Article Writing & Article Marketing: 7 Ways Articles Increase Your Prospects, Publicity & Profits

Article Writing & Article Marketing: 7 Ways Articles Increase Your Prospects, Publicity & Profits

Word Count:
459

Summary:
No matter what business you are in, writing articles and marketing articles can increase your prospects, publicity and profits. Here are the top 7 reasons why.

Keywords:
article writing, writing articles, marketing with articles, jeff herring, the article guy

Article Body:
Writing articles and marketing with articles is one of the best and fastest ways market your business. In fact, if you can write a 7 item grocery list, you can write an article that will help you increase your prospects, publicity and profits.

Here are seven ways that you can benefit from articles.

1) Articles will quickly position you as an expert in your field.
The written word is incredibly powerful. Writing articles sets you apart from your competition. You never have to say "Listen to me, I'm an expert!" Your articles do that for you, because articles increase your "expert-ability."

2) Articles can become little 24/7 salespeople.
Once you have an article published, especially on the internet, you now have a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year international salesperson working specifically for you and your business.

3) Just one article can be used in many ways.
This is called leverage. Just one article can be used a free report, a bonus, featured in a newsletter or ezine, become part of an online e-course, become part of a book, and many other ways.

4) Articles spread the word about your business and your services.
One article that I wrote 5 years ago was recently used in one of my internet newsletters. A newspaper reporter that is on my mailing list saw it and interviewed me for a story. When he pitched it to his editor, the editor liked it so much that they turned it into a feature article. They ran it on the front page of the paper, and it has been picked up and run across the country.

5) Marketing articles is simple, easy and inexpensive, especially when compared to other ways of marketing online.
It costs you nothing to write an article. It also costs you nothing to have it listed on article directories such as EzineArticles.com. Imagine what it would cost you to pay for that kind of exposure and publicity.

6) Articles can help you build a mailing list that you can market to over and over again.
Once you have a few articles out there, you will reach a certain critical mass where the prospects begin to flow in. Continue to grow past the critical mass, and you will grow to the point where you could not stop the traffic and prospects flowing in if you wanted to.

7) Articles allow you to stay in touch with customers/clients and sell more products.
We know that it can take from 5 to 8 contacts or more for new prospect to be ready to become a customer. Articles allow you to stay in touch with prospects and provide them with quality information.

These seven benefits are really just the tip of the iceberg of all the many benefits of article writing and article marketing.

 

Article Theft...What to do about it?

Article Theft...What to do about it?

Word Count:
256

Summary:
Article theft is a growing concern for many authors. How should you respond? Should you?

Keywords:
article writing, article submission, article tracking, article marketing

Article Body:
I have read several articles, blogs, and message board postings concerning the rise of article theft. Specifically, this is where your article is lifted from your site without your permission or pulled from a third party site.

In many ways I consider the internet to be the "Wild West" in terms of lawlessness. Ignoring established and set rules is common,  meaning that us law abiding folks have our work cut out for us.

It may surprise you, but I don't take action in many cases of known article theft. Why? Because, I just don't have the time to police everything. I know of authors who check every link to their site, but that work is both tedious and time consuming.

A golden rule: If someone takes my article without my permission and the content and links are still in place, I don't worry about it. If they take my article and change the content, paragraph headers, the title, or steal credit for themselves, then I will contact the offending party and demand that they make the appropriate corrections. Even for links that are broken, I generally let these types of mistakes slide.

When it comes to writing, time is money. I only respond to egregious violations while letting everything else slip by. I would rather spend my time making money instead of losing that time to chasing down violators. No, my policy or "golden rule" isn't perfect, but it saves me from being bogged down in what I find to be a wasteful pursuit.

 

Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords

Article Submission Trumps Ezine Ads and Google AdWords

Word Count:
891

Summary:
You may have heard advice from Internet marketing gurus that ezine ads are one of the best forms of advertising.  You may also have heard that Google AdWords and other pay per click search engines are one of the best advertising methods.  But when it comes to marketing your web site...

Keywords:
article submission,ezine ads,google adwords

Article Body:
You may have heard advice from Internet marketing gurus that ezine ads are one of the best forms of advertising.  You may also have heard that Google AdWords and other pay per click search engines are one of the best advertising methods.  But when it comes to marketing your web site, article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords anytime.

The advantage of article submission is trust.  Suppose you subscribe to an ezine in the form of an email newsletter.  You've just sat down at your PC, coffee in hand, to read your email.  There in your inbox is a copy of one of your favorite ezines, the one you read every time.

Clicking on the newsletter, you see that this edition starts with a sponsor ad and then has a couple of great sounding articles and a couple more ezine ads.  Sipping your coffee, one of the articles catches your attention.  You read the article, and you were right.  It's a great article.

At the bottom of the article, there is a link to the author's web site and a short biography.  You notice the author has a link to pick up a free report with more information about the article's topic.  Then you notice that right below that there's a sponsor's link in an ezine ad.  The sponsor's link is for a different web site, but it also offers a free report about the same topic.

Now you might click both links.  But if you could only click one, which would you choose: the one by the author of the great article you just read or the one in the ezine ad?

If you would click on the one from the author of the article you just read, you're not alone.  Most people would, wouldn't they?

Now suppose you're surfing around on the web.  You do a Google search on a topic you're interested in, and you follow a link to a great article with some excellent advice on the topic.  Again, there is a link to the author's web site and a link to a free report with more information on the topic.  Right beside it are five Google AdWords ads on the same topic.  As luck would have it, they are also each offering a free report on the same topic.

You would still be most likely to click on the author's link at the bottom of the article, though, wouldn't you?

Article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords because you establish a relationship and build trust with your reader.  You are obviously the expert.  After all, you wrote the article.  And the webmaster or ezine publisher wouldn't have published the article if they didn't think you knew what you were talking about, right?

Years ago, I used to do direct sales in people's homes.  I learned that one of the first things you need to do is the "warm up."  You've just entered someone's home, they don't know who you are as a person, and they know you're going to be trying to get money from them before you leave.

