Archive for February, 2008
Write better articles….
Posted by admin in Articles, Business Making Money Online, writing on February 18th, 2008
I’ve seen many articles that tell you how the writer thinks that you should create great articles, and, do you know something? I often disagree with what I read!
Not because I believe that I am smarter than the original writer, or that I know everything. It’s just that most of these articles seem to leave something out. And, more importantly, I often think that they get a lot of it the wrong way around too!
Not sure what I am talking about?
Then, please read on to discover my ‘way round’ of doing things.
1). Find your article’s Keywords
Use whatever keyword software works best for you to find a good keywords, that is, keywords that have high value and low competition.
2). Select your Point Of View
If you choose to write the article First Person, you can write about your own experiences using the Product, or at the least, your desire to solve the problem that the Product “promises” to solve.
This establishes you as an “expert” in your reader’s mind, because you have direct experience with the Product and you succeeded in solving the problem, yourself.
Or you can choose to write the article Second Person, for instance, telling your reader about a danger to avoid (with other, competing products).
This establishes Trust with your readers, because you’ve warned them away from something bad.
Or you can choose to write the article Third Person, for instance, giving valuable information about your reader’s problem and it’s solution (via the Product).
This also establishes a level of Trust, because you have provided assistance to your reader.
In all cases, you want to address the problem that caused your reader to search in the first place, then help them solve it.
3). Bullet-point your Value items
Pretend that you yourself, need to solve this problem. What kind of information would you be looking for?
Put yourself in your reader’s shoes and give them the information they want. Make a bullet-point list of the important items that your article should discuss, to provide your reader with the answers s/he wants.
If you’ve come up with your list of keywords for the article, by using the question-word method discussed above, then coming up with these value items is even easier. Simply answer the questions in the keyword phrases.
Either way, go back over your list and insert the single keywords and keyword phrases you’ve chosen.
Tip: Almost any information you need for an article, is right in front of you – on the Internet. Search Google for your keyword phrases, and you will find other sources of information from which you can obtain your list of important items.
4). Order & Expand your bullets
Re-order the important item bullets you’ve listed, into a sequence that flows naturally from one bullet to the next.
Then expand each bullet into one or more paragraphs, that fully discuss the important idea in that bullet. You will find this to be a simple way to produce a “draft” version of your article.
Try to use short sentences and paragraphs, as this will improve the “readability” of your article.
Next, verify your keywords. Make sure your primary and secondary keyword phrases are included (repeatedly, but no more than 5%); and try to sprinkle in additional repetitions of the common single keywords you chose earlier.
Finally, read over the entire article and edit for accuracy and clarity. (Also at this stage, watch out for too many repetitions of any particular combination of keywords.)
To increase clarity, you can add sub-headers for each major topic in the article. Also, if you have any lists, you can number them or simply use bullet points.
5). Get them to Take the Next Step
You need to end your article with a “call to action”, which tells your reader what they should do next.
For instance, in the case of feeder pages, you want them to click the link to your money page, where they can read your Pre-sell. So for example, you could end with:
“To learn more, including how to solve [their problem] quickly and easily, click here to read our Complete Product Review.”
6). Add the Title
Sometimes you know what the title is immediately, even before you start to write the article. Other times, the primary keyword phrase provides an excellent article title itself.
But often, you need to wait until after the article is written, so you can have a clearer idea of what the article is about.
In any case, your title has to capture the reader’s attention immediately, or else he won’t bother to read the article at all. Usually, this means that your title should state the central problem that brought your reader to you in the first place – and the promise of its solution.
Regardless, be sure to include your primary keyphrase, to help your article rank in the search engines.
For our example, a possible title could be:
["Exciting baby nursery themes ideas - a checklist for a safe and enjoyable journey into parenthood."]
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