Writing articles effectively {Section 2}

1. Create an outline for your article

Your article should include a headline, introduction, body,conclusion and resource box.

Headline - make this as catchy as possible because yourreader will read this first then decide if he or she willcontinue reading the rest of the article. i.e.

"7 Highly Effective Ways to Gain Instant Trafficto Your Web Site".

Introduction - introduce the problem you will be discussingin your article or write a short story of your experiencewith the problem.

Body - discuss all the solutions to the problem yououtlined in the introduction. Break up each point intoseparate paragraphs and keep them to about 5 lines. You maywant to create a sub-heading for each point. This makes iteasier to read as most people will scan your article whenreading it online.

Conclusion - this should include a brief summary of yourarticle and a call for the reader to take action. i.e. "Besure to include article marketing as one of the topstrategies for promoting your web site. It's a selfgenerating marketing machine that produces a constant flowof visitors".

Resources - I sometimes include this section if I haven'tincluded it already within the body of the article. I wantthe reader to quickly access the resources without havingto re-read the article.

Resource box - this is the place you can safely include alittle about yourself and your business plus provide a linkto your web site or newsletter (see my resource box below).This provides an opportunity for readers to visit your website, learn more about your product or services and/orsubscribe to your newsletter. The box should be a maximumof 6 lines.


Write with style - write in an informal style, like youwould explain your topic to a friend. Don't worry too muchabout correcting mistakes or how it sounds. This mayinterrupt the flow of thoughts you want to write about. Youcan always correct them later.

3. Take a break

After you have written the article, come back to it afterseveral hours, a day or several days. This will enable youto take a fresh look at it, find new mistakes or even wantto rewrite a paragraph or two to make it flow better.

4. Check your article

After writing your article, run it through a spell checkerfirst, then read it through a few times to check forspelling mistakes the spell checker may have missed and tocorrect the grammar and punctuation. Make sure it flowswell by clearly identifying the problem, providing asolution and concluding with an action step or steps. Getsomeone else to read it over. Often they will find themistakes that you missed.

5. Format your article

You will need to format your sentence length at 60-65 wordsper line before submitting it for publication. This willenable people to read it in their email software. If thesentence length is longer than this the article may breakup making it impossible to read.

I use Ezy Ezine Ad Formatter(http://www.netpreneurnow.com/easy/ ) to effortlesslyformat my articles before submitting it to onlinepublishers. If it's not the correct length it will berejected.

Conclusion

If you consistently write an article every week or 2 weeksand submit it for publication you will soon generate asteady stream of traffic to your web site for years to come.

Writing articles effectively {Section 1}

If you are going to spend your precious time writing articles to gain traffic to your web site they must appeal to both the search engines and your potential readers.Therefore this article will discuss the research you must do even before writing the article, then provide an outline on how to actually write it.

What to do before writing your article:

1. Choose a topic

Your goal is to write on a topic where you solve someone's(or your own) problem i.e.-7 reasons to use articles to market your web site -How to write an effective article -How to market your articles to boost your web trafficSometimes it's difficult to come up with a topic that youfeel inspired to write about. I usually write about someproblem I've come across while working with my web designbusiness. It could be a design problem or something relatedto it such as marketing or hosting. Then after havingsolved this problem I feel comfortable writing about it. Ialso feel good that this article will then help others thatmay have struggled with the same problem.If I still don't have a subject I feel passionate about, Iwill visit forums, read online newsletters or magazinesrelated to my field of interest. I may also talk to friendsin the same business. They often share some of the problemsthat they have encountered.

2. Keyword research

Another goal of article writing is to make your articlesearch engine friendly. This means including searchablekeywords that search engines will spider. Therefore researching appropriate keywords before weaving them intoyour article is crucial.Use the keyword suggestion tool at
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/ to find whichwords or phrases are searched on most often. It willdisplay the top results for both overture and wordtracker.The numbers differ because overtures data is based on moresearches whereas wordtracker differentiates between singleand plural forms of the word or phrase.Include your researched keywords into your article beingcareful not to repeat them so often that it won't readsmoothly. You want to your article to appeal to yourreaders also.