If you don't establish rapport quickly, it's difficult to overcome people's natural sales resistance.  In direct sales in the home, you do that by talking a little with people before you begin your sales presentation.  They get to know you as a person, and their resistance is lowered.

Most people can't do sales because they remain the "enemy," the horrible sales person who wants to sell them something.  Let's face it, people hate sales people!

But imagine if you could warm up to people easily - and not just one or two people, but thousands of people.  Imagine if instead of selling them something, you could educate them about something that will solve a problem and be of great benefit to them.  That's entirely different, isn't it?

Article submission allows you to do exactly this, and on a massive scale.  If you submit many articles to article submission sites and article directories, many will be published on web sites and in ezines around the Internet.  People will read your articles and warm up to you.  Solve their problems and they'll want more.

It's hard to accomplish that with Google AdWords.  You only have three lines and a few words to build interest and trust and to get the click.  It's also hard to achieve that with ezine ads.  Even with solo ezine ads, everyone knows they are advertisements.

Article submission is the secret.  Writing and submitting articles is relatively easy.  Just write very helpful articles on your topic and link to your web site.  Through article submission you will build your reputation.  Through article submission you will gain trust.  And through article submission you will get visitors to your web site that already like you, value your advice, and want to know more about what you can do to help them.

That's already an incredible benefit, but it gets even better.  Article submission is usually free, or low cost if you use an article submission service.  Ezine ads and Google AdWords can be very expensive, and it is unlikely you could ever get traffic coming to your site as open to listening to you and trusting you as they will be from an article submission.

This is why article submission trumps ezine ads and Google AdWords.

 

Article Submission Software is an Indispensable Tool

Article Submission Software is an Indispensable Tool

Word Count:
593

Summary:
To be a successful Ezine article writer, one must submit 2 - 3 articles per week to as many article sites as possible.  Doing this by hand is simply not possible.  An article submitter program saves an incredible amount of time.

Keywords:
article submit, article writing, ezine, internet marketing, publish articles, submit articles,

Article Body:
Ezine article writing is a proven method of generating traffic to your site.  No hype here, it works, and it works well.  After reading your interesting article, the reader clicks on your link in the last paragraph to learn more.  Every article I have read about Ezine article writing has been quite honest in stating that Ezine is a proven traffic generator, but that it requires work.  That is does.  If you are a newbie, this article has information that will get you off to the right start.  If you are an experienced article writer, let us review the steps to see why the process requires so much work, and what we can do to lessen the time required.

The first step is to write an interesting article on a particular subject.  The article should be over 500 words, as that is a requirement of most submittal sites.  Be sure to read the Submittal Guidelines of each site before submitting your article. 

Next comes the preparation of a list of sites to submit your article.  The person who said "easier said than done" must have been an Ezine article writer!  The accepted guideline is to submit your article to at least 100 sites, but the more the better.  Using Internet sources I made a list of 100 sites, but as I checked them out the list was suddenly reduced to 25.  Some sites were no longer in operation, some were simply not article submit sites, others were subject specific, not applicable to my subject, and other problems.  Eventually, from a list of around 300, I finally compiled my initial list of 100 sites to submit my article.  This was a time consuming task. 

Next comes the submitting of your article to various article sites.  This is pretty straightforward.  Visiting a site for the first time will require becoming a member.  This involves filling out a short information form, perhaps submitting a photo, and then activating your account from the authorization sent to your listed e-mail address.  Subsequent logins to the site are much faster as one can go directly to Member Sign In and then to Submit Articles.  Now it is time to submit your article.  Select a Category, then cut and paste each element of your article from your word processor to the data input form on the site.  Cut and paste the Title, Summary, Body, Resource Box, Bio info, and Keywords into the form on the site.  Sounds easy, it is easy, but again a tedious time consuming process.

Recognizing this as a very real problem, a number of innovative companies have come up with tools to lessen the time required to submit an article.  No, I am not talking about Robot systems that are frowned upon.  In fact, even if such systems were allowed would you really want the article that you worked so hard on, submitted without seeing that it was done properly?

This is where the article submitter program comes into play.  These programs allow you to submit your articles to hundreds of article directories and can save you an incredible amount of time in doing so. You simply enter your article details into the software once, and then select the directory you would like to submit to. The software will then, automatically fill in all of the submission criteria for each directory and allow you to quickly submit your articles.

Try one of these programs, and take advantage of one of the easiest ways to submit articles and generate traffic to your website.  Stop wasting time on list building and cutting and pasting.

 

Article Shelf Life: Getting the Most Out of What You Write

Article Shelf Life: Getting the Most Out of What You Write

Word Count:
476

Summary:
Do you write "for the moment" or do you write for maximum shelf life? Matt shares some of his tips to help you get the most out of each of your articles.

Keywords:
writer, writing, article writing, editor, editing, edit, publish, web content, article submission

Article Body:
I admit that the internet is definitely for the "here and now." Always changing, what may be popular one day may be irrelevant the next. A den of "fast track fads" is what the internet has become. Still, if you are an article writer, you know that the web content you provide for your customers today must have an extended shelf life with it, otherwise your customers lose out and your reputation sinks. You can write relevant and persuasive content that doesn't lose its sheen with time; read on and I will show you how.

It is a given that if you write seasonal articles these very same articles will quickly lose their appeal once the season is over. Few people are interested in Valentine's Day pitches outside of January and February, but you can keep their interest strong year round by not directly focusing on products, but on the <i>history</i> of the holiday. I have discovered that my seasonal articles are likely to get read "out of season" if they deal more with something beyond an overt sales pitch. Give readers something to digest other than talking about chocolates and flowers; you can discuss "love" a timeless subject with universal appeal!

