HOW TO WRITE ARTICLES IF YOU ARE NOT A WRITER!

 © Rosamunde Bott 2008

We all know that writing articles and blogging are the best ways of marketing your website online for free. 

 But what if writing articles feels just as daunting as climbing Mount Everest?  This can be very frustrating when everyone tells you that you should be writing network marketing articles to get traffic to your site.

 In this article, I hope to show the worried marketer how to write articles with some basic steps.  I am going to assume that you have done your keyword research and will include these in your article.  I am not going to discuss this; my main aim here is to help people with the actual writing process itself: getting ideas and getting them down on paper (or screen).

 Getting Ideas for Your Article

This is for some the most difficult hurdle.  If you are new to the industry, you may think that you have very little to offer.  However, we all have skills and experiences that we can draw upon.  For example, this article uses my own skills as a writer to offer advice to people in the network marketing industry.

 
Make a list of your skills and past work experience.  Even a specialist interest or hobby can supply you with knowledge that others might not have.  Do you use social networking sites?  Your knowledge could be used to explain how to market a business using sites like Myspace or Facebook.  Do you have administrative skills?  You could write an article on how to organise your office and keep your inbox tidy (I would like to read this one myself!).  Do you have children?  You can write about how to run a business whilst looking after a family – I’m sure this would be a popular one!

 Another idea is to log on to a marketing forum and look at the kind of questions people are asking.  If you’ve ever answered a thread in a forum, then why not expand on your reply and turn it into an article?  This is great because you are targeting the issues that many people have so you will get lots of hits.

 You do not have to be an expert in this industry to write network marketing articles.  Just think of something that you can help others with and work out how it can be linked to network marketing.

 How to Start

 That white page or the blank screen can look very threatening when you can’t think of how to start or how to put your ideas into order. 

 You don’t need to actually write proper sentences yet.  Start by jotting down your initial idea, and then underneath write down all the separate points you could make.  For example, if you were writing about working at home round a family, you might think of these points:  working space, time management, communication with family, delegating etc.  Each of these will form a separate paragraph in your article.  Once you have at least three or four, you have the basis of your article and you are ready to write!

 Getting it Down on Paper

 Now you have all your main points, you can write a short introduction or ‘teaser’.  This will form your opening paragraphs and does not have to be anything more than explaining what your article is about and why it will be of use to the reader.  If in doubt, have a look at the opening three paragraphs of this article.  I have started off by stating why writing articles is important, then I have described why this is difficult for some people, and then I have stated why this article will help.  . 

 Next, you want to put your separate points in order, and expand on them.  Write a few sentences on each one, describing your experience and explaining how you have solved the problem, or how it’s done in your industry or profession.  Giving examples from your own life or other people’s helps the reader to relate to and understand what you are saying. 

 At this stage, do not worry too much about grammar, spelling, or getting your sentences right.  You are still just making notes, and all this can be sorted out later. 

 Expand and Edit

 If you have not already done so, you should start putting your notes into proper sentences and organising them into paragraphs.  If you are not confident about your English or grammar, read it out loud.  This can help you to ‘hear’ where a sentence is clumsy or does not communicate itself.  If you can find someone to listen to it or read it over, all the better.  Use your computer’s spell-checker – but do be aware that not every mis-spelt word is picked up here because there are many words that are spelt the same way but mean a different thing. 

 Try not to use very long sentences.  If a sentence is too long it becomes difficult to read and understand.  Look for where you can break sentences up, or include commas to break the sentence up.  If you really find this difficult, you might want to get someone else to edit it for you.  Some freelance writers will do this for a small fee – and it will be less expensive than having them write the whole thing for you.

 Once you are satisfied, finish the article off with a brief summary or closing sentence, and there you are!  All you need to do now is check it over a few more times and then get submitting.

 Now you’ve written one, you can write more and more – and the more you write, the more confident you will feel. 

PS.  If you would like access to PLR articles that you can re-write, try Infogoround.

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