Write Articles Today and how to write articles
Write Articles Today and Get Recognised, Simple way to Drive Tons of Traffic and is also Search Engine Marketing

Do you know the difference between simultaneous article submissions and multiple submissions?

This is something that trips up new writers, and some more seasoned individuals.

A travel writer I knew sent the same feature length article to two leading newspapers without letting the editors know. Unfortunately, both publications printed the article on the same day. What do you think this does to your reputation?

Immediately the writer’s name was put on the list of unreliable contributors and she received a “do not send articles to us again” letter.

Simultaneous

Simultaneous submissions relates to sending the same article to more than one publication. The word means at the same time; synchronised, concurrent, coinciding.

Please read this next paragraph carefully, because it will make a big difference to your success.

It is impossible to send the same article or exactly the same idea to more than one magazine because each article or idea should be specifically targeted to a particular publication. The same article will not perfectly fit into both Magazine X and Magazine Y, as each publication has its own style and readership.

Multiple

Multiple submissions relates to sending a query that consists of more than one idea, or sending more than one article, at the same time, to the same publication. The word means having several or many parts, elements or individual components.

A problem with multiple submissions is you cannot copyright an idea. The way to ensure your ideas cannot be poached is to write a substantial synopsis. Four or five paragraphs in your query letter will constitute a “substantial” description.

For this reason it may not be practical to submit one query to an editor that contained four ideas as the letter/email would be long and this may result in a rejection because the editor simply didn’t have enough time to read the query.

In this case it is best to restrict your query to one or two ideas, so you can showcase them properly.

Barb Clews is an award winning journalist with nearly 1,000 published articles to her credit. She has been a writer and editor for 15 years and is the author of “Article Writing for Freelancers” and “20 Tips to Increase Writing Skills” Visit http://www.bcabooks.com/ to subscribe to “Words that Work”, Barb’s monthly ezine packed with tips for writers.

Online readers love information, but be sure your information is crisp, clean, clear and concise. Internet writing is different from print.

1. Keep your paragraphs short, even a line or two. Online readers will ignore long batches of words in long paragraphs, whether in an ezine or at a web site. That costs the author a lot of book sales. Respect readers who want material short and sweet.

2. Write tips in consistent format. First, use the command form of a verb. Follow it by the cost of not doing it, or benefits from doing it. End with a positive comment. Use this three or four-sentence formula to bring the curious to you. One tip I sent out in 2004 landed me an offer from a large print magazine to write a longer article on the same topic.

3. Make your heading compelling. If you haven’t tested it on associates, or haven’t edited it at least three times, it may say “lackluster.” People will delete it or click on to something new. Which one will you read? ” Write an Article,” or “Sell More Books by Writing a Short Article”?

4. Get to the point quickly-in the title and the first line. Keep your introduction down to a few sentences.

5. Tell your readers what you want them to do. They are waiting for your magic formula to make them richer, healthier, or enjoy great relationships. Use numbered points for this if possible. Make your copy strong, clear, and direct.

6. Target your article to your preferred audience. Not everyone will want your information, so include your audience in the title or introduction. When you focus your information, you write more compelling, focused copy that your readers will love. They will reward you by clicking to where your book is sold in your signature file.

7. Reduce superfluous words such as adjectives and adverbs like “ly.” Allow only 2-4% passive verbs. Because of a lack of effort, novices ruin their work with sentences full of “is” and “was” linking verbs. Use strong verbs instead, by starting more sentences with a subject, followed by a verb and object. Neither books, nor articles will sell with these “slugs.”

8. Focus on your readers’ needs and wants. Keep the “I” out of your copy unless you are telling a success story. If you do use “I” consider couching it like this: “If you are like me, you?. Remember to give what’s in it for your readers.

9. Contact an editing buddy who is above average at writing. It’s best to get a bookcoach or professional Internet editor to give your first 3-4 efforts some feedback, so you are on the right track-and will get published. Online sites and ePublishers will not publish your article if it isn’t well organized; reader centered, easy-to read and doesn’t offer something new.

10. Include a powerful signature file that will attract other publishers and web masters to your other articles listed on your web site. Once they start posting you, your message will be seen by your targeted audience who want your service or book information. Include the basics of name, benefit of book or business, free offer such as an ezine or report, your web, email address, and a local and toll-fre.e number.

Keep these ten tips in mind, so that your Internet article will bring potential book buyers to you, your service, your Web site, and your products.

Judy Cullins ©2005 All Rights Reserved.

