Freelance Writing: Write An Article A Day To Boost Your Career
Copyright 2006 Angela Booth
Want to boost your freelance writing career to a whole new level? You can, with the "article a day" technique. Just write an article a day, of around 400 to 800 words, every day for a week. Not only does this give you a swag of material you can sell, it also takes your writing skills to a new level.
I've been recommending this technique to my writing students for years, so I know it works. The primary reason it works is because writing is a skill that you get better at with practice, and writing consistently to a certain level builds your writing muscles. Writing requires the interaction of various parts of your brain. This interaction isn't developed without practice, nor does the interaction stay constant unless you consistently practice.
Try writing an "article a day" for seven days. At the end of the seven days you will be a better writer. You'll write much more easily too because this technique primes your idea pump. I guarantee that when you're working on one article, you'll get ideas for three others.
How long should your articles be?
Aim for a reasonable length: around 600 to 800 words is good, but shorty articles of 250 to 500 words work too.
If you want a quick formula to follow to write your articles, try the BEST formula.
The BEST formula
The BEST formula is an easy way to remember basic article structure. I discovered it in June Duncan Owen's book How To Write And Sell Articles, and I've been forever grateful, because it makes writing articles easy.
BEST is an acronym for:
B -- Bait
E -- Explanation
S -- Step
T --- Termination
The BAIT
The BAIT is also known as the hook. It's an intriguing beginning for your article. It can be a juicy fact, or an anecdote. Pick up six different magazines and look at the baits, the first couple of paragraphs, in each article in those six magazines. All the baits in the articles will be different.
Don't spend too long writing the bait for an article. I often write the bait after I've finished an article. When you're writing your seven articles for the next seven days -- and forever afterward -- don't be too enraptured or concerned with the bait paragraph or paragraphs. Your bait is important, but not so important that you stall over it, and never get around to writing the article.
The Explanation
This part of your article explains the article's subject, or thesis. If you're writing about a computer program, you can explain what the program does in a nutshell, or why the program is important. If you're writing a personality profile, the explanation tells the reader why he should read the profile.
Sometimes you won't need an explanation, it will be covered in the article's headline and the bait.
The Step (s)
The Steps are your argument. They can be individual anecdotes, or pieces of evidence. If you're writing about a computer program, the Steps could be various ways of using the program, or how to get started with the program. If you're writing a profile, the Steps could be your subject's career, his family life, the details of his run for office, or the details of how he won the tennis championship, what others say about him, and so on.
The Termination
The ending of the article.
In the case of the article about the computer program, it could be how many people have bought the program, when the next version will be available, or where you can buy it. In your personality profile, the ending could be a final quote from the subject.
A circular ending, when you manage to refer to the bait or the explanation in the ending, is satisfying, and is an easy way to wrap the article up without working too hard. Although the BAIT formula seems like a simple formula, it will release your creativity. It gives you a structure, which is always the hardest task in writing an article.
So go ahead. Write an article a day for the next seven days. This simple exercise will do amazing things for your freelance writing career.
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Angela Booth is a veteran freelance writer and copywriter. She also teaches writing. Visit Angela Booth's Writing Blog at http://copywriter.typepad.com/ for daily writing inspiration and motivation. Her new ebook, Writing For The Web at http://www.abmagic.com/Web_Write/Web_write.html shows you how to develop a successful freelance writing career for the Web.
How to Succeed With an Internet Business
Copyright 2006 Timothy Rohrer
When it comes to starting an internet business many people believe that it can create instant wealth overnight. In most cases this is not true, but there are people that have created loads of cash from a simple home business over the course of a few months. It's not always obvious how to go about starting a home business and a lot of people can't quite grasp exactly how to be successful online. Sure it can be done and many people still do it, but each and every single person who has created wealth online needed some type of blueprint to follow.
The simplest way to get started is learning from those who are already succeeding in the online world. Starting a home business is not something that happens overnight. A home based business is built overtime with consistency and coupled with failures along the way.
To understand how one can make money online, we have to first look at the different types of ways to generate income using the internet. Generally speaking there are two types of ways to make money online and that is through investing, trading, or selling. It doesn't matter which one you chose, just as long as you follow through with your initial plan. All three ways can be lucrative with the proper tools.
