Top 10 Common English Goofs by Web Authors

In reviewing and browsing web sites over the years, I have compiled a list of the most common misuses of English by web authors. Here they are in Letterman (reverse) order.

10. Who, which or that?
"Who" (or "whom") refers to persons. "Which" refers to animals or things, never to persons. "That" can refer to either persons or things.

Examples:
The girl who was hungry.
The dog that wagged its tail.
The software which I wrote.

9. Anyone vs any one
"Anyone" means "any person," not necessarily any specific person. It could refer to multiple people simultaneously.

As two words, "any one" refers to a single person.

Examples:
Anyone can download my software. But the software can only be used by any one user at a time.

8. Commonly misspelled word
All right
Dependable
Independent
Recommend
Responsible
Separate

7. Don't put punctuation at the end of a URL
While not technically an English grammatical error, don't put a period or anything immediately after a URL reference. Doing so will usually invalidate the URL. You might call this an internet grammatical rule.

Example:
Notice the lack of a period in the following sentence. My URL is http://article-promotion.blogspot.com

6. Software not softwares
"Software" can be singular or plural. Never use "softwares."

5. Do the quotes go after or before the period?
Put quotes after a period or comma. Put quotes before a colon. Put quotes after a question mark unless the entire sentence is a question. This is a US English standard. British English usage can differ.

Examples:
He asked, "Are you hungry?"
She replied, "Yes, I am hungry."
Did she say, "Yes"?

4. There, their, or they're
"There" is used in two ways. It can specify a place. It can also be used as an expletive or empty word to start a sentence.

"Their" is used as a possessive form of "they".
"They're" is short for "they are."

Examples:
I live there, not here.
There are nine planets in the solar system.
The two boys raced their bikes.
They're both tired after walking up the stairs.

3. Powerful
Too many developers describe their software as, "XXX Software is a powerful, easy-to-use, ... ." I searched download.com and found 2149 descriptions or titles of software containing the word "powerful." Powerful has many meanings, most referring to how effectively something is performed, as in muscular. A car with 450 horsepower is clearly more powerful than one with only 200 horsepower. But what is powerful software? If you mean feature-rich (like Adobe Photoshop), then say so. If your software does only one thing, but it does it completely or thoroughly (like CounterSpy), then say so. But please, no more powerful software.

2. Site or sight
A "site" is a place.
"Sight" refers to your sense of vision.

Examples:
A web site is a place on the internet that you visit with your browser.
A beautiful sunset is a marvellous sight.

And, finally, the most common English blunder by web authors is:

1. Its or It's
Use "it's" only when it means "it is." Unless you can replace "it's" with "it is," use "its." Never use "its'.

Examples:
It's raining today.
The dog wagged its tail.

Conclusion:
English is very difficult for persons whose native language is not English. It is also difficult for many English-speaking authors.

Unfortunately, most of the common grammatical errors will not be caught by a spell checker, so you have to manually check your writing for them.

An excellent reference is the short and timeless book, The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. A free online version of this book is available at http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html

I hope that web authors can use this article to recognize and correct some of the most common grammatical blunders that abound on the internet.

About The Author Kempton Smith helps internet businesses promote their products or services online by ghostwriting affordable, unique, keyword-rich articles for them. Email him now at articleghostwriter@yahoo.com for a free article for your online business, no obligation. Or for a free report on how to use articles to promote your product or service, visit http://article-promotion.blogspot.com. Copyright © 2005 by Kempton Smith. This article may be freely published provided you leave it intact. articleghostwriter@yahoo.com

6 Red Hot Tips To Get Your Articles Read

There are many people who dread having to write papers or articles. Many just feel like it seems to be too much work and it all just goes to waste when no one reads their article. To some people, reading articles seems like work too, especially if the article is boring and very bland. Well, articles are supposed to be read, that’s their purpose to impart your message and information. If it is not read then it is a waste of time and effort.

But all the same, articles have to be written to be read. It’s just a matter of making them good. Making a good article doesn’t have to be strenuous and straining. There are just some points needed to be reminded of, and some guides to follow. Once you get the hang of it, writing articles could be fun, as well as profitable for you and your site.

Of course, writing articles must be about something you know about, that’s why if you own a site, you probably is knowledgeable about that certain topic and theme. When you write about it, you won’t have a hard time because you already know what it is and what it’s about. It’s just a matter of making your articles creative and interesting.

To make sure that your articles get read and enjoyed, here are six red hot tips to get your articles read. These tips will make your articles readable and interesting.

1) Use short paragraphs. When the paragraphs are very long, the words get jumbled in the mind of the reader just looking at it. It can get quite confusing and too much of a hard work to read. The reader will just quickly disregard the paragraph and move on to much easier reading articles that are good to look at as well as read. Paragraphs can be a single sentence, sometimes even a single word!

2) Make use of numbers or bullets. As each point is stressed out, numbers and bullets can quickly make the point easy to remember and digest. As each point, tip, guide or method is started with a bullet or point, readers will know that this is where the tips start and getting stressed. Format you bullets and numbers with indentations so that your article won’t look like a single block of square paragraphs. Add a little bit of flair and pizzazz to your articles shape.

3) Use Sub-headings to sub-divide your paragraphs in the page. Doing this will break each point into sections but still would be incorporated into one whole article. It would also be easy for the reader to move on from one point to another; the transition would be smooth and easy. You will never lose your readers attention as well as the point and direction to where the article is pointing.

4) Provide a good attention-grabbing title or header. If your title can entice a person’s curiosity you’re already halfway in getting a person to read your article. Use statements and questions that utilize keywords that people are looking for. Provide titles or headers that describe your articles content but should also be short and concise.

Use titles like, “Tips on making her want you more”, or “How to make her swoon and blush” .You could also use titles that can command people, for example, “Make her yours in six easy Ways”. These types of titles reach out to a persons’ emotions and makes them interested.

5) Keep them interested from the start to the finish. From your opening paragraph, use real life situations that can be adopted by the reader. Use good descriptions and metaphors to drive in your point, just don’t over do it. Driving your examples with graphic metaphors and similes would make it easy for them to imagine what you are talking about. Making the experience pleasurable and enjoyable for them.

6) Utilize figures when necessary and not just ordinary and insipid statements. Using specific facts and figures can heighten your article because it makes it authoritative. But do not make it too formal, it should be light and easy in them and flow. Like a friendly teacher having a little chat with an eager student.

Jason James is a former U.S. Marine and a 10 year Internet Marketing Veteran. His latest project "Untold Marketing Secrets" reveals the little know secrets to help struggling entrepreneurs breakthrough to huge success. Download Jason's free "Internet Success Secrets" here: http://www.Riquochet.co.uk/UntoldMarketingSecrets/

Know Money to Make Money

The experts are always telling us that getting paid for what you know is one of the most effective, least time-intensive ways to make a buck. Well, if you know anything about money (and you don't need to be a financial whiz), writing articles for financial websites can be a very lucrative way to get paid for what you know.

We all understand that demand for your product is essential in any business. Well, how's this for demand: EVERYONE is interested in money. We want to know how we can earn it, save it, and grow it. After all, isn't making money your basic motivation for reading this article or subscribing to this newsletter? If you do want to make money, and you have any insight or even anecdotes about things like investing, business, family finances, taxes, or even being flat broke, there is a huge online demand for what you have to say. And surprisingly, you don't have to be a professional writer to get in the game.

There are many different types of financial businesses that are always looking for articles (yes, even your articles) to use on their websites. Stock brokers need technical articles, as well as articles on how families like yours invest, and what they think about stocks and mutual funds. Even banks, insurance companies, and mutual fund companies are always looking for human interest stories about how money, or the lack thereof, can affect families and individuals just like you, from all walks of life.

You've probably heard a dozen times that the best selling product on the Internet is information. Well, for you and your articles, this can clearly be the case. Financial websites are willing to pay you for your articles, because their customers and people visiting the sites are HUNGRY for the information. Providing the information people want makes these firms look good, making people want to do business with them. If you can help their business with your articles, they are often willing to pay you handsomely for your assistance.