In addition, stay away from explicit dates. If you mention something to the effect, "here in December 2005…" you will quickly age your article in no time. This can be difficult to do if you are mentioning something like current mortgage trends or recent world events. All of those hurricane articles you read just a few months ago seem distant and certain to be ignored by readers who are focusing on current events [however, they may become valuable again when the next hurricane season rolls around]. It is okay to write current event articles, but expect them to quickly fade into oblivion once the event has passed.

Typically, the subject of "shelf life" does not come up with my customers. If I am asked, I mention that each article should have at least one year's appeal before an update might be necessary. This is reasonable length of time given the fast paced changes on the web. Naturally, if the customer wants me to do the update, they will be charged the same rate as a fresh article: in reality I provide to my customers a <i>new</i> article, not some cut and paste update.

Finally, I never give explicit guarantees for an article's effectiveness because once it leaves my hands, I seldom know exactly what a customer will do with it [i.e., place it in a newsletter, turn around and sell it, put it on their web site, etc.]. My customers know that what I write for them can be effective, but its ultimate impact is only as good as what they choose to do with it.

 

Article Automation Rears An Ugly Head

Article Automation Rears An Ugly Head

Word Count:
629

Summary:
Automation can be very useful, however there are instances when automation becomes the downfall of many great ideas. As the rush for Internet gold steadily increases, quality articles are becoming an endangered species.

Keywords:
article marketing, automation, article submission, PLR memberships

Article Body:
Content is king. You have probably heard that a million times but it's true. That is why writing articles is one of the most utilized Internet marketing media today. It's also one of the most abused marketing methods.

The online advertising craze began picking up with the introduction of FFA (Free For ALL) sites. These sites allowed you to submit your link or ad, which slowly rotated off the page as new links were submitted. Once this method of advertising became known, scores of people rushed to FFA sites and began submitting their ads. Programmers invented ways to automate the process of submitting links to hundreds of sites within seconds, causing it to become an ineffective marketing option because of the scores of people who began using this system. Links would rotate off the page within seconds and this eventually led to the downfall and popularity of them.

Another marketing method, which quickly became useless, was banner advertising and exchanges.  People covered their sites with banners, learned how to cheat exchanges and surfers began to train their eyes to ignore them completely. As a result, image advertising also became ineffective.

Automated page creation was also a problem as thousands of people began to create gateway pages as a means to draw in the search engines with multiple pages stuffed with keywords to increase their site's page rank. Gateway page generators automated the process of building these pages and soon they sprang up all over the net. Eventually this fad also became useless due to abuse as well as the introduction of smarter search engine spiders.

The latest moneymaking craze is Google Adwords. Once pay-per-click advertising grew in popularity, webmasters discovered how easy it was to earn income by stuffing their sites with useless content in order to profit from textual advertising.  The automation monster appeared again making it fairly easy to submit articles to hundreds of content sites by merely clicking a few buttons. 

In steps PLR membership sites. PLR articles, also known as Private Label Rights articles or public domain articles, provide people who are too lazy to write their own content with a means to get links back to their site and hopefully sell some of their products in the process.

Search engines have begun penalizing web sites for duplicate content.  In response, new programs are being created which randomize paragraphs and change words within an article to make them unique enough to bypass the duplicate content filters. So now we have automated article creation?

Publishers are beginning to recognize the different methods of article abuse and it's becoming more difficult to get articles approved. As editors begin tiring of trying to keep up with the massive influx of articles that are obviously written for the sole purpose of gaining link popularity or to advertise affiliate links, we will see more article directories shut down.

Is automation really the monster here? I think not!

Automated article submission is a great tool for submitting articles to a large number of sites providing it is used properly. So what's the problem?

Greed and laziness – plain and simple. 

Automation allows writers to submit their articles to many sites quickly and easily, freeing up more time to write original content. The problem comes from those who are always looking for a shortcut to making money, rather than to work for it.

Article marketing abuse will soon reach its peak just as FFA sites, banner advertising and gateway pages did. Eventually we will look at private label articles as another passing trend and online publishers will be able to provide their visitors with quality content once again.  For now, we can only wait until those hoping to get rich quick find another marketing option to automate and abuse.

 

Art Shows

Art Shows

Word Count:
376

Summary:
Of all the arts, the beheld ones are apparently the best difficult in agreement of authoritative money accomplishing what you love. Don't get me amiss – it is appealing accessible to get a gig as a beheld artisan if you are accommodating to do added architecture aggressive stuff.

Keywords:
art, shows, art shows, added, bodies, accept, costs, absolutely, acclimation art, acclimation, –, don\t, money, appearance, art appearance, acclimatio

Article Body:
Clear designers are consistently in demand, and alike bodies after a academic clear architecture accomplishments can get gigs if they accept a acceptable portfolio to appearance off. Succeeding as a accomplished artist, on the added hand, is acutely difficult. There is a lot of money in the art world, but best of it alone goes to a few bodies – those who accept been best up on by the collectors and whose works can advertise for astonishing amounts of money.

Of course, the key to acceptable one of the few is art shows. Although few art arcade shows are absolutely lucrative, it is amazing how bound the fizz can advance if you get the eye of addition in the know. Secretly, anybody with an art appearance dreams of communicable the admiring eyes of a patron.

It is important to apprehend that there are some bodies who do absolutely able-bodied with art shows that baby to accepted tastes, but this can be a boxy life. You see, a lot goes into acclimation an art show. Each alone allotment can booty anywhere from account to hours to complete, depending on the action acclimated and the needs of the project. Add to all those hours of assignment the costs of acclimation an art show, the time it takes to arrangement with curators, art patrons, and added folks, the busline costs, and all the rest, and you accept a appealing chancy proposition. It isn't that art shows costs a lot of money for artists – they don't. It is aloof that they represent a amazing bulk of work, so it is important to aerate on that work.

A lot of bodies accomplish the aberration of bold that the best artists get the best art shows. This is not absolutely how it works. As a amount of fact, art shows accept a lot to do with networking. Like any added breadth of animal endeavor, it is all about the access you make. As an artist, booty the time to go about to altered galleries, celebratory which ones display art in a agnate attitude to your own. Talk to those galleries patrons, and don't be abashed to ask if they would accede acclimation an art appearance for you. Remember, it never hurts to ask.

