Writing articles to turbo-charge your traffic flow.

Writing articles is the fastest and easiest way to get a stampede of people to your website who recognize your name by your signature and adhere to what you recommend.

Most people reason that finding information in articles, forums, and discussion groups is a primary method of getting good information, and odds are that they were somewhat of an expert on that subject, and if they were experts then products and services they sold or recommended were likely to be good.

You should always include a signature with your article, a few lines about your business, your website URL and/or email address. You will be amazed at the targeted traffic it will generate for you.

If you are having trouble getting started I understand, and can tell you that writing is hard work. But once you write the first article it seems to get much easier. In fact, you may discover that you have a hard time stopping!

6 Ways to get started writing articles:

1. Get a notepad and pen, or use a word processor or computer, and just brainstorm ideas for articles. The best source for an article is usually from experience, or knowledge you have acquired in the past. If you are at a total loss, go and read some articles in other's e-zines or websites. Once you get started you will come up with many ideas. Write each one down. If you think of a good title that includes a keyword about the article, write that down too, and include the keyword in the first sentence, or paragraph.

2. There are several ways writers work, depending on their personalities. You may like to order and organize your points first by making an outline of the information you plan to include or the points you intend to make. Then all you have to do is go back and "flesh out" the points, adding useful facts or links to more information.
Or, you may be a natural teacher, and write just as though you are explaining the subject to the reader in person. Either method is fine, just do what is comfortable for you. One method may work best for one kind of article and the other for another kind.

3. Add "personality" to your writing. Share some of yourself with your readers, make your writing uniquely your own. It's fine to read e-zines and others' articles to see what people may be interested in and spark your own ideas, but don't pattern yourself after someone else. People want to feel that they know You - Your knowledge and personality. This is what builds loyalty.
If it fits with your subject, don't be afraid to mention your product or service and give the URL or email address, but DON'T write a "glorified ad" and call it an article! That can offend a publisher so that they won't even consider articles from you in the future.

4. After you've finished writing your article, read it through aloud, preferably to someone else who will ask questions if they don't understand some point.

5. Run a spell checker! If you own Microsoft Word or something similar, run the grammar checker also. Have someone else proofread it for you. Even professional proofreaders will tell you that they try to have someone else proofread their own writing, because it is next to impossible to catch your own mistakes.

6. When you have finished your article and make the necessary changes, you will need to submit it to as many article directories as you can. Search the web for article directories to submit your article for free. There are also, paid services and software that will do the submissions for you, but you may want to wait until you have successfully written a few articles before you choose to pay.

Is article marketing for real or just another fad?

Write an article, get the traffic. Well sort of! Since the birth of writing articles, our industry has caught on to the phenomena of increasing your website’s traffic by becoming the professional in your field. The only problem with this is that for every serious professional in one field, there are a thousand other writers who are jumping on the "band wagon".

This article phenomenon is hurting every industry!

From bloggers, column writers, and e-books, the writing industry is yearning for more great writers. The internet marketing community is especially hurting for better content.

With the birth of SEO (search engine optimization), people all over the world are searching, browsing, and reading everything they can on how to promote their business on the internet. Because of this demand for different content, the supply of writers are increasing everyday but the quality of articles is decreasing exponentially.

Everyone is writing about the exact same thing! My company receives on average 10-20 articles per hour submitted to us. I would have to say that only 1 in about 100 articles submitted are ever published within our website. Those numbers are extremely low and for good reason.

It's all about "substance" - or lack of it!

Many articles we review are nothing more than simple "babble" and most of them are pointless. You can seriously tell right away whether the article is just a promotional piece or something with actual substance within the content.

Great content is very important. There is a misconception out there that most people won't read your content and you can pretty much post anything you want within your website as long as your website is clean, professional looking, and can be found online.

YOU ARE SOOOOO WRONG!

If there is one constant online, it's the fact that the general public is getting smarter and more knowledgeable on how to research for honest, reputable companies on the internet.