Investing typically involves putting money into a company and receiving a return on your initial investment. Many people invest through HYIP programs and auto surf programs. Though HYIP's and auto surf programs do work, they usually only work for a very short period of time. Investing into HYIP's and auto surf programs requires a get in and get out strategy. Most HYIP's and auto surf programs are located offshore to avoid any US government involvement.
Trading online can range from anything to stock trading, e-currency trading to Forex trading. Though there is a bit of risk involved, the most secure type of trading is e-currency trading. E-currency trading has been growing rapidly with more and more people buying products online. Since an online transaction is not completed in the form of hard cash, we use services such as paypal, e-gold, or e-buillion. In order for these transactions to take place, there has to be an exchanger on the other side of the transaction that converts the money from hard cash to an e-currency. The exchanger receives a fee from the buyer for completing the transaction. This can be extremely lucrative if done properly.
Lastly selling affiliate products is another way to generate income online. Selling products online is becoming more and more competitive each and everyday. Typically an affiliate business involves selling a bunch of other people's products and receiving a commission on each product sold. Setting up an affiliate business requires a good amount of advertising and a follow up system.
It is possible to make money from all three ways discussed and all three lead to the same place and that's making money. The key is to find someone that's already succeeding and learn from them. Pick their brains, join their newsletter and communicate. Eventually you will find your success.
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Tim Rohrer is an established writer and home business owner. To learn about a proven system, visit http://www.profitplusonline.com
Write An Article? Who Me?
Trying to get your website noticed is next to impossible if you are unwilling to promote it by writing an article about it. I know I was reluctant to put my thoughts on paper and share it with the world. I procrastinated continually. I knew this was what I needed to do to gain some recognition, but having the public see my words on the Internet simply terrified me. Every affiliate program I became involved in told me to "write articles and submit them" and this would help gain traffic to my website. My Internet Coach told me that before Google will even rank my page, I needed to write and submit articles. The "Google" word got me a little more motivated. Google is everything and without them, you are basically nothing on the Internet today.
Well, I finally got up the nerve and wrote my first article. I titled it, "Make Money On The Internet? Who Me?", and, believe it or not, it did increase my web traffic. Not by a huge amount, by any means, but then, it was my first article. And, actually, not enough to help my Google page ranking. So, here I am again, writing another article! And, guess what? I'm actually starting to like it!
Writing an article seems to make a lot people go into a panic. I asked one of my best affiliates in some Internet marketing programs we're involved in to write an article to promote our programs. She asked me if it was like writing an Ad. I then sent her a copy of the article I had written. Here is a copy of the email of her response to that request:
Oh boy. I now know what an article is all right. How can I put this simply.
#1 I SUCK at this kind of stuff.
#2 I do not have the gift of words (really)
#3 I don't even talk that much!
#4 I don't understand enough about the companies to even tell
others about it.
I could FEEL the panic in her words! But, I'm still encouraging her to at least try it. Just start writing down your feelings about your business, your product, your life, and your goals. Eventually, you will have an article. Or, save yourself a lot of stress and just hire a ghostwriter to pen an article for you…there is always someone out there willing to do this for you. You don't have to have the "gift of words" yourself when there are plenty of people in the world who do. Ask a talkative friend to write something for you; ask a relative that never shuts up if they would help you write an article; how about that loud mouthed co-worker? Get the point?
If you have a website, a product, an affiliate program, or anything else you want to promote on the Internet, the best way to get yourself known is to write an article and tell people about it. Even if you need someone else to do it for you. Writing your own article is the best promotion you could ever give yourself and you don't have to pay for the advertising or click on links all night long to add enough points to get your "Ad' out there.
Think about it. If you spent serious dollars on advertising for your site, did it help your ranking on Google, or get you the hits you were hoping? If not, try writing a few articles, submit them to various article sites, and check your Google ranking after their weekly spider crawl. I'll bet you will see a BIG difference!
To Your Success Online,
Teri Trantanella
http://www.toyoursuccessonline.com
