Joan Stewart writes:

Great tip, Chris! Here are more reasons why the “pairs” idea works:

–People are busy and think they don’t have time to read a 1,000 word article. But they might gladly read two shorter pieces even though they’re spending the same amount of time. .

–You can include different URLs in the author resource box in each of the two articles. In the first, promote your ebook. In the second, promote your ezine.

–Two articles work better than one long one when it comes to search engine optimization. You can use different keywords and keyword phrases in each.

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Ed Howes writes:

I think we have only scratched the surface here. A pair is a set, the smallest one can write. Once a pair habit is formed, it should not be hard to try triplets. Put the main idea for the article at the top, like the summary, if like me you save that for last. Then move it where it works best in the body. Refer to the main idea at the end of each paragraph so you don’t mix in your other articles. Switch to a secondary article each time your bright idea doesn’t work with whichever one you are writing.

If we are writing articles in multiple categories, I think we all might be surprised how often an idea crops up for a different article while writing and many of us put the idea aside, possibly for weeks or months. Interrupting your work, if only to title a new document and write a sentence will be all you need to jar memory. Nor are we likely to have difficulty picking up on the interrupted article. Soon it will be our intention to write two articles and a couple titles or ideas.

If it was not necessary for ever more people to read in the information age, attention spans would have gone to the point we could create a new E business called Ezine Titles – which would tell us all we need to know. :-) Here is a good test for length. Sort your articles in the member’s area by word count. Add all the publisher pickups for articles longer than 500 words and all those for articles shorter. You can create any number of groups and cut off points. And how do we sort articles by word count? Wait a little while and someone will make it happen. Same old magic everywhere we look.

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Lance Winslow writes:

Ed, I have had each one of those thoughts you mention at various times and pretty much concur with it all, for many reasons including the ones you have stated.

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babul writes:

yeah! it’s helpful but you have to run your mind in two different topics at a time to write two articles. So before writing any you should prepare for that particular topic. I’m new in article writing, may be possible i’m wrong.

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Marshall Masters writes:

This is a great mail list and once in while a real keeper coming popping through. This is a big keeper!!! Many thanks, Marshall

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tobto writes:

I think ‘Writing Articles in Pairs’ have a sense. Moreover, I guess there is an effect of ‘dividing’ means that smaller part will be easy for a reader. THis is almost advert mechanics.

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Dina writes:

Well, now the concept of pairs is giving way to Article Campaigns. Chris has mentioned this before (and I did too, in my article marketing ebook) – but it seems to me that here he’s opted to discuss Pairs to slowly warm up those who are completely unfamiliar with the Writing Articles in Sets method.

I think it’s interesting that over on Ed’s computer, the ideas for successive articles are born as he’s writing the first article, where as in my case, I prefer to just write a list of related article topics and then go back and write each article in the list. Either way, this is a great way to push out a special promotion you have going.

Also, I have been meaning to say this for some time, but when Ed Howes first came on the scene I few times I mistook him for Lance after reading his blog posts very quickly. I know you two are actually very different in some of your beliefs… but something about the way you process information and communicate makes you two birds of feather (of a very endangered species, I think).

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Ed Howes writes:

Very good observation Dina,

Lance and I are two of those people who get tremendously excited about ideas and possibilities. We see it in our mind’s eye and immediately want to share it with others. We both write stream of conciousness, only Lance does it about 10 times faster, I imagine. I think we recognized this in each other subconsciously over a number of weeks. My life experience tells me few people get very excited by anything so finding Lance for me was a great blessing. Finding that bird of a feather is especially exciting for very excitable people. I expect the finding of each other to matter to the rest of the world over time. We have found a friendship worth cultivating and I only want to add others as we go. I certainly love this little blog community we have going and I’m eagerly watching to see who starts hanging out with us here. I believe this may be one of the most productive blogs on the internet and that this was Chris’ intention.

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Takuya Hikichi writes:

Ed,

I too have learned stuff from reading yours, Lance’s and other people’s comments. I am new to this community but writing articles have become more exciting than I ever knew and most importantly easier than I expected. Once I put my mind to it, it wasn’t hard to start writing one article after another.

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Edward Weiss writes:

You know what I do to get ideas for new articles? I read my old articles!

I fish around for a phrase or a sentence that seems promising, create a headline from it and voila… a new article!

