Writing Internet Marketing Articles

Writers of internet marketing articles have three objectives.

1. To get themselves recognized as experts in their field
2. To get people to visit their web sites/blogs
3. To get back links to their web sites/blogs

To achieve these goals they need to get their articles:

1. Published by the article directories
2. Republished by eZine editors
3. Read by interested readers

Thus the articles must appeal to all parties, if they are to have their desired effects.

This article will cover 6 hints to getting your internet marketing articles accepted, published and read.

Grab The Readers Attention

The sole purpose of your headline is to grab the readers attention and get them to read the first paragraph of your text . This is the most important single element of your article. If you don’t get the readers attention, you can’t tell or sell them anything else.

You want to appeal to their emotions .  Whenever possible, use the keywords you want your article to rank for. Use strong statements, ask questions, challenge their preconceived notions.

Once You Got Them Don’t Let Them Go

If the object of your headline is to get them to read the first paragraph, the object of the first paragraph is to get them to read the next one and so on.

Create a flow within your article. Tell anecdotes, use good examples, and colorful descriptions.

Try to create word pictures using the words “like” or “as.”  Make your article flow as if it were a child’s sled streaking down a snowy hill.

In general, it’s best to focus on action verbs rather than descriptive adjectives. Verbs are powerful.  In the sentence above “streaking” was more powerful than “snowy”, although snowy belonged to make the sentence make sense.

Use Short Paragraphs

Forget what you learned in school.

Today for internet marketing purposes, you need to use very short paragraphs.

The objective is to streamline the appearance of the page. To make it easy and quick to read. Short paragraphs appear to be easy to read, and will avoid scaring some readers away.

Paragraphs can be a single sentence, even a single word.

Got it?

Make Use of Bullet Points and/or Numbers

Bullet Points and/or numbers makes each point stand out.

While they tend to equalize the value of the points itemized, it establishes the range of points to be considered.  If weighting is important, put the more important items to the top of the list.

One advantage to numbers over bullets is that they psychologically compel the reader to continue down the list to the end.

It’s always a good idea to indent the numbers or bullets. This adds texture and white space to the layout of your article.

Use Subheadings to Break Up and Define Your Page

Subheadings break up your page into chunks.  The heading tells the reader what each section is about.  Particularly online, many readers will skim an article. The subheadings serve to identify the content for these skimmers.

They may stop and read those sections that matter to them and speed past the rest.

Many professional copy writers ensure that their main message is fully conveyed in the subheadings. That way if a reader read nothing else they would still get the major points of the article.

Authoritative Numbers

Facts and figures add authority to an article. But make sure you don’t over do it and destroy its readability.

A precise number like 17,234 is more authoritative than writing “over 17,000.”   This is particularly true in headlines and subheadings.

Use facts and figures but keep the overall tone of your article light and airy unless you are specifically aiming at a professional audience.

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Tantalizing tips to evoke creativity and slay writers block

The Challenge
A blank sheet of paper can be a terrifying thing – Inertia a 10,000 ton anchor. Writing a 500-700 word internet marketing article can become a daunting task. Even experienced writers are challenged from time to time and long for a cure for writers block.

Many newer writers discover the hardest part is just to get started. Others, once started, still find it difficult to come up with anything more than drivel. Should you find yourself in this situation, it may be best to stop. Get up. Walk away. Come back another day. But in the interim consider adapting the following writers block tips to your life.

This article will outline five keys to releasing your creativity and discuss how to overcome writers block and stimulate your creativity. Consider them though not as five tips, but five parts of your writing persona. Integrate them into your essence as a writer

Journal
Every writer has a silent unpaid assistant that is usually far more talented than they are – their subconscious. But too often their suggestions get misplaced, lost and forgotten. In part that’s because the subconscious mind tosses up its ideas at unannounced intervals – and usually when you are busy with other things. It’s imperative that you develop a system to capture these ideas.