 

Are You Struggling To Write Informative Articles? Follow My 5 Simple Writing Tips To Success

Are You Struggling To Write Informative Articles? Follow My 5 Simple Writing Tips To Success

Word Count:
874

Summary:
Submitting your quality written, and keyword rich articles is certainly your first step to achieving your personal or business related goals. However, many authors wonder why their articles are not being picked up by publishers and webmasters to be placed on their theme related websites...

Keywords:
articles, article, writing articles, written articles, content, ezine, writing content, publishing articles, ezine articles

Article Body:
Submitting your quality written, and keyword rich articles is certainly your first step to achieving your personal or business related goals. However, many authors wonder why their articles are not being picked up by publishers and webmasters to be placed on their theme related websites, and if you're willing to follow a few simple steps, you will be on your way to having a successful article writing campaign that will appeal to publishers, webmasters, and also your online readers.

The truth of the matter is, that many publishers and webmasters are looking for fresh, well-crafted content to place on their site that offers their readers valuable information and tips, but they don't like to accept articles for their sites that show obvious signs of self-promotion of your own business, products, or services. Selling your business in your article is just going to drive people away, and they will move on to the next article that will help them answer the questions they're seeking.

Tip #1:When readers search for a specific topic of interest, they're searching for information that answers specific questions they may have at the time. If you're not exactly sure how to format your article to flow with all the necessary information, just remember that when you start writing your articles, consider formatting your articles with the focus on the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and WHY. When you start to develop your articles in this format, you will definitely make it easier to write your articles on specific topics that will flow naturally.

Tip #2: If you're writing about a specific topic that can help your readers, provide a brief introduction of what you're about to talk about. This way if the reader is interested in what you have to say, they will know what direction you're going in on your specific topic. In the body of your articles, have the key information that your topic is talking about with many features followed by the benefits.

The best way to achieve this is to talk first about the feature of your topic, product, or services briefly, and then follow right below your feature, a detailed benefit (make sure you focus and write more on the benefit). At the bottom of you article, always end it with a brief conclusion. Never stop writing without having an ending. Readers will be wondering if they received the entire article, or if you're missing some information. Remember, most if not everyone likes an ending.

Tip #3: In the body of your article, make emphasis on your features and benefits that you're talking about by adding "bullets" and also "highlighting" the important features and benefits. This does several things to your article, it allows your readers to quickly find the important information in your article, and if they happen to not want to read the entire article from top to bottom, they may opt to go directly to the information that they want, and you make it much easier for them to find it with bulleting, and highlights!

Tip #4: If possible, when writing about a unique topic, you will add more impact and credibility to your content when you offer your readers important resources to back up your claim. You can provide a few legitimate testimonials, a list of awards that were achieved, or anything else you feel will back up what you're talking about. This is a great way to provide your readers solid proof you're the authority on this topic, and you have value for them to obtain from your information.  

Tip #5: The biggest mistake many new authors make when writing their articles for ezine directories to be picked up for distribution is creating a really weak "Author Bio"! You spend all your time and effort creating the perfect article to be submitted to the ezine directories, and many ezine publishers and webmasters start picking up your article and adding them to their emails and sites. However, if your author bio at the end of your article doesn't have impact, it will not motivate the reader to click through to either read more, or get additional information on what you are truly offering.

Make sure you spend as much time in creating the best author bio as you do when you start writing your article. Make sure that you let your readers know who you are, and that you are the expert on this topic, and if you're talking about several products or services, in your author bio, if you're allowed a maximum of 3 hyperlinks to your site, blog, or email, also make sure that you take advantage of this option, and add your maximum allowable links for your readers to click through and continue their journey to specific information they're interested in reading.

These tips are only a guideline to your article writing success, and if you take some of the information I provide and use it that best fits your writing style, I feel that you will be on your way to being a great Web Author, and many of your well written articles will be picked up by publishers and webmasters hungry for freshly written content that offers a quality message to their readers.

 

Book Report Basics

Book Report Basics

Word Count:
436

Summary:
A book report is defined as a short summary of a book, the reader's interpretation of it and their reaction. While every book report does include details, it is most often customized to it's audience with an emphasis on related aspects studied in a classroom or educational group.

From an educators viewpoint, the goal of a book report is to test the student's reading comprehension, their ability to relay their thoughts in a clear manner and their writing ability. Educators ...

Keywords:
book report

Article Body:
A book report is defined as a short summary of a book, the reader's interpretation of it and their reaction. While every book report does include details, it is most often customized to it's audience with an emphasis on related aspects studied in a classroom or educational group.

From an educators viewpoint, the goal of a book report is to test the student's reading comprehension, their ability to relay their thoughts in a clear manner and their writing ability. Educators commonly assign book reports to students in order to help them to build or acquire additional knowledge about a particular subject and to help them better understand how to interpret a book and it's meaning.

From a writer's standpoint, book reports are often used to entice readers to buy a specific book that has recently been released. This is commonly called a book review, which usually includes the columnist's viewpoint, opinion and criticism (if any) of the book. Much similar to the structure of a movie review, a journalist is often employed to critique book's and their storyline. This provides potential readers with insight and often persuades or deters another from buying a particular book.

The structure of a book report will depend solely on the age group that it is being tailored for. An example would be that of an elementary class and how their book report would greatly differ from that written by a college student. In general, however, every book report will be similar in it's layout. Commonly consisting of a title, brief introduction, the main body of the report including a plot or summary and several concluding paragraphs at the end. The final paragraphs would offer the individual's personal viewpoint or interpretation of the book and a conclusion as to how that particular book is relative to the subject area being studied.

The actual length of a book report will again vary depending on the age group for which it is intended. Most book report assignments will range from one to three pages. Higher learning students are often asked to further examine details of the book and offer a more in-depth interpretation of the book's characters, the plot, etc.

