Online Articles

As an aspiring article writer there are several roadblocks you need to get past. Most article writers have banged their heads into these exact same obstacles. The truth is that most of them are really easy to get past.

1. My Writing Is really Bad
“I don’t write very well.” Is a very commonly used excuse. Frankly everybody feels like that now and then, but it’s just not true. You’re supposed to write an article not Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet.

Another common excuse is bad spelling. Well, that’s a really bad excuse. Pretty much any word processing tool on the planet has a build in spellchecker. Running your article through that should take care of most spelling errors. Even if you think your spelling is great you should still run your article through a spellchecker. Typos are more common than you think.

Right after spelling people will often mention grammar. Would you believe, in this day and age there are even tools that can help with that. If you don’t want to spend money on that have one or two friends or relatives look through your article. They will most likely be able to notice things that seem off.

2. I Don’t Have Anything New To Offer
Well, even if you’re absolutely certain that people know everything you have to say about a subject; tell it again. Tell them in your words. First of all I can assure you that there will be things they didn’t know. Second of all it never hurts to be told the same thing twice, but in different ways.

So even if you think you have nothing new to add to a subject you should still give it a go. More often than not there will be details here and there that someone else did not know.

3. I Don’t Know Enough About The Subject
Well, that might actually be a good thing. Writing about something you don’t know anything about means that you have to do some research. That will usually bring a sense of exploration to your article. In fact by simply looking at a topic with a fresh set of eyes you may notice things that nobody else thought about. Lack of knowledge should definitely not hold you back.

So you’re writing about a brand new subject, which means that you now have to do a bit of research. If you’re thinking that you have to spend hours at the library you’re wrong. Going to the library can’t hurt, but most of the knowledge you need is right at your fingertips. Make use of search engines and other tools to research your topic.

4. I Don’t Know What To Write About
Well, writing articles about a hobby or your business is an excellent to get started. That may span several potential subjects which can ironically make it even harder to determine the subject of a specific article. It’s a common error to think about something and then decide that it doesn’t warrant an article. More often than not it does.

If you’re looking for more inspiration than that you just take a look at the magazine rack at your store. In fact bookstores can also be excellent sources of inspiration. If something sells really well there’s a good chance that it’s a good topic to wrtie articles about.

5. Nobody Wants To Read What I Write
Yes they do. Really I don’t have to say more than that, but I’m going to anyway. In the world we live in today website owners are hungry for fresh material and will happily put your article on their website. Most article directories allow site owners to use the content as long as they credit the author. That’s an excellent way to plug your website and yourself.

Really, there are no excuses so get on with it and get writing.

Mike Nielsen is a web developer from Denmark dedicated to providing tools for other aspiring web developers and others looking to make a living online. At Web Construction he provides numerous resources to that end.

As a website owner there are plenty of good reasons for writing an article. One reason could be to get more content for your website. Another reason could be to submit it to article directories to get more traffic to your website. No matter what though there is one thing you will need to learn, and that is how to write articles. That’s what this…well, you guessed it, article is about.

When you have decided that you need or preferably want to write an article you have taken a very important step. However, A lot of people don’t get past the next hurdle. The next hurdle is simply put, what do I put in it? In other words what do I write an article about. Well if you’re running a website or a business the answer should be right there. Although non-writers like us have a tendency to think that “my topic will probably not warrant an article”. You need to get past that. Why wouldn’t your topic warrant an article? If you think it’s interesting there are bound to be others out there who feel the same way.

Researching articles can be a bit of a hassle. If you’re just starting out and you’re writing about a topic you know a lot about you can skip this step. However eventually you’ll want to write about something you don’t know that much about. Then you need to do a bit of research. I’m not talking about weeks of research here, but spending an hour or two learning about your chosen topic is definitely a good idea.

