Steven Wagenheim

I wanted to come up with something that would give something
back to a forum that has been very good to me over the last
2 1/2 years.

Quite a few folks are looking for ways to drive traffic to
their sites without having to spend a lot of money. Article
marketing is probably the best way to do this. Problem is,
not everybody can write. So this post is going to contain 12
important things I've learned about article writing for the
purpose of marketing products, which, believe it or not, is
different from article writing for the purpose of simply
informing readers of the facts. Some of these you may have
heard before. Others I think will be a first time smack on
the head for you. In either case, I hope you find them
helpful.

1. Be yourself. Don't try to write like Dean Shainen or Tim
Gross or any of the other great article marketers out there.
I have found that when you try to copy somebody's style, it
comes out forced and doesn't read well. When something
doesn't read well, your reader won't finish reading it,
which means they won't get down to your resource box and
ultimately go to your site. You don't have to write like
Hemingway. I don't. I write simply and plainly. It gets the
point across and makes me money. That's all that matters.

2. Article directories have minimum word requirements. Some
are more demanding than others. The reason I am bringing
this up is because some subjects are more difficult to write
a lot on than others. That's when you have to learn how to
"enhance" your article. Some people call it padding. I
hate that word because it makes the article sound like it's
just a lot of words thrown in. No, enhancing is something
different.

Let me give you an example using just one sentence.

"I am going to show you how to write an article."

That's the simple non enhanced sentence. Now, here is the
enhanced one.

"I am gong to briefly show you how to write an article that
will get your reader to read all the way through and
ultimately down to your resource box where, if it does it's
job correctly, will have them clicking through to your web
site or sales page and buying your product."

See the difference? Learn how to say the same thing in more
words that actually mean something. This will make meeting
the minimum word requirement for your articles a breeze.

3. Plan out your article ahead of time. Some people start
writing their article right off the cuff and have no idea
where they're going with it. So they end up rambling. This
usually leads to a badly written article that the reader
abandons. So before you start writing, make an outline and
stick to it.

4. Come up with a title that knocks your reader's eyeballs
out. Your article isn't going to get read, no matter how
good it is, if the title sucks. That's about as bluntly as
I can put it.

Now, there are tons of ways to come up with great titles.
Two methods that I use a lot are mystery and benefits.

For example.

Mystery

"Is Nitro Marketing Blueprint All It's Cracked Up To Be?"

Somebody interested in the product is going to be curious as
to what I have to say. The title suggests that maybe it
isn't. See, you really can't be sure because I've asked a
question. The question can be answered yes or no. So the
only way to find out is to read the article.

Benefit

"Discover How Nitro Marketing Blueprint Can Turn You Into A
6 Figure Earner"

Here I am making a claim or stating a benefit...the benefit
being that if you get this, you'll become a 6 figure
earner. Your benefit can be anything from curing warts to
losing 50 pounds of ugly fat.

I can't stress this enough. If your title sucks, you won't
get readers. My most widely viewed articles are the ones
where I really worked on the titles.

5. Be clear. Nothing kills an article more than when you're
not clear about what you're saying. This is why I tend to
write simply. I don't want readers to misunderstand
anything I am saying. So I will emphasize things if I feel
it's necessary. You want your reader coming away from the
article with NO questions about what you've told
them...which leads to tip 6.

6. Don't tell them everything. Look, if your ultimate goal
is to sell them something, you can't tell them everything
that they need to know. If you do, there is NO reason for
them to go to your sales page. So you have to hold something
back. If possible, hold back the key ingredient. For
example, if you are writing an article on selling your house
in a buyers market, you might talk about how to get a
realtor who will help you, how to clean up your house first,
how to make a good impression and so on. But leave out the
key thing that will actually sell the house...the listing
and exactly how to word it. That info will come in your
product. The title of the article could be something like,
"3 Key Tips For Selling Your Home In A Buyers Market".
This way, using what I've illustrated above, you've given
them what you've promised but you haven't given away the
whole store.

7. Know your audience. You're not going to write an article
for old folks looking for healthcare the same way you'd
write an article for teens interested in the latest MMORP.
I'm not just talking about content here. I am talking about
the voice you use, the style of writing. And let me tell you
up front, if you can't relate to 18 year old kids, don't
write for them. You'll be laughed off the planet. Stick to
your strengths. There are some niches I would never write
for (like the rapper crowd) because I don't know their
lingo and can't relate to the genre. Write what you know
and for who you can write for.

