Write Articles That Get Results

It's no secret that writing and publishing helpful articles is one of the best ways to promote your business. Writing articles can:

• Establish you as an expert in your field.


• Get your name and your company name in front of potential clients who you may never have been able to contact otherwise.


• Create valuable content for you to share with potential clients or convert into speeches and other marketing strategies.

Writing articles for local business publications, trade magazines, newsletters, and Web sites that reach your target audience can be a powerful piece of your marketing plan. But following through can be more difficult than it sounds, as many people hate writing or have a hard time just figuring out where to begin. Plenty of business owners and marketers hire outside firms or freelance writers (like The WriteShop, www.writeshoponline.com) to write articles for them, which can be a time-saving solution. But if you want to write your own articles, it can be tough to know where to begin. These five tips may help you stay focused and get the job done.

1. Narrow your topic. In each article, be sure to address only one main idea -maybe you focus on one problem your readers have, or one solution that may work for them. Trying to cover too many topics in one article just causes confusion. Whenever you find yourself going off on an unrelated tangent, turn that tangent into another, separate article for future use.

2. Write in conversational style. Keep your audience in mind and try to write for them the way you'd speak to them. For most business writing, an informal, conversational style is preferable, especially if your article will be published on the Web. Remember that you want your article to be accessible and understandable for your target audience. Shorter sentences and language that is easy to grasp quickly will have better results than long diatribes full of words that require a dictionary.

3. Offer genuine, helpful information. While your articles are tools to help market your business, they are not advertisements. Don't fill your articles with promotional material about your company, or your readers will quickly lose interest. Instead, offer them real insight, tips, or advice that shows them you know what you're talking about. Their interest in your company and what you can do for them will come; but for the sake of your article, focus on providing information they can use.

4. Be brief. Especially when writing for the Web, brevity is crucial. Before sending any article for publication, read through it several times and cut out any unnecessary words. For instance, the word "that" can be eliminated in most cases. Make sure every word counts, and every sentence is meaningful and helpful for communicating your main idea.

5. Distribute, distribute, distribute. Finally, writing an article doesn't do any good unless you get it in front of your target audience. In addition to publishing your articles on your own Web site or in your newsletter, consider sending them to publishers of print and electronic newsletters, and submit them to Web sites that publish articles on your topic. See the Resource Box below for ideas of specific Web sites where you may want to submit your articles. And remember to always include your contact information so that readers will know how to reach you.

Hopefully, these tips will get you on your way to publishing plenty of articles that will get noticed and yield results. But if you'd like even more direction to get you started, contact The WriteShop for information about our inexpensive special report, "Article Starter: A Resource Guide to Writing Business Articles That Get Results." E-mail us today at info@writeshoponline.com.

Nancy Jackson, owner of The WriteShop, helps companies better market their products and services with powerful written communications including Web content, newsletters, brochures and publications. Subscribe to her free monthly newsletter at www.writeshoponline.com.

---

Article Marketing: Free Speech Means Free Plugs for Your Business

Article marketing works like this. The majority of webmasters are... Read More

How to Write an Effective Article

Writing a great deal of articles myself, I see a... Read More

How to Write Money-Making How-To Reports

This is the "real" Money Maker in the Mail Order... Read More

Why Link Exchanges are Dead-and What the New Move in Free Traffic Is

It's no secret-link exchanges are dying a painful death. And... Read More

Writing Articles for the Search Engines

This is precisely what I am doing here today (and... Read More

How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engines

It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More

Energize Your Mind With Inspirational Writing Exercises

Feeling uninspired? Like you're stuck in a rut with your... Read More

10 Profitable Tips For Article Writers

1. Write to one person.When you're writing your article picture... Read More

Top 7 Tips For Submitting Articles Online

Online PR in the form of website and ezine article... Read More

Article Marketing: Why 2 URLs Equals Watered Down Orange Juice!

Are you an Article Marketer? If so, you know that... Read More

3 Reasons You Should Be Writing Articles To Promote Your Website

Articles are a fantastic source of links and additional traffic... Read More

How I Manage My List of Where I Post Articles Online

Article Marketing Connects you Directly to Readers Even brilliantly-written articles... Read More

Your Resourcebox Giving You Profits?

Rule number one - You must write ezine articles and... Read More

5 Powerful Article Writing Tips

Writing articles is one of the most powerful, if not... Read More

15 Commandments To Submitting Articles - Article Submission Sites

1) Don't use all capitals in your title:People don't like... Read More

Top Seven Tips for Writing Articles on the Internet

Online readers love information, but be sure your information is... Read More

How to Measure the Value of Your Article Marketing Campaign

It's not enough to scatter your articles across the internet... Read More

10 Article Writing Quirks

Much has been touted about the effectiveness of article writing... Read More

Visibility, Credibility and Position Through Articles and Celebrity Testimonials

A huge problem for many people who are working on... Read More

Four Article Marketing Secrets to Boost Your Internet Home Business Profits

Many internet home business owners today have learnt that one... Read More

Financial Planners Publicity - Increase Your Search Engine Ranking with Web Articles

The goal of free publicity is to get your name... Read More

Interviews with Well-Known Ezine Writers #3: - Shelley Lowery

MS: Shelley, you're an excellent person to talk to about... Read More

10 Things To Remember When Writing Articles To Market Your Website

Whatever you're selling, writing articles to distribute freely amongst webmasters... Read More

Top Ten Reasons to Write Articles for Free Publication Online

Many writers struggle with the decision of whether or not... Read More

10 Ways Writing Articles Can Improve Your Business

Writing articles has proven time and time again to be... Read More

Giving Yourself the Right to Write

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

The Online Writing Business Requires Constant and Regular Writing

Many writers do not understand that the online writing business... Read More

Articles: How To Turbo Charge Traffic When Your Promotion Budget Is Tiny

Writing articles for your site and for the use of... Read More

Need to Write an Article? Three is a Magic Number!

Writing articles for magazines, the Internet or the local community... Read More

Build Links and Your Brand: Article Marketing Delivers

Many online marketers have crowed about the value of writing... Read More

Write From Home: Lessons From The Editors

Writers talk about rejection all the time ? just part... Read More

How To Rank Your Articles Higher in Search Engines

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

Boost Your Expert Status, Write Articles

Writing an article is not an easy task. You have... Read More