in this particular publication. Never give up all rights for a measly sum of money. If you're selling all rights, make sure you're being paid what you deserve.
First Serial Rights: These usually pertain to some country. For e.g., First North American Serial Rights, or First British Serial Rights. Although the article mustn't have been published in the country prior to this, you are free to submit elsewhere after publication.
Electronic Rights: As more and more publications archive their articles online, they are asking for electronic rights. This means that they can carry your article online. Usually a time-period is specified. Also, electronic rights are usually non-exclusive, meaning that you can sell this article elsewhere although it will continue to appear on this publication's website.
CD-ROM Rights: A fairly new addition to the list of rights, this means that the publication is free to use your work on a Compact Disk.
Anthology Rights: Some publications publish yearly anthologies (collection of articles or stories). In such cases, they ask for these rights for possible inclusion of your work in their anthology.
First-time Rights: Your article must not have appeared anywhere worldwide. You are however, free to sell your work elsewhere after publication.
One-time Rights: Your work may have appeared elsewhere. Publications asking for one-time rights require that you let them use your work once. It may or may not have been published before and you are free to use it after publication.

Payment on Acceptance vs. Payment on Publication

You've written an article and the editor has approved it. Now comes the time to pay you. Well, not quite. Many publications prefer to pay their writers on publication, meaning when the article appears in print. In established magazines, the time between acceptance and publication can be months, so you may write an article in January, and be paid for it in June. Always try to get paid on acceptance.

Clips

When you write a query, the editor wants to see more than just a good idea. She wants to know whether you can do it justice, whether you'll be able to carry it through or not. For this, she needs to see samples of your writing. Published samples are termed as clips. Simply stated, you photocopy the pages of approximately three magazines in which your articles have appeared and send them to the editor.

If you haven't been published, you'll still need to send in samples of your writing. For this, write out an article or two related to the subject of the magazine, and send them off with your query.

Lead Time

A magazine usually asks writers to submit their work well in advance so that there are no last-minute goof-ups. Magazines, especially reputed ones, cannot risk delaying an issue because of a single writer. This period is usually termed as lead-time. Although most magazines have lead times of approximately three months, many have periods of more than six months.

Kill Fees

Editors are always "killing" articles that they've assigned. To the writer, this could mean wasted time, as well as money. To reimburse the writer for her research and hours put in, magazines usually have a 20-50% kill fee. Simply put, if your query has been accepted, but your article isn't published for some reason, you'll be given a kill fee for your work.

Expenses

For your article, you may have to interview a subject. In some cases, you may have to make long-distance calls or spend a few bucks on travel, lunches and other expenses. All such expenditures incurred for the assignment are usually paid for by the publication. You should be very clear on this before you get on the assignment. Usually, editors will agree to reasonable expenditure refunds.

Bios and Photos

Haven't you sometimes noticed how the author's picture or contact information appears alongside the article? Yours could too. Although this isn't always done, sometimes editors may agree to put up a photo or a short bio beside your article. It never hurts to ask.

Simultaneous Submissions

Although this is something magazines advise against, it isn't always feasible waiting three months for your hot idea to strike a note with the editor you've submitted it to. This is where simultaneous submissions come in. Although I truly warn you against submitting the same article to more than one publisher (I did it, and I regretted it), I do advocate simultaneous queries.

Now that you're armed with the basic knowledge, you're all set to go out into the big, bad world of publishing, and show them what you've got. Good luck!