In this day an age there is software on the market that allows you to research a topic within a few minutes. A good google search is also a good way to get started. Your first article on a new topic doesn’t have to be very long. In fact if you pick one of the popular article types I’ll tell you about in a minute you will only need a few paragraphs of research material. Make sure you rewrite all the material you gather though. I don’t want to be encouraging plagiarism in any way.

When you get started you want to stick to one of the popular article types that I’ll tell you about shortly. In fact even as you get more experienced you’ll probably want to stick to them anyway. Anyway let’s get to it.

1. Top Ten Lists
Everybody loves a good top ten list. You get good information fast and as an added advantage they are easy to write. Top ten lists are among the most popular types of articles to write and very good starters if you’re still in the process of learning how to write articles.

2. Tips
These are very short articles. They usually follow the formula of stating a problem and providing the answer. These types of articles are usually around 4-600 words.

3. How To’s
Well actually this is a how to article. People are always eager to learn new things and how to articles come with that promise. These would typically be a bit longer than the Tips articles. try sticking to around 750 words and no longer than a thousand words.

4. Assessment
Is your computer infected by virus, Does your garden need fertilizer, etc. could be titles of assessment articles. They usually involve some kind of checklist the reader can go through. Quite often people will print these articles and go through the list. Not only do they offer excellent information for the reader, but they will also help the reader solve a problem or determine if he or she has a problem.

That was four of the most popular article types on the internet. In random order by the way.

Now you’ve decided what type of article you want to write and what the overall topic should be. Now it’s time to actually start writing the article, well, not quite yet. First I suggest you write down 10 subheadings on a blank piece of paper along with the main title of your article. These headings will form the content of your article once you get started.

Put the 10 headings into your text editor and start writing. You’ll need 3-4 sentences for each of them. Don’t stop to think about what you’re writing. This is the time to let your mind flow. Pour out your knowledge about your subheading.

After going through all 10 subheadings it’s time to edit your article. Yes, that’s right! you have now written your first article! Now you need to run it through a spellchecker. You’ll need to read it through to make sure what you’ve written makes sense, but when that’s done you’re ready to publish your article in any way you see fit.

At the beginning of this article I told you that you would have to learn how to write articles. If you’ve read all the way through it you should have and you should be proud of yourself.

Mike Nielsen is a web developer from Denmark dedicated to providing tools for other aspiring web developers and others aspiring to make a living online. At Web Construction he provides numerous resources to that end.

You won’t believe the exposure you can get as a writer and as the owner of a website until you submit free online articles to an article directory. Not only are these articles free for other publishers to use, it doesn’t cost you anything to register and start submitting articles. This is one method that publishers use to generate traffic to their sites, many of which translate into sales.

In order to keep a visitor when he/she clicks onto your website, you need to have valuable information related to the product or service you are offering. This could be something you are selling directly from your website or you could be an affiliate marketing driving customers to another site where they will make a purchase of which you get a percentage. Although you have articles on your site, you can write different articles and submit them to a free directory. The articles must be original and not published elsewhere, which means they cannot be duplicates of the content you have already published online. In the author bio section you include something about yourself and a link back to your website. These directories then submit your article to search engines and make them available to publishers.

You are not losing out by writing free articles for directories. In order for publishers to use your material, they must include a link back to the directory and the article will still have your name as the author. Now your exposure has increased yet again.

Free articles are a great way for a publisher that doesn’t have the inclination or time to write articles for his/her site. This person can browse the categories listed on the directory and then the articles within that category to find an article that suits he/her needs. The directory provides a link for the publisher to obtain both the plain and HTML text needed to place the article on the website. Then when visitors click on this page they will see the authors name and the link back to the directory from which they can visit your website. This is a win-win situation for everyone.

There are also free article directories where you can earn money from the articles you write. When you submit an article, you earn a percentage of the advertising revenue that the site earns from visitors reading your articles. This may only be a small amount per month, but the more articles you submit, the more money you make.

