How I Completed The EzineArticle HAHD Challenge

3 replies
All,

Thought I'd share this with you all.

This was my 1st ever challenge! It was the 1st I've ever completed!

I'd only ever written 2 articles before this. I'm no writer, I even had extra English at school. I work full time for somebody else too. I'm no professional blogger or html expert. So I think that has most of your excuses out of the way.

To those that didn't complete it. Why not? Ask yourself, why is completing this challenge important to you? Come up with 100 reasons. Then the motivation to continue and complete it is easy. It only has to be your reason. My motivation ranged from I want to do my topic area full time, be Internet based to school fees and travel.

Your reasons have to be yours and yours along.

This is how I did it.

1. Set yourself a deadline before the actually deadline. Stick to it. This allows for submission - checking, grammar, headline changes etc. I set my date to the 1st of April. It was much easier to remember, rather than the 10th for me.

It helps if you read the rules too. Some of my articles were below the 400 word limit. So I've done over 100. - lol

2. If you know your niche or topic area of interest - stick to it. I'm the most published on EzineArticles for my niche/topic area : EFT. That became another mini goal for me too, after I checked out the other authors.

It doesn't mean that all your articles have to go under that category. In fact I think it helps if it doesn't. Not everybody likes or even knows about your niche or topic area. Yes, most people have never even heard of your favourite 'guru'.

3. Set yourself a target of doing X per day. Mine was 2. This changes as 'stuff' comes up. I moved countries during this period. No laptop, no Internet. So I know it can be done. You'll have off days too. Just write when you can and want to. The tv and soaps can wait! They'll be repeated anyway

4. Find all the templates on EzineArticles.com. Complete one article for each. It doesn't matter if they are seasonal, just do it. Also can you apply certain dates to your niche i.e. Valentines? Sign up to the EZA RSS feed for new templates. Heck even some of the "in the zone" videos are worth watching too.

5. Forums - there are forums for your topic/niche. All questions asked and answered become an article too. Yahoo Answers was pretty useful as well. I also used twitter search too. All of them I have set up as RSS feeds . I just checked them each morning and did as necessary. You never know where a comment or answer may lead.

It's a great way to get in touch with people too. It's all about communication. Via twitter, I found blogs, comments etc. A quick trip over to their site or an email to somebody has seen great links and traffic to my site. Heck I've even helped somebody trying to get into the Masters (yes - golf). He was wondering about EFT. If you're passionate about your topic area. This sharing of information comes easily. It shouldn't be a chore.

6. Blogs. If other people write a blog that you like. 'Copy' the style. i.e. 7 most popular books on Amazon etc. - this then also allowed me to contact all the authors of the books.

If you have your own blog. How do people find it? What questions are they asking to find your blog? Questions = Articles. Google Analytics and Site Meter helped me. This also meant that if somebody linked to my site. I said thanks to them too.

Just because you have a blog or web site etc. Doesn't mean people will find you. You have to go out and find them too. This seems to be so often overlooked by people having a web site or wanting to run a successful internet business.

Once your article is up. It's up. Job Done, move onto the next one. Yet by completing 100. Do you now realise how much information you have that you can re-purpose and repackage?

I didn't worry about key words and all that. Why? Your articles, title and content answer what and how people are asking questions about your niche or topic area. You'll naturally be using keywords or so I think. Yes, you can use keywords as inspiration for topics too.

Finally I used EFT to overcome my initial reaction to starting the challenge and during it too. I though this would be easyish until I started writing. I couldn't start. In the back of my mind I'd set myself an impossible task. Quickly using EFT. This was overcome and I was full steam ahead. - Article to follow

Once done, take a well earned rest! Yet using all the above allows you to keep writing. Rinse and Repeat.

Happy Travels

A
#challenge #completed #eft #ezinearticle #hahd
  • Profile picture of the author Mrs S
    Congratulations on completing the challenge!

    Have you seen a positive impact on your site traffic as a result?
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  • Profile picture of the author MATTYLLL
    I also completed the hundred article challenge and the results were extremely interesting.

    It gave me discipline, so that every day I set some time aside to write new articles, which can only be a good thing.

    Second the analytics which the articles have provided and no doubt will continue to provide will be very useful. On one article I have achieved a 10% click through rate to date! Which if you ask me is pretty high!

    Also, I tested different mechanisms in terms of bookmarking, and directory submissions of the articles and am getting mixed results in terms of which method is converting best. Although some of the articles which I have written have page rank 3 and 4. I have also built some backlinks to articles when I have had a chance and I have found that this has been extremely helpful.

    I now have articles featuring in highly competitive keyword searches within google on a whole host of topics that I otherwise would not have had.

    All in all a successful process, would I repeat it, yes without hesitation, as it has provided me with a good footing for further article writing exploits, and now puts me in the position that I can say that I am experienced in this field.
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    • Profile picture of the author andrewwilkie
      Yes, certainly seen a traffic increase because of it. There are so many ways to write articles. I too like the reporting function. It was also a great insight into what information people where finding interesting. Each articles is like a mini market test.

      So many got picked up my ezine article publishers etc. It's great. Some of the big websites in my niche have picked up the articles too. So great links and traffic all round.

      Now you have 100 articles up. They are up ad infinitum. There are so many ways now you can repackage the articles too.
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