Article Writing - The Fine Line Between Informing And Selling And A $1,000 Tip

[Steven Wagenheim]

Because of all the help I got today with my blog (thank you all) I want to
give a little something back to the community. This tip is so simple yet it is
SO effective.

A lot of marketers who write articles for the purpose of marketing run into
this problem, especially with certain article directories. They write the
article and get it rejected because it's too "salesy" or "deceptive" in its
content.

Well, there are two things that cause this. The one can't be rectified any
other way other than to just stop selling in your article. Sorry folks, but
you can't say stuff like, "Hey check out my new..." It won't fly.

However, the deceptive part, which comes from titles like "Natural Cure For
Acne Revealed" and then you read the article and nothing is revealed, can
be fixed with a very simple technique called the question.

Simply write your title like this...

"Is There A Natural Cure For Acne?"

This title does two things.

1. It gets the prospect's attention because it arouses his curiosity. He's
wondering..."IS there a natural cure for acne? Maybe this guy will reveal
it." He's making an assumption not at all based on fact. It's what HE wants
to believe.

2. It allows you to talk about just about anything in the article itself. You
can take the article from the perspective of "Doctors say no, but naturalists
say yes." When you write articles with questions in the title, it doesn't
lock you into any ONE way of writing the article. You have a clear open
field.

These articles get TONS of views for me because people are so curious.

Try it...you'll be pleasantly surprised at the results.

[Ryan Dodson]

I too have had a handful of views thanks to using a question for the title.

I think alot of article writers and directory submitters forget that the articles are to HELP others. That should be an article writer's first priority.

[traces2757]

That's a helpful tip, Steve. Thank you!

[Keith Kogane]

That's a very good tip. I know in my email marketing experience, questions always get higher open rates, though sometimes wildly varying conversion once they open.

The only thing I would add is to try not to ask a question that can be answered with "no" - so Steven's example is good, because a likely prospect is probably asking themselves the same thing, although the answer could still be "No". A worse one would be "Do you want a natural cure for acne?" - I say that's worse, because a "No" means the reader won't even bother to look at your work. A better one might be "Can there really be a natural cure for acne?" because the only answer to that is "Yes" because anything is possible, really.

It's subtle, but important. Try testing those yourself.

[Kate Carpenter]

Wow! What a great tip, Steven!
I have thought I was giving away too much information, but didn't know have to remedy it...now I know!
Thanks, again, for sharing!
Kate

[Mike Bogowski]

Nice tip Steven.

I'll throw one of mine into the mix as well

'A Natural Cure For Acne - Does it Even Exist?'

[anomaly]

Good tip Steven ... one that I have found very useful myself ... this of course works not only for articles, but for adverts too

[Steven Wagenheim]

Originally Posted by anomaly

Good tip Steven ... one that I have found very useful myself ... this of course works not only for articles, but for adverts too

As any good copywriter will tell you, there is also a very fine line between
writing an article and writing a sales letter.

Writing an article that sells is much harder because you can't sell, at least
not if you're going to submit them to tough directories.

I think it's my article writing that has turned me into a competent copywriter.