KitwanaAkil.com

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn’t wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O’Brien

The Internet is fast becoming the world’s preferred medium for advertising products, services, and expressing opinions on almost every topic.

However, just like traditional advertising there is a need to attract the attention of potential readers and customers. The inclusion of original articles and other content on your web site is one of the ways to increase traffic and sustain viewers. At some point almost everyone struggles with finding unique content for their sites.

Writing unique content for your web site doesn’t need to be difficult. Generally, the articles published on the Internet are about 350 – 700 words in length. And if you follow a few helpful guidelines you’ll be able to easily and quickly create original content. This article will be your guide to developing ideas for writing those articles.

The “How To” Article

A “How To” article is always a good place to start. The typical internet user is surfing the web to find information to solve a problem. Writing a “How To” article is the perfect vehicle delivering informative and helpful information to your site visitors. Writing a “How To” article is very simple.

The first thing to do is to get a basic structure in your mind of what you want to write about. Then write a simple outline of what you will discuss. You’ll then use the outline to create a “5 Paragraph Article” (link). The article will provide details of the various processes involved in carrying out a particular task. Under each task provide additional information that will be useful to the reader. It will be important to write a good attention grabbing introduction. You can use your knowledge of the subject or simply explain the reasons for expressing the significance of your “How To”.

The “Useful Tips” Article

An article listing various tips for solving a particular problem are really useful for readers. These articles typically consist of several bullet points that can be quickly read. The tips article should also provide an introduction that explains the benefits of saving time and improving quality of life by following the given tips. This type of article is really appreciated because everyone is interested in saving time in their daily lives and will benefit from using certain shortcuts. Add some additional information under each tip and also include the benefits of following the tip.

The “Success Story” Article

Internet searchers also like to search for information that inspires them. They will search for inspiring stories about people and events. If you have been successful in some area of your life you can write this down and use it as an article. You can write about the good experiences, the obstacles faced and overcome to achieve your success. Include discussions about the techniques, skills, and tools that you used to reach your destination. The end of the article can detail how your life has changed as a result of the success that you have accomplished.

The How To, Useful Tips, and the Success Story are just a few ideas of the types of articles that you can write to provide original content for your web site. The articles don’t need to be overly complex. Just strive to make the articles informative and useful for your readers and you will get lots of traffic to your site. Remember that continued writing and practice will make you better over time.

photo credit: tifotter

It took me fifteen years to discover I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous. - Robert Benchley

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to market on the internet is to write articles. Successful marketers have used this one method alone to make six and seven figure incomes.

One of the most fabled sayings on the internet is “Content is King”. Well, this is true as long as the content is informative, useful, and entertaining. If your articles are well presented and your thoughts are organized you can use article marketing to generate a lot of traffic for your blog, web site, or affiliate product. There are two basic points to keep in mind when writing an article:

(1) Use basic language
You don’t have to use complex or “big” words in your articles. You want to reach the largest audience possible. In order to do that just follow the “KISS” (Keep It Simple Stupid) method and you will be ok. Writers of newspapers and magazines write their articles for a fourth or sixth grade reading level. This allows them to reach the widest possible readership. You should do the same.

There are certain markets and niches that you may enter that require more complex words. For example if you are writing an article that is aimed at mortgage brokers, then that article may require words that will be more challenging. However, if you are writing articles about how to get a loan for your first house, an article aimed at first time homeowners, then your language should be less complex.

(2) Present your ideas in an interesting and entertaining way
Your ideas should be presented in such a way that they are useful to your perspective audience. The better you frame your ideas, the more readers you will attract. More readers means more traffic, more traffic means more money.

Side Note:

Your income is directly related to the amount of traffic to your web site and the size of your list. – Jimmy D. Brown.

So if you have no list and very little traffic, then you’re probably not making any money. However, if you have a list of 500+ and growing, as well as 100 visitors a day to your web site, then you are probably making some money.

Ok, sorry for the detour, but I thought that that point was important and needed to be made. Because ultimately we are writing articles to promote our web sites or products.

There are several thoughts about how long your articles should be. If you are writing for your own personal blog then the articles can be as long or as short as you like. Steve Pavlina typically writes a small e-Book for each of his posts. The guy could literally package each of his post as a $10 e-Book and make a killing. But he gives away incredible content and makes 7 figures a year from his blog.
If you submit your article to article directories you will have to follow their guidelines for the length of your articles. Typically between 350 – 750 words in length. EzineArticles.com editorial rules stipulate that articles:
Must be a minimum of 250 words and no more than 5,000 words. For us, an ideal article size is 400-750 words.

The easiest way to create an article is to use the “five paragraph essay” format. This format will allow you to write an informative and brief article on any topic.

Five paragraph essay – Step by step guide

1) First paragraph: The Introduction is used to present the topic of the article and introduce the related concepts that will be discussed in the following paragraphs.

2) Second, Third and fourth paragraphs: These paragraphs will be used to support or expand upon the points in the introduction.

3) Fifth paragraph: The Conclusion is used to summarize the entire article and repeats the purpose of the article.

With this simple formula you can write effective articles for any niche that will be informative and entertaining for your audience.
So remember to keep it simple, keep it short, make it entertaining, and follow the formula for essays. If you follow this blueprint then you will be able to write with confidence!

– Kitwana

Suggested Resources:

1. Article Marketing Domination
2. Easy Article Marketing

Article Marketing Domination is written by Josh Spaulding. The book is short sweet and to the point. Josh covers everything you need to know in order to dominate your niche in the book.

Using a step by step plan Josh explains the differences between mass article subscription services and article submission software. He explains which one not to use and why it is a bad idea. Once you read this you will know the correct way submit articles to the various directories.

Keywords are covered in detail. Josh gives you information on a tool that can be used for free to research keywords. He tells you how to go about selecting keywords that have very little competition, but high daily search volume.

Once you have your search volume you can then write your articles and submit them. He goes over article submission in detail. The book gives you a nice outline of the procedure that Josh uses to submit his article.

I was very impressed with the book and really got a lot of good information out of it. You can read the sales letter by going here: www.ArticleMarketingDomination.com