Unfortunately, authors these days are simply stealing from other great authors!

I am not talking about posting someone else's article on your website! Copying content from other leaders in your industry will only hurt your company. This is why the writing industry is getting worse; many writers out there simply select a topic they want to write about, then they go online and find 5 articles on that topic. Once they have some other great articles, they simply proceed to combine each article for themselves, by personalizing the content a little.

Do you ever wonder why for specific topics within your industry, you can find hundreds of authors that wrote almost the exact same thing? I call these people "Content Copiers".

Even worse are people who buy articles to post online ! ! !

This gets me every time. Did you know that you can now hire a company to write something for you and insert your company information as the source and author of the article? This strategy is seriously sad considering I can almost guarantee you that the article you just bought was also sold to a handful of other companies. All they do is tweak the article a little bit and insert a different title.

No one knows your business more than you do. If you are seriously good at what you do, 9 times out of 10, you probably have enough knowledge to write an article that makes sense, that is unique in content, and that has your personal touch.

We've all come across different situations while operating our businesses. These small but important situations are what gives us confidence in what we do. When you learn from your mistakes, you should also consider educating people on what you've learned in order to help your potential clients or even help better educate your industry.

Think beyond yourself and write down something helpful.

Does Google really filter out duplicate content?

If you don't believe Google's Duplicate Content Filter exists, I have Dramatic Proof their Internet content filter exists and it's very effective.

On July 5, 2005 I published an article entitled "7 Top Ways to Avoid Link Theft" which was picked up and included as content on other websites.

Before the article was released I checked on Google whether any results already existed for the exact phrase "7 Top Ways to Avoid Link Theft" and there were no listings for that term.

Over the next few weeks I monitored through a search query on Google how many results appeared in Google for the title of my article. One week after publication there were 6,760 results listed in Google, a week later it was 14,100 and it reached a peak of 17,000 results by July 26, 2005.

4 weeks after publication the results in Google had fallen slightly to 16,600.

Almost 6 weeks after publication the results listed in Google had fallen to 44.

In a matter of less than two weeks the number of search results on Google.com for the title of my article had gone from 16,600 to just 44.

In case you're thinking this is because all these other websites dropped by article and replaced it with other content I should add that a search on Yahoo.com on the same day still showed 14,300 results for my article.

What's more of these 44 results on Google, more than half consist of listings from the same websites. In other words some sites have the same article duplicated on different pages on their website.

So Google's Internet Content Filter is not used to remove duplicate listings from the preferred websites it chooses to keep in the search results.

On August 28th, 2005 8 weeks after first publication I distributed the article again to a new list of article sites to repeat the process. After 6 weeks the same article had reached a peak of 5,620 results on Google. Less than 2 weeks later the results had fallen to 217.

For me this was dramatic proof that Google's Duplicate Internet Content Filter is active and very effective. If you're wondering if other major search engines have a duplicate content filter I can confirm that Yahoo certainly does. The same article which was once listed on 14,300 sites on Yahoo, has fallen to 344 over the same time period.

From these results it would seem Google takes about 6 to 8 weeks to remove duplicate content using its Duplicate Internet Content Filter.

But the question remaining is just how does Google decide which out of over 16,000 results does it keep and which does it reject ?

I have witnessed situations where my own articles appear in results on other websites, but are not listed in the results for my own website.

So clearly Google does not take into account who the originator and author of the original article was when deciding which sites will remain in its search results.

It also seems to have nothing to do with where Google first finds the article.

Some articles I have published to my website for several weeks before releasing them for distribution to other websites.

In that time the Google spiders have visited my site several times and Google has had enough time to work out that the article was first found on my site.

It would be interesting to see if it's possible to work out what factors Google is using in its Internet Content Filter to decide which results to keep in its listing and which ones to remove. But that's for another article.

Before you submit your articles, make sure you got these covered

Submitting well planned articles on-line will increase traffic and can even launch your career when handled right. They'll drive traffic from all over the net and show an excellent return on your time invested.

