As a writer who works on multiple projects at any given time, I attempt to pin down a deadline from my clients even if one is not stated. Why? Because, the “I am in no hurry for these” statements invariably becomes, “are you done with the articles?” How embarrassing is that if I make the assumption that a project could be put off, especially if my client wants it now?

I have learned to do the following: as soon as I get a project I ask for a specific timeline for when the job should be completed. If the client wants to receive proofs by a certain time, they will. I will also ask them to return to me the reworked article by a certain time too, especially if the “final copy” deadline is fast approaching. No one likes to respond to a panicked, “where is my finished copy?!” statement especially if the hang up is on their end. Regardless of the reason, the burden falls on you, the writer, if there are any snags.

Fortunately, most jobs I do are “in progress” almost as soon as I accept the assignment. Generally, I start my research right away and then I start working on an outline of the article. Once satisfied with the outline, I craft a rough draft and, finally, I write my final copy. Sometimes I take a break between the various steps in order to get more information, give my mind a rest, or simply to attend to other matters.

So, if I receive an urgent request [or demand!] for the completed project I can usually respond very quickly with at least some of the work immediately. Human nature, being what it is, I can expect that even agreed upon deadlines will shift around from time to time. How I respond to these types of demands is indicative to how well I work with my clients.

Online readers love free information. They scour the internet daily looking for specific information to solve their problems, help them be successful, live longer or get healthy. You should join the information revolution too! Publish your free helpful solution-oriented articles to the web.

But wait! There are a few things to keep in mind when writing for the web. Long paragraphs are usually acceptable for print media; they are not for the web. If you want to write articles that web users will love to read and put to use follow these 7 simple tips:

1. Make your article scan ready. A study by Jakob Nielson publicized as guru of web page usability by the New York Times published that only 16 per cent of his test users actually read the copy they found online; 79 per cent of them simply scanned it. Your impatient web readers will want important information to jump out at them.

Some practical ways to make your text scannable are: headings, sub-headings, bulleted list, numbered lists, easy steps and/or typeface variation. For example, compelling headlines are considered an art. Are you drawn to the author’s article as “How to Write Web Articles” or “5 Tips to Write Winning Web Articles?”

2. Keep it short. Get and keep the attention of web readers by delivering short messages. You put effort into gaining your web reader’s attention; now make their click worthwhile with brief compelling copy in bite sizes.
Start with the conclusion. Your readers may not make it to the end of your piece to get it. Web readers don’t want to get bogged down in long blocks of text. So get to the point early and use the rest of your article to support that main point.

3. Make Your Title Sizzle. Dull titles will not capture your readers interest. It will make your article fade into the sea of other boring articles listed in article banks these days. You have to create a title that will reach out and grab your reader by the collar. To get your article read, start with a sizzling title. Make it short. Create interest. Include the main benefit or solution in your title.

4. Talk to Your Targeted Audience. Your information is not for everyone. Avoid generalities. Choose a friend or family member that’s interested in your topic. Write your article to them. Writing to a friend will make your copy personable and friendly.
You won’t come across as a fussy hen, do this, do this, don’t do that. You will connect with your readers as a friend giving advice. Your article will do a better job of building creditability for you. Creditability inspires trust and readers only trust their friends.

5. Add substance. Resist fluffing your articles. Include practical valuable information in your copy. Everyone loses when you don’t take the time to impart substance. It increases the reputation of the web being an unreliable source of knowledge. Additionally, lack of substance will block your road to profitable referrals.

Do the research and/or draw from your knowledge and experience to illustrate. Your stories and real life examples will meet your reader’s need for practical information and connect with their emotion. It’s a known fact emotions will move people to action. Whether you desire them to act by signing up or making a purchase, add substance and improve your reader responses.

6. Make it web professional. Create a more web professional look by using short sentences then format your page to approximately 65 characters per line. Long stringed sentences that stream from side to side of the web page look visually unprofessional. Select a layout for your article from several short article formats that include the how-to, tips list, question-answer, problem-solutions and interview.

Make your introduction and summary short but do add one. Your web readers don’t want just a list of boring facts and information. They want to connect with you by reading your personable introduction and practical tips with a definite ending or summary. Remember excited readers become enthusiastic buyers and enthusiastic buyers will refer your product or service to all their friends.

