|
What Is Article Marketing – And Why Should You Care? “I’m not a writer,” you say. “Why should I get involved with Article Marketing? Besides, everybody does it – won’t I be just another drop in that particular bucket?” Everybody may do it – but an elite few are doing it so well, it’s boosted their business to the top faster than any other means they've employed (as they’re usually only too happy to admit.) They are veritable Article Marketing Superheroes – and you can be one, too. By the time you've finished reading this Special Report, you should have all the tools. Your part will literally consist of “filling in the blanks.” Article Marketing is a proven strategy for building your web presence, credibility and trust. It drives targeted visitors to your websites and blogs via Article Directories. In fact, many top marketers will readily tell you, Article Marketing really is the most important marketing strategy for beginning marketers – one you shouldn't skip. Article Marketing has 3 huge advantages that leave other methods in the dust – especially if you’re new to your niche: 1. It’s absolutely free 2. It generates solid traffic 3. It helps you attract subscribers, build your list and start your Sales Funnel There’s a fourth free benefit that’s often overlooked: 4. It generates traffic from people who are interested in exactly what you have to say – in other words, your unique target market – your exact niche And that’s worth thousands of random visitors. Still not convinced? Just take a look at some of the people who regularly use Article Marketing: ? Lynn Terry ? Michel Fortin ? Nicole Dean ? Alex Mandossian ? Jimmy D. Brown ? Bob Bly ? Terry Dean How Do You Do It? One thing we should get straight, up front. It’s not that you’ll be “marketing your articles”: You’re going to market with articles. There’s a huge difference. Your articles are going to be written with a dual purpose in mind. First, you’re going to provide your unique customers with articles that: ? Address their deepest needs ? Solve their problems ? Tell them what they need to know ? Let them in on secrets they may not have known – secrets that will help them succeed By the time your customer’s face lights up at your next article announcement in his inbox – one he knows will solve a problem or teach him exactly what he needs to know – you’re already established in his mind as that great Internet Marketer who can be counted on to deliver the goods, every time. And the second? Well, he’s going to listen to your recommendations, subscribe to your newsletter or emails – and step into your marketing funnel to buy your products. “Hey – Ya Wanna Buy A Used Puppy?” Look at it this way. Who would you buy your next purebred puppy from – the guy who whips open a trench coat, shows you five fluffy bundles of fur tucked squashed into his inside pockets, (“Hey, ya wanna buy a puppy? Only $20 for a purebred Teacup Poodle – just ignore the spots and the bushy tails…”) – or the breeder who answered all your questions about your previous Teacup Poodle? The one whose dogs’ bloodlines you know, and who you can depend on to answer your questions about food problems, teeth, or reliable groomers. The one whose articles you've read in countless dog magazines? And who are you going to pay the big bucks to? That’s right. The one with credentials. The one you trust. And you yourself want to be perceived as that breeder: not as the seedy-looking guy with the trench coat. You see, you may know your motives, and believe sincerely in what you have to say, but a marketing campaign is an entity unto itself. Get one component wrong, and the picture it paints of you is quite different from what you intend; what you’re feeling inside. Skipping steps can make you look: ? Amateurish ? Insincere ? Pushy ? Arrogant ? Shady And the worst part is, because your motives really are pure, you may be the last to realize the impression you are giving. You have to know you have the right to wear the white lab coat and the nametag, before you walk into that room and pull someone’s tooth. The Right Way – And The Other Right Way You’re going to find yourself firmly in one of two camps, as you’re reading this. Either you’re going to be keen to write your own articles – or you’re feeling oppressed with the weight of having to learn yet another tiring internet marketing technique. If you’re in the first camp, I’m going to tell you how to submit knock-their-socks-off articles that outshine the rest. If you belong firmly to the second camp, I’ve got one word for you: Ghostwriter. That’s someone who will write articles for you, but give up all rights to them. They’re submitted with your name, written specifically for you, and speak with your voice. What About PLR? PLR is highly popular right now – “Private Label Rights”. Turn around and almost everyone and their uncle is trying to sell you PLR. It’s another solution for non-writers – but you have to know what you’re doing, to make even the best PLR really work for you. You