The Top 10 Reasons Why Your Articles Are Rejected And Not Published Writing and submitting articles is an effective strategy to advertise your website and increase traffic to your website. For ezine publishers and webmasters to re-print your articles, they must be of high quality.

Many internet marketers have their articles rejected and not published because of several mistakes. If you want your articles to be picked up and massively distributed, here are the common mistakes to avoid:

1. Lack of proofreading articles. Articles that are full of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors are not acceptable. You must proofread your article two or three times before you submit it. Make sure that your writing style is simple and your language is effective. There is no need to use complicated vocabulary. Say what you have to say in the most simple and effective terms. If you’re not good at proofreading, find someone to do that for you. An otherwise good and informative article can be rejected by publishers simply because it’s full of errors.

2. Articles full of grammatical mistakes and spelling errors. In addition to making sure that your articles are free of grammatical errors, you may also want to be sure that you have clearly defined paragraphs. Nothing is worse than a big blob of text with 30 run-on sentences. Use a writing format that makes it easy for the reader to read. Write in short paragraphs, use bullets points or numbers. While browsing for content, readers are more likely to read an article which their eyes can quickly and easily skim from top to bottom.

3. Lack of useful content. Your articles must educate and inform readers. It is therefore important that your articles deliver useful information to the readers. Research what your reader wants to know by doing surveys with your own audience or do keyword search engine research to find what people are looking for. Avoid having fluff in your articles, and aim to deliver useful information.

4. Lack of focus. Your article must address a single issue or problem. Your article must not be too long, and the reader must be able to read it all in about 5 to 10 minutes. So you do not have enough space to waffle. You must avoid making your article too broad or superficial in content. It’s better to go in-depth on a narrow topic. Once you have identified the topic you want to write about; define it, explain it and explore it in as much as you can within a 600 word article, plus or minus. Be original in covering your topic as much as possible in a way that has not been done by others.

5. Lack of a headline that catches the readers’ attention. The headline is often the initial reason why someone might read your article or pass it over for another article. It is important that you entice readers to read more of your article by an interesting headline and introduction. Keep your headline simple and brief.

6. Duplicate content or articles. These days there are a lot of Private Label Rights article membership sites where hundreds of people get the same article. If you have these PLR articles, you must re-write them before you submit them to article directories. Article directories do not accept similar or duplicate content. If you can’t write your own articles and have to outsource them, get a ghostwriter to write them exclusively for you.

7. Too much hype, bragging and self-promotion. Don’t fill the body of the article with hype, excessive links to your site or blatant self-promotion. Your opportunity to promote yourself and your services is in the “Resource Box” or author’s biography where you can place a link to your website. A“Resource Box” is your pay-off for giving your article up for free reprints, but do not abuse that by including a dozen website addresses. Stick with one website URL or two at the most and you will find your article may find a higher distribution rate.

8. Too long and boring articles. There are other articles which readers can read besides yours. You must therefore make sure that your articles are not too long and boring. The length must be just right; a reader must be able to read it in about 5 to 10 minutes. Your writing style must be engaging in order to keep the reader interested.

9. Articles with similar information to many other articles. The internet is full of other articles on the niche you are writing about. It is therefore important that you make your article stand out from the rest. Your article must provide some unique opinion, experience or solution. You must bring a fresh perspective to the topic you are writing about.

10. Uneconomical use of words. There is no need to use some complicated style in your writing. Keep it simple, and deliver the message you want to deliver in the most economical number of words.

If you avoid these ten common mistakes in article writing, your articles will get published by many e-zines and webmasters, resulting in a lot of traffic to your website.

As most successful internet marketers, authors, webmasters and business owners will agree, freelance writers are heaven-sent!

People hire ghostwriters for many reasons. Some people are very busy. When you are running a big business and managing dozens of sites that need fresh content on a regular basis, outsourcing makes perfect sense. In some causes, people do not know a lot about the topic they want to have an e-book written on, and they do not have the time to do the necessary research for writing the e-book. Engaging ghostwriters to write your articles or e-books makes perfect sense if you are building one or more content sites.

Ghostwriters or freelance writers give a huge boost to your productivity by allowing you to outsource the tedious but important task of writing your e-books or web content. Established internet marketers with many websites do not have the time to write to write all their content because they have better things to do – such as marketing the websites or launching new products.

The task of writing is what stands between many people and their dreams of being successful, writing their first novel or launching their first product or e-book online. This is where the ghostwriter is handy.

Sometimes when you are starting your business, you may need to write your own articles. But as your business grows and as you work on expanding the business, it is better to outsource your articles so that you can concentrate on important things.

So, what are the critical tips to ensure that you get successful writing projects and finished products with your ghostwriter? Here is an outline of the key steps that you need to take.

1. Know exactly what you want so that you can communicate this to your ghostwriter effectively. If you are hiring a ghostwriter to write articles for you, then it’s pretty straight forward, all you have to do is to tell the ghostwriter the titles or keywords for your articles as well as other specifications of what you want. However, if you are hiring a freelance writer to write a book or an e-book for you, then you do not only need to know what you want – you may also need to do some initial and very basic research yourself. This may involve spending some time thinking about the e-book you want to be written for you.

2. Write an outline of what the e-book is supposed to cover. Based on your targeted niche or business, as well as the initial research you would have done in Step 1, prepare a rough outline for your book. A book outline will guide the writer and let them know the specific things you want to be covered in your book. Alternatively, if you can not provide a draft product outline, you must talk to your writer and explain to them what you want them to do and the content which you expect to be in your book.

3. Assess samples and look at referrals, and then select the writer to work on your project. This is a very important part of the process of getting your writing project done. Look for writers with references. Look at their writing samples. Establish if any of the writing style will match with your requirements. Ghostwriters can use various styles of writing such as conversational, journalistic, informational or editorial. Different writing styles are necessary for different types of products and where they are going – e.g. into a magazine or journal or an e-book. You must tell the ghostwriter the writing style which you want them to use in your writing project.