You can submit articles about the same product to multiple directors, but the content has to be different each time. You can also submit numerous articles to the same directory. Every article gives you exposure, so the more you write the more of an expert you will become in that field. The directories do specify that they have the right to remove any articles at any time and they may switch them to a different category than you specify if they feel that you material is better suited elsewhere.

One of the best places to get free articles is the free article directory http://www.ArticleCircle.com This site offers free online articles on lots of different topics.

There has been a persistent squabble over whether one should use short or long articles online. In article marketing, the squabble continues with strong support for each position. Short articles are generally considered to between 400 words to 500 words and in some cases as little as 250 words. Long articles are more than 750 words.

Proponents of short articles claim that attention spans online are quite short and an internet surfer will not pay much attention to long articles. They point to the well known fact of skimming or page scanning as proof. Surfers generally land on a page and tend to scan the page by scrolling; running their eyes on the page from top to bottom without really reading.

The long articles proponents on the other hand point to the inability to communicate much more than introductory information in such short articles. And except for FYI (For Your Information), tips and opinion articles, short articles are shallow and not considered of high value.

So should you use long or short articles for your article marketing? Considering article marketing targets webmasters to pick up your articles for their own websites, the author is inclined more towards long articles; and for good reasons. As a webmaster, to pick any article for reprint it would require the article to be insightful and particularly unique in perspective. Such content often will require the accompaniment of the more general information to create the foundation for the more insightful information. Just this setting up of the content could as well use 250 words.

In addition it is rare that a webmaster would pick FYI or a tip articles. Reasons being, they have no where to publish them. Unless they particularly have a frequent tips ezine or a tips page, the webmaster would prefer several tips in one page which would make along article. Unlike off-line publishing, websites usually do not have spaces for filler content. Fillers are short articles that are used to fill up space in newspapers and magazines.

FYI articles on the other hand are generally regurgitated content and often the webmaster will not consider them of great value unless of course it news. As for well presented opinions, they tend to be long due to reasons detailed above concerning setting up the content.

But again, this column is never more than 450 words. And as much as it more of introductory and FYI/Tips kind of column, it is insightful for those new to internet business (newbies). All in all you articles should be as long as they need to be but always of great value.

Courtesy of Site Build It Review the leading All-in-One Small Online Business solution. Find out more about it, sitebuild it review here.

Have you never needed an article and had writers block? You get stuck and just can’t seem to get your thoughts down on paper. Getting writers block happens to the best writers and if you’re in business and need extra content for your website or blog, hiring a ghost writer may be just the answer for you. Hiring a writer for your company articles makes good since if you’re too busy to write them yourself.

Many small companies the owner if the chief cook and bottle washer. To save money, you have to wear many hats to try to save money for your growing startup company. When a company becomes more established, the owner may find he just doesn’t have the time to sit down at his computer and take the time to crank out an article a few times a week. When you get to that point it in business it makes good sense to look to hire a good ghost writer to write articles for your company.

Hiring a ghost writer to write articles for your company isn’t very hard to do. Many article directories offer this service. If your business is very specialized, you may be more challenged to find someone who can intelligently write good fresh content for your website. In a case like this you may choose to try to use a service that specializes at doing this kind of service.

When hiring an article writer one thing good to look for is someone who has a lot of varied experience in many different fields. If you trying to write about car sales, look for a writer that has sales experience in closely related fields. Sometimes too good of a writer may alienate the customers audience if his vocabulary doesn’t match that of the reader. You may have to weed through several writers until you find someone who matches the style and experience of the company web owner.

Reading samples of past articles the author has written on varied subjects is a prerequisite to hiring a good writer for your company. Take your time by doing your research when you are looking for a potential candidate author for your blogs, newsletter or articles. See how closely some of the articles match what you want to hire them to write about.

You can use messaging services like MSN messenger to chat with your author if they reside in a different country then your own. Hiring oversea writers from countries like Thailand and India can save you money and you can get quality writers without the overhead involved with the cost of living of that in the west.