7. Use your keywords. Thread your keywords throughout your short article as naturally as possible. Otherwise your copy will sound stiff and dull. To gain visibility on the search engines, your site must be “indexed” by their robotic software.

In its most basic form, they must be able to compare the code, keywords and other Meta tags with the actual content of the site. From this they reach a conclusion regarding the context of the site. This and other factors will affect how well your copy or website places in the search engines.

You may use these guidelines for all kinds of web copy. The same elements of using keywords, making your article professional, adding substance, keeping it short and making your copy scannable will improve the quality of your articles. Practice the above simple principles and write winning articles to distribute on the web everywhere.

For some people writing articles is a very difficult activity that takes a long time to get done. If you are a beginner in the art of writing good articles I’ll give you some advices that will help you improve your article writing.

Writing articles can be daily and profitable activity for many people. And if you want to make some extra money on the internet you certainly will have to learn how to write good articles. Content is what attract people to a website that’s why you have to fill your website with good articles if you want to receive tons of free traffic from search engines.

Okay, let’s talk about the secrets. First of all, to write great articles you need to have new ideas and to be inside of your article subject. For example, if you want to write articles about the stock market you’ll need to follow the top news providers about it. Choosing the right topic to write about is the most recommended, so be sure to write about topics you enjoy.

Try to write articles about things people are concerned to know about. Ask your friends or relatives what are interested to know about then try to write something about it and show them what they think about what you just wrote.

Try to write some phrases everyday so that you exercise your writing abilities. In some weeks you’ll be writing much better then it’s time to start writing professionally! Choose a topic and become a expert by studding this topic and writing everything you can about it.

After your have written some articles you can start submitting them to article directories just like this one. There are many benefits of writing articles and submitting them these directories. If you already have your website or blog you could submit some of your articles to article directories. Doing this you’ll get many links pointing to your site and this will increase your visibility on search engines like Google.

That’s all for today. I hope you can benefit from these tips I gave you. Writing articles is not that difficult you just need to dedicate some hours of hard work but you’ll see that writing articles can be a nice activity.

In today’s highly competitive and ever-changing world it is extremely important to acquire the ability to explain your point of view, your contention as well as the gist of the topic you are familiar with. Whether you intend to become a teacher or have chosen other career path, it is imperative, even indispensable for many careers to develop good communicative skills. During your study at the University you might be assigned with several types of written assignments that help you to develop and enhance communication skills. I would like in this article to focus on two of them, expository essay and persuasive essay. In spite of the fact that the structure, style and some other elements of these writing projects are similar, there are some notable differences between them.

The main purpose of expository essay is to teach you to develop communication skills by learning how to acquaint your reader or listener with the knowledge that you possess. Depending on the subject you are assigned with, your expository essay should include factual information which should be backed by reliable, trustworthy and up-to date evidence. It might be advisable to write in the third person in this type of the written assignment. Try to avoid using of such words as “I”, “we” or “our “as much as possible. In this way your expository essay would fit more to the standards of the educational institution set for this type of the essay. Also, remember as this is a factual essay you should avoid explaining your point of view or contention on particular subject, as in this case your attitude must be defended. The essay, where your contention is stated and defended is named “persuasive essay”, I will deal with it later. Let us examine how the expository essay should be composed. First you must state your thesis. One should bear in mind that it must not be too broad as the length of expository essay is usually short. Your sentences should be written in easy to read, logical and coherent style. All facts should be backed up by evidence. One should restate the thesis in the last final paragraph of the essay. If you follow these simple rules you will be bale to compose the expository essay that meets the requirements set by your tutor.

In contrast to expository essay, persuasive essay should not only provide your reader with your contention, it should back it up so the reader understands why your point of view is better than the contentions of your opponents. Whereas the main purpose of expository essay is to explain the facts of view, the aim of persuasive essay is not only to explain your point of view, but to convince the reader that your point of view is right. The plan of your persuasive essay might be similar to expository one; however, it is advisable to include in the body of your assignments several important elements. First, one should consider strong and weak point of your argument and the contention of your opponents. Second, your contention in this type of the essay should be backed by the up-to date and trustworthy evidence in order to convince e your reader that information provided by you is reliable. In this way it would be easy for you to learn how to persuade even the most skeptical persons.