4. Specify the formatting and other specifications which you will want the ghostwriter to deliver the final product in. This will ensure that the finished e-book is delivered in the format you want.

5. Be prepared to pay for quality work, and be realistic. The simple fact is that you get what you pay for. Writers are people who make their living from writing. Ghostwriters can be experts in any topic because they research on each and every topic before they start writing, and this takes time. A good 400-500 word article may take two hours of a ghostwriter, including carrying out the necessary research. To make it worth it to research and write the articles or e-books, the writer needs to be paid sufficiently. Don’t expect to pay little money if you want a high quality e-book that will earn you $5k or more every month.

6. Stay in touch with the writer while they work on your project. It is very essential that you stay in contact with the writer while they work on the project. Be available to answer any questions they may have.

7. Review the finished product. Some writers may choose to ask you review the work they would have done when they are halfway through the project. Make sure that you review their work and let them know any feedback or changes to be made. Take time to review the finished product and let the writer know any feedback or any changes you would like done. If you have chosen a quality writer this means that you will not need to do any more work on your product. Your product will be delivered to you in a high quality state and ready for you to sell it or publish it. If however you have chosen some of those cheap writers, be prepared to put finishing touches on your product and format it to make it look and read well. This can actually take a lot of time, so it is better to pay a higher rate to a good writer for a guarantee that you will get your product in a good condition.

8. Get your writer to create some back-end offers. After the writer has done extensive research and writing for your product, they will be your better option for creating your backend product because they already know a lot about your niche. It would be easier for them to research on any sub-niches. It therefore makes perfect sense for you to think ahead and get your writer to create some backend products for you.

9. Build a long term relationship with your writer. Once you find a good writer, stick with them. Give them work on a regular basis and pay them on time. A long term business relationship with your writer means that your writer knows what you expect and your business. If you require web content, articles or e-books on a regular basis; this means that you save yourself time explaining to a new writer all the time. If you have a good writer, then you will not have the unpleasant surprises of substandard writing that you may get from a new writer. When you hire a new ghostwriter, allow them time to know you and your business. By knowing your business and by working with you over a long time frame, you will get the best work out of your writer. People who are disappointed in writers often provide no or very little initial guidance or information and do not really spend time to work with the writer. Jumping from writer to writer works against you because it means you will need to start the entire process of explaining your needs over and over again, especially if you need writing work done on a regular basis.

10. If you can’t afford to hire a writer or if you simply prefer writing your own articles, you may consider hiring an editor. An editor can be hired on a per hour basis, so they can be suited to any budget. Some internet marketers are not native English speakers. On the other hand, some native English language speakers simply have bad grammar. Grammar and spelling mistakes can tarnish an otherwise great article. All people make grammatical and spelling errors occasionally. All offline publishers and writing services have publishers. So if you are doing all your writing on your own, it may be a good idea for you to consider hiring an editor to proofread your articles or e-books.

If you need to launch that first or next e-book, or if you are creating a portfolio of e-books and need content on a regular basis, hiring a ghostwriter makes perfect sense.

Wow this is a truly hard questions; to start with what gives me the inspiration. I have to say it’s the characters themselves that inspire me. It depends on who they are what’s happening in their life, one heroine may have had tender feelings for the hero for a long time and impending doom could set it in motion or maybe she will never see him again. It all depends on what’s happening to the hero and heroine. Since it is the characters that determine why and how the scene takes place it is also up to them on what will become of it.

I have found inspiration in music, depending on what I am writing at the time, if it’s Celtic and this the music I listened when writing Fay’s Wish, well I have a collection of Celtic music. With La Roe’s it was Creed. It truly depends on the story itself. As far as what I am trying to capture, it has and always will be the beauty of the act of making love and the emotions surrounding it. The caresses, the sweet words, the tender care before and after, it is Love itself I try to portray.

I can say my husband and the love I feel for him, has inspired me a lot. I would not be where I am today without him.

I have said many times before that when I connect with my character I feel as though I am telling their story and as such it is what they need that inspires me the most.

As some of you may know I write in 1 P.O.V. mainly and my focus is always in the heroines point of view, what makes her tick, essentially what truly inspires her. I have noticed when it comes to writing romances that many of todays heroines have as much gusto as the modern day woman making her mark in the world.
About the Author

Dee Owens writes articles for articles 3000. A free ezine articles site.

If you have not joined the literary ranks by writing your story yet, now is the perfect time. Why not make it one of your resolutions to write a few words every day? Don’t jump in at the deep end and risk getting yourself bogged down, take it steady, little and often is the key to staying focused and maintaining enthusiasm when first starting out.

Short stories are a great way to launch your writing career, pick a favourite subject ie a pet, your holidays, a special day at work or a strange/amusing incident etc. etc. - there’s a never ending list! Write a brief plot, personalise your characters, maybe add a theme (honesty prevails sort of stuff), write down a running order and your half way there. The beauty of short stories is that they are short and can soon be discarded if things take a turn for the worse. They allow the writer to practise with words, use suspense, humour, sadness and all the other emotions necessary to story writing.

Another ideal first venture is to write a review or an article, the very backbone of the Internet is comprised of articles and reviews. If someone breaks wind, within a week it has been reviewed and some expert has written a series of articles on it! Have a look around the net for reviews and articles you’ll see exactly what I mean. If you have your own website or blog the writing of reviews and articles with a link back to your site can have a very beneficial effect on your traffic, something worth bearing in mind believe me! That aside it is also a fantastic way to develop your writing skills and gain confidence in your creative ability.

Writing an article is dead easy, pick a subject you know something about and proceed to tell everyone what you know! Don’t be boring, try and make your writing jump off the screen, be controversial your the expert here! Perhaps the most important element is the title, this is what entices people to view your article, let’s assume it’s about cooking a steak for example:

How to cook the best steak!

