Writing Guidance

Autopilot Article Marketing

2008-02-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

Lots has been said about article marketing in the internet marketing circles. There are many mentors who have been able to sell millions of dollars worth of e-books on how to do article marketing. Mentors aren't the only ones making money. Web script writers are making money off of promoting software which create directories for articles.

But does article marketing work?

The answer to that question varies, depending on who you ask.

But here's my opinion.

Let me begin by telling you that I started article marketing six months ago. In that short amount of time, I have written numerous articles and have been featured in as many as 70 different directories. And through some of these directories, I've received RSS feeds, which allows my articles to get onto many other websites. Some of my article titles have received as many as 10,000 results in a search engine directory.

Several of my websites have zoomed to the number one position in various top search engines. Although I have done other things to acquire higher ranking in search engines, I feel that article marketing has done a majority of the work for me. But more than that, autopilot article marketing is the reason for my success with articles.

Here is how I implement autopilot article marketing.

I start off by writing things that I know about. The first article I wrote was promoting a website about home organization. I discussed organizing your home, a topic that I was know was very popular, but wasn't too familiar with. Now that I am more familiar with this process, I write articles about things that tend to work for me and information that I "do" know about.

The question you may be asking yourself is, "how can I create an autopilot article marketing campaign?" Here's how. You need to just jump right in, and write about what you know. Autopilot article marketing may be the ticket to helping your business get to the next level.

1) TITLE YOUR ARTICLE THE RIGHT WAY Make it easier to keep track of the spread of your article on the internet by making sure that you create an article title that is not already in use. Just before I submit an article, I place quotes around the title of my article and plug it into google.com. If google's search comes up with something, then I'll choose another title until my search comes up with "no results". If you do have an article title with "no results", you will be able to keep track of the sites that are hosting your article. After you have submitted the article, wait several days and do a search using the article title. Continue to do this every couple of days. If you submit between 10 to 15 different directories, you will be amazed by the results.

2) WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW Write about something you know about. Make sure you have more knowledge on the topic than the average reader, otherwise you'll probably want to change your topic. Give the readers something they don't already know. Do you research and write a unique article... it'll pay off in the long run.

3) WRITE IN A CONVERSATIONAL MANNER Write with comfort and ease. Keep it simple. Today's internet reader is click ready, meaning if the article is tough to read, then they will click out of it and go on to the next article. Keep your tone friendly, but informative.

4) KEEP ARTICLES SHORT Keep your articles short - between 500 to 750 words. Remember, your reader more than likely has a very short attention span. Give them the information quickly and in a direct manner. You'll have a greater chance of keeping your reader's attention, and getting them to click your links in your resource box.

5) INCLUDE A RESOURCE BOX Be sure to include a link to your site at the end of each article every time. Not only will this help bring visitors to your squeeze page or sales offer, but it will also help build backlinks to your site. Remember to give your readers a powerful call to action to get them to act immediately to your offer.

6) RE-INVEST YOUR PROFITS If you follow steps 1-5 above, you should soon see profits roll in. Now take a portion of those profits and buy articles. And continue to do so with the profits of those articles. This leaves you free to focus on other forms of marketing. By re-investing your profits into articles, you create a never ending income stream of more articles (which leads to profit in and of themselves) and profit to purchase more articles. This is the autopilot article marketing technique.

In my experience, autopilot article marketing has been (and continues to be) a fantastic income generator for me. To take advantage of autopilot article marketing yourself, make sure to write about what you know, with the right title, and in a conversation manner. Remember to keep your articles short and include a resource box with a call to action. Then, when you earn profits from your articles, re-invest it to create more articles, more traffic, and more income. Then, simply rinse and repeat. Good Luck.

How to Keep Your Reader's Attention with Your Articles

2008-01-30T22:06:00.000-08:00

Readers can be quick to hit the delete key and move on when reading an article on the web or in their email box. So, you need to quick and thorough. Internet readers have received a lot of junk and they want readily available information. If you can't deliver what they want, they will click out of your page.

How does this impact you as an internet author?

There are several things to consider here:

1) CREATE COMPELLING INFORMATION Your information needs to be compelling. You need to provide the reader with quality and high level information, the same that you expect them to buy from you. After reading your article, if the reader believes that it's all "fluff", then they will naturally assume that everything else you sell is also just going to be "fluff" as well.

If necessary, you should be willing to provide a small amount of your knowledge and provide usable information if you expect readers to buy what you have to offer. This way, it will give them an idea of your information and then they will have the desire to purchase the rest of your information.

2) NO SALES PITCH ARTICLES Please remember that a sales pitch is NOT an article. The article should be informative and include a link to your website towards the bottom. If the reader likes what they read, then they will naturally click for more. Think of it this way, if they didn't like your article, do you really want them to click anyway?

3) WRITE IN A CONVERSATIONAL TONE Write with a level of comfort. Your writing style should resemble the style of a conversation with a good friend. When you write like you are talking to a friend, that warmth and comfort can be picked up by your reader. They will respond to you as if they already know you. By writing with a level of comfort, your readers will want to learn more, continue on to your website, and if they like what they see, then they will purchase from you as well.

4) IT'S ABOUT RELATIONSHIP Keep in mind that you are trying to establish a relationship with your readers. Remember that you're giving them a sales pitch today. You are trying to make a connection with the reader-you're trying to get them to click through your site and continue on from there. Think of it like walking. Your article is like crawling- you need to crawl before you can walk. Your website is like walking-it opens up new possibilities.

Keep your information up to date and make it reader friendly (easy and to the point). It is crucial that you offer ways to use some or all the information in your article every time.

In order to stay up to date, make sure that you, yourself continue to keep learning. In today's online world, what may have worked for you 5 years ago, isn't necessarily going to work for you today.

Use numbers, bullets, or write in short paragraphs in order to keep information easy to understand.

Five Reasons Why You Can't Be A Writer (And Why None Of Them Are True)

2008-01-26T01:36:00.001-08:00

I have a very clean house. I vacuum almost daily, regularly dust my silverware drawer for crumbs, and organize my closets at least three times a year. What's my secret? I'm a writer who works from home.

Like many writers, when deadlines loom I circle my laptop, finding excuses not to get started. But because I do consider myself a writer (and my Mexico vacation depends on it), eventually I plant myself in the chair and get to work. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. I hear from a lot of people who long to call themselves writers, but have generated all sorts of reasons never to try. So here's a list of the top five dreamdashers, and why none of them hold any water:
I have no time to write. Every beginning writer is time-challenged, because until you're getting paid for your writing, you're probably spending a chunk of each day doing something else. But consider this: author Claudia Mills, who has two sons and works as a college professor, said at a workshop that she writes every morning while her family is still asleep. Many days, she only gets in 5-15 minutes of writing. But those are actual writing minutes; not minutes spent thinking about writing, or worrying about wriI'm too old. Editors won't know how old you are if you don't tell them. Your readers won't know if you don't put your picture on the book cover. If you write well, your voice will be ageless. I know of a woman who promised herself on her 65th birthday that she'd pursue a lifelong dream of writing a children's book. She followed the advice to "write what you know," and at age 69 received her first contract for a middle grade novel based on events from her childhood.

I don't have a college degree. Guess what? Neither do your readers. Sure, it's necessary to know the basic rules of grammar and how to express yourself on paper, but hopefully you mastered that by junior high. The best education you can give yourself as a potential children's book writer is to read children's books--many children's books, especially those similar to the kind of books you want to write. And don't let your lack of knowledge about a nonfiction topic stop you from writing about it. If you're a skilled writer who enjoys research, you can teach yourself enough about many subjects to write about them, or find experts to help you fill in gaps in your knowledge.

Everything's been written about. You're probably right, but next season the shelves will be stocked with brand new books. Why? Because though it feels like we're approaching the saturation point on new ideas, the way those ideas are presented can constantly change. You have a unique way of looking at the world that no one else can duplicate. So play around with those worn out ideas until you hit on something fresh.

Publishers are afraid of controversial topics/ religion/men writing for kids/books that teach a lesson.... The only thing publishers are afraid of is not selling books. Do cutting edge, issue-driven books get attention? Take a look at prestigious awards lists. Does religion sell? Go to any chain bookstore and see that even trade publishers are bringing out fiction and nonfiction with religious themes. Do male writers need to use female pseudonyms? Again, I refer you to prestigious awards lists. Can a children's book contain a moral these days? If you do it in an entertaining way without preaching, parents will snap up your work.

If you're tempted to start a sentence with "Publishers are afraid...," it probably means one of two things: you haven't walked into a bookstore recently, or it's easier to blame a pile of rejection letters on timid editors than to figure out why your manuscript isn't selling. Though editors are under pressure to show a profit (publishing is a business, after all), they're always looking for the next manuscript that will turn children's books in a new direction. If you're going to be that writer, in the end all you really need to do is plant yourself in the chair and get to work.ter's block, or staring at a blank piece of paper. When she assembles all those little bits of intensive writing over several weeks, she ends up with a book.

A Romantic Example of Plagiarism

2008-01-26T01:36:00.000-08:00

Recent news stories have reported accusations that yet another big-selling author inappropriately borrowed passages from other works. Cassie Edwards, a prolific romance novelist, is under fire after a romance readers' blog displayed selections of her books side-by-side with selections from other sources. (Here's the post that opened the debate.) The comparisons leave viewers with the distinct opinion that some entire sections of Edwards's books are nothing more than uncredited, albeit cleverly reorganized, montages.

Perhaps Edwards ought to bill herself "editor" rather than "author."
More astonishing than the implication of impropriety is Edwards's response. According to an AP article by Hillel Italie,

Edwards...acknowledged that she sometimes "takes" her material "from reference books," but added that she didn't know she was supposed to credit her sources.

"When you write historical romances, you're not asked to do that," Edwards said.

Really? The rules are different as long as one is writing historical fiction/romance?

Does anyone fall for this reasoning? What writer alive--particularly one who has been published umpteen times and doubtless signed contract clauses warning against such lapses--doesn't know that borrowing without attribution is not permissible?

While they fall along a very broad spectrum, the conclusions I find myself drawing about a writer who plagiarizes are never positive. At best, the writer is woefully ignorant of the entire body of knowledge surrounding intellectual property. Even schoolchildren are taught how NOT to plagiarize; it is inexcusable for an informed adult who makes a living writing to have not the vaguest notion of the issue. At the other end of the spectrum is the conclusion that the writer in question is nothing more than a thief, having knowingly stolen another's material on the arrogant assumption that no one will ever find out.

Paul Tolme, a scientist and wildlife writer who found himself one of Edwards's unwitting contributors, is more gracious in his assessment. While no one would wish to be plagiarized, he admits he feels less anger than pity over the lack of literary invention that led Edwards to turn his nature writing into "bad dialogue. It stands out as clunky and awkward." (Tolme's words, by contrast, flow smoothly. He reveals a talent for wry, even absurdist humor in the article in which he addresses the Edwards case. It's well worth reading: Move Over, 'Meerkat Manor'.)

Ms. Edwards's transgression goes far beyond a few overlooked attributions; she crosses the line into outright plagiarism. The quoted passages reveal that she borrowed concepts. But they also show very little variation in vocabulary, organization, and syntax from the originals. Recasting the verbiage is no less necessary a step than including a list of references. Of course, doing it correctly takes a little work. If she felt proper citation would be prohibitively time-consuming to do while cranking books out at the rate she is accustomed (100 books in approximately 25 years)--well, that's what good writing assistants are for. It is doubtful anyone would have batted an eye over that kind of assistance. Instead, this recent exposure is likely to leave an indelible mark on her credibility.

Getting A Book Published

2008-01-26T01:34:00.000-08:00

Many people want to write a book and have it published. However, very few ever have a successful book published. Just like "making it big" in any art form, becoming a rich or famous author takes a lot of hard work, talent, and perseverance.

To get a book published, you first need to find a literary agent. You do this by sending query letters to agents. Generally, you want to write a short, concise, one-page letter telling the agent about yourself and the book you want to write. You also probably want to tell the agent about how you found him or her. You can find agents in various directories; try doing a Google search.

If your query interests an agent, the agent will then ask to see an outline or synopsis of the book. Such a synopsis needs to follow strict rules regarding formal outlines, so you will need to learn how to write one if you do not already know. You probably want to write the outline even if an agent has not asked for it yet. That way you will have it ready when an agent wants it.

Most agents will only consider an offer exclusively. In other words, each agent will want you to send your synopsis to him or her only while he or she makes a decision. So when you send an agent your synopsis, tell the agent that you will not send it to any other agents until you receive a response. You also probably want to set a time limit for the agent to send you a response in case the agent takes too long or does not respond at all.

Remember, you may have to query a lot of agents before one shows interest. And you may have to send your synopsis to a lot of agents before one decides to represent you.

Once an agent decides to represent you, they will try to get a publisher to agree to publish your book. The agent will work out the details of the agreement with the publisher, but you will have the final decision of whether or not to accept what the publisher offers.

The publisher will generally pay you an advance to write your book, assuming you have not written it already. Writing the book will also entail working with editors. You will go through many drafts and make a lot of revisions before you have the final manuscript.

Once you already have an agent and a publisher, the agent will help you understand the rest of the process. The agent makes money based on your success, so the agent will want to help you succeed.

During the entire process, most importantly, you want to remember that most agents do not accept unsolicited manuscripts. Start with a query letter, and prepare for a lot of rejection. You may have to go through nearly 50 agents before you come close to signing your novel.

Whatever you do, good luck and have fun!

Wishy washiness or how I stopped fearing the Critic and take a stand.

2008-01-26T01:33:00.000-08:00

I have been redoing the entire opinion sharing deal.

It's great to take a stand, face the sceptic battery. But it gets morosely pedantic, the entire deal does. And it is hard to draw the line between where I state myself, spread my legs and take a firm stand and where I begin to defend it like a precocious virgin.

Now, as it turns out, everyone knows Nietzsche and Wittgenstein. They're certainly no breakthrough people. But what of the many many others?
The trouble is in their unwillingness to take a stand, be blunt, thick-headed and defend their interpretations of things that be and should be. Sure it means they get ridiculed as time passes by, and the set of improperly justified beliefs but none the less very popular beliefs aka the Scientific Method overtakes them.

But at least they will be applauded for their efforts when people consider the resources offered to them. People will go clappity-clap and name their characters and sons after them.