Judy Cullins, 20-year Book and Internet Marketing Coach works with small business people who want to make a difference in people’s lives, build their credibility and clients, and make a consistent life-long income. Author of 10 eBooks including “Write your eBook Fast,” “The Fast and Cheap Way to Explode Targeted Web Traffic,” and “Create your Web Site With Marketing Pizzazz,” she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, “The Book Coach Says…” and “Business Tip of the Month” at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 165 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com.

It’s not enough to scatter your articles across the internet – you’ve got to measure what you’re doing so you can be sure that you’re getting value from your effort.

Here are some of my preliminary thoughts on what’s measurable in regards to article marketing, (and what you measure should depend on your predefined article marketing goals, but you knew that already):

Number of new of links to your site

This is a big one of course, and just about the easiest to measure with a simple “link:” search in the major engines.

Since I submitted “Build Links and Your Brand: Article Marketing Delivers” to 8 directories on January 26th Google has logged 24 instances of my article (I did have a little help from search engine expert Andy Beal’s mention in his blog), MSN search shows 59 instances and Yahoo has me down for 10.

Now, all those mentions aren’t links… just instances of my article title.

Google currently shows no links to my main blog site. Yahoo and MSN both show 14 to http://articlemarketing.blogspot.com.

I’m also currently ranked 3rd in Yahoo for the term article marketing – woo hoo! Not bad for only 3 days. We’ll see how long I stay there – things may change dramatically after an update. I’m currently nowhere to be found in MSN. Ditto for Google, except the post from Andy’s blog about my article marketing blog that puts me at 4th for “article marketing.”

To give some idea of scale, here are the number of millions of results for article marketing per engine: 12 million in Yahoo; 17 million in MSN; 27 million in Google. I don’t think Article Marketing is a phrase that currently generates much competition.

Article submission sites like EzineArticles get the freshbot treatment because of their regularly updated content and I think that speeds indexing.

Article submitted 1-26-05, searches conducted 1-29-05.

Number of readers/impressions

To borrow a bit from the world of online advertising you can measure impressions, that is, the estimated number of readers/site visitors who had the opportunity to at least read your article title and, let’s hope, associate it with your business name.

To get an idea of how many impressions your article may have gotten talk with those who republish your article. If you submit to EzineArticles you can see how many writers and editors have viewed your article’s page.

It’s great to have your impressions high, but it’s better to have them targeted to your audience (and by audience I mean customers… here are my thoughts on client as audience). The more care you give your content creation process the more your content will appeal to your target audience.

Which brings us to…

Placement in previously identified key industry media

If at the beginning of your article marketing campaign you identify key industry publications you’d like to be published in… and you get published or don’t get published, that’s something you can measure.

This is more of a branding initiative than a linking initiative, though it can certainly generate at least one solid link. And once your article’s been published and your editor says “go” you can submit it to your article submission directories of choice. And then measure links.

Lead generation through reader inquiries

This is a fun one. There are specific industries and products that are likely to sell well through article marketing… namely information products. If your primary goal for article marketing is sales though you should construct your article campaign in a particular way. Many of the same rules still apply, but the strategy needs to be a little different. Let me know if you have questions about creating sales generating articles. And you still have to follow responsible article writing guidelines.

Email addresses gathered for newsletter signup/downloads/free service

Yeah you’re being published in someone else’s email newsletter but that doesn’t mean you can’t try to drive signups to your own newsletter! We had this happen when I worked at WebProNews, where we published all free content. One author’s article marketing strategy focused on driving subscribers to her newsletter. I think, but I’m not sure, that it was Dianna Huff, who specializes in B2B article marketing. As an aside, be sure to check out her site.

Pageviews to info pages on your site

If you link out of your article to more info pages on your site you can measure for an increase in traffic on those pages. Have some kind of call to action on these pages though. Don’t just boost page views for the sake of having higher page views. Get them to do something on that page, such as give you an email address or visit your products or services page.

Requests from editors for articles

If it’s your goal to have more involvement with your target market then be sure to accept all requests from editors for new articles. In fact, cultivate any relationship with an editor you can. This is one fantastic way of staying in front of your target audience and getting new ideas for articles.

How can you increase this likelihood? Contact editors from publications within your target market. In addition, include a mention in your author bio that you’d like to work with editors to help them have happier, more engaged readers.

Audience involvement/questions

This is another fun one, and something I tried to promote during my time at WPN. The level of reader feedback I received led to my creation of the “Ask the Expert” section of WPN (now untended) as well as my proposal for the WebProWorld forums, now with over 50,000 members. (To be fair iEntry had rolled out forums before – they were just scattered across all our publications rather than targetted on the flagship. WebProWorld was definitely a home run.)

So if you’d like to establish more of a relationship with the online audience in your publications contact their editor and see if you can field audience questions.

What else is measurable?

