Paul Guzman asked:


Learn how to write articles

Anyone doing any kind of internet marketing should write articles. But first a few tips.

Before Al Gore invented most internet or publising writers would use a typewriter to publish articles or books. They would feverishly type the subject matter and clank away. If they needed to start over or didn’t like the page they would simply turn the roller and zip out the paper, crunch it up and shoot the wad of paper into the nearby trash can.

Now days you just turn the computer on and use your favorite editor and type away. If the article page isn’t to your liking you can hit the delete key or re-edit over and over until it is just right. Man I love technology don’t you?

There is no excuse not to write. Always write about your passion your knowledge and what you want to convey to your visitors, customers, friends and colleagues. Always write naturally and above all be yourself.

Be yourself when writing

You do not have to be a Rhodes scholar to write articles now days. You only need basic english, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Did you know most Internet readers read at the 8th grade level….yea this is an amazing statistic. If you don’t believe me google “reading level of the average american audiende.

The most important part about writing is the same as public speaking. Be yourself…just write as if you were speaking to me directly. Try to add some humor in your writing and don’t just write crap. Write what your website or blog is about be passionate and above all have fun writing.

Practice writing.

Writing articles can sometimes be a bit intimidating. All kinds of questions can creep up in your mind. What if nobody likes them? It’s embarassing if someone reads my writing?

Here are a few tips that have helped my writing.

Write your article then leave for a couple of hours. Come back and re-read again. You will probably find mistakes or make corrections. Use a spell-checker or search for spell checkers to help you with your spelling.

Do your best to develop your own style…don’t try to be “Ernest Hemingway”. Don’t be afraid about what others might say. The more you practice writing the better you’ll get. The subject matter should always be what you are passionate about.

Delete any unnecessary or contradictory information.

Eliminate anything that is just taking up space. Don’t fill your work with fluff. If you need to do more research, go ahead and research further.

Take some courses at your community college in both non-fiction and fiction writing. Not only will teachers and professors help you, but they can also make contacts in the business by getting to know your fellow writers. This will really help your overall writing ability.

Rememer to write what you are feeling directly through your senses. Are you feeling good about yourself, are you depressed, whatever you are feeling just write it and then the rest will flow naturally.

It is best if you write something everyday, the more you write about your subject matter the better your writing skills will improve.

Maurice Snell asked:


As a firm believer in the power of article marketing and an editor of a general article directory, this has been slowly simmering away inside me for some time now.

The issue I want to address is the appalling quality of so much of the writing that has slowly but insidiously penetrated the whole article marketing arena.

Just the other day, being pressed for time and hoping to address a few specific web hosting questions that had been submitted to me over at my directory, I went in search of a well written article on the subject.

In theory, it should have been simple. There was certainly no lack of promising looking subject headings, but on closer inspection the writing was invariably on a par with what you could reasonably expect from a not very well educated child.

I trolled my way through article directories both large and small, and was shocked by the low standard of the majority of the writing on offer. Even well established and supposedly trustworthy sites seemed to be exercising little or no editorial control, allowing embarrassingly unskilled authors to publish, it seems, with impunity.

With article marketing experiencing an all time high and with increasing numbers of people entering the ranks of article authors, you would think that the directories would be enforcing even stricter controls. Apparently not. I was disappointed to see at directory after directory, the same badly written, poorly constructed, dreadfully punctuated and, in some cases, downright illiterate and nonsensical rubbish again and again.

I suppose I should not be surprised, as I see these terrible submissions on a daily basis, but why do article directories allow them to get through the net? I can only think that in many cases there just isn’t a net; nobody capable of weeding out the rubbish, or nobody who cares enough.

This is a very shortsighted approach. I won’t mention names, but one of the biggest general article directories out there was among the worst offenders. Maybe this lack of any kind of editorial intervention is due to laziness, lack of resources, greed, or plain old complacency but the rot has definitely set in. Gradually, article writing and distribution is becoming the province of the lowest common denominator and earning a poorer and poorer reputation.

I suppose I could just as easily blame the “authors”. It is true that those responsible for submitting such shoddy examples of penmanship are a major part of the problem, but if nobody points out the errors of their ways, or educates them to the fact that they cannot spell, punctuate, or construct a simple sentence, it is no wonder that they persist. Make it clear that they must meet your editorial guidelines or remain unpublished.