Now for example, let us take this recent discussion I had with someone on a forum. She asks, "Does Virgil's 'Aeneid' bear elements of Existentialist philosophy?"

Of course it does if you look closely. All literature is full of it. For Pete's sake, your nearest religious blah-blah text (which in turn is probably great literature) is full of what we could jot down to be existentialist references. And, so this is what I say:

"Now when you say Epicureanism does not forward the case of existentialist philosophy, you are partially correct. But to go on and say the Aeneid, which most certainly came after the multitude of orgies that invested themselves in the roman state, does not rebel against the cause-effect mentality that dominates existentialist thought is well, very silly.

I have nothing against theistic existentialism. But, in oppositions, when you have someone always intervening, looking over you shoulder, and you accepting their presence and obeying them however irrational the commands might be, we're losing the thread completely.

The Aeneid is a vast epic of well, epic proportions. It describes his journey through almost all of the known world. He even goes downstairs to meet his dead dad. Something I find particularly moving. The entire deal can come off as sycophancy especially when you consider the subject matter and how the poem justifies the rights of the then rulers of rome, comparing them to gods and how that is evidence enough to establish a totalitarian theocracy.

But then when you consider his own reflection during his trials, the layers begin to peel off. Revealing his angst for one. I mean he has a good thing going on with Dido, and he is asked to shove off. I mean who wouldn't be pissed. Now that is certainly divine interference of the necessary kind. So, then how are his actions to account for his destiny becomes the question that drives him livid. His role is small, and gets inconsequential after Juno decides its time for fun.

Thusly, the Aeneid is not really an existentialist work because Virgil probably believed in what he wrote. But it can be interpreted against his will as a struggle against the powers that be. It is rather depressing to note his failings."

Now what is wrong with this? Why would I defend this? Because I don't want to give in to the warm tide of wishy-washiness that rises everytime I see arguments.

Again, as a Novelist, I find this taking stands a lot of fun. I can get two or more characters to bash their heads together, put in all my conflicting ideas, disown the unpopular ones, and seek credit and Ã©clat for binging out the intense conflict that lies latent in everyone's psyches. Or something to that effect.

Hehe.

Submit Write And Watch Your Income Explode

2008-01-26T01:32:00.002-08:00

In order to achieve your article marketing goals you've got to submit your articles to the right sites. Submitting properly can make the difference between getting tons of traffic and getting none at all. Back links from some sites can be extremely productive while back links from the wring sites can be absolutely worthless. It is a matter of identifying your goals and proper submission tactics.

Everyone knows that you should submit articles to the largest sites, but it goes much deeper than that. If you want to make money, you can generate 2 to 3 times the traffic by submitting your articles to niche directories related to your site. However, many of these niche directories are very small and, under certain circumstances, may even hurt the page rank of your site.
Are you looking for traffic? Submit your articles to the 10 to 20 largest sites. If you want your traffic and income to explode, use the 50 largest sites. Although it may be a bit time consuming to use this many directories, it may prove to be worth your while.

Any article marketing campaign will benefit by writing articles frequently. Try writing 1 to 3 articles a day and watch your Internet business take off. Of course, if you intend to write 3 articles each day, you w2ould benefit by using article submission software. These programs can speed up the submission process considerably.

Try some of the tactics above and see for yourself how your business improves. I'm proof that it can happen and believe me; I'm not a brain surgeon.

Do you want to learn more about making money online? Get my free ebook on how make money every day!

Why You Need A Writing Portfolio And How to Create One

2008-01-26T01:32:00.001-08:00

Ready to break into the world of freelancing but not sure where to start? Writing for newspapers and magazines is only one of the many ways you can make money writing, and not always the most effective. While is true that some national glossy magazines pay well, it may be hard for a beginner to break in, especially if you don't have the know-how to approach editors. So how do you build a portfolio if you have no formal background or nothing to show for it? Here are some ways you can start building a writing resume that sizzles:
1. Start at the bottom. Contrary to what many writers believe, this does not mean writing SEO articles for $1 or giving your work away in exchange for a byline. Instead, look for markets that welcome beginners, especially online, where the content is generally shorter and may not require interviews or expert backup. Or consider your alumni newsletter, a local newspaper or a regional publication. Not matter how small the publication, it will still be a credit in your name.

2. Write for content websites. Despite the bad reputation of some content websites for publishing bad quality writing, the truth is that you are the one that controls the quality of the final article. While you may not make a lot of money (think $15, not $1500) writing for content sites, they allow you to build up a portfolio that you can use every time an editor requests samples. Also, keep in mind that getting paid for your work, even if it's only $15, is a sign that your writing is good enough to sell. An editor will see that. Examples of content websites include Constant Content, JustArticles, eHow, and Associated Content.

3. Take advantage of your degree. If you have a background in a specific topic (doesn't matter if it is in medicine, law or economics), you can do well by writing and selling articles in that specific niche. While you are still starting from zero, with no credits in your name, you have the advantage of a good understanding of the topic. When writing query letters, don't leave your degree or any related experience out of them.

4. Set up your own website or blog. If you have nothing to showcase, starting a blog can be a good way to get your name out there and eventually use it as a platform (just make sure to keep your blog professional and not use it to talk about family or personal issues). If you already have some clips, consider getting a website. Not only are they extremely cheap and easy to set up, but they are now considered an essential part of any freelancer's portfolio.

5. Don't leave anything out. If you have no professional clips to showcase, take a look into your past and see if there's anything that you can use to showcase your writing ability. Did you have to write reports at your last work? Ever designed PR materials or had to write corporate papers? While these may not be the most interesting samples you can offer, they do showcase your writing skill and versatility.

Above all, be patient. All freelance writers have to start from zero, so ultimately it is only up to you whether you make it (and how big).

6 Ways to Make Money Writing

2008-01-26T01:31:00.002-08:00

If you think writing for magazines and newspapers is the only way to make money, you may be in for a surprise. Writers can make money in a multitude of ways beyond article writing, many of which can generate lots of money once you find your niche and gain experience. Whether you are new to writing and want to build up your resume, or you are an experienced freelancer looking to diversify, here are some new ways to use your words to generate income:
Become a ghostwriter. Memoirs, technical books or self-help manuals come to mind, but don't discount writing articles or profiles for experts who may have the knowledge but not the writing skills to do so themselves. Or consider writing web content for business sites or blogs.

If you can speak a second language, consider translation. Rather than looking for freelancing jobs as an interpreter, see if you can find magazines that accept work in a different language (Spanish is extremely popular, but don't discount others as well) or need content translated (especially sought-after for websites and PR writing).

Share what you know with others. If you have experience in the publishing world, becoming a workshop leader or instructor (either online or face-to-face) can be not only a good source of extra income, but also a great way to improve your resume. Libraries, adult-learning centers and community colleges often hire freelance instructors for short-term courses, or you can search online for schools accepting virtual instructors.

Write e-books. Years ago, writers made money by writing and selling pamphlets or brochures. Now you can do the same with e-books, without any upfront expense on your part. Not matter what your background is, you are bound to be an expert on something: parenting, medicine, foreign cuisine or living on a budget. Study your niche, search online to see what is available and what is popular, and write an e-book that helps readers get better at something.

Resell everything. Don't "retire" an article after publication. Instead, look for magazines or websites that accept reprints, or rework the piece into something different and sell it again to a different market.

Start a blog. You can monetarize it by adding affiliate ads, selling your own e-books or using it for promotion of other work.

Submitting Press Release or Article hints

2008-01-26T01:31:00.001-08:00

When you are at the point, where internet marketing is understood as the must, you should make your homework on how to submit internet article or press release. At this time (earlier 21st century), internet search engines are not really selective on what is commercial information and what is contribution to your product users community, meaning article. Saying this, if you find reasonable number of PR publication media portals - you should be getting similar results as if you are submitting your news as article. Saying this, we should also give you our additional opinion - article is better, as it is structured as community service, while PR is rather pure commercial information, so in the long run article should win the best page rank. Let's review some article and press release writing and submission guidelines:
1. Keywords in your header. It is kind of common knowledge and at the same time it is the secret, as many article publication and PR portals do not want you to obese news headlines with your keywords. General rule is this - try to construct your header as natural sentence, where you use your targeted keywords - at least four or five of them. If you use more than five keywords in the title - search engine will consider this material as being too persistent in trying to get pagerank 2. Natural reading of your header. Here you should apply your creativity and try to use natural language constructions to have your key word containing news headline look smooth and even innovative. Let us give you example: if you are trying to get high page rank in ERP systems, you can use the word "intelligent enterprise", which seems to be out of the set of guessed keywords, but it will bring the innovation style to your header 3. Number of characters. Some PR publication sites limit you at three thousand characters, be aware that these sites typically require or recommend you to provide graphical image of your company logo - this helps their site to look cool as information portal. In our opinion, if you would like to get top position in google search - your article or press release should be about one page - this means that it is about five thousand characters 4. Where to submit your PR or article. Here you should be familiar with statistics. Google, Yahoo, MSN do not guarantee your article to be on the top if you submit it to specific media portal. They apply randomization, meaning that if you submit your news to ten portals, you will get yourself on the top in search engines in the pages from probably two web portals

Alternatives to story telling

2008-01-26T01:30:00.000-08:00

There aren't any! There, I've spoiled it for you, told you the ending before I even set the scene and outlined the case. Sorry, that's not very good practice, but it proves my point. We all love a good story, one with a start, some middle and a proper ending. We can't help it, we were born that way. We were hardwired from birth to accept facts, information, history and learning in that structured way. People who understand that particular aspect of human nature - like Dan Brown - can make a good living from feeding our hunger.
Some people aren't so sure. I was talking to a student friend of mine from China and I asked him what Chinese young people and students were reading these days. I expected to hear 'Harry Potter' or Dan Brown, or maybe even magazines like Maxim or FHM. He looked completely blank. Hesitatingly, he said that all of his friends spend most of their time on their laptop computers and mobile phones. They listen to music, send and receive texts, emails and downloads, gossip and chat. What about books? Ah, books, he said, light dawning, those are the things we need for our studies.

Of course it's not quite as bad as that. Harry Potter is indeed a well-known figure in China, as you will know for yourself if you've ever logged on to any Chinese websites. Ads for the young wizard occur on most Chinese news media sites. As do ads for movies, games and music. But these young students from China, they don't read stories, right? Yes? Well then, what is 'gossip' exactly? It's tales of personal experiences, mostly embarrassing, things you want to keep quiet. What is 'soap opera'? Even people who claim never to read a story book, most of them will be familiar with the goings on in Emmerdale, Ramsey Street or Coronation Street, Walford and the Queen Vic pub. And 'goings on' are stories. They are things that happen to people - first this happened, then that, and then, oh no, this is awful, that happened. Yes, it's a story. It just doesn't get put into words and published in a book, like we've been used to for the last three hundred years. It gets acted out, and then we get to know the actors and worry about them and their stories, their lives, their loves, their scandals. What's a scandal? Another story, usually one with an unhappy ending.

My assertion here is that the mediums we are currently experiencing are changing rapidly. We didn't have such a thing as an internet when I was a lad, and I'm old enough to have seen tape cassettes arrive and now, recently, disappear, as a way of listening to music. But songs are still here, and some of the songs I grew up with, such as The Beatles, I've seen on vinyl, recorded on cassette tape, on CD, and, most recently, available as a download on my computer. That hasn't changed the song, or the experience of listening to such great music. The presentation has changed, and my ability to carry it around and share it with my friends, but the music is still there. The Beatles? Ever hear a song called 'Eleanor Rigby' by them? Yeah, sorry, but it's a story. Well, you probably knew that too.

The point is that if the format changes, then the creator of the work might change too. For hundreds of years we've had stories in book form and their originator was called 'an author' and revered as a solitary creator, someone with wisdom, life experience and writing skills. These days we've got Dan Brown. No, I'm not running him down, honest, but I need to point out that he created a book and that book was turned into a film. It didn't go out of his hands, however. If you've seen the movie, you'll know that Dan is listed as some sort of 'Executive Producer'. That's the way things are going. Dan invents the story and it comes out in book form and then makes the jump into the cinema - oh sorry, I forgot that films are available in your own home now as well, as DVDs, or downloads. (It used to be video tape, but that's come and gone as well, hasn't it?) Heck, you can even put them on your phone. Yes, the format is changing. The thing that hasn't changed is that someone, some person, some creator, has to come up with the thing in the first place - and it doesn't matter if that's a group, or a team, or a writing partnership, even a husband and wife duo. That act of creation, the formation of 'the story', is fundamental to everything that arrives in your bookstore, on your television, in your local cinema, or on your home computer. Whether that's a 'writer', a TV executive, a producer, an agent, or whatever, someone has to do what people have been doing since we all sat around camp fires outside our caves and listened to someone with the inventiveness to weave us a story and enthrall us all.

Two things. One, these people are important. The recent writers' strike in America should convince us of that. We can't manage without story tellers of one form or another. They are intrinsic to any creative process, whatever the form. And second, the technical side doesn't matter, not to the audience. Tell me, honestly, does the fact that your house is now full of DVDs and not video tapes make any damn difference to whether you enjoy the musical or the Kung Fu action thriller, really? I mean, if Shakespeare was alive today, he might be writing dramas for TV and using a computer word processor. Would that demean his talent and make his creations any less enthralling? No, the format and the outcome is irrelevant to what we started with - the hunger. We all have a need to hear stories, whether it's gossip, soap, drama, song or novel, and we will always honour those with the sheer skill or determination to bring them to us. Yep, that's right. Even Dan Brown, bless him.

3 Secrets--Make That Book Purchase Worth It!

2008-01-26T01:26:00.001-08:00

Are you getting your money's worth out of that expensive book you just bought?

If you're like me, you look at the price of a book and say, "Yikes! That's a lotta money!"

It really is--unless you can squeeze some easy "extra" value out of it. I'll show you 3 ways to bring that cost waaay down as opposed to the benefits you'll get from it.

Let's do some math.

If your book costs $25.00 (this is about average for a novel--for nonfiction, it can be much more), how much does it end up being worth to you? Let's say it's about 75,000 words long and you read at an average speed of 250 words per minute.

That means it will take you 5 hours to read that book; you're paying $5 per hour for the "privilege" of reading it.
If it was terrific, you're happy with the purchase--if it was mediocre, you're probably trying to justify why you shelled out your hard-earned cash. If it was terrible, and you couldn't plow your way through it, you're most likely shying away from buying another book for a while.