Write Your Article Like You're Writing to a Friend

Even though it may be seen by thousands, each copy gets read by one person at a time. Your readers are more open if you're speaking directly to them instead of down at them. Replace big words with simple words. I've heard that writing at an eighth grade level will increase comprehension.

Write a Killer Headline

An amazing article can end up going nowhere because the headline sucked a lemon and nobody read it. Any marketer who knows their stuff will tell you the headline is 80% - 90% of the reason you're even considered. Write a great article of course, but spend lots of time on your headline.

Pick a Topic You Know Well

Assuming you've done your research and found a niche you like that's profitable, you can become an expert in that field because you'll stay with it. If the research is a chore it's easy to lose interest.

Educate But Don't Sell

Articles are thought of as nuggets of information that educate. If your article breaks that unwritten rule and is actually an advertisement in disguise, it'll never see the light of another monitor. A well written article is a subtle but powerful way to motivate someone. Advertising builds barriers, where news is accepted with an open mind.

Write Quality not Quantity

There's no room for fluff in a good article. When reading the posting guidelines, check the restrictions for article length. Stay within the word count or you'll get trashed. It's usually 500 - 600 words. Save your full length version for sites that'll accept it.

Include a Resource Box With Your "Call to Action" Link

Either at the bottom or the top of your article you'll want to include your name, describe what you do, a sign-up email if you're building a newsletter, your website link, a short call to action, whatever's appropriate.

Submit Articles Consistently

Writing and submitting articles consistently will assure growing returns. Some sites will accept your work others won't, so don't get discouraged. Make a schedule, stick to your deadlines and "Just do it"

Read The Posting Guidelines at Each Site

When posting your article follow the guidelines. Don't forget, behind every website and ezine a real person decides the fate of your article. You're asking for exposure to their data base, so take your time and be nice.

Don't Forget The Spell Check

There's nothing worse for a busy web master than wading through spelling errors. Do a spell check, print it off and read it out loud to catch grammatical errors.

Use a Tracking System

With proper tracking you'll see what worked and what didn't. It'll show where to spend more time and drop what's not working. Monitored tracking will increase your return on investment, both for time and money.

Three simple tips for better article writing

Do you love to write? Do you want to put those writing skills to good use? Perhaps you want to see your name published whether it be in a newspaper, magazine, e-zine or other forms of publication. Here's 3 tips to start off your New Year.

1. Brainstorm

Once you've decided what your writing is going to be about, brainstorm. Think of a new angle for your article. For example: If you're writing for your local newspaper about an author, don't necessarily write only the obvious details. Is there something about this author that makes them unique? What is so great about the book they've written, can you tie it with a current news event and or holiday?

2. Removing the Fluff is a Must!

When writing a first draft, it's expected to h ave at least some fluff. Fluff is words, sentences, certain aspects of your article that don't necessarily add to your article. An example would be: “I had no energy. My energy had been sucked out of me” Now that's not the great example, but you get the point. A good way to tell if you ave fluff is to put your article away for a while. Why? Because wen you leave your article for a bit, the next time you look over you'll see aspects of your article popping out. Certain words, facts and excess information that could easily be removed for a smooth flowing article. 3 fast tips that also apply are:

i. Editing- Proof read your articles and remember to use your spell checker. Grammar and spelling mistakes can easily turn your editor away.

ii. Simple Language Structuring- You may be an expert in your field, but for others reading about your topic for the first time, your content should be simple. Make sure your sentences aren't run-ons. Are you teaching something? Break down aspects of your article into steps. This will ensure your reader understands your topic better.

iii. Be careful of the word “the”- “The” is a common word that sometimes is repeated too many times in the article, causing your article to become repetitious. Use “the” repeatedly if you're trying to make a point.

3. Passion

No, I'm not talking about romance. Passion and excitement in your article. The topic that you choose to write about should excite you. It should be something you enjoy, something you love. If it's a topic you're not truly interested if, it's going to show in your writing. Especially if it's an article that you put together in 5 or so minute. Use words to “pump” up your article, actions, appeal to one's senses if it's about cooking. Have the reader become excited and motivated if it's a teaching article.

