In some of our job programs it may require you to write articles for companies, jobs, posts, submission and blogs. We are going to give you some tip and tricks that will help your efforts when you need to create an article.
We are going to give you some great tricks and tips on how to write effective articles and do it in at least 1/2 the time, and with an automated method it will save about 1/4 of the time.
We will show you two primary ways to help save you time writing your articles and allow you to write effective articles and not leaving out important content. We’ve broke the Article Writing Tips down into three sections:
1. Article Writing Tips & Tricks
2. Automated Article Writing Software
3. The 10 Minute Article Creating Method
Each of these sections will help your article writing by leaps and bounds!
We are going to give a generalization of how to create web articles by knowing how to write a good basic articles, choose content and format articles to post to the Web. We will show you how to create articles from recently published articles with out violating copyrights. So even if you have never created an article you can use the methods we will show you to become an expert article writer.
You can use everything we show you in this tutorial for all of the programs that require articles to be written.
Important Note: In our Content Writing job program articles will need to be formatted in a particular way as mentioned in that training. Also as a content writer your assignments will give you the subject that needs to be written. Using what is mentioned here will be more for general article writing, but can give you ideas for creating SEO content articles as well.
Most web-marketing experts tout the power of articles for their ability to create enhanced credibility for Web sites. But what they don’t tell you is… how the heck do you write an article?
Articles written for the Web can be about almost anything under the sun, and what may not seem interesting to you will be interesting to others. As you know there are websites on the Internet about almost every subject matter you can think of, and these websites are always looking for subject articles for their websites. This creates content that search engines want to see. This is why many companies are willing to pay top dollar for original content articles which is what we are going to teach you how to create.
You need two important elements for a great article: something to say and the means to say it. First let’s discuss “something to say”, otherwise known as content.
It is impossible to write something of interest to others without good, meaty content. Content comes from your interests and experiences. To generate content you need to look at yourself and your life in a new way. Look for situations in your day which “hit home” in some way. If you are intrigued, frustrated, thrilled, challenged or otherwise awakened, then pursue the topic in greater depth.
As you work and play, have an extra mental circuit running which observes your life. Let’s pretend this circuit is a separate person, the Observer. Now when you go along your way, occasionally become the Observer and try to cultivate a new point of view. The Observer is not mired in your day-to-day struggles. Instead, the Observer watches you struggling, with clear unemotional vision yet with humor and an interest in patterns and themes.
Becoming the Observer will help you discover the interesting parts of your life which you can then bring to your reader. You can develop your golden nuggets of experience further by expressing them aloud to others (or even just to yourself). Through verbalization, you will find additional points of view and experiences of others to enrich your topic.
Then, research your topic by word-searching on your favorite search engine.
Eventually a theme or pattern will emerge. Go a step further and try to create a solution, position or attitude with regard to the theme. This will become your unique “take” on the subject.
Example: A consultant hired by a customer was irritating the customer by getting visibly excited whenever a small problem or issue appeared on the mutual project. The customer could have developed an article on their experience into a more universal theme and wrote “Beware the Chicken Little Consultant“.
The theme is consultants who use fear tactics. The position taken in the article is that such consultants should be dismissed and their users should educate themselves from less emotional sources. The attitude of the article is lightly humorous and mocking. Calling the consultant “Chicken Little” in the title is an example of this.
So far we have covered how to find and develop content, including arriving at a position and an attitude about the central theme. When you have come this far, start writing immediately.
First, jot down a few sample titles which will help guide you in your writing. Write some key points you want to be sure to cover. Then, get started writing the article.
When you write, imagine that you are sitting by a campfire with a smart and interested friend. You are comfortable and lighthearted. Your unique personality is shining through. You have a lot to share and this excites you. Tell that friend your story. What is the first thing she needs to know? Lay the groundwork step by step. Toss in a wry comment or two but don’t lose the central path.
Tell your story in an order which would be most understandable to your listener. The order might be chronological or logical, building from one point to the next. Keep going until you bring it to a satisfying endpoint.