When you go to the movies, 2 hours in the dark for $10 averages out to the same $5/hour as your book, which is good. The advantage a movie has is the initial outlay of cash is less than a book--unless you bought something at the refreshment stand--which zoomed the price of the outing out of sight!

How do you wring some added sweetness from that book?--I'll show you 3 ways:

1. Lend it out.

2. Write a review.

3. Read it again.

Most of us buy a book, read it, and throw it into a pile somewhere. That pile may be under a bed, in a corner, on the nightstand, or on a shelf. No matter where it is--the book becomes invisible to you for the rest of your ownership of it.

It's dead--inert--transferred from the "asset" column to the "clutter" column.

Try this instead: when you've finished that expensive book, pass it on to someone you think will enjoy it. But, don't leave it at that.

When you lend it, tell your friend, "After you finish this, let's talk." Now you can use this for conversation and maybe grab another hour of social interaction entertainment from it.

Maybe your offer will lead to others lending their books back to you. There! Free books waiting for you!

The second way to increase your book's value is to write a review for it. Do this for your local paper or online.

Your name will get out there, your reputation increases, and you'll initiate a dialogue with your readers. Again, that initial investment of $25 is starting to show profits.

Who knows where increased visibility will lead. It could enhance your professional reputation, draw people to your website, cause referrals, dig up sales leads--you get the picture. The very minimum it will do is get you some attention. All good.

The last thing you can do is read the book again and savor what you found interesting and valuable once more. This time through, you meet old friends in it and enjoy the anticipation of the characters and plot. If it's nonfiction (they say repetition is the beginning of all learning), you'll gain a greater understanding, and pick up knowledge you missed the first time through.

If you use any one of these methods, you brought the cost of your book down in relation to its worth to you.

If you use all 3--your book just became a BIG bargain!

Maximize Your Income By Checking Your Stats

2008-01-26T01:26:00.000-08:00

Writing articles is just half of the story. The other half is submitting your articles. And which sites you submit your articles to may be more important than writing them. A well-written article with a good title and compelling resource box will usually receive many page views. The more page views you get, the more clicks you will receive. And more clicks translate into more traffic and income.

To maximize your article income, it is important to check your website statistics often. I check mine every day. If you notice that you are not getting any traffic from a site that you have submitted to on a regular basis, log in to the site and check your article stats.
Some sites take forever to approve articles. Many times, you will find that your articles are not being approved in a timely manner. Sometimes, webmasters become unhappy with a site because it requires more work than they thought or because they are making less money than they hoped. When this happens, a site can suffer from a lack of attention. If you have a lot of articles there and they are not getting approved, stop submitting to that site. There is no sense in wasting your time on that site. If it is an important site to you and you want to continue submitting, check back in a few weeks. If your articles still have not been approved, eliminate the site completely and replace them with another site.

Another reason that you are getting little or no traffic from a directory is the type of clientele that visits the site. Many directories cater to particular niches. If your articles fall outside that niche, few people may be interested in the topics of your articles. If you suspect that this is happening, log onto the site and check your stats. First ensure that your articles are being approved promptly. If they are, check on the number of page views that you are getting and compare it to page views from other directories. If the page views are okay, make sure that your resource box is being displayed with your article.

By carefully checking your website stats, and then routinely looking at your article directory stats, you can maximize the returns you get from your article business.

Do you want to learn more about making money online? Get my free ebook on How to Make Money Every Day!

How To Turn Your Personal Stories Into Profit

2008-01-26T01:25:00.001-08:00

So you've jumped on the bandwagon, or should I say the â€œblogwagonâ€? You've joined the ranks of those writers who log in daily to share stories about everything from the burger they had for lunch to the indi film they saw last night. By now you've figured out that what they say is true: write what you know. But if what you know merely stems from your personal experiences, is it possible to actually profit from your writing?

The answer is yes. You don't have to write hard news just to make your words make cents, but to make dollars, you've got to be smart.
If you are accustom to writing stories about your experiences and that works for you, continue to do so, but ask yourself â€œso what?â€ Aside from its entertaining value, why would someone want to read your article? It is usually possible to take a personal experience and turn it into something others will benefit from. Think of your articles as fables ï¿½ï¿½" they tell a story, but finish up with a moral or lesson. For example, if you have a story about missing a flight at an airport, follow it up with tips for preparing for a flight. Maybe you'd suggest certain attire so that passengers aren't wasting time unbuckling belts and retying shoes in the security line. And surly those zip-lock bags could be a topic of discussion all their own!

You can also use keyword research tools like Yahoo's â€œkeyword selector toolâ€. If you had a bad experience with a waiter while dining last night, type in a phrase like â€œpoor serviceâ€ and you'll get a list of related terms like â€œproper tipping etiquetteâ€ and you have the added bonus of knowing that there is existing search traffic for these topics. Write your story about the waiter that failed to bring you silverware until your date started eating with his hands just to prove a point, and then lead in to how one should handle a situation like this and what the resulting tip should be.

Readers love stories, so don't stop writing them. Just remember not to leave them hanging. You'd never want a reader to say, â€œso what's your point?â€. Tell your story, make a point, and you're sure to make a profit.

A Free Technique To Make More Money Than You Thought Possible

2008-01-26T01:25:00.000-08:00

In order to make money online, you must have traffic. Without traffic, there is no business. But, unfortunately for those just starting out, traffic costs money. You can pay for clicks, you can buy ads in ezines, you can pay for reviews, etc. Most of these techniques can be quite effective, but they can cost you a fortune.

However, there are a few advertising traffic building techniques that are absolutely free. They cost you nothing more than a few hours of your time. Many who are just starting out would much rather spend a few hours than spend their hard earned money. Among all the various ways of promoting an Internet business, article writing is among the most effective and affordable ways to advertise your online business. In fact, it can make you more money than you thought possible.
Fresh content is the lifeblood of the Internet and articles make up a large percentage of that content. Webmasters are always looking for new information that is related to the content on their sites. Search engines love sites that regularly renew their content and reward them with high page rank numbers. These higher page ranks result in better placement in search results.

For that reason, there is a constant and eager market for your articles. With each article you write, you should include several links to your own site, your own products, or affiliate products that you recommend. This information is included in your resource box.

All of your links should be related to the information in your article. If the article is about vacationing in Tahiti, links for dog grooming are of little use. Few people would click on them. Links that are related to discount hotels, and airfare would get much better results.

If you are just starting an Internet business, generate traffic using articles. To maximize traffic, you should write articles on a regular basis. One or more articles per day is best. If you intend to write just one a week, you will not get good results from your article marketing efforts. You need to write at least one article each day to be successful. But if you are ambitious and can write three or more each day, you can make more money than you thought possible.

Do you want to learn more about making money online? Get my free ebook on how make money every day!

Celebrating Black Heroes and Sheroes

2008-01-26T01:23:00.001-08:00

In some African traditions, the griot held the story of the local people â€" the village, family or clan. The griot pulled together the strands of the story which represented the various people who took part in it. Kept these strands and held them safe. Savoured them, treasured them. Wove them together to form a cloth, a whole that blended the assorted colours and shadings into a pattern which told the story of the people.

The people then heard their story. Their tongues sang it. Their feet danced it. Their hips swayed it. Their hands drummed it. Their fingers carved it. The stories of their ancestors, treasured, remembered, shared, and preserved for future generations.
I was very fortunate in that my African American mother taught me from an early age to be proud of my heritage. When she told me about the experience of enslavement, she told it from the perspective of those who had resisted and survived that enslavement. So I was encouraged to think of slavery and resistance as one and the same â€" a person who was enslaved resisted that enslavement as a matter of course. She told me stories of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth that still inspire and inform me, nearly 40 years later.

In Afrika, under colonisation, people were also often cut off from their heritage and even forced to speak European languages. Under an education system which left them unable to locate their home villages, and unable to speak with members of their own families, they could not communicate their experience to their own communities. And they were taught to believe they were superior to the â€˜backwardsâ€™ people of the rural villages, and encouraged to adopt European religious practices, modes of behaviour and so forth. However, they often have a stronger sense of their heritage than we, in the diaspora, may have.

During the time of enslavement, Afrikan people were not allowed to tell our own stories. We were not allowed to speak our own languages, or even to name our own children. Our stories were stolen from us, and rewritten in distorted forms. These distortions were then used to define and control us.

But still, Afrikan people told their stories. They whispered them. They lovingly sewed their babiesâ€™ names into their blankets. They told the stories of their homes, although much has been forgotten. Their fingers remembered. They baked them into breads and cakes, stirred them into soups and stews and rice. Plaited them into their childrenâ€™s hair. And planted them in their gardens.

They made up their own words and their own languages. Creole. Patois. Gullah. They made new art forms, new musical forms â€" jazz, blues, reggae, rhythm and blues, gospel. Although much had been forgotten, stolen, lost, rewritten or distorted, still much remained.

In the Afrikan diaspora, we have been brainwashed for hundreds of years to believe that we are inferior to other races. During and after enslavement, our forebears were told that they were fit only for labouring and for serving their white masters, who were stronger, more intelligent and more able than they were.

Today, we see these stereotypes being perpetuated, in slightly altered but still clearly recognisable forms. In screen roles, including TV and film as well as adverts, we often see Black men portrayed as criminals or gangsters â€" tough, hard and violent. We rarely see Black men and women being portrayed as loving husbands and wives, and parents, in stable homes and relationships, or doing jobs such as bankers, teachers or other figures of authority.

We have swallowed the distortions, the changes to our stories. And all too often, we have believed them.

Jak Dodd created the Nubian Jak board game because of this syndrome. He said to me:

â€œI worked as a social worker with a lot of young Black men and women. I noticed that a lot of them had a very negative self-image. If you asked most of them how they would describe themselves or see themselves, or who they would identify with, they didnâ€™t have a lot of Black role models in Britainâ€¦. So they would identify with African American achievers and Jamaican gun culture. We all want to have strong role models that we can identify with.

This brainwashing is often subtle, but it is very powerful. All too often, we are not aware of its effect on us. Our negativity about ourselves and each other limits the kinds of opportunities we attract. It creates a sense of helplessness which often leads to aggression on our part as we strike out in frustration at the limitations imposed on our lives.

These negative images have a profound effect on our psyches â€" our conscious and unconscious minds. It becomes nearly inevitable that, in the face of this overwhelming disadvantage, we develop an inferiority complex. This negative attitude Black people often have about ourselves and each other gets passed down from parent to child, and from generation to generation.

As the journalist Henry Bonsu said to me,

If you have no sense of your foundation, youâ€™re skeletal, you canâ€™t do anything. This is whatâ€™s happened. And you have no sense of shame about anything. Nothing is beneath you. There should be codes of behaviour. It should be un-Black to mug and rob somebody. It should be un-Black to attack your teacher. Because youâ€™ve always had discipline. Youâ€™ve always had balance. But unfortunately, itâ€™s become very Black to do these things for a certain group of children. They think thatâ€™s what being Black is, about being rough and tough.

We can see the effects of this brainwashing on modern African British youth. Those whose parents or grandparents were born in the Caribbean and were brought up to think of Britain as the Mother Country often find themselves searching for their identity. In the â€˜70s, many turned to Rastafarianism. These days, some of them, having rejected the dominant culture, turn to gun violence and gang violence as a means of seeking a positive identity as strong Black men and women. Others overidentify with the dominant culture and seek to fit in with, and be accepted by, white society, so unaware are they of their heritage.

In addition, our ignorance affects the way we deal with the racism we experience. When we are not aware of our heritage, we are not as resourceful as we might otherwise be in our responses to racism.

We donâ€™t strive to be all we can be. Instead, we settle for being second-, third- or fourth-best. We donâ€™t take life-changing or world-changing decision, we leave it to someone else to make things better, and we hope things donâ€™t get too much worse. How often have you complained to your friends and family about your noisy neighbours, or your Council Tax bill, or moaned to someone at the bus stop about how late the bus is? Have you taken this complaint any further?

And this is a problem that affects white people as much as Black. When one section of society is failing to live up to its full potential, all of society suffers â€" we see increased rates of crime, we have to pay to police and imprison criminals, we live in fear of being robbed or attacked. And the person who could have discovered the next cure for cancer may be sweeping the floor of the local supermarket or sitting in a prison cell right now.

Conscious Black adults have to take responsibility for turning this destructive tide, this tide of toxic, negative thoughts, beliefs and attitudes.

Celebrating Black heroes and sheroes allows us to decide for ourselves what images will inhabit our minds. The more we celebrate our Black heroes and sheroes, and share their stories with one another and with the wider society, the more we can enjoy our true heritage as African people.

Many Afrikan people, such as Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, having escaped from enslavement in North America, published their stories, often as a way of supporting themselves financially. Some, like Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, also gave speaking tours relating their experience of oppression to a wider audience. These speakers were important participants and leaders in the abolition movement of the United States. Many of their speeches and narratives still exist, inspiring us as to how our ancestors used their strength, ingenuity and courage to survive.

Caribbean slave narratives are not as numerous, although it is entirely likely that many more as-yet-undiscovered narratives lie languishing in libraries, universities, and peopleâ€™s attics. In Britain, our stories were often not recorded. Many British dealers held onto material in order to sell it to American collectors. The late Len Garrison, founder of the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, showed total commitment to building a monument in celebration of the presence of Black people in Britain. He told me:

In the late â€˜60s and the â€˜70s, when I was talking about this collection, I went round to some of the museums to ask them if they had any material relating to Black history, and they would say, â€œYes, people are coming to us with materialsâ€. I remember the Museum of Labour History said, â€œBut we donâ€™t collect it â€˜ we just told them that we donâ€™t know anybody whoâ€™s collecting itâ€, and so nothing was being collected. You would imagine that labour history related to Black people as it did for whites. But they hadnâ€™t collected it.

He took the initiative to seek out Black memorabilia whenever and wherever he could find it. He told me,

I used to cut out articles in newspapers. I would just collect them. But eventually, I began to build up the collection by going to antiques shops, to Portobello Road and to second-hand shops.