Writing a book report can require extensive reading, planning and finally writing. The actual length of time that it may take to complete a book report will depend on the length of the book and the requested length of the book report itself. Generally, a book report assignment is requested within one or two weeks. In certain circumstances, additional time may be granted.

 

Book Proposals 101.: What Publishers Want

Book Proposals 101.: What Publishers Want

Word Count:
915

Summary:
Lots of writers like to talk about writing books. You hear very few talking about writing book proposals. Maybe that's why it's easy to forget that a strong book proposal is the first step to getting a great deal for your non-fiction book. It's where you make the big pitch and tell the editor everything that's going to make him or her want to buy.

A book proposal is also a great time saver for you because you'll find in the course of researching your book proposal whether ...

Keywords:
book publishing, book proposal, writing tips, editing advice

Article Body:
Lots of writers like to talk about writing books. You hear very few talking about writing book proposals. Maybe that's why it's easy to forget that a strong book proposal is the first step to getting a great deal for your non-fiction book. It's where you make the big pitch and tell the editor everything that's going to make him or her want to buy.

A book proposal is also a great time saver for you because you'll find in the course of researching your book proposal whether or not your idea is viable, or whether your category is already crowded with similar books. Here are the parts that make up a book proposal, and a few tips on how to make it really stand out to a potential publisher.

Title Page
This is the first page of the book proposal. Your title should be centered and printed about two-thirds of the way down the page. In the bottom left hand corner you'll type in your name, address, phone number, email address and the name and contact information for your agent.

Overview
You'll want to have two to three pages explaining the overall premise of your book. You'll also want to include a Table of Contents that shows what points will be covered in each chapter.

Bio/Credentials
This isn't just your usual resume stuff, this is a big opportunity to sell yourself as THE person to write the book. Write it in the third person starting with your education and credentials. You'll want to point out any experience that specifically relates to the subject matter of the book. Have you written articles or previous books on the topic? Note those as well. List any public speaking that you have done and will do in the future, including television and radio interviews. Include a really nice photo. It doesn't have to be a glamour shot, but you do want to look interesting and engaging. A 5"x7" is fine.

Competition
The publisher will want to know if there are books similar to yours already out there. It will help them to see that there is a market for such books. At the same time, you'll want to point out how your book will be different, or better, than what's already out there. Do not trash someone else's work. It's bad form. It's enough to say a competitor's book left something out, or doesn't cover a certain aspect. If you don't know what competing books exist, you can look them up in Books in Print. Most libraries have it in the reference section.

Outline
This will be your chapter-by-chapter outline showing what you will cover, point-by-point, in each chapter. You can plan on allotting about half a page per chapter.

Sample Chapters
This is where you get to show that you really can write! You should submit at least three chapters of content. It doesn't have to be the first three chapters, but if you haven't written anything yet those may be the easiest to do. Then again, some writers like to start in the middle of a book! The main key here is to be good--no typos, no misspellings and no factual errors.

Marketing
The marketing section of your book proposal is so important that many publishers will often read it first. So make sure you spend the time to make this the best it can be. Lay out your whole marketing plan here. Explain who your target audience is, how big it is and why they will buy this book. How do you plan on reaching them? Are you buying your own advertising? If so, in what publications and what is their combined circulation? Will you be reaching out to book clubs, corporations or college classes where you book could be taught? How can you make your book stand out against the ones that are already out there? You want to make the case that there is a ready made audience out there and all the publisher has to do is reach out and grab them by signing you.

Promotion
Remember, a publisher wants to acquire you and your connections, so this is another important section of the proposal. How will you put yourself out there for your book? You'll want to explain if you'll be doing public speaking, or maybe you have a huge list you communicate with via newsletter every month. How many are on your list? If you plan to hire your own publicist, put that fact in as well. Do you have famous connections that will help you get great blurbs? Do you have a budget? If so, how much? Yes, they do want to know if you plan on spending some of your own money!

Publishing Details
Here you'll detail the length you propose for the book (in words) and whether the book will have any illustrations or photos. You'll also want to give an estimate for the time you'll need to turn in the finished manuscript.

And that's it. When your proposal is done you might want to hire an editor or a book consultant to go over it and give you some strong feedback. That way you'll know you have it in the best shape possible and you can feel confident when you're sending it out.

© 2005 Sophfronia Scott

 

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your First Paragraph

A Publisher's Rant – Why I Hate Your First Paragraph

Word Count:
425

Summary:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.

Keywords:
articles, how to write an article, publishers, meta description, first paragraph, headlines, errors

Article Body:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it.

A Biggie

First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.

The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn't fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don't have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don't make me.

Here is what I want:

1. No more than 38 words.

2. Preferably two sentences.

3. Your keywords in the first sentence.

Now, that seems easy enough, but none of you do it. Instead, you charge right into the body of your article and write these truly horrific 10 line first paragraphs. I HATE these. I will not publish you. I may decide to never look at your articles again.

Writing articles can be a challenge. Often, the best way is to just start writing. I have no problem with this approach. All I ask is that you write a two-sentence introduction after you have finished the article.

Scroll back up to the first paragraph of this article. What do you see? Three short sentences totaling 26 words. The keywords, "publisher" and "first paragraph" are contained within the three sentences. When I publish this article, I will copy the first paragraph and slam it into my meta description.

Wham! Bamn! I'm off to the next article.

This approach has a huge benefit for you as well. When I publish articles in this format on sites, the articles will appear high in the search rankings for Google, Yahoo and MSN. Put another way, you will be able to piggyback my high ranking sites and get your article in front of your target audience. This means traffic for both you and me, which should make us both happy.

The first paragraph is extremely important. I will look past crappy headlines and ungodly spelling errors if you write a good first paragraph. I am a lazy person. Make my job easy and you will benefit.

 

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your Byline

A Publisher's Rant – Why I Hate Your Byline

Word Count:
584

Summary:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate the byline of your article and what you can do about it.

