Writing Articles: Putting It All Together

You've gathered your research, interviewed a knowledgeable person if appropriate, and scribbled lots of other notes. You want to now merge all this material into an article - but how do you do it?

You can have three approaches:

· Just start writing, in whatever order appeals, and fix it all up later

· Use the outline you've already written, and follow it closely. (If you haven't already written an outline, you can create one at this stage).

· A combination of the two.

The third option I have here may seem strange. After all - if you've written an outline, why would you want to write as if you don't?

I personally find the third option can work well. I like outlines, but I don't usually have an outline that is so thorough it leaves no room for a freer approach within each section. Outlines also may get changed from when they are first written, because you find new information, or an interviewee tells you unexpected but relevant news or opinions.

Here are some guidelines for getting all your notes ready to put into a suitable piece of writing:

· Assemble the information, (including quotes, comments, opinions, and facts) into sections. If you've got your information on your computer, (as most people do these days), then create a new document, and copy and paste - rather than move - information into each section. You'll probably only want 3 - 5 sections. Be sure to keep your original notes for reference.

· Within each section, further break down the information into as many sections as are needed to fit it all; though again, 3 -5 is probably a good guideline. The desired length of your article, editorial requirements and the amount of information for each section will determine how much you do here.

· Rearrange the information into sensible order; realising that you'll also need to re-check this order in the editing stage.

Start writing. Here's where you can and should do some freer writing, because you really don't want your article to sound like a list of facts. In order to get good, conversational and easily read text, you want to step back from the facts a bit, and write them in your own words.

Quotes should be left alone where they are concise and appropriate. However, if they are long - and especially if they are filled with incomplete sentences, repeated phrases, or the inevitable 'ums' and 'ahs' - they're going to need some editing.

I usually find I need to do several drafts of the article at this stage, depending on how long it is and how familiar I am with the information.

Each time I look at the draft, and especially for the final check, I also consider how well it flows. Does the information lead logically and seamlessly from one section to the next? If you find it difficult to 'see the wood for the trees', try using Print Preview (or similar) on your computer word program, as it enables you to see several pages at once. Although the writing is much smaller as a result, it will better enable you to take a wider view of the overall article.

When you've done your final edits for writing quality, and checked your facts are right, you're good to go.

Make Money Online Article Writing

If you would like to make money online article writing, you will find yourself creating articles quickly on an almost daily schedule. Writing quickly doesn't mean comprising on quality. As a rule I try not to spend more than 20 minutes a day on an article. Although I do believe that "content is king" I have a business to run and a schedule to keep.

Short and Sweet
Keeping your article short, 500 words or less, will keep you in that 20 minute time frame. You don't have to scrimp on quality if you make every word count. Writing articles for the web is almost a form of shorthand and can be a little tricky in the beginning, but soon becomes very easy, and if you can write them quickly it can be extremely profitable.

Everyone needs web articles, I know you've heard the internet is a big "information highway". Maybe you have thought about making money by providing web articles, well there is money to be made once you learn the system.

Brainstorm Ideas
Do you have an idea list, well if your like me you have more than you need to start with. Start combining some of those ideas to round out your article. If they fit use them as bullet points, readers love bullet points and lists, their easier on the eyes. Make sure your article answers five "w" and one "h" questions: who, why, where, when, what and how.

Sometimes I use who, why, where, when, what and how as my outline. That keeps me focused, I may need to do research. Just writing one small article a day and submitting to EzineArticles and providing a link back to your site is a great way to get noticed. The web consists of millions of articles so it should come as no surprise that there's money to be made from writing and marketing articles.

Keep Readers Interested
We need to arouse interest and keep our readers with us from the very beginning. Each sentence needs to be snappy and offer the reader a small benefit. This could be simply a smile, which by the way is a great ice breaker. We don't have to supply the entire benefit right away. If we just make the promise to deliver it later, making sure each taste will be tempting enough to keep them reading.

Reader Benefit and Call to Action
Every article has a call to action which is usually in the resource box at the end, if we keep our article short and on track our reader will likely stay to the end and read our call to action. If they like what you have written and can see some benefit to their lives they will likely answer your call.