During this part of the writing, which we call “let go”, try to refrain from second-guessing your words. You spent much time filling yourself with ideas. Now is the time to “let go” all of the ideas you have compiled. There should be a feeling of “flow”. The words should want to come out. Let them. You will feel empty and good when you are finished.
After we “let go”, We do a few quick re-reads and fix obvious problems such as reorganizing the order of certain paragraphs, or making the “person” consistent. This article is written in first (I) and second (you) person. In it, we are talking to you. It could have also been written in third (they) person. Example: “Experienced writers organize their ideas chronologically or logically”.
You can mix the “person” for a lively article. Just be sure it’s not awkward.
Look also for time consistency. Is your story written in the present? This article is written in the present. Things are happening right now. In one portion we refer to an article we wrote in the past, however the analysis of the article was written in the present, because the article still exists.
You can mix past, present and future in your article. Drawing from the past and projecting into the future are powerful presentation methods. In your re-read, make sure that this is being done correctly. Inform your readers without confusing them.
Check to make sure you are consistent with regard to singular and plural. Example of doing it wrong: “We want to inform our readers without confusing her”.
Make sure each idea has its own paragraph. When writing for the Web, remember that your article may be displayed in narrow newspaper-like columns. Paragraphs should be short. Avoid paragraphs with more than six sentences. Keep sentences short. If you must have a long sentence, follow it with a short one to perk up the reader and keep her motivated to continue reading.
Here is a big one: cut out all extraneous words. Don’t repeat. Pretend each word is worth $5 and you are paying the tab. When you finish slashing words, go back and do it again. You will be surprised that you had so much filler.
When giving a list of points, do your reader a favor and write the points in a list with numbering or bullets. Don’t make the reader cherry-pick your ideas out of a blob of text.
Check your spelling!
Now that you have done your re-reads, save your work. Leave it alone for a day or two. You need this time to forget what you wrote. Next time when you edit, you will read with fresh eyes. Weaknesses in your article will jump out. Time to clean again.
Now read the article out loud. Speak every word clearly and not too fast. A good article should not only look good on the page, but it should also sound great when performed.
After a few days of checking, if you can’t find anything else to fix, you will submit the article for syndication and publishing rights to the publishing companies. This is the point of no return. Once the article is out there will be no more fixing.
Writers write because they feel a need. When they write, they feel fulfilled. It’s possible that you could be a writer. With effort you can experience the gratification of seeing your words in print and your ideas spread across the Internet.
What To Write Articles About
With many of the job programs that will require an article, more than likely you will have a general idea of the content based on a company or niche you might be creating article for. If you are wanting or needing to create an article from scratch and can’t decide on a subject, then this section will help.
There really are not any guidelines for what to write your articles about. You can actually write about subjects you may have experience with; you may be an expert and not even know it. As an example, if you have children you deal with on a daily basis, you might be an expert on how to manage them and the everyday interactions you have with them. Write an article on some tips you have learned about how to manage your children.
You might know everything about carpooling, time management, or making quick meals in a crunch, etc. You might have had a bad day dealing with a certain situation; you can actually vent that through many of the article writing programs we will show you.
You DON’T want to write articles about negative subjects such as racism, hate or pornographic material. You cannot use profanity or defamation. Just keep it clean and you will be fine.
Do You Have Writers Block?
How can you overcome writer’s block?
Answer: We feel your pain. Writer’s block is related to
procrastination, but is much more serious. It stops us dead
in our tracks and strikes fear in our hearts. It doesn’t
have to be that way. If you follow the same writing plan
every time you write, it will eliminate stress and help you
avoid the dreaded Writers Block.
Here is a step-by-step plan you can use to avoid writer’s block. Here are some techniques you can use to start your fingers flying over the keyboard:
You Are The Boss: If you are having a tough time with a certain part of your article, delete it and go in a different direction. Replace it with something you feel better able to concentrate on.
Switch Things Up: If you can’t write your introduction, write your conclusion!
