Archive for June, 2009
How To Write Good Articles
Posted on Jun 3, 2009 09:57:53 AM
As a writer you may be ready to cash in on the need for web content. There is a lot of money that can be made through content writing if you know what web publishers are looking for in high quality content. If you are a very versatile writer you will find that you can actually make content writing your full time job! The new trend of article marketing has writers very excited because webmasters all over the Internet are hungry for talented writers who can’t pump out the high quality content fast enough.
What to Write
Exactly what you should write will depend on whom you are writing for. If you are a writer that is writing pieces for an article directory you will want to keep things as generic as possible. The more nonspecific you can keep your articles the more likely a webmaster will choose your article to be displayed on his or her website. It’s important not to mention websites or specific products, as this can limit the usefulness of the article to webmasters because they generally do not want to promote anything other than themselves and especially not their competitors. Most web publishers are looking for content, not marketing pages.
If you are writing for a specific web publisher you will want to keep in mind what their business is all about. Think about key phrases or words that are often associated with their product, business, or service and include them in the article. Be sure that the key phrases you come up with or are provided don’t seem unnatural and they don’t disrupt the flow of the article. Key words and phrases are only as helpful as their placement. Remember, we are talking about quality content, which reads well and helps search engines figure out what the website is all about at the same time.
Research Required
Make sure that if you are writing on a topic and you don’t have first hand knowledge that you research! Content provided by websites is only as useful as the author that is writing. If you only provide fluff and no real meat in articles visitors will be less likely to come back to the website again, so you are actually working against the plan to increase traffic with the article. Always look at your article the way that a visitor would and try to provide all of the information you would want if you were that person.
How to Write
Your style of writing is really a matter of opinion. Many web publishers like for their content to be written in a very conversational style. This writing style allows for readers to feel as though the author is talking to them, and it’s just a very comfortable way to get information on the Internet. If you take an official tone many visitors may be turned off even though you are providing all of the information that is needed.
Market Yourself
Don’t forget your resource box! The resource box is the section either at the beginning or end of an article that tells the reader who you are, any websites that you are affiliated with, and may even provide links to the websites. This is a great way to market yourself. While a web publisher may first find your work on an article directory he or she may contact you personally for your services, in which case you usually stand to make a lot more money!
One Dimensional Writing-Using First Person Perspective
Posted on Jun 2, 2009 05:47:43 PM
When an author decides to write fiction one the primary methods of storytelling is through a first person perspective. For many writers this is the most comfortable manner of storytelling.
In a first person narrative the reader is allowed to relate to the story one dimensionally. The story is presented to the reader from the viewpoint of a character in the story. The narrator might be the main character attempting to relate their own story. The story might also be told from the perspective of a bystander who may not be overtly involved in the storyline.
In the movie, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, the story is narrated by a deeper male voice. It is only at the end that we discover the story was related by one of Willie Wonka’s Oompa Loompas. This is an example of first person storytelling.
This type of story telling is well used in cinema. Many early filmmakers used first person narrative to present their stories. The reason this type of format was used is primarily due to early filmmaking technology that required some help in the transition between scenes. Narration provided that transition. Film noir and other detective dramas relied heavily on first personal narratives to further their storylines.
Today’s authors are more adept at relating a story from other perspectives such as second or third person which will be dealt with in other articles.
A first person narrative allows you to understand the specific character of the narrator. You are likely to find yourself identifying with the storyteller in a variety of ways. You will either love or despise their mannerisms, but it is their character that provides the strongest connection to the storytelling process.
Because your narrator is finite they will never have all the details of the story they are unfolding for you. Sometimes this creates a unique perspective because the story can sometimes become more about the narrator (at least for awhile) then about the actual storyline. This can occasionally provide a comedic touch to the novel or at the very least some rabbit trails to follow just for the fun of it.
Interestingly some first person narratives are actually related from the perspective of a consortium. The premise is that a group of individuals are relating the story. This is identified by the use of ‘we’ or ‘us’ as part of the narration.
How To Link To Your Website When Writing Articles
Posted on Jun 1, 2009 07:07:13 PM
However, you must know how to link to your website properly to get the full benefits of linking. If you don’t link properly, they could kill your marketing efforts.
Often times, many writers make the same mistakes. They put typically try to send someone to their website directly from their article. In the resource box, they provide a raw link with the URL of the website. Below is one of the biggest mistakes that an author can make:
“If you enjoy shopping find out how you can get cash back from your online shopping. Visit us at .myayopahstore.com Click here now!”
Most often, writers will use the same generic resource box in all or their articles, no matter the topic of their writing. Unfortunately, because they use this resource box, the wrong way, they get very few benefits from their writing efforts.
Writers must understand that in order to rank high in the search engines for a keyword phrase, that the most important factor that will allow them to achieve their goal is having links from external websites using this keyword phrase linking to the writer.
If hundreds of websites say that your site is talking about Shoes, even if the keyword “shoes” is not on your site, search engines will believe the majority.
When a searcher enters “shoes”, search engines will for sure show your website. This has been proven numerous times, you can try it yourself:
Open Google.com and enter the following query: “worst president” without the quotes. Have a look at the #1 website (.whitehouse.gov/president), the text “worst president” doesn’t exist in the page at all!
This tactic is so powerful that if you spent enough efforts into it, you could redirect people looking for Wendy’s to the Mc Donald’s website!
It’s VERY EASY to create useful links. Take the example of someone promoting a website about “shopping online”.
1. The first thing to do, is to use this keyword phrase or some variations of this keyword phrase in the anchor text of your link. If you’re not familiar with HTML, it is done like that: This HTML code creates a link like: Anchor Text
2. Then in the resource box, you have to use as many related terms as you can because search engines, especially Google, take the surrounding text into account.
Take a look at the resource box below for this article. There are several links to the website using related keyword phrases. The surrounding text is also using related terms, even if they are not links, they will help the search engines and tell them what your website is talking about. Creating such resource boxes when you submit your articles to article directories will increase ten folds the benefits of your links.
Another important point is to use different resource boxes and different anchor texts each time you submit a new article. Don’t waste your writing efforts because of a poor linking strategy! Use this tactic right now and be amazed by the results.