I realize that there has been a slow swing to the prevailing attitude that telling children or even adults of their failings is “damaging to their self esteem” and that people should be coddled and praised at every turn, deserving or not. The last thing we should do is give an honest appraisal or express dissatisfaction for fear of hurting someone’s feelings. My issues with this kind of liberal and damaging viewpoint is something else entirely, and I’ll say no more.

As an article directory operator I find myself in a somewhat delicate position. I need authors to write and submit content. I therefore view them as valued customers, whilst also understanding that we both stand to benefit from our business arrangement. However, there are some things that authors must understand about directories, and their owners and operators.

For the owner, an article directory is an investment in terms of both time and money. By hosting the content submitted by authors, the directory hopes to recoup their operating costs and preferably turn a profit. They also exist to serve up quality content for their visitors and publishers, who, just like the authors, are also customers. If you write articles, your aim in submitting them to article directories is to spread your message to a wider audience, which is exactly what the directories help you to do. You also hope that third parties will find your work interesting enough to syndicate on their own websites and blogs, thus spreading your e-footprints even further.

Now, do you want to see your hard work buried in the middle of a pile of badly written barely understandable rubbish? If this happens, the chances of your well crafted articles being found are that much slimmer. Publishers soon tire of having to wade through 30 pieces of crap just to find one good article and will likely give up before ever reaching yours.

Using the same argument, do you really want to associate your name, your business and your reputation with very poor quality writing? If you are guilty of submitting rehashed PLR content, or repetitive strings of sentences “written” by software and passed off as an article, maybe you should reconsider your strategies.

There are too many mistakes made by would be article marketers to go into them all here. Making yourself look foolish by pontificating about a subject and then making rookie mistakes is a classic example of why you should not ‘wing it’ when writing articles. Using a title such as, ‘How To Do Article Marketing”, is a classic example, causing you to fall flat on your face before the first word of the first paragraph.

A few words to the wise from the other side of the fence. If an article directory is worth submitting to, they will insist on certain quality guidelines. They are often operated by just one person who acts as webmaster and editor.

They will probably receive hundreds of articles every week, all of which have to be approved - this means they have to read them. If the title or the first few lines are badly written, you stand a very good chance of being declined or deleted. There is a difference and much of the time it is far more expedient to just vaporize your article completely - no explanation, no second chance.

They will also recognize the names of individual authors very quickly, so if you submit rubbish on a consistent basis, they are likely to delete anything with your name on after a short period of time, often without even reading it. Like it or not, mud sticks, so recovering a position of trust might take some time. Don’t get off on the wrong foot by ignoring the rules of the directory in question, as you will probably find yourself reciprocally ignored in short order, defeating the entire purpose of your article writing.

So, my message to article directory owners and authors is simple. Focus on quality writing and quality content. This must be placed above all else if the benefits of articles as a means of promotion are to remain. No quality means no winners. Get tougher on the spam, the ad copy, the irrelevant linking, the keyword stuffing and demand basic literacy before blindly publishing to the world at large. If you do not, the barbarians will soon take over the city.

Harrisa asked:


An online article directory is, simply put, a collection of work by various authors which has been collected and archived in a single site. The range of these articles is usually very broad, and can range from topics such as medicine to blogs, news to video games. They are useful tools for learning about a broad range of topics, and on a good article directory you can find information on almost anything. The articles also often come with a link to a relevant website,

for example, an article regarding internet flash games might direct you to a popular flash site. The article directory offers a wide variety of knowledge and fun on a number of subjects.

Directories serve two very basic functions: they can give you a fair amount of information on a topic, as well as redirect you to a relevant website that can help you further. Certain directories are more helpful than others, and this can be measured by the number and quality of the articles. One good example of a higher-quality article directory is cadillactight  They offer information on a huge range of subjects, from business to science, with new articles being added every day. There are helpful sub-sections of latest articles, latest links, top hits, and a search function. You can submit your own articles, of course.

While article directories are certainly a helpful tool, they can only get you so far. However, the good article directory is aware of this, and so condenses all useful information regarding a subject into as little space as possible, thus ensuring everything you read is concise and to-the-point. Many article directories have things you won’t find anywhere else, such as links to website providing special savings on popular products, or private sales of bargain-price video games.

