Summary:
BONUS TIP for you: Along with "the rejection slip" will usually come a suggestion on how to "fix" your article.

Article Body:
This article on the 10 (no, 11… yes, 11) tips for newbies is not written from the catbird seat point of view of the article host or database manager. Rather it is by and from the perspective of an author who remembers the early misgivings. It is written especially for the beginning article writer. The Tennessee Mountain Man has written and submitted hundreds of articles for publication to thousands of article hosts and database managers and still finds article writing his nemesis.

1. Necessity vs Desire:

Articles and Blogs are necessary in today’s scheme of search engine indexing. Not what the newbie wants to hear. Just remember what the Bible says, "there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man". That’s right! All 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 necessary evil" as they are not generally anyone’s best liked house keeping chores.

2. Just Start, It Gets Easier:

• First it is sometimes difficult to get a subject or theme and to get the first couple of lines scribbled down. The Tennessee Mountain Man knows authors who literally get sick thinking about the process. Lighten up. Once an author has a starting point and gets passed the initial thoughts, article and Blog writing usually goes fairly smoothly.

• The main thing is that you get started. Pick a subject you know something about and just start. You will be pleasantly surprised at just how easily ideas flow. Don’t assume everyone knows what you know. They don’t. Will Rogers once said, "all men are ignorant, just on different subjects". And, so it is!

3. Good vs Perfection:

Your old English comp professor is not looking over your shoulder. This paper does not have to be perfect. That is not to say it does not have to be on point or to say that it does not have to be correct. It does or at least it should be. But, perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, seldom possible. Too much detail and you run the risk of losing your reader on several levels. Too long and most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to wade through the material regardless of how important it is.

4. Blog Length vs Article Length:

• Most publishers want a minimum of six hundred (600) words per article - some will let you slide with four hundred (400) words. Blogs can be much smaller. 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. Articles, on the other hand, typically cannot carry these extra touches according to the requirements of most publishers.

5. Format:

Prepare your article in American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) format. There are many tools from which to choose to get the job done. A search for ‘free ASCII editor’ or for ‘free plain text editors’ will provide one with a multitude of free options. Word Press is a popular choice. If all else fails simply use notepad to turn out your masterpiece.

6. Spelling and Grammar:

• 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 publication of your article. Rather use it’s suggestions to make any necessary corrections to your plain text copy. The MS Word copy will work for Blogs although the Computer man prefers other editors.

• Just like the days when you were pushed by Profs, you will find Article and Blog writing skills become easier 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 hosts and select those which best suit your needs. Join 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 Articles to free 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. Patience:

Now, have some patience. Here is where you lose control. Many of the men and women who host articles are timely and your articles will be reviewed within twenty-four (24) to forty-eight (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 articles. Do not take it personally. It usually has little to do with you or your article.

• Some databases routinely 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 hosts are simply too lazy and get so far behind, the easiest and fastest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject everything. You will learn who these are over time.

• Then there are those who run your articles through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, irrespective of how they are used, your article gets no farther. These are the people who can’t publish the Holy Bible because it contains words that offend them or their readers. Don’t worry about these folks who are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.

Remember, just as in everything else in life, for every rule there is an exception

10. Keep the faith, and keep cranking out articles:

• Since most authors, especially newbies, 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 articles are accepted and published driving visitors to your website while creating those all important back links.

• It is not necessary that every host 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 increase your page rankings or links reported by the search engines. It is more important to get published by hosts with the highest Google page rank possible.

• Now, one BONUS TIP for you: Along with "the rejection slip" will usually come a suggestion on how to "fix" your article and a request that you resubmit it. Don’t waste your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have written a new article from which you get much more punch. Enough publishers will pick 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 inopportune time. How many good ideas have you lost because of waiting? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Capture that thought before it is gone forever.

Discover the absolute best spinner article rewriter on the web.

Drive massive traffic to your website.

Discover exactly what it takes to maximize your freelance writing income.

Learn the publishing business inside and out. Write where the money is!