Many overseas companies have people you can hire for as little as $5 dollars an hour. Skilled content writers may be hundreds less per job then what writers in the west may charge. You want to make sure to check their work to make sure your getting quality at a fair price.

In summary, hiring a ghost writer may be the answer to carry out your message to your customers when the owner is too busy with other facets with running the business. Hiring a good writer isn’t hard if you take the time to research your writers past articles and writing work and make sure their style fits that of your own. Hiring oversea ghost writers can save you a lot of money if you’re lucky enough to find a highly skilled writer who can match your style.

Scott Riefler is the author of several e-books and online resources. I have
put together a collection of free webmaster tools and resources. Please visit my free sign up form by going
my web site at:make Money online or read my ebook that talks more about using them and other web tricks at:

Make Money Online selling information

One of the absolute best ways to improve your search engine rankings and directly promote your products and services is by submitting articles to quality article directories.

Search engines find and index relevant content. What exactly is relevant content? Ideally you should be able to search for a specific keyword or phrase and all the search results returned should be related to that search term. Right now, articles offers the web promoter a widely accepted method to gain traffic to their site.

Some of the past web promotion techniques did not always deliver the results that visitors were looking for. Link exchanging was one such technique that has lost favor with search engines.

I do not recommend using link exchanges and bought text links. Webmasters were all too eager to swap links with other sites even if both sites were completely unrelated.

As you can imagine,link exchanges simply diluted the search results and allowed some non-relevant sites to be returned in the search results.

The search engine’s job becomes easier to do when a website–your perhaps–has lots of textual content that is linked to from other related sites.

Search engines look at links and the content around links to determine how relevant the web page would be to to a particular keyword search.

Article writing gives you the perfect way to deliver exactly what the search engines are looking for and in return you generate traffic for your website.

One should avoid the excessive use of keywords and simply write for a human audience. Please note that this method of marketing will require that you regularly submit content.

Keep the information flowing and always try to keep new and fresh content available. Remember that once your work is published you may develop a loyal bunch of followers that will be looking for more of your information.

Your writing can and should be targeted to a specific niche that fits your purposes and stands an excellent chance of getting indexed into the search engines.

Once the web page with your article is indexed then you will have a link pointing to your site that helps your search rankings. Another perk to this method of marketing is the fact that you will generate direct traffic to your site.

Don’t struggle to optimize your website with methods that don’t work. Relevant content is what it takes and quality articles will get your site noticed.

Kerry Thomas is active in article marketing and writing. He owns the following article directory

Whatever others may say, Content is still King, and Content Sites, or the Learning Library approach to site building is a relatively cheap and easy way to a huge amount of traffic and sales.

Ok, so what is the Learning Library approach? Simply, creating a Learning Library section of your site which has tip, advice, and articles on your particular expertise.

Here are a few tips for starting a learning library on your site.

Not a blog!
The Learning Library is not a blog. The articles are longer and more detailed, generally 500 - 800 words, whereas most blog posts are 300 - 400 words.

Organize your categories first.
Lay out a Content Plan before you start. One of the best ways to do this is using a keyword search tool like Adwords, to find all the related keywords to your target, as well as all the permutation and combination. Use a spreadsheet and organize keywords into columns with the root keyword at the top. Below, include all of the keywords that include that root. Think big!

Write often and regularly
Commit to a certain number of articles per week and stick to it. At the time, it doesn’t seem like much, but if you keep at it, then it builds up over time and pretty soon you have a huge number of articles.

Concentrate of usable information.
Give readers useful advice that they can use right now. One format I like to follow has an opening paragraph or two, then a bulleted list of tips or advice, and then a concluding paragraph.

Use a variety of different types of content.
Use articles as well as videos from Youtube

Fake it till you make it.
Maybe people don’t see you site as an authority in your niche right now, but they never will unless you act like it!