7 easy steps to cooking the juiciest steak ever!

Which would you choose? No contest!

As you can in this small example the Title is your sales pitch

Creating stories for your children can be a fantastic and fulfilling experience, beware though for there can be few harsher critics than an alert six year old child! Letting your ideas run riot in a fantasy world of dragons, talking animals or dancing bananas can the perfect way to free your writing shackles and let the juices flow. The only constraint is your own imagination, the more unbelievable the plot, the dafter and cheekier your characters the more the kids will be captivated by your story.

Children demand a happy ending, there should be pitfalls and tragedies along the way of course but the overriding theme of goodness overcoming evil should prevail most of the time. Imagine the scenario:

“Sammy the Salamander, his mother now gone, cried and cried. The angry crocodile still hungry, always hungry, was looking for lunch again”. The end!

“Goodnight sweetheart so you in the morning”

“Night mum”

10 minutes pass.

“Mum mum I can’t sleep”

Definitely not good!
About the Author

After years of dreaming and worshipping the written word Gina has finally taken the plunge and dived headlong into her own writing career. More tips, advice and lists of Irresistable phrases can be found at http://the-importance-of-words.blogspot.com

There’s a huge difference between good articles and good keyword articles. They really aren’t the same thing. If you can understand the differences, then you’ll understand why many internet marketers and webmasters expect writers to work so cheaply.

Does Keyword Density Trump Quality? I had a client who didn’t really care what I wrote. Keyword density was the top-priority. This was before I understood how keyword articles worked, and I spent hours polishing the articles to perfection. The client said the articles were professional and well-written, but didn’t contain enough keywords. The client put more keywords where he thought they belonged. I was horrified, and thought the articles were terrible. But the client was pleased. Turns out we had two completely different ideas about what made a good article. To most writers, articles should be of high-quality. Think of articles like those in consumer magazines or on websites like Salon. Good-quality articles require researching, writing, editing, rewriting, and proofreading. It can take days, or even weeks, to complete articles of this quality. So when writers are asked to provide 500-word articles for $4, most think the request is insane. On the other hand, internet marketers and webmasters usually don’t judge articles by the same high standards. Keyword articles are designed for search engines. Some keyword articles are truly terrible, and not fit to be read by anyone. But they’re also not created to win writing awards or critical acclaim. Keyword Articles Are Often Quickies Some writers who specialize in keyword articles say they need 30 minutes or less to complete a piece. I’ve never been that fast, but plenty of writers are. If an article takes little time to complete, then it’s really no big deal to sell it for pennies. It’s also a question of what can be done with the articles. A keyword article that sells for $8, and is resold 20 times at the same rate, makes a $168 profit. Not too bad for 30 minutes worth of work. The resale value of the article makes the $8 worth the time and effort. However, when a client requests exclusive rights to original content, they should pay a much higher fee. The article can’t be resold, so a fair price is necessary. I hope this article has shed some light on the current “cheap writing” trend. As a professional writer, it disturbs me to see writing skills devalued. But, I also realize that not all writing is created equal. Some articles are worth .25 cents per word, while others are worth .01 cents per word. It all depends on the writer’s skill, and the type of writing desired. Do you need articles for your website, newsletter, or ezine? Michelle Strait has more than 3-years of experience as a business writer. Contact her at http://www.michellestrait.com for expert writing assistance. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michelle_Strait

Several things help make a good article on the internet.

1. Articles should be informative. Offering a review of a film / book / product is a good idea. Articles that explain how to do something are also valued. If you give meditation classes, why not write about different types of meditation exercises. If you organise races you could write an article on “Things to remember for organising a running race.”

2. Personal experiences like what felt like at breakfast are not that interesting. - Unless you are either a highly gifted writer or you eat most extraordinary things for breakfast..

3. Always bear in mind people’s attention span is often short. Therefore it is important to: a) Write with clarity and simplicity b) Breaking up an article into different section is helpful c) I often like to write an article by numbers. Top 7 tips for.. are always popular.

4. Concentrate on writing articles on subjects where you have some specialized knowledge. A reader can tell whether you are re-hashing ideas from others or whether you have something new to offer.

5. Choosing a title is important. It is better to have longer titles which explain the contents of the article. It is also better to choose articles, which are specific to a certain niche. An article on “Lord of the Rings” will have too much competition on the Internet. However if you are real Tolkien enthusiast. Why not try an article like “Celtic influences on the writings of Tolkien”.

6. Don’t feel you have to attain perfection in your writing. If you have the idea the article must be perfect, it becomes difficult to write and it will take longer than it should. In some respects quantity has its own perfection. I have found that as you write more writing becomes more fluent. See your first 10 articles as “warm up” articles. When you get into the rhythm of writing you will find that you can write 500 words in 20-30 minutes.

7. Writing shouldn’t be seen as an onerous task. If you get stuck writing a useful exercise is to imagine you are speaking to a group of people explaining something.

8. If the first paragraph seems difficult, start in the middle and go back to the start later.

9. Good grammar and spelling are important. It is important to maintain a certain standard of English. Otherwise it creates (subconsciously) a bad impression on the reader.

10. Humour is good. If you can find a way to add humour it will be appreciated. Obviously not all subjects are as suitable for comedy. And humor is optional it doesn’t mean you have to put a bad joke in just for the sake of it. Like the old classic when William Shakespeare walked into a bar. The barman said “get out, Your Bard!” - get it? “Your Bard!” Genius.

I am assuming at this point that you know what your niche or topic is and that this article is designed to help you decide what you should write in regards to your niche or web site topic.

Start with your niche or topic, for example, gardening.

Then make a list of things that people might want to know about gardening.

For example:

How do you garden?

What climates are good for gardening?

