Ezine Marketing & Writing Tips - Especially For Beginners

The opportunities for publishing your articles online are countless! There are so many ezines and categories - nearly as endless as there are ideas to write about.

Back when I was a beginning writer (we're talking the early 1980s my friends... ancient history!) the big thing was, "I want to be published." or "Where can I get published?"

Of course, since there were no "ezines" and there was no internet at the time, folks like me relied on either the local Library (with the hopes that they had the most up-to-date writers guides) or we bought our own annual copy of The Writer's Market - THE aspiring writer's tool of the day (and it cost a pretty penny then, too!)

(By the way, we also relied on our typewriters and LOTS of paper and White-Out!)

The folks who published that big ol' book are still around - I'll give you that resource down below in another module - fear not! And they still have terrific resources for people who are looking to be paid for their writing...

As I said above, because this lens is really focusing on eZine Marketing Tips, I won't be going into the topic of writing for print publications... But I will give you some resources a little further below in case that is your primary area of interest.

I promise! :)

As I mentioned, I began writing early. My very first literary work was a poem I wrote when I was maybe 4 or 5.

For your reading pleasure, I bring you "Mog the Dog" (which was an ode to my favorite stuffed animal at the time, a large blue poodle-like dog).

Mog, Mog, my big blue dog.
My dog is Mog, and Mog's my dog.

The end.
(By Kathy Bojack, circa 1965 or so)

The point is, I have loved writing for my whole life. That's another story...

Anyway, the term "ezine" had not been coined yet. And for me, the whole idea of writing for the online audience came very gradually.

First, I was writing brochures, reports, press releases, etc for print to promote programs I worked for. Then, as the internet expanded and the different ways to reach out to a global audience expanded as well - it seemed like a natural progression to start marketing online.

And my writing just sort of naturally made it online.

I recall the first time I saw one of my eZine articles online. You know, even though I wasn't paid for it, I got the same kind of thrill seeing my work accepted online as I did when I published my first magazine article that I picked up on a newsstand so many years ago.

So, let's look briefly at the opportunities that abound for your online writing!

An "ezine" is simply an online or electronic form of magazine.

Typically, when you write for an ezine, you are subject to specific editorial terms (in other words, rules you need to follow as a writer), and you are writing to a target audience. A good ezine will review submitted work to make sure it is suitable for its readership. It may reject a submitted article, or it may send it back for review or editing.

Pet Peeve Alert!
By the way: A lot of people pronounce the word ezines as "ezynes" (as in, rhymes with "enzymes"). This makes no sense to me. After all, newsstand magazines are not magaZYNES, are they? So, I call them ezines (as in, rhymes with "magazines'). Just a pet peeve... Sorry... Let's move on.

For many people looking for ezine marketing tips, the first place that comes to mind is the site www.EzineArticles.com - It was one of the first, so it's one of the biggest.

Do you Heart EzineArticles.com, too?

There are numerous articles directories to which you can submit your work!
Here are some examples:
=> www.ezinearticles.com
=> www.articlebase.com
=> www.suite101.com (where you can even get paid after you've built up enough submissions and traffic!), etc.

To find your fill of other articles directories, take a look at my resources module below.

By the way, did you know that right here at home, Squidoo is a VERY highly ranked and respected place to publish your writing?
Did you? Hmmm... Now THERE'S an idea! :) (By the way, I have a neat lens on making Squidoo lenses for Beginners right here).

So now that we know of all these marvelous places we can submit our writing to, let's get some SOLID Ezine Marketing Tips for you!

One of the issues I see with beginning writers is that they are so excited about what they want to write about, that they forget WHO they are writing TO.

Remember, ezines want TARGETED articles - articles that are written for a specific audience.

Of course you need to be excited about your topic! But, you also need to reach the right audience. Think in terms of "categories." Let's take cooking as an example. (I love to cook!)

Think of WHO would be interested in what you have to say.
Look at the categories that you can choose from. While "Cooking" may be the overall category, drill a little deeper. You are far more likely to get people to read your article (or Squidoo lens, hint hint) if you take the extra time to find the absolute best category for your work.

Using cooking as the example - just look right here at Squidoo at what is available! Under cooking, you can write about "Dessert Recipes," "Regional Foods," "Organic Foods," Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes," Main DIshes," "Cakes," Soups & Stews," and on and on.

You get the idea!

Over at the ever popular eZineArticles.com, under their category "Food & Drink," you can find sub-categories such as "BBQ Grilling," "Chocolate," (Oh YEAH!) "Low Calorie," "Pasta Dishes," and even "Cooking Tips."

Now that you know WHO you are writing for, and you have decided on a topic, there are a few important ezine marketing RULES to keep in mind.

I think every writer will agree that whenever you are writing an article, mini site like our articles here at Squidoo, or even a blog post, it is important to keep these important "C-words" in the front of your mind.
Caring
Concise
Clear
Content

Now, if you look at my world-famous photo at right - you will see rock-solid PROOF that "Content is King!" - If you have read some of my other lenses, you may have seen this famous photo before.