The best thing about article directories is that all content is submitted by people just like you. They are down-to-earth, personal accounts that can be very helpful. For example, cadillactight has everything from personal narratives regarding traveling in Vietnam to how to score antique truck parts. The range of topics is staggering, but they are all specific enough to be useful if you need them. Every article has a corresponding link, and the websites they link to are

always capable of getting you what you need. Hands down, one the best article directories, if not the best article directory, seen in a while.

kitchenstylejg asked:


I’m working on a piece for a large newspaper and asking this question of design leaders around the country. I think the article would benefit from the users’ perspective, too. What do you think is the best idea, trend or product for 208 home offices? Thanks for your input. By answering, you consent to having your reply published in print, either individually or as a group poll result. Thanks again! BTW, if you want to see other articles I’m written on design and/or my professional bio, please visit my Associated Content page at:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/111526/jamie_goldberg_nkba_akbd.html

Mike Benner asked:


If you follow the seo forums, you’ll notice that an old search engine marketing strategy is now suddenly everyone’s “seo strategy” of choice. Yes, I’m talking about article marketing. In the SEO Elite newsletter I’ve often mentioned the benefits of article marketing, but with Google’s recent updates to its ranking algorithms, the topic merits a fresh look. With everyone even remotely interested in achieving decent search engine rankings turning to article marketing, it is critical for your website’s success that you fully understand what traditional article marketing is about and how you can benefit from it. Note that as search engines become smarter with reciprocal links, article marketing - especially the sort of marketing that guarantees good results - will require some expert knowledge. In the rest of this lesson, I’ll show you:

* How traditional article marketing works

* Why it will not work in the long run and

* The right way to do article marketing

In addition, I have a surprise for you at the end of this issue (but wait, read the lesson first, what you’ll learn here is priceless).

Traditional Article Marketing

Traditional article marketing works something like this: You write (or pay someone to write it) a 600-word article, take out a list of 100-200 article directories, and submit your article to all of them (or you could hire someone to do that as well). In a week or so, your article is accepted and published by the article directories, not to mention thousands of websites who pick up articles from these directories. Then, after a week or two of submitting the article, search engines pick it up and suddenly see hundreds, if not thousands, of new links to your site. Even if these are low-quality links in some cases (there are very few highly reputed article directories, and most of them are not themed), your rankings benefits thanks to the sheer number of links you’ve built. Over a period of time, after several article submissions, you notice an improvement in your search engine rankings at the next algorithm update. Yes, those links have made all the difference, and now your site is starting to get higher search engine placement.

The Problem with Article Marketing

By the looks of it, article marketing has everything search engines ask for – quality content, contextual links and even one-way links (as opposed to reciprocal links, which are less valuable). However, to draw a parallel, just blindly submitting articles to hundreds of directories is like shooting in the dark - you’re essentially banking on getting tons of non-themed links in the hope that they will be enough to improve your rankings (you may get lucky now and then and have some big website in your niche pick up your article and run it). Important: The reason I say that many of these article links are non-themed is because the search engines not only look at the page your link is located on, BUT also look at the “website” your link is located on. All of these article directories are probably not related to your website in theme.

If you are serious about your rankings, you’ll have to get your hands dirty and chase down the right links yourself (only at the beginning of course - as your site’s popularity increases, your articles will generate their own links and you will get requests from other websites requesting your permission to reprint your articles). The case for adopting a personal approach to article marketing becomes air-tight if you consider the following:

* Search engines are clamping down harder on duplicate content , using the “date of discovery” (when the SE spider first finds the content) and other factors to find out which article is original and which are “copies”.

* Search engines are getting better at evaluating “ themed ” links – links from industry-related websites, with a greater emphasis on niche sites dealing with one or two themes rather than general purpose sites dealing with a large set of themes (like article directories).

* Search engines already consider anchor text as vulnerable to spam, so if hundreds of links pointing to your site suddenly pop up (with the EXACT same anchor text), this would be a “red-flag” event.

In other words, while article submissions are excellent tools for gaining traffic and rankings, search engines are catching up to the fact that spammers may use “blind” submissions in order to artificially boost their link popularity, and are looking to implement filters that can catch spammers. This will not happen immediately and maybe not even in the next year, but as the search engine wars (between Google, Yahoo and the rest) heat up, search engines will get stricter in terms of what they allow to rank highly in their search results. Note that when I say search engines, I’m really talking about Google (which current serves 40-50 percent of all search engine traffic). However, as article spam increases, the other search engines are bound to implement changes that will catch it as well.