Do you garden differently in different climates?

What types of things can you grow in the cold climates?

What types of things can you grow in the hot climates?

Notice at this point how I am building a number of questions around one subtopic of gardening: the climate. You can probably think of 20 or 30 more questions related to just the climate.

Now for a change of subtopic, for example: tools for gardening

What types of tools do I need for gardening?

What are the easiest tools for gardening?

Are there different tools for different plants?

Where do I buy quality tools for my gardening?

What are the top three tools for gardening?

And again, you can add many more tool questions, especially if you are in the gardening niche and understand gardening (I am not, and don’t).

Now you should be able to easily think up 20 subtopics for your niche, similar to the two I suggest here for gardening. For example, in the gardening niche:

Temperature
Color
Brand
Soil
Weather
Time of year
Part of the world
Seeds
Plants
Vegetables
Fruits

Obviously this is a partial list of all the subtopics for the gardening niche. Come up with at least 20 for your niche, then write at least 10 questions to answer for each subtopic.

Next, write an article about each question…just given this scenario, you will have 200 article subjects ready to write!

Care to learn the absolute fastest way to write articles?

The first thing you will need is a new copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking.

I picked up my copy at Staples for $59 a few months ago and I believe it was the best software investment that I have ever made.

If you have used voice recognition software in the past, I’m sure you’ve had a few bad experiences with it. But I’m here to tell you today that the latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking is an amazing piece of software and after just a short training period, you can dictate articles at an amazing speed.

After you have used and mastered Dragon Naturally Speaking, I then want you to dust off some of those PLR articles you have collecting digital dust on your hard drive.

Pick three of the most popular articles centered around the particular niche you are currently targeting for this article, read them once, and then open your Dragon Naturally Speaking software.

Paraphrasing what you just learned in those three articles, you should now be able to write yourself a kick butt 300-500 word article on that particular niche in a matter of minutes just by dictating it off the top of your head.

Another thing that makes this a little easier is to take a list of Long tail keywords on the very same niche and make sure and intertwine these into your article making this particular article very SEO friendly.

As you have heard time and time again from this forum, article marketing is one of the most powerful ways to generate traffic to any website.

This article will help even the playing field for those of us who cannot or do not like to write articles.

Ghostwriting is when someone writes a book or even an article on behalf of another person or organization. A ghostwriter is someone who can provide you with high quality and professional content in any format you require on any topic. A ghostwriter can write articles, e-books, books or web content for you.

A ghostwriter can also carry out niche or market research, compile any market information you need, or do any writing or editing work for you. All you have to do is to give the ghostwriter the instructions of the assignment, and upon completion, you have a product that is exclusively yours and ready for you to sell.

What are the benefits of hiring a ghostwriter?

Not everyone is skilled in putting their ideas on paper. Many people find writing an article or e-book or sales copy challenging. On the other hand, some people who are good writers themselves do not have the time to do their own writing. A ghostwriter does all the work for you, and you get the benefits and earn the profits from the book. A ghostwriter can also save a business owner a lot of time, and allow them to dedicate that to more important aspects of their business, such as marketing. Webmasters who own several websites would need ghostwriters to supply their content requirements.

How do you go about working with a ghostwriter?

You give the ghostwriter your ideas, notes and instructions of what you would like them to do. Some people have some initial materials or researches that the ghostwriter can use as a starting point. The more guidelines you can provide to the ghostwriter, the better. The ghostwriter will then take your instructions and guidelines, do the necessary researching and writing and produce a finished book or e-book that will then generate profits for you. There are many sites online where you can hire a ghostwriter.

Who owns the finished product?

The ghostwriter simply writes for you, and you own the idea and the final product. Ghostwriters work behind the scenes, so as soon as you pay them for their services, the product is completely yours. A ghostwriter writes for you and you keep 100% of the copyright.

How much does it cost to hire a ghostwriter?

It is not easy to give general estimates of the costs of ghostwriters because each job is unique. Ghostwriters targeting one market also have different rates to those targeting a different market. The fees for the ghostwriter also depend on the length of time the project is likely to take and the amount of research required.

How long does it take for the ghostwriter to deliver a finished product?

The length of time it takes the ghostwriter to complete your work depends on the size of the assignment. Articles and short reports can be done quickly, while lengthy e-books can take longer. The estimated time of delivering the final product is something that you will discuss with your ghostwriter.

How do you pick an experienced ghostwriter? In order to guarantee that you get high quality work, you must choose a ghostwriter who is well experienced. You must look at the samples of the ghostwriter’s writing as these will give you a good idea of their quality and style of writing.

Hiring a ghostwriter can save you a lot of time and also ensures that you get a high quality product that will generate you a lot of profits.

Articles bring many benefits to your business. They drive targeted traffic to your website and boost your sales. Articles can also help you get hundreds of incoming links to your website, increasing your search engine position. Well written articles also help you to become a reputable expert in your niche, and increase your credibility.

In order for you to achieve all these benefits, your articles must be of high quality such that they are picked up by many publishers and e-zines.

Outlined below are the essential tips you will need to follow to ensure that your articles that will bring you instant results.

- A relevant and attention grabbing topic or title for your article. Your article’s title must be related to what you are marketing on your website. The article will make readers want to know more and then visit your website. The title of your article must also be interesting and grab some attention, and make the reader want to go further and read your article. You must try and keep your title short. The article’s title must be a “label” or summary of the content. Your article’s title must be representative of what a typical potential reader of your content would write to search for content like the one you have in your article. This will ensure that your content is easily found by potential readers searching for it via search engines, hence increasing your visibility and exposure on the topics you write about and also attract more targeted readers who are interested in what you have written about.

