Article Weblog

Yes, it’s the hype of the century; everywhere you turn you’ll see and hear of article directories sprouting like mushrooms. There’s practically a new article directory site being introduced in the World Wide Web almost every second.

It is probably because of the usefulness of these kinds of sites to the general public, to the webmaster and to people/products needing exposure. An article directory has it all!

Talk about having free resource on almost any topic imaginable. Article directories hoard articles ranging from DIY’s, Xbox launches, inspirational quotes, love and relationships advice, beauty tips, iPod’s latest, personality quizzes, legal guidance, resource on divorce, gay and lesbian concerns and even on the extremes, issues concerning terrorism. It’s like having a wiki of what everyone knows and thinks of.

The usefulness of article directories to the general public is outdone by its worth to a marketer. An article directory is a free and an inexpensive way for an internet marketer to promote his/her product or service by just writing helpful and useful articles and making use of the resource box to promote his/her goods. It can be done by any marketer in just a matter of hours or minutes for some. You don’t have to be a whiz at writing, all you have to do is share what you know and that’ll be effective enough. A word of caution though, don’t waste your time writing Press Releases because your chance of reprint is 0-0.1%. Article directories don’t like them and worst, readers of articles hate them.

What about the value of article directories to the people who own them, a.k.a the webmasters? Why are webmasters opting to shift from their usual projects to create an article directory? Simple! Article directories exemplify the best kind of website that Search Engines love the most. Article directories are teeming with fresh content everyday, and they are constantly updated. Not to mention, the keywords crammed into each article are simply divine especially when you are affiliated with Google Adsense. There is no other kind of website that can par with having an article directory.

I have seen and watched the ever increasing popularity of article directories; there was a time when there were just about 20 or 30 article directories found on the internet. Before, only a few took the time to diligently pursue the creation of these directories and only a few were brave enough to pay for hosting and domain services just to become repositories of what people have written about. They were among the first to recognize the benefits and advantages of having an article directory.

Among the first article directories were:

Ezinearticles.com

iSnare.com

GoArticles.com

ArticleCity.com

By now, most likely, they are handling hundreds or thousands of articles submitted everyday and reaping the rewards of being the firsts in the most promising field of article directories.

With all these and probably more, I’ll say, “Article Directories, anyone?”

About The Author
Gina Marie Capatar owns an article directory site containing articles for women http://allwomencentral.com. She has also been a part of http://www.isnare.com where she got ideas to build her own article directory.

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You just finished writing a new article that your target customers will love. Your introduction is strong, and keeps the readers wanting to read more, you provide a lot of useful tips in the article, and you end with an encouragement for the readers to use your tips in their life or business. All in all, a great article.

Is your work done? Not at all. You still haven’t written a very important part for your article - the resource box. A resource box is what comes right after the article, the 2-4 sentences that include your bio and a link back to your business web site.

The article’s resource box is your only chance to convert the article reader into a lead for your business. This is why it is extremely important to make your resource box as effective as possible. Here is what you should include in your resource box:

- Information about you, the author. The first sentence in your resource box should introduce you to the reader. After all, your readers can’t do business with someone they don’t know. You don’t need to share your whole biography, but sharing a few tidbits about what you do will help your article readers get to know you just a bit better.

- A free resource that the reader can subscribe for or request from you. Your article resource box is a great place to offer your readers a free e-course, newsletter or special report, to get them further exposed to your expertise. You want to be able to keep in touch with your article readers long after they have read your article. Make sure you make them a great offer in order to be able to keep in touch.

- Call to action. Tell your reader how to get your free resource, bonus or free gift. Use phrases such as subscribe to the newsletter, register for e-course, get a free gift, to get the readers to look at more of your resources.

Over to you - let’s take action! Take a look at your own article resource box, and see how you can make it more appealing to your article readers. Remember, the more compelling the resource box is, the more leads you will gain for your business.

Listen to Biana Babinsky, the online business expert, consultant and author, as she discusses how to turn your knowledge into articles and your articles into profits. Writing articles has helped her become known online, get more newsletter subscribers and sell more products online. She is sharing all the secrets she has discovered in her Article Marketing Audio Guide available at http://www.marketingsalad.com/article_marketing.html

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Do you think it has to take a long time to write a basic article to use in your online marketing? Do you sit at the computer, ready to be stuck there all day just to put out a 300 to 400 word article to submit to article directory, ezines, blogs or website? Would you like to know a way to whip out an effective article in 20 to 40 minutes?

Here’s a simple formula to try. Of course, if this is your first attempt at article writing, getting a decent article ready to use might take longer than 20 to 40 minutes. But practice makes perfect. As you practice writing articles you will get better at it. Continue to try these steps and you will soon be putting out effective, valuable information through article marketing in a very short time.

1. Pre-determine the topic
Come to the writing situation with a topic idea in mind. Think of what you want to write about long before you reach the keyboards. The part that takes the longest time in writing is figuring out what you want to write about. When you have a focus, goal and objective for your writing, it can go very quickly.

2. Write the title
Make your title simple, direct, and understandable. Cute titles are good for people with established reputations. If readers know your specialty area, you can afford to use titles that may not directly state your article topic. But online readers want to get information quickly. They will be most attracted to articles with titles that contain direct words that they are searching for. When you have the idea for your article, use the best keyword you know and include it in the title along with a few more words to explain what the focus of the article will be.

3. Make a list of subheadings
List out three to five subheadings on the topic. Be sure these subheadings go together. In other words, if there was nothing more than these subheadings to read, would your reader gain valuable information from you? It’s like going through the chapter of a well written book that has several subheadings. You could read quickly through the chapter and get an understanding of what is being said by just reading the subheadings. So make your subheading informative.

4. Create the conclusion
In three to five sentences, write the conclusion for the article. Do this even before you complete the information in the subheadings. Why? Because writing the conclusion will make you summarize what was contained in the article. Don’t repeat the introduction or the specific subheadings. Focus more on your pre-determined objective for the article and tell how that was presented. That is, tell the reader what they gained by reading the article. Now, you will stay focused when you fill in the information under each subheading in your article.

5. Fill in the subheading information
Time to go back and fill in the information in the subheadings. You only need three or four sentences per subheading. Use a simple formula to write those sections. In the first sentence, present the subject of the subheading as a problem statement or question. The next sentence will tell what will happen if you don’t respond to the problem or question. Now give two or three sentences that provide solutions to the issues. When you complete this for one subheading, move to the next one and do the same.

All you need to do now is put in your signature file that tell people how to get in touch with you for more information. Follow these tips and you will learn to put out a brief, yet effective article in a short period. When you have the formula down, put on the timer and see how close to 20 minutes you get to writing that short article that’s ready to post to an article directory, ezine, blog or website.

Are you ready to build your email list with articles? Learn how to write articles, fast and easy at www.eproductmentor.com and get an article completed by tonight. Consuelo S. Meux, Ph.D is the Baby Boomer Creativity Coach helping you create your legacy through words.

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