When Afrikan people celebrate our heroes and sheroes, we take control - we take charge of how we see ourselves and each other. The more we know about our ancestry and our heritage, the more we are empowered by this knowledge. This changes our entire attitude and our behaviour. We are no longer at the mercy of the negativity with which we are constantly being bombarded. And we have the opportunity to pass down our positive images and attitudes to our children. And when white people celebrate Black heroes and sheroes, they reap the rewards of living in a multiracial society.

Afrikan people are good at everything â€" architecture, astronomy, astrophysics, and thatâ€™s just the â€˜Aâ€™s. We are scientists, teachers, explorers, educators, philanthropists, healers.

Black people are heroes and sheroes. We are successes. We each have our own Black success stories to tell. The more we share them with each other, the more we create an energy of love and positivity which surrounds us and which affects our lives. It helps us to attract and connect with the abundance of the universe. It affects the kinds of opportunities we attract, and it helps determine how we respond to these opportunites.

We need to take responsibility for our lives and the lives of our children and others in our community. We need to take control of our negative thought processes and do whatever we need to do in order to turn them around. Then we can experience the bright and glorious abundance of the universe to which we are entitled, and which is our birthright. And the whole of British society will benefit from our continued successes.

10 Simple Tips On How To Publish a Book

2008-01-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

The publishing world wants you to think publishing a book is tricky and full of pit holes to fall into. Not true! These simple 10 simple tips will help you publish your book quickly and easily, and the end result will be a professional product you can be proud of.

Tip #1 The first task to self-publishing is actually making a book out of your manuscript.

Here are just some of the decisions that go into transforming a manuscript into a book:
* Cover design
* Internal artwork and layout
* Font, for example, Times New Roman or Arial
* Type of binding, for example, spiral, ring, stitched, perfect, etc.
* Hardcover or softcover
* Book size (standard book size is 5.5" by 8.5")
* Type of paper book is printed on
* Color or black and white
* Number of pages. It is generally easier for consumers to justify a book purchase if the book is over 100 pages.

While your printer can help you with a majority of these decisions by offering suggestions and examples it is helpful to go to a printer with a good idea of exactly how you want your book to look. Visit bookstores and find books that you want to model.

Tip #2 Understand the difference between publishers and printers.

POD Publishers

Unlike POD printers, POD publishers may take care of the extra costs of designing a book cover, editing your book, and obtaining an ISBN number. They can be a good option if you need less than 50 books because the price is generally lower than what you would pay for a POD printer. However, make sure that you read your contract carefully and that you fully investigate the POD publisher that you are considering. Some publishers require exclusive rights to your book.

POD Printers

POD printers are just that, printers. They do not invest in your product. They simply manufacture it. The cost can be a bit expensive and generally ranges from $5 to $10 per book, depending on your book's specifics. POD printers can be a good and cost effective option if your book is nearing the end of its life yet you still have the occasional order trickling in. This way you can order one book at a time and it eliminates the possible expense of having to keep an inventory on hand. The print quality is usually good. Again, as with any company, read your contract carefully and make sure to investigate the company.

Digital Printers PQN, Print Quality Needed

This is a good option for the author that needs fewer than 2500 copies. It is cost effective, the print quality is good, and it normally takes less than two weeks to print.

Offset Printers.

When you need more than 2500 books, your best choice is offset printing. The cost will equate to about $1.25 per book for about 3000 books. However, the more books that you print, the less expensive your cost will be.

Tip #3 Don't forget about distribution

The next thing that you will need to handle as a self-publisher is the task of distribution. It may actually be to your benefit to hire a distributor; however, most distributors take 65% of the profit. A distributor's main purpose is to "sell" your book to bookstores and specialty stores.

Distributors also are able to sell your book to larger chain stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble. This can be to your benefit because it means that your exposure is much larger than sticking with smaller booksellers and specialty stores.

Tip #4 How are your customers going to order and pay for their books? Order

Decide how you are going to take orders by phone, fax, email, webstore, snail mail, or all of the above. Do you accept credit cards? How will you ship? How will you take returns, if at all? Mail order purchasing is an easy and efficient process once you have established a routine. However, shipping individual books can be expensive. Will you charge for shipping? Where will you store the books?

Tip #5 What are you going to call your publishing company?

The first thing that you will need to do, once your book is written, is to start your own publishing company. To accomplish this you will first need to decide on a name for your company. Experts recommend against placing your name in the title of the company because it makes you look like a beginner. Additionally, do you really want your name listed as both the author and the publisher?

Tip #6 How much are you going to charge? Pricing Your Book

Before you begin promotion, determine how much to charge for your book. The general rule of thumb is to charge 8 times what it cost you to produce it. Therefore, if it cost you $5 to produce the book, you'll charge $40. However, you want to consider your market and how much they'll be willing to pay for your book. It could be more or less than $40.

Tip #7 ISBN numbers. An ISBN number is not a requirement to sell a book yourself but it will make it easier to record your book with booksellers and it is a formal registration process that signifies that you are in fact a publisher. In short, it makes you look more professional. Additionally, most booksellers like Amazon, require an ISBN number.

Visit the ISBN website, www.isbn.org

Fill out the application. It costs $29.95 for 10 ISBNs and I have been told that it takes quite a long time to process, so have patience.

Tip #8 Library of Congress Number. This is a number that is assigned by the Library of Congress to a book. It can also be referred to as the Preassigned Control Number or PCN. Numbers are only assigned to books that will be added to the library. You can apply for a number by visiting www.copyright.gov.

Complete the application and then file for a number

Tip #9 Copyright Registration. The first step in registering your book is to print a copyright notice on your copyright page, usually the back of your title page. Your second step is to publish your book. Last, you will want to visit www.copyright.gov/forms/

Tip #10. Promotion tips. There are thousands of ways you can promote your book. Tackle them one or two at a time. If you jump in and try 10 different promotion methods/tools, things will get messy and you won't be able to devote your full attention to each promotion method. Focus on one or two at a time.

Article Tactics For Success And Wealth

2008-01-26T01:22:00.001-08:00

Many people question the concept of article writing as web promotion technique. In most cases, people say this if they tried it and got little or no results. The main reason that people feel this way is that they submit just a few articles. You've got to write and submit often, at least once a day. Writing articles is a very effective and inexpensive method to build traffic to your website, but it is a marathon, not a sprint. It is a marketing method that you have to work at every day. If you write just two articles per week, I can assure you that you will not be successful. Writing one article a day will bring you success, writing five a day will make you wealthy. Which do you want?
Many people say that it involves too much work or time. While that may be true, the articles that you submit today, will still be out there working for you a year from now. What other promotional technique has that kind of longevity. A typical ezine solo ad will bring you traffic on the day it is run and for a day or two afterwards. Then, it is done. Articles will continue to bring you traffic as long as that article exists on the Internet, and that can be a very long time.

Another benefit of article marketing is the cost. If you write them yourself, it is free. What other advertising method do you know of that can attract thousands of targeted viewers and costs you nothing...zero...zilch! For my money, it is a very good deal.

Article marketing is the primary advertising technique that I use. Of course, I enjoy writing articles. I suppose if you don't like writing it may be difficult for you. Or, if English is not your primary language it might be tough.

If you are either of these categories, you might consider having someone write articles for you. In most cases, it is not too expensive. And when you consider that your articles will bring you traffic and generate income for years, it is probably a bargain.

Do you want to learn more about making money online? Get my free ebook and discover how to make money every day!

Express Yourself, Get Paid

2008-01-26T01:22:00.000-08:00

The internet has become a feeding ground for personal expression. With the rise of user generated content sites; everyone is an author, a journalist, a pundit, and (in the case of Youtube) a director. But how can you make money by expressing yourself? Google is leading the way in internet advertising with their nonintrusive textual ads. These ads automatically target the content that you have generated. If you write about horses you will get ads about horses, if you write a recipe then you will get food related ads, and so on and so forth.
Google Adsense is easy to sign up for and has a user friendly pay system. There are plenty of websites that say you can make money by writing for them but most of the time these payments are a cut rate pay that isnâ€™t really reflective of how much money the website is making off of the article. The best website that I have found is called Xomba (). This website splits its Google Adsense revenue with its users 50/50. This allows you to write as many posts as you want and truly share in the profits that are being made. Other sites that have revenue sharing include Associated Content, Helium and Hubpages but I find Xomba to have the best revenue sharing of all of these sites.

Why You Want To Know How To Publish Your Own Book

2008-01-26T01:20:00.001-08:00

If you have already written a book you may be dealing with the decision of whether or not you want to publish your book traditionally or whether self-publishing is a better option. In order to make this decision, it is important to learn as much as you can about both industries.

There are definitely very compelling reasons to self publish and I must point out that if you self publish first, it does not prevent you from traditionally publishing later on. In fact, many authors who dealt with the struggles of seeking traditional publishing, believed in their book, and self published went on to great success and traditional publishing contracts worth 10 times what they would have received initially. Why?
Traditional publishers like to bank on a sure thing. Once you're self published and selling well, guess what, you are a sure thing.

Unfortunately, it does not work in reverse. You cannot normally traditionally publish and then change your mind and self publish. Why? Because when you publish traditionally, you sell the rights to your book. You no longer own it and are not able to make any decisions regarding what happens to it. If you haven't written a book yet, it is important to know how to publish your own book because you'll learn not only how easy it is but how much money you can make!

You can leverage your published book into a substantial annual income. You can use it as a calling card for your business. Use it to enhance your expert status and credibility. Use it as the foundation of a new business. Use it to build a sales funnel and increase back end sales and repeat customers. Use it to increase your opportunities. A published book is a great thing. It's available for all of the world to see and experience and you can sell your book 24/7. Best of all, the tools and technology available today makes it easy to print, publish, distribute, market and fulfill your customers needs all while you're taking care of other things, or having fun!

Knowing what your options are and educating yourself about self publishing is a powerful step in the right direction - the direction of changing your life for the better and fulfilling your dreams of being a published, and wealthy, author!

Ar' Back Yard - Back There and Then...

2008-01-26T01:20:00.000-08:00

It's weird you know! But everything is so close to the release of Ar' Back Yard (for those of you not familiar to the book soon to be released click on hhtp://www.arbackyard.com/ for more information) that it's kind of scary..." yet very fuckin' exciting to say the least.

Since I found out about Ar' Back Yard being published, it's pretty safe to say that I have become kind of obsessed with it.

I recently was sent an author's questionnaire that covered everything.

But I have to say that the great thing about it was that for so long now I have just thought about the book and that's it. But these were questions about me and the back story behind Ar' Back Yard.

And even though I knew the back story - it has been the first time that I have had to document it. You see by telling the back story - I am in hindsight also telling my own story.

So to start remembering all those things and to start realising just how tied up and deeply involved I was in that world. You see I had to be really honest with all of it - and at times I just kept thinking - fuck - I really was a horrible little cunt back then.

But you see this is what happened and how things were for me back in the day - this was the truth and this is what formed the basis of Ar' Back Yard so there was no reason to bullshit.

The only thing I'll ask you all to remember, is that all of this I'm telling you is and has been for many years now in the past. I have not been part of that world for a very long time now and even though I don't really have regrets - I do not condone all of what took place.

I only acknowledge that the authenticity of what I wrote was written from the heart and with the knowledge that I was involved within that world at the time.

It would be easy for me to paint a bad picture and say that I came from a poor family and had a bad up bringing that led me down the path I followed. But to be honest that would be complete and utter nonsense.

I was from a good family. By no means, the type of family that gave you anything had you wanted. In fact that was far from the case no matter what certain family members like to believe and it was also probably one of the factors that led me to the criminal underworld that became my family.

Possibly a piss poor excuse I know, but it's not really the point I'm trying to make. It's that I always financed myself and anything I wanted to do - usually by any means necessary that I could take full advantage of and make some cash.

I think that I once had a dream of becoming this great artist - well more of a graphic designer to be honest. But that never really panned out and along the way, throughout being heavily into the rise of Hip Hop and the entire culture that surrounded it throughout the early to mid eighties. This was before the whole Madchester scene took off and the clubbing scene arrived in the late eighties. And when this happened everything really kicked off in Manchester.

And from the first moment I experienced the ride (obviously including taking the drug Ecstasy) I was hooked. Not only was I captivated, I was infatuated with it becoming my life - and that it is exactly what it became. Through this period, these days were in my mind some of the greatest and also some of the worst times the city of Manchester ever experienced.

I had cleverly and very quickly started to make moves within the drug industry. It was almost by chance though if Iâ€™m truthful about it. I bumped into an old boss of mine who was at the time running a successful club in Warrington. He couldnâ€™t work out why it was that nobody was buying his booze yet appeared to be having such a good time all night.

When I explained it him that the drug they were taking was Ecstasy - well he blatantly asked me if he gave me a thousand pounds what I would give him in return. I took the thousand and gave him his return - and quite simply thatâ€™s how it all began.

From there I started to make a name for myself - and even to this day I wasnâ€™t quite sure how - but each week everything grew bigger and greater. And before I knew it I had my own business. Albeit, an illegal one at that.

For Christ sake I had the boss of the club in my pocket. He then went on to hand over both the clubâ€¦ and effectively me alsoâ€¦. to the head of security at the time. I even designed the bloody membership cards and all the artwork that they used for events.

I was membership number, VIP001 and thought I was untouchable. But I was simply young, dumb and way ahead of where should have been at that stage in the game.

And let me tell you somethingâ€¦ being at that stage in the game at the young age that I was pissed off more than a few people to say the least. Things were becoming very heated around me with both the characters that I was pissing off and also with the law who were becoming aroused with current activities that were escalating on a week to week basis.

I was running round town selling all different classes of Drugs - from Weed to Ecstasy - to Coke - and from Coke to my personal worst fucking nightmare... Crack.

I was never really a violent person - but all of a sudden I found myself committing horrific violent acts as they became a necessity. And I although it was never something I got off on. It was always an issue within my world. I just kind of became used to having to do those things as terrible as they were.

I was selling everything at both wholesale and retail and I was making so much cash I figured that nothing else mattered. I was gaining a reputation and with a name like Anwar (there was no other Anwar around at the time) I was being remembered by all of those around me.

It was also around this time that my drug intake increased more and more and I never realised how much they were taking control of not only my body, but also my mind. I think since the early days of sniffing glue as a teenager I always loved that intoxication of all substances a little too much.