- An appropriate writing style. The writing style in your article must match the intended destination of your article. You can use different styles of writing such as conversational, journalistic, informational or editorial depending on where your article will be published – e.g. into a magazine or journal or an e-book. In most cases, a conversational, informative and simple style of writing is better than a verbose style. Publishers and e-zines want articles that are informative, interesting and engaging. You must also write with passion, and put feeling into your articles. Where possible, you must inject your “personality” into your articles.

- Address a focused and specific subject in your article. You must address one issue or problem in your article without losing focus. You must not try to cover the entire list of related aspects of the single subject you are writing about. If you are writing about how to plan for a perfect wedding, do not cover the entire topics of how to prepare the cake, how to arrange for the honeymoon etc. If you do this you end up with a 1,000 word articles that attempts to cover too many aspects of a topic yet without adequately addressing each of them.

- Distinguish your article and yourself from others. The internet is full of information and articles. If you are writing an article about how to be successful in dating, there are probably dozens of experts who have written on the exact same topic. It is therefore important that you make your article stand out from the rest. Your article must provide some unique opinion, experience or solution.

- Avoid writing single articles that are too long. Your article must be short enough for a reader to read it in about 5 to 10 minutes. If your article is too long, you may consider splitting it into 2 or 3 parts.

- Use a Writing format that makes it easy for the reader to read. Write in short paragraphs, use bullets points or numbers. While browsing for content, readers are more likely to read something their eyes can quickly and easily skim from top to bottom.

- Have a resource box where you provide your biography and URL. Writing articles is a way of advertising your website, so you must make sure that you have a link to your website at the end of your article. Your article’s objective is to educate the reader and also capture their attention and ultimately entice them to visit your website.

- Have a list of publishers or web masters who are eager to publish your article in their e-zines or on their websites. You can also use various tools that automatically submit your articles to many article directories. You can easily submit your article to these sites and your site will clearly get lots and lots of traffic due to this article. The sites are http://www.ezinearticles.com/ http://www.isnare.com/ or http://www.goarticles.com/ among many others. There are many sites other than these which accept free article submission. All you need to do is to write your good quality articles and submit them to these websites.

It is important that you get into a routine of writing and submitting articles on a regular basis. Set a goal to publish a certain number of articles per week to a certain number of article directories. Follow the tips outlined above and write articles that will drive huge traffic to your website and increase your sales.

You’re ready to write articles, but you don’t have a clue where to begin. Don’t let this stop you! I have some easy tips that will help you develop a solid cache of article ideas that will keep you writing.

Article Idea #1: Keep a Dream Journal

I’m not talking about writing down your “night” dreams in a journal. This dream journal is a book of your ideas. We writers have busy brains. We often get tons of ideas every single day. Some ideas we follow, while countless others are forgotten about. Purchase a small, pocket-sized notebook and write, “My Dream Journal” on the cover. Every time you have an idea, write it in your Dream Journal. You’ll build a vast number of ideas using this technique alone.

Article Idea #2: Read lots of magazines and newspapers

I’ve gotten several ideas for fictional stories using this method. The Internet has made it even easier for us to access many news stories and articles online. If you can’t afford subscriptions, get online and do a quick search for a handful of your favorite newspapers and/or magazines. Headlines and unique stories often spark another article or story idea. (Don’t forget to build your “stash” in your Dream Journal!)

Article Idea #3: Read similar articles on the same subject

Do you know what you want to write about? A quick search on Google will give you similar articles on the same subject. You can find articles on a variety of subjects in free articles directories online as well. A few personal favorites are: Ezine Articles, Lady Pens, and Go Articles.

Article Idea #4: Do keyword research

Yahoo has a cool keyword selector tool that I use a lot when writing articles. Type in a word or simple phrase and click on the arrow. After a few seconds, you’ll get a list of similar words and phrases that people have searched for. This is a fast and easy way to get a few ideas for articles when you’re feeling stuck.

Can writing articles actually hurt your online business?

In the bright, shiny new world of Web 2.0 the key component is content. The type of content can range from blog, audio, video, games, articles, and the like. Actually anything that people can interact with, have fun with, spend time with, and eventually come away feeling satisfied.

That’s the key to your online business.

Are people satisfied? Do they like spending time on your site? Are they learning anything there that they can’t elsewhere? Are you communicating with your site visitors? Is there a way to build healthy relationships with your visitors, either among themselves or with you?

Article writing is about so much more than just free online traffic. However, that is a goal. So, in order to do that we must learn some ways to attract free visitors to our websites that will fit in within the whole Web 2.0 culture.

Be Conversational

People like to talk.

They also like to listen if they have something good to listen to. Don’t think so? How many podcasts do you listen to in a week? A day? I download podcasts all the time and listen to them while I’m working, riding bike, exercising, or just have some time in between appointments.

And it’s just people talking.

But, it’s engaging and conversational. Meaning they have a point to make and they talk in such a way to make you feel like they’re talking to you.

Your writing needs to take on the same type of ‘flavor’. Write your articles just like you’re talking to your best friend. Ultimately, that’s what you want your reader to be… so to speak. Your visitors are your best friend online. They’re the ones who will tell others about your content and send them to your site. They’re the ones who will buy your products and act on your recommendations.

Write with them in mind and ‘talk’ to them in your article.

Don’t Say The Same Thing

One of the things that I see a lot of article writers doing, in order to get as much content as they can, is putting older articles in their own words and passing them off as original. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to work in the long run. Sooner or later you have to come up with your own content.

What happens is that people will realize that they have already read this information some where else and come to the conclusion that you have nothing new to say.

What people are looking for is new, fresh, creative, and relevant content that will help them today. Right now. Not something they read about last year and didn’t work for them then.

Be your own voice. One of the things I love about online writing and creating content is that you are the expert. You make yourself the expert on whatever topic you love the most. Then you put your opinions and thoughts in an article. This way you’re not a follower, you’re the one leading.