In all seasons, and at specific times of year, there are articles needed on issues like retirement planning, education funding, savings, tax filing and brackets, insurance, estate planning, family finances, and more.

But what if you don't know anything about any of these topics? If you're willing to do some research and learn a few things, you'll not only be armed with the knowledge you've gained, but you will also be poised to make some great money. Try going to a search engine like Google, and you will find thousands of articles on money, investments, and all types of insurance. Spend some time learning the ropes and your study could pay off big time.

In fact, many websites even hold contests to promote themselves and build a crop of writers. These sites are looking for interesting articles that teach, entertain, and inform on money,finances, investments, and insurance. The major prizes can be worth thousands to the writer, making a few hours of research and time spent writing well worth it. As sites build a list of writers, they will typically increase the number of writing contests they hold, making it easier and easier to get in on the action.

About The Author Ivon T. Hughes is founder of http://www.writerscontest.ca, which, for a limited time, is sponsoring a writing contest for articles about term life insurance and Term Deposits/GICs. See the site for guidelines. All entries are FREE, and you will never be asked to pay any sort of fee. For each article you enter, you will receive a FREE WILL KIT (a $39 value). And if you refer some of your friends who participate, they too will receive a FREE Will Kit. Writing and submitting articles is easy! Visit http://www.writerscontest.ca/index1.html?ac to submit an article on term insurance or http://www.writerscontest.ca/index2.html?ac to submit an article on Term Deposits/GICs. trustco@writerscontest.ca

Hooked On Books? Write A Book Review For Your Target Audience

If you are burned out with writing how-to articles to promote your business then consider writing a book review. I recommend you write a review about a book you enjoyed that is related to your products or services. Your review, of course, will be capped off with your 5-6 line byline that includes your contact information and web site URL. Many of the article directories, e-zines and web sites that normally accept articles will accept book reviews too. In addition, you can find and submit to the many sites featuring book reviews.

To begin a review, I start with the format required by Midwest Book Review. I then adapt the format and word count to what is required by each submission site. Midwest Book Review recommends the following format (examples of paragraphs are enclosed in parenthesis):

Book Title:
Author:
Publisher:
Publisher Address:
ISBN:
Price: Publication Date: Page Count:

Reviewer Contact Information:

Name: Address: E-mail:

First Paragraph: Include information about the format of the book. A nice touch is to comment on the cover design, table of contents structure and/or glossary at the back of the book.

(Sample: This beautifully laid out trade paperback has a gorgeous and practical design both inside and out. I recommend you read this book with a highlighter and a pen, ready to take copious notes in the blank pages thoughtfully provided between chapters.)

Second Paragraph: Detail the recommended audience and note why they should read the book.

(Sample: Manners That Sell: Adding The Polish That Builds Profits should be required reading for high school and college students and for anyone already in the business environment. Once upon a time, good manners were taught in school and at home, but that time has long since passed. This book provides the perfect refresher course for those of us who learned manners but no longer remember the finer points of etiquette.)

Third Paragraph: Write about the book structure and layout, number of chapters and topics covered.

(Sample: While reading this book, I discovered that the author, Lydia Ramsey, covered every conceivable point of etiquette including many that I'd never been taught. Each of the twelve chapters covers one main topic broken down into digestible bite sized chunks of rules and guidelines to enhance credibility and professionalism. Topics include first impressions, greetings and introductions, the art of conversation, dressing for business, telephone courtesy, electronic etiquette, correspondence in business, etiquette in the office, gift-giving in business, etiquette out of the office, dining for profit and doing business internationally.)

Fourth Paragraph: Give a brief biography of the author including their name, name of their business (if applicable), business or personal expertise and if available, include titles of their other books.

(Sample: The author of this delightful book, Lydia Ramsey, is a business etiquette expert with over thirty years of experience working with non-profits, corporations, colleges and universities. She is a frequently published author who presents workshops, seminars and keynotes on all aspects of business etiquette.)

Fifth Paragraph: Recommend the book and offer some ideas of its practical use by individuals or groups. If applicable, mention that it would make a good gift book and wrap up the review with a positive summary of the book.

(Sample: I recommend businesses buy this book in bulk and present one to every employee from the frontline up to the top management. In this ever-changing world of so many consumer choices, the bottom line is often affected by the simple courtesies that can and should be afforded to customers. You need this book if you want your employees to succeed and your business to thrive.)

Add your copyright statement and byline to the bottom of the review and, as usual, have the review proofread by an editor before you begin submission. Your book reviews can be very effective marketing tools that will generate considerable exposure for you.

(c) 2005. Davis Virtual Assistance. All rights reserved. Permission to publish online or in print granted provided the article and byline are printed intact with live links.

About The Author Bonnie Jo Davis is an experienced writer and publications coordinator with over ten years of experience submitting articles online and in print. Visit http://www.ArticleSubmissionSites.com today to gain access to her submission list, e-book, newsletter and more! Bonnie@ArticlesThatSell.com

Finding Experts, Sources and Contacts

I was asked to write an article on a short deadline. No problem, I thought. Then I got the article specifications which included quoting several experts in the article.

Instead of giving up, I got online and within 12 hours had more experts than I needed and a finished article.

Breaking into a new writing niche is both exciting and stressful. Old contacts may not be able to help you out when you switch from parenting to nutrition, or from health to health foods. There are several options you can try, depending on the time you have to write your article.

- Ask your editor for contacts. Many times they can refer you to someone they know is available for interviews.

- Check out listservs. Do searches on Yahoogroups, Topica, and SmartGroups. Visit Google and use their "groups" search function. Join groups that seem to have professional members. Read past messages, post some questions, and see what happens.

- Email or call members of writer's groups you're associated with. While some writer's keep their contacts under wraps, nearly all the writer's I've worked with online and in person are happy to share professional contacts.

- Visit Profnet to find experts to interview in all areas imaginable. Profnet.com is an online venue that connects journalists with sources. There is no fee to journalists, but the site is used heavily by publicity firms and my experience has been that the PR pros are more excited about their clients getting press than their clients are. In other words, I've been left with a phone bill of unreturned calls. Conversely, if you want to promote your business, book or self, you can sign up (for a fee) to receive the journalists' requests for information. There is also a speaker's bureau online.

- Pull out your yellow pages and look up physicians, attorneys, dietitians, hospital administrators, and accountants to call for information and quotes.

- Read magazines. If you find a name and job title that fits what you need, call the firm where your potential interviewee works. One thing you know already: he is willing to be interviewed.

- Do a search at online bookstores for books that speak to your article's topic. Authors need to get their names in print to sell their books. Many have websites with contact information for members of the press.

- Use public relations firms and departments. Call the public relations department at a hospital to find a nutritionist, cardiologist, administrator, emergency technician. The PR department will know which staff members make good subjects for interviews and may be able to suggest related topics to include in your article or as a sidebar. The PR department at a culinary institute may be able to connect you with a celebrity chef alumna.

- There are other places to look for help. Prweb.com sends out press releases, and has them accessible on the website. IdeaMarketers.com is only one place where writers can place articles for publishers to read. Both of these sources allow writers to look for experts through their press releases and articles.

It may take a while for any of these methods to work. You may get calls and emails from experts that don't fit a particular article. Save their contact information anyway, along with all experts you interview and quote. Build your own database of experts for future articles and each new assignment will find you better connected to the experts you need to reach.

******

Please keep resource box at end intact. You may publish freely in ezines, newsletters, print publications that do not charge a fee for the publication.

About The Author Pamela White is editor of Food Writing, an online newsletter for food writers and author of FabJob.com's Becoming a Food Writing. Visit www.food-writing.com for the most recent newsletter, how to subscribe for fr^e, and current writing contests. pwhite05@twcny.rr.com

Nonfiction Idea Generators

The hardest part of nonfiction writing is finding a subject to write about. Unless you’re a student or a professional writer no one is going to select a topic for you. That means you have to come up with your own themes. If you’re like most writers, your subject matter will be things that interest you. I used the headings listed below to generate ideas for my writing. Hopefully these idea generators will help you become a more productive writer.