have to be really careful with PLR, when you use it as part of an Article Marketing campaign – some Article Directories (most notably EzineArticles, your most important one) absolutely forbid it. But if done properly, using high quality PLR, your article will end up so transformed, it won’t be recognizable as PLR, by the time you’re done. (We’ll cover that, too – as well as a third alternative.) But whichever way you produce your articles – write them yourself, hire a ghostwriter or use PLR – keep in mind the actual writing (even the articles themselves) is only one small portion of your Article Marketing strategy. To make this strategy effective, you have to know how to: ? Find and select the best subjects for your niche ? Include highly-optimized long-tail keywords that will help you with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ? Research these keywords effectively for your niche ? Choose the right place to “seed” these keywords, within the article ? Choose the right places to submit your articles ? Plan your strategy There are other skills you need to know: for example, how to take articles you've already written, and rework them for maximum exposure and benefit. Hang in there – we’re getting closer to finding these important things out! How Does It Work? Article Marketing always starts with a long-tailed keyword phrase. For example, you’d like to write about Auto-responders, you’d want at least a 3-word keyword phrase as the primary keyword phrase for that individual article. So, say our key phrase is “Download Free Auto-responders” – we would include this key phrase in our title (preferably at the beginning) and again in the first paragraph (preferably in the first sentence). Do not worry about lacing the keyword throughout the article: Search Engines only hunt the first paragraph or two. In fact – do NOT, under any circumstances, artificially “plant” your keyword anywhere else. (That’s called “keyword stuffing” and is the single most dangerous thing to do, when trying to write a great article.) The more you use your keyword, after that crucial Title and First Paragraph insertion), the weaker your article will rank. Overdo your keyword use – and you’ll bump yourself right out of Google completely! Remember, you are going for valuable, unique content that your readers won’t be able to resist – not a lame excuse to plant keywords. Your article would run from 550-700 words in length. It should focus on only one “angle”, or point. Your title and first paragraph should look like this (without the teal ink I’ve used to highlight the keyword phrase, of course:) The strategy itself is drop-down easy. Picking your keywords and article subjects is where it gets into the realms of Art. But don’t worry – the more you do it, the easier it gets. You’ll quickly find out with each article: ? One article draws heavy traffic, but doesn’t convert ? Another draws lighter traffic with conversions ? Another is a smash hit, drawing multiple comments and resulting in click-throughs on products or services ? One (usually your favorite) generates no interest at all. This is par for the course – a true learning experience that will take you from newbie Download Free Autoresponders – But Be Wary Of This Hidden Drawback “It’s easy to download free Autoresponders, and many new marketers greet this information with relief. However, there is a hidden drawback you must take into account. Free Autoresponders usually rely on the insertion of advertising and pop-ups – something you, the Autoresponder user, have no control over – and which may take valuable traffic away from your site.” marketer to seasoned pro in the most organic and natural way possible. The Process Let’s break it down further… Your article has a Title. This title has one simple but crucial purpose: to make your reader want to read more. There are many ways to do this. In our example above, we used curiosity. Note we did not say “Download Free Autoresponders – But Be Wary Of Inserted Advertising”. Instead, we teased the reader into checking out the article by making them want to find out exactly what the “hidden drawback” could possibly be. It has an opening paragraph, which simply states what you’re going to be discussing in the rest of the article – the drawback of Advertising you have no control over being inserted into your messages. You write the article body, which is the “proof” of what you’ve stated in the first paragraph. This leads up to the conclusion. If you’re writing the article strictly for your blog, that could include an affiliate recommendation for a paid Autoresponder – but the only strategy, if you’re planning to submit the article to an article directory, is to include no affiliate links. Instead, you capture traffic through your Resource Box. Your Resource Box is so important, I’m going to give it a separate section… Your Resource Box: Boost Or Bust When you are submitting to Article Directories, your Resource Box is the most important component of your article – yet