The Right Way

If you want maximum results for your article marketing, you would be best served by adopting the following tactics:

* Target the top article directories and go for a few quality links instead of hundreds of low-quality links. In other words, hit the top article directories (I’ve listed a few later on in this lesson) and devote the rest of your time on the next couple of steps.

* Find themed article directories / content sites that are related to the niche that your article addresses. For example, if you write about CSS, you would be looking for directories and websites that accept content on website development and more directly, website programming.

* Use articles as link building tools - find high-ranking sites related to yours and instead of simply asking for links, pitch your article to them as an offer to their readers. If your article is engaging, fresh and unique, most websites will gladly publish it on their websites (or at least give you a reference link), leading to increased traffic as well as link popularity.

There are a few more things that you can do to make sure you came out ahead of the search engines’ spam filters:

- Avoiding Duplicate Content Penalties: Ideally, you shouldn’t publish articles that you submit on your own website – this “may” help you avoid the duplicate content penalty a bit. On the other hand, this does not address the concern that carbon copies of your article will suddenly pop up in hundreds of places on the Internet. To deal with this, you can use one or more of the following techniques:

* Post the article on your website, and wait for it to be indexed by the major search engines before you submit it to the article directories.

* Post the full article on your website and submit “ half ” of it to the article directories (works best if you have a 1000 words+ article).

* Have your writer create a second, different version of the article. Then, you can submit that version to the directories while keeping the original on your site.

- Deep Linking: Instead of just putting links to your main site page, link to a few inner pages of your site from within the article text. Of course, the inner pages must be relevant to the article topic. This will help spread the link popularity you receive throughout the site. Deep links are one of the ways search engines use to evaluate the value of links.

- Themed Links: Use different articles for different purposes. For example, you could have one article promoting your main website, another promoting your new book (and linking to the order page), and yet another article linking to your newsletter signup page. The key is to remember that articles also mean traffic, and along with deep links, getting traffic to the key money-making areas of your site is very important.

- Find Quality Article Sites: There are very few article directories (like Ezine Articles ) that have a stellar reputation within the search engines. Directories like Go Articles and ISnare are popular precisely because they themselves have managed to rank highly within the search engines. The top ranked directories will not only get you the most link wealth but also the most traffic. However, don’t be satisfied with just hitting the general purpose article sites – make sure that you find sites within your niche that accept articles exclusively to the topic – if you can get links from within your own topical link neighbourhood, they will be worth much more than the links you get from the big article directories. And now, for the surprise I mentioned earlier. Very soon, I’ll be launching a new service that will allow you to crank out QUALITY Adsense style websites in only a few minutes. There are 2 major hindrances for Adsense website publishers. They are:

1. Lack of unique, quality content.

2. Lack of links to get the pages indexed quickly.

- Lack of unique, quality content: What most adsense publishers do is visit article directories such as those mentioned above. They then grab 20-30 articles related to their website topic. They add the articles to their site and hope to see the search engine traffic pour in. Does it? 99.9% of the time is doesn’t. The reason is because you’re serving up duplicate content that the Search Engines already know about. So, how can you get around this? Easy… Create your own unique content based on the keywords you’re targeting. Up until now, this could be an extremely time intensive process. Can you imagine writing 30, 550+ word articles? Sheesh, I don’t even want to think about that. You can figure it would take you about 60 minutes to write 1 “quality” article. If you were to write 30 articles, that’s 30 hours of work! Almost an entire week’s work… Makes me sick just thinking about that

Anyway, if you’re anything like me and many other internet marketers, we know the key to massive success is paying others to do thing you don’t want to do yourself, in order to free up your time (which is the most important asset you have) to promote your website. This is where my new service comes in. We will write ALL of the articles for you, for an insanely cheap amount per article. Because my staff is so large, we’re able to do this so cheaply, which benefits everyone Plus, everything is organized into your very own administration panel where you simply enter whatever topics you want us to write about. Click “submit” and BAM, we’re immediately writing your article and will have it to you within 24 hours. The sky’s really the limit. Alright, I won’t give you a URL for the site just yet, but look for an email in the coming weeks. You’re going to love what you see.