HOW DID I SOLVE THAT PROBLEM?: This question can lead to an infinite number of article ideas. The articles that result from it are generally the easiest to market, because many people have the same problem. A writer just starting out could develop a niche by answering this question. Which was how I got started. I was an electronic technician when I published my first article. At the time I was flooded with printed information, catalogs, data sheets, articles, etc. To handle this overflow I developed a filing system. Then I wrote an article about how I solved my problem. The article entitled, “The Ultimate Electronics Reference File” was published in The Electron, a technical journal. A couple months later I was looking for a cheap source of electronic parts, test equipment, etc. (This was before E-Bay.) That thought led me to write “Getting More For Your Electronics Dollar” which appeared in the same publication.

OBJECTS: Observation and/or memory of an object can lead to many ideas. For example, I once owned a multicolored 1955 Chevrolet. With that old car in mind, I wrote an essay entitled “Ode To An Old Car” which was published by a local newspaper.

CHANGES: Some are good and some aren’t, it’s that simple. Either way using this topic, you can create an articles defending or attacking changes. Which I did in “The Advantages Of Flex Time” also published in a local newspaper. I set the piece in a gas station

HOW I DID IT: This is a variation on the above topic. As a woodcarver, I used this statement to detail how I created a certain kind of carving. The resulting article “Carving An Ancient Artifact” was published by Chip Chats Magazine.

OPINIONS/RANTS: Now I’m passionate about a few things in life, though some folks who know me might disagree with this statement. “Nonfiction Idea Generators” is one of the things I’m passionate about, after all I did write this article. But, what I’m not sure of is whether this is an opinion piece or a rant.

READ: Newspapers, magazines, e-zines, cereal boxes, and anything else you can wrap your eyes around. Read to find ideas for future articles. Ask yourself, as you read, “is there anything here I can use? Does this leave me with unanswered questions?” If so, good. That is what you’re looking for. Write down your thoughts and save them along with the article. More about this later.

LISTEN TO YOUR FRIENDS: Sometimes, when friends talk you’ll hear something that sounds like a great subject for an article. An article you know you can write. But before you do, you probably should ask for permission to use the info—if you value the friendship.

SOMETHING THAT MADE YOU LAUGH: Changes are, it’ll make others laugh, too.

SOMETHING YOU’RE CURIOUS ABOUT: One of the best sources of nonfiction ideas can be found by just wondering about something. Example, in a chemistry class studying different types of sugars, I asked the instructor how brown sugar was made. He said he didn’t know and assigned the topic to me. I did the research and wrote a two page report (about 300 words) on the subject.

PUT YOUR DREAMS TO WORK: I had a dream about selling an essay, which I had hadn’t even written at the time of the dream. The essay, now exists, and is part of an e-book I am writing. The essay is about putting my world back together, as a freelance writer, after being laid off from NASA Glenn Research Center, where I worked for sixteen years as a subcontractor. This is not an easy thing to write about; but since the dream, I now have a use for that story.

USE LISTS OF CURRENT MARKETS: Here is a great way to find not only subject matter, but also a market for the piece, should you write it. But before you do a knock-their-socks-off piece for a listing: read the writer’s guidelines, study the publication and its advertising. The advertising will tell you a lot about the publication and its readers.

REVERSE A PUBLISHED ARTICLE’S IDEA: The article you clipped above could serve as an idea generator, if you reverse the argument put forth in the article.

SAVE YOUR ARTICLE IDEAS: When you find an article idea, write it down. Use a single sentence. Put the idea away for a few days. Then go back to it, find a target market. Study the publication you intend to submit it to. What kind of people read this journal? Slant your article for those readers.

Remember, use you Article Idea Generators often and wisely. An idea is a terrible thing to waste. Good Luck.

About The Author Neal Naughton is a technical writer, copywriter, and creative writer. He is also a ghostwriter, who can handle your next article etc. You can reach him at nealnaughton@WRITENEAL.COM. All of his articles are copwrited and can not be reproduced without his written permission.

Writing Articles Quickly and Effortlessly…

…To Powerfully Explode Traffic to your Website or Blog!

Laser-targeted, quality traffic is the lifeblood of any website or blog. There are many free techniques to drive visitors your way, but none more successful, than writing articles and submitting them to article directories and ezines. You may be thinking ‘I can’t write’, ‘my grammar is terrible’ or maybe English isn’t even your first language…
I’m about to reveal how anyone can quickly and effortlessly learn the art of writing articles, and by allowing them to be republished, watch your traffic explode!

This is the step-by-step formula I use to write articles. Though it's not necessary to follow it exactly, it makes a good solid guideline…

Research – When you write an article, you want it to be read by as many people as possible, so make it search engine friendly, easily indexed and presented as good solid information. In addition to finding a profitable niche, your content must be relevant and scattered liberally, but not over the top, with your keywords. Go to Overture, type in your subject and scrutinise the resulting search terms.

Write a Catchy Title for your article – Make certain to prominently feature keywords in your title. A title should be attention grabbing – this is your chance to grab a browser’s attention and make them want to read more. If you use ‘shock tactics’ to engage your reader, be sure to qualify your claims later in the article.

Introduction – With your first few sentences, your aim should be to inform the reader what they can expect to gain by reading further. However, you don’t want to wring yourself out, at this point, leaving nothing to say later on.

The Body of your Text – Now you can get right into the ‘meat’ of your subject. Expand on points you introduced earlier, adding valuable information your reader won’t want to miss out on. Keep primarily to the facts; add a dash of humour and a pinch of excitement. Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through, when writing your articles. Given time, the more articles you write, the more skilful and confident you’ll become, in turn developing your own unique style.

Conclusion - Your work is almost done. You just need to pull the whole article together. Re-iterate the main points of your article and neatly round it off. You could also include hints of further information you have to offer.

And Finally – But very important, include your ‘resource box’ or ‘by-line, giving the hungry reader the opportunity to visit your website for more information. Keep it short, try to provoke excitement about writing articles or whatever your subject matter covers – don’t bore the pants off them!

Writing articles really isn’t that difficult, by following a simple formula – anyone can do it! Remember, careful use of keywords (but not too many) will attract higher search engine listings; the body of the text must be informative and interesting; your resource box should make people want to visit your website and learn more…

About The Author Steph White is an author, affiliate marketer and webmaster at 'The Smart Marketer's ToolKit' >>Her other Blogs include - 'The Smart Marketer's Blog' and 'The Smart Marketer's Resale Solution'

SEO Article Writing 101

SEO writing is very different from content writing, article writing, story writing and news writing. When I first realized my innate talent for writing stuff and putting thoughts into words, I was still reading Mills and Boons, and it was during this time that my romance storybooks were confiscated by my classroom teacher because I was reading in class.

Writing is a very personal thing, I discovered. Some people have the talent for writing creative stuff. Some people have the talent for writing ads. Some write excellent factual stuff. Well, I fall into the factual stuff category. The boring-writing-technical-mumbo-jumbo writing stuff. How I fit into this category, I don’t know.

Well, SEO article writing is very much like that. First, you decide what topic or keyword that you want. For instance, you’re selling decorative lamps, right? in the SEO article writing process, list down ‘decorative’ and ‘lamps’. Then think about other words that relates to ‘decorative’ and ‘lamps’…words that people use all the time to describe them. This is a very important part of SEO article writing because these are common words that your potential site visitors will use to find you.

How about ‘light’, ‘bright’, ‘pretty’, ‘lighting’?

Ok, now your SEO article writing keywords are:- decorative, lamps, light, bright, pretty and lighting, right? So, on to the SEO article writing process. First you write everything that you need to write down first. Beef up the article. As a general rule of thumb, SEO articles should be no less than 300 words and no more than 500 words. Any more than that, you’re wasting your writing a novel for your SEO article. Read through the SEO article now and replace words and reword sentences to fit in those keywords. Yes, you’ll have to restructure some the SEO keywords here and there, but do it anyway.

