By, JR
When I first started doing article marketing as part of my Internet marketing efforts I made the typical newbie mistakes. I spent way too much time and effort creating what I thought had to be masterpieces.
I had previously discussed the huge benefits of article marketing, like backlinks and targeted traffic in Article Marketing 101 and the Huge Internet Marketing Benefits and I wrote a detailed guide to article content and clickable titles in Are You Writing Garbage? Here are some more tips for effective article writing.
4 Tips for Writing Effective Articles for the Internet
1. 350 - 600 words is best. Remember that you want your reader to get to the resource box where your link is and you don’t want to risk them splitting on you because the article is too long.
2. This is Not Shakespeare - You do not have to write detailed, sophisticated, epic tales for the Internet. Remember that your target audience are Internet surfers and by definition they are looking for instant gratification and quick information. It is a fact that 80% of Internet article readers don’t read every word but actually scan the article to get main ideas.
Tips to Make Article Content Scannable:
- Write short paragraphs
- Discuss only one idea per paragraph
- Use subheadings to divide article into sections so that things do not run together and get jumbled.
- Use bullets or separate any lists within the paragraph, do not run them all together.
3. Keep It Simple - Write in simple English, that is easy to understand, do not risk anhialating readers with fancy words.
4. If you get an inspiration DO NOT let it get away. Many times when I least expect it I suddenly get an idea for an article and if I don’t jump on it right then and there it can easily get away. So if you get inspired either do a quick outline or if possible write out the article right then and there. Those inspiration articles are some of the best and easiest I have ever written.
Remember, that simple and direct makes better articles and the more likely that other webmasters will republish them on their sites with your links, good for SEO! 
I know that article writing is stressful, but believe me after doing it for a while you will find your flow and it will become second nature and you’ll be busting out articles easily.
I also eliminated a lot of stress by signing up with Article Marketer, they submit for me to over 5,000 sites versus me doing manul submission, which is a total PAIN!!
The most important thing I learned in my article marketing journey is not to stress them. Outline some good info, make them easy to read and submit. BAM! These days, if I stress anything it is my website content and not the articles.
What do you guys think? What are your article writing tips? Do you stress article writing?
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October 29th, 2008 at 6:55 am
[...] rnrnrnOriginal post:rn4 Tips for Writing Effective Articles for the World wide web [...]
October 29th, 2008 at 10:34 am
[...] More: 4 Tips for Writing Effective Articles for the Internet [...]
October 29th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Good informations thanks for sharing.
Mario
JR reply on October 29th, 2008 11:12 pm:
Thanks Mario glad to hear from you.
October 29th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Excellent article. The simplest ways are most often the best, yet most overlooked…we always wanna do things the hard way for some reason.
I love #4. Just this morning I was having this discussion on another blog regarding blog post ideas.
Get the idea and write it out there and then whenever possible…you don’t have to publish or submit it right then, but right it and move on.
Dennis Edells last blog post..CommentLuv Down - But Workin’ On It!
October 29th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
I’m working really hard on the “scannable” one! LOL I hate it when my posts look like one big huge … blob of words … These are all great tips … do tell more about the article marketer tool? *SmiLes* Suzanne
Money Making Ideas ~ Suzannes last blog post..A Newbie’s Guide to Affiliate Marketing
JR reply on October 29th, 2008 11:20 pm:
Hi Suzanne,
Article Marketer is a service that submits articles to over 5,000 article sites and thousands of publishers. Basically I submit my article once to them and then their humans submit for me, saves loads of time, can you imagine submitting manually to even 100 sites? There are detials on the service in my post: Article Marketing 101 - check it out!
October 29th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
I always shoot for 400 words because it gives me the greatest exposure and submission flexibility.
SavvyGrind Affiliate Marketings last blog post..
JR reply on October 30th, 2008 2:11 am:
Hello Savvy Grind, welcome and great point about the 400 words.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Different directories have different rules..do these human editors take the time or just mass submit and hope for the best?