- Lack of links to get the pages indexed quickly: This is another very common problem, but can be solved extremely easily. In order to get your pages indexed, you simply need links. The more links pointing to your website, the faster you will get indexed, period. How can you get easy, fast links to your site? Go to LinkMetro.com and either sign up for a free account and manually exchange links with over 20,000 other websites listed in very tightly themed categories OR upgrade to an Advanced membership where you can get links even quicker and easier. Whatever you decide. Go to LinkMetro.com and start getting links and I can guarantee that your pages will get indexed MUCH quicker than had you not done so.

Well, that wraps up this lesson on the importance of article marketing. I hope that this lesson has taught you some new strategies for using articles as effective marketing tools for your online business and I will speak with you soon!

Mary Hanna asked:


If you are looking for articles to incorporate on your Website, in your newsletter or any other online endeavor, your best bet is to use an article directory. You can use the articles provided in the directories to fill your ezine or post on your website if the topic is relevant to your enterprise.

If you not know where to find an article directory go to an online search engine under “article directories.” There are many of them, some topic unique like a directory for freelancers, or a directory for women in business. However, there are directories that carry a multitude of categories. Unless you have very tight “niche” markets go to the directories that have a large number of subjects.

There are five leading categories of article directories - just out additions, niche directories, e - commerce directories, directories with multiple categories like Article Bazaar, and other article submission sites. Latest additions - those article directories who post articles that are just out - could be very valuable in finding unused new content. If you are in a hot niche marketplace using the latest addition sites would be for you. Getting the freshest content when you’re in this situation is very vital.

Some of the latest article directory additions are spiritual niche directories, work etiquette articles, a directory of crafts and/or ceramic, multiple article directories about Websites, and many others with a large amount of topics.

In the niche article directory collection there are article directories on holiday and vacation rentals, real estate and other property, finance and business for the novice, one article directory that dealt exclusively with articles about dogs or cats, article directories about cars, a directory that had nothing but articles about Clickbank, directories on weight loss, health and fitness, and one religious directory listing whose topics were on wisdom, philosophy and life in general.

Self-help tips were the subjects of each article in one directory, another had a family descent and family history focus, then there was one about weddings, while yet another article directory dealt solely with beachwear.

E-commerce article directory subjects included one article directory on home business, another on women with children, a third on business equipment, and one as specific as women in business in a certain state.

Whichever directory or directories you choose, (post in many for more exposure), it is recommended to submit your own free articles - a very helpful way to get your name out there as an professional in your undertaking and bring customers back to your site and its products and services.

If you are afraid of writing in your field go to Article Bazaar, click on the Writing Category and then on Article Writing and you find all kinds of tips to get you started. Directories are another important tool you should be using in your marketing strategies. We hope to see you posting on Article Bazaar soon. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

VIDEOSFAME asked:

http://craftyarticles.blogspot.com Because I believe that Article Marketing is an effective way to get backlinks to your website, I and my team of professional writers will create a Unique Article for you that will get you traffic. Lisa is a genius. about search engine optimization brand positioning strategy brand strategy consulting campaign optimization go to market strategies market research marketing marketing advertising strategy marketing optimization software mobile traffic search …

Angela Booth asked:


If you enjoy writing, you can build a highly profitable home business just by writing articles for the Web. Although I’m a writer, I buy articles, and so do most other businesses which operate online.

Why are articles popular as Web content? Simply because the more content a Web site has, the more traffic the site gets. That traffic leads to sales. So in a nutshell: articles get traffic and traffic equals income for a Web site.

Even if you’re completely new to writing articles, you can build an income very quickly. So let’s look at how you can become an article writing dynamo by understanding the importance of keywords, and by developing a fast writing process, and finally by writing article packages.

If Content Is King, then Keywords Are the Knights of the Web Realm

Web articles start with keywords. Here’s a quick description of what a keyword is: keywords reference Web pages, they’re the words searchers type into search engines; they may be a single word, but are often two, three or even more words in combination.

For Web articles, keywords are vital. They bring traffic to a page. No matter how wonderful your article is, if it doesn’t contain the keywords which searchers use, no one will read your article.