Make sure the sentences make sense, ok? Because although the search engines won’t know bad grammar from good grammar, your site visitors will. And most of them, site visitors who visit your website based on those SEO keywords DO mind the bad grammar. And once you turn them away, it’s almost impossible to bring them back!

The final step to SEO article writing is…..proofread your SEO article and make sure they flow. The problem with SEO writing is that your thoughts might come in buckets….a splash here and a splash there. So, during the SEO article proofreading process, you’ll have to make sure one paragraph flows on to the next.

Good luck!

About The Author Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works from home. She designs apparel and premium items at http://www.allmomstuff.com and is the author of "Raising little magicians", and the popular "The Lance in freelancing". More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com.

How To Be Rejected By The Article Directories

Article writing is one of the best ways to increase your traffic and get more sales. You've heard it a million times so you decide to finally just do it. You write an article and submit it to the article directories, eagerly anticipating the flow of traffic. Instead you receive the dreaded rejection letter.

What did you do wrong?

1. Did you proof-read your article before you submitted it?
Popular article directory sites receive hundreds of submissions each day. It's much easier for the owner to click "decline" than to edit your typo-filled or unformatted article. Before submitting, proof the article and proof it again. If grammar and spelling make you sweat, then hire a Copywriter or ask a friend to help you before you click that submit button.

2. Is it an Advertisement or an Article?
Article directory sites are looking for informative, useful content, not press releases or ads. If your submission reads like an ad, it will not be accepted. And, think about it -- even if was approved on a fluke, do you think that website owners will be clamoring to publish your 500 word advertisement? Not a chance.

If your goal is to write and submit a press release, then check out places like prweb.com.

3. Did you read the Submission Guidelines?
Each article directory has a different culture. Glance through the Submission Guidelines before setting up an account to make sure your article will be welcome before you submit it. If an article directory is based around a niche like gardening, then please resist the urge to submit your Mesothelioma articles. There are plenty of article directories that want your articles. It’s not an effective use of your time to submit unwanted articles to a niche site.

4. Is your article PG-rated?
Don't submit sex-related articles, profanity, or general nastiness. Article directories are businesses and, therefore, exist to make money. This means they generally receive income through affiliate sales or advertising. So, if your article includes sex or contains words stronger than "darn", don't be surprised if your article is rejected. Of course, if your article contains nastiness or anything illegal -- don't even bother.

5. Is your Article original and written by you?
Submit only original articles. Please do not copy someone else's article, edit it, and submit it. That's stealing and you will be caught. And, do not submit articles from shared content sites. Article directories want original, unique content. Public domain is 'public' but think how ineffective article directories would become if there were 500 versions of the same public domain piece. Instead of wasting your time figuring out how to reinvent other people's content, just write your own.

Now that you know what not to do, start writing the kind of articles that article directories dream of -- and watch your business grow.

About The Author Nicole Dean, owner of http://www.LadyPens.com – an article directory for women, invites you to visit http://www.EasyArticleMarketing.com to learn how writing simple articles can be the most effective way to bring traffic and sales to your website.

Discover 3 Easy Ways to Promote Your Articles

Are you using these methods to promote your articles?

If not, you are missing out on some easy ways to get more traffic. Ways that require no additional work on your part once they are set up.

1. Free Ebook
Compile all of your articles into a free ebook and give it away.

Set it up on its own page. Include a description and a request form requiring people to enter their name and email address before they can download it. In this way, you can distribute your ebook and build a mailing list all at the same time.

Another idea is to offer your free ebook to people who subscribe to your ezine. With the massive amount of ezines available on the Internet today, people more and more need a good incentive to subscribe to any particular one. Offering valuable free information is the perfect way to snag subscribers.

You should also set up an autoresponder to use for updates to your ebook. Put this form on the ebook download page, on the front page of the ebook itself, or on both. As you write more articles, add them to your ebook and send an email out letting people on the updates list know that a new version is available.

Allow other people to give it away as well and you will create a viral traffic wave that can continue for years to come.

2. Free Ecourse
Compile all of your articles into a free ecourse and set it up on an autoresponder, one article per day. As with a free ebook, put it on its own page with a description and request form.

Make sure that you include a removal link at the bottom of every single day of your ecourse. This will help prevent you becoming the victim of SPAM complaints.

3. Syndicate Your Articles
Website owners are always looking for ways to get fresh content for their sites. You can cash in on this need. All you have to do is provide the code snippet for them to use, then write articles to plug into the code. You can find free code for doing this at http://www.thesitewizard.com/netsyndic/index.shtml.

These three methods may seem easy, but start implementing them and you will experience a surge in traffic that will have your hit counters spinning. Get them set up and all that remains for you to do is write your articles and plug them in.

About The Author Brandie King is a partner in the new internet marketing site Killer Marketing Arsenal. She will show you where to market your business online. You can grab a free copy of "7 Free Traffic Generators for Maximum Traffic and Sales" when you subscribe to the newsletter. http://www.killermarketingarsenal.com brandie@killermarketingarsenal.com

8 Tips to Get Publishers to Notice You

If your articles aren't getting published very often, or you just want to increase the chances of them being published, then you will benefit from the tips in this article.

1. Article Length
You should always keep you article 500 to 800 words long. If you can't fit what you want to say into that amount of space, then break your article up into more than one part.

2. Resource Box Length
When writing your resource box, keep it 5 to 6 lines long. In a resource box you are simply trying to get people to request more information, not sell them something. If you want a longer ad, buy one!

3. Line Length
The lines in both your article and your resource box should be formatted to 60 to 65 characters per line. One of the consequences of not doing so is that, in some email programs, your article may appear with every line at a different length.

You can get your article formatted, as well as learning its character, line, and word count, at the following website for free. http://www.fwointl.com/FWOFormatter.html

4. Is Your Article Actually An Article?
Publishers want to provide their readers with actually useful information and you should want the same. If you write an article that is just a sales letter or press release it will be rejected 99 percent of the time.

5. Inactive Links
Before you even think about publishing or submitting your article check that all links within it are active and working. Nothing is more irritating than to click on a link for a site you're interested in only to find out that it no longer exists.

6. Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar
If you submit your article and it's full of errors it will be thrown into the trash folder so fast that your head will spin. Submitting articles with these types of errors not only makes you look extremely unprofessional, but it shows disrespect for both the publisher and their readers.

7. S*AM Triggers
As a courtesy, you should run your article through a program that will check it for triggers that could possibly get it rejected by filters. This isn't a necessary step but it will definitely impress publishers and increase the chances of your article being published.

You can check your article for free at http://www.lyris.com/products/emailadvisor/content_analyzer.html

8. Publisher Guidelines
This should be understood without having to say it, but it is still important enough to mention. Always, always, always follow the publisher's guidelines when submitting an article to them. Not doing so will get your article rejected quicker than anything else.

Read this list, print it out, and keep it by you when you are writing an article. Read each tip and make sure that you are following it.

Making the above mistakes will insult the intelligence of both the publishers and their readers, as well as wasting your time and theirs.

About The Author
Brandie King is a writer and author who teaches other writers how to write, as well as promote, using articles. She is currently looking for a wide variety of articles on a wide variety of topics for her article directory. You can submit absolutely free. http://www.articlesubmission.com

You are free to reprint this article in your ezine or ebook, or on your website, as long as the contents in the article and the resource box are not changed.
owner@articlesubmission.com

Massive Exposure For New Authors

Most writers nowadays are aware of the current buzz on the internet: writing articles is one of the best ways to build name recognition and web presence. Here are some words of encouragement for those just starting out with this approach to promotion.

By now most of you are probably aware of the current buzz across the internet: writing articles about your area of expertise is one of the best ways to build name recognition and web presence. If you can communicate your ideas and information well in a short piece, and include a by-line at the end that provides a link to your own website, then you can generate more traffic this way than by other typical approaches like submitting to search engines or link-sharing.