3. Article length

Begin with just writing out yourarticle without worrying too much about the length. It'smore important to let all your ideas flow out of your mindfirst. If you think it's getting too long split it up intotwo or more articles. It's often easier to write a shortarticle of 500 words than one of 1000 words.Most article publishers prefer articles between 500 to 800words and will not accept articles any longer than that.Others prefer longer articles over 800 words so check withthe publisher before you submit your article forpublication.You can easily check how long your article is by placing itin MS Word. Then go to "tools" - "word count" to get a readout of the length.

7 Mistakes to avoid when writing articles

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Making your articles available for reprints by other ezine publishers and webmasters is the cornerstone strategy in building an avalanche of pre-qualified visitors to your website.
If you want your articles to be picked up and massively distributed by others, here are 7 common mistakes to avoid:

Mistake 1 (Too many grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors)
In addition to having your article proofed by others, you may also want to be sure that you have clearly defined paragraphs. Nothing is worse than a big blob of text with 20 run-on sentences.
Readers no longer read articles in depth and often only 'scan' your article. They want small bites of information that can be easily digested… also known as "info-snacking."
Keep your "voice" in the same person throughout the entire article. If you are using the first person voice (I, me) or the second person (you, we, us) or the third person (they, them, he, she)…be consistent by staying in one voice for the entire article.

Mistake 2 (Too much hype, bragging and self-promotion)
If you are as good as you know you are, there is no reason to fill the body of the article with hype, gratuitous links to your site or blatant self-promotion. Readers are smart and will see right through your "hype-veil."
Better to only sell or pitch your company in the RESOURCE BOX below the body of the article. Research I've done indicates that the resource box often gets a 3% CTR (Click Through Rate). Be sure you take advantage of that by not selling hard in the body of the article.

Mistake 3 (Content based on what you need to learn, not what your reader needs)
Put yourself in your reader's shoes and ask yourself, "What does this article offer me?" Research what your reader wants to read by doing survey's with your own audience or do keyword search engine research to find what people are looking for.

Mistake 4 (Making your article broad or superficial in content)
It's better to go in-depth on a narrow topic. Define it. Explain it. Relate to it. Use bullet points or numbered lists. Offer a secret or expertise that you have around the topic. Be original in covering your topic as narrowly as possible in a way that has not been done by others. Brevity is golden.

Mistake 5 (Headline and article summary does not grab readers' attention)
The headline is often ~95% of the initial reason why someone might read your article or pass it over for another article. Don't bore your audience out of the gate with a dull headline or worse, a boring introduction to the article.
If you have to use two sentences to make your headline, you're thinking too hard. Keep it simple and make it brief. Use keyword research tools to optimize your article title.

Mistake 6 (Plagiarizing or 'buying articles'...)
It's ok to research the Internet for article ideas, but it's not ok to copy word-for-word of any article. Paraphrasing can also be classified as plagiarism. Be original. Let the words flow from your mind into your article. You will sleep better at night and your articles will have a higher value in the marketplace.
Buying articles is not a great idea…especially if you do not get an exclusive license to use them. What good is the same article if thousands of people call it their own? If you do outsource your article writing to ghost writers, make sure you have an exclusive right or license to the works.

Mistake 7 (Don't burn out the RESOURCE BOX by overloading it)
The RESOURCE BOX is your pay-off for giving your article up for free reprints, but don't abuse the welcome mat by including a dozen website addresses. Stick with one website URL or two at the most and you'll find your article may find a higher distribution rate.
If you want to be really tacky, include an affiliate link in the RESOURCE BOX. A better strategy is to have a domain name registered for every affiliate program that you pitch and include the domain name that rewrites or refreshes to your affiliate link. This is much less tacky and looks more professional.