Article Weblog

Article writing does not require perfection. Article writing does require an ever increasing excellence, but it does not require perfection.

One of my dreams is to get to attend one of Mark Victor Hansen’s (co-author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”) MEGA Events, such as MEGA Speaking or MEGA Writing. I was on a preview call the other night for the upcoming MEGA Speaking event and I heard Mark Victor Hansen say the following:

“Perfectionists do not seem to make a lot of money in this field. They are always tweaking and not doing.”

Excellence is better than perfection

If you are struggling with perfectionism, you may find it hard to let go of the relentless pursuit. You know it is a hopeless pursuit, yet perfectionism can be difficult to let go.

What you may want to consider instead of the hopeless pursuit of perfectionism is the relentless pursuit of excellence.

Excellence is achievable, perfection is not.

Consider these quotes about perfectionism:

“Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.” - Harriet Braiker

“No one is perfect… that’s why pencils have erasers.” - Author Unknown

“A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.”
- John Henry Newman

“Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That’s how the light gets in.”
- Leonard Cohen

So do you want to write and market articles, or you just want to write things that no one will ever see?

Do you want to get in the game, or do you want to be continually “fixin’ to” as we say in the South?

Get started. Write those articles. Get finished. Do it again.

Visit http://www.TheArticleGuy.com/26.htm so you can “write away, right away” with my 26 Articles Writing Templates with Examples, from Jeff Herring, The Article Guy.

P.S. You can also visit http://www.TheArticleGuy.com/october.htm to get in on our October Articleversary Celebration.

Share This

Article writing is certainly a useful internet marketing tool. A well written and circulated article can provide you with:

* Links to your web site.
* Search engine entries.
* Expert credentials.
* Information about your web site and products sent around the internet.
* Loads of traffic to your web site when they click on your resource box.

That’s all great but you want to make sure that your article is really well distributed. So write for AdSense sites. AdSense sites are the new phenomenon at the moment - just take a quick look at eBay and you will see hundreds of them for sale. Some sites such as AdSenseSites.biz even sells packs of them.

So what is the connection between AdSense sites and article writing?

A look at these sites will quickly show that many of them rely upon articles for their content. Some of these sites like helpfuljoe.com have thousands of pages - all with adverts or AdSense code on them. All generating money for the web site owner.

Why do they use articles? Well articles are cheap content that are of the right size and easy to group under subject headings and if you know where to get them - relatively easy to find in large groups.

So how do you make your article attractive to the people who design AdSense sites?

Head Line. You need a short headline that describes the content of your site and includes 2 or more key words.

The short head line is because articles are stored on the web site by in the following format: “title-details.html” and the title is often used as the linking title in the menu. So the shorter and more descriptive the heading the better for the web site designer.

Contents. Your content should be about 350 - 600 words long and contain a good smattering of key words. The length is because this is the ideal length to fill a web page. Longer articles will be discarded as too complicated to work with. Articles are found by searching on keywords that are appropriate to the web site being built. So if you have a reasonable number of one keyword in your article - it will be found and used.

It is important not to stuff your article with too many keywords or keywords in the wrong place or just for the sake of it.

Choose a few major keywords in your subject area and make sure that you use them appropriately and at a maximum of 5 times.

Article Directory. Obviously in order to get your article found - you need to put it in the appropriate directory! There are several good article directories on the internet such as ezinearticles.com and articleshut.com, but not all of them allow you to bring down numerous articles at a time. The best way to find these directories is to look at some of the AdSense sites and see where they found the articles from.

Of course not all large sites built are for AdSense - helpfuljoe.com for instance uses Clikkads - but the same rules apply for any contextual advertisements.

So good luck.

© Copyright 2006 Biz Guru Services Ltd

Lee Lister writes as The Biz Guru, for a number of web sites including her http://www.clikks.com where she sells her informational products. With over 20 year’s management and business consultancy experience with businesses large and small as well as being a serial entrepreneur, she now helps others set up, develop and market their businesses.

If you would like more help and assistance in setting up your Article Writing Viral Marketing then visit http://www.clickingbusiness.com for advice, assistance and some great products such as our Article Writing PowerPack.

Share This

One of the most difficult tasks for the person who is in need of the services of a high quality author is determining just who can do the work. Being capable is one thing, being available to do the work is another thing.

There are several things that you, the hiring party, can do to ensure that you find a capable and available author:

1. Does the author have experience? Importantly, is he or she able to write on the proposed topic? A good author will have samples of his or her work readily available for your perusal. Do not assume that all of the author’s work is posted online; sometimes “we” authors hold our best work back from the public due to fears of piracy or because of third party confidentiality.

2. If the author is to cover a topic outside of their areas of expertise are you willing to pay extra for the research the author may need to do in order to accomplish the task?

3. Is the author available to work on your project now or is he or she presently busy with other assignments? How tight is your deadline? Can you work with the author’s schedule or is your schedule not flexible? Would you consider using the same author at a future date for a different project if no agreement can be made to do the current project?

4. Does the author have references? Can you get a person’s name and phone number and contact them about their work?

5. How much does the author expect to be paid? Does the author list on his or her website a pricing structure? Can you get an ironclad estimate? What payment methods are expected?

6. Is the author writing as a ghostwriter or do you want the author to use his or her name and submit the articles to article directories for links back to your site?

As an author, before I accept any assignment I prefer to discuss over the telephone details of what the hiring party wants, what I can do for this person, and attempt to get a better feel for the job. I do not hard sell my work; if someone is interested in my capabilities then we move forward. If not, we both move on.

Copyright 2005 — Matthew Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics including: advocacy, automobiles, aviation, business, Christian themes, family, news, product reviews, travel, writing, and more. Please visit Matt’s blog for absolutely stunning and humorous writings from the master himself!

Share This