Much has been written about it, so I’ll assume that you’re already privy to the potential benefits of article publishing. I want to address THIS particular article to writers with published works; especially those who have self-published, and are now faced with the daunting (and much different) task of self-promotion.

If you mainly write fiction, maybe you balk at the idea of devoting your time to writing more informative pieces. Believe me, I understand this resistance. I am a fantasy author, and for a long time I believed that my muse lived at a far extreme from day-to-day concerns. But at the same time, I often used to (jokingly, I thought) remark to various people: “Get me on the topic of creativity and writing and I could just ramble on for days.”

Then one day the inspiration hit me: maybe I should write all that “rambling” down for a change and then post it somewhere where other people could benefit from it.

I found that it was not only relatively easy to do this, but actually enjoyable; and it allows for a little relief from the right-brain strain of constantly cranking out creative fiction ideas.

If you’re hesitant about diving into article writing because you don’t feel like you’re quite an expert on anything, let me address that issue too. To write articles, you don’t need exhaustive knowledge about any topic; you only need to know a little more than the many others out there who might benefit from what you’ve experienced.

If you’ve completed a novel, then you can write for all aspiring novelists who haven’t yet summoned the courage to commit anything to the page. If you’re published, then you can write for others who HAVE completed a book but are still wallowing in obscurity. Share what you learned along the bitter road that is littered with rejection letters, lonely hours at the writing desk, despair, and oftentimes the misunderstandings of even our closest loved ones.

The point is, wherever you are along the path of your writing ambition, there are others behind you who could benefit from your experience. They will be grateful for your articles and the information and encouragement you gave them. Some will respond by clicking through to your website and learning about your other writings. Some will hopefully purchase your book.

How many can you hope to reach? Well, I just recently began this article writing endeavor myself. Now when I search by my name on Google or Yahoo I find my pieces turning up on over a dozen e-zines and blogs. Some of these sites have heavy traffic. As I write more, and submit more, the numbers increase exponentially. In mathematical terms, articles are the great multiplier.

About The Author
Seth Thomas Mullins is the author of “Song of an Untamed Land”, a novel of speculative fantasy in lawless frontier territory. Visit Seth at http://authorsden.com/sethtmullins.

An Easy Way To Write Articles To Promote Your Biz

If you're not a born writer, a simple way to begin writing articles to promote your business is to write list articles.

Your list articles could be a top ten list or top seven list that deals with a specific subject.

You could also write up a list of tips that deals with a broad subject such as marketing or promotion, and then add a catchy headline or title to your list.

Your list article could be without an introduction or you could write up a few short sentences or paragraphs to lead into your new list article.

With your introduction, write just enough to get your readers interested in your article before going into your list.

Some tips that will help you to maximize the success of your list articles are:

1. Make each tip informative.
You could tell your reader the benefit of using your tip, go into detail about how to use your tip, or define how your tip works if you're writing about something that is new to your reader.

One tip could simply state the benefit of using your tip, or you could tell your reader the benefit of using your tip and also how to use your tip.

The key is to provide genuinely useful information to your reader. If you're able to do this, you'll be able to get your articles published and achieve long term promotion of your business.

2. Write for your target audience.
For example, if you wrote a manual on e-zine publishing you could write up a list of ten e-zine promotion tips.

3. Use lots of white space.
Your articles will look cleaner and more professional, and you'll be able to keep your readers, including your skim readers, interested in your article.

4. Vary the length of your sentences.
Use short and long sentences to get your points across.

For example, if you have two or three short sentences in a row, you could transform these short sentences into one compound sentence.

You could also make these short sentences into one compound sentence and one short sentence.

5. Write your articles as if you are writing to one person or even talking to that person.
Writing your articles in this way will help you to add your personality to your writing, and make it feel like you're speaking directly to your reader.

6. Use the active voice.
Using the active voice will make your writing more straightforward.

It will also help you to keep your list article from becoming uninteresting or confusing to your reader.

7. Go over your article for mistakes.
Many article writers, even though they write very informative articles, have a problem with spelling and grammar mistakes.

Because they're easily avoidable, making mistakes like this can make your writing seem amateurish and decrease your chances of getting your article published.

8. Leave your list article for a couple of days and then go over it again adding detail where it's needed and eliminating parts of your article that are unneeded.

Afterwards recheck your article for mistakes.

9. Read your article out loud.
By doing this, you'll be able to make your article read just like you speak.

You'll also be able to make changes to parts of your article that don't flow very well or that are unclear to your reader.

10. Have someone else read over your article after you're done.
You'll be able to get honest feedback for your article that will either tell you that you're article is really good or that your article needs some work.

If you're article needs some work, getting this feedback will help you to avoid making the mistake of promoting your article before it's ready to be published.

11. Promote your e-zine in your resource box.
Promoting your e-zine in your resource box will help you to successfully keep in contact with your readers and keep your marketing message on their minds.

In your resource box, have your readers visit your site to subscribe to your e-zine or have an email address (i.e., subscribe@yourdomain.com) that forwards emails to your subscription email.

Doing this will enable you to continue to get more subscribers from your list articles even if you decide to change list hosts or autoresponder services.

12. Promote your finished article.
Submit your article to article directories, article announcement lists, and also to e-zine publishers.

Also post your article on your site, and keep your site updated with your new articles.


About The Author
Article by writer Ken Hill. Save loads of time promoting your articles with this powerful tool for e-zine publishers and article writers. Learn more now at: http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=4604.

Drive Free Traffic To Your Website By Writing Articles

One of the best ways to drive traffic to your website is by writing articles. Getting your own articles written, distributed and published on the Internet is one of the very best Internet marketing techniques in existence. Once you have become an author of an article, you become an instant authority. When visitors locate and read your article they could obtain some useful information from it. They would most probably appreciate you. When appreciation turns into trust, it is very likely that would click the link in your article resource box to visit your website to get more information.

Chances of them signing up with you in one of your recommended business opportunities or buy one of your recommended products would be greatly enhanced.

The question is how to write the relevant articles which might demand some of your effort and time?

If you are good in writing and enjoy doing it, you might decide to write your own articles. Otherwise you could join an article cooperative to get access to private label articles OR hire someone to write articles for you.

Let’s discuss the differences of these 3 possibilities:

1) Do Your Own Research and Write Your Own Articles.

The main advantage of writing your own articles is that it's "free" and it would give you a sense of pride in accomplishment. You might enjoy writing articles to share your experience in Internet online business. The downside is that it'd take up some of your time to conduct some research work.

2) Join An Article Cooperative to Get Pre-written Articles.

A recommended article cooperative is InfoGoRound where you could get hundreds of pre-written articles for a small enrollment fee. From these you could choose those discussing subjects related to the content of your website. These are referred to as the "Private label articles” which you have full permission to use and also add your own name and article resource box to the article as the author.

3) Hire Someone to Write Articles For You.

If you are not comfortable writing your own articles or if you find it too much a hassle especially when you're new to this business or if you do not fancy pre-written articles due to lack of originality, you could use an article ghost writing service such as Just Articles to put your own ideas into writing.

For a relatively small fee you can get your articles written very quickly.

For article marketing on the Internet, articles written with between 400-700 words would suffice. It goes without saying that your articles must be relevant to your Internet business. Hence topic of your articles should be related to: "working at home", "home based business", "Internet marketing", "making money online", "promoting a website", etc.

The next question is how can you ensure that your articles will reach the maximum amount of potential web visitors?

Below are some routes you can use:

1) Submit to Article Directories

The best place to submit your articles are Article Directories. Many publishers of websites, blogs, and ezines visit the sites of these Directories. Hence your articles will be quickly exposed to people who have a large amount of traffic.

2) Submit to Article Lists/Newsletters

The next step is to submit your articles to article lists such as newsletters on Yahoo and Topica. Articles from such sources are normally better received by publishers. Hence when a submission is done by you via an article list, publishers have more confidence in your articles and would very likely use them.

