11 Rich Sage Article Writing Techniques
I am in the middle of traffic building with a rather high goal of reaching several thousand visitors per day during the first quarter of 2008, I am up to my neck in article writing as part of it, but what else to do? My experience is there there is no sustainable way to build good web site traffic without doing the old and proven methods of publishing content and expanding to reach more and more readers.
Clearly the intent of all that work is to create links from just about any place so that the search engines and individuals pay attention to the content. In order to accomplish that I’ve come up with 11 techniques that I try to follow with each article to give it the maximum exposure.
Rich Sage List of 11 Article Writing Techniques:
1. AIDA: I talked about Attention, Interest, Desire and Action –these are elements that are a must for building traffic using articles. The AIDA formula works very well. I wrote an article just about that, which is posted at the free article directory, ArticleMint. >> I think the article will let you know all the details you’ll need to follow in article writing.
2. Article Writing Software: There is software out there that allows you to create one article and then “spin” or “manufacture” many versions of that article. Here is one such program called WordFlood. I have not used this, but plan to install and test it in the next month once my new workstation is setup. I don’t like to do a lot of software testing on my main workstation. It’s just asking for trouble. I’ll post a review of WordFlood when it’s time.
3. Publishing to a Select Number of Directories: That reminds me to update my list of Article Submission directories. Well, the biggest is EzineArticles.com, which often results in getting an article ranked high in Google searches. Then at the end of the list is my humble creation, the ArticleMint. I don’t suggest that you submit to 400+ article sites. That really does not work. My suggestion is to pick the TOP 11, which I’ll review in a few days and concentrate on success within those publishing areas.
4. Writing for Humans vs. Machines: One caution you’ll need to address is the issue of who you are writing for. If you are focused on the various elements of search engine optimizing and various techniques to fool Google, that’s going to show up in your writing quality. My suggestion is to write for people –who will then see you has a good source for learning and send you more and more visitors.
5. Writing as a Human vs. Being a Machine: This goes back to the question, quality vs. quantity. Above I suggested to stick with quality in the places that you post articles. My suggestion here is to stick to your own writing. At the extreme edge, I’d get something like WordFlood to increase the speed of writing. However, I would *never* allow a program or application online to write your articles. It’s far better to write 26 great articles a year then write 260 articles that read like a machine produced it.
6. Daily Work and Be Consistent: I must admit that this is far easier to list here than practice. My lesson for this comes from the Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who did this when he had writers block. He devised a calender and forced himself to write daily. Then he tried to see how long he could go before skipping a day. Next thing is that he’d find times when he wrote everyday for 30 days and so on… The point here is that MOMENTUM is vital and often is the difference between mediocre success and just getting by.
7. Do Not Make Too Many Links and Never Affiliate Links: In the body of the article, you’ll find that many article directories will not allow ANY links. The only place that you can put links will be the “resource box” at the bottom of the article. In that location you may be allow one or two links, depending on the article site.
8. Keep Your Writing the Best it Can Be! This is something that I decided upon a week ago in my article Quality vs. Quantity. I have seen some blog sites that are trying to post 3 or 4 times per day. I read some of those articles and they are often tabloid blogs vs. true quality posts to help readers. I want to help readers! To help readers and build a great following, write well, write daily and post when you have great content.
9. Broadcast Your Writing to Outlets: What are outlets, as oppose to article directories? By outlets, I mean by sites like Digg. I will have to compile a list of sites that are what I call publishing sites. These are generally sites that have a community that reads and comments or rates the article that you write.
10. Create a Brand or Use Your Own Name: This is the hottest advice I can give you. Why? Imagine a stadium full of people with bland black raincoats on. Then imagine you going into that stadium wearing a blue or red coat. What would be the effect? Would someone watching a broadcast of that notice you? You bet. That’s the power of a brand. The more people who are watching, the better you’ll get their attention with a brand. Put your brand every where on your articles. Make it known who you are. Keep in mind that this is why you’ll need to work on quality.
11. Provide Value: Lastly, there is what I feel is the granddaddy of why many have trouble building online success –They forget the the cardinal rule of everything, especially when it comes to business success, is that you need to provide value for your readers. The reader is going to use their time and sit at the pc to read your content. The reader is looking for entertainment, to solve a problem or to learn. Have to help them accomplish that? When you consistently provide value to everyone that visits your site, you’ll be a success in no time.
I hope the above list is a guide that you’ll use often. I have written it not only to help you, but to remind myself what to do and not do. I am the first person to follow my advice.
Rich Sage
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