That's because no matter WHAT you write - whether it's a resume, cover letter, blog entry, Squidoo page, or ezine article - providing high quality UNIQUE CONTENT is the single most important thing you can do for your readers.

CONTENT High quality unique content, filled with useful information - that is what your readers are looking for. That is what editors are looking for, and that is what the search engines are looking for as well.

Following closely behind are CARING, CONCISE and CLEAR.

CARING Show that you CARE about your reader. Never belittle your readers. Readers are your customers. Treat them as YOU wish to be treated (This can be filed equally under "The Golden Rule.")

CONCISE Be CONCISE. The days of Charles Dickens and being paid by the word are long gone. Remember the words of the truly world-famous Strunk & White in Elements of Style (Still one of the best small books on writing): "OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS! OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS! OMIT NEEDLESS WORDS!" (Yes, it really does say that in the book!)

CLEAR That goes hand in hand with writing in a CLEAR manner. There is no need to use a $5.00 word when a 10-cent word will do. Just say what you want to say. Read your stuff out loud. If it doesn't make 100% total sense to you, it probably won't to your readers either!

Remember: Online, we tend to browse and skim. So write in a way that makes it easy for your reader to get through your material.

Which reminds me... This module is getting too long! Let's break it up and move on!
:)

If you really want to write ezine articles - or do affiliate article marketing - or even just want to write in a blog, there is one more VERY IMPORTANT "C" word...

CONSISTENCY

You may have all sorts of great ideas to write about, and you may even have some wonderful stuff to sell - but if you just plop yourself down one day, write ONE article or ONE blog post and call it a day... Guess what? You won't get any readers!

The internet is a fascinating and bewildering place sometimes. Search engines change their algorithms* - making it easier or harder for your writing to be found. But one thing is for certain: The MORE you write, and the MORE places you get your writing out to - the more readers you'll eventually get.

The only way to do this is to write CONSISTENTLY. Even on days you don't feel like writing - do it anyway. Write ANYTHING... But write SOMETHING. You don't have to necessarily write for publication.

If you need some help getting yourself motivated to write, I found this great lens (below) the other day about journaling and writing in diaries. Give it a visit, and get yourself WRITING!

*Algorithm. I have no idea what it is. It's some kind of math thingy-formula that smart people come up with to make sure that the search engines are delivering valid results (hence the even GREATER importance of writing HIGH QUALITY CONTENT!)

Remember a moment ago, I mentioned under the C-word, "Concise," that we aren't Charles Dickens anymore?

Remember when I said that online, most people SKIM or BROWSE quickly?

It's true. I don't know if that's because people like me have a short little attention span and a short little attention span or if it's something else. (little joke... get it?)

But seriously - eZine editors want short, to-the-point articles. But, they don't want tiny little 100-word bits of nonsense jammed with ridicuous keywords either. (We'll discuss the importance of keywords in another lens.)

Editors know that readers are not likely to remain on the page for more than a few seconds to a few minutes. Readers want to get the information they need quickly and easily.

So, as a general rule of thumb, try for articles that fall in the 300 - 700 word range. At eZineArticles.com, their guidelines call for articles between 400 - 700 words.

I realize that this lens is getting a bit long - and I promise that I'll add more lenses to this series, and focus on a few of the finer points of eZine Marketing and Writing.

But, please hear me out on a few other important tips:

TITLES: You Should Capitalize Each Word In An Ezine Article Title As You See In This Example (BUT YOU SHOULD NEVER USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!)

PARAGRAPHS: Short and sweet. about 4 - 5 lines PER PARAGRAPH. Suite 101 prefers that you use approximately 50 - 75 words.

NO SELF-PROMOTION: Within the body of your eZine article, you MUST REFRAIN from including self-promoting links. The purpose of the article body is to offer your reader quality information. If you want to sell something, you are USUALLY given an opportunity to do so in your "resource box" or "author bio box."

Note: Suite 101 does not allow you to sell at all in your articles. That is because at some point, you may find that you qualify to earn a share of the advertising proceeds. Visit each article directory and check their terms of service before committing to writing for them!

Here are a few links for some writing sources that may be of help to you:

The Writers Market - One of the original writer's resources! They've been around much longer than the internet.

Articles Directory - Just a starting point to find various places to submit your articles. Or, simply "Google" the term "good article directory" or a similar term.

My Very Own Squidoo Guide and Tips Lens! - Just in case you'd like to start writing and publishing your stuff here! :)

Top Article Submission Sites - Ezine Article Distribution Service - This is actually my affiliate link to a very nice article distribution service. I use them myself - and I only recommend what I use and respect myself. One of the reasons I like Steve Shaw (the owner) is that he offers A LOT of great training, tons of value, and a service that doesn't allow you to submit junk. :)