Fact of the matter was, as Iâ€™ve said, I loved drugs. I mean, I loved taking all drugs as long they didnâ€™t involve sticking needles in my arm. I mean I loved clubbing and I loved popping Ecstasy. But Coke and Crack-Cocaine became my real downfalls - but weâ€™ll get to that later.

For as much as I and just about every other fucker at the time loved these so called harmless little pills that were becoming known as the ultimate love drugs - I was involved in the business side as well. And at the end of the day business is business. It was always about making money and nothing else. But the money - the cold hard unaccounted cash also meant more drugs were available whenever I wanted them.

So unlike most people for whom it was merely a recreational hobby for weekends - for the likes of me it was a seven day operation I lived and breathed. I became so caught up in the world and all of violence that was associated with it that it kind of got to a stage where I just thought that that was the normal world people lived in.

But as the years past along with all the battles and fall outs, the decline of what I was involved in began to engulf me. At one stage I had arrest warrants out for me in Manchester, Wilmslow, Macclesfield, Congleton and Warrington. All it would have taken for me to be banged up would have been to be pulled over in a routine check that was the normal thing to happen back then. Iâ€™d have been arrested on a number of allegations and conspiracy theories (most true by the way) that they wanted to question me about.

So I fell off the radar again (kind of) and even though I know I was wanted there - I moved back to Macclesfield where I had family and even though I knew I was under investigation I figured it was a few years ago, so figured what the hell eh!

And then thatâ€™s when I decided I was going to do something really stupid - not that I thought so at the time.

I moved into town and took over a large percentage of the townâ€™s drug business stepping over everybodyâ€™s toes along the way, and very much to everybodyâ€™s dismay.

You see Iâ€™d lived a different life up until then for a number of years now. And the people in that town knew this and werenâ€™t entirely sure what to make of me. They thought I was now some crazy Mancunian Gangster - and I suppose at least in their minds I was anyway.

I ended up playing on this no end and led them all to believe I was bigger than I was. And you know what? It worked.

But this also proved to be one of my downfalls, and eventually I was arrested on a number of charges from Possession with Intent to Supply all the way through to numerous Firearms charges. All of which after well over a year of finally getting to Crown Court were pretty much thrown out on the basis of - bizarrely - the judge figuring because of my skin colour (Iâ€™m not even that dark by the wayâ€¦ but do have both an ethnic background) that I was the victim here and that, I had been in some way targeted by the police because of that.

I mean, who the hell was I to argue with that? I swear to god the judge had a better blag up his sleeve than even I had - and mine was pretty good to say the least.

One thing I forgot to mention here though - and by no means least - is that through this period I also had a daughter named Hannah who would become my only true meaning in life and main ambition to succeed. I got almost out of the business and even got a job in a studio doing design work in textiles. All I wanted was for my daughter to be happy and did everything that was physically and financially possibly to achieve those goals.

Which was achieved for a two year period with me about 50 percent in and out of the game at the same time (you can never really get away from it) and which worked immensely (kind of) until the day her mother and I split.

I am not laying blame at anybodies door here in any way whatsoever here - but this was the defining moment in my life where everything changed.

My head went west and I lost the plot. I went back to all my old ways. I hooked up with everybody from the past and I hit the crack-pipe over a four month period in a way that would have killed most people after a dayâ€™s session with the kind of abuse I was self inflicting. Locking myself away with a camping stove and old empty jar of Nescafe with weeklong non-stop cooking and smoking sessions of the lethal drug.

I was on a mission to smoke and get my hands on as much money and as many drugs through any means possible - and then literally lose myself on a one way ticket.

And thatâ€™s when the dark side engulfed my world and the death threats arrived in a very real way that brought my world crashing down violently around me. After a period of this violence I knew that I was left with only two options. The first I couldnâ€™t justify (however I knew that these guys after me had already made full justification within their own minds) or two, I had no other option but to get the hell out of dodge.

And thatâ€™s exactly what I did. I moved down to London to sort not only my drug problem - but also my head out.

So I suppose when looking back, Arâ€™ Back Yard was an idea Iâ€™d carried with me for a number of years after this period. I had lived through those times - mainly on the wrong side of law (as by now I figure youâ€™ve worked out for yourselves) and within the confines of the criminal underworld that surrounds Manchester.

I had many good - and many bad - times whilst living there and experienced a lot of what happens in the book.

When I say that I experienced everything - I am not saying that in any way shape or form that the book is word for word gospel and that it all went down the way it does in the book. I have used an authorâ€™s literary licence toâ€¦ How should I put thisâ€¦? Letâ€™s just say Iâ€™ve taken certain situations and then I have put them into completely different scenarios, exaggerating how it happens so that there will be no conflicts of interest.

However - You will find references throughout all three books to drug taking of a number of different class drugs and the experiences with those drugs. They are based on very personal experiences through some of my younger years were I was heavily involved with taking drugs myself as by now you all know.

I think that in all fairness I am not one character in the book. However I can relate to three of the characters in a very, very close way. I think I used these three fictional characters as a way to cover different eras and times - feelings and emotions - achievements and complete fuck ups, all at the same time without having to write each story separately for each of those different time periods...

Genre And Niche For The Freelance Creative Writer

2008-01-26T01:19:00.000-08:00

A freelance creative writer has to think carefully about what genre they should write in and how it can be marketed to a niche. If you do creative writing rather than tutorial or non fiction writing, don't dismiss the value of a niche to display your work in. Some people say there are no niches for creative writers. I believe you just have to be creative about this factor as well.

Remember that even though you may not want to be labelled and typecast, its harder still to be an individual that cannot be classified. The book that covers too many topics or stands alone on the shelf is the hardest book to find in a library or bookshop, there's just too many places to look. Of course if someone knows it by title that makes it easier and you'll get a few impulse buys because your book was just stumbled upon, but the bestsellers are those that are unambiguous about what they are.
Crime novels are in the crime section, romances in the romance section. Customers who like a genre head straight for that section and browse only there. This is one reason that authors have chosen to use pseudonyms, so that their pen name can be associated with a genre. If an author chooses to write a crime novel as well as a romance novel, a pseudonym takes all the guesswork out of classification. This is important because you want to be found and read. With so many new and junior booksellers putting books on shelves and 'helping' customers, ambiguity works against you. A well defined classification and cover gets your books where they should be, into a readers hands.

Believe it or not, the first two Harry Potter books were a hard sell when they came out. Wizard books were not so much in vogue. Horror, such as the Goosebump series, was the fashion and Goosebumps were much slimmer than Harry's first book. Some kids did read science fiction and fantasy but Harry didn't totally fit that genre either. Anyone who did read the Potter books would recommend them and JK Rowling had her wild success because she delivered the absolutely best story. Yet many a good story has failed because no one knew it existed. Reassuring a reader that they're going to have a fun journey in your novel is important and clearly stating your theme helps with this...

People will try a new author but usually only if they have a strong feeling that its going to suit their expectations. People have a love/hate reaction to surprises. Once they know to expect a surprise they love it, but the surprise that comes out of the blue makes them feel uncomfortable. People who read horror expect scary surprises. Crime writers with a thriller or forensic edge have already conditioned their readers to expect gruesome surprises. A strong use of red on a cover in the romance section is an indication that there may be some explicit sex scenes in it while the blue covers indicate a sweeter more family based novel. People will accept what you write so long as their expectation that certain elements are present is met.

Genre helps to sell books. A general fiction or literary title competes in a bigger market than a romance with a bodice ripping cover. Of course the genre itself restricts a creative writer to the limiting expectations of its readers. A romance without a happy ending rarely belongs in the romance section because readers of these books want to believe that everything will turn out for the best in the end.

You should not write a genre book and compromise yourself as a writer if you have firm convictions about the integrity of your characters or the reality of a tale. A genre book only works if you follow the main elements of its formula. Creating a close to life tale amid such fantasies, and making it work, is difficult.

Marketing is a huge factor in the success of your book. Getting the right cover that will draw its targeted audience, having a good blurb on the back, getting the word out about it. Niching your novel into a genre gives a creative writer an edge that will draw new readers who are willing to try new authors. The same is especially true if you want to attract new readers on-line. Here you are under the extreme limitation of only being found by a keyword search, so niching yourself with other established authors is the best choice to market that you can make.

For example, if you write a horror novel that might appeal to Stephen King fans, you can target a Stephen King reader using this authors name in keyword optimized articles on your blog. Write some enthusiastic reviews that a fan may find interesting. Then near the reviews on your blog, advertise your own work and give away samples of it in exchange for an email address. You then have a chance to contact these avid readers who'd love to read a new book that thrills them as chillingly as a Stephen King novel. They start by searching for Stephen King and find you. Make it worth their while, this is your chance to make this person your reader. Follow up with them and tell them about your forthcoming works or lead them to a new blog post where you show them what you write about.

Don't forget that as long as your blog is on-line it is constantly there working for you 24/7 to pull in new readers. Take the time to optimize posts for keyword searches and make sure that when people find you, you reward them with your best writing. Your traffic may start small but do these two things and it will grow. When you reach out then to blog communities and have something outstanding to show people when they follow a link to your site, your readers will continue to increase.

One day, who knows, a new writer will be targeting your name to get new readers.

Niche Blogging With Adsense

2008-01-26T01:18:00.002-08:00

Niche blogging is not new, but due to the improvement of free blogging platforms it is the new marketing strategy for making easy money. Niche blogging with Adsense involves blog writing while publishing advertising such as Adsense for a commission.

Niche blogging can be done on its own to market a product or it can be used as a news service for a main site. You can use niche blogging to display your writing skills or other artistic skills or you can use it as an internal linking resource using its many menus to connect to related resources.

There Are Two Main Reasons to Niche.

Finding market segments that are small but potentially profitable is one and to encourage a profitable quantity of sales, this marketing strategy relies on increasing the loyalty of customers so that their needs will be met or surpassed. Providing good free information, providing a newsletter, a forum perhaps, these things encourage people to return to your site for more information.

Getting well indexed in order to garner the free traffic from search engines is the second reason. When you start playing darts you are aiming for the board and happy to hit it. When you play well you are aiming for a particular score on the board which is much smaller. Niche your articles within a specific niche area that includes your main topic, and your sub topic and improve the quantity of these keywords occurrence.

When you have a blog with some great content on it adding Adsense to your niche blog makes lots of sense. It is easy to sign up and implement this monetizing feature and it will give your reader leads to other related resources they may well be interested in. Niche blogging with Adsense can offset the costs of hosting your blog and if you get a high readership will make you a lot of money for some niche topics.

There Are Two Main Reasons to Blog.

The user friendly interface of a blog makes it simple to add content regularly. Its easy to add snippets of information or long articles, its easy to display advertising and give links to other sites. The ease of use allows you to keep updating the content which keeps your site fresh. The conversational style of a blog lets you connect with customers at a personal level and interact with them using the comments feature.

The second reason to blog is the built in pinging function and we have to keep those spiders crawling over our pages if we want our index result to stay in the new releases section. Set up correctly you can save a lot of promotional time by adding ping sites to the ping function of your blog platform. Some platforms like B2Evolution already have this functional after installation. Some you need to add the sites to the correct page.

It is not essential to niche your blog if your blog is linked to a main site that is already niched in some way. In these circumstances you can add content as you choose because your main traffic will come through your announcements of posts to an email list or a link on your main site.

If your blog stands alone as the sole site for your content then it is essential to use niche blogging strategies to gain traffic. Niche research your topic, use seo marketing techniques to optimize both blog and posts and go hunting for external links. Stay on topic and if you are tempted to stray, start a new blog to do so. Add Adsense for monetization to your niche blog and you have a stream of income as well. Blogging makes sense but niche blogging with Adsense makes more cents.

How To Write An Argumentative Paper

2008-01-26T01:18:00.001-08:00

Initial Considerations

An argumentative paper, as in any piece of writing meant to communicate with others, must first of all take into consideration the target audience. Who is the reader? Therefore, before you move on,clearly understand who your specific target is or at least identify the principal target. Next, it must be understood that the objective of writing an argumentative paper is not to persuade or influence an audience through rhetoric or emotional pull. Rather, it should be to lay before them the grounds for a fair and reasonable consideration of a problem or issue. The paper therefore, must be heavily into analysing the topic supported by as far as possible credible evidence. No personal opinions please. There may be situations where you may not even agree with the problem statement. Therein lies the challenge of being objective and carrying out the task without a hint of bias.

The Key Elements

There a number of elements that can be included in writing an argumentative paper. However, their inclusion or omission will depend on say whether it is a complex or simple paper. Generally it may be made up of five key elements. These are ;
1) Topic 2) Background 3) Reasons 4) Objections and alternatives 5) Responses

The above can be organised in a number of ways. Having said that, it must be noted that a brief and simple argumentative paper may be made up of only the bare minimum elements which are: thesis, context and supporting reasons.

A Bit More On The Key Elements

1. Topic
It must be specific. Avoid broadly stated problems or vague issues. Drill down as much as you can. Doing so will enable you to be better able to argue or debate the topic.

2. Background
Here,you need to give some background about the problem or issue. What and how much will depend on who your target audience is.

3. Reasons
What are the reasons for each of the arguments? How can they be substantiated?

4. Objections And Alternatives
This is where you need to ask the question "how would someone disagree with the topic, reasons or argument?" How would I convincingly present the reasons or arguments against the disagreements? You may anticipate the possible diagreements or you may even get someone else to do it.

5. Responses
In your argumentative paper you would have taken a position. There would be disagreements on this position and the reasons given. How would you address them? You may have held the position that so and so was a good leader and substantiate that position. The counter argument may be that that person was a womaniser. How do you respond? Perhaps you could respond that the womanising did not affect his political leadership and provide the required evidence.

Organising The Paper

You can organise an argumentative paper in several ways. However, no matter how you do so,it is important that you use some indicators to help the reader to stay focussed. You could use numbering or suitable wordings to do this. In doing so you would, for example, be able to refer a particular response to a specific disagreement. In addition to this, you need to state your position right at the beginning or at the introduction to your paper. It may be done by firstly stating the problem or issue followed by what is the position you are taking with regard to the topic. In terms of structure you could start by clearly stating the issue, declare your position, argue your position, identify the objections, give your replies to the objections, provide an alternative argument for your position taking into consideration the objections, present an objection for the alternative argument and follow-up with a reply to the objection cited.

Now that you have a good understanding of how to write an argumentative paper,you may want to ensure that it is well written. How do you do that? To help you, now there is a software that does much more than spell check.