8. Have fun. Writing can be a real drag if you're not
enjoying what you're doing. Trust me on this. As much as I
love to write (can you tell?) there are things I wouldn't
even attempt to write about, like an analysis of the mating
habits of earthworms. Think I'm kidding? Go look up
"mating habits of the earthworm" and see how many results
you get at Google. I'd rather put a gun to my head than
have to write on that subject. So have fun with what you're
doing because if you don't, it becomes just another job.

9. Don't cheat your reader. I know that I said not to tell
them everything. By the same token, you don't want them to
feel cheated after they've read your article. There is so
much trash out there that should have never been written in
the first place. It's nothing but fluff and gives no useful
information. I can guarantee you that the only thing those
articles at EZA managed to do was get the reader to click on
their Adsense ads. Give your reader something real to chew
on so that after they've finished reading, they walk away
saying "thank you."

10. Be honest. Do not write fiction. Trust me, your reader
will find out. If you don't know something about a subject,
leave it out. Only write what you know and don't lie. If
you're writing an opinion piece, that's different.
Opinions are just that. However, if you ARE going to write
an opinion piece, back up your opinions with "this is why I
think this way." Give examples of things that have happened
to you. Make the reader believe that you truly feel this
way. In other words, be passionate about what you're
writing. Yes, you can be passionate and honest at the same
time.

11. Writing Multiple Articles. Simple. If you want to write
an article and spin it, the easiest way to do it, without
having to use a spinner, which most are crap anyway, is to
write an article that is basically a number of tips. For
example, let's say you have 10 killer tips on gardening.
What you could do is break them up into articles of three
tips each.

Now, look how many articles you could write by doing this.

Article 1 - Tips 1,2,3 Article 2 - Tips 1,2,4 Article 3 -
Tips 1,2,5

And so on. If you do the math, it's 720 different articles.
Just make each tip a paragraph and then copy and paste them
into your article which you'll add an intro and summary to.

12. Resource Box - Resource Box - Resource Box

This is the ballgame, the ninth inning, the last minute of
play. You screw this up and you can forget about everything
you've done prior to this point.

There is no one single way to write a resource box. Dean
Shainen has his style, Tim Gross has his and so on. I'm
going to share mine. But you know what? Go to EZA and look
up the top authors and see what they're doing. That's
going to be your best education.

Okay, here is what works for me.

I break up my resource box into 3 parts.

Part 1 - Remind them of their problem Part 2 - Give them
the site where the problem is fixed Part 3 - Tell them what
benefit they get from going to the site.

For example, if I was writing a resource box for an acne
cure, it might go something like this.

"Tired of looking at yourself in the mirror and finding all
those zits covering your puss? Go to my site at <URL> and
get my FREE report on how to clear up your acne in 3
days...naturally"

When you write a resource box, think about what their
problem is and how you can solve it. Nobody cares who you
are. So save the "John Doe is a blah, blah, blah."

Okay, there have been quite a few excellent article writing
threads that have popped up here in the general discussion
area. I've picked out a few of my favorites that I think
will help you a lot.

Here they are:

3 Ways to Fully Make Use of Each And Every Article You Submitted to EzineArticles
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...-everyone.html
While You Were Sleeping: Another Look At Article Marketing You May Want To Consider

I hope you find this thread, as well as the ones I listed,
helpful.

LegitSells

Excellent 12,000th post

[Video Work] Increase Sales With Professional Videos

CurtisN

Thanks for the informative post Steven, here's to another 12000

Curtis

Curtis Ng (blog) - Product Launch Manager

Pat-Graham

Great tips. I am a ghostwriter and learned a thing or two while reading your post.

Pat Graham
admin@ghostwriter-x.com
Need high quality, original articles?
www.MyNichePLR.com
"Don't believe everything you think!"

LegitSells

I skipped and read the 12 tips
Actually there wasn't much to skip.. Yes I'm a fast reader

[Video Work] Increase Sales With Professional Videos

DirectoryKing

Thanks for the post. Quite informative.

saintsguy

I loved your tip about mystery and benefit when it comes to writing headlines. Now I have a foundation on which I can improve my article clickthroughs.

Samsmiles

Hi Steven
thanks for sharing those useful tips. I'm going to print your post right now and slot it in to my "ideas" book.

Prosperity to us all!
samsmiles

Do You Want Original Quality Content - The Kind Google LOVES? My Fees are very reasonable.PM me for rates.

Chris Hunter

Steven,

Thanks for the link to the post that I made.

I was very interested in what I learned. The power of article marketing is unreal.

Ok, sure. You can follow me on Twitter - http://twitter.com/Chris_Hunter ;)

zeasondesign

I still can't believe it.. but that's awesome

For more information, you can contact me through PM or my email address :
zeasondesign@gmail.com