Occasionally, I get a request from a client to take their existing articles and rewrite each one with a fresh “voice” or style. I usually look at these types of projects with a bit of suspicion, as I wonder if the articles are owned by the client or swiped from someone else. I only proceed if I am confident that the articles are, indeed, the intellectual property of the person possessing them.

Once I get the articles in hand, I look over each one carefully to see what must be done to whip them into shape. I must tell you I have received some of the worst written rubbish from gleeful clients expecting me to improve upon their initial poor efforts. Let’s just say that I never tell my clients exactly what I think of their original work, but I am not shy about doing a hatchet job on an article either!

I like red pens and I bring one out and start crossing out sentences, correcting grammar, adjusting paragraphs, and inserting my notes. There are times when my “marks” seem to outnumber the words that were previously typed or written.

If the client gives to me the project on diskette, I simply insert the diskette [after running a virus check, of course] and print out each article in Microsoft Word and go at it. If no diskette is supplied then I simply input the article with my changes included and take it from there.

Normally, I must redo all or parts of an article two or three times before I get a good feel for it. Then and only then is it sent off to the customer for their review.

Quite frankly, it is easier for me to write an article from scratch then it is to take an existing article and rip it apart. Still, I savor the challenge and usually get a “job well done” in response as I transform an existing piece from an ugly duckling into a graceful swan.

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.

In fact, 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 “Articles 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!

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In this article you will learn how writing an article on the subject you love the most will help you bring more visitors to your site! Not only will your traffic boost but you’ll also be placing yourself as the professional in your field.

Read more of Martins articles online here:
http://www.smartads.info/newsletter

We all know that online publishers earn revenue from our free reprint articles. They place pay-per-click ads on the web page that contains the article, and the advertiser pays them whenever someone clicks on the ad. Most use programs like Google AdSense which automatically identify the subject of the article and deliver an ad related to that subject.

But did you know that publishers can do a similar thing within the article itself? They can turn any word within your article into an ad! They use programs like TextLinkAds to turn select target keywords into hyperlinks to the advertiser’s website. When a reader clicks on a link, the advertiser’s website opens within the same window. In other words, the page is ‘hijacked’ and your article disappears!

Gasp! As authors, we spend a lot of time planning and writing content designed to hold the reader’s attention. Surely we should condemn anything which hijacks our audience?

The answer to that question is most definitely, “NO!”

As a heavy Internet user, I’m personally not a fan of text link ads. However, as an author of free reprint articles, I think they’re great. Before I explain why, though, let’s cover off a few basics…

Text link ads – some FAQs

Like every other form of advertising, text link ads have their detractors. The most common questions asked are:

Q: How can I tell if it’s a text link ad?
A: Although text link ads look the same as text links, you can identify them very quickly simply by mousing (hovering) over them. When you hover over a text link ad for about a second, a popup displays the details of the advertiser and the ad content. Check out http://www.seochat.com/c/a/Search-Engine-News/Microsoft-Hopes-to-Crush-Google/1/ for some examples.

Q: Are they ethical?
A: Text link ads are more covert than regular pay-per-click ads like Google AdWords. They look like normal text links, but they don’t actually jump where you expect them to. For example, I clicked on a text link ad with anchor text “MSN” expecting it would take me to MSN’s search, but instead it took me to the website of some sort of SEO service provider. As we all know, it’s quite common for people to link to their site using unrelated anchor text. That’s all text link ads are doing. So, by nature, text link ads are no more misleading than any other kind of link.

Q: Are they bad for the Web?
A: When people can’t trust the links they’re clicking on, won’t they stop clicking? Won’t this have a detrimental effect on the perceived usability of the Web? I said above that text link ads aren’t really any more misleading by nature than normal text links. In reality, though, I suspect they may encourage the misleading use of anchor text, so in that respect, I think they’re detrimental to the perceived usability of the Web. But does this make them bad for the Web? I don’t think so. In fact, I think their overall effect will be good. By bringing more advertisers (i.e. businesses) to the Web, text link ads ultimately make the Web more useful. Users will quickly recognize text link ads for what they are and adapt.

Q: Are they effective for advertisers?
A: I can’t really answer that. I’ve never used them, so you’ll have to ask someone who has. Of course, you could ask one of the companies that offers text link ad technology, but you already know their answer…

Q: Will they become more popular?
A: Once again, I can’t answer that question with any authority. But I have my suspicions; I suspect they will become more popular, simply because there are a lot of web publishers out there who are willing to try programs that offer a revenue return. Ultimately, the popularity of text link ads hinges how successful they are for advertisers, not how well-liked they are among users.