Link out by filtering
Part of being an authority is filtering information for people. Everyone is on information overload, so your opportunity is to provide a selection of the best. Think Oprah’s Book Club. Oprah is the authority and she has sorted through everything to bring your the best.

Write for your ideal client.
Take some time to define the characteristics of your ideal client. What type of client is the easiest to deal with, and the most profitable? Take some examples of actual clients that are the type of person you want to work with. Consider what they have in common and write down their characteristics in as much detail as possible. This is also called creating a persona.
Once you have your persona, consider what they would like to read about, and what technical level they are at. Then write for this person.

Target Target Target
Write for your customers not for your competition. For example, lots of SEO companies write tips and blogs for other SEO people. How crazy is that? Other SEO people are not going to purchase your SEO services, they are just there to scoop free tips and re-sell to their clients! Write for clients that need your services, not your competition!

Brian Stocker is a writer, editor and SEO expert. Visit his website for more information about Writing Web Content

The use of article marketing is still the number one way to get more people to visit your website and one that won’t cost a cent! Articles can be used for almost anything on the Internet from social networking sites to blogs and each one can contain a one or more links to your main website. The best place to submit articles is site where you know they have a great deal of traffic every day; it shouldn’t be too long before your site starts to receive traffic from this. This is the benefit of using popular sites that have authority and providing they accept your contribution it will help you as well; you will become a trusted person which means a great deal in the virtual world.

Article marketing carried out regularly can bring fantastic rewards as people begin to see you as an expert in your field. The purpose is to convince people of your abilities in the particular fields you write in. Although it can take a while, this traffic from people that trust you will help your own search engine ranking; you should find that in time that more visitors that have found you in the search engines improves. Links from other sites (especially if they are popular) just improves your ranking and exposure; all at no charge, so free advertising is possible.

A number of links to other relevant sites can be placed in the body text (not too many) when using article marketing. When your articles are good, they get spread around the internet and of course each version will have links back to your own so the more links you have, the more your ranking will grow. Unfortunately you cannot normally expect your site to be listed straight away with the search engines. Although you cannot rush the search engines directly, submitting more articles and using the authority sites will help enormously.

Using article marketing to improve your website will also involve adding content regularly which will also help boost rankings. Bear in mind that when people visit your site, they are unlikely to want your product without learning more about it. Visitors are searching for information so the more precise and truthful you can be about whatever it is you are promoting the better. It is at this point that the sales promotion can be used. This approach is often overlooked and as a consequence visitors do not always understand what is being done. It is this sort of method that stops people from cancelling their order a few days later.

It is this process of article marketing that ensures you will be in business for a long time; this does require you to understand that all of this cannot be achieved with just one article. It is not just articles that you write that will be on other websites but if your site is good, you will receive links from other websites also; having your articles on numerous sites just improves the exposure of your site. Never underestimate how easy it is to increase your site traffic at no cost; all it requires is regular, fresh and unique article content to achieve this.

Michael Hehn is the webmaster of http://easyresumepro.com/resume-writing-tips.html, a site that offers a wide range of useful and helpful information about resume writing tips. Visit his site for more free tips to choose the right resume writing tips for you and your business.

The use of article marketing is still the number one way to get more people to visit your website and one that won’t cost a cent! While the article should have value in itself for the person reading it, there should also be one or more back links to where they will find more information. For the best response, a website or blog for example that is well visited each day is the best place to submit it; within a relatively short period you should start to experience more visitors at your site. Top sites are also viewed by search engines as authority sites so it is to your benefit in many ways to have your content accepted; you will become a trusted person which means a great deal in the virtual world.

This method of article marketing needs to be done almost every day if you want your name to be associated as an expert so people look for your work. This is why it is so important to show people that you know what you are talking about so they trust the content you provide in the area you write about. The purpose of all this is to increase your credibility with the various search engines; by default this will increase the number of organic visitors you receive that have searched for something your site has information on. If there are many websites which link with your website then it increases your website ranking which in turn boost up your traffic gaining. all of this comes with no charge so you are actually able to market yourself for free.

