Ten Article Writing Tips for Newbies

Posted: August 9th, 2009 | Author: admin | Filed under: Writing and Speaking | Tags: , , , , , , , |

This post on the 10 (no, 11… yes, 11) tips for aspiring writers is not composed from the catbird seat point of view of the article publisher or information manager. Rather it is by and from the perspective of an author who recalls the early misgivings. It is written particularly for the starting article writer. I have composed and submitted hundreds of compositions for publication to numerous of article hosts and article managers and still finds article writing my nemesis.

1. Needs vs Wants:
Writings and Blogs are essential in today’s system of search engine indexing. Not what the newbie wants to hear. Just think what the Holy Book states, “there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man”. This is absolutely right! Many 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 mostly anyone’s best wished house keeping tasks.

2. Just Start, It Gets Better:
First it is sometimes difficult to get a subject or theme and to get started. We know writers who actually 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 initial thoughts, blogging and article usually goes fairly smooth.

The key thing is that you get started. Select a subject you are familiar with and know something about and just begin writing. You will be enjoyably astonished at just how easily ideas flow. Don’t assume everyone knows what you know. Apparently they do not. Will Rogers once said, “all men are ignorant, just on different subjects”. And this is a fact!

3. Good vs Perfection:
Your old English teacher is not looking over your shoulder. Your composition need not to be perfect. It doesn’t mean it should not get a point or to say that it does not have to be correct. It does or at least it should be. However, our goal is not perfection and is, in fact, seldom possible. Too much detail and you run the risk of losing your reader on various levels. Too long and
most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to wade through the material irrespective of how good it is.

4. Length of Blog vs Article Length:
Most publishers require a minimum of six hundred (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 pictures 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 from their publications. compositions, then again, typically cannot carry these extra touches concurring to the requirements of most article publishers.

5. Format:
Prepare your article in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (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 tools to choose from. WordPress is a popular pick. If all fails Notepad is enough for you to use.

6. Grammar and Spelling:
Once you have your article or blog run it through a good spell checker and a good grammar checker. Microsoft Word works well for these purposes. Just don’t use the MS Word copy for publishing 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 encouraged by professsor, you will find article and blog writing skills become better with time and practice.

7. Publish and Announce:
Once your blog is ready you may want to use some automatic tools to publish and announce it. First do a search for Blog servers and select those which best suit your needs. Register in one or more and publish your blog there. Then search for blog announcers 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 compositions 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. Forbearance:
Now, have some forbearance. Here is where you lose control. Many of those who host writings are timely and your writings will be reviewed in a span of 24 to 48 hours. But, many others will be days and weeks down the road 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 be personal about this. It usually has something to do with your submission and with you as the author.

Some sites instantly 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 directories are simply too lazy and get so far behind, the best and quickest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject the whole article. You will learn who these are over time.

There are also people who review your writings through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, regardless of how they are used, your article gets no farther. These are those who can’t even publish the Bile because it contains words that offend them or their readers. These are people who are narrow-minded and doesn’t deserve a place in article writing.

Remember the rule: In every rule, there is an exemption.

10. Always believe, and keep cranking out writings:
Since most writers, especially 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 writings are accepted and published driving visitors to your website while creating those all important links to your sites.

It is not necessary that every publisher to accept everything submitted to them. After one or two hosts 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 step-up your page rankings or links reported by the search engines. It is more essential to get published by directories with the highest Google PageRank possible.

Now, one EXTRA TIP for you: Along with “the rejection slip” will usually come a proposition on how to “fix” your article and a invite that you resubmit it. Do not waste your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have composed a new article from which you get much more punch. Enough 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 most ill-timed time. How many of these ideas have been lost because you waited before you write? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Write that thought before disappears.

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