The Power Of Goal Setting

Everybody is always looking for an inexpensive promotional method that will bring great results. I believe publishing your own articles to be freely distributed is one the best ways to accomplish that. There are several factors that make this an ideal choice. First, it gives you credibility by positioning yourself as an authority on a particular subject. It can also provide a steady flow of traffic from the many web sites or e-zines that publish your article.

Many people fear they don’t have the skills or talent to successfully publish an article. You are probably more capable than you give yourself credit for. Here are some suggestions for creating an article. The more you know about a particular subject, the easier it will be to write, but don’t let that be a deterrent. Even if you are only somewhat familiar or have a strong interest in a particular area, it is still possible to produce a good article. Your potential readers are concerned about what’s in it for them. It is especially helpful if you can relate some personal experience of how this information has helped you.

Here are some popular article topics if you’re short on ideas:

-Current news items or new technologies
-New use or application of an existing idea
-Anything about saving time, money or resources
-Improving one’s looks or self image
-Creating prosperity
-Information not readily available to most people
-Improving health or well being

Rather than trying to create a literary masterpiece, your focus should be on creating the most benefits for the most people. Think of it as writing a helpful letter to a friend and allow your own personality to come through.

After choosing a topic, it is best to create an outline to highlight 5-8 subtopics you wish to cover. I feel it is beneficial to write down all you can about each of those sub topics before you begin your research. While researching many websites to gather information, I jot down some brief themes or topics that I can later expand on in my own words. Also make note of any resource links you can reference. This will add value and make the article something your readers can refer back to again.

The presentation of the article is almost as important as the content. First and foremost is correct spelling and grammar. With all the utilities available, there is no excuse, period. Since your article may be viewed using many different e-mail readers or web browsers, it should be formatted in plain (ASCII) text with a total line length of 65 characters including spaces. This standard will give your article a better chance of being published.

Most webmasters or e-zine publishers will not take the time to reformat an article. They will just choose another author. Keep your paragraphs 6-12 lines whenever possible to reduce reader fatigue. Include a resource box or bio at the end of your article no more than 6 lines in length.

After the article draft is completed and spell checked, it should be read over for any syntax errors. I will usually let it sit for a few days after that before doing a final edit. Whenever possible let a friend or two proofread the article as well. It is amazing how our eyes can see an obvious mistake, but our mind fills in the blanks to complete our intended thought. A second pair of eyes can often reduce this.

Congratulations, your article is complete! Now how do you get it published? Of course your first stop should be your own web site or e-zine if you administer either of those. After that, the other two main avenues would be passive and active submission. An example of passive submission would be to submit your article to various web sites or mailing lists that accept them and hope they get read. Here are some good places to submit.

http://www.ezinearticles.com/
http://www.web-source.net/article-announce
http://www.isquare.com/fhome13.htm
http://216.147.104.180/articles/submit.shtml
http://www.ideamarketers.com/
http://www.isyndicate.com/
http://www.mediapeak.com
http://www.iofficedaily.com/articles.htm
http://www.egroups.com/group/article_announce

A more effective but time-consuming method is active submission. This entails contacting publishers and/or webmasters on an individual basis to create a very effective opt-in mailing list for your works. Although it takes a lot of time, the rewards are well worth it. The best source of ezine publishers is through the Directory of Ezines published by Ruth Townsend. It can be found at http://lifestylespub.com/. It is a paid membership but well worth it because you can search a database of over 800 publishers by various parameters including those that accept articles. There are other free directories out there but it is much more time consuming to contact publishers to see if they even accept articles because the directories are not searchable.

Your next step is to create a form letter that is personalized to the publishers and their publication. Tell them the article(s) you have available and ask if they would like to be on a list to automatically receive new articles as they are released. You will get a very favorable response. You can use a similar idea for webmasters.

Make sure your article is not a sales letter promoting your own services or affiliate programs you belong to. I made that mistake once. A well-known publisher who has a subscriber base of over 45,000 readers ALMOST accepted one of articles until I crossed the line of self promotion. Fortunately, he was courteous enough to tell me, so I could learn from my mistake. It won’t happen again.

The important point is to promote your self on a regular basis. You will build a pipeline that can supply plenty of fresh traffic. You may also find writing to be something you truly enjoy as I do.

About the author:

Barry Craft has helped thousands of entrepreneurs develop more income from their online businesses. He publishes "Cyber Marketing News" which provides the latest Internet marketing tips.

:To contact see details below.


barry@profitmatters.com
http://www.profitmatters.com/