Keywords:
articles, bylines, keywords, inbound links, keyword phrase, how to write articles, writing articles

Article Body:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate the byline of your article and what you can do about it.

Bylines

The byline of an article is your chance to pimp your site and yourself. I don't really care what you write. There only time I would forgo using an article because of the byline would be if you're one of those people that writes seven or eight lines of text. Please try to keep it to three lines or less.

Something To Consider

If you're writing articles, you undoubtedly know it is a great way to build the link count for a site. Assume you put two links in the byline of an article. Assume further that 60 sites publish your article. You have effectively generated 120 links for your site, a number that would take forever if you were pursuing reciprocal link trades.

Article links are also valued highly by search engines because they are inbound only links. In the "minds" of a search engine, inbound links are far more valuable than reciprocal links. Inbound links are interpreted as an indication the site in question has highly relevant information and should be ranked high in search engine results. If you don't believe me, give some thought to the IRS.

The IRS has an excellent site covering every tax topic you could possible imagine. The IRS doesn't link to anyone, yet it ranks at or near the top of the search rankings for practically every tax keyword phrase. Why? Roughly 971,000 sites link to the IRS. These sites include CPA firms, newspapers and so on. All of the links are inbound. Get it?

Keywords and Bylines

When writing your byline, don't just blabber on about how great you are and so on. You are wasting the links when you do so. If you need an ego boost, go talk to yourself in front of a mirror. Instead, the byline should contain the keywords you emphasize on your site. If you do this, the search engines will associate the links with the keywords and move the appropriate pages of your site up in the rankings.

Assume you've written an e-book on how to lose weight and have a site. Assume further that your primary keyword phrase on the home page of your site is "how to lose weight". Your byline should read something like:

"Halstatt is with - teaching people how to lose weight permanently. Dropping pounds is easy to do once you learn how to lose weight."

You've now correlated your inbound link increases to the keyword phrase you are trying to get ranked under. Rankings are sure to follow if you keep pounding articles.

Unfortunately, most people write bylines such as:

"Halstatt was a fat slob until he had a moment of enlightenment after eating bad sushi. While spending a miserable night in the bathroom, he found that food poising was an effective way to regain his self-respect and get washboard abs. Visit http:www.domainname to read more."

Do you see the difference? The first byline is going to move you up the search engine rankings quickly. The sushi byline isn't going to help nearly as much. It doesn't even include the correct keyword phrase!

Again, I rarely discard an article because of a byline unless it is over four lines. Many of you, however, could get better mileage out of yours.

 

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your Articles

A Publisher's Rant – Why I Hate Your Articles

Word Count:
608

Summary:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's my rant and what you can do to change my mind.

Keywords:
publisher, articles, writing articles, link building, meta tagging

Article Body:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's my rant and what you can do to change my mind.

Don't Send Me Your Articles

First of all, don't send me articles. I only take them from directories. The purpose of this article is to give you a better idea of what I'm looking for in articles. It is not to create an assault on my email account.

You're Killing Me

Okay, "hate" is strong word and I probably shouldn't use it. It is, however, the word that comes to mind when I blow an hour in an article directory trying to find usable articles!

As an Internet marketing firm, we beef up client sites by adding article content. This means I handle the article sections of more sites than I wish to admit. Because of this, I spend most of my time hunting for good articles. By "good articles," I am talking about articles that are formatted and arranged in a manner that makes them ready for publishing. I am NOT talking about what you write, just how you organize and format it.

Building article pages on sites is a tedious process. If dealing with your article is going to require me to make a lot of modifications, I will not publish it. More so, I will NEVER look at your articles again. Despite your captivating headline, I will simply bypass it as soon as I see your name. Whether you realize it or not, you have a reputation with webmasters, publishers and editors.

But I Need You

I hunt through article directories because I need your content. New content equals happy visitors for the sites I work on. With the exception of a few of you, however, I loath the very ground you walk on because you make my job miserable. Yes, miserable. The problem I have with your articles is you create them in a style and format that makes my teeth grind. Again, I am not talking about WHAT you write about, just HOW you put it together.

When I look for articles every two days, I am trying to find something I can slap onto the sites as quickly as possible. This means your article should be formatted to make meta tagging and hyperlinking as easy as humanly possible. Keep in mind that I am publishing hundreds of articles a day, not one or two. Time is at a premium. If you make the job easy for me, I will snap up articles as fast as you can post them.  

Why Should You Care

You should care about my gripe because many of my peers feel the same way. When we get together, bitching about your articles is a popular subject. That hurts you from both a readership and link building perspective. You want to get publicity from your articles and we want to give it to you. Comply with our demands and we will paste you all over the net. Don't and you can watch the proverbial tumbleweed continue to roll by your site.

Now, you're probably thinking none of this applies to you. In truth, I suspect it applies to 90 percent of the authors publishing in directories. Yes, this is even true for the authors publishing hundreds of articles.

I am going to publish a series of articles on this subject all at once. These articles will cover in detail what I want to see in each section of your article. I pray that you will read them and ease the misery of all of us lowly publishers.

 

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your Article Headlines

A Publisher's Rant – Why I Hate Your Article Headlines

Word Count:
377

Summary:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate your headline and what you can do about it.

Keywords:
articles, how to write an article, publishers, headlines, captivating, readers, traffic

Article Body:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate your headline and what you can do about it.

The Headline

There is a school of thought out there that your headline should be designed to captivate readers. In the real world, this is probably true. When I am looking for articles, it is not.

I want keywords front and center in an article headline. This may come as a shock, but I am using your articles as part of a search engine optimization effort on sites. With seo, the keywords always come first. ALWAYS! 

Consider the following examples:

1. California Real Estate – The Secret to Making a Bundle

2. The Secret to Making a Bundle in California Real Estate

The first headline is by far the best. The keywords are front and center. I can easily turn this headline into a meta title for site page.  More importantly, this tells me that you may be a writer that understands what I want. I am going to click through to your article and read it. If the rest of the article is done in the correct format, I am going to publish this article on my site AND I am going to add you name to my worthy authors list. When I need new articles, I will go out of my way to see if you have published anything new.