Article Marketing Master Plan Unveiled

Effective headline strategies:

Your title must always contain your main keyword phrase, otherwise people will not be able to find it via EzineArticles' internal search or through the search engines. Ideally, you'll want to have more than one keyword appear in your title.

Example of a good title:

"Weight Loss Secrets - 3 Easy Steps to Lose That Weight"

I literally just made that up. In my opinion, it's good because it is keyword rich and contains the magic words "easy" and "secret".

People don't like to do things the hard way.

People don't like learning things.

People DO like taking shortcuts.

People DO like discovering things.

Magic words to spice up your titles:

Easy - Secret/Secrets - Discover - How to - Deadly

A note on "how-to's"... you're going to want to convey a benefit with your how-to's. Your reader should find out exactly what they're getting by reading your title. "How to lose weight" isn't a benefit because it is too general. "How to write a killer article in 10 minutes" is a benefit. Other words you should consider using in your titles: Dos and don'ts - Strategies - The truth about - Revealed - Mistakes - Essential. Again, those lists aren't exhaustive, but I just wanted to give you a general idea of what you should strive for in your titles.

The Body:

A common mistake when doing article marketing is to write a very informative article. There's nothing wrong with providing information and value in an article, but remember, the goal of your article should be to make your reader want to learn more, not to get the whole picture from your article. I'm not saying you should write articles full of fluff, I'm just saying that you don't need to pack your articles with information. If your reader satisfies their curiosity or thirst for knowledge after reading your article, there will not be any motivation to click through to your site.

Article Length:

Your article should be between 300 and 600 words long. Between 300 and 400 would be perfect because readers tend to lose interest or focus rather quickly unless an article is superbly written. 300 word articles are extremely easy to write because they are so short. Think about it: your intro for the article should already take up a good 50 to 100 words. Then you have a conclusion which should be another 50 to 100 words. Easy peasy.

Article Layout:

If your article is on the short side (~300 words), then you have a bit of freedom with how you present your article. You can either have a few paragraphs, or you could have bullet points sandwiched by an intro and a conclusion. Conclusions aren't always necessary, but intros are, for obvious reasons.

If your article is around 500 words, then it wouldn't hurt to make your article easier to read by having bullets or sections which are separated by bolded sub-headlines (like I'm doing in this ebook). If you choose not to use bolded sub-heads or bullets, then make sure you have short paragraphs. Let's say your article is 600 words long. You should have an intro which is about 100 words long and a conclusion (which leads into your bio box) which is also about 100 words long. You have 400 words to play with, so you should have 3-4 paragraphs to ensure easy reading.

Keyword Density:

Keyword density is how often a keyword shows up per 100 words. In your articles, you'll want a 2-4% keyword density so that Google gives your articles a lot of love. Any more than that and you will get penalized.

Article Tone:

It can be tough to write with personality about a subject which you have no interest in, but doing so will make your articles more pleasant to read. Present your info, but do so in a way that doesn't remind your reader of lectures in their college days. Would you rather listen to a prof that drones on and on and on for two hours, or a prof that engages the audience and provokes intelligent thought and discussion?

Cardinal Rules of Article Writing:

1. Thou shalt have perfect spelling.

2. Thou shalt have perfect grammar.

I cannot stress these two rules enough. If your article has "spelling" errors or grammatical errors, it will not only look unprofessional, but It'll also make it tough to read.

If you intend to write all your articles, then make sure you proofread your article before submitting it. EzineArticles (I'm singling out EZA because it is the biggest article directory) has a strict policy about the quality of the articles that authors submit to them. If you do not adhere to their editorial guidelines, then your articles will not be accepted.

The Bio Box (aka The Resource Box):

The bio box, also known as the resource box, is where authors stick a little information about themselves and links to external sites. Even though it is short, what you put in your bio box is almost as important as the article that precedes it. If you do not have an appropriate call to action in your bio box, then your conversion rates will not be as good as they can be.

Example of a boring bio box:

"Joe Shmoe is a full-time Internet marketer from the US who has been online since 1996. He has an MBA from XYZ University. For more information on Internet marketing, click here."

Let's be very clear. When I'm looking for info online, I couldn't care less about who the author is or how many pet cats he/she has. I don't want to know where you're from, I don't want to know your level of education, and I don't want to know what your hobbies or passions are.