Those are a few of my thoughts for article marketing measurables. Did I miss any? Let me know your measurable ideas and if I use them in an upcoming article I’ll throw you a link with your link text of choice.

Want to build links to your site and enhance your brand?

Send article marketing questions to GFrench@gmail.com for free article marketing brainstorm, including article topic suggestions and key industry media identification. Garrett French is a search engine marketing copy writer for Websourced and conducts branding and link building research on his article marketing blog. If you wish to publish this article, please retain all links.

how to write for developing marketing

Okay, I admit it: I’m a keen people-watcher. (Most writers are: we know people love to read about people – not things; not statistics; but people!)

We collect anecdotes and snippets of other lives. If you do the same, you’ll find your readers avidly waiting for your next article.

I love to sit in a sidewalk cafe or at a table in a shopping-mall restaurant, and watch the crowd go by. I’m fascinated by snatches of conversation at the next table or between people who meander past. (I do draw the line at edging my chair closer so I can hear better!) I like watching mini-dramas being played out between warring couples… or friends who are meeting after a long period apart.

When I watch the evening news, what grabs me is how things affect the people in the stories. Who will ever forget the expressions on the faces of the people in the streets of New York on September 11, 2001? We shared their emotions as they watched fireballs engulf buildings, saw desperate people leap from the eightieth floor, or waited for news of loved ones working in the Twin Towers.

But stories don’t have to be dramatic. They just have to strike a chord.

I’ve found my eyes filling at a story of how an old couple have been cheated out of their life savings and are forced to sell the family home.

I’ve laughed at tongue-in-cheek stories about incompetent bank robbers who write ‘Fill this bag with money!’ on the back of an envelope that they shove across the counter with a sack… overlooking the fact that the envelope has their name and home address on the other side.

I’ve rejoiced when a lost child is found and have been saddened by the sight of refugees trudging into the distance in search of safety.

No matter what your message is, show how it affects people and you’ll have a much better chance of the reader staying with you. It’s no accident that weight watching magazines feature two or more weight-loss success stories in every issue. It’s no accident that the most successful car sales ads feature people having fun (or being envied, or being adventurous). We are all interested in other people.

1. Use Anecdotes

I’ve ghost-written a lot of books for business professionals. The topics range from negotiating techniques to presentation skills to real estate sales. In every book I’ve written, I’ve encouraged the person commissioning the book to tell me lots of stories.

• Do they know someone who has lost a sale because they left out one vital part of the sales process?
• Can they tell me about someone who has alienated customers – and why?
• How has a sales person helped someone to find the perfect house for his family?
• How was a real estate sale lost because of what a sales rep did or didn’t do?
• Who got a great deal by using one simple but powerful technique while negotiating a price?

Whenever you write an article or a book, search for powerful anecdotes. People are willing to be convinced by the experiences of others. Subconsciously you’ll have them thinking: Look at the terrific benefits from using this technique!

2. Bring People To Life

To write “powerful” anecdotes you have to be able to make readers believe in the people in your stories. That means you develop those people just as carefully as if you were writing fiction.

Help us to ’see’ these people. That doesn’t mean you should stop and describe the colour of their hair and eyes and what they’re wearing! The key is the emotions associated with the story you’re telling. If it’s about an irate customer, make sure we can see that customer’s body language; hear the frustration and anger in his voice. If you put us in the mind of the salesperson, let us know what he’s thinking as he faces this customer, and how he either (a) handles the situation well or (b) loses a sale and a customer for life.

This applies no matter what you’re writing about. By showing the emotions and worries of the people in your anecdotes, you’re appealing to the emotions of the reader. Show the reader how to avoid pain or achieve pleasure – and you’ve got a sale!

3. Bring The Setting To Life

Don’t have ‘talking heads’ in your anecdotes. People don’t exist in a vacuum. They have meetings in offices, they run through the rain, they sip coffee in restaurants. They jump in and out of cars, talk while they’re driving, and chat over a few drinks. They play golf or tennis; they go abseiling and scuba diving.

Help us to see the setting when you tell us an anecdote. Don’t just tell us what it looks like – use the five senses. Help us to smell the coffee; feel the pelting rain; hear the audience roar with laughter at a speaker’s wit. All of these things make your story ‘real’ – and help your readers to believe in your story people and in your message.

You’ll sell more books, you’ll attract more people to your website, and you’ll win a growing band of followers…

…just by letting people read about people!

(c) copyright Marg McAlister

Marg McAlister has published magazine articles, short stories, books for children, ezines, promotional material, sales letters and web content. She has written 5 distance education courses on writing, and her online help for writers is popular all over the world. Sign up for her regular writers’ tipsheet at http://www.writing4success.com/