Search It: Use a search engine such as SearchHybrid.com to read what others have written on your topic. Don’t copy them, but do use their points to stimulate your own creativity.
Take A Walk: Get away from your computer and get a fresh perspective. Or, take your laptop outside and let the sun warm you up.
Just Do It: If you can’t write on your topic, just write about anything that comes into your head. Write about how you have writer’s block, write anything you can think of.
Sometimes, just getting your fingers moving is enough to get your creative juices flowing.
Whatever you decide to do, don’t give up. Only those who give up have no chance to succeed. Sit back, relax and read some articles written by someone you admire or the article sites we will give you to research. When you least expect it, the clouds will part and your writer’s block will fade away.
We are going to show you a software program that will help you create new articles from previously posted articles. This is completely legal and is a well known practice among seasoned article writers. The important thing to remember is spinning the articles enough so it does actually create it’s own fresh content.
In a nut shell! Here is how this will work using the Magic Article Rewriter software in seven easy steps:
1) We will show you how to get thousands of copy articles using article directories. You will also get over 27,000 pre-written (Private Label Rights) articles from Magic Article Rewriter when you join.
2) Launch the Magic Article Rewriter spinning tool.
3) Load your article into Magic Article Rewriter.
4) Select a word, sentence or paragraph you would like to rewrite.
5) Pick as many synonyms as you want throughout the text or insert your own variations.
6) Press the rewrite button and get brand new, top quality, exclusive and unique articles!
7) Use the special tokens database to speed up the rewrite process provided in software.
You will have just created an article in about 5 Minutes! Not only that, you can simply select the amount of copies you want and have multiple articles all with different content which originated from the copies article you started with. Best of all it will be all original content… so you don’t have to worry about copyright or plagiarism concerns. This will be 100% your article.
We will walk you through the process.
Getting Content Article From Article Directories
What you will be doing is referred to as “spinning the articles” and is a simple way to take existing articles, spin the content and the end result will be your own articles with fresh content.
We will provide you with three large article directories that you will be able to search and locate articles as you need them.
Once you locate the articles in any of the three article databases you will spin the articles to meet your content requirements using the Magic Article Rewriter software.
Step 1: Click on any of the three article directories we list below:
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Step 2: Then type a keyword in the site’s search box that best describes the subject of your article you are wanting to create, or use their categories to begin looking for the content articles based on a particular niche category. A list of hundreds and probably thousands of articles pertaining to the keyword you searched will be displayed.
Step 3: Read the title of the searched articles, this usually will give you a good idea of the main content of the article, use this as a guideline to research the article further.
Step 4: Open a Wordpad or Notepad. Copy the complete article content only. You will remove any links or personalized message such as relating to a company, website or author. You are now ready to paste the article in the Magic Article Rewriter software.
Watch this video on how the Magic Article Rewriter software works:
This software is used by profession article writers, website and blog owners to quickly, easily and legally create content articles.
Because there is a one-time charge of $47.00, we will tell you this article writing tip is 100% optional.
However, if you add this up for the amount of time this will save you, it will pay for itself in less than a day for the amount of money it will generate for you creating articles.
* If you are not wanting to spend any additional money, then you can use the next section “The 10 Minute Article Creating Method” which is 100% free option we will show you on how to create articles quickly.
The next method we will show you is great for creating original article content. This next option will take a little more time than the first, but will create the absolute best articles and you can still do a 300 to 500 word article in as little as 10 minutes using this method.
Doing this method the first time through will probably not create your articles in 10 minutes, but with a bit of practice, you will then be able to do it in less than 10 minutes! This method will allow you to create more articles of your own original content with out spinning the articles.
This article creating system can be boiled down into six simple steps: Brainstorming.
Here are the steps you will master with this system:
Brainstorming – 30 seconds Title – 30 seconds
Three Points – 1 minute
Write Article (2 minutes per point) – 6 minutes
Editing (Read it ONCE only!) – 1 minute
Finishing Touches (Keywords, Excerpt, Resource) – 1 minute
Total = 10 Minutes!