When you’re writing articles for a client, the client usually gives you the keywords he wants you to use. If you’re writing article packages to sell, then you need to create a themed collection of keywords on which to base your articles. Luckily there are dozens of keyword tools online, to help you to build your collections.

One vital tip: please don’t over-use keywords. Forget “keyword density.” Write naturally.

How Fast Can You Write? the Faster You Write, the More Income You Will Make

As a Web article writer, your income depends on your writing speed. This means you need to develop your own process for writing quickly, but writing great articles too. You’ll speed up as you write. Let’s say that your first article takes you a couple of hours, within a week or two, you’ll be writing a 500 word article in half an hour or less.

Here’s how I write articles for maximum speed: I create titles and short six-line outlines for ten to 20 articles at a time. Often I’ll do this on a Sunday evening, as I watch a DVD. Or I’ll take my laptop into the garden.

I find that getting away from my office is important when I brainstorm, so I’m more relaxed. You may find you’re more creative when you write in a coffee shop or other location. Experiment.

Write Article Packages and Your Buyers Will Adore You

Many article writers haunt the out-sourcing sites, bidding on any article writing project which comes along. Unfortunately, since bidders on these sites strive to outdo each other in pricing low, your income suffers if you depend too much on these sites.

As soon as possible, promote yourself on your own Web site as a Web content seller, who provides custom-written articles.

Big tip: write article packages, and sell them on your own site. Just write ten to 20 articles on popular keywords like dieting, dating, or whatever, and sell them on your site. Buyers love instant delivery. Rather than waiting a week, they can get the articles they need at once.

Writing articles is a fantastic home business, if you enjoy writing. Within a few short months, you’ll find that you’re making more income than you could at any day job. Follow the tips I’ve given you for speedy success.

RAKESH1098 asked:


If you have a business and a website, one of the best marketing tools available to you is Article Marketing. Article Marketing is all about creating online articles that you publish in article directories. The goal is to get your article out to readers who will be interested to learn more about you and your business. As a marketing tool, it helps connect your website to your target market effectively and inexpensively.

What your article should have

Article Marketing is simply writing what you know about your business. You want to create an informative article that others will want to read. It should start with a catchy title that will compel readers to read the rest of the article. for more Of course, the main body of the article should be just as compelling. Short, well-written, and interesting articles establish you as an expert in your field. It should generate more interest about you and what you do. The article should end with a resource box that gives readers information about you, including your name, your website, and other contact information. It should also include a capsule version of what you do, what your business is about, and what they should do to make the best use of the information you gave them (i.e., avail of your services).

Reaching your target audience

Article Marketing is one of the most inexpensive marketing tools available. By publishing your article in article directories, your words reach more people through more channels. Newsletter publishers can find your article and use it as content for their ezine or offline newsletter. Your article and your name will find their way to more people, and they will look you up on your website. Article Marketing also drives more traffic to your website by getting ranked on search engines. for visit detials:-www.ezines-marketing-magic.com.With proper use of keywords and phrases in your article, they will get indexed by search engines, and preferably within the first page. Of course, people will check out your article more frequently and your article will lead them back to you.

Extending your market

Social Bookmarking and Article Marketing are made for each other. When people find your article useful, they will bookmark it through services like Digg, StumbleUpon and Del.icio.us. This helps connect your name and your article to other people who share the same interests as your current target audience. As you reach more people, your customer base naturally expands as well.

New material and new business

Article Marketing also benefits from Social Bookmarking by helping you find out what your niche market is interested in. Through the bookmarks of your readers, you will find out what other topics they look for on the Internet. If you are knowledgeable about these same topics, then you can create more articles that will interest your current readers and, hopefully, more new readers and potential clients. It can also help you keep your business up-to-date with the needs of your clients.

Where to publish your article

There are literally hundreds of article directories on the Internet. However, you usually have to pay a subscription fee to get your articles published in these directories. It also pays to have your articles actively promoted through the directories’ own RSS feeds and websites. Thus, it’s usually best to stick to the larger and more popular article directories like: Ezine Articles Go Articles WebPro News Article Dashboard Search Warp Article Marketing is an inexpensive marketing tool that helps you connect to your target market and beyond. Maximize its potential and you will maximize

windgate asked:


Was there fees to pay to even get started.
When it sounds to good to be true, it usually is.