Article Writing Tips – How Different Article Forms Can Help You Build Expert Status
In Internet marketing, experts and gurus make the lion’s share of the money when it comes to products being purchased and coaching programs being sold. It’s the 80/20 rule in full effect. 80% of the money is being made by 20% of the people. So it’s natural for anyone to strive to be an expert in their industry or niche.
REALITY TWO: Writing can be lonely. Most days it’s you and the page, or you and the computer screen, or if you’ve got writer’s block it’s just you. Things can get pretty silent – which many writers enjoy. But what if you don’t? If you’re not the kind of person who works well alone, or has a hard time self motivating it’s going to be tough. This is particularly true in the beginning stages before you get a publisher or a production. How do you move yourself and your work forward?
The next step of this process was to learn the basics and meet the requirements of the state funeral service board to obtain a license to ply my trade. So I enrolled in, attended and graduated from a funeral service college. I served the required apprenticeships (one year for each of two licenses, funeral director and embalmer). This process taught me the basics and provided me the legal documentation I needed to be employed as a funeral director/embalmer, but it did not make me an write my paper cheap. I was just like 99% of the rest of the graduates/licensees who had chosen funeral directing and/or embalming as a profession.
What is writer ‘s Block? From my own personal experience, I would describe it as that state in which words dam up against the pen until explode in the writer’s mind, causing a scene of such war-torn damage that the writer is immobilized by sheer exhaustion. Pleasant, yes? But wait, here’s the rub: Writer’s Block can actually make you more creative.
During the final editing stage, one of the editors of the textbook we collaborated on last year contacted me to work on another book. In response to my hurried missive that I was on a deadline, he wrote back letting me know he would be happy to help with the process. I was five days away from my deadline and did not think he meant he would drop everything to help with a moment’s notice so I missed out on a potentially great resource. While catching up with a friend shortly after the editing stage, she shared with me that she has a group of friends who enjoy looking at new works and providing feedback. It is now clear that unplugging separated me from help that would have been beneficial.
Create a journal to keep track of your progress. Write questions and answer them from your readings. You’ll look back on this effort later to chart your evolution.
Obviously to be a successful freelance writer, you will need to find several place and clients to write for. You want to go for at least 5-7 sources of income. In one dries up or you get bored, then you will have a network of others backing you up financially. Limiting your sources is financial suicide. You might want to start with popular content sites or sites with “freelance writers wanted” clearly posted for easy jobs.
Step one on how to become an expert in your niche: create a blog. This is the first and probably the easiest way to become known as an expert. You can sign up for free to get your own blog, and you can even design it any way you like! With a blog, you’ll want to share your own experiences, information, and expertise with people online. Remember to update often and give your readers fresh, relevant content. If your readers enjoy what you have written about, you can bet your bottom dollar they will return to check out your blog every time you update it. Writing with your reader’s best interests in mind is the best way to gain credibility with them.
It is important you get your website up and your blog propagated, meaning you should probably start your site as you begin to write your book and begin to market the site to your social media contacts. Your site should be the same name, but not more than three or four words, as your book title. I recommend writing a blog post every day for the first three months to get your site ranked highly and gain the traffic you deserve. Consider offering at least one chapter free on your site to let your audience get a preview of what they can expect as well as including the table of contents. Another great technique to entice your audience to purchase your book is to give away a free related product such as an audio they can download.
Ask for writing samples. You should always ask for samples. Look for correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Samples are especially important if the writer has no experience writing in your niche. While many writers are comfortable writing in different subject areas and in different media, others like to specialize. Don’t be put off by a writer who has never written in your niche before. Just look at the samples and determine whether the writer can write well rather than whether s/he understands your business or product. A good writer will take the time to research your business and niche in order to give you the quality content you deserve.
Experts know this feeling intimately, and that’s why we instinctively trust them–because they have gone, quite willingly, where few would dare to tread.