It's not that I don't care about you (I really do!), it's just that I don't want to

be hearing about you at the end of your articles.

What I do want to hear about at the end of your articles is what I'll get if I click on your link.

Example of a decent bio box:

"Would you like to get instant access to over 9000+ tools and resources right now? Then check out ABC Product located at mysite.com and start downloading them all immediately!"

The above example communicates a clear benefit: you are letting the reader know that if they click on your link, they will get instant access to over 9000+ tools and resources today. Remember, readers don't want to "find out more about" anything; they want to "get" stuff.

So their you have it! - You can stay a hope article marketer and hope that your articles bring you traffic and sales.

OR...

You can follow these few simple rules above in the Article Marketing Master Plan Unvailed and finally eliminate all the guesswork and stop hoping for sales.

Article Writing Tips to Help You Get Noticed in Today's Network Marketing World

I have learned very quickly that diving into article writing for marketing purposes has somewhat turned into a science. Writing articles on various informational topics have become common practice for online marketers to leverage traffic to their websites or blogs, and even various affiliate marketing trends.

I have found that there are a number of key items needing attention for a successful integration of writing articles to drive your current marketing model. These elements include the websites you submit your articles to, the demographic the articles are written for, and the overall quality of the content.

As an online marketer, identifying ways to protect your hard earned reputation and attraction as a leader in your Network marketing venture is an important practice. Additionally, juggling attractive content that provides information that holds value so that your targeted traffic continues and grows, being aware of some of these mistakes can relieve possible future frustration. Learning to avoid some of these mistakes and creating a profitable business from article marketing are some of the most important skills that we will be discussing in this article.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

At times article writers will often limit themselves to only submitting their work to one or two directories. This results in limiting the traffic that will see the valuable work and information provided by the article. There are many other directories to consider and submit your work. Make every attempt to publish your articles in as many directories that you can. There are many free directories available and a few searches with your favorite search engine help you determine where to go. The main reason here is information duplication. You want your article to spread and to be available for key words within your article to flow and drive your home business. Article writing to market your MLM is a superb way to leverage the Internet and drive the appropriate traffic and potential leads. Take the time to list your articles in as many places as you can and build your online presence by building your brand.

Get involved in your MLM community

Aside from free general type directories you can find many directories and online communities dedicated specifically to the success of networking of Network marketers and MLM business opportunities. Typically the people browsing these areas within the MLM community have interest in your subject and using these as places to nest your articles can be a huge asset to generating increased traffic to your site or blog. Not to mention you then start to become a valuable and recognized contributor to the community.

Know the results

Don't forget to track the results of your articles. It may be a great practice to ask a generated lead where they heard about you or received your contact information. Know what is working for you by tracking what is working best for you. Even if it's just a simple spreadsheet, recording the directories and dates of your published content will help you keep up with what is where. Learning what has drawn people to your business and what hasn't is a huge area to be studied closely to maximize your efforts.

By following the traffic driven by your articles and the keywords being used, this will provide great insight as to what is generating the traffic and allow you to tailor the rest of your articles. I highly recommend article marketing to build your brand online and increase your marketing efforts. You can continue to enjoy writing at your own leisure while gaining a reputation as a leader and authority in your home business venture. Well thought out and relevant information being shared on various topics from leadership, development, to communication are huge wins for you and those looking to expand their knowledge.

Darin McCall

How To Write a Press Release

The web content services are now assaulted with requests from companies to write good articles. In an informational world where people want to be announced about every new product or service that appears in the market it is important for any writer that wants to offer complete and quality web content service to know how to write this kind of articles. Even if the title "press release" might make you think about a journalistic article, you should know that those articles are in fact marketing and promotional materials.

The companies want releases for numerous reasons. A new product, but also the financial results can be announced with news of this kind. However, the concept was adapted a little, considering the appetite of clients for this kind of web content services and now, those are some of the most important website contents.

The title and the lead

Usually, a press release talks about financial results and the evolution of profits. This is why the title must contain the idea of this evolution.