Q: Can I stop it happening to my reprint article?
A: No. I believe that power lies solely with the publisher. Of course, you can forbid it in your reprint guidelines, but that will simply limit the number of times your article is reprinted (consequently limiting your referral traffic and link popularity).

Conclusion – Are any of these questions really important to article submission authors?

In my humble opinion, the answer, once again, is “No!” As authors of reprint articles, we love the Google AdSense arrangement because it creates a demand for quality content. The more high quality articles a publisher reprints, the higher their site rank, the greater their traffic, and the more they earn from the pay-per-click ads on their site. As a result, our article submissions get widely published and we build brand awareness, credibility, authority, referral traffic, and – of course – link popularity (i.e. increased rank).

Text link ads are no different. Like Google ads, they encourage the publisher to acquire more high quality content. It’s as simple as that.

“But my article is hijacked! What if the reader doesn’t return?” There’s no denying we’d prefer to keep our reader. But most readers know where the ‘Back’ button is, so if your article is good enough, they’ll be sure to click it. And if they don’t, well at least you’ve got the permanent link back to your site in the byline of your article. And after all, that’s one of the big benefits of article submission, isn’t it?

Anyway, enough talk. Let’s see how it all unfolds.

Happy hijacking!

A great headline can be the difference between having your free reprint article published once (on your own website…) and having it published hundreds, if not thousands, of times all over the Internet.

Sure, the content has to be worthwhile; it has to be helpful, informative, and not just a sales spiel. And there’s no denying that a well written article can be very compelling. But if your headline doesn’t cut it, the article won’t stand a chance. The best article in the world will never see the light of day without an effective headline.

Now, more than ever, article submissions need a good headline. But it’s not just the reader you have to worry about. In fact, the reader is secondary! When it comes to reprint article headlines, your main focus should be the publisher.

You may think the requirements of a good headline haven’t changed over the years, but they have. Unlike headlines for traditional newspapers, magazines, etc., which target only the reader, online article submission headlines target first the publisher, then the reader.

So how do you write a headline for an online publisher? Here’s a few tips…

1) State your domain

No matter what your business, you can be sure that potential publishers of your article are inundated with information every day. Imagine hypothetical ‘Publisher Pete’. He’s the webmaster of a high PR site. He receives hundreds of article submissions every day. Additionally, he farms article submission sites (aka ‘article banks’, ‘article submit sites’, ‘free-reprint sites’) for articles on a regular basis. Because so many of the article submissions he sees are spam or unrelated, Publisher Pete is quick to dismiss anything that isn’t obviously – and immediately – relevant to his website. So make sure your headline signals the general subject area of the article submission, not just the exact topic.

2) State your argument

Every website has an agenda. Whether it’s to sell, persuade, or inform, there’s always an angle. When our friend Publisher Pete looks for free reprint content for his website, he wants something that complements his agenda. If he’s selling chemical garden fertilizers, he doesn’t want an article about the evils of chemical fertilizer. Nor does he want an article espousing the virtues of organic fertilizer. He wants an article promoting the value of chemical garden fertilizer. If that’s what your article is about, make sure the headline lets him know.

3) Don’t make empty promises

Sensationalized headlines may work in traditional media, but they’re not so effective in online article submissions. Few things frustrate an online publisher more than being lured in by a promising headline which turns out to be nothing more than hot air. For publishers who take the time to carefully filter content before publishing, empty headlines are nothing more than time-wasters. For publishers who are a little less meticulous, empty headlines result in a site which is characterized by disjointed, contradictory, low-quality content. Either way, the publisher isn’t impressed, so make sure the headline of your article is relevant to (and validated by) the body of your article.

4) Put yourself in the publisher’s shoes

Always think about ways to make the publisher’s job easier. It’s as simple as that. Brainstorm 5, 10, 20 headlines, then put yourself in the publisher’s position and ask which one you’d choose. That’s the best headline for your article submission.

5) Think about your publisher’s readers

Publishers want articles that readers will open. But remember, your publisher’s website may cater to an entirely different type of reader to your website. Whenever you find yourself thinking about your secondary audience (the reader), make sure you’re thinking about the publisher’s readers – not your own. That settled, you can go on to focus on regular audience-headline considerations such as making the headline attention-getting, targeted, and benefit driven.