Some carry notebooks with them at all times. Others always have some sort of voice recorder, and others simply keep a pen and paper handy. Whatever you choose, it’s imperative that you catch these fleeting gems and get them written down. Many you will later discard, but some will set your writing on fire. The genius of your subconscious is ephemeral. The ideas it reveals will dissipate like whiffs of smoke if you don’t capture them in some form of journal.

Relax
While a top ranked surgeon can also be a great tap dancer, you probably wouldn’t want them tap dancing while removing your gall bladder. So too with the task of writing. Your writing may be based on your career, hobby or passions, but the act of writing requires its own mental space.

You need to step out of the rest of your life, and relax. Take a deep breath and focus on your writing task, and not all the extraneous baggage that may be associated with it. Doing this requires a bit of self knowledge. You need to be aware of what triggers your emotions. What gets you excited, what gets your goat.

These emotions can be powerful assets that you can use to inform your writing, but if you are wrapped up in them when they are not part of your task at hand, they can also be debilitating. Instead you need to learn how to develop a state of being where you can disassociate from everything except the task at hand.

Nest
One of the best ways sustain a productive writing mood and atmosphere is to create a space for your writing. Design your own nest, where you can relax and work. Make it known that this is a “do not disturb” zone. And clear it of all other work and obligations. This is not where you pay bills, or twitter. This is where you write. It’s you place to tune out the rest of the world and zero in on your creative muses.

If you like coffee, have a coffee pot, if you prefer cold drinks, get yourself a mini refrigerator. If your writing is less regular, you can use any quiet space, but make it yours, and before beginning clear it of distractions. You want to place where you can get in the zone, and stay there. Once you get the words flowing, you want to keep in that groove. Keep those words coming until the river runs dry.

Mood
Understanding your won moods is the best writers block help. What time of day are you most productive? Do you like absolute quiet, classical music, white noise? Know yourself, and develop routines to take advantage of your peak productive periods.

Pay attention to your mood. Just as a warm up is essential for an athlete, you need to identify those things that help you loosen up and warm up in advance of a writing session. Do you like to work in bright sunlight, twilight or the dark of night. Part of the creative writing process is freeing your subconscious helper. Enabling it to step forward and take you places that may not have occurred to your conscious mind.

While some writers have relied on alcohol and drugs to release this phenomenon, you can achieve results by creating your own signature space and mood. Meditation, exercise, aromatherapy, lighting, music, and intriguing visual environment can all be incorporated into your own personal writers groove, but each of us needs to find our own personal recipe. Look into yourself and discover your own personal creativity triggers and incorporate them into your writing routine.

Getaway
Even then from time to time you may need to break the mold and escape your nest to find a cure for writers block. Personally, I enjoy walking through the tangle of underbrush along the Mississippi River gorge not far from my home. Nature can be refreshing. You may have a favorite beach or mountain top, or dimly lit table in a coffee house. When the lines are stale and the ideas flat, a change of pace may be the only answer. Avoid the siren of mindless television, seek out places where you can observe details that you would never otherwise see.

Mini adventures can refresh the soul, and dissolve the conundrums hampering your flow. While it’s usually best to create a routine, a nest and comfortable mood, breaking the mold on occasion is all it takes to rejuvenate the AWOL muse.

Writing is a personal journey. While a simple article may just be a matter of sitting down and tossing off a few lines for some, it can be an intense struggle for others.

Effective writing over time requires not just a way with words, but also a way with ourselves. If creative writing is to be part of your way of life, it’s a good idea to establish a place for it, both physically and mentally. Doing so, will make it all the easier to call upon that reluctant aide we all have, call it muse, or sub conscious, or the groove.

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Internet Article Marketing

Distilling Fine Articles from the

Fruits of Your Mind

You have decided to use the power of internet article marketing to draw eyes and back links to your web site. Good idea. Article marketing can be a very effective tool to accomplish both objectives. But where do you start?

