This article on the 10 (no, 11… yes, 11) tips for aspiring writers is not written from the catbird seat point of view of the article host or database manager. Rather it is by and from the point of view of an author who thinks the early misgivings. It is written especially for the beginning article writer. I have composed and presented hundreds of articles for publication to numerous of article directories and information managers and still finds article writing my enemy.
1. Necessity vs Desire:
Writings and Web blogs are necessary in today’s scheme of indexing by search engines. Not what the newbie wants to hear. Just think what the Holy Book states, “there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man”. This is absolutely right! Many of us detest article and blogging at times, and some of us dread the journey to pen and paper (or keyboard as the case may be) all the time. Many a webmaster would call them “a essential evil” as they are not generally anyone’s best liked house keeping tasks.
2. Just Being Writing, It Gets Easier:
First it is sometimes tough to get a thought or idea and to get started. We know authors who literally get sick thinking about the process. Lighten up. There are a lot to write about, name it: alternative medicine, cancer diseases, true religion, life insurance, playing online poker, cheap insurance. Others may think of even more unusual topics such as penis enlargement and cheap viagra. Once an writer has a starting point and gets passed the basic thoughts, blogging and article usually goes fairly smoothly.
The main thing is that you begin writing. Pick a subject you know something about and just begin writing. You will be pleasantly at just how easily ideas flow. Don’t think everyone knows what you know. They don’t. Will Rogers once said, “all men are ignorant, just on different subjects”. And this is the truth!
3. Good vs Perfection:
Your old English composition professor is not looking over your shoulder. This paper does not have to be perfect. That is not to say it does not have to be on point or to say that it does not have to be correct. At least it does or it should be. However, perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, rarely possible. Too much detail and you run the danger of losing your reader on various levels. Too long and
most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to browse the whole material regardless of how good it is.
4. Length of Blog vs Length of Article:
Most article publishers require a minimum of 600 words per article - some will let you slide with 400 words. Blogs can have a shorter content. Blogs can and maybe should support appropriate images and embedded links.
Don’t over do it though. Too gaudy or too slow to load and you have wasted your time, ticked off a potential reader, and probably upset a publisher who can ban you entirely from their service. compositions, then again, typically cannot carry these extra touches concurring to the requirements of most article publishers.
5. Format:
Save your article in ASCII format. There are many tools that does this thing. A search for ‘free ASCII editor’ or for ‘free plain text editors’ will give you a lot of tools to choose from. WordPress is a favorite pick. If all fails simply use notepad to turn out your masterpiece.
6. Spelling and Grammar:
Run and good spell checker and grammar checker once you have written your article. Microsoft Word works well for these purposes. Just don’t use the MS Word copy for publication of your article. Rather use its corrections to make any essential rectifications to your plain text copy. The MS Word copy will work for blogs although other editors are preferred.
Like the good old days when you were encouraged by teachers, you will find article and blog authoring skills become better with time and practice.
7. Publish and Announce:
Once your article is ready you may want to use some software to publish and announce it. First do a search for Blog hosts and select those suited to your needs. Register in one or more and publish your blog there. Then search for blog announcers and RSS announcers and use them to get your blog noticed.
Now that you have that out of the way find an article wizard that will post your articles to free article publishers. You can post them one at a time by hand if you are really bored and have absolutely nothing else in life to do. Using an automatic poster you can publish to hundreds of servers in an hour or so. The only way to go.
8. Forbearance:
Now, have some forbearance. Here is where you lose control. Many of those who host compositions are timely and your articles will be reviewed within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (48) hours. Others may take days and weeks therefore never date an article - a sure way to get rejected.
9. Rejection - “sorry your article has been declined”:
Be prepared for most servers to reject your articles. Do not take it personally. It usually has little to do with you or your article.
Some databases instantly reject articles for spelling errors when there are none or where there is more than way to spell a word. And, just as in any other endeavor some directories are simply too slow-moving and get so far behind, the best and quickest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject the whole article. You will know who do this over time.
There are also people who review your writings through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, irrespective of how they are used, your article are instantly junked. These are those who can’t publish the Bile because it contains words that offend them or their readers. Don’t worry about these folks who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.
Remember, just as in everything else in life, for every rule there is an exception.
10. Keep the faith Believe, and keep cranking out compositions:
Since most writers, especially newbies, prepare only one copy of an article against the advice of most seasoned authors it is important that the newbie keep his chin up - keep the faith. That will be easier as more and more of your articles are accepted and published getting visitors to your website while producing those all important links to your sites.
It is not unavoidable that every host to accept every submission. After one or two directories publish your article on any given subject, the search engines tend to penalize you anyway by ignoring additional postings. This is close to spamming and while it could help someone find you, it probably won’t. It is not necessarily, the more the merrier. The additional listings will not increment your page rankings or links reported by the search engines. It is more important to get published by servers with the highest Google page rank possible.
Now, one BONUS Hint for you: Along with “the rejection slip” will usually come a suggestion on how to “edit” your article and a invite that you resubmit it. Do not waste your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have composed a new article from which you get much more punch. Enough article publishers will get your article up so move on and save yourself some time and heartburn.
Everybody has an idea or thought at least once a day usually at the most inopportune time. How many good ideas have you lost because of waiting? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Write that thought before disappears.
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