The first thing to do whether you’re planning on writing 10 articles or a hundred is to brainstorm. By getting this out of the way at the beginning, it will help you develop a clear action plan for where you’re headed, thus helping you stay on track and motivated later on.
If you don’t have a specific destination in mind then any road can take you there; if you don’t have a list of topics you’re going to write about, then it becomes very easy to get distracted and/or de-motivated after a few articles. It also makes it hard to keep within your 10 minute budget if you constantly have to stop and think. Creativity takes time, and if you get stuck you get writer’s block. When you use a system, you don’t need to get creative, thus you won’t get writer’s block.
While it is easy enough to brainstorm for 30 seconds and generate an idea for a single article, I recommend actually taking 10-15 minutes separately for brainstorming, thus providing you with an ongoing supply of ideas for all of your future articles.
You need to start with a topic. For the sake of an example, let’s pick digital picture frames. Get a blank sheet of paper and write your topic at the top. Below that, write the seven universal questions: who, what, when, where, why, how, what-if. Now brainstorm a bit, filling out these different categories as they relate to your topic.
If you’re absolutely stuck, you can do a quick search in forums, Yahoo Answers, on SearchHybrid, or Wikipedia, making note of any common ideas, questions, or problems that show up. Add these into your framework.
BRAINSTORM EXAMPLE: “DIGITAL PICTURE FRAMES”
• WHO: (buys / gives / uses them) Friends (boyfriends, girlfriends, school friends etc) Relatives (Uncles, aunts, grandparents, grandchildren, parents etc) People wanting to decorate their houses (home decorators, moms, home makers, etc) Photographers (amateur photographers, pros, nature lovers, scenic photographers etc) Business owners (restaurant owners, offices, doctor’s offices, (chiropractor/massage/physiotherapy etc), retail stores, caterer’s, camera stores etc.
• WHAT: (is the product? Think of different features and characteristics) Big digital frames, small ones, medium ones, tiny ones, portable ones, wireless ones, etc
• WHEN: (do people buy them?) Christmas, birthdays, graduations, weddings, celebrations, births, Valentine’s day etc… you can use pretty much any special occasion as a reason to buy your product. Just get creative.
• WHERE: (do people use them?) Living room, family room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, workshop, office, waiting room, reception area, hotels, restaurants, etc.
• WHY: (should they buy them?) Can customize with pictures, show someone you care, way to stay in touch, advertising for business, customer or employee appreciation, etc.
• HOW: (to use them, think of “how to’s” here) How to install one, how to setup a wireless one, how to update one over the internet, how to customize one for: pet lovers, sport lovers, mechanics, businesses, cooks, etc.
• WHAT-IF: (what happens if you buy one or use it?) Your house looks nicer, you’ve given a great gift, shown someone you cared, strengthen the bonds with grandparents, etc.
If you’re familiar with your niche, you should be able to do this in 10 to 15 minutes, if not quicker. If you’re really stuck, ask your friends or family for ideas, but the key is to write something down! At this stage, there are no bad ideas!
We could have expanded these sub-lists much further, especially the WHO category, and we encourage you to put down all the possibilities you can think of. Be specific! The more items you have in each category, the more combinations you’ll start seeing.
10 minutes and I already have the basis for hundreds of articles. Making Combinations As we just mentioned, the next step is to start making combinations from your categories. By doing this you can create a nearly endless list of possible article ideas. For instance:
1. What kind of frame should you buy your girlfriend for Valentine’s Day?
2. How can a small restaurant use a frame to advertise?
3. How to setup a wireless frame to stay in touch with grandparents?
All we did is create combinations from the different categories. If you want a truly exhaustive list of topic ideas, then go through each of these methodically, starting with each item you’ve written in the WHO field, and create a list combining it with one of the items in each of the fields below it.
Go through the list until you’ve made all the combinations possible. Even if you’ve only put down 3 items in each question you’ll have 2187 combinations! (3x3x3x3x3x3x3).