many marketers add it almost as an afterthought. The Resource Box is that little blurb at the end of the article that drives people to your blog or website. That’s where you can direct them to your own or an affiliate product. There is a right way and a wrong way to create Resource Boxes. They say “a picture is worth 1,000 words”, so let me show you instantly, by example… The Right Way - Notice this resource box is all about your reader’s question - Tells your reader what you can do to help her increase her profits (offers a benefit) - Provides an immediate incentive to visit your site – in this case a free report - Includes a strong Call To Action (“Go here to download”…) - Contains a professional-quality photo or graphic representation of you The Wrong Way - Is all about you, you, you - Nothing in it for your reader (no incentive to visit your site) - Links to Sales Letter, not website or blog - No Call To Action - Contains a spelling mistake (can you spot it?) - Contains a button for your product Your Author Bio The same goes for your Author Bio – and most Article Directories do call for one. Your Bio doesn’t appear at the end of each article, but on your “About” page for that directory, along with a listing of all your articles. In fact, your Author Bio and Resource Box are the main reason you are using Article Marketing. Getting that targeted traffic through your calls to action are what it all boils down to, for you. But if you don’t provide what the reader is looking for, they won’t click. Again, keep the focus on your reader and his most urgent business needs; not on your own personal success. You might think that listing all your awards and degrees would be a good thing, but the truth is – you have only fleeting seconds to catch a reader’s attention. You won’t do it with anything less than clearly answering this question: “What’s in it for me, if I read your article instead of Joe Pro’s?” The same principle that applied to Resource Boxes applies to your bio: The Right Way The Wrong Way One More Important Point Notice that these Resource Box examples are formatted specifically for one article directory – in this case, our fictional EzeenArticles (based, of course, on EzineArticles). Other Article Directories will most likely be different – so do read their guidelines thoroughly in reference to Resource Boxes and bios. Browse through several articles on each site to see how other top authors do it. I can’t stress this enough: When dealing with Article Directories, read each Directory’s individual guidelines carefully. There is only one rule you can count on that’s common to all… Every Article Directory is different. Submitting To Article Directories It’s good to have strong content on your blog or website – but the real power and leverage of Article Marketing lies in submitting your articles to Directories. Why? Articles deposited in directories can usually be used by others as content for their own blog or website – with full credit to you, and (it is to be hoped) a link to your site. The terms usually include leaving your resource box intact – which means that one, single article is capable of creating multiple backlinks to your site. This, of course, increases your traffic – targeted, pre-qualified traffic. . And this is on top of the benefits we previously mentioned. To recap: ? Increasing your web visibility, presence and authority ? Generating targeted traffic and new subscribers ? Doing it for Free Backlinks are crucial to ranking well in the Search Engines SEO And Article Marketing If you’re already familiar with long-tailed key phrases, you have a good grasp on how to find the right ones to use in your articles. If not, there’s a few things you should know about finding good keywords that will bring traffic. It used to be comparatively easy to do a little research and come up with unique long-tailed phrases with low competition and high search numbers – but now that everyone is jumping into keyword research hyperspace, these are becoming harder to find. What’s causing this increase in competition and decrease in availability of unique keyword phrases? Leaving aside the growing number of marketers who not only teach others how to do keyword research or promote courses as an affiliate, paid keyword research tools such as Micro Niche Finder and Market Samurai have made keyword research pickings more meager than ever for those who still slog away at it, phrase by phrase. These programs are lightning fast, and can not only turn up hundreds of long-tailed phrases in seconds, but sort them even faster, in just about any order you want. You can get instant links to Clickbank and affiliate products, to search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN, and more statistical and analytical data. Market Samurai has a free trial, which should allow you to learn to use it. Both programs will not do your work for you – you have to know the terminology they’re using, and what to do with the information – but there are plenty of