The second headline is a disaster. The keywords are at the end of the headline, which is terrible for search engine optimization purposes. This is a waste of my time and tells me to avoid your articles. If I can't find enough articles with the proper headline, I may come back and read yours. Then again, I may not.

Captivating Headlines

Now you may be thinking you need a captivating headline because you want to capture as many readers as possible. You DO NOT. I've already done the job for you. My sites already have traffic. I am delivering the readers to your article. They will read it if it is on the site. Of course, you'll have to put the keywords first to get my attention.

Writing a headline is a fairly simple process. So do it!

 

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate The Body of Your Article

A Publisher's Rant – Why I Hate The Body of Your Article

Word Count:
527

Summary:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it.

Keywords:
articles, how to write an article, publishers, sentences, headlines, paragraph, spelling

Article Body:
I'm a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here's why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it.

You're Giving Me A Headache

Let's cut to the chase on this issue. I really don't care what you write about. As long as it isn't an overt sales pitch, knock yourself out. I am more interested in the format of the article, not your view or take on the subject matter. The readers on my sites may not like what you write, but that is your problem.

I do care about the flow and format of the body of your article. I strongly encourage you to have a point and stick to it. If another idea comes to mind half way through writing an article, turn it into a separate article. Don't try to cram it all into one article.

One Sentence Paragraphs

Don't. For the love of God, just don't write these. The only time you should write a one sentence paragraph is if it is a narrative. Occasionally, you can write one for dramatic impact, but try to stay away from these.

Loooonggg Sentences

Even in our capitalist society, punctuation is free. This "." is a period. The period is your friend. For some of you, it is a long lost friend.

Sentences should be relatively short. If you write articles through the stream of consciousness method, good for you. When the masterpiece is done, read it out loud to yourself. How does it sound? Perhaps you should do something with the 10-line sentence?

Linking In The Body

Why, why, why do you do this? I absolutely refuse to publish any article with links in the body. In truth, I don't have anything against such links. My bitch is that you're making me take extra steps to hyperlink the damn things when I publish them on sites. If you think I am going to spend extra time on your article, you're wrong. Chant with me, "I will put all links in the byline."

Spelling

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't care if you misspell words. I can't spell worth a damn and assume you can't either. I will run your article through spell check programs. In fact, I'll run them through two spell check programs. Spelling is not a big issue with me.

Body Headlines

Using headlines in the body of your article is a very good idea. I love them and will view you in a more favorable light. The only thing I ask is that you CAPITALIZE the first letter of each word. Remember, I am lazy.

The Last Paragraph

The last paragraph should summarize the point you made in the article. The last paragraph is not a place to put links, hints about your site or your biography. I will not publish your article if you do such things. You can cover all of these items in your byline.

When it comes to the body of your article, knock yourself out. Just keep in mind these pet peeves.

 

A Publisher’s Rant – A Checklist of Items

A Publisher's Rant – A Checklist of Items

Word Count:
334

Summary:
Assuming you've read my rants on articles, you may want a checklist of items to consider for future articles. I am at your service.

Keywords:
articles, article checklist, checklists, how to write articles, publishers, webmasters, editors

Article Body:
Assuming you've read my rants on articles, you may want a checklist of items to consider for future articles. I am at your service.

Checklist

This checklist is going to be short and to the point. Remember, I'm lazy. Go back and read the original article if you need more information.

1. Headlines – Keyword phrases should ALWAYS be the first words. No exceptions.

2. First Paragraph – No more than 38 words. Two to three short sentences with the keywords from your headline included near the beginning.

3. No one sentence paragraphs.

4. Cut up long sentences into shorter ones. If a sentence is over two lines, it can be cut down.

5. Linking In Article – Don't. Just do it in the byline.

6. Body Headlines – Break up the article with headlines in the body. Just keep them short and capitalize the first letter of each word.

7. Last Paragraph – Sum up the point of your article. Don't include links or a plea to go to your site. Use the byline for your begging. I do.

8. Bylines – Keep them under four lines. Try to include the keyword phrases you are using on your site. If you are linking to an internal page of the site, use the keywords on that page, not your home page.

Eight stinking guidelines. Is that too much to ask? I think not! Besides, I've already had laser surgery and can't afford a second session of smelling my eyeballs smoke. Please follow them. If you do, I will publish your articles and so will others.

Despite the tone of these articles, I am trying to help you get more bang for your buck with your articles. Okay, I am also trying to make my life easier, but there isn't any reason why we can't both benefit. If you want to get published more often, follow these guidelines. Publishers, webmasters and editors will love you.

The again, I could be wrong.

Okay. Occasionally you can use one-sentence paragraphs.

Just not very often.

 

A new Collection of African Tribal Art

A new Collection of African Tribal Art

Word Count:
486

Summary:
Africa is a continent rich in art and culture. No wonder a number of historians and art collectors drive to this part of the globe to get a piece of their artwork.

Keywords:
african tribal art,  african masks, african statues, african figurines, africa

Article Body:
Each tribal art embeds the religion and culture of the African tribes people. The very essence of African civilization is seen in their craftsmanship as shown in genuine tribal masks and statues. African masks are depicted as one of the most important part of African tribal rituals. You can see a number of African masks displayed all over the globe in cultural museums and art galleries.

African masks are not made for commercial purposes. They are used in tribal rituals and ceremonies. Over the years, the African mask has been the icon of Africa's culture. They are used in religious ceremonies and everyday living. Not all African masks are old because most of them are used once or twice during rituals.

Creating your own collection of African tribal art can be very challenging. These are not pieces that you can easily purchase. Genuine African masks, statues and other original tribal art are very rare to find. Plus, you need a good eye to distinguish genuine artworks from those that are mass-produced.