Now, please don’t write an article on ALL of those! Many will be quite similar to each other, and many will be pointless (boyfriend buying one for bathroom to advertise!). The point is that you should easily be able to cull 100 or even 500 decent topic ideas from this mixture.
Don’t worry if you write an article on buying something for your girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, and it contains essentially the same information as the article for Christmas. The point is to be relevant to the people who find your article, and if they’re searching for Christmas gifts, then your Christmas article (even though it is similar to your Valentine’s one) will be perfect for them. The chances are 1 in a million that they’ll ever read your Valentine’s article as well, and make the connection. Besides, who cares if they do?
Okay, so you’ve got your master list of topic ideas. Pick a topic, because now we’re going to turn it into an attention grabbing title. Depending on your topic, pick one of the following 5 techniques and use it:
1. Make it a Question. Can I Keep Squirrels Out Of My Bird Feeder?; What Is The Best Way To Cook Dandelions?
2. Make it a “How to……..?” Throwing a question mark on the end of a title can often improve click through. How To Lose 10 lbs In 10 Days? How To Have a Flea-Free Dog in 48 Hours?
3. Base it on Numbers or Statistics. Ever read the tabloid headlines at the supermarket? Do what they do, it works! 165 Ways to Feel Sexy; 19 Reasons To Wear Purple; Flat Abs in 21 Days; 78% of Celebrities Use This Fat Loss Technique; Improve Your Car’s Fuel Efficiency by 17%!
4. Make it Negative: use words like avoid, don’t miss, mistakes, don’t do this. 7 Tax Mistakes to Avoid At All Costs; Want to Lose Weight? Don’t Use Aspartame.
5. Make it a List. People love top 10’s! Top 10 Dating Mistakes; Top 10 Ways to Waste Time At The Office; 5 Biggest Dog Training Mistakes; Top 10 Ways to Make Money On The Internet; 3 Habits of Highly Successful People; 5 Steps To Being Famous.
We should also mention that according to EzineArticles, the first 3-4 words of your title should include the keyword, for best performance. You might need to rearrange the title to make it work in this fashion, though it isn’t a requirement.
A great title will increase the number of times your article is viewed. Don’t worry if you don’t get it right at the beginning. Article directories like EzineArticles.com allow you to track article views and clicks, so you can do your own testing.
If you have an article that has been live for a month or two and still isn’t getting many views, try changing the title and see if it improves. The more articles you submit, the more you will see the difference in performance between good articles and poor ones.
Time to Practice! Take two minutes right now and practice writing your own headlines. Write two titles for each of the five title types shown above. Don’t get too caught up in what to title your article. Familiarize yourself with these guidelines; but force yourself to make a title decision in 30 seconds or less. Use an egg timer if you have to! You’ll quickly get used to writing these and it will become second nature. Don’t get stuck; you can always change it later!
Now that you have a great title, it should be fairly straightforward to write a 300 word article, simply elaborating on the title. Nevertheless, we’re going to make it even easier! Ask yourself, what are three or four sub-points you can talk about briefly regarding that topic? Let’s do an example, using our topic (not the title) of “What kind of digital frame should you buy your girlfriend for Valentine’s Day?”
Sub-Points: 1. Get a keychain frame so she can carry it around. 2. Or, get a medium sized one for her dresser. 3. Definitely customize the frame with pictures of you and her.
The sub-points should only take you about 30 seconds to think up. You’ll get faster at this as you go. They can be additional questions, the points you talked about in your title (3 ways to….), or pretty much anything you want. Each point should be 3-10 words, maximum.
Time Saving Tip! If you’re planning on writing five articles in a sitting, take a piece of paper and scribble down five topic ideas, leaving space between each one. Then in only a few words each, quickly go through and create three points for each topic. Now you can focus 100% on writing, no creativity required! Now you’ve effectively built the framework for your article, and it’s time to start writing. Typists, warm up your fingers!
If you’ve done everything I’ve told you so far, then the article is going to practically write itself for you; this is the easiest part! You’ve already got a title which pretty well sums up the article you’re about to write, and you’ve also got an outline in the form of a few sub-points or questions which you are going to address.