Good Question.

Just as a distillery needs to first gather grapes and then run them though a series of steps before turning them into a fine brandy, you must first gather your ideas, before you write your article.

Before you begin

Whether you are brewing a single article or a series of them, the prerequisite is deciding what your topic is, and understanding why you are writing.

Your writing will enjoy greater clarity of purpose when each article has a clear singular keyword or phrase. Whether writing one or multiple articles it’s best to identify each of your keyword phrases in advance before you begin. They will help you form your thoughts, and may encourage you to explore nuances you may have otherwise ignored.

When writing an internet marketing article, your objective is to get eyes and or back links to your site. To do that, you need to get accepted into an internet article directory and then get noticed and republished by ezine editors before you’ll get read by end users. That’s a lot of different audiences. While you know what’s in it for you, begin the writing process thinking about what’s in it for your ultimate reader as well.

Now that you are clear on your topic and why you are writing, you are ready to begin the next phase.

Brainstorming

As you mull over your keyword and topic, ideas will come to you. That’s the main benefit of the prior exercise. Once your conscious mind is clear on the task at hand, so too is the subconscious. It will send you flashes of brilliance that may surprise you.

You want to capture those ideas. Even the bad ones, but search out the brilliant ones. Bad ideas can morph into good ones. Don’t judge, record. Write them down. Use whatever system that works for you. Long hand, computer, voice recorder, whatever.

Think about possible titles. What would grab people’s attention? Remind yourself of your readers. Who are they? Why would they want to read your article? What do they want to know?

What is the essential one element of your article? If it had to be just one sentence, what would it be? What are the key facts you want to share? Write them down, or list where you will look them up.

What will your call to action be? What do you want them to actually do when they are done reading your article? How are you going to get them to do it? What are you going to tell them that will make a difference in their lives?

This process can take days or 30 minutes. The results will vary by the amount of time you can devote. If you can, daydream about your topic while driving or doing other work. Your subconscious can be a powerful tool. What every time you have, use it to enlarge your topic.

In the next step, you are going to tie it down and begin to do some pruning.

The Outline.

We’ve all been taught the writing outline format since grade school. They are easy. You already know the main parts to your article. It will have a title, an introduction, a body and a close. And in the case of internet article marketing it will also have a resource box.

See, you are half done already. While it may vary, let’s assume there are three main points to the body.

• Title
• Introduction
• Body
o A
o B
o C
• Close
• Resource Box

Review your brainstorming notes. Pick the three most important ideas that must be in the body. If you have more that three, which can be grouped together?

If you absolutely cannot fit everything into three groups, add or subtract. It’s your article. By trying to nestle ideas into groups, you define the essence of your article.

You then assign an order within and among the groups in your outline. Once that’s done, you’re done with the outline. You can always add more, but at this point, you have captured and ordered the essence of your thoughts. If this were a book, rather than an article you would perhaps need to get more detailed. But it’s not, so it’s time to write that first draft.

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Do Your Internet Marketing Articles Meet this 5 Question Test?

If you ignore the five essentials to effective internet marketing article writing, you may as well not waste your time. Article writing is a powerful tool.  When done well, it will attract a lot of eyes and back links to your web site. Do it poorly, and your results will be meager.

1. Does your title attract the right reader’s attention?

Ideally, it should let the “right” readers know the information in the article is for them, and it should intrigue them to at least take a look. The goal of a headline or title is to get the reader to read the first line. If they don’t, your article fails its purpose.

Specifically, you want to catch your ideal prospects attention. A too cute title may catch a lot of attention, but if the people attracted aren’t candidates for what you are selling, in the final analysis you are just wasting their time.  So while you want to be provocative, focus on that which would be appropriate for your specific audience.

Once you have them reading your first line, make sure it’s powerful enough to carry them into the first whole paragraph and beyond.

