How To Edit Your Articles As You Write

Increase your ezine subscribers by submitting articles once or twice a week to the opt-in ezines. Read by thousands, even hundreds of thousands, you get 10-25 new subscribers for each submission. Your articles also bring people to your Web site to buy your products. Use this checklist to edit your own work.

Knowing these benefits, you want to create and submit as many excellent articles as you can. At times, you have the articles complete, but don't have anyone handy to edit them. While it's best to get at least two other edits from business associates, you can edit your articles yourself with a little help.

Use this checklist to edit your own work:

1. Start your introduction with a question or startling fact. You must hook your readers with something that reaches their emotions.

2. Make your introduction only a few sentences. Your readers want to get to the heart of your article fast. They want easy-to- read quick tips. Long stories can bring a yawn to your reader.

3. At the end of your introduction, include your article's thesis to stay on track and make your article clear and compelling. For instance, "use this checklist to edit your own work."

4. Make all of your sentences short. Since standard sentence length is 15-17 words, make most of your sentences under that number. Complex sentences and multiple phrases make the reading tougher. Make it easy for your readers to find the subject and verb of each sentence, so they get the point fast.

5. Avoid dull, slow sentences. To avoid passive construction, start them with a subject, and then follow with a verb. For instance, "The coach marketed her business and books through submitting articles online" is an active sentence. "The coach's books were marketed online through submitting articles." is passive. Drop linking verbs such as "is," "was," "seemed," or "had." Replace them with power, active verbs. Instead of "She is beautiful," you could say, "Her beauty compels you to stare at her."

6. Aim for compelling, clear copy. Write for the 8-10th grade reader. Don't try to impress with pompous words such as "utilize." Always think "What's in it for them?"

7. Use specific nouns and names. General references don't engage your readers' emotions. Let them see the size, color, and shape. Rather than say, "Write your book fast to make lifelong income," say "Write and finish your book fast so you can take that long vacation to a Caribbean island." Money alone doesn't motivate, but what we can do with it does.

8. Let go of certain adverbs. Words like very, suddenly, and sparingly, tell instead of show. Use adverbs as often as you celebrate your birthday. Did I show, rather than tell? Your readers are hungry to experience feelings as well as picture themselves in your examples.

9. Let go of adjectives. Instead of saying, She is a super-intelligent person," you could say, "She's a genius."

10. Appeal to the senses of sight, sound, and emotions. Telling is not effective. Instead of "Buy this book today because it is so useful," say, "Would you like to double, even quadruple your Online income in three months?"

11. Cut redundancies. Too much repetition in your articles speaks boring or "talking down" to your readers. Be willing to part with some of your "precious" words. Your first edit should reduce your words at least by one-fourth.

12. Don't use pompous words to try to impress your reader.
Use the shortest, simplest, most well-know word. Check your word's number of syllables. The more syllables, the more difficult.

13. Keep the subject and verb as close together as possible. Don't make your reader work to get the meaning.

14. Use the present or past tense of the verb rather than the "-ing" form of the verb. Instead of "she is singing," say, "she sings or she sang.

15. Put your point at the end of a sentence, a paragraph, or chapter for emphasis. This position hooks the reader to pause and notice or hooks him to keep reading.

16. Cut clichés. Once, original metaphors, clichés age and become trite. Instead of "Birds of a Feather Flock Together," you could say, "Birds of a Feather Need to Fly Away."

Make your articles sculptured and painted like a fine work of art. Your word choices do make a difference--both in commercial acceptance as well as audience understanding.

Self-editing will help.

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


For The Serious Internet Marketer: Heres A Quick And Easy Way To Reach 1000s of Buyers today

Why do so many internet marketers waste their time on... Read More

5 Critical Promotion Mistakes People Make With Articles

Did you realize that writing and publishing articles online represents... Read More

Writing a Statement

You have decided on a great idea and researched a... Read More

Will This Be Your First How-to Report?

You've got to start somewhere, but once you've created your... Read More

8 Sources To Research Awesome Article Topics

Writing articles is by far the most effective online promotion... Read More

4 Ways to Outsource Your Article Writing Needs

Not every web designer has the time ? or skills... Read More

How To Edit Your Articles As You Write

Increase your ezine subscribers by submitting articles once or twice... Read More

Writing Articles to Improve Link Popularity

There are many different ways to improve link popularity for... Read More

Direct Sales Reps CAN Write Articles - Heres How!

We all know that article writing is a great way... Read More

Articles: Why You Need to Write Them

Every webmaster knows that to gain ranking positions in search... Read More

How to Use Autoresponders With Your Articles

Now that you see that articles are the number one... Read More

Giving Yourself the Right to Write

"But I've only been on the Internet 3 months! How... Read More

Effective Affiliate Marketing Using Articles

Every day thousands of people join affiliate programs and yet... Read More

Use Your Expertise to Write That Article!

Have you ever seen articles that are not only related... Read More

How To Write an Ezine Article

Writing can be fraught at the best of times but... Read More

Simultaneous Article Submission

Do you know the difference between simultaneous article submissions and... Read More

Why Article Writing is Increasingly Important in This SPAM Era

There is no doubt that Spam has affected online business... Read More

Writing Articles, But Still Not Getting Traffic? Your Articles Suck ? But I Can Help! (Part 2)

Last time on "Because your articles suck" ? we discussed... Read More

Article Marketing Benefits Online Retailers

Strategically developing online content helps to ensure a small-business owner's... Read More

How to Be An Expert In Your Field

One of the most tried and true methods of self-promotion... Read More

How to Write Articles that Sell

In order to sell your article must do three things:1.... Read More

How An Online Writer Can Easily Self-publish Their Way To A Fortune

Online writing is really self-publishing made easier and potentially much... Read More

Creating A Great Print Newsletter

The traditional print media newsletter is still useful even in... Read More

Every Writers Dilemma: How Do You Decide What to Write About?

The sources of inspiration are all around us, in the... Read More

Essential HTML Skills For Article Authors - 7 Tips

Many successful authors close their mind to learning HTML because... Read More

Keyword Article Writing: the Key to Your Success!

Ready to jump on the keyword article bandwagon? Billions of... Read More

Promote Easily With The Two-Step

Here's a really simple way... to promote your online business... Read More

Why You Should Write Articles or At Least Get a Ghostwriter to Write for You

Overture reports over 1 million queries for article keyword related... Read More

Dont Buy Your On-Line Marketing Articles From Article Factories

I was busiy submitting some articles I ghost wrote for... Read More

How To Rank Your Articles Higher in Search Engines

All of us, the authors, know that to enhance our... Read More

Personal Promotion Through Publishing

One of the best ways to build credibility and promote... Read More

What to Write About

This is a perennial question among writers and wannabe's. Many... Read More

Writing Articles for Ranking

I have seen the question asked so many times. How... Read More