Don’t Suck

At the beginning of this article I asked a question. Can writing articles actually hurt your online business? The first two techniques already mentioned are to help you think about what your article should contain. The information and the way it is presented is a major factor in whether or not your article is going to send traffic your way, or do the opposite effect; send people screaming in the other direction. Meaning away from your articles, all of them, altogether.

So, in essence, this last technique is a combination of the first two. Just Don’t Suck.

Yes, you should jump in and write articles for your website, but make sure you can do a good job at it. Does that mean that article writing is only for a special breed of people? Of course not. But, successful article writers don’t suck either. They put into practice the first two things; they are conversational in their writing and they write original stuff.

Receiving free online traffic relies upon how well you can attract each visitor away from someone else.

Article writing can hurt your online business. But, it can also be the single most powerful tool you use for consistent traffic and sales.

As I approach my 200th online article, I’m amazed at the number of article writers on the net. Many of them have written hundreds, if not thousands, of articles. I try to vary my subject matter and have covered about sixty different topics. Although my background is in advertising and marketing, I am well-read and interested in science, history, politics, and travel. Yet I’ve written about social issues, hobbies, and many humorous pieces. I’m also a published author with three books to my credit, two of which are still available on Amazon. So I thought it was about time to offer a public service to those who would like to write articles to promote their websites or just like to write but don’t know where to start.

Therefore, without taking up precious online space and self-congratulation, let me introduce my solution to article writing. I call it the “ART” or an “article readers/writers template.” You see, it works equally well for both the writer and reader. All you have to do is fill in the blanks. I’ve even given you a few examples in the parenthesis. Let’s begin with the title. The “how-to” ones always work well, as you know.

TITLE: “The _______ (3, 5, 10) ______ (top, best, secrets) on How to _______ (lose, gain, make) ______ (weight, money, friends).

SUB-TITLE: “ ________(amazing, terrific, fabulous) ways that you can be _________ (better, more accomplished, successful) at _________ (anything, everything, something) you have always wanted to do.”

MAIN BODY: Haven’t you always thought about __________(gaining, losing, making) a __________ (rewarding, exciting, wonderful ) life for yourself? Wouldn’t you like to __________ (look, feel, enjoy) more out of life? Well I think I can show you the way. I have studied many people like yourself and ___________(understand, relate to, empathize) what you must be going through. So I’ve ___________ (devised, concocted, created) these ______(3, 5, 10) __________ (methods, solutions, answers) that will aid you in your _______ (journey, quest for knowledge, search). The first way to becoming _________ (thinner, wealthier, successful) is to know ________ (how, what, where) to look. It starts with a __________ (basic, simple, bare-bones) understanding of the problem you are _________ (facing, dealing with, confronting.)

The second step is to _________(embrace, accept, welcome) the issue by _________( looking in the mirror, looking at the checkbook, getting on the scale) and admitting that there is a problem. Once you do that, you can ___________ ( move forward, take a step backward, sidestep) the real root of your __________ (deficiency, failure, lack of control). The third _________ (way, secret, answer) is to __________ (quickly, slowly, methodically) dissect the heart of the problem and begin to ___________(recognize, unravel, appreciate) the actual basis for what is ___________ (hindering, blocking, separating) you from moving in a positive direction. It could be ___________ (timing, social forces, money) and that is something you must _________ (deal with, face, accept).

ART followers: By now, you have gotten the point. It’s a formula that can work with any issue. People love to be told how to cure what ails them. All you have to do is be vague enough that it doesn’t really affect them adversely and that they eventually feel like they have gained some useful information that will put them on the right track.

Now I know that this is akin to magicians giving away their trade secrets and that I may get flack from my fellow article writers, but as Penn and Teller say when they reveal their magician’s secrets, “get over it, there’s enough room for everyone.” Therefore good luck in your first attempt at article writing and remember that practice makes perfect. Did I mention that I’ve been writing for over twenty years and have two degrees? Heck, that’s probably not important anyway. So have a go at it. I’ll check back in two decades to monitor your progress.

We all know that article writing is a great way to get more exposure for your web site, products and of course yourself. Article writing is one of the hottest ways of marketing your web site and products but like all things in internet marketing you have to do it right and often to get results. Article writing is one of the easiest ways to gain targeted, quality traffic to your web site, and yet sometimes it probably feels so difficult to write an article that is simple, yet generates clicks.

When writing your article always remember to include your website url at the bottom of it so that when it is published by the article site you are getting the back link which will help to increase your page rank. One way to make a direct income from your article writing is to advertise your services as a freelance writer in your resource box in your article.

Aside from making an income directly from article writing, there is also the possibility of making an indirect income as well such as affiliate marketing or promoting your own website A big step in the writing process is to proofread your article making sure that the writing flows and would be fascinating to the reader. Once armed with the newly acquired knowledge, you will no doubt move to the next step of writing your own article.

To make money online with article writing, you have to find out what kind of information people are looking for. The most common method people use to make money online with article writing is to use it as an advertising method. Another way to make money online with article writing is by creating an e-book once you have enough articles written.

Remember article writing is simple, they don’t have to be too long, just as long as they are well written and informative.

Any article that you write should be well written, information and rich in your keywords, notice how many times articles and writing have been included in this article. If you feel unsure of how you should set out your article and the number of words that you want to include in it then I would suggest that you have a look at other article sites that are available such as Freezine Articles, Isnare and Ezine Articles as well as Give-me-articles. When deciding how long your article should be remember that you do not have to fill the whole page with information, articles on other sites are usually between 250 and 500 words long.

Now that you have a reason and an objective, arrange your article so that reading it quickly will immediately show your reader how they will gain from it and what are the most essential purposes. In order to gain traffic directly from article directories it is important that the article is interesting but also grammatically correct and spell checked, so that readers will respect the article and will be more likely to read it to the end and follow the resource box link. Always remember that when writing articles for article marketing purposes the key to making it work is to do it in bulk quantities.

