The number-one fear I have found when working with my clients is their fear of writing articles. Publishing your own articles is one of the most effective ways to drive traffic to your site, gain expert status, build your mailing list, and get more sales and/or clients.
Even so, many entrepreneurs and small biz owners don’t know where to begin.
For those of you who are just starting out there is a structure to an article that makes it effective – and compelling.
Your article should contain:
Title: This should be something that will draw people to your article. Use keywords, or key phrases. One note of interest, often time’s negative titles work to your advantage and draw more readers. Negative headlines work best when they alert and inform. Headlines commonly tell people that they can finally stop and rest easy with a specific solution.
Examples:
Five Easy Ways to Get Visitors to Your Website.
Don’t Ever Do This If You Want Visitors to Your Website.
Which one would you be more likely to click on?
Introduction – this is where you can write a short synopsis of why you decided to write this article using a personal story or the subject you will be discussing. Ask yourself, what would make me want to read this article – then work it into the introduction…
Body – this is where you bring the meat and potatoes into your article. Just writing paragraphs will not get you as many readers as breaking it down into bite-size chunks. bullets and headlines to each of the sections through the body works to keep your reader interested.
Conclusion – you will need to tie it up into a nice little bow. This piece should reiterate or “back up” the points you put in the body of the article as well as a call to action. This is one of the most important elements. In this section, you will request the reader to do some sort of action. It could be asking them to access a website – view a demo – or Buy a product.
A call to action should clearly tell users what you want them to do. They should include active words such as: call, buy, visit, subscribe, Donate, etc. all of these words encourage your readers to take action.
Resource Box – if you are writing for your own blog this is really a personal decision. However, if you are marketing your article through article marketing websites, this is an essential piece to the puzzle. Why would you write an article without putting your personal information at the bottom? Entice them to click a link and sign-up for something – you can do this through offering free reports, a coupon for your services or any number of things. I prefer giving something valuable away for “Free”! You do not want to give away junk – or they will never return, to get your services or buy your products.
Once you build your database you can then start the process of marketing to people who want the information you are giving. When they are ready to use a service or buy a product you are selling – you will be the one they will come to. The more you write the easier it will become. Remember to use a program to check your spelling and grammar.
I like to write an article do all my spell checking and grammar changes and then step away. I come back a day later and read it to make sure it is exactly what I want to convey. More times then not I do some re-writing.
There are so many ways to re-purpose articles you have written. Do not shy away from writing article. I will be writing an article soon about how to re-purpose the articles you write.
To Exciting Opportunities & Endless Possibilities!
Pamela Jacob ~ Artista Design ~ 801.910.4825
Providing Creative Solutions and Amazing Results!
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