All you need to do now is address them! We usually start with an opening sentence or two, introducing the topic and what they’re going to learn. Try to use the keyword early in the first paragraph. We then move straight into the first point. In fact, we actually type out my point as a subheading then answer it with a few sentences. As you’re practicing, use the timer again and limit yourself to 2 minutes per point.
Go through all your points then gauge how many words you’re at. I’ll nearly always throw in a conclusions sentence of some sort. Once again, make sure you put your keyword in the last paragraph. This helps with SEO. In general you only want to use your keyword once for every 100 words, so for the size of articles we’re talking about, you’re only going to mention your keyword three or four times.
Feel free to use variations of your keyword though, for instance: digital frame, digital picture frame, digital photo frame can all be used interchangeably. Some people try to make their writing style sound polished and sophisticated, however many experts agree that it is best to write as if your audience had only a grade 7 education. This is the level where most people feel comfortable reading at, so just keep it simple!
Tip: Save in Text Format If you like writing in Microsoft Word, that’s fine, but save your files in Plain Text Format. Copying and pasting from Word doesn’t usually work well with article directories because of extra code Word leaves in there. Saving in text format looks ugly, but you can quickly paste it later.
A quick note on editing… Don’t!
This might sounds counter-intuitive, and of course you need to make sure that you’re submitting something that isn’t full of spelling and grammar mistakes (otherwise it may get rejected by the directory editors), but if your spellchecker comes up clean and it makes sense when you read it, then don’t bother polishing it!
We’re not here to grace the Internet with the finest prose yet written by man; we’re here for one purpose only – to get eyeballs to our articles and on to our website where the fun stuff happens (read: sales!). That is the reason that anyone can use the 10 Minute Article System to create useful articles.
With practice I’ve learned to type an article in a single go, and I know that it is at least 80% of where we would like it to be. Going back and fixing that remaining 20% often takes more time than it took to write it initially, and it’s just not worth it! Force yourself to publish your first draft, and get used to doing it.
Pareto’s Principle says that 20% of your effort will produce 80% of your results, so the more you focus on what you’re doing in that 20% zone; the more your productivity will increase. The more you eliminate unproductive time, the more your productivity will increase. So the editing step basically just means have a quick read back over your article, make sure it makes sense, and if it does, move on.
To be fully prepared to submit your articles all over the internet, there are a few more quick things you need to do. These are the finishing touches on your article, and then you’ll be done, all in 10 minutes or less!
Keywords/Keyphrases
Keywords are like tags; they help the article directory and the search engines index your article and display it for relevant searches. Therefore, you can’t afford to leave this field blank, or to put only one keyword in there like many people do. It is important for your SEO content articles to included needed keywords as described by the publisher or website in need of SEO content articles.
If submitting to article publishing sites, most article publishing sites will want to see a 3 – 5% keyword density 500-word per article, and we’d recommend taking them up on that offer. Every article you write should be specifically targeting one keyword. Make sure that keyword goes in here, but then also put any variations of it you’ve used in the article.
You would use more keywords if submitting directly to publisher or website. It is also good to do a little lateral thinking at this point. Let’s go back to the digital frames example. We could put digital frames and digital picture frames in the article about the Valentine’s Day gift, and that’s great. But chances are, people aren’t going to be searching for “digital picture frames,” in fact digital frames probably aren’t even on their mind.
They’re looking for Valentine’s Day gifts, and you’re suggesting they use a digital frame to solve that problem. Therefore, you need to be putting Valentine’s Day keywords in there as well so that your article gets shown in the search results.
Keyword Density and Word Count
If you are creating SEO content articles using this method, you need to keep in mind the keyword density. As shown in the Content Article Training you will want to keep the keyword density between 3 – 5%. You also will need to keep track of the word count. We have a free online tool you can use which will give you the keyword density, and you word count. Get keyword density and word count at this site – http://www.textalyser.net
Excerpts Excerpts are short little blurbs that describe your article. To write a proper excerpt it is important to understand how they are used. If you go to EzineArticles.com you’ll notice all the articles on their front page. The titles are in blue, and right beside them you’ll see the excerpt.