videos all over the net, for both programs, to provide instant instruction. With a little bit of application, you’ll soon be comfortable with these terms. Software like Market Samurai and MicroNicheFinder are well worth their weight in gold at the speed and accuracy with which they return results – but if you’re tearing your hair out in frustration, because you’ve just started and you’re on a shoestring budget, I’ve got news that should cheer you up. Finding long-tailed keyword phrases is not that complicated. Seriously. We’ve already covered the basics: Search Engine bots index your site or articles by your Title and first paragraph. Google’s bots in particular search for duplicate content – that’s where you’ve copied someone else’s article verbatim; or copied large chunks. If you’re the originator, it doesn’t matter who’s copied you – you’re fine, as far as Google is concerned. If you’re the copier, you’re penalized. Simple as that. The old style of keyword research still works. 1. Get ideas by using a free tool like Wordtracker 2. Go to the Adwords Free Keytool and look up your keywords. 3. Look for key phrases with around 1000-5,400 searches. 4. Run these keyword phrases through Google’s search engine, putting your key phrase in quotes (“like this”). If the Google results come in under 140,000, you’ve most likely got a winning phrase. Of course, there are dozens of variations on this search technique, each proponent claiming to have the ultimate system. The best advice I can give you: Don’t get hung up on keywords. Yes, they’re important – but no, it’s not an exact science; and with the current keyword frenzy, you are far better off to pick a keyword phrase to the best of your ability – and just start writing. Submit those articles. Do the basics. Focus on following a clear, simple article structure – and speak in your own words. The truth is, even the Big Guns don’t always know which article is going to be a hit, and which will just sit in limbo. Get over it. Just keep writing and submitting to Article Directories. Check your results. One basic way: Subscribe to Google Analytics, if you haven’t done this already – it’s an easy “walk through” set up. Check the results now and again, to see how many click throughs you are getting. Article Directories – The Top 10 There is one above all others you should submit articles to, if your niche is internet marketing. . EzineArticles Why? Google loves EzineArticles. And Google’s search results outweigh all others. (Proof? Take a look at this screen shot from Traffic Travis, a free Keyword Analysis tool along the lines of Market Samurai and MicroNicheFinder.) You can easily see that Google’s searches are double those of Yahoo and MSN combined. Here are 9 more useful Directories to consider, in alphabetical order. Pick a few of the ones most relevant to your niche. Article Dashboard Article Friendly Articles Base Directory ArticlesBase Buzzle GestBiz GoArticles Gobala Krishnan Dk-article These are just a sampling of high-ranking article directories. You can find many more, sorted by their Alexa rank – including directories with specific slants, like Afro Articles – at Seoresearcher. How To Write Memorable Articles You've got what to do, and where to submit it. You've had some tips on keyword research. You've learned how to write a decent Resource Box and Bio – and now we come down to the tricky part… How to actually write Articles that get accepted – and draw readers to your site. If you've secretly been quaking about this, relax. Even though you think you’re not a writer, you can do it. And I’m going to give you some secret strategies I use myself . What’s more, no matter how hard it may seem at the beginning, you’ll soon get into the flow. After the first few, writing articles will quickly seem as automatic as brushing your teeth. First, if writing is scaring the socks off you – remember rule # 1: Keep it simple. If 350-700 words seems overwhelming, aim for 300. That’s really a little on the short side – but if nothing else, you’ll get awfully good at saying what you need to say directly, without going off on tangents. Decide ahead of time what type of article you want to write. Here are 3 suggestions: 10 Tips – Pick a subject. Pick a relevant key phrase. Think of 10 tips. (If you can’t think of 10, make it 4. Or 7 – It’s not cast in stone.) By the time you've got your 10 Tips (or 3 or 4) that’s pretty much your whole article written: All you need now is an intro paragraph saying what you’re going to do, and a conclusion. 