There are a lot of antiques stores that mixes tourist-art with genuine African tribal art pieces. What you can do is to know more about your art dealer. You should be confident about your dealer's credibility before making an expensive purchase.

Before you purchase and African art, look at it closely. African masks are well carved. The worn out look is just normal. Always have an image of an original tribal art in your mind and you can compare it with the ones that you would about to buy.

The origin or the location where African art are found usually dictates the price of the artwork. The older an art piece is, the more value it has. Most collectors sell their pieces to dealers. Remember that African masks that are obviously restored decrease their value. If one artwork is very unique in design, prepare to cash out a small fortune. In buying African tribal art, size and appearance rarely matters. Uniqueness and quality are the two things that are sought after.

If you are tempted to purchase an "original" African tribal art from auction sites, be on the look out. Most auction art pieces skyrocket their price, not because of their rarity, but basically because there may be bogus bidders whose goal is to increase the bid value of the product.

The best place to look for genuine African art is in credible art dealerships. You can also find a number of online shops offering original art pieces from Africa. Be wary of fakes and imitation. Since you would not have a chance to take a look at the artwork itself, make sure that they have a guarantee that you can return the goods if you are not satisfied with the "originality" an quality of the art piece. Request for as much pictures as you can and if possible, request for a certificate of authentication.

 

A Marvellous Hand Work

Title:
A Marvellous Hand Work

Word Count:
294

Summary:
In everyday language, a stitch in the context of embroidery or hand-sewing is defined as the movement of the embroidery needle from the backside of the fabric to the front side and back to the back side. The thread stroke on the front side produced by this is also called stitch. In the context of embroidery, an embroidery stitch means one or more stitches that are always executed in the same way, forming a figure of recognisable look. Embroidery stitches are also called stitches for short.

Keywords:
Heraldic handmade jewellery, heraldic hand stitched embroidery, heraldic wedding jewellery

Article Body:
Embroidery stitches are the smallest units in embroidery. Embroidery patterns are formed by doing many embroidery stitches, either all the same or different ones, either following a counting chart on paper, following a design painted on the fabric or even working freehand. 

 

 Hand Stitched Embroidery</a> work by needle. The needle is brought to the upside of the fabric. For doing the stitch properly, it is inserted into the fabric and brought back to the surface in one movement. Then the thread is pulled through. The same method is used for plain hand sewing.
A thimble is usually used on the middle finger to avoid minor injury. Once the needle is inserted into the fabric, the hooded middle finger is used to push it through; the thumb and index finger grab the needle at the front as soon as possible and pull at the same time. This can speed up working when the embroiderer is used to it.
This method can be done using an embroidery frame or free-hand, but usually an embroidery frame or hoop is used to make work easier. The technique uses frames that allow for adjustment of fabric tension, as the fabric can't be too strongly stretched.

 

A foolproof way to getting articles even if you can't write

A foolproof way to getting articles even if you can't write

Word Count:
742

Summary:
Owning, running and maintaining an internet based business or a site needs articles. Plain and simple, every who has a site knows this. Even those who don't have sites but are frequent internet users knows this as well. Articles quench the thirst for information and knowledge of the people. Plus, the articles provides many other benefits for the site.

Keywords:
Article, Write, public domain, write

Article Body:
A foolproof way to getting articles even if you can't write

Owning, running and maintaining an internet based business or a site needs articles. Plain and simple, every who has a site knows this. Even those who don't have sites but are frequent internet users knows this as well. Articles quench the thirst for information and knowledge of the people. Plus, the articles provides many other benefits for the site.

The benefits that articles provide are putting a site high in the ranking in search results of keywords and keyword phrases that pertains or are relevant to his or her site. They also provide attraction to website visitors when they are appreciated and is linked to your site from another site or newsletter. Articles provide for the increase of the confidence and trust levels of customers to your site and company.

 Many articles are also beneficial to both company and its traffic. When the readers like the articles, they would tell more of their friends, family and peers and recommend your site to them, providing for a larger volume of traffic. You get bigger sales if your traffic trusts and believes in you. Your product or services would be much easier to sell when they know you know what you are doing and talking about.

So ok, we have established that articles are very important to a site and to business. Articles are crucial and to keep ahead in the game, a site must have an article, it is imperative. There is one dilemma though, not many people like writing articles.

Many website owners would rather spend their time on something else, and unless you're a big time company, you don't have the necessary resources to use on a pool of article writers. Plagiarism or copying of other articles is frowned upon and could easily get you into trouble, worst case scenario; a hefty fine and jail time.

So what are the other options?

Well, for starters if you hate writing articles and you can't afford to hire people to write for you then don't. Get free articles. The first place to look at for free articles is the public domain.  Here you won't have problems with copyright infringement and the following penalties and fines if you get caught for plagiarism.

Public domain articles are articles freely given to the public for public use. You can do whatever you want with it. You can place it on your site, name it as yours, put it in a newsletter its you decision. Always remember though that you will have to choose articles that is very relevant to your site.

The downside to public domain articles is that since it is free for everybody, many of your competitors may have access to them as well. Since every site needs to be original and unique even though you have the same niche, this could be a predicament. You may also have to edit them a bit to place more keywords and keyword phrases to make them better.

Another way to get free articles is to allow other sites which has the same subject or topic as yours to submit articles to your site. This would be only to augment your existing content or else all your articles would be leading to other sites since these articles would have resource boxes with them that could link or direct the readers to their site. That's why it is important to have your own articles; you cold use them to link your site to other sites as well.

But, to truly feel the impact of what a good article to you, go for original ones. There are many article writers who do part time and freelance article writing jobs that charges only minimal fees. You can get good articles that have all the keywords and keyword phrases you need and people are looking for.

The investment you made for these articles would be worthwhile because you could use them for all the benefits you could offer. You hold copyrights to them and you will be able to use them anyway you want. As your articles help you in building your business and your site, you will have more articles to write and maybe then you wont be having second thoughts about articles.