Conclusion

With the emergence of article submission as a great way to generate a high search engine ranking, and the associated proliferation of article submission spam, the right headline is more important than ever. The important thing to remember is that you’re faced with a gatekeeper, and you need to address their needs first.

By following all the publisher-focused tips above, you’ll not only see your article published many more times, you’ll also see it published on more relevant websites. This will help both your ranking (because links from relevant sites are always the best) and your click-thru traffic (because the audience will be more relevant).

Happy headlining!

Do you suffer from writer’s block? Is there a pending project you are putting off because you lack the inspiration to even get it started? You certainly are not alone. At various times you will go through extended periods of energetic writing as well as lengthy dry spells. Here are some tips you may want to consider to help you keep those slow times to a minimum.

Idea Mining If you do not have a specific topic in mind, start brainstorming to come up with a variety of topics. I get plenty of my ideas when I take a thirty minute brisk walk through my neighborhood. Watching rabbits eating clover, observing colorful roses, and listening to the sweet conversation of cardinals puts me at ease. When I am relaxed, I can think much more clearly. It sure beats sitting in front of my computer fretting about my work! Find something that brings out the inspiration in you.

Get Interested Writing on a topic that interests you is much easier to do than when you must write about a topic that you either: a) do not find interesting, or b) you are not particularly knowledgeable about. You can raise your interest by researching the topic. Read other online articles, go to the library and read a chapter or two in a related book, or contact someone familiar with the subject at hand [an enthusiatic expert is best]. After a certain amount of research your curiosity should be piqued which will help fuel your interest in the topic.

Make an Outline Write a topic sentence and then “bullet” three or four key points that you want to make. Expand each point into one paragraph each; collectively these points will comprise the body of your article. A brief conclusion [summation] tying all the points together at the end of the article will bring things “to a wrap.”

Sit on it No, I am not being obscene. Rather, once you have written your article put it aside for a day or two and then come back to it. A fresh perspective has a way in helping you craft a better article. More than likely you will catch grammatical errors, locate incomplete or unclear thoughts, or find errors in punctuation by stepping back for a period of time.

You can overcome writer’s block by following the above steps. If you find yourself hindered by the “paralysis of analysis” when it comes to selecting a winning topic, then you must step away, regroup, and come back only when sufficiently inspired. Writing with clear purpose and enthusiasm will happen once you put your writer’s block beyond you.

(c)2005; Matthew C. Keegan, LLC

The emergence of the Internet has led through the entire sphere of activities whether they are business ventures, public services, government departments or publications. Each and every business whether commercial or private has a website to represent them which propagates its individual sphere of activity. This has made easy for the visitors to get the information they are craving without wasting any time and at the minimum of cost. But ironically having a website does not serve the purpose. The website’s content must be updated, informative and should be attractive enough to attract more and more customers. This is when content writing comes into picture.

Web content writing popularly known as content writing is the most important task which should be given the utmost attention. Thus, it is essential for the content writer to make the article as informative and reliable as possible. Content writing should be very engrossing so that at the very first glimpse the viewer is attracted towards it and he is kept glued to the article. Thus, content writing should be done specifically for the target audience and it is wise to this research beforehand. Apart from that the content should not be long-winded as majority of the web viewers don’t have the patience to read lengthy articles with repetitive content. Henceforth it should be able to convey the information precisely and briefly.

Web content writing should be very alluring as there are so many other web pages that are just a click away. So having an informative content or article becomes very important. In recent years it has been witnessed that companies from all over the world are finding India to be the hub of top quality content writing and web content writing solutions. The reason is the cost effective work with excellently written piece. Majority of Indian content writers are famous for their high class content writing skills and it won’t be wrong to say that English language has been given a completely new horizon by them. Majority of the content writing work is outsourced to India because Indian content writers possess superb writing and search engine optimization abilities along with the desired experience.

Herein, you’ll receive the content written by the best content writers who are extremely adroit in the English language and also have a flair for writing, which is entrenched in their blood, even though English is not their mother tongue. Seeing this outbreak, content writing services have grown significantly in India in the past few years. Hence, now you can find content writers, professionals and freelancers, in the field who have given certain boost to this industry.