Any good author or writer will attract popular media if you focus on your writing quality and post your articles online at a reputable online article submission site and you have taken the best steps to insuring that you can create your own publicity. This method will allow you to maximize your article writing time and will allow you to produce several articles in about an hour. Just remember this simple formula - the article writing template provides the structure, you provide the content and the heart.

Writing articles for the internet is an easy and even fun way to make money online. There are few structural guidelines, and it’s mostly common-sense writing; just add spell-check. To make the most money writing articles, here are a few quick tips to help you out:

Your Title is Everything Your title should be unique. Your title should contain keywords relevant to your article. Your article should tell people exactly what you’re going to tell them in your article. If you entered your entire title into a search engine, you shouldn’t find another like yours. Key phrases are as good, if not better in some cases, than keywords. So get creative. And get to the point. Your title may be the only thing they read while skimming the search engines or article directory your article comes up in, so make it good.

Finding Your Voice Your style is important. How you come off to your reader is everything. If you don’t seem friendly or engaging, if you’re instead boring or arrogant, you’ve already lost your audience. Write like you’re talking to a friend over coffee.

Be the Expert The more articles you are able to write in any given field, the more money you’ll ultimately make. Become an expert. Be the person other people go to when they want advice on whatever it is you write about. Find your niche, your tiny area of standing out, the one thing you can write about over and over without getting tired and dried up.

Write, Re-write, and Know Your Rights Unless you’re a professional ghost-writer who makes big bucks per sale, you probably want to keep the rights to re-sell at least half of your written work. If you own the rights to your work, giving your clients only usage rights, you’ll make less per sale, but you’ll make it up in volume. If you can sell one article for partial rights to twelve people for $25, you’ll still be better off than if you’d sold the piece once for $50. When you find yourself short of work, re-write an article you’ve already written and still own the rights to, and you might just find yourself inspired all over again.

Have Some Fun Take a “free writing day” once in a while. (It’s kind of like a “mental health day” in the world of the 9-5′er.) Write for a cause that is dear to your heart, write in an online journal, or write a poem for your favorite online magazine that doesn’t have the funds to pay you for it. Take the low-paying job that means you can write what you want to write, rather than the high-paying gig that will drain you, if only once in a while. You’ll be more productive at your money-making efforts if you have some fun.

I’ll tell you, I’ve heard every excuse, misconception, and myth about why people can’t profit from article marketing. To tell you the honest-to-God truth, they’re all myths! Lies even!

The bottom line is article marketing has never been more effective. A lot of the people who are promoting these myths just don’t want to put in the small amount of work (yes there is a bit of work involved) necessary to excel in and get all of the benefits of article marketing. And believe me, the benefits are many. They include – but are not limited to:

● increased traffic

● more subscribers, and

● higher sales of your products and services.

That being said, let’s lay everything out on the table and debunk the myths that others are saying. They are preventing you from getting all of these benefits.

Myth #1: It doesn’t work anymore.

The Truth: Article marketing does work. But you have to work a bit, too. Learn about your audience and give them quality articles. That’s really all there is to it. The people who say it doesn’t work are the ones who’ve spewed out endless amounts of poorly written articles, with little or no value in them, for their audience. If you do the exact opposite, your articles will be popular, they will be published and people will visit your web site for more information.

Myth #2: No one’s publishing articles anymore.

The Truth: Some ezine publishers have shied away from publishing other people’s work – “some” being the operable word here. Fact is, there are still ezine publishers who both want and need good content. You do have to work to develop good relationships, though. I suggest that in addition to distributing your articles to article directories that you also send them to a core group of the most influential ezine publishers in your industry.

Don’t send them an article at first. Just soften the ground by introducing yourself and inviting them to see the articles on your web site. Or suggest they Google the title of one of your previously published articles. That way, they’ll see the quality in your articles without feeling like you’re just another one of the page rank fanatics, who only want to shovel out keyword-rich articles, instead of content-rich articles. Yes, there is a huge difference, see Myth #5 for more information on that one.

Myth #3: The page ranking fanatics have ruined everything.

The Truth: Granted page rank fanatics – the people who pay $10 per article for a ghostwriter to churn out keyword-rich articles – have made it a bit more challenging for us content-rich article creators. Not to worry, there is a solution to all of this: Write creative articles. The bottom line is these types of marketers have actually raised the bar of those of us who are focused on quality. We just have to be even better at giving our audience the content they’re hungry for – without giving away our most valuable information. After all, we have to save something for our fee-based information products.

Myth #4: It’s too hard to write a good article myself.

The Truth: No, it’s not too hard. In fact, it’s rather easy when you have a system. I know, you’re thinking that since I’m a professional writer, of course it’s easy for me. Actually, I still have to follow article templates sometimes when I write. The way I became such a pro was simply by following a system. Another thing, although I am paid considerable sums to write articles – they’re travel articles. That’s a far cry from the content-rich article industry. Bottom line: Professional writer or not, anyone with a decent command of the English language can write clever content-rich articles. The key is to stay firmly focused on the needs of your target audience. Bottom line: If you can give a colleague advice on a problem he’s having in your profession, then you can write a content-rich article.

Myth #5: It’s impossible to write a quality article that’s also rich in keywords.

The Truth: It’s important to have a certain amount of keywords in your articles. After all, that’s also a very important of getting your article published on the Internet. I usually just write my articles without a care in the world about keywords. I focus on my target audience and nothing else when I’m writing. My articles do very well, in terms of page views on article directories such as http://www.ezinearticles.com. I also get several incoming links to my site from the articles being published throughout the Internet.

Final thought: There’s no need to shy away from using article marketing to get more traffic to your Web site. In fact, it’s one of the least expensive, but most effective ways to create a flurry of activity and traffic for your site.

Check out my no-cost special report on the #1 way to write content-rich articles by visiting http://www.articlesecretsrevealed.com.