The excerpt is what is used to describe your article, to advertise your article to potential readers. It is also used by some search engines to describe it in the search results. With that in mind, you want your excerpt to grab the reader’s attention. Don’t make it a boring, technical sounding summary. Make it interesting enough that they want to know more.
Here are three points to remember:
1. Keep it Short. You shouldn’t need more than 1 or 2 sentences to describe the article, plus search engines only display the first 160 characters or 25-30 words.
2. Speak Simply. Save big words like “antidisestablishmentarianism” for the article – NEVER put them in the excerpt. You want these as direct and easy to read as possible.
3. Write it Last, so it can properly describe and reflect the article you’ve written.
Hint at what you will tell them, or what they will learn, or grab their attention in some way so that they want to read more. Make sure you put your keyword phase in there too!
Resource Box & Call to Action
Now that you’ve completed your article, you need to write a resource box for it. Sometimes called a signature, this CAN be used as a blurb about you, the author, but that’s just boring. Smart marketers will instead use this space as a Call to Action (CTA) – forget telling people about you, tell them about your product and how it can solve their problems!
The resource box is placed right after the article. In some cases, you can write it as if it is the last paragraph for the article, thus putting a spin on the whole article. However, this doesn’t work with all directories, as some show the signature in a separate box. We recommend customizing the resource box for each article you write; at bare minimum you should have several variations that you cycle through.
Most importantly, you need to vary the anchor text that you’re using in your links. Google likes to see variations of keywords linking back to your site; they get suspicious if there is only ever one phrase that is used to link back to you, and you won’t rank as well. It is far better that you have a several different phrases that you use. It helps to make the resource box relevant in some way to the article.
There’s a reason it’s called a resource box! For instance, if your site sells sports shoes and you’re writing an article on tennis shoes, make your text relevant to tennis shoes in particular. Make the reader think that your site is built specifically to solve the problem they’re reading about!
If you have a free report that you give out, you should advertise it in your resource box. This could also be the place to advertise your USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, in English, that’s what makes your business different (and better!) than the competition.
Inserting HTML Anchor Text Links
To make a certain keyword show up as a link in your resource box, simply paste this code before and after it, replacing it with your own information:
<a href=”http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com”>KEYWORD</a>
Example: Learn much more about determining coin collecting value, and other great information about coin collecting by visiting: <a href=”http://www.coinsupplyexpress.com”> Coin Supplies<a/>
Note: The above is an example and not an active website.
The author used a combination of anchor text and straight URL to link back to the site, which is a great idea. Often times, good articles will get re-printed elsewhere on the internet, and depending on how they are displayed, sometimes the straight URL is the only link that will work properly in these cases. Still, the call to action is a bit weak and could be improved with an offer of a free report.
Good Resource Boxes: Just Remember:
Personalized text, relevant to the article. Call to Action. Make it a command and give them a strong reason to click through to your site. Links. Use both your available links, one with anchor text, and the other as a straight URL.
Using a Text Template Previously we mentioned that you can write your articles in MS Word if you want, but that it is best to save them in Plain Text format. The reason for this is that when you’re pasting your articles into the submission forms, bad things sometimes happen if you paste directly from Word (extra code comes along and messes up the formatting).
To get around this we save all my articles in straight text, or copy them to a Notepad or Wordpad file before saving. To save time, we also use a template that we basically just fill in with our article. Now before you laugh at the simplicity of it, let us tell you that even though it is ugly and simple,
We’ve found it very functional and a surprisingly useful time-saver. The whole point of using a system to create articles is to remove the creativity required, and thus the writer’s block that often accompanies the need for creativity. This template helps achieve that goal.
TITLE: {leave blank area for title}
ARTICLE: {leave blank area for article}
EXCERPT: {leave blank area for excerpt}
KEYWORDS: {leave blank area for keywords}
RESOURCE BOX: {leave blank area for resource box}
Now, this definitely isn’t rocket science, but using this template has consistently saved me time on every article we written using it.