2. Is your article properly focused?

A good internet marketing article is succinctly focused on one topic. That topic may have multiple parts, but they are all specifically tied to one idea. As internet marketers, that idea should be a single Keyword or Keyword Phrase.

People will search for articles in article directories by keyword, and so you want them to be able to find your article. When they publish your article, you want to get back links to your web site based on that keyword.  Thus it is imperative that you decide specifically which keyword you are trying to rank for, before you write the first word.

It goes without saying that the keyword and the article should be directly related to the site you are referring people to, or again you would be wasting everyone’s time.

3. Have you effectively used your keywords?

If possible you should include your keyword in your title. This will resonate with people who are searching for articles on your keyword. But don’t force it. Your primary objective is to get people to read your article. Including the keyword is a distinct plus, but not mandatory.

You want to use the keywords as often as possible within the article, but again don’t overdo it. Too many internet marketing articles are overstuffed with the keywords to the point that they don’t read well. So rather than trying to meet some artificial keyword density, concentrate on writing a readable article but do try to use your keywords wherever appropriate.

4. Is your content worth reading?

Provide your readers with value. If an internet marketing article is to get picked up and republished elsewhere, it will be because it caught an editor’s eye and delivered content worth sharing with their readers.

People respond well to facts, figures and statistics as long as they are not overwhelming. Anecdotes and stories that make a point enliven articles. Rather than adding a lot of adjectives to an article, focus on your verbs. Active verbs and a positive message are always welcome.

5. Does your resource box deliver?

The goal of an internet marketing article is to drive people and robots to your website.  Your resource box is therefore critical to the success of your article. If you are not allowed to include anchor text in the article itself, it is essential that you do so in the resource box. Repeat your keyword and link it to your target site. But do so creatively.

As much as possible, develop your resource box as a continuation of your article. If it flows as thought it were a continuation of the article above it, a larger portion of your readers will read it as well. And then be sure to include a call to action. Let your readers know what step you want them to take.

If you have been able to hold their attention from start to finish of the article, it is only logical that they will want to follow on to the next step, by visiting your web site, blog or take whatever additional step you desire.

If you write your internet marketing articles with these five questions in mind, you will be rewarded with lots of traffic and back links to your web sites.

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[Below is a sample of a resource box I will be testing when I post this article on the article directories.]

To learn more ideas and tips on how to ensure your internet marketing articles grab tons of new traffic and backlinks to your sites go to http://ArticleMarketingHint.com.  The author Earl Netwal also publishes a blog for small business people called http://MicroBusinessSpecialist.com/blog

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Article Marketing – Four Wins in a Row

Article Marketing as it has evolved on the internet is a classic win-win-win-win institution that has become one of the backbones of the internet. There are four essential players in the article marketing game, all of whom benefit, each in their own way.

Like any market, article marketing is a business of supply and demand. There are end users, who get material from their local vendor who in turn gets material from their wholesaler, who in turns gets material from individual producers.

Unlike most markets, the transfer of goods in the article marketing arena is largely free. The end user wants free access to information.  The magic of the article marketing model is that it has created economic incentives to all the parties to meet that demand.

There are many places online for people to get information. These include static web sites, blogs, forums, ezines, ebooks, etc.  The producers of these sites, blogs etc are frequently monetizing their efforts with products and services they sell directly or on behalf of others or by various forms of advertising revenue.

Several of these, blogs and ezines in particular require a constant source of new material to keep their site fresh and to attract information seekers with the expectation that a certain percentage of them will also take a revenue producing action. The challenge for these venues is coming up with new material on a regular basis.

Their options are to write it themselves, hire it out or find a free resource of relevance to their specific niche of readers.

Article Directories

Article Directories have emerged to fill that role. They are the wholesalers of articles across a vast array of topics and specialties. They recruit article submissions from individual writers and group them in easy to search categories for the blog writer to search.

