This piece on the 10 (no, 11… yes, 11) tips for aspiring writers is not written from the catbird seat point of view of the article publisher or information manager. Rather it is by and from the point of view of an author who remembers the early misgivings. It is written particularly for the starting article writer. I have written and submitted hundreds of writings for publication to numerous of article servers and information managers and still finds article writing my enemy.
1. Needs vs Wants:
Articles and Web blogs are necessary in present day system of indexing by search engines. Not what the newbie wants to hear. Just think of what the Holy Book states, “there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man”. That’s right! All of us hate article and blog writing 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 broadly speaking anyone’s best wished house keeping tasks.
2. Just Start, It Gets Easier:
First it is sometimes hard to get a thought or idea and to get started. We know writers 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 author has a starting point and gets passed the basic thoughts, article and blog writing usually works pretty smoothly.
The important thing is that you get started. Choose a subject you are familiar with and know something about and just start. You will be pleasantly amazed at just how easily ideas flow. Don’t assume everybody knows what you know. They do not. Will Rogers once said, “all men are ignorant, just on different subjects”. And, so it is!
3. Good vs Perfection:
Your old English teacher is not looking over your shoulder. This paper does not have to be perfect. It doesn’t mean it should not get a point or to say that it does not have to be correct. At least it does or it should be. But, perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, seldom possible. Too much detail and you run the risk of losing your reader on several levels. Too long and
most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to browse the whole material irrespective of how good it is.
4. Length of Blog vs Length of Article:
Most web publishers want 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 photos and embedded links.
Just don’t over do it. Too gaudy or too slow to load and you have wasted your time, ticked off a potential reader, and probably upset a host who can ban you entirely from their service. articles, but then, typically cannot carry these extra touches according to the essentials of most publishers.
5. Format:
Save your article in ASCII format. There are a lot of software from which to choose to get the job done. A search for ‘free ASCII editor’ or for ‘free plain text editors’ will give you a lot of options. WordPress is a standard choice. If all fails simply use notepad to turn out your masterpiece.
6. Spelling and Grammar:
Once you have your article or blog run it through a good spell checker and a good grammar checker. Microsoft Word has a built-in tool for this. Just don’t use the MS Word copy for composing of your article. Rather use its suggestions to make any unavoidable rectifications to your plain text copy. The MS Word copy will work for blogs although other editors are preferred.
Just like the days when you were pushed by teachers, you will findarticle writing and blog authoring skills become easier with time and practice.
7. Publish and Announce:
Once your blog is ready you may want to utilize some automatic tools to publish and announce it. First do a search for Blog hosts and select those suited to your needs. Join one or more and publish your blog there. Then search for blog 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 writings to free web 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 hosts in an hour or so. The only way to go.
8. Patience:
Now, have some patience. Here is where you lose control. Many of the men and women who host writings are timely and your writings will be reviewed within 24 to 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 hosts to reject your writings. Do not take it personally. It usually has little to do with you or your article.
Some databases routinely 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 hosts are simply too slow-moving and get so far behind, the best and fastest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject everything. You will know who do this over time.
There are also people who review your articles through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, regardless of how they are used, your article are instantly junked. These are the people who can’t publish the Bile because of the words it contains that may offend readers. Don’t worry about these folks who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.
Remember the rule: In every rule, there is an exemption.
10. Keep the faith Believe, and keep cranking out articles:
Since most writers, particularly newcomers, 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 taking visitors to your website while creating those all essential links to your sites.
It is not essential that every publisher to accept everything submitted to them. After one or two servers 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 significant to get published by servers with the highest Google page rank possible.
Now, one Incentive TIP for you: Along with “the rejection slip” will usually come a proposition on how to “edit” your article and a request that you submit it again. Do not waste your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have composed a new article where you can get more punch. There will be enough article publishers will get your article up so move on and save yourself some time and heartburn.
Everybody has a thought or idea at least once a day usually at the wrongest time. How many of these ideas are lost because you procrastinate? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Compose that thought before disappears.
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