Dennis Edells last blog post..CommentLuv is Back! H U G E Thank You’s To It’s Tireless Creator!
JR reply on October 31st, 2008 1:04 pm:
Dennis, for each article you choose up to three categories with several sub categories, in fact Article Marketer will not let you submit without the categories, and without correct categories and when they submit the articles for you to the sites they submit to the appropriate categories for your articles. There is no mass submission.
Dennis Edell reply on October 31st, 2008 2:53 pm:
What about things like changing rules in what allowed in the body and even in the resource box.
Dennis Edells last blog post..Oct.’08 Post Round-Up for Direct Sales Web Marketing
JR reply on October 31st, 2008 7:07 pm:
They have usual universal rules, no html or links in the body, two links in the resource, and what happens is that once you submit there is a human editor that will check your articles prior to submitting to the article sites, and that editor will let you know of any issues that may prevent your from getting published by the most sites and this gives you chance to make necessary changes, and also there is an auto scan for spelling, grammar and other errors.
The human edit is intended to make sure that your article is conforming to as many publishers as possible, and they even look at stuff like title, title case to make sure it is okay and will be accepted. It really is a great service and NOT automated software like article submitter
November 1st, 2008 at 11:03 am
Great advice, as always!
JR reply on November 1st, 2008 12:03 pm:
Thanks Matt
November 2nd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Could not agree more with #4. I think that applies to a lot of things in life, as well.
Gaming YouTubes last blog post..Using Annotations
JR reply on November 2nd, 2008 10:27 pm:
@ Gaming YouTube, you are totally right!
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I used to do article marketing and then fell out of the habit. It’s one I definitely need to revive!!!!
Beyond Niche Marketings last blog post..How Advertising Works
JR reply on November 2nd, 2008 10:23 pm:
Yes I recommend you do, I think Article Marketing is so important and provides so many great benefits.
November 4th, 2008 at 8:27 am
I agree, that it is very hard to write articles only at the very beginning. Thanks for good advice, I also use these tips, and I want to say that they help me a lot.
JR reply on November 5th, 2008 12:01 am:
Thanks Bowtrol and welcome!
November 20th, 2008 at 10:29 am
The main benefit of article writing is getting those keywords in the title. For me on a few sites I am ranked on page 1 or 2 of google in a day or two because of my title. This brings the traffic regardless of how good the content is.
As you say, people scan the article in a few seconds and click on your resource link.
The people who syndicate are similar. They want content and as long as the article is not complete $5#@ then there is no problem.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:32 am
Hi JR,
You’re setting the example here too. That’s an effective post too. I’ve always enjoyed reading your work on your blog. Thanks for sharing.
Peter Lee
Peter @ Online Business Ideass last blog post..Discover 10 Wordpress Plugins That Make Readers Repeat Visitors
JR reply on November 23rd, 2008 5:28 pm:
Thank you Peter!
December 22nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
This is my first visit. What a fantastic post! Very informative. I plan on signing up with Article Marketer and utilizing your tips.
Rhonda
January 9th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
[...] 4 Tips for Writing Effective Articles for the Internet [...]
January 9th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I have a question about article marketing, JR. Are there cons to using a post from your blog to submit as an article to an article marketing directory, or is that accepted practice? Just wondering.
Steve@Success Factorss last blog post..Do You Need More Power?
JR reply on January 9th, 2009 9:31 pm:
@Steve
I was actually going to write about this next week. It is not a good idea to post an exact duplicate.
Mainly because you can outrank yourself for those keywords, since many article sites, like Ezine will outrank sites. No matter how hard G tries to credit the original source, they often miss.
What I often do is rewrite it slightly, mainly with different targeted keywords in the density and title. This way you are all over the SERPS, make sense?
Also, while your site is new you are probably picking lower competition KW to rank quicker, but with articles you can go for higher competition KW’s since so many article sites have high authority and page rank.