Most offer this service free of charge to the blog writers and anyone else who just wants to research a given topic.  They make their money the same way most of the blog and ezine writers do. They usually have Google Adsense ads on their site as well as other advertising. They sometimes offer additional premium services for article writers and users as well, but these vary widely.

To be successful, article directories have found it necessary to be editors. They want their customers on both ends to benefit from the equation. To assure this they develop specific rules for the type of material they host on their site and editorial guidelines.  These vary by individual article directory. Article writers must meet these standards to be accepted into the directory. This in turn assures a quality product for the blogger and their readers.

One of the most frequent editorial restraints is to contain blatant advertising.  Most article directories have strict rules that prohibit advertising except in a section added to the end of the article called the Resource Box.

So who produces all this free editorially up to snuff material? What’s in it for them?

There are three primary motivators for the authors. Some are born writers who just need to write to express themselves. Or perhaps they are motivated to establish themselves as an expert in a given arena or niche.

Another major group are individual business people who seek to inform prospective customers about their product or service.  In some cases they may share the desire to brand themselves as experts.

The motivation for most businesses lies in the utilization of the resource box. Most article directories allow authors to include two or more hyperlinks in this appendix to their article. These offer two major benefits to the submitting business. They can send people to your web site, called “traffic” in internet circles.  They can also serve as back links to a specific page on their web site. These back links are helpful in getting attention from search engines and serve to help increase the targeted web sites ranking

As articles get picked up more and more bloggers and ezines these back links appear in more and more places increasing the relevance of the site in the eyes of the search engines. They are in some sense votes for the targeted web sites.

As importantly for many businesses is the traffic they bring as more and more people read the articles and go to the sites where a certain percentage will buy products or take other desired actions.

This entire arrangement is interdependent on each of the elements. The fact that is has evolved as an essentially free service for the most part is one of the marvels of the internet. The end user gets information, the blogger gets readers, the article directory traffic that they convert to revenue through ads, and the authors who get recognitions, traffic and search engine ranking. A win-win-win-win situation.

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Explode Your Number of Back Links

Today, we start a series on the most important way to build links and traffic to your web site, article marketing.

I will explain how Article Marketing works tomorrow, and then in subsequent posts explain the four things all articles must have, how to create an outline for your articles, easy ways to get your creative juices flowing, what to do before submitting to article directories, and some red hot tips on how to get your articles read, and perhaps most importantly, how to write a resource box that makes people click. I may even offer suggestions on what to do if you hate to write.

Article writing requires a bit of work and it’s like slow feed fertilizer. The results of article marketing take time to build. The plus of article marketing is that it does ultimately flourish and will generate an exponential growth in the number of back links to your site. And as we have demonstrated, back links matter.  They matter even more when they are coming from a wide variety of places and grow over time.

Mathematics of Article Marketing

The essential mathematics of article marketing comes from posting a single article with an article directory service.  Once it is accepted there, you have a back link to your site from a generally high ranking resource. But even better, as first a couple and then many more people find your article and post it on their blogs, newsletters etc, you start getting back links from many different places. So instead of having one back link, you may now have six or sixty.

There are thousands of article directories, some of which are very large. You can post the same article to more than one directory, multiplying again the number of potential backlinks you can create for your self with one half hour of writing. Since these articles stay on the directories indefinitely, it’s possible that an article you write today could be published off and on over the next five or ten years.

A disciplined approach of writing an article a day or even an article a week can over a period of a year or two lead to thousands and tens of thousands of back links. That level of backlinks could put most people on the top of their respective niche even in highly competitive niches. And put them there to stay.

The best part of article writing is that it is essentially a free way of building your standings.  Although as we will learn, there are some worthwhile paid services that can be real time savers.

One last tidbit for today. You don’t need to be a great writer to effectively use article marketing. So if the thought of writing scares you, don’t despair. The power of article writing is too significant to allow your lack of skills or fears to get in the way. We will discuss some options that will allow you to be successful without writing a single word.

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