10 Mistakes – Exactly the same as your 10 Tips – except this time, you’re tapping into the basic human emotion of fear. You’re putting your reader “on alert”, by warning them of mistakes. Don’t forget – if you don’t finish with a “Call To Action” in your Article – at least include it in your Resource Box (E. G. “For more about…. Visit …….”) And if you have finished your Article with a “Call To Action”, repeat it in your Resource Box anyway! “How To” – Write a quick “How To” on one single thing. For example, if your subject is article marketing, don’t cover a subject that broad. Focus on one element. Examples: ? “How To Create The Perfect Article Title” ? “How To Create A Highly Effective Resource Box” ? “How To Get Accepted by Any Article Directory” You can actually combine the “How to” articles with elements of the “10 Tips” – by breaking the steps down into a 1-2-3 type format. A Word About Appearance The appearance of your Articles is another factor that often gets overlooked. But it too is very simple. Think of it for a moment – what would you rather read, when you’re browsing the net: A page dense with written paragraphs – or easy to read short paragraphs, broken up by bold subheads and bullet points that help you to instantly scan and grasp what’s being talked about? Don’t be afraid to break up your text by using: ? Short paragraphs ? Bullet points ? Subheads. What About Images? Images are not usually allowed in traditional Article Directories, but a growing trend is making internet marketers more aware of their power. Some Directories, like Website Articles, actually encourage them. Again – check each Article Directory’s individual guidelines. If it doesn’t mention images, either assume that means “no”, or look through a selection of articles on their site for your cue. And if you’re blogging, do use Firefox as your browser and use the Zemanta add-on. Zemanta provides you as you type your post with a selection of images gleaned from the web. You can instantly choose one (look for Public Domain images) and dump it into your post. “Where Do I Get Article Ideas?” Wherever there’s a complaint, there’s a need. Was someone on a forum complaining about no instructions on how to turn a blog into a Static site? Well, you can’t give them full instructions in a quick Directory article – full instructions would probably be an eBook. But you can write an article such as: “3 Reasons To Turn Your Blog Into A Static Website” – Then point them to your own blog or site, where you can point them to your own full instructional eBook, or to an affiliate product you’re reviewing that will give them what they need to know in more detail. So complaints are a big clue for your article subjects. Other sources – browse articles already in Directories like EzineArticles. See what’s been done – and give it a new twist. This is really important! Always do your best to address the one question not being answered, or take a familiar subject one step further, and you will never want for popularity as a writer! And don’t forget – just finding a good long-tailed keyword will tell you what people are searching for! Other places to help you spark ideas: Google Trends Keyword Discovery Adwords Keyword Tool External Google Zeitgeist Google Suggest My Goals.com freekeywords.wordtracker Magazines.com A more organic approach you should also practice consists of carrying a small notebook and pen in your purse or pocket, wherever you go. TIP: Keep more than one. Keep one in your car, and one in each purse, so you'll never be caught without something on which to jot down article ideas. Make a habit of going through all your notebooks at least once a week. Keep a simple text file on your desktop marked "Article Ideas". Every time you read something that sparks an idea - write down. (Copy-paste the link where you got it, too, so you can refer back to it if you need to.) Or if you prefer, you can use an online `notepad' like TiddlyWiki or EverNote. And don’t neglect “instant” sources of ideas like Twitter. If you haven’t joined Twitter yet, don’t waste any more time – go do it. You get concentrated, instant posts, which provide you with plenty of: ? Clues ? Information ? Complaints ? Requests And more. Even for people on dial-up, Twitter is fast and efficient. And not only is it a great source of Article ideas – you can announce your articles there too! Using PLR You’ve bought a packet of Private Label Rights articles. Do you just send them to an Article Directory with your name on? Absolutely not! That’s a quick way to get the dreaded “duplicate content” label slapped on your forehead – and Directories like EzineArticles absolutely do not tolerate it. So what do you do with PLR? First – invest in a reputable brand! How can you tell if it’s quality PLR? Well, for one thing, it will read fluently and fluidly, and there won’t be blatant mistakes in spelling and grammar. And buy from marketers with solid reputations, like Nicole Dean’s EasyPLR . You may be a little surprised, however, that PLR articles can seem rather generic and bland. They shouldn’t be so bland there is absolutely nothing of value, of course – but they should leave room for you to customize and make them unique. This is where you come in. Mix and match articles. Take only one paragraph and expand it into an article. Do some serious research and add juicy, specific facts to your article. A Word About Outsourcing Another great way you can have them turned into dynamic articles – outsource! Get a professional ghostwriter to rewrite the PLR for you, if you really don’t want to tackle it yourself. You can find one at Guru.com or Elance – though this can be “hit or miss”. The best way to make sure of getting a good one is through reading a personal referral from someone else. My best tip to prevent getting “burned” by inexperienced or unscrupulous ghostwriters? ? Always ask for testimonials ? Try them with a small single assignment first, before investing a larger sum of money for a bigger project Do remember, though – you get what you pay for, generally. That’s why, if you’re going for a low-cost freelancer on Elance.com, it’s a good idea to start with a small batch. Articles and PLR aren’t the only parts you can outsource, however – if you really can’t be bothered with keyword research (or research, period) hire a Virtual Assistant. Many V.A.’s are expert and adept in finding great keywords quickly, or coming up with juicy chunks of information. One last tip about Outsourcing your Articles to a ghostwriter: ? Let the ghostwriter know what sort of voice you want – casual? Authoritative? Male? Female? Cheerful? Businesslike? Help your ghostwriter do the best job he or she can for you. Don’t expect them to be mind readers, or pull rabbits out of hats. Rewriting Articles I’ve saved my best tips for last. Reread material occasionally - sometimes looking at what's been done - by you or others - in the past helps you come up with an idea in the present. Better yet, you can easily take top articles in your niche, and re-write them completely so that you’re presenting the information with your authentic, unique voice. It is absolutely vital that you re-write completely. If you copy even 3 words that are the same, you run the risk of committing plagiarism – taking someone else’s work, and claiming it as your own. Not only is this morally wrong, but you will be penalized for duplicate content – and committing plagiarism definitely won’t enhance your online reputation! And it’s very easy to find out if this is being done, nowadays. Article Directories like EzineArticles actually have individual, “real people” reviewers to check each article. And there are subscription sites like Copyscape that let you check material instantly for plagiarism; or Plagiarismchecker.com. (In fact, I check my own there, if I’ve re-written a piece for a blog.) You can also use these sites to quickly find out if anyone is duplicating your own pages on the net. If you were to take University creative writing courses, however, one of the exercises you might be asked to perform would be to write the same piece 3 or 4 different ways, emphasizing different points within the article (these would be longer articles we’re talking about here) as the key point. The advantage of rewriting a top article in your niche? You’ll be able to instantly tell what the primary key phrase is by looking at the Title and the first line or paragraph, in most cases. As you learn to write articles, this will help you develop a “feel” for key phrases like nothing else you could ever try. The best way to do this? 1. Take 10 of the top articles in your niche. This is not hard – many Article Directories actually list them under the current article you’re reading. 2. See if you can figure out the long-tailed key phrase. 3. Read the rest of the article. Be alert to comments or phrases that trigger a spark of interest for you. 4. Either take the primary long-tailed key phrase itself, or the words that caught your interest, and do your own individual research on these phrases further. 5. Write your article. It is okay to have the same long-tailed key phrase, as long as your title is completely different. For example, let’s assume you've identified your key phrase from one top article as “making Article Directories”: Original Article: “Why Making Article Directories Do Your Work Is A Smart Idea” Your New Article: “Making Article Directories Vault You To The Top Of Google” (This is the only time you should use 3 words that are the same as in the original article – the actual, long-tailed key phrase. Just remember – the idea has to be completely different.) Using Old Blog Posts If you've already done some writing, you can take old blog posts (yours or others) and transform them into a new article altogether. Especially do this with blog posts that garnered traffic and comments. Remember, you can always outsource this writing, if it’s something you really do hate doing, but the most crucial point to remember – your ghostwriter has to speak with your voice. A good idea for helping him or her to do this – Provide: 1. The title of the Article 2. The primary key phrase 3. A one-line summary of the point you wish to get across 4. Hints like “Casual style”, “no profanity”, “for Christian moms”, etc. If you think you’re going to be working with that writer for a long time, do provide him or her with a sample of your own writing, in your own voice – even if it’s just a letter to your Aunt Jill. Remember – if you give your ghostwriter targeted, high-quality ingredients to work with, the result will be a near-perfect entree. Some Online Tools To Help You Organize And Write We've spoken about the importance of carrying a small notebook. The truth is, the best ideas for articles often come from our everyday life. A comment overheard in a grocery store line up, a stylishly-dressed young businessman’s face lighting up like a little kid’s when he catches sight of a puppy, a slogan on a passing bus, something you yourself say to your family doctor… all these things are out there, waiting in our everyday lives, for us to turn them into perfect, unique, original articles. And the more often an idea strikes you, the more you will develop a “writer’s mind” – until almost everything (and the most unlikely occasions) will spark idea after idea – and those notebooks will be packed. But don’t lose sight of a very important component we talked about earlier – your overall article strategy for that niche. For planning your articles, you may wish to schedule and arrange them using an online tool. Here are some that I’ve used with success: ? Mind Map ? Kidspiration ? Inspiration ? Evernote (my favorite) ? Google Docs (online storage) One other tool you’ll need to make use of daily: Dictionaries. There are the usual sort – you probably even have a Webster’s in hard copy form, at home. However, there are some great specialty dictionaries online. ? OneLook® (also has a Reverse Lookup) ? YourDictionary.com ? Visual Thesaurus This one is by subscription, but at $2.95 per month ($19.95 per year) it’s well worth it. Also finds synonyms. Don’t be afraid to seek help in the form of tutorials and “shortcuts” (but don’t get so caught up in the tutorials, you never have time to do actual writing!) One of the best and most ridiculously inexpensive shortcut tools out there are the brand new Contentrix Blueprints. Each one covers a different angle of content creation. However, there’s one element of writing articles we haven’t covered yet – and it’s the habit that will kill your articles (and lose your readers) more quickly than any others… 3 Deadly Writing Mistakes To Avoid Adjectives Adverbs Links Nothing will mark you as an amateur quite so fast as a plethora of adverbs and adjectives. This is an example of an adverb – literally, a word that “enhances” a verb: ? “You killed him,” Paul said shakily. Following is an example of an adjective (3, to be exact) – a word that “enhances” a noun. ? Margaret wore a bushy, droopy, ginger mustache. Why are writers like Ernest Hemingway and Anton Chekhov considered so great? Because they let action speak louder than words. They used words sparsely, to paint especially vivid pictures. In business writing, you want to be focused on getting your point across. You don’t want to distract from it with excess verbiage. Nothing marks you as an amateur as quickly as a ton of clever adjectives and adverbs. To sum all that up, what would you rather read, when you’re skimming a page: “Search for ghostwriters at Guru.com” or: “You can tentatively but thoroughly search for skilled, talented, multi-level ghostwriters at well-known Guru.com” And links? On most article directories, they’re often just plain forbidden, in the body of your article. Again – Read each Directory’s individual guidelines. On the next page, you’ll find a Template you can print out and fill out manually – or fill out right in MS Word or Open Office. Repeating the process multiple times and filling out everything except the actual article body will quickly help you have your whole campaign mapped out well ahead of time – and you’ll be less likely to slip up and forget some vital element. Once you've got the Template filled out, your work is practically done! Happy – and successful – Article Marketing! TIP: Consider writing a short series of articles – Article Directories love series. BONUS: Article Strategy Template Directory Name Directory URL: http://www. Date To Be Published Date Actually Published: Key Phrase TITLE: Start with Key Phrase, if possible INTRO PARAGRAPH: Key Phrase in first sentence (or at least in first paragraph) State what you’re going to talk about ARTICLE BODY (500-700 words): Tips, Techniques, Case Studies, story illustrating point CONCLUSION: RESOURCE BOX for this article - Call to action - Invite to visit site - Incentive to visit (i.e. free report, more tips, etc.) - Repeat your Long Tailed Key Phrase AUTHOR BIO: - establish expert status by saying what you can do for your Reader BEFORE YOU SUBMIT: ? Read your article aloud. Fix any sentence your tongue “trips” over. ? TRIPLE proof – Let it rest a day – then proof again. NOTE: For your FREE Web marketing tutorials and resources you can visit seo consulting services provider. It is a site dedicated for seowebanalyst and web marketing classes, so stop spending much for what you can have for less at a better value.
Related Articles -
article marketing, marketing article, network marketing article,
|