The lead of the press release must be clear, describing the initial idea from the title. For example, from the lead, you can say that the first semester brought a significant growth of profits. You can also mention that the value of the company has grown on the Stock Market,

The content

In the body of the article, you can offer other details of public interest. For example, you might say that the companies consolidated their position compared with other companies, or that the respective company reached an important market share.

It is important for a press statement to have the testimonial of an important figure of the company. Therefore, it is a good idea to offer a quote of the general manager or of the CEO of the company. In the body of the press statement, you will also have to talk about the future plans of the company: the preoccupation to find new opportunities, investments and expansion.

Then, you will have to offer general information about the market, about the value of the market, and about the incomes of the consumers. Those details must be inserted somewhere at the end of the press release, before the final paragraph.

The final paragraph must be about the company, followed by contact details and links. This type of press release is usually addressed to the specialists of the respective niche, meaning that it has to contain certain technical notions. Moreover, it might not be interesting for a large category of visitors. A good content writer is the one that is able to write an article of this kind with many technical details, but also a press release that is interesting for the average reader.

Making Good Money With Web Content Writing

Internet is full of content. Where does this content come from? Whatever website we open, it has content and that content is updated from time after time. Generating website contents is what many people are doing these days. It is a good way of earning a large amount of money and many people are into this business.

We are talking about website content here but do you know what web content actually is? It can be anything starting from blog posts, articles, videos and even the comments of the fans. Every business now has a website that needs content. That content is commonly a persuasive writing about the products and services of the company, about the company itself and similar other stuff. Creation of a number of business websites has led to the creation of the web content services. Many people having great writing capabilities are working as article writers and they are earning a significant amount of money because of this. All you have to do is to know where to look for the work and then you can easily make money with this opportunity. Article or web content writing requires thorough research, proper command on language and using simple words that are persuasive enough to grab the attention of the readers. Website owners need such web content services that can make the visitors potential buyers.

Other than content, the website owners also need writers for writing articles. There is a lot of demand of web content services indeed. Therefore, those who want to start a web content business can do that easily without investing much money. There are many free advertising sites where you can make your portfolio as a writer. Other than this, you can also find many of the freelancing sites where writers have made their accounts and clients post their projects for writing articles and producing web content. The writers post bids and the one with the highest bids is selected for writing the content. Some of the clients even ask the writers to write a sample for judging their writing skills.

Providing web content service is not an easy thing. However, everyone can write but not all have the perfect writing skills and the knowledge to make use of the persuasive language and creating the right flow of keywords. The websites that need content also demand that the content should be original so there will not be any option of copy pasting stuff from various websites.

Quality of the content also counts a lot. There are people who have made their own blogs where they share useful information with the internet users on various novel topics. You will see that many people interact with them. This is another good way to enhance your exposure as a writer. If you have the power of influencing people then you can do anything with your writing skills. You can learn the success stories of many writers who started with a scratch but their great writing skills gave them plenty of success.

How To Start Blogging - Some Effective Tips

If you are also trying to make an online presence here are some effective tips that can lead you to success.

Select a Consistent domain name

The domain name represents the address of your blog and hence it is necessary that you select a unique name that holds resemblance with the topic discussed in your blog. The URL of the blog is the main component through which the visitors can reach you. Hence it is necessary to pay proper attention while selecting the domain name and URL. Make sure, you never change it as changing it often might require more work in order to popularize the same blog with different name between the visitors.

Choose a topic for your blog

Selecting a topic for the blog requires attention and consideration. If you are into a business you can start a blog discussing about the industry you are operating in or the products and services offered by your company. Always prefer to select a topic that can be presented by you in an impressive manner. Make sure, you have in-depth knowledge of the topic selected by you so that you can provide the best to the readers and more visitors towards your blog.

Add high quality content on a regular basis

The major attraction for the customers is quality and informative content. Therefore, it is necessary to update your blog with unique, original and informative content and keep the readers engaged. An impressive content compels them to visit your blog again and again.

Use related keywords

You must be aware of the fact that keywords are the basic tool that helps the visitors in searching your blog. Therefore, search the keywords that are most suitable for the topics discussed in your blog. You can use Google AdWords tool for searching the most appropriate keyword for your blog.