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Marshall Masters writes:

Hi Edward:

Great tip on prospecting your past articles. I also do keyword searches on the words and phrases as well.

Marshall

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Lance Winslow writes:

Babul, actually if you just start writing an article you will think of something else, which really does not fit in the article, but is still relevant. And by writing pairs or even more you can better keep your article on track. I like to write now in 7’s instead of pairs. Two of a kind is great, but 7 is a lucky number;

http://ezinearticles.com/?777;-Why-is-Number-Seven-Lucky?&id=255080

Toto, is correct in that the average attention span of the viewer is dropping and even the TV news segments are only 2-4 minutes now, when they use to be 7 minutes. One the Internet the ‚¬“click happy‚¬ surfer wants information; get in and get out. Smaller articles get read more times all the way thru than do larger articles you see?

Dina’s method works too. I have done this also. Think of a topic and write 7 possible titles and write them one by one. In doing this you will also invariably think of another sub-topic or TWO; more pairs to write on top of that.

Ed, it seems that observations, curiosity and thought are one of the greatest aspects of the human species, unfortunately so many people turn off their minds. I believe that if you can get people to think again, then our future holds a brighter light; speaking of birds, here is a Pair of Articles for you;

http://ezinearticles.com/?Birds-with-the-Widest-Wings-Use-Ground-Affect&id=255002

http://ezinearticles.com/?Bald-Eagles-on-the-Potomac&id=255009

Actually both written together while watching birds by the pool.

Takuya, writing articles is easy, but not until you start writing. I find sometimes it is easiest to just start writing, even if you ditch the entire first paragraph and start over, at least you are getting into the writing mode and allowing the FLOW of it to move from your mind to your fingers. Sometimes I wish I had shorter arms so it would not take so long! I will read your article, it is great to see all the great new writers.

Edward, brings up an excellent point, in that reading articles of your own or someone else’s for that matter, although in Edwards case he is in Super Specialty Niche, which he know stakes claim and basically owns now. If you pick out a specific Sentence or Phrase, sometimes you can modify it and make it a Title and then flush out a new idea. I have done this too. Great point Edward. In fact often when trying to write 30-40 articles per day, I have to get away for a few hours with a note pad in order to dream up new titles. Sometimes take a drive, ride a bike, take a job, read a periodical, surf the News or go engage someone at a coffee shop for conversation. Then write down the observation and attempt to work it into a thought and flush out the idea, much like Edward is describing by reading his own articles, which are quite good I might add.

I think this is good dialogue and we should keep it going!

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Deborah Coss writes:

You have one of the least known secrets, down pat!
The less words you use, the more likely the reader will read your page and click to your next page. It has been proven that absorbtion of the electronic page, is far less than the hard copy page. Meaning it is important to use less words, while trying to pack enough punch in your writnig to keep it “sticky,” (making people stick on your pages). So, two articles of 500 words, is far more effective than one of 1,000 words, on the internet. People don’t like to have to scroll down much, unless it’s research oriented and they just have to. The best web masters, have quick loading pages, articulate and direct styles and get to the point ASAP. The least desireable writers, are way too much in love with their own words, and go on, and on, and on, and……

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Ed Howes writes:

Takuya,

Welcome to our educational fun club. If writing does not inspire the reader, it can always inspire the write, who only gets better with practice and reading.

Deborah,

I write for a minority that will scroll. Ironically, my favorite forms are bumper stickers and tee shirts, which leaves me with catchy titles that need no elaboration. So I don’t use them for titles. I have found serializing the long articles to be quite effective and it often surprises me me when the view counts on the subsequent parts stay close to the count on part one, which makes your case again.

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Martha Winslet writes:

Yeah ! This is a great idea to split an article. Generally people have the affinity to have the underlying idea in a comprehensive mode. Hence pushing the main theme in a nutshell will be really great.

Martha Winslet

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Theresa Cahill writes:

I’m only about a month behind putting my two cents in but… what a great idea – and duh I would never have thought of it.

I do, on occasion, find myself following up my own article (or postings) with one along the same vein. However, taking the original (and follow ups) and cutting them in half is such an easy thing to do – we’re all used to the “stay tuned til next time” messages :)

Thanks Chris! You’re right… I’m definitely going to give this a go!

Theresa Cahill
http://www.mywizardads.com

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Ed Howes writes:

Theresa,

Nobody here is timing you. Come around when you like and some of us will read you anyway.

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