Writing extremely bad articles can destroy your credibility

I've noticed a disturbing trend recently of articles suggesting that people write articles to send traffic to their websites, and enhance their credibility. In theory, the more articles you write, the more traffic you'll receive, the more credibility you'll have, the more sales you'll make.

It's an interesting theory. However, what those articles fail to mention is that your writing needs to be of a certain quality. And quite frankly, I'm seeing a proliferation of poorly written--or just plain bad articles appearing across the Internet!

Unfortunately, there are some publishers out there who will publish just about anything. That's the good news. The bad news is, those publishers don't have the quality websites or the huge traffic numbers, so your article probably won't be seen by too many people anyway.

So, in essence, you're really wasting your time writing garbage, because you're not going to reap the benefits that go along with writing quality content. Remember this saying, "garbage in, garbage out!"

To get published in the top ezines and on the top websites--the one's with mega traffic, you need to have your act together. Publishers of top ezines and websites aren't stupid, and so desperate for content that they'll just publish anything that's submitted to them. Their credibility is at stake everytime they publish. They have standards and their readers have come to expect a certain degree of excellence from them.

After all, how do you think they became top websites and ezines in the first place?

Now, I'll be the first to admit, I'm no Woodward or Bernstein. However, I take great care to make sure that my articles are well written, lucid and of high quality.

I've been fortunate enough to have my articles published by some of the top websites and ezines on the Internet. These publishers aren't publishing my articles because they like me or think I'm a nice guy. They publish my articles because they feel my content will enhance their website or ezine.

And contrary to what you may have read, everyone can't write articles--at least not good ones. You have to be honest enough with yourself to know what your strengths and weaknesses are. If you know writing articles isn't one of your strengths, don't continue to write anyway.

When you submit poorly written articles to publishers, you not only waste their valuable time, you also make yourself look bad in the process.

Writing articles is hard work, and if you want to write articles and you're not good at it, then you need to work hard to improve and develop your writing skills.

If you're not willing to put in the work that's required yourself, then at the very least, hire a competent ghost writer to write your articles for you.

Writing articles as a low-cost method for internet marketing

From Overture, a keyword suggestion tool, you will see the millions of searches done to a certain keyword. When these keywords are typed on search boxes of search engines, indexed websites containing articles with those keywords will be displayed. And this is what leads traffic to websites with keyword-rich articles. Yes, the magic word is articles.

Content is king. You can say that again. That is why writing articles is one of the most utilized Internet marketing media today. Internet surfers just can't get enough of information on various fields. Providing information through these articles is a surefire way to drive hot traffic to your web site.

Why is this so? Here are the benefits that writing articles can give your Internet business.

1. It's absolutely free.

Too good to be true? Not. Okay, you have to pay for your Internet Service Provider. That's it. All you need is your thoughts, your computer, and your hands. If you have those, nothing will stop you from typing words that will make you complete that article for your website. On which aspect of that process did you really shell out any cent? Maybe later when your electric bills come.

2. Your website will be noticed in a short period of time.

Submit that article of yours to article directories that get the most web traffic and in no time your web site will be crawled. That is if you don't forget including your resource box or byline.

3. Obtain back links automatically.

When you submit your articles to directories, surely, other websites will make use of your article too. With the copyright terms of your articles, the URL of your website will still be intact and will subsequently direct more traffic to your website.

4. Improve your reputation.

As an Internet marketer, if you plainly display your products on your website, you will not gain much conversion rate. Conversion is when your traffic converts to sales. You have to show that you are knowledgeable on your field. And what better way to show that than by writing articles that will allow you some bragging rights, right?

Just make your creative juices flow and jot down or key in those ideas quickly to jumpstart your article writing momentum. With those benefits listed above, a writer's block is the last problem you will ever be able to surmount. But that's another story...