There are numerous reasons why people write articles. Some just enjoy writing and sharing information with others. However, for people like myself, we also write articles to share information. but additionally to help generate leads and create a presence for ourselves on the Internet. Many want to know whether it is worth the time and effort to do this. I think that when you have finished reading this article, you will be fired up to sit right down at your computer and start composing.
The first thing you have to decide, is whether you are going to use your personal name or an assumed name. Some authors use a number of names because they write about a variety of subjects and if they used their own name for every subject, they would perhaps not appear that credible. We certainly want the reader to believe that we are an expert on the subject we are writing about....and we might very well be, but the reader might not be convinced if they see our name attached to so many articles on many different subjects.
If it is your intention is to brand yourself on the Internet, then you would want to use your personal name as often as possible. It is best to chose a subject that can, in some way, transition quite easily to having the reader click on your link to take them to the landing page of your website.
It is recommended that articles be between 400 - 600 words. That works out to be about 8 paragraphs, with approximately three short sentences in each paragraph. If it much better to write a few short articles, than one long one.
It is quite amazing how your presence on the Internet can increase significantly in a very short period of time, through article writing. My first article was published at the end of December, 2008. That is only three weeks ago. Up until that time I had zero presence on the Web. If I searched my name, I would get no hits at all. Now, just those three short weeks later, when I Google my name in quotes "Jan Shimano" I am coming up with 2760 hits and each one relates to me personally. As an experiment, why don't you go ahead and Google my name and see how much it has increased as it usually goes up every day.
You might be wondering how I was able to accomplish this. O.K. I'll tell you!! All it took was for me to write 10 short articles and have them accepted by EzineArticles. This is the largest article directory and should be the first place that you submit your articles to. This is the litmus test....if EzineArticles approves it, then rest assured it will be accepted at all other directories.
But here's the thing....just getting accepted at EzineArticles is not going to get you all those hits. There is a second step that is crucial to your success and that is to forward to a multiple submission company. The one I use and recommend is Unique Article Wizard (UAW). You have to enter three versions of your article on their site and you also do variations of your Resource Box. UAW then configures all the different paragraphs and resource boxes to come up with literally hundreds and hundreds of unique articles. This is very important, because the search engines do not like duplicate content. If you tried to submit the exact same article to all the different sites Google would 'punish' you. UAW could send your article out to thousands of sites.
EzineArticles is a free service. They do have a paid upgrade, but for the majority of people that is not necessary. I personally only use the free service and I am allowed to submit as many articles as I like. If you are using UAW, there is a monthly cost of $70.35. If you are only planning on writing an article now and again, this might not be the way to go for you. However, if you are serious about creating a huge presence for yourself on the Internet, then I can't think of a better way to do it.
You do not have to be a professional writer to get your articles published on the Internet. If you can sit down and write a letter to a friend or loved one, then you can sit down and write a short eight paragraph article. Remember, this is not an assignment from your old English teacher from years past. She is not looking over your shoulder checking your grammar. Your reader is looking at your article because you are providing him with valuable information. He is not there to critique you. So, please, make up your mind right now that you are going to give this an honest effort. Once you have that first article accepted and published, my guess is that there will be no stopping you!! - 15275
The first thing you have to decide, is whether you are going to use your personal name or an assumed name. Some authors use a number of names because they write about a variety of subjects and if they used their own name for every subject, they would perhaps not appear that credible. We certainly want the reader to believe that we are an expert on the subject we are writing about....and we might very well be, but the reader might not be convinced if they see our name attached to so many articles on many different subjects.
If it is your intention is to brand yourself on the Internet, then you would want to use your personal name as often as possible. It is best to chose a subject that can, in some way, transition quite easily to having the reader click on your link to take them to the landing page of your website.
It is recommended that articles be between 400 - 600 words. That works out to be about 8 paragraphs, with approximately three short sentences in each paragraph. If it much better to write a few short articles, than one long one.
It is quite amazing how your presence on the Internet can increase significantly in a very short period of time, through article writing. My first article was published at the end of December, 2008. That is only three weeks ago. Up until that time I had zero presence on the Web. If I searched my name, I would get no hits at all. Now, just those three short weeks later, when I Google my name in quotes "Jan Shimano" I am coming up with 2760 hits and each one relates to me personally. As an experiment, why don't you go ahead and Google my name and see how much it has increased as it usually goes up every day.
You might be wondering how I was able to accomplish this. O.K. I'll tell you!! All it took was for me to write 10 short articles and have them accepted by EzineArticles. This is the largest article directory and should be the first place that you submit your articles to. This is the litmus test....if EzineArticles approves it, then rest assured it will be accepted at all other directories.
But here's the thing....just getting accepted at EzineArticles is not going to get you all those hits. There is a second step that is crucial to your success and that is to forward to a multiple submission company. The one I use and recommend is Unique Article Wizard (UAW). You have to enter three versions of your article on their site and you also do variations of your Resource Box. UAW then configures all the different paragraphs and resource boxes to come up with literally hundreds and hundreds of unique articles. This is very important, because the search engines do not like duplicate content. If you tried to submit the exact same article to all the different sites Google would 'punish' you. UAW could send your article out to thousands of sites.
EzineArticles is a free service. They do have a paid upgrade, but for the majority of people that is not necessary. I personally only use the free service and I am allowed to submit as many articles as I like. If you are using UAW, there is a monthly cost of $70.35. If you are only planning on writing an article now and again, this might not be the way to go for you. However, if you are serious about creating a huge presence for yourself on the Internet, then I can't think of a better way to do it.
You do not have to be a professional writer to get your articles published on the Internet. If you can sit down and write a letter to a friend or loved one, then you can sit down and write a short eight paragraph article. Remember, this is not an assignment from your old English teacher from years past. She is not looking over your shoulder checking your grammar. Your reader is looking at your article because you are providing him with valuable information. He is not there to critique you. So, please, make up your mind right now that you are going to give this an honest effort. Once you have that first article accepted and published, my guess is that there will be no stopping you!! - 15275
About the Author:
Jan Shimano was District Manager for Health & Welfare Canada for many years. She was also self-employed as a Nutritional Consultant and a Master Herbalist. She is currently a Business and Health Coach and runs her own internet marketing company from her home in British Columbia. Jan welcomes you to learn more about her by dropping by her YouTube channel at www.YouTube.com/1jinny