Market your blog

Marketing the blog plays an important role in making the blog visible to a large number of people. You need to adopt the best marketing techniques in order to make your blog appear on the top in the search engine results. The best to publicize your blog is to promote through social networking sites. Building links can also be a great technique to direct individuals towards your blog.

Have access to technical technologies

Having the know-how of web technologies helps the user in adopting effective steps to make the blog more creative and impressive. Adopting various techniques can help you in creating a user-friendly and interactive platform that would effectively engage the visitors. This can help you in acquiring the top most ranking in the search engine and generating more traffic on your blog.

These are some of the effective tips implementing which you can start a blog and generate huge traffic in a smaller time period.

5 Tips for Freelancers: My Personal Experiences and Recommendations

I started my freelancing career in late 2009 due to lack of job opportunities for fresh business graduates in the market. I had been extremely tensed about the ups and downs of the job market at the time when I started my career.

I had no idea that I could become a freelance writer after graduating with a BBA degree from reputable university. My experiences have been varying throughout all those 3 years. I had been thinking quite a lot of times in sharing freelance experience with all of my readers. Finally, after a few weeks of brainwashing, I managed to sit down and write this article for you. I list down herein my personal recommendations to future freelancers:

1.Never delay any project -My personal experience shows that delaying a project often has direct relationship with delayed payments. I have been suffering with delayed payments because some projects had not been delivered on time. If you think that the project can take more than expected time, inform the client in advance.

2. Always communicate regularly with the client - Miscommunication is often the leading cause of project failures. If you have any issues with the project regarding deadline, project descriptions or anything else, make sure to communicate with the client on time.

3. Never promise something that you cannot do - Many freelancers make a big mistake of getting a big project that they are just unable to complete due to lack of skills. Never lie to any client in a desperate attempt to win projects because this would lead to loss of trust in your services.

4. Be fair in your pricing - It is common for new freelancers to adopt "market penetration pricing strategy" whereby they charge rates less than what other experienced freelancers charge. However if you are a skilled writer, developer or designer, make sure to charge market rates. If a project can be completed at the cost of $200, your rate should be somewhat near to $200 with maximum 5% price variations.

5. Provide complete copyrights to clients - Clients demand 100% copyright ownership. Even if you have written an excellent eBook for a client and get paid for it, you are not legally allowed to show that work as your own. The client is paying you for your writing skills. This does not mean that you are entitled to write and market the book under your own name. Be ready to face serious legal challenges if your work is found to contain copyright issues.

If Editing Takes You Longer Than Writing Perhaps It's Time to Readjust Your Strategy?

Not long ago, I was talking to a fellow writer and they noted that their toughest job was editing. Well, as a very prolific online article writer I completely concur. In fact, when I'm using speech recognition software I can put out an article, one about every 5 minutes, especially if it is a topic that I'm very fluent in and have a lot of experience. However, the editing takes me at least that long or longer. If I do a quick read through and catch the obvious errors, I can do that with a 400 word article in about 4 to 5 minutes.

However, if I want to ensure it is perfect, that means I need to go and work on the grammar, change some wording, and next thing I know I'm into that article for 30 minutes. You see, what would have been very quick, is now taking a tremendous amount of time. My acquaintance noted that; "if your editing is taking you longer than the actual writing, then perhaps it's time that you readjust your strategy." Now then, if I'm not using speech recognition software and I am busy typing away, I will make fewer mistakes, and therefore spend less time on the "once-through editing" that is to say a simple read through catching the most obvious mistakes.

The challenge is editing your own work right after you've just done it. It's very easy to read right through something that you wrote, because you seem to be talking to yourself inside your head as you're reading it, and since you already know what it says, you read right through your own mistakes. However, if you put your writing down, and come back to it later, any blatant mistake will jump right out at you. Just as if you were reading someone else's work, you will find mistakes that they missed while rereading it.

Now then, taking my acquaintance's advice it surely makes sense to write perhaps 10 articles, and then come back and edit those 10, and then start on a new batch. This will increase your productivity, and prevent you from spending so much time editing without fixing all the mistakes. You will basically become a secondary person editing your own work, because it will no longer be fresh in your mind. It may take you a little longer to read through it, but you will catch all the mistakes, or at least 99% of them, and that's the important thing with online article writing. Please consider all this and think on it.