3) Approach Individual Related Websites

Many Websites focus on providing valuable information and educational materials to their readers. You could submit your articles to these sites if your articles are relevant to what they need. It is best that you only contact sites where the readers would have an interest in the topic of your article.

4) Search Through Ezine Directories

Once your articles have been submitted to directories and article lists as mentioned earlier, you could start contacting individual publishers such as the publishers of ezines that are related to your topic. Choose those who accept articles and write to them and convince them that your articles would be of value for their purpose.

5) Give The Articles to Your New Affiliate members

To help your affiliates especially the newly "recruited" ones, you could give them your articles as a way to help promote your site. They could either publish them as they are or they could substitute your link with theirs in the resource box of the article. They would be impressed by such generous gesture from you.

In conclusion, submitting your articles and getting them re-published on others' websites and newsletters/ezines is one of the most powerful Internet marketing strategies. Your articles will then start working as a free advertisement for you forever. And you do not have to pay even a dime for such advertising space. You will continue to enjoy free traffic driven to your website for a long, long time!

About The Author
Sung-Liang Woon (John Woon) is a Rubber and Latex Consultant with about 25 years of experience. Check this fantastic website to find out how he started his online Internet business: http://www.PlugInProfitSite.com/main-9747 Visit his website http://www.johnwoon.com. Get to know him better at his Blog: http://www.blogwithjohnwoon.blogspot.com.

Nobody Likes A Rambler

We all know people who ramble. They include every boring and insignificant detail, speak in five-minute-long sentences and take forever to get to the point. When they finally reach the end of their story, most people have either walked away or lost interest.

If you were reading their words, would you read right to the end? Or would you find something more informative, less boring and shorter to read?

We all have a tendency to ramble. It's natural. And the more excited we are about a subject, the more likely we are to ramble.

Unfortunately, if we ramble in writing, our readers may not get to the "good stuff." And if that "good stuff" is your website, your byline or a product you wish to promote, your rambling has just cost you money.

Now, I certainly don't want to curb your excitement, and I don't even want to thwart your tendency to ramble.

Instead, I want you to get wildly excited about your topic. I want you to ramble as much as you like. Then I want you to edit.

When you edit, try to cut as many words from your article as possible. The number of words cut depends on the length of your first draft and the desired length of your finished article. That said, you should usually try to cut your word count by at least 20 percent - and the more words cut, the better. If that leaves your article too short, try rambling on for even longer before you get to the editing stage.

I don't have the room here to list everything that helps cut down the words in your article, but I will share some key points:

Identify your points and sub-points. When we ramble we tend to go from one point, to another point, then back to the first point, then to an unrelated sub-point. You get the picture. By identifying points and sub-points you can structure your article and ensure each point and sub-point is only addressed once.

Indicate the importance of each point and sub-point. I like to use a highlighter for this. Pink for very important, yellow for fairly important, and so on. When you run out of colors, ask yourself if the material left is important enough to be included, or whether it can be cut.

Get to the point. Ramblers take forever to get to the point. First, they will tell you what they were wearing, what the weather was like and why Cousin Sue happened to be there at the time. If you're taking a lot time to get to the point, cut the beginning from your article. This goes for paragraphs, too.

Say what you want in the shortest possible way. You all know the sentence about the quick brown fox. This sentence not only uses every letter in the alphabet, but it says what it needs to with as few words as possible. A rambler would write "The fox, who was very quick, and happened to be brown, ran up to and jumped over the very lazy dog." I'm sure you'll agree that the original is much better.

These items won't cover everything you need to look at when reducing your word count, but they do provide a good starting base. If you want to remember them, just think of the biggest rambler you know and the things you would like to say to him: "You already said that." "Is the weather important?" "Get to the point." "I have to go soon. Can we hurry this up?"

Readers won't wish they could say these things to you. They'll just find something else to read. Keep your word count low and you'll keep your readers with you right to the end.

About The Author
Liz Palmer is a freelance copywriter and editor, based in Australia. She works with businesses and writers, offering a range of proofreading, editing and copywriting services.
palmer19@austarmetro.com.au

Incredibly Bad Articles Will Kill Your Credibility

I've noticed a disturbing trend recently of articles suggesting that people write articles to send traffic to their websites, and enhance their credibility. In theory, the more articles you write, the more traffic you'll receive, the more credibility you'll have, the more sales you'll make.

It's an interesting theory. However, what those articles fail to mention is that your writing needs to be of a certain quality. And quite frankly, I'm seeing a proliferation of poorly written--or just plain bad articles appearing across the Internet!

Unfortunately, there are some publishers out there who will publish just about anything. That's the good news. The bad news is, those publishers don't have the quality websites or the huge traffic numbers, so your article probably won't be seen by too many people anyway.

So, in essence, you're really wasting your time writing garbage, because you're not going to reap the benefits that go along with writing quality content. Remember this saying, "garbage in, garbage out!"

To get published in the top ezines and on the top websites--the one's with mega traffic, you need to have your act together. Publishers of top ezines and websites aren't stupid, and so desperate for content that they'll just publish anything that's submitted to them. Their credibility is at stake everytime they publish. They have standards and their readers have come to expect a certain degree of excellence from them.

After all, how do you think they became top websites and ezines in the first place?

Now, I'll be the first to admit, I'm no Woodward or Bernstein. However, I take great care to make sure that my articles are well written, lucid and of high quality.

I've been fortunate enough to have my articles published by some of the top websites and ezines on the Internet. These publishers aren't publishing my articles because they like me or think I'm a nice guy. They publish my articles because they feel my content will enhance their website or ezine.

And contrary to what you may have read, everyone can't write articles--at least not good ones. You have to be honest enough with yourself to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. If you know writing articles isn't one of your strengths, don't continue to write anyway.

When you submit poorly written articles to publishers, you not only waste their valuable time, you also make yourself look bad in the process.

Writing articles is hard work, and if you want to write articles and you're not good at it, then you need to work hard to improve and develop your writing skills.

If you're not willing to put in the work that's required yourself, then at the very least, hire a competent ghost writer to write your articles for you.

About The Author
Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net
Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net

Reward Those Who Publish Your Articles!

It is pretty obvious that content is king online. It is also obvious that writing more content and submitting them to other sites will help boost your popularity and bring more visitors to your site.

So why wouldn't you help boost those pages that have your articles on them?

I want to share a small tip that will help boost your articles popularity all over the world.

See, most of us who do write articles are mainly concerned about getting their articles published. Well why wouldn't you reward those who publish your articles?

I am consistently finding ways to boost pr ratings for ALL of my pages within my site, you should be too. If we are all trying to do this, then why don't we help boost our articles on other sites!

Here's an example of this...

I have an article titled: "Getting A Better Rank For All Your Pages"

Now simply listing this article on my site isn't enough. I also promote and submit this article wherever I can. If by chance a web site publishes my article, I will reward that site by adding a link on my site were that article is listed.

Infact, if you've seen my marketing tip articles, there is a small resource box at the bottom of each article that links to all the sites that have listed that specific article. Being more specific, I don't link to their main page, I link to my article.

Here's what that accomplishes...

Let's say your article is listed on "Artices R Us" and you want your article to be found by anyone who searches for that company, boosting your pr rating for your article on "Articles R Us" will help you get more visitors from that site.

See, it's not only about listing your articles because we would all like to have our articles found right away and 1st. Don't miss the chance to gain more visitors by letting your article die out on the site that you listed it in.

What if all your articles listed on other sites, had a pr rating in google of (pr4) or more? That would be great!

That would be great because we all know that Google rewards your link popularity when listed in a page that is pr4 or more!

So don't be shy to reward those who list your articles, doing so will only boost your search engine ranking and also give you a lot more visitors than before!