To Your Business Success,
DeMost Savings

Summary:
1 Remove your limits. Reduce your subject to a single core word and then brainstorm around it. For example, if you’re trying to write about "Study Skills", expand your thinking to "School".

Article Body:
Now jot down everything that comes to mind when you think about School, and when you run out of ideas start asking yourself open questions around the subject and noting your answers.

Examples:

• What did I enjoy about school?
• What scared me?
• What did I wish I’d known from Day 1?

This will help you get back into the mindset of someone struggling with school issues of all kinds and you’ll start to get a feel for their concerns and worries.

2 Restore your focus

Once you’ve started to understand the general feelings of your readers, allow your mind to focus back on your original topic of Study Skills. From your new perspective, what questions would you ask? What would you want to know? Is this really a "Studying" issue or is it more about Time Management or being able to work without distractions or being paralyzed by the fear of not doing well?

3 Be your audience

Write each question on a separate sheet of paper; don’t stop until you have at least ten and preferably more. Stay in the mindset of your readers until you feel you’ve asked every major question that concerns them.

4 Take a step back

Put your pile of question aside for a few hours, overnight if possible. Don’t consciously think about them; just go about your day as usual. Give your subconscious time to process them without any further prompting from you. If new questions come to mind jot them down somewhere safe and then forget about them.

5 Get out your pen and write

• When you’re ready, sit down with your pages of questions and simply start to answer them. Writing your answers by hand can give you access to ideas that might be missed if you type them. Don’t edit yourself at this stage. Using Speech to Text software or a digital recorder can also be helpful in bypassing the internal editor.

• Imagine someone sitting in front of you asking for advice and just talk to them. Keep your tone natural and conversational and stay with the question-and-answer format.

6 Edit lightly

• Trust your first instincts. Proof-read and correct any obvious errors, but don’t do any major editing until your piece has had time to "sit" for a while. Again, leaving it overnight will give you a fresh perspective the next time you look at it, but even if your deadline doesn’t allow for that it’s important to give yourself a break from it.

• When you’re pushed for time, writing several articles at one sitting can create enough change of focus to make you "forget" the one you’ve just written.

7 Polish it up

Short articles are unlikely to need major editing if you’ve written them as described here. They will flow easily and naturally already and having each Q & A on a separate sheet makes it easier to select only the ones you want. Your job now is to put them in a reasonably logical sequence and make sure they’re understandable and that the reader is led smoothly from one question and answer to the next.

8 Top and tail it

• Write a brief introductory paragraph as a "teaser" for the main article. Many article directories now put the first paragraph of each piece into RSS feeds which are picked up by other websites, so you’ll want to make sure that your two or three major keywords appear at least once in that first paragraph.

• Write another short paragraph to summarize the major points of the article and provide some ideas for the reader to explore the subject further. Don’t of course forget your own resource box: use the format SubmitYourNewArticle.com for your link, so when your article is converted to html your link will automatically be live.

9 Submit it!

Discover the absolute best spinner article rewriter on the web.

Drive massive traffic to your website.

Discover exactly what it takes to maximize your freelance writing income.

Learn the publishing business inside and out. Write where the money is!

To Your Business Success,
DeMost Savings

Summary:
You may think of these often annoying programs as "trash TV", but think again. Did you realize that they use many of the exact same strategies that we should?

Article Body:

• I hate to share this, but I love watching infomercials. And I’ve ordered more than once from them! Everything from cosmetics to a cell phone accessory.

• When pressed, my friends admit the same. If you sniff around most people’s homes, you’ll find SOMETHING ordered from an infomercial, whether it’s the Ronco Rotisserie or Victoria Principal’s skincare.

• You may think of these often annoying programs as "trash TV", but think again. Did you realize that they use many of the exact same strategies that we should?

• Now, I don’t mean you need to scream at your customers or flash "$19.95" in blinking digits on your website! Those are gimmicks. But what most people don’t realize is that many of the STRATEGIES that sell the kitchen doohickey gadget are the same ones that can also sell your products and programs.)