Remember, saving a minute each time counts for something when you’re writing 500 articles; it adds up to more than 8 hours!
Usually if you’re writing a lot of articles all at once, there will be overlap between keywords and resource boxes. If your articles are all saved in this format, copy the already-complete article that is closest to the one you’re about to write, quickly delete the content in the first three fields and start writing.
After you’re done, just modify the keywords and resource box as necessary. This template gives me a file we can easily send to anyone else to have submitted.
All the fields are neatly separated, removing all guess work from the submission task, which is sometimes important depending on who you’re sending it to! Plus, we don’t have to count on the outsourcer to come up with any part of the article, thus maintaining complete quality control.
Link Structure
This report isn’t about SEO, but we would be remiss not to point out to you the danger of using different URL structures on your links. Very briefly, Google sees the following links as entirely different, even though we know that they all lead back to the same place.
· http://www.domain.com
· http://www.domain.com/index.php
· http://domain.com
· http://domain.com/index.php
The moral of the story is simply to pick which link structure you’re going to use, and be consistent. There isn’t a right or a wrong in terms of which one you pick; just stick with it once you’ve chosen it. Personally we always use the full URL, without the homepage. (e.g. http://www.domain.com)
Be Your Own Drill Sergeant
The essence of the whole 10 Minute Article system is that you learn to quickly complete a series of small and simple tasks, according to a learned method. The point of systematizing something is to take the guesswork out; to remove the need for creativity and the time spent thinking that it represents.
In the beginning it can be hard to discipline yourself to stick within strict time limits for each step of the process, but we’ve found that using an external reminder can help greatly. You need to be your own drill sergeant and make yourself toe the line!
If you’ve got an egg timer, set it each time you’re advancing to a new step, and force yourself to stay within the time limit (see page 6 for task times). If you don’t finish in time, move on. Don’t finish. After you’ve gone through all the steps, see how far you went over limit, then of course go back and fix your article.
However, forcing yourself to carry through each step in the required time will QUICKLY bring you up to speed, by forcing you to think of ways to do things quicker.
Here’s a link to a cool desktop stopwatch program we’ve found that works in Windows. It’s free, and it produces such an annoying beep that it is sure to keep you motivated =).
http://www.download.com/XNote-Stopwatch/3000-2350_4-10049177.html
After you’re comfortable doing each of the individual steps fairly close to the recommended times, then set your alarm for 10 minutes and go through the whole thing in one shot. Again, if you overshoot, that’s okay. Make note of how much you overshoot by, and aim for better next time.
By doing this, you’re competing with yourself, and you’ll find that you won’t be satisfied until you achieve your goal – a fully complete article in 10 minutes. We can do it, so there’s no reason why you can’t too! Print out the handy 10 Minute Articles bonus checklist and use it as a guide as you’re learning the process.
Print out this checklist and use it with a timer. If you take too long for a step, move on to the next one. Be ruthless on yourself, and you will soon get there!
► Brainstorming 30 seconds
• Make a combination from your brainstorm session. Remember the seven universal questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, What-If.
► Title 30 seconds
• Remember: Questions, How To’s, Numbers & Statistics, Negatives, and Lists
► Three Points 1 minute
• Think of 3 useful points, no more than 10 words each.
• Phrase each point as a question if you can.
► Write Article 6 minutes
• 1 or 2 introductory sentences.
• Answer each of the 3 points, using them as subheads. Max 2 minutes each.
• A conclusion sentence.
► Editing 1 minute
• Read your article, once only. Only fix MAJOR problems.
• Remember, you’re aiming for an 80% grade, not 100%.
► Finishing Touches 1 minute
• Keywords (4 to 6) – include your targets, and also laterally relevant ones (e.g. Valentine’s Day)
• Excerpt – Keep it short & speak simply. Hint, attract interest, and include your keyword.
• Resource Box – Personalized, relevant text. Call to Action. Links (both anchored and straight).