Article Writing - Eight Essential Ingediants

Each article you submit or publish will become a web page in its own right. Get those keywords and key phrases in there. Write your article around a small number of keywords that you have researched well for your niche market or niche audience.

Put your main keywords or keyphrase in the title - it attracts readers and scores well with the search engines. Use your keywords throughout the article and in subtitles and bold where appropriate. Don't go crazy, or the search engines will penalise you, but make sure that they're there. 2-4% keywords is said to be about the natural occurance in written language. Use other, related words and phrases too.

It should not need saying, but many writers do forget - the keywords in your article should closely match your main target page. It's obvious that the reader will want more of the same, or similar, content. Make sure they get it, and improve your SEO at the same time.

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The number one reason for publishing an article is to establish and improve your reputation in your subject. Credibility equals following, and also equals sales, if that's what you want. You don't have to be an expert in everything you write, but you do have to be knowledgeable. Make sure you research your subject thoroughly and that you have your facts and terminology right. Be proud of what you write

If you feel you don't have enough direct knowledge to be credible, write as a reporter, relaying the knowledge of others, or write about your experience of doing or using something. Nothing collapses your reputation faster than being an expert on everything.

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Of course, never ever steal copyright material! It's illegal, your article won't be unique, and it will rate low with the search engines. That doesn't mean you can't borrow ideas to write in your own words. There is a lot of truth in the saying, "Take from one and it's theft, take from many and it's reseach!" You can and should read what others are writing and find out what's popular to help create your article. But - try to take a fresh angle or have a new insight.

Some approaches to consider:
- What's new or changed?
- What's being said?
- Reports of surveys
- Comparisons
- Holidays and seasons
- Lists, best, worst, most popular
- Sections of the community
- How to
- Recommendations

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It's not what you write, but what people read! Work on your use of the English language (or whatever language you use). There are a few naturally gifted writers about, but most of us have to make a concious effort to write clearly. People write whole books on this subject, but aim to get the basics right.

Keep most of your sentences short - 15 to 20 words - with occassional longer ones and even shorter ones. Break your article into paragraphs. Label them or number them if you think it will help your reader. Use sub-headings for the same reason. Be informal. Be direct: use "I", "we", "you", "us", etc. Use active verbs far more often than passive, eg, "Webmasters love articles" rather than "Articles are loved by webmasters".

Try to avoid constructions that are not wrong but which some people dislike - split infinitives, for example. Use the right punctuation, watch out for your use of inverted commas (not comma's). If some readers are irritated by minor errors, they'll stop reading. Any webmaster or editor worth their salt will also take a poorer view of your article.

Don't forget the boring tasks of rereading your article for typos and spelling mistakes.

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Who are your readers? Have in mind your target audience and write for them. An article on retirement will obviously have readers who are generally of a different age and outlook to one on starting university. But an article on using, say, 'StumbleUpon' could potentially appeal to a wide audience, but different sections of that audience may need a different approach.

Use a style and language that readers will relate to. Write for their level of understanding of your subject. If they are knowledgeable, you can use jargon freely and without explanation (but make sure you understand it too!). The content should also bemore detailed and you'll need more research. If they're beginners, introduce the jargon with an explanation. In your research, identify any 'family' words that your audience use when speaking to each other. Do "soccer fans" actually use that term, or do they consider it a bit insulting?

If you identify that you have more than one audience, write more than one article. Not only will your writing be more targetted and relevant, but you have more than one chance of being heard. You can of course plan to write essentially the same article but in several different styles and approaches.

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Most writers publish their articles in article directories. They are generally quick and simple to use and there are a growing number of them. Their other main advantages are: they may rank high with search engines for your topic; webmasters tend to turn to them first to get articles for their sites, and so there is a good chance of your article appearing in many places.

Choosing a directory

We all want to get our articles out there with as little hassle as possible, but it is worth doing a bit of homework before you post your article to a directory for the first time. Do a search for 'article directory' or 'articles': if a directory turns up on the first page, that's a good sign, but don't dismiss those that turn up on lower pages. You may spot that a site uses Adwords to attract readers and webmasters to their site. Try searching for 'mysubject articles' and see where the directory ranks. You may even find directories specialising in your subject.

Have a look at the directory and see how relevant its classification is to your subject. How many other articles are there, and do they fit in well with your subject? Look the site up on alexa.com to get a feel for its number of visitors and what countries they come from. You may also want to see if the directory offers its users services like RSS/atom and other ways of getting your article out there. Some directories are now offering services for those who want to post podcasts or vodcasts, and you may want these services yourself at some stage.

See my list of some high Alexa ranking directories, below.

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Where to publish

Directories are great places to publish your written articles but there are many other ways to get articles published on the web. The disadvantage of directories is that you are not targeting specific destinations for your articles, so it's worth also submitting some articles directly to the locations you would most like them to appear.

Your best locations will: rank high on search engine results; contain good quality material on subjects that match or complement your article; be relevant to your target audience or market. All these will improve your SEO. Plus, your best locations will of course have a wide readership. Getting into locations that score well in at least two or three of these areas is worth some effort.

Search for suitable locations and directly approach the webmaster or editor. All are looking out for fresh material and many will welcome the chance of good quality unique - and it must be unique - material for little effort. Offer them a sample article and give them links to a couple of others.