Here are 7 of my favorites:

1. They grab your attention.

• Infomercials air on the most challenging medium there is out there: television. You’re just a second away from your prospect clicking their remote to the next channel. So they do their best to get your attention right away and KEEP it for as long as possible.

• That’s why infomercials give bold statements and emphasize how this doohickey will change your life. You should do this too — stop beating around the bush and make it clear to your prospects how your products and services will change *their* lives!

2. They give tons of real-life testimonials.

• You’ll see that TV infomercials have evolved greatly since years ago. It used to be one or two people talking to a camera for the entire time. These days most typical 30 minute spots are over 80% customer testimonials! And that’s for good reason… they are the hands-down BEST way to gain instant credibility.

• A great example is for one of those home exercise machines. I noticed years ago they just showed the super-ripped guy using it on the infomercial. Now they show that guy, PLUS dozens of before and after testimonials from real-life guys with beer bellies and real jobs who used the product with success. That was a great move on their part, because c’mon, I just can’t believe that super-ripped guy got that hot looking using it just 30 minutes, 3 times a week!

3. They use personalities.

• The most successful infomercials now use celebrity guest hosts. They know this gets people’s attention more than practically anything out there. Pro Activ uses Jessica Simpson. Youthful Essence (a skincare product I love) uses Susan Lucci. Even NutriSystem is now using Dan Marino in their commercials to target men.

• You can do the same in your marketing. You can either hire a star, or even better, make YOURSELF the celebrity… by sharing stories, being personal, and having fun with your market.

4. They give an irresistible offer.

• It’s rare these days to see an infomercial asking for you to pay for something in full. You’ll mostly see things like "3 payments of $19.95" or "4 payments of $39.95". Why? Cash-crunched Americans are always more concerned about cash flow than the total price. They’ll even happily pay much MORE in the end in order to gain a lower monthly payment!

• You can do the same. Offer a payment plan for your products, courses, workshops, and coaching. You’ll be AMAZED at the increased response, and it’s easy to do with marketing-savvy shopping cart systems.

5. They give a strong call-to-action NOW.

• These folks know that as soon as you change the channel, you’re going to forget about their product. So they make it very urgent that you pick up the phone and call them now or visit their website and order. They usually say something like "If you call in the next 10 minutes you also get…" and they list a few great bonuses.

• This isn’t just specific to TV. Everyone would rather put off ANY decision these days, we’re all so busy and overwhelmed! So you need to give people a good REASON to act now, whether it’s a discount that expires, a payment plan that expires, a limited number of products or seats, a special bonus… you get the idea.

6. They sell on continuity.

• What’s "continuity"? online newsletter it’s when you make ONE sale that results in multiple charges over and over. For example, because my friends have been raving about I.D. Bare Minerals natural makeup, I recently ordered a kit from their infomercial. Now, every 2 months, I receive a fresh supply in the mail, and my card is charged again. I love it because I don’t have to remember to reorder. They love it because they only had to make ONE sale, and how they’ve got me as a customer forever until I cancel!

• Hear me now… continuity will change your life! Consider how you can use this principle in your business. Could you convert some of your current offerings into a monthly membership? Or instead of doing one-shot teleseminars, create an ongoing monthly program? (I did this with my Marketing & Motivation Mastermind.)

7. They repeat themselves. And repeat themselves.

• And repeat themselves again! Smart marketers know it takes an average of 9 TIMES for someone to see/hear your message BEFORE they will even consider purchasing! That goes for you too. So many of my clients complain that advertising doesn’t work when they only ran one ad ONCE. Or published ONE newsletter and it didn’t get them results.

• Remember it’s the ongoing exposure and repetition that breeds familiarity and trust with your prospects! And that leads to more sales than you’ve ever imagined.

Discover the absolute best spinner article rewriter on the web.

Drive massive traffic to your website.

Discover exactly what it takes to maximize your freelance writing income.

Learn the publishing business inside and out. Write where the money is!

To Your Business Success,
DeMost Savings