Suitable Anniversary Verses

2008-01-26T01:17:00.000-08:00

For any anniversary whether it be for a friend, family member or partner the first thing you will need to purchase is a card. Although most cards will contain anniversary verses you may find it a struggle to find one suitable for the person in mind.

There are several paths you could take when trying to find suitable anniversary verses. You may decide to write your own or even enlist the help of a poet that offers creating unique anniversary verses just for you.

If you do decide to write your own and you have never attempted this sort of thing before, it is well worth having a look around for some examples and ideas to help you along the way.

Some examples of anniversary verses would be:-
Ten years, one decade, three thousand, 652 days. After all this time I love you so, and I love you in so many different ways. My love is unconditional, so unlike the setting sun, because my heart will shine forever, for me, you'll always be the one.

(Copyright A Gift of Poetry 2008)

The anniversary verses you choose or use as a guidance will of course be effected by the year, for example if you are trying to write anniversary verses for a first anniversary you may want something along the lines of

Happy Anniversary honey, it's been one year since I happily said yes, it's been a year full of joy and love, a year full of pure happiness.

I 'm so glad to be called your wife, and share our remaining years together, I want to walk across our universe arm-in-arm, I want to be with you forever and ever.

(Copyright A Gift of Poetry 2008)

If the anniversary poem or the verses you are looking for are for your parents, now is a good time to thank them for all they have done and tell them how much you care. An example of this would be

You have always been there for us, have taught us right from wrong, have taught us God's word, have taught us his song.

You are very special parents, and could never have been cursed, you've had five beautiful children, and have always put them first.

But you have big and generous hearts, and you are so unselfish and giving, you make the world a better place, you make life itself worth living.

And now I have my memories, and my heart silently soars, because my friends used to say: "I wish I had parents like yours"

I would like to thank God, because we have been truly blessed. There is no other way of putting it: You are simply the best !

(Copyright A Gift of Poetry 2008)

Finding suitable anniversary verses may seem like a hard task but poetry is accessible via the internet as well as in books. The most important thing to remember is to choose something that is personal and will move the person who is reading it.

How To Submit Articles That Provide Both Traffic And Income

2008-01-26T01:16:00.000-08:00

I do most of my advertising with article marketing. It is a method that works for me. I enjoy writing and I can do it rather quickly. And the articles that I submit today will continue to work for many months. By submitting on a daily basis, it has a compounding effect.

I try to submit 3 articles every day. And the beauty of it is in the compounding effect. On day one, I have 3 articles that are attracting readers. By day twelve, 36 of them are attracting viewers. By day 30, 90 articles are out there working. It doesn't stop.
By I don't stop there. I insist that my articles work overtime. In addition to submitting to the traditional directories, I also submit them to a number of revenue sharing sites. It only takes an extra minute to submit to them, and it is certainly worth the extra time. These sites deliver just as much traffic to my site as traditional directories and pay me a very nice monthly dividend besides. I get the best of both worlds, traffic and income.

Because I submit so frequently, I am among the top contributors on several of these revenue sharing sites. And the more articles you have on their directory, the more money you make. I wish every directory shared their revenue.

If you are just submitting your articles to traditional directories, your articles are not working up to their maximum potential. Some of the revenue sharing sites provide more traffic than many traditional directories. So regardless of whether are submitting articles for traffic or income, get the best of both worlds. Start submitting to the revenue sharing sites on a regular basis make your articles work overtime.

Do you want to learn more about how I make money? Get my Free ebook entitled, How To Make Money Every Day!

7 Tips For Writing Effective White Papers

2008-01-26T01:15:00.001-08:00

White papers are an excellent way to showcase your company's abilities and to prove to prospective clients that you can solve their problems. These documents - first used by governments to argue for policy decisions - are natural vehicles for businesses who want to foster trust and introduce themselves to prospective clients.

Why? Because a white paper is not an overt sales tool. It seeks to educate and persuade. By making a case for a company's strategies, it supports and validates them. An effective white paper can help a company establish itself as a "thought leader."

The development of a white paper is a demanding and time-consuming process. Specialized knowledge and writing ability are essential. For these reasons, many of my financial services clients - pressed for time and short of internal resources - are asking me for help.

Here are seven guidelines to bear in mind when formulating a white paper:

1. Know the audience. Who is going to read your white paper? What are their key concerns? White papers should help people make decisions, so it is critical to know as much as you can about your audience so you can focus on what's most meaningful to them.

2. Do the research. Preparation is essential to effective white-paper writing. Conduct detailed interviews with the experts and read everything you can on the topic, including technical data.

3. Keep it short. An effective white paper can be as short as four or five pages, but it should never exceed 12 pages. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to wear out your welcome with your target audience.

4. Identify problems, offer solutions. Your white paper should lay out the problem faced by your target audience and demonstrate how you can help with it. That means you must take a position, argue for it, and present compelling evidence that you can do what you say you can.

5. Focus on the benefits. Your readers don't care how great your firm is or how smart your people are. They want to know how you can help them solve problems or address challenges. Make sure your readers see how they will benefit from working with you.

6. Provide an executive summary. Put an abstract at the beginning of your white paper. Your readers may not have the time to read the entire document and will appreciate having you hit the high points in an executive summary.

7. Be realistic about the time commitment. Build time into your schedule for fact-finding and research, as well as interviews with subject-matter experts. Remember, the white paper will have to make a case for your strategies or solutions, so it pays to invest time in good writing.

Use white papers to demonstrate your depth of knowledge and expertise. In the process, you can win new business and strengthen your existing relationships. Take advantage of the opportunity to leverage this powerful marketing tool.

Start Your Own Online Business Instantly

2008-01-26T01:15:00.000-08:00

Starting an online business was never easy than now. There are many businesses; you can start without adding huge cost of doing online business. All you need is to have an internet access with computer and you are on your way.

Consider two to more opportunities for you before starting up a new business for you. If you want to set up a website for you, you should have information about that specific business. For example, if you are going to make websites for games that could help you to provide free downloads. Before starting such website, keep in mind few factors like what skills required to run this website, how much budget will be required and most importantly your business model.

Making a plan for starting up an online business is very important and you should gather all information about business you are going to start. In an online business there are so many promotional and advertising ways like advertising; email marketing and ultimate objective for an online business is increasing traffic to their websites. How this can possible? The only way is to promote your business through classifieds, free directories, articles submissions.

During my career I have learnt lots of things about internet marketing and I would like to share this with you. You can use "banner advertising" for increasing traffic to your website. You can buy email lists that can be used to market your business or products. There are many companies that are selling email list for different businesses. Suppose a brief intro of business in text form is forwarded to 1 lack people then even in worst return you will get up to 10 K clicks from email marketing and this is minimum and if you create a good attractive message it may be more.

So marketing your online business is much easier than any other type of business so you can go for this way to promote your business on internet.

Ten Essential Rules to Follow for Great Website Content

2008-01-26T01:13:00.001-08:00

Writing quality contents for websites is much more different from that what you see in a newspaper or magazine. This difference comes from the fact that internet users scan through a page looking for the information they were searching rather than reading the entire page word by word. Because of this behavior, certain guidelines are in place for writing for websites.

The smallest piece of advice can be enough to help you write and the best advice is to keep it simple. Content should be written in such a way that is quick to scan and easy to read The copy has to speak to its reader in everyday, uncomplicated language. Here are ten more tips to follow when writing content for a website:
* Relevant content - Sure, writing about your night at happy hour the night before may be much more interesting and fun but what does that have to do with your website on graphic design? It's is important for you to stay on topic. Visitors are at your site to learn about design not drink specials. If they come to your site and find a topic not on subject, they will leave and you run the risk of them never returning.

* Grab the readers attention - This is done by writing in the same manner as a newspaper journalist would write a story. They tell their story in an inverted pyramid style and putting the conclusion of the story at the beginning of the piece. You want to get to the main idea of the entire story right from the first paragraph. The rest of the story just expands on it.

* Keep one paragraph limited to one idea - Like any other writing, website content should be short and to the point. Write concisely. Internet readers don't initially read pages but scan them instead. Short paragraphs full of information are much more popular that long ones.

* Use active verbs - Readers like to be told what to do. Keep your site's visitors flowing through the content at a steady pace. Never write in a passive voice. It's boring and lacks confidence in what you are talking about.

* Write lists, not paragraphs - People love to read lists instead of paragraph and paragraph. It allows them to scan through the page fast with a better understanding of what you're trying get across. Keep the lists short too. Lists are easier to scan than paragraphs, especially if you keep them short.

* Limit list to 7-10 items - It's been proven scientifically that website users usually only remember seven to ten things at one time. A short list in that number range helps your visitors remember their purpose of them being on your site.

* Keep sentences short - The idea is to keep everything short and to the point. This includes your sentences along with your paragraphs. You want to to use the least amount of words as needed to get your message across. Everything else is just fluff.

* Write internal sub-headings - Say you have a page on your site that is pretty long. Don't lose those readers to a boring looking page but instead make it more eye-catching by using sub-headings within it. It makes the page much more easier to scan. Your readers will move to the section of the document that is most useful for them, and internal cues make it easier for them to do this.

* Make use of anchor text in the content - Links stand out from normal text on a page. They also give the site's reader a quick overview of what the page is about. Search engine spiders love them too.

* Proofread, proofread, proofread - The last thing you want is this greatly thought out page written up only to have no one read it due to spelling errors. You'll instantly lose all your credibility. Proofread everything you write before uploading it to your site.

10 Reasons Why We Quote People

2008-01-26T01:13:00.000-08:00

A wide variety of people are quoted, from presidents to peons, from a Hollywood star to a diehard fan, from national heroes to outcasts, and from a skid row denizen to a billionaire. In the realm of philosophy, for example, they range from Socrates to Snoopy; in religion, they range from Moses to Belly Graham.

These people are quoted according to their varying viewpoints, all the way from Hitler to Howard Hindricks. Some people are quoted for the inspiring, and revered statements that they have made; others are quoted for their trash and insulting statements.

Why do we quote them? There are various reasons, but generally, we quote them for the following:
1) We quote people for their inspiring and motivational statements that catapulted nations and societies to greater commitment, dedication, and unity. Such statements as â€œI have a dreamâ€¦,â€ by Martin Luther King; or â€œAsk not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,â€ by John F. Kennedy.

2) We quote people because they express for us our ardent desires and ambitions. One desire that we all share in common is the desire to be happy. James Barrie, for example, expressed how happiness is attained when he wrote: â€œThose who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.â€

3) We quote people because their statements provide courage and answers in our time of affliction and desperation. James A. Garfield, 20th President of U.S.A., is often quoted by those who find themselves in trouble, when he wrote: â€œI have had many troubles in my life, but the worst of them never came.â€ Henry Ward Beecher is also quoted by these same people when he said, â€œTroubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.â€

4) We quote people to support our position when arguing with others. In theological debates, for example, texts from the Bible are often cited to support the validity of oneâ€™s arguments. Both preachers and politicians quote historical figures to support their stance on a particular issue.

5) We quote people because they express in a concise form our values and beliefs which we would otherwise find difficult to put into words. It is a fact of life that some people have a knack for formulating words that eloquently captures the essence of oneâ€™s faith and beliefs.

6) We quote people because we admire and want to emulate their values, ideals, and successes in life. These people can be a supervisor at work, a best friend at school, a devoted mother, a dedicated teacher, or an honorable politician.

7) We quote people because of their popularity. Hollywood stars and politicians are often quoted not necessarily because of the truthfulness or values that they express, but simply because of their star status.

8) We quote people to add frill to what we say. As a result, we sprinkle a few quotes here and there in the course of our conversation. Ministers add famous quotes to their sermons as trimmings, and thereby enhancing the interests of their congregation. 9) As opposed to moral virtues, we, unfortunately, quote people for their heinous statements. Statements that express disgust and degradation, statements that reveal oneâ€™s rebellious attitude to society, and statements that carry the essence of irreverence and impiety.

10) Finally, we quote people because they express our shared goals and desires, pains and affliction, individuality and community, triumphs and failures, and the reality that we all belong to one another. That indeed, we, regardless of our background, language, culture, education, and financial status in life, belong to one family. Quotes transcend cultural and racial boundaries, and in the process, break down racial prejudice and discrimination.

So start your collection of memorable quotes. It will inspire you in your darkest hour, encourage you in your despair, and will help you connect with others.

How To Earn Money Writing Articles

2008-01-26T01:11:00.001-08:00

Do you have a website that could use more traffic? More than likely you answered yes. It is true that traffic is the life blood of any business. Without traffic there isn't much you can do even if you have the greatest product in the world. Traffic = money it's just that simple. But, how to I get traffic to my site? There are many ways to accomplish this task you can join free traffic exchanges, you can pay for advertising like Google PPC (Pay Per Click) or you can advertise for free writing articles.
Article Marketing is a win-win practice for every business owner. You can be taking advantage of this awesome low cost marketing technique - even if you think you can't write! People that say they can't write are only lying to themselves. Think about it for a moment, whatever you are promoting chances are that someone else has written an article about it. Go to ezinearticles.com and do a search on your topic and I am sure that there will be some information. Then all you have to do is read the article and take some notes and you are up and running. I am not saying take their article and reproduce it but, you can rewrite it in your own words. You see most of the work has already been done for you. There are lots of article directories out there just go to Google and do a search for article directories and you should get a huge list. That is basically how I got started and along the way you just get better and better at writing articles.

************************************************************* TIP # 1 ************************************************************* Research! If you are going to be writing articles on something make sure you research the topic before you start writing. You want to know what you are writing about so you don't come off looking like a total idiot. People will know if you are just throwing something together to make a few bucks or if you actually know what you are talking about. Trust, it is the main ingredient in article marketing to be successful. If people don't trust what you are saying then they are not going to click on your link to see what it is you are offering. If you need a place to start your research just go to Google and type in a search and you should find lots of information available. Do yourself a favor and research your topic first.

************************************************************* TIP # 2 ************************************************************* Keywords and keyword phrases. An article must always be centered on the keywords and keyword phrases. As each website visitor goes to a site, there are those who are just merely browsing but actually looking for a specific something. When this happens, a searcher usually goes to a search engine and types in the keywords they are looking for (e.g. Ford F150, Real Estate Agent and Etcetera). It could be anything they want. The important thing to remember is that you have keywords that are related to your site. There are a lot of keyword generators on line that you can use for this again go to Google and do a look-up on free keyword generators. I know that Overture has a good one.