Looking to earn money with website traffic strategies that actually deliver? Of course you are. And like many others before you have at your disposal, an awful lot of people and companies clamoring to send you that traffic.

But the question you need to ask yourself is WHAT HAPPENS TO THAT TRAFFIC when you stop using that company or service??? Does that spike in numbers go away just because you put the clamps on the credit card, or does it create long term growth.

Big question. Answer it honestly.

The temptation to have hundreds of thousands of visitors heading straight for your web door is hard to look away from. We all do the same thing when faced with such numbers…”let’s see, even if just a tenth of a tenth of one percent of these people convert…”

Right?

We all do it. And while you and your site may find wealth that way, I’m sticking to what works LONG TERM. And that is article writing and article marketing.

By writing short informative articles, and by submitting them to the best of the best article directories, I not only get the high quality backlinks that my site will need for the search engine to be happy with me, but I also have the opportunity of seeing that article appear as a NATURAL result of searches done by the biggest search engines.

And to me, running thatn risk is a great game.

The best earn money with website traffic strategy LONG TERM is to write articles that stay on the most competitive Google results pages until another article can take its place.

I know of no other way to naturally do so many things. And I am incredibly happy that I found article marketing at all!

When you are ready to write some articles, you will need to come up with some article topics. When you first get started, that might be quite easy to do, as you probably already have some ideas about which you can write.

But once you have written a few articles, you might find that you are running out of article topics, and that is what this section is designed to address.

The first thing that you need to do is to create a list of at least 20 different things that pertain to something on your web site.

For example, if your web site is about pets, you could create a list like this:

dogs
cats
hamsters
goldfish
fish
mice
rats
snakes
lizards
etc.

So once you have 20 different things that pertain to your web site topic, start with the first thing on the list, and ask yourself 20 questions about that particular thing. For example, sticking to the pet theme, and starting with the category of dogs, my list of questions might look like this:

How do you buy a dog?
How do you choose a good dog for a pet?
How long do dogs live?
What type of dog makes the best pet?
How do you feed a dog?
How old will the dog be when it is potty trained?
How often should you walk the dog?

That should give you an idea of how to do it.

Just continue through this process until you have 20 topics with 20 questions each. Now you will have a total of 400 questions you can answer in your articles.

This should easily yield you 400 articles – just answer one question in each article.

The most invaluable tool of the professional writer or author is undoubtedly a notebook. Inspiration can strike at any moment, and usually does so at the most unexpected times. It is wise to always carry a notebook and pen along, especially keep one by your bedside, to capture those elusive morning inspirations and ideas, before they evaporate with the coming of the day.
Clear writing is essential if you want your message to get across to your audience. But what makes your writing clear would vary and would ultimately depend on your target audience. Before you begin writing, know who you are writing for. If you use a vocabulary your audience is familiar with and if you create a context that is relevant to their daily lives, the message in your writing is bound to have more impact. This is not done by applying a word processing program or a reading scale score, but by being aware of your audience and what their needs are.

Before you start writing, you need to know what you want your writing to accomplish. Are you conveying information to the general public or reporting on a recent project? Do you want your readers to do something when they finish reading? If you aren’t sure what your purpose in writing a particular piece is, your writing will never be clear. In fact, both purpose and audience are intertwined with each other. If you know why you are writing for, but don’t pay detailed attention to the needs of your audience, you loose. On the other hand, if you have analyzed your audience but don’t really know why you are writing to them for, you will still loose.

Good writing takes both time and effort. But it combines the effort with expertise in the language you use in the industry and in the language used by your audience. Superior writing takes effort and expertise in language. In addition, it also requires strict attention to all the activities involved in reading. These qualities ensure a piece of communication that is clear in its contents and purpose. Apart from these, writing content for the websites requires certain other skills. Your writing must be quick, concise, simple and active. The most important parts need to be highlighted. The reading level needs to be lowered which certainly doesn’t mean to dummy it down. It means to write it clearly so that it is easy to comprehend. Even complex issues must be dealt with in simple language.

I recently proofread a soon-to-be-published memoir that is translated from the French, and unfortunately, the translator’s word choice is so poor that it inspired this “what not to do” article. Word choice can be a positive or negative quality in writing for many reasons. In this case, the writer’s sin is the repetitious use of words and phrases. Over. And over. And over. Most writers who do this don’t realize they’re doing it, and it’s one of the best reasons to read your work out loud–and one of the easiest writing pitfalls to fix through careful editing.

For example, today I came across the following sentence:

“In reality, this was very unrealistic.”

I know what you’re thinking: “reality” and “unrealistic” aren’t the same word. But repetitive word choice isn’t always about the exact same word or phrase being overused; different forms of a word count, too. First, when in the same sentence or paragraph, they can be a red flag of redundancy. Would the meaning of the above sentence be any different if we cut “in reality”? Nope. You can’t claim an idea is unrealistic if you haven’t thought about it in terms of reality.

Also, potential for further depth and nuance can be lost if you reuse favorite words and phrases at the expense of variation. If we replace “in reality” with a more specific word or phrase, the sentence becomes much more effective and meaningful. For example:

“Given what had just happened in the Middle East, this was very unrealistic.”

Or:

“Outside of my daydreams, this was very unrealistic.”

Sometimes varying word choice is even more basic: If you reread a paragraph in your fiction and find that you’ve used the word “couple” three times, drag out your thesaurus. Try “duo” or “pair” or “lovers.” Keep in mind that while words may be listed as synonyms, each has its own connotations, and the strongest writers take care to choose the word that best conveys their intended meaning and fits the tone or mood of their writing. That goes for every word in every sentence, of course.

In short, word choice is an easy realm in which to get lazy or sloppy, but it’s one of the most important aspects of good writing, if not the most important. Choose wisely and with variety, my writer friends.