About The Author
Martin Lemieux
Smartads - President
http://www.smartads.info
Affordable web site design & Web Site Marketing Tips
http://www.flyinggelatingames.com
ASES - Affordable Search Engine Specialists

GOING TO PUBLISH THIS ARTICLE?
Send us a note of the location so we can add a link on our site to where you have used the article! http://www.smartads.info/contact

You can Master Article Marketing In 7 Days or Less

Let me clarify my definition of an "article marketer". An article marketer provides helpful information in the form of articles written about the industry they work within. Article marketers focus on writing quality content and publishing techniques to complement their existing marketing channels.

It is a win/win situation. The author gains many benefits for being published, and the reader satisfies a thirst for knowledge of the topic being discussed.

Have you considered article marketing?

Anyone can enjoy the benefits of writing content articles for the Web. I am living proof.

2 years ago I was introduced to the idea of using articles as a marketing strategy. Like so many other ideas we are subjected to, it didn't sink in right away. Excuse after excuse, I let procrastination stand in the way.

I had never written an article before …

As I began to see more and more SEO consultants and successful marketers discussing article marekting, I decided to dig in deeper and see what all the fuss was about. It sounded good, and I wanted in too.

Ironically, I begin to read articles about writing articles. Article after article the concepts begin making sense. I understood why article marketing worked, I understood how article marketing worked … but I still had no clue how to start my first article.

I discovered my first article topic quite by accident one evening. Here's how. (Be on the lookout for conversations like this that may take place between you and your colleagues every day.)

While in a general discussion with another site administrator I realized the KEY to successful articles or any ad copy.

Find a problem and solve it. That is what we all want - we want solutions to our problems!

The scenario went like this. My colleague offered live event webinars and needed a easy way to update specifics of these classes to members. Further more, I wanted a way to tell people about the live training without the burden of updating these live events through HTML on my web site.

Having some background experiences with blogs, and actively testing different blog creation scripts and services, he welcomed my advise on adopting RSS as an option to easily feed us the training class schedules.

It solved his problem of updating the live class schedules to us, and my problem of updating the content for my visitors. Realizing the solution to a problem - the research for the article began.

I started in the search engines, read some forums, and gathered facts.

The facts were then picked apart to determine the benefit of each fact. I used those benefits as the central focal point of my article.

My first article "Got Blog" was written and published soon after. Taking that first step and writing that first article, opened the door for me to be able to write a second article, then press releases, and Ebooks now too.

That article was submitted to only 15 free directories, and then I left it alone and went on to other projects.

By digging through all those articles about articles, I inadvertently learned "top notch" techniques from successful article writers themselves.

I felt that learning by this method was so helpful to me, that I created a free guide called "All About Articles the Marketing Advantage ". This guide incorporates all the great articles and techniques that gave me the confidence to build my first article campaign.

The guide was not created until a year after I had published several of my own articles and seen the successful results for myself.

One year later … there are over 140 sites - many of which I have never heard of, some of which are high traffic and successful sites, proudly telling people some interesting tips on using RSS - each one with a healthy link back to my website for more information.

I found the above information by doing a keyword search on Google using the exact phrase of the byline used on that article.

Article writing and circulation has been the single most rewarding "free" promotion effort I have accomplished in my years of trial and error! Be inspired, if I can do it, you can too!

About The Author
Dawn Wentworth compiled the best of the information that helped her to achieve her dream of article marketing into a free 7 day step-by-step e-course with the companion eBook "All About Articles the Marketing Advantage". You can Master Article Marketing In 7 Days or Less by visiting http://articles.masteradvertising.com.

Checklist for Writing Articles That Get Read

When writing articles for publication, it is important that you bear certain matters in mind. If you want to write a good article that stands a good chance of publication you need to take the following into consideration before, when you are in the process and after completion:

Have you formed a full idea on what you want to write about? Which subject? Which topic?

Do you know where or how to find facts or material for your article?

Have you collected sufficient raw facts/data for your article?

Have you considered the article’s audience / market? Will it interest or captivate your readers?

Does your article have a main idea and secondary ideas?

Have you written enough to give readers quality and credible information?

Does the article offer any new, refreshing and useful advice or ideas?

Are paragraphs short, well arranged and flow smoothly from each other? Are sentences short and well constructed? Is punctuation all right and there are no grammatical mistakes?

Is your article descriptive? Is it sensational, thought provoking, emotive or inspiring? Does it evoke happy memories, sadness or inspire readers to action?

Have you revised the article to flush out irrelevant ideas, strengthen your points and checked it for any errors?

Does your article content infringe any law? Copyright? Libel?

Has the article undergone rewriting through several drafts to polish it?

Does the article make sense?

About The Author

Abdallah Khamis Abdallah is a freelance copywriter and ghost writer.To learn more about how you and your business can benefit from our viral and credibility marketing solutions and how your business can benefit from infinite publicity visit his website at: http://www.qualitywritingsolutions.com.
quantumpro@lycos.com

7 Ways in which you can Overcome Excuses for Not Writing Articles

Wannabe writers, are full of excuses as to why they aren’t writing yet. Many of these excuses can be changed to proactive statements with a mere switch in attitude and perspective.

How many times have you read an article, and said to yourself, “I could have written this.” Well, why don’t you?

It took me a long time to discover that my passion in life was writing. Even though, as a teenager, I filled a whole blank book with poetry, which I wrote while trying to recover from the “first love’s” broken heart type of feelings.

It wasn’t until I made it a habit to start writing in my journal every morning, that I found out just how easy it was to get the writing juices flowing. Below is a list of some common excuses writer wannabe’s make for not writing. You will find suggestions along with each excuse on how to counteract those excuses and move forward to success.

1. EXCUSE #1 I don’t know where to start, or what to write about.
---Just get up each morning a few minutes earlier than the rest of the household, and start writing in a journal. Write about anything and everything that pops into your mind. Try to write at least 3 or 4 pages. Devote at least 10 minutes each morning to this ritual.

Do it with a pen and notebook, rather than the computer. There is a physical connection between the brain and your fingers on the paper.

Keep your statements positive. Try to eliminate words like, “I need to” or “I should” or “I have to” replacing them with more affirming phrases. Using “I am” and “I can” changes your whole focus. I find just replacing the three phrases above makes the writing process much more positve and results oriented.

You will be amazed at the material that you can pull from this journal that can be used in your daily projects.

2. EXCUSE #2 I don’t have any experience or formal schooling in writing.
----With the internet, and all the writing books available today, it is easy to teach yourself what it takes to write successfully. Just jump in and get your feet wet, give it a try.

Have someone you trust read over your writing, and then give you their opinion. But don’t stop with one person’s point of view.

Some of the best feedback I have received, has come from people wanting to use my “free to reprint” articles. I remember one lady email me saying, “I really enjoyed reading the passionate article you wrote on this subject.” Up to that point, I had never looked at my writing as passionate.

3. EXCUSE #3 I don’t have enough confidence in my writing abilities, I can’t measure up to what is already out there.
----Following the same advice as above, as you jump in and do it, your confidence will grow. Publish some free content articles, to promote a website, and discover just what people like and don’t like. With feedback comes confidence. It is hard not be be confident in your writing abilities when you get showered with requests to use your articles in others ezine’s and on their websites. :o)

4. EXCUSE #4 Writing will take too much time away from my family and other responsibilities.
----On the contrary. Writing can actually benefit and help you with your other responsibilities. By establishing a morning routine of writing in your journal, you will get to know yourself better, and grow both in professional and personal development. These positive changes to you will affect everyone you come into contact with during the rest of your day. This includes members of your family.

5. EXCUSE #5 I am not very creative.
----Everyone has creativity in them. Some people have a harder time tapping into it than others. By creating a time and space for writing in your life, you are giving yourself permission to tap into your own creative subconscious resources and intelligence. You may be surprised and amazed at your own creative results.

6. EXCUSE #6 What I know has already been written.
----Did you know, you could give 5 writers an assignment on the same subject and each one of them will come back with an article with a very unique and different focus. It is because we all look at things from different perspectives. Our perspectives are developed by our own individual life experiences and the lessons we have learned. You can take what is out there and put your own unique slant on it.

