Article Writing: Easy or Difficult?
I'm going to tell you a story about a man that flunked out of school at the age of 16. It was so bad at school that the only A's he got were in physical education. When he was in junior high he never did any work in English because he hated it so much. Of course, if you don't have good English, your reading suffers too.
He didn't like school at all. He would hook out of school and go to work; he was only 13 years old (he looked a lot older). He went to summer school every year just to get through junior high. I think they just pushed him through because he doesn't remember doing anything but showing up.
Why am I telling you this? Because the same man that flunked English every year and quit school at the age of 16 is a successful Internet marketer. And guess what he does. He helps people to discover multiple ways to quickly create content for websites, articles, autoresponders and any other type of content. And you're right - it's me.
One day my best friend Lori, who is also my partner, was talking about starting a home business. We both like to travel and we wanted our business to be portable. We came up with this idea of working on the Internet. We picked a guru program and put everything in it that we could.
In the program, there was a lot of reading and writing. I had cold feet right from the start. Lori knew that I had problems with reading and writing. My writing was so bad that when I used spell-check I could swear the computer was smoking and I was dreading it. Me. Of all people.
But Lori saw something in me and figured a way around it. She had me first start just doing some research on keywords. I wasn't too bad just checking out some single words or phrases. After I did that for awhile then she said that our websites needed to be blogged. What the heck is a blog? Did I tell you that the only thing I knew about a computer was how to fly my flight simulator? Not even how to write or send an e-mail. When she mentioned writing a blog, I didn't know what to think. She told me that she would show me how to write just a few lines.
I'd write a few lines about our different web sites. Every time I wrote a blog I would have to ask her to make sure everything was spelled okay. All day long I would do research on keywords and I would try to write blogs. Lori would read them and correct my spelling.
Then one day Lori said I should write an article about something that I have a passion about. She said, don't worry about the spelling; just write down what you know. I started doing what she asked. I had no idea where she was going with this. When your spelling is not good, your typing is even worse. I think my top speed was about six words a minute. It took me awhile to put things down. But I did what she asked and didn't think about it anymore.
One night Lori said, Jeff come here I want to show you something. You are now a published author. I said there is no way that I could be a published author. Lori edited my so-called articles and submitted them. See you can write, she says. My response was, you must have rewrote the whole article and just put my name on it. When I read it, it was my words but spelled right.
I could not believe what she did. It opened my eyes and made me realize that I can write articles and even e-books. My point to all this is, if a high school dropout that flunked out of English every year can write articles and e-books so can you.
Articles: Is It Better to Give or Receive?
I submit anywhere from 5 to 25 articles per weeks using a free, online article submitter to post my articles to hundreds or thousands or sites. The articles run from 500 to 1,000 words and are related to whatever it is that I am selling.
For example, I write articles about Thailand while promoting my affiliate hotel sites geared specifically to Thailand. I also write marketing articles and point them to a variety of sites that I run.
Using the auto submitter, I can get my articles and more importantly, links to my sites, all over the Internet. The more links that point back to my sites, the better the search engines like me.
I have about 10 different article sites and a few blogs that accept articles automatically. I manually approve each and every article. I like to check to make sure that the articles are following my submission guidelines. The biggest violators put links in the text and more than 2 links in the resource box. I try to contact them to advise them of the rules and if they continue, I disable their accounts.
So, which is better? I would have to say that submitting the articles is the more beneficial as it gets my links in hundreds or even thousands of web sites. Back links are looked upon very favorably by the search engines and I love to have my links everywhere and for a long time. And, if I am lucky, some marketer or eZine will send out my article to their mail list getting me more exposure.
Running the article sites is a bit time consuming since I have to check the articles 2 or 3 times per day or I get inundated. Manual approval is a must for me since I want to check and make sure the articles are quality. And with the auto submitters, not many actual people visit the site, just the auto bots. But I still think there is value since my own articles get posted to my article sites, I can easily advertise, and they are ranked high in Google and Alexa.
So, I would try to do both but would put the emphasis on getting my articles out to the world with links back to my sites. This will get more traffic and hopefully more sales.
Article Writing And Article Marketing Basics
Which is? Write content-rich and focused articles and submit to directory sites, other people's sites and ezines. This process is called article writing and article marketing.
Now, why would an ezine publisher or website owner want to post your targeted articles on their websites or use your articles for their mailing lists? The answer is that not many can produce tons of content that is specific and focused. And tons of high quality content helps to build traffic to their sites and loyal subscribers to their mailing lists.
Here is where your article comes in. In exchange for a byline and a link to your site (called a "resource box"), you allow website owners to use your content as it is. No one is allowed to make any changes to your article without your permission.
Here are some other advantages for article writing and article marketing:
* Gain "Expert" Status when you share your knowledge and expertise. Just look at the people who write newspaper columns. You get to appear like an expert when your articles are posted in a couple of article directory websites and when you write on a variety of topics pertaining to the same niche area.
* You can do some nifty preselling. This is especially if your article appeals to a niche audience hungry for some specific information. That way, you've already presold yourself, when they click over to your site.
* You get more links to your site. Then, you'd be able to enhance your search engine positioning just by your "link popularity". Once your article is posted on another person's website or an article directory, it is likely that it will stay there for a long time.
* You are providing an excellent tool to help your affiliates. Your affiliates are likely to promote you more often and more effectively compared to those who don't provide such help.
* It is also excellent for building an opt-in email list. Statistics show that on average, a prospect visits your website seven times before clicking a buy order. A constant stream of emails (with his/her permission) at regular intervals can help break down "defences" and build relationships. In addition, once the relationship is build, back end sales or sales of other products and services become easier.
So, do you need to have a flair for writing in order for you to write? Absolutely not. You just need to remember just two simple rules:
* Put down your thoughts naturally. Just like how you would explain to a friend about this subject over a cup of tea.
* Write simply. Bad grammer does not help. Complicated sentences and sentences that go on and on forever may not help you get your message across. So make your article an easy read.
Now, what is an easy way to get started on writing? Think of key problems that your audience is likely to have and then write an article that provides the solution. A few key examples here should help kick-start your writing:
10 ways to help you.....
5 extremely useful resource tips that you should know about....
7 time saving tips to....
1 breakthrough tip that.....
You can organize your article in this manner: an introduction (you can identify the problems that your readers are facing and your own short story or experiences), the list of points (the "solution") and a concluding paragraph (asking your readers to take some action).
After you finished writing, get someone to vet through your article. Alternatively, you can wait some time later and take a look at your article again. Improve it and check for grammer and spelling.
Then, it's time for article marketing. Submit your article to article announcement lists and article directories like http://www.ArticleMap.com. In your submission, make sure your articles comply with specific guidelines required by the publisher.
Article marketing can generate visitor traffic to your website as your articles get published and syndicated across the world. As you write and submit more articles, traffic to your site will definitely pick up speed!
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