Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Article Marketing Tips: How To Write A Free Reprint Article

So you’ve heard all sorts of article marketing tips about the power of free reprint articles to drive traffic to a website, but you’re wondering, “Sounds great, but can I really write articles that publishers would want to publish?”

I assure you that your concerns are completely normal--anytime you’re venturing into a new activity it’s natural to feel a bit awkward and unsure of yourself at first. You will get over that as you get into the habit of writing articles.

Writing articles for article marketing is a skill that pretty much anyone can learn--if you can write an intelligible email or letter, then you have the basic skills to start writing free reprint articles.

Maybe you’re wondering, “Well, I’m not really sure how to even take the first step...”

I’ve got you covered--I’m about to walk you through some very detailed steps that will help you create your very first free reprint article.

Step 1: Familiarize yourself with what free reprint articles look like.

Many people are visual and just seeing what an acceptable article looks like will boost your confidence that you are capable of writing an article. Go to your favorite article directory and look at the category that is closest to your topic. You can also do a search for your specific area of interest and see articles that others have already had published.

Step 2: Write an article that introduces a beginner to your article topic.

Probably the hardest part of writing your first article is figuring out what to write about. Make this first article easy on yourself and write an article that provides a general overview of your topic in language that a complete beginner would understand. Remember, you are just providing basic information--resist the urge to try to tell every last thing about your topic. You will write many more articles; this one is just the tip of the iceberg!

Step 3: Use a word count goal.

This will help you put boundaries on your article so that you end up with an article and not a novel. Aim to write an article that is 400-800 words.

Step 4: Craft your title.

Put some serious thought into creating a title that is useful to your reader (a title that tells what the article is about) and makes the reader want to read your article. When your article appears on a directory, a reader will often be looking at a long list of article titles on similar topics. Your title is your big chance to grab a reader’s attention so that they will click through to read your article.

Step 5: Write a strong resource box.

The resource box is the author bio that sits below your article. Your resource box should include:

*Your name

*A little information about yourself and your business

*A reason for the reader to visit your website

*A link to your website

The quality of your resource box can strongly influence whether a reader clicks the link to your website, so spend some time on it!

Step 6: Give yourself a breather.

You’ve worked hard to craft an educational article with a helpful and attractive title and a resource box that represents you well. Now, it’s time to put your writing away for at least 24 hours. Use this as a cool-off time--don’t even think about your article!

Step 7: Proofread and edit.

Read over your article again with a keen eye for grammar errors, spelling issues, typos, and awkward phrasing. Take some extra time at this stage--when you submit your article it will be republished on an infinite number of websites, and you want your article to make you look good!

Just think about it--after you complete all of these steps, you will have written your first internet marketing article! It’s a wonderful feeling of accomplishment that will intensify with the more articles that you write. You can do this!

When will you make time this week to write your first article?

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