7. EXCUSE #7 I am scared, not sure I can handle criticism and rejection.
----As mentioned already, by just doing it, jumping in and giving it a try, you will gain confidence and grow. Rejection is just someone’s opinion. Get another opinion, and then another.

Some of the best books published in history were rejected dozen’s of times before someone took a chance on them and would eventually hit the New York Times bestseller’s list.

So there you have it. Stop making excuses and jump in the water and get wet. It will be more fun, rewarding and maybe even profitable for you once you actually take some daily action steps. Who knows, you might even make a big splash upon entrance to the pool of what's floating around. . :o)

As you begin getting your work out there, ideas will come to you so quickly it may be overwhelming at times. Just remember to write down your ideas, keeping notes on topic ideas, titles, and themes to research. The list will be endless.

Use these intuitive thoughts to spark your thought process when you actually sit down with pen to paper. You will find many stories, experiences, and lessons learned that can easily be incororated into a promotional article. “So start writing now, may the force of your creativity be with you!”

About The Author
Laurie Meade is the admistrator of the Articles 411 Information Content Directory. She has an AA, majored in journalism in college. An online researcher, reviewer and writer, you will find her articles spread into the deep recesses of the Internet. Put your free content article at her article directory, at: http://articles411.com. Also visit http://lauriemeade.com.

8 Facts on Promoting your Business with Articles

Business owners have the greatest potential for writing successful articles. Most people usually start a business because they have a particular interest in certain products or services. Business owners usually have already gained much knowledge in their particular market. They can optimize their potential by setting aside time to research and study their area of interest to become even more knowledgeable in their market. One good resourceful book can help ignite the enthusiasm to gain more and more knowledge. Business owners can use this knowledge to write informational articles and will easily obtain their title as "expertise" once they do so.

Articles highly target your potential customers. Writing articles is actually something that anyone can easily do even if they have never really considered themselves as a "talented" writer. A little effort to compile some valuable information, can produce great results in targeting your potential customers. If you write articles related to your business industry, the visitors you receive from your articles will usually be highly targeted, eager and ready to see what else you have to offer. With your articles, you have already established yourself as a means of a "professional" in your visitor's mind. For this reason you can create open-minded potential customers ready to seek what you have to offer them.

Resourceful information should be included about the author. Marketing with your articles works best when you give them away to be redistributed and used for webmasters seeking content for their sites, blogs, ezines, etc. When your articles are submitted to free article directories and groups for distribution, a resource box or area below your article is always included. You may give your name, a small piece of information about you and your business (make it short and state directly what you do), and your URL to your website. Having your article hosted on numerous other sites and blogs is a great way to gain many "incoming" links to your site. The URL that you provided is also a great tool to generate traffic to your site.

You only have one small chance to catch the eye and interest of the reader. Time should be well spent on creating a interesting title and introduction paragraph for new articles. The world is full of information...newspapers, magazines, commercials, flyers, mail, bill boards, emails, banners and text ads on websites. All competing to catch our eye. We have learned to quickly tune out what does not interest us and proceed on. Do not try to use a title that you believe will catch "everybody's" interest. It just cannot be done anyway. Target only your potential customers and what information they are looking for. If you are targeting people who are fascinated with their hair, they want great hair...forget the clothes...forget the makeup....it's the hair! You've got the answer! You provide hair care products. Don't write in general about "beauty tips" trying to catch every woman's eye. Write to those hair fanatics. Provide specific articles targeting those hair fans. "100 Ways to Poof your Hair". (And...um...of course you've got the product they're looking for to make this happen. Include the exact link in your author's resource area.)

The length of your article does not have to be long. Some people feel they must practically write a book to complete an article. Four to six paragraphs can complete a well-written article. Instead of trying to cover a whole topic about "Work-at-Home Moms" try narrowing your articles into more specific pieces, for example, "How Work-at-home Moms Manage their Time", and perhaps next, "Three Simple Ways Work-at-Home Moms Relieve Stress". Creating one huge article that covers a broad subject can take a lot of time and effort and may end up losing the interest of your reader. Distributing smaller articles targeted on a specific subject will allow you to write and distribute more articles and will target the interest of your reader much easier.

Articles can bring you large amounts of traffic when distributed frequently. "Frequently" is stressed when speaking of generating large amounts of traffic through article marketing. Generally, one article will not do this wondrous deed. For this reason, writing numerous, narrow-targeted articles and distributing them with frequency will create the results you want. On the other side, don't overdo it. Creating articles like you are some vending machine and popping out one article after another, may cause you to lose focus on quality. Quality takes more time and effort, but produces much better results and greater chances of having your articles sought after and read.

Articles are successful when they are not advertisements. Use your articles to give your reader valuable content and information that will have them coming back to you for more. Don't try to be sly and sneak in a couple of ads here and there. People sense right away what is intended to be an ad. Some may continue to read on, but others won't. Save your ads for appropriate places on your site and not in your articles. Take time to check your spelling and grammar. If this is an area that you lack in, then find a family member or friend who can help you proofread and determine what sentences may need improvement.

Use small fragments of time to write your articles Most business owners are extremely busy. They do not have much extended time just for writing articles. Today you can have time to start writing your first article. You can use very small fragments of time to write successful articles. Keep a notepad with you at all times and you will be surprised at the numerous opportunities you get to jot down some ideas for your articles. Whether you're waiting at the doctor's office, stuck in traffic on the way home, or simply lying in bed at night trying to calm down and relax before turning out the lights...you've got the potential of creating success with your tidbits of time. Write one paragraph at a time if that is all the time you have. You will soon see that this will actually energize your thoughts more into the process of writing articles. You will find yourself coming up with new ideas at odd moments...and glad that you have your notepad to jot it down. Right now take a small fragment of your time and start your way to successful article writing.

About The Author
Rhonda White is an internet marketer for work-at-home moms. She currently owns and manages http://wahm-announce.com, http://small-budget-advertising.com, http://OklahomaCityShoppers.com.

5 Free Time-Saving Tools for Article Authors

You can save time and make your article writing and promotion easier by putting some very great tools to use. Below I've included 5 tools that can help you.

1. Article Formatter

If your articles aren't properly formatted before being submitted they have a very high chance of getting rejected. Formatting your articles also shows respect for the publishers you are submitting to. The following tool will not only format your articles to any line length you desire, but give you a total count of characters, words, and lines. To format your articles very quickly, just visit http://www.fwointl.com/FWOFormatter.html

2. Tracking Software

As you start writing articles, and especially when you have been writing them for awhile, you will need a way to keep track of everything you've written. You can do this using a free program called Writer's Database. Writer's Database is a program that will keep track of everything you've written, potential publishers, submissions to those publishers, writing that hasn't been submitted yet, and more. You can find it at http://www.ultima-thule.co.uk/

3. Text Converter

To make it simple to add your articles to your website you need a simple tool for converting them to HTML. Using such a tool will greatly reduce the time you spend getting your articles up on your site. You can find a free one at http://www.cyber-matrix.com/txt2html.html

4. SP*M Checker

Whether you submit your articles directly to publishers or to article directories, you can increase the chances of them being picked. Every time you write an article, run it through the checker at http://www.lyris.com/contentchecker. This will check your articles for things that have a probability of triggering SP*M filters. Once the check is finished, you get a detailed report that will show you what you need to change.

5. Spell Checker

I know that this seems pretty obvious, but checking the spelling in your articles is a must. When you submit articles that are full of spelling errors you project a very unprofessional image and turn people away from what you have to offer. Tiny Spell is a free program that will allow you to check the spelling of words in any Windows application. http://www.megspace.com/computers/tinyspell/

Using these tools will not write your articles. That is completely up to you. But using them will dramatically decrease the time you have to spend writing your articles and getting them ready to submit.

About The Author
Brandie King is a writer and author who teaches other writers how to write, as well as promote, using articles. You can submit your articles free to her article directory. http://www.articlesubmission.com
owner@articlesubmission.com