Know that you have your keywords and keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density for a search engine to "feel" its presence. Articles should at least have ten to fifteen percent of keyword density in their content for search engines to rank a site high in their search results. Getting a high rank is what articles do best for a site. Keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used.

************************************************************* TIP # 3 ************************************************************* Read and spell-check everything. Just because you don't have experience writing articles doesn't mean you have to appear like a newbie. Use proper grammar and spell-check everything you write. You can use MS Word for that but, do not save the article in Word always cut and paste it to a plain text editor like Notepad. Word sometimes will put in hidden properties and cause the article directory to kick it out. There are also online checkers like spellcheck.com etc... You should always re-read everything you write just to make sure it makes sense and is put together in a logical manner.

************************************************************** TIP # 4 ************************************************************** Submitting to article directories. After you have proof read your article and you are happy with it now is the time to submit your article for exposure. There are literally hundreds of free article submission sites on the internet here are a few to get you going: ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, articledashboard.com, articlebiz.com. If you want more go to Google and do a search on article directories. This is where it can get a bit tedious since there are so many directories and you spend about 10 - 15 minutes at each directory submitting so some people would rather use an article submitter. You can if you choose but, I like to submit to each one. There are lots of article submitters out there and some are even free but, remember you still have to sign up at all of those directories and submit to them one at a time. The choice is yours.

It's well known in the article marketing industry that the short, 400-600 word articles, generally get the most traffic. People have short attention spans and they want quick, easily absorbed tidbits, not long in depth quality articles.

Article Marketing works slowly and you shouldn't expect to get a load of traffic overnight. If you work at it and continue adding articles consistently, you will eventually receive a sizeable amount of free traffic. You should try and write 1 article a day with that you should earn some good money. The more articles you write and submit the money and traffic you will make.

If you would like more information on writing articles then I would recommend Nicole Dean. She has been in the article business for years and really knows her stuff. Her E-Course is the only one that I have taken and it is in my opinion the best available. She takes you by the hand and leads you every step of the way.

Article Writing: 3 Keys to Article Writing

2008-01-26T01:11:00.000-08:00

As information becomes the most sought-after commodity in the internet today, article writing is fast becoming one of the most lucrative jobs online. Anyone who has the knack for writing, willing to research just about any given topic, and can produce articles that are useful, timely, and interesting, can make it big in this field. If you are a budding writer and would like to earn extra cash, start scouring for reputable freelancing sites now and follow these 3 keys to article writing to get you started:
1. Improve your research skills. You don't have to know your topic by heart but you can still come up with quality articles by enhancing your research skills. Take note of reputable websites that can give you credible, verifiable information and use them as your source as much as possible. Also, it would help you to create interesting articles if you can use more than 3 resources for each topic and summarize them, using your own words. It is important that you don't copy or just re-write what is posted online or you might be penalized by search engines.

2. Use keywords. Articles are created for 2 major reasons; to provide readers with information they are looking for and to attract search engines to index the page where the article is posted. The latter can be easily achieved by using relevant keywords on your articles. If you are writing about Forex, make sure that the word â€œForexâ€ is sprinkled all throughout your article. Your title must also include your keyword. So as not to make it sound redundant, you can use other keywords/keyphrase other than forex, you can use forex rate, forex trading, foreign exchange, etc.

3. Make your articles short. Today's online users don't have much time to read essay-like articles so make your articles brief, concise, and straight to the point. Avoid fillers and fancy words at all times.

Write Articles for Money

2008-01-15T22:05:00.001-08:00

Most people believe that they can't write articles because they're not the best writers around. But what does it mean exactly to be the best? It's all a matter of perception. It depends on what you are looking for. Are you able to give out quality information? Are potential clients clicking on to our website? Are you able to get opt-ins to your list? And when you write, do you write with a purpose in mind? Do you write to get readers quality information? Do you write to get readers to visit your sales page and respond to your offers? In other words, do you write articles for money?

Here are some methods to help you write articles for money:

1) CREATE A CATCHY TITLE You begin by coming up with a catchy title that will entice your reader. Research the top articles section of this ezinearticles.com, and pay attention to the strength of their titles. Take a glance at some of my other titles as well. This may spark some ideas for creating a few catchy titles of your own.

2) HOOK THEM WITH THE FIRST PARAGRAPH The first paragraph needs to "draw in" your potential clients and leave them with the desire to keep reading more. In order to keep their attention, they'll need to make it past the first paragraph.

3) KEEP READERS INTERESTED The article should be informative and intriguing. Use a variety of examples, stories, and applicable information. Use headlines, numbers, and bullet points to separate ideas and maintain "flow' throughout your article.

4) K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid) Make sure that you get straight to the point and keep it simple. Make it easy to read, by writing short paragraphs. But remember to write as much as you need in order to relay your message clearly.

5) PROVIDE CLEAR DIRECTIONS Provide your readers with the exact steps they'll need in order to do what you are teaching. You shouldn't feel the need to cut corners and leave out information in order to get readers to visit your site.

6) GIVE THEM A CALL TO ACTION Allow your readers access to click on to your bio. Make sure that readers are able to click on to your bio and do not include it in the actual article. In the bio, you are able to advertise freely, so make good use of that space by providing a powerful call to action.

7) WRITE WITH PASSION Write about things that you are passionate about. When you write about things that you are passionate about, you become more knowledgeable, thus, improving your message and ideas.

8) PRECISE LANGUAGE Use simple and precise language, not everyone has the same ability level as you do.

By following these examples, you can easily create articles that will inform readers while getting them to move along to your sales information. If done right, you'll earn money with every article you write. This is exactly how to write articles for money. Good Luck!

Writing a Research Paper

2008-01-15T21:29:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't dread a research paper? That familiar foe we encounter in so often. We toil away endlessly into different mediums looking for any and all relevant information you can use only to find that in the end you still don't have enough information you need to write your paper. Does this sound familiar? The process of creating a proper research paper is tough work. It requires you to develop a firm understanding of a topic you've in many cases never heard of and then form a thesis which you must support with your research. The key I found to smoothly writing a research paper is to research properly.

The thought of starting on your paper may be daunting but the more time you give yourself to work on it the better. The first step of any research paper is of course research. If you do not have a set thesis to write about, do some background research on your topic. Do not simply skim over a few summaries and make a decision based on them. The amount of background reading you do here will help you form a strong thesis with plenty of strong facts to support or reject it. The absolute last thing you want is to be stuck struggling to write a paper with a weak thesis with little to no evidence around it or even worse to have to switch your thesis for a better one half way through your writing process.

Now that you have selected your thesis, it's time to do some extensive research on it. This part is definitely a grind because you may find a good amount of information in your first hour or you may go hours without a scrap of useful information. It is hit and miss, but keep with it and give yourself breaks and make sure to try lots of different sources. For a research paper, the best source to find information is probably scientific journals. These are filled with first hand research articles by professionals in their field. Of course books are another great source to look through and should never be overlooked. Their only draw back may be that it may be hard to find the exact bit of information you need in a large book dedicated to your general topic.

The internet always gets mixed reviews when it comes to its usefulness as a research tool. I think it's a great tool and it may be the most efficient, a trait I'm sure most students hold in high regard. It is true that there is a lot of false information on the internet however there is also a lot of quality information there too. A rule of thumbs that I have always used for internet research is to cross reference everything. You must find two sources that report the same information in order for it to be deemed trustworthy. Wikipedia along with other internet encyclopedia's have a wealth of information that should always be checked out. A helpful tip is to make use of the search tools. Many search functions have tools that can enhance your searches and narrow down the number of hits.

Hopefully getting all the information you need won't be too painful of a process. Just remember to give yourself as much time as possible to do the research; you'll be happy you did once you start writing.

Write your best characters now!

2008-01-15T21:28:00.003-08:00

You hear so much talk about the importance of believable characters to a memorable story. So you have to sit back and think about it, what really is the main thing you remember long after youâ€™ve finished the book and put it away? Yep, thatâ€™s right, it is the people in the story. While youâ€™re with them itâ€™s like spending time with a friend. So, if weâ€™ve established the fact that you need good strong characters to get readers to love your story, then how do you go about putting onto paper what you see in real life to make each character in your book come alive?

First, itâ€™s important to think about all of the people you see in an average day. Ones you pass by without giving it a second thought while youâ€™re going through your normal routine. Next time youâ€™re out and about remember to stop and take a look around you. Watch how the people you see walk, talk, act, etc. Personally, my favorite thing to do is to find a good spot at the local Starbucks or find a coffee shop in the local mall (itâ€™s better to go there in the evening time) and just watch the people around you. Look at their expressions, measure their stature, pay attention to every one of their gestures then write down every single thing that caught your eye as fast as you can so you donâ€™t forget a thing. Take it home and begin creating someone out of it.

Make sure to add as many of the characteristics as you can from your day of observation. Just height, weight, hair color, name and so forth will not be enough to create a memorable character. In fact, if you want what the publishing world calls â€œthree-dimensionalâ€ characters, youâ€™ll need to go much deeper than that. Youâ€™ll have to dig deeper and create even the smallest of personality quirks about each character to make them work. For instance, you should think about how their:

moral standards code of ethics likes and dislikes habits hobbies hopes & dreams goals & desires and so forth areâ€¦

Just think of yourself as a â€œpuppet masterâ€ if you will. You will be the overseer of every nuance of your characterâ€™s personality, actions, reactions, dialogue with each other and so forth while theyâ€™re â€œon-stageâ€ interacting with each other in front of the reader. You are in a sense, in control of their very being, so make it good. Making your characters your own and not stereo-typical is very important to making your story interesting and believable. If your reader has seen this character in other books time and again, what would make your story any better or any different? It wouldnâ€˜t. Actually, readers will be more inclined to put the book down and go on to the next one that has people in it they can relate to.

Also, donâ€™t forget, that this process of setting up your main characters and supporting cast before you begin the task of putting the story together will help the rest of the writing process go much smoother. Since youâ€™ll have already decided exactly how each person will act or react in any given situation when they are â€œonstage,â€ this will basically settle the scenes before they happen. Especially if you decide ahead of time the role each character will play in your story.

So, now that you have the basic idea on how to create a believable character, there are just a few extra pointers to make your story shine:

When youâ€™re creating your characterâ€™s personality profile, one of the most integral points to remember is to decide your characterâ€™s strengths. Give him/her several strong traits then add in one weakness in that will stand out. Your character must still be someone you would normally like with this weakness, but the weakness itself must form the underlying tension that drives your characterâ€™s behavior. Next, take that weakness and create a problem that preys on that flaw. It must be something thatâ€™s difficult for your character to overcome so by the end of the story you can use it as a victory when they finally do conquer it.

2. Next, your protagonist must have many problems or a complex problem thatâ€™s hard for him/her to solve. That way you can better highlight the above character flaw that drives him/her as well as their many strong character traits. The supporting characters should only have one problem to solve so they take a backseat to the main characters place in the story.

3. Make sure when youâ€™re creating the scenes for your characters that you involve all five of the senses. To make each character within the scene come alive, they need to experience their environment in the same way as we do. Think of the last novel you got caught up in and go back to your favorite parts and Iâ€™ll bet youâ€™ll find a section that vividly describes your favorite scene in a very sensory way.

4. Last, make sure to choose your crisis points wisely. This can make or break the believability of your main characters and of the story itself. Make sure to give your protagonist an agonizing decision to make at just the pivotal time. It must be clear what his/her choice is and what the natural consequences are once the character chose the path he/she wanted to walk down.

Finally, creating memorable characters is as simple as taking the time to get to know who you want to act out the story youâ€™re sharing with your readers. When deciding on and setting up the cast for your book, think about the kind of people youâ€™d want to hang out with day in and day out for the next few months and then put them down on paper and begin having some fun!

Cure for Writer's Block

2008-01-15T21:28:00.002-08:00

Writer's block... we all experience it from time to time. You sit down, with your ideas in mind, yet nothing seems to come out. You ABSOLUTELY KNOW that writing articles in vital for your internet success. But, when you sit down at the computer to write, your mind goes blank.

Here's my cure for writer's block.

1) SEARCH CATEGORIES

I open up my favorite article directory like EzineArticles.com, and search through various categories and subcategories to explore the subject matter I'd like to write about. Hence, I use the article directory as a method to generate ideas.

2) GIVE TITLE

Next, I sit down and give my article a title, such as:

"Discover the Secrets of..." "How to..." "7 Steps to ..."

3) CREATE AN OUTLINE

Then, I outline on paper what I'd like the article to be about. I structure the outline such that it expresses what I'd like to say in as few words as possible.

4) WRITE, WRITE, WRITE

The next step is to simply write, not giving much consideration to grammar, sentence structure, or correct spelling. I follow my outline and just write from one point to the next, making sure I express what I want about the topic in as few words as possible. I realize that my audience has a short attention span, so I cater my articles to them.

5) BE CONVERSATIONAL, SPECIFIC, and COMPELLING

I like to write in a conversation tone, because I think it comes off as easier to read, and builds a rapport with my readers. I imagine sitting at a booth eating lunch and having a simple conversation with the audience I'm directing my article to. I also like to be specific, giving the reader precise tidbits of information they can use immediately. Lastly, I try to provide a compelling offer in the resource box for readers of my article so they'll follow through to my website.

6) GO BIG OR GO HOME

I like to write a lot of articles. Sometimes I'll sit and write for a couple hours a day. Some days I write 5 articles, others days I'll write 10-12. If something is working for you, why fix it. Plus, article writing is sending a tremendous amount of traffic my way.

So, if you're ever stuck trying to find something to write about, use the tools of searching categories, writing headlines, creating an outline, writing in a specific manner to get you going.

The Secret Blueprint for Getting Your Articles Read and Massive Visitors to Your Site

2008-01-15T21:28:00.001-08:00

You know the feeling. You have a fantastic idea for an article, and you just know that people are going to love and use your material. You just know you are going to share some unique and profitable tips, tricks, and information to your readers. So you write it. And you submit it to your favorite directories. You check your article statistics every day. But, you only are getting a few readers here and there. Worse yet, your own traffic statistics show you that you are only getting a very few click-throughs from those readers. So what is a person to do?