Normally you will just expect the courtesy of an author's acknowledgement and a simple link to the page of your choice in return for the article. In some instances you may be allowed a resource box for more links or permitted text links from the article itself. Just don't abuse this oportunity by cramming your article with affiliate links. At the bottom, state that it's copyright to you. Say that it can be reused in its entirety will permission from the publisher (not you in this case - they need to protect their product too).

Who knows, you may get the chance of a series, or even get paid, once you're established!

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Your links should do three things for you: improve the visibility of your target page with the search engines; get people clicking through to your target pages or sales pitches, and go viral so that this is all repeated many times over. Links are what makes the web a web. Make the most of your links.

If you are provided with a resource box, use it as much as is allowed. Link to several pages, squidoo lenses, blog, other articles. Make sure the links are relvant to each other. Link in depth to your website, that is, not just to your home page but to the most relevant page.

Link from the text, if you are allowed and definitely do this on your own pages. Link within an article if its a long one. Try to avoid 'for holidays click here' in favour of 'exciting holiday destinations'. If you have pictures, make them links too if you can.

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Here are eight ways to earn money from your writing:

Blog, and monetise your site
Blog, and get paid per post
Articles, to promote your products
Articles, as a guest writer
Articles, as a freelancer
Squidoo, of course, or (whisper it!) Hub Pages
Publish your own book
Write and sell an ebook.

Get more information

Here are eight of the most common word errors recorded in articles. You may know them, but do you routinely check for them? Even the best of us makes errors from time to time - and your spell checker won't pick these up!

Your or you're. Your = belonging to you (yours). You're = short version of 'you are'.

To, Too or Two. 'To' = belong to, or go to. Too = also. Two = 2.

There, their or they're. There = in place, like 'over there'. Their = belongs to them. They're = short version of 'they are'.

Loose or lose. Loose = not tight (try thinking 'loose noose'). Lose = was lost. (One 'o' like in 'lost')

Its or it's. Its = belongs to it (ok, so it looks like there should be an apostrophy, but there isn't. Good old English language!). It's = short version of 'it is'.

ie or eg ie = 'that is to say'. eg = for example.

Effect or affect. Effect = the result. Affect = what caused the result.

Choose or chose. Choose = present tense (making a choice). Chose = past tense (made a choice).

There are many directories out there and the number is growing daily. Here are a few that rank high on Alexa (low number = good) together with stats of the top 5 countries that use each one, and a quote from each about themselves.

Alexa Rating: 236
Site visits from: United States 47.4% / India 15.6% / United Kingdom 6.4% / Australia 3.5% / Canada 3.3%
What they say about themselves: 147,650 Expert Authors Sharing Their Best EzineArticles

a href=">articlesdatabase.com
Alexa Rating: 1,258
Site visits from: United States 35.2% / India 27.2% / United Kingdom 5.7% / Pakistan 3.9% / Indonesia 3.1%
What they say about themselves: 674,860 published free articles by 81,336 authors

buzzle.com
Alexa Rating: 2,293
Site visits from: United States 43.6% / India 20.8% / United Kingdom 5.7% / Canada 3.2% / Australia 3.0%
What they say about themselves: Your complete source for news, articles and information

searchwarp.com
Alexa Rating: 7,742
Site visits from: United States 41.4% / India 26.3% / United Kingdom 6.1% / Pakistan 4.0% / Australia 3.7%
What they say about themselves: All articles are manually reviewed to ensure that they meet our quality guidelines

goarticles.com
Alexa Rating: 16,756
Site visits from: India 34.7% / United States 30.3% / United Kingdom 6.0% / Pakistan 4.0% / Australia 3.8
What they say about themselves: 135,00 authors, over 1 million articles

articledashboard.com
Alexa Rating: 23,591
Site visits from: India 41.2% /United States 26.2% / Pakistan 5.5% / United Kingdom 5.3% / Australia 3.0%
What they say about themselves: The Internet's Premier Source for Article Distribution

articlesnatch.com
Alexa Rating: 25,310
Site visits from: India 41.6% / United States 22.6% / Indonesia 5.7% / United Kingdom 3.8% / Pakistan 3.3%
What they say about themselves: 490,248 Excellent Articles in our Database from 52,361 Authors

isnare.com
Alexa Rating: 31,681
Site visits from: United States 39.0% / India 24.2% / United Kingdom 6.5% / Pakistan 5.0% / Canada 3.3%
What they say about themselves: Now supported by three powerful Article Directory softwares

amazines.com
Alexa Rating: 31,801
Site visits from: India 45.6% / United States 24.2% / Pakistan 4.8% / United Kingdom 4.6% / Indonesia 2.8%
What they say about themselves: We are building the most comprehensive article database that is free and easy to use

articlesfactory.com
Alexa Rating: 34,848
Site visits from: India 34.9% / United States 23.7% / Pakistan 6.4% / China 4.7% / United Kingdom 3.6%
What they say about themselves: Let us know what you think! Your comments are sincerely appreciated!

article-buzz.com
Alexa Rating: 35,270
India63.8%
Site visits from: United States 12.3% / Pakistan 8.6% / Philippines 2.8% / Kyrgyzstan 2.1%
What they say about themselves: 102478 categorized Articles in our directory, from 22562 Authors.

365articles.com
Alexa Rating: 35,734
Site visits from: India 80.1% / Pakistan 5.4% / United States 4.6% / Philippines 2.9% / China 1.6%
What they say about themselves: 365Articles.com is currently serving 131,998 articles">

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