A number of links to other relevant sites can be placed in the body text (not too many) when using article marketing. The purpose of good articles is for people to use them on their site, with each having the links to your site contained in them which all helps the ranking. Sometimes, however, search engines can take some time before they actually list your site; Google can actually take months on occasion. Normally however, constant submission of articles can speed the process up, especially with the back links from authority sites.

Article marketing helps to improving the ranking of a site but in addition to this it also helps increase the amount of content at the same time which again improves rank. Don’t forget that many visitors to your site are not visiting to buy something. People searching for details about a product or service will not mind the sales side providing the information is interesting. Once on your site it is not a complicated matter to show your visitors what it is you are selling. This procedure is almost like a safety net because you are explaining the process to them so they will not misunderstand. It is this sort of method that stops people from cancelling their order a few days later.

If you continue your article marketing this way you can expect a profitable future; do not think for one minute that this is will be a success if it is only done the once! An additional benefit from writing quality articles is that other website owners will either link to your site or use your articles on their own site; don’t forget, your article will contain information that people are searching for. With the many ways to drive visitors to your site, article marketing is still the most efficient; with relevant, quality unique articles, visitors will keep returning.

Michael Hehn is the webmaster of http://easyresumepro.comn/newsletter-home.html, a site that offers a wide range of useful and helpful information about resume writing newsletter. Visit his site for more free tips to choose the right resume writing techniques for you and your business.

The most effective and cost efficient way to get visitors to your website is by the use of article marketing. Articles not only contain useful information or content on a particular subject but they also contain the url or hyperlink to the site of your choice. It is a simple matter to submit your article to these places which should, wherever possible, be popular websites; it doesn’t take to long before the visitors begin to arrive at your site. Acceptance of content at sites like this is a little like a thumbs up to you as well and can be of great benefit; by improving your standing, you will by default, also improve the level of trust people have for you.

Article marketing carried out this way (i.e. more than once) will get people to look upon you as an author whose work they will seek out because the content is good. Convincing people of your knowledge in certain areas ensures they will always trust what you write. Although it can take a while, this traffic from people that trust you will help your own search engine ranking; the benefit of this is there will be an increase in people that find you through the search engines. The more websites that link to yours, the more traffic you will achieve; all of this comes with no charge so you are actually able to market yourself for free.

It is the links placed in the text and at the bottom of the page that makes article marketing so useful, successful and popular! Your article must have good content if you want it placed in many websites because this in turn will link back to your own website which of course will increase the website ranking. Unfortunately you cannot normally expect your site to be listed straight away with the search engines. Although you cannot rush the search engines directly, submitting more articles and using the authority sites will help enormously.

Article marketing helps to improving the ranking of a site but in addition to this it also helps increase the amount of content at the same time which again improves rank. Remember that visitors do not know that your website is trying to get them to buy something. The more truthful you are about what you are doing, the more visitors will appreciate it providing the information you supply is relevant to their search. It is once they have entered your site where you have the chance to sell to them. This a little like taking them by the hand so they know what they are buying and most importantly, why. By doing this you are securing any order you make and will receive less refund requests.

If you want visitors to your websites then you must continue your article marketing this way; regularly submitting articles is necessary and should not be viewed as something you only have to do once. It is not just articles that you write that will be on other websites but if your site is good, you will receive links from other websites also; your content or article will have information that other people are seeking. You cannot dismiss just how effective article marketing is at getting people to your site for free; provided you keep adding unique, but relevant, content to your site, visitors will return.

Michael Hehn is the webmaster of http://easyresumepro.com, a site that offers a wide range of useful and helpful information about resume writing. Visit his site for more free tips to choose the right resume writing techniques for you and your business.