Here's my personal blueprint I use day in and day out for both getting my articles read, and for getting those readers to click through to my sites:

1) IT ALL STARTS WITH A GREAT HEADLINE

Your headline will determine if your articles get read in the first place. So what is in a headline?

- A great headline arouses interest.

- A great headline tells the reader what they are going to learn in the article, but it also arouses some curiosity. (As a tip, go to your favorite article directories and look at their "most read articles" page. You will notice a striking difference in the directness and clarity of the titles of the articles on that list versus the articles in general.)

2.) YOU NEED GREAT SUB-HEADINGS

Your first sentence (like a good sub-heading) or set of sentences must use the same power and attention that a great headline does. You see, if the reader clicks into your article and loses interest immediately, you'll leave your reader disappointed. And what does a disappointed reader do... well, they leave your article, and they DO NOT visit your site. So capture their attention, and move them along your article.

3) HOOK YOUR READER TO THE VERY END

Once the reader has read the first few sentences and has made the decision to read on, they must remain hooked through to the end of your article. Give your reader some meaty information but try not to be long-winded. Provide your reader with useful information, information he or she can immediately use and apply. Don't feel, however, that you have to teach him everything about your topic. In most cases, you probably cannot. Rarely can you adequately cover a topic or teach a new technique in one article.

4) GIVE THEM A CALL TO ACTION

At the end of the article you must place a compelling call to action. In most directories, this should be included in your bio or signature file. Rather than just put your name and accomplishments and a link, include a call to action. Tell the reader to click through to your site for more information on the topic. Tell him what he can receive from your site. Explain clearly what's in it for them, and then add a link to your site.

GOOD LUCK!

How My Purple Cow Eats Orange Grass and How That Can Mean Money for You

2008-01-15T21:27:00.001-08:00

How about that for a sassy little title. Either you are laughing right now...You are confused and want to read more... or you are foaming at the mouth. That's OK. That's what I want...

Because, I am using my headline to:

- Deliver some quality information. - Deliver clicks to my site - Put opt-ins subscribers into my list - Make sales, hand over fist

Here's how you can apply the exact same technique to your marketing efforts:

1) Start with a headline that grabs the reader. Go to the 'top articles' section of this directory and notice the strength of the article titles. Look at great sales pages, and take notes on how they grab your attention and don't let go until the very end

2) Lead in with a first paragraph that the reader simply cannot resist. Once they begin to read the article, they must make it past the first paragraph. Use the first paragraph as a stepping stone to move your reader through the rest of the article.

3) Keep the entire article interesting. Keep your reader's interest peaked with the use stories, examples, useful information, bullets, and breaks.

4) Keep every point short and to the point. The shorter the paragraphs, the easier to read. And the easier to read, the more likely your reader will make it the very end to click on to your site. Write exactly as much as you need to give the solid content, yet leave them wanting for more. And "more" is at your website.

5) Provide the reader with precise steps for doing just what it is that you are teaching. Provide clear examples with useful so that your reader may see you as someone who knows what they are talking about. One whom walks the talk... an expert in the material presented. Then when they click onto your site, they already trust you. A trusting buyer, is a more ready buyer.

6) Create a clear invitation to click to your site at your resource box or bio. Give your reader a clear call to action by giving them an incentive to visit your site. Show them clearly what they will receive once at your site.

7) Write about what you know, and what you have passion for. Passion moves people into action. Words tell, buts passion sells. Try to incorporate passion when you write and you notice that your writing will improve, along with your sales.

GOOD LUCK!

How to Choose the Best Agent For You

2008-01-15T21:26:00.001-08:00

Recently I've had a few writers seek me out for consultation because they were dealing with the fortunate mishap of having more than one agent interested in their work. That may sound fantastic if you haven't been able to get anything other than single sheet rejections in your mailbox, but these writers found themselves feeling like the dog chasing cars who finally caught one! What to do now?

Below are a few points to consider, but note this: each one involves an evaluation of yourself and the agent. Ideally you'll be asking yourself, "What do I want here?" and then "What does the agent offer?" You'll see what I mean as we go on.

The Art of Communication

This first point is all about how the back-and-forth communications between you and your agent will happen. Will you mostly talk via email? Or telephone? How easy will it be to get your agent on the phone? Now, what do you want your communications with your agent to be like? A couple of the writers I spoke with weren't happy with the agents who didn't return their phone calls or answer their emails in a timely fashion. In fact, they got downright antsy about it and thought the agent had changed his or her mind about their project. Of course this wasn't the case, but that didn't stop the thought from driving the writers crazy anyway!

Still, it's important to consider: are you the type of writer who requires a lot of attention? That's not a bad thing, but it means you may want to think twice about choosing an agent with a large client base who is busy and can't return calls or emails on the same day. A smaller firm with more personal attention would be the more appropriate choice.

Bigtime Connections

On the flipside, the agent who is too busy to return phone calls might be busy because he's escorting one of his writers to an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"! An agent who has celebrity clients may have a foot in the door for certain publicity opportunities and immediate recognition from the editors at the publishing houses. The editors know, for instance, to pay attention to a manuscript coming from Agent X because he regularly sends them great stuff! If you want that kind of star power behind your book and you're secure enough to be in a huge fold where you're not top dog, then go for this agent.

But don't write off a smaller agent because his or her connections are with small or mid-size publishing companies. Your book may require the kind of attention (budgetary and otherwise) that you can get from smaller firms. This type of agent may be more helpful in the building of your platform, where with a bigger agent you might be expected to have your audience already in place.

Any Editing in the Deal?

Some agents are interested in helping you develop the content of your book. Some agencies even employ in-house editors. Why? Because they know a book has a better chance of selling if it's in top form before they take it to the publishing houses. Do you feel you'll need this type of assistance for your book? Does the agent you're considering offer this type of service? If not, remember you may want to invest in hiring an editor on your own.

Consider the Long Run

I recently assisted a writer in researching an agent and my contacts at a publishing house told us that he was a hit-and-run kind of guy--he threw lots of projects at you, trying to see what would stick. If he couldn't sell it, he'd drop the project and move on. Again, that's not necessarily a bad thing--many agents operate this way. But the writer in question here was looking for an agent who would not only represent his book, but also help him develop his writing career--someone who could help him evaluate opportunities and brainstorm future projects. If the writer was only interested in selling his current book, this agent could have been the right choice. But for the long run, he knew this agent wasn't the guy!

Now: Make the Choice

Once you've done your evaluating, make your choice and tell the agents as soon as possible. For the person you didn't pick, make the communication clear and friendly. You don't want to burn any bridges in this business. These days people switch sides frequently so today's agent could be tomorrow's publisher. Just something to keep in mind!

The Gospel of Writing According to Marilyn

2008-01-15T21:25:00.000-08:00

Writing is a deceptively difficult art. It takes time, perseverance, patience, desire, and did I say, perseverance. Only write if you truly want to. As a writer I know put it, there are easier ways to be miserable. However, the rewards are great.

Writing brings a feeling of power and freedom. And if you do it regularly and with consistency, you will get better.

Through writing, we access the inner landscape of our soul. Writing is about learning to pay attention, and then to communicate what you see in the environment around you and how you perceive what you observe. As a writer, it's your task to see people and things as they really are. To do this, you have to know who you are. This requires you to keep bringing your mind back to what is really there to be seen. To be a writer, you have to be awed by what's going on inside of you, and then open yourself to the world around you. Think of those times when you've read something that truly moves you, where you have a glimpse of the writer's soul.

One purpose of spiritual or personal development (what I call human potential) writers is to help others find meaning in their life. To do this, a writer must record what they see in a way that transforms the reader's ideas, their beliefs, and their universe. And when all is said and done, what a reader really wants is to know the author better. That's why I always tell my clients that what you write reflects, and oftentimes reveals, the process you are in right now. Let me give you an example. I worked with a client who was writing about leadership from the heart versus the head. When I saw his first draft, it was uninspired, dry, and boring. I called him up and said, "Bob, what are you writing about?" He replied, "Leadership from the heart, not the head." I asked him, "And where do you think you are writing from?" There was a long pause, and he finally said, "From the head." I told him to go back to the writing and this time, to use a paper and pen and to tell the story, not try to explain it. Just write until he couldn't write anymore, until the story had been told.

He agreed to try it, and another draft arrived the next week. I started to read it, and said to myself, "He's got it! He understood what I was saying, and he's writing from his heart." About three pages into the draft, the writing shifted. I called him up and asked him, "What were you doing on page three when you went from the story into an explanation?" He laughed and said I'd busted him. He had stopped to "think" and decided he needed to refer to a file about a client. The tone of the writing changed from one of storytelling to one of explanation. And I, as a reader lost interest.

You will be writing from your own experience, and most likely from the process you are currently experiencing. To become a truly great writer, you must learn to trust that experience.

How does this help us access your god? Words come through your mind, but they originate in your heart. It is this heart center that becomes the channel through which your source, your god, your spirit, inspires you to share your messages. You become what my spiritual teacher refers to as the hollow bone. The style, words, and emotions you write are yours; however, the message and your need to write it is encouraged by energy from Source. When you understand how to allow yourself to become the vessel, you will be guided by forces that will take you on journeys into the depths of your imagination. The key is in learning how to step out of your ego-brain and tap into that heart-centered source. When you can consistently do that in your writing, you will become a powerful writer.

A true writer is driven to put some part of their experience on paper. What holds the reader is your enthusiasm, your emotions, how it changed your life, what made you want to write in the first place. The source of all of what you convey through your writing is your connection to spirit, to your god, however that appears for you in your life. One of my writers referred to it as becoming the flute that allows the breath of understanding to flow through. Allow the message to move through you from that source.

Article Submission Sites That Can Destroy Your Business

2008-01-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

Using the right article submission sites can make the difference between success and failure of your business. Particularly if you are like me and use article marketing for the bulk of your marketing efforts. In this case, it is probably the single most important factor in achieving success.

Using my website stat counter, I check my article statistics on a regular basis. I want to know which article submission sites are sending me traffic and which ones are not. After I add a new directory to my list, I check my statistics very thoroughly. If the new site is not sending me traffic after a month, I delete them from my list.

This is extremely important. Early in my article marketing career, I did not check my statistics. And, in a number of cases, I got little or no traffic from many of these sites. However, because I was not aware, I continued to submit to these non-performing article submission sites.

I was very fortunate that I began to check my stats when I did. Initially, I submitted to 150 article submission sites on a daily basis. As you can imagine, it was very time consuming, even though I was using submission software. After I began to check my statistics, I was able to delete 90 article submission sites from my daily list with no loss of business.

90 sites are an awful lot. What about the people who submitted to just 40 or 50 of those non-performing sites and no others? I suppose that those are the people who say that article marketing does not work. To ensure the success of your Internet business, make sure that you regularly check your site statistics. Make sure that you are getting traffic from your each of your article submission sites.

Do you want to learn more about how I make money? I have just completed a Free Internet marketing book entitled, How To Make Money Every Day!

BuzzArticles for Business Publications

2008-01-15T21:22:00.001-08:00

Copywriting Agency - UK Copywriting - Based in Cheshire

Wordsworks is a copywriting agency. We help organisations harness the power of words to improve their business.

We work with design and marketing agencies looking for words for specific projects, or we work directly with businesses looking to improve the quality and clarity of their written material.

Wherever you need words, think of wordsworks. We can usually help. We use words effectively and efficiently to inform, advise, educate and persuade.

Some of the recent projects for which weâ€™ve provided the words include: case studies, web sites, blogs, annual reports, in-house publications, client newsletters, marketing material, speeches and ghost writing for senior management.

Whatever the project, weâ€™ll give you well-written, engaging and interesting copy.

For further information, please contact: Gareth Chadwick Wordsworks http://www.wordsworks.co.uk/ Tel: 0161 443 4135 Email: gareth.chadwick@wordsworks.co.uk

Wordsworks is a specialist writing consultancy, with a particular focus on the professional services, enterprise and environmental sectors.

The business was set up by former journalist Gareth Chadwick in 2003 to provide outsourced writing and editing services. Typical projects include firm brochures, websites, case studies, blogs, recruitment brochures, client newsletters, reports and in-house magazines.

Wordsworksâ€™ client list includes The College of Law, Ince & Co, Foresight Venture Partners, Addleshaw Goddard, UK Centre for Environmental and Economic Development, TLT Solicitors, Northwest Regional Development Agency and The Independent.

Prior to setting up Wordsworks, Gareth was a journalist specialising in business and professional services. His credits include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, The Lawyer, Legal Director and Managing Partner magazine.

Make Money Every Day With Revenue Sharing Sites

2008-01-15T21:22:00.000-08:00

If you are not making money with your online business, maybe you should try something different. I am a big believer in starting you business with minimum expense. If you can earn some money without spending any money, you should at least try it. Too many people jump into expensive programs only to find that it doesn't work for them.

I also believe that you don't have to make a killing with every sale. Earning a little here and a little there can add up to quite a lot. One easy way to make some money is through the use of Revenue Sharing Sites. If you can write articles, this may be an excellent way to start making some money. It may not make you a fortune, but you can easily make $20 to $50 per month. The key to this idea is to submit articles on a regular basis to revenue sharing sites.

Revenue sharing sites are very much like traditional article submission sites with one big difference. Traditional article directories post Adsense or other advertisements within the articles that people submit. Every time a visitor clicks on one of those ads, the site makes some money. Revenue sharing sites also post ads within with the articles that people submit, but they share the income that they make from this advertising. So, if you are submitting articles anyway, why not submit them to sites that are willing to share some of the money that they are making.

In order to make money with revenue sharing sites, you have to set up an Adsense account. If you don't already have an Adsense account, you can easily set one up by going to Google's Adsense Setup Page. Fill out the information there and you are ready to go. Make sure that you read and are familiar with the Adsense policy information.

There is no limit to the number of articles that you can submit and you can submit the same article to as many different revenue sharing sites as you like.

The way to maximize the amount of money that you make from revenue sharing sites is to submit articles frequently. The more articles you have listed, the more money you will make. I try to submit at least one article every day. By submitting articles on a regular basis, you can easily make $20 to $50 each month. So, if you've written 50 articles in the past three months, why not register with Adsense, and submit all them to a number of revenue sharing sites and make some money!

Do you want to learn more about how I make money? I have just completed a Free book entitled, How To Make Money Every Day!