Hi Chris,

Sorry, longtime not here from us, but mutch work.

regards

Bernd and Khun Lek

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Hi Chris,

I just wanted to expand on the importance of NOT linking to a website that is unrelated to the topic of the article.

Put yourself in the readers shoes. If you had an issue with, say, “training your dog” and you searched and found a superb article about dog training…you’d probably want to click through to the linked website, right?

Well, a quick scan of the link text and URL shows something like http://www.refrigeratorcoils.com or link text of “Silly Ringtones.” NOBODY is going to click through to your site in that scenario.

Your article will sit…wasting away…bringing no value to your website whatsoever. Sure, the article may get read a lot and you may pull in a little link popularity, but what you want is click throughs and in this scenario they will never exist.

And I haven’t even mentioned the fact that if you submit to other directories, your article will probably be outright declined for this very reason.

Allen Graves

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I keep a spiral bound notebook with me at all times as my idea capturing tool. When I think of something I’d like to write about later, I make a few notes. I have even been known to leave the movie theater for two minutes, during the movie, to jot down my thoughts. Inspiration for writing articles comes at all times throughout the day, not only the hours I am in front of the computer.
To answer your original question, I look for topics to write about that will help my students to write their ebook. Any tips or insights I can share with them will make the ebook writing process go easier and smoother for them.

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Nice question, Chris!

How to decide what to write about? First of all, make a research. Type your keywords on Wordtracker, Goodkeywords, Overture, etc and see what people are looking for in your area.

The most successful articles are always the ones that answer to the readers’ questions.
If you don’t know how to answer their questions, you can make a research: read several articles about this matter, read reports, books, everything you can. Then write in your own words everything you learned with your research and write your personal conclusion in the end.

If you have to copy something, make a reference, giving the link to your readers.
Be honest, helpful and serious and your readers will love your articles!

And of course, don’t forget that you have a purpose writing this article: you want to help your readers and sell your products or services.
You have to have always in mind that you have to show to your readers that they can trust you and continue trusting you, acquiring what you are offering them, because your products or services are really the best ones.

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You need to get a life Connie!

You are what they call an article marketing addict?

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-You-An-Article-Marketing-Addict?&id=445599

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Steve, I am an article addict. I am in a 7 step program for it. The problem is that I keep writing 7 tips, 7 reasons, 7 ways, etc. articles instead of stopping. The most I ever wrote in a day was 15 articles. My typical day is 3-5 articles. I would never allow anyone else to write for me because I love the whole process too much. I also teach other people how to write articles and ebooks and must set a good example for my students.

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Hi Connie,

I would love to write 3-5 articles on an average day – I just do not have the time.

How long does the average article take you to write?

Do you only submit them to ezinearticles?

What other forms of web promotion do you also use?

Sorry for all of the questions, you can e-mail me via my website if you prefer.

I am well impressed,

Steve Hill

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Steve,

It takes between 10 and 15 minutes to write a 300 word article and submit it to ezine articles. If I’m writing on the same or similar content for several articles it may only take me 25 minutes to write 5 articles. (Sometimes I use similar ideas for several specific targets.) This does NOT mean I copy paste anything. It means I have my basic format down, the ideas I want to put forth, and some concepts in mind so I just simply retype them using different words. For instance, the marketing concept article I send out for the big business mogul isn’t going to be the same article as what I write for a newbie to the internet who may use my information to kickstart his business.

Those are easy changes to use the same concepts on, you can try them to speed up your own article writing.

>>> Write main idea – Title

>>> Ask a Question – Intro

>>> Write 3/5/7 Points – Body

>>> Ask Lead Question to Resource Box

>>> Add Resource Box with link

>>> Copyright info.

And I’m done.

Jan

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Steve,
I have answered your question in a post on my blog. Check it out. Then I wrote two more articles, walked my dogs, answered email, and came back here to post my reply to you. And it is not even 7 in the morning my time!

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Thanks Jan for your response.

I have read the piece on your blog Connie, thank you for the reply. You seem very dedicated and driven.

I have written well over 600 articles on ezinearticles and have seen some very impressive results.

The one question that you did not answer was about other forms of web promotion.

Steve

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Of course one should dwell only on the subject he is well versed.But as a writer one should be capable of writing an article on a given topic, of course only after gathering relevant materials connected to the topic.I am of the opinion that if a writer confines himself to the area of his expertise only, he as well as his readers may find it monotonous and boring.Of course this is my humble viewpoint, you may agree with or differ.

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Steve – sorry for the omission – I promote my teleseminars and blog in various ways. I am a member of several forums and also participate on Ning and Facebook. Many people are searching for information on ebook writing and sign up for my free weekly teleseminars on writing and technology. I also speak publicly from time to time and even more people find out what I do by hearing me speak.

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Ramalingam,

If you’re only well versed in one area, you must have led a rather limited life.

I’m a full time mom, a marketer, a business owner, a great cook, a traveler, a decorator, and have many other talents too numerous to mention. My skills cover many areas of expertise. Research is all a part of living, and I gather research daily on any given topic. For instance, just this morning, I spent a few moments searching the web for a recipe to use with boiled pork. What I found inspired a blog post that I haven’t yet posted to my blog (although I will before I go put the stew in to cook).

Relevant is a matter of perspective and determined more by which blog I’m writing, than by what I’m writing. I’ve learned that I can often relate a pork roast to writing marketing copy (right here in this blog post).

Steve, I use several forms of web promotion, including posting to several ezine article publishers, with specific purposes in mind. The WHERE you post is not nearly so important as the WHY. I post the majority of my articles to EzineArticles.com because that’s where the majority of the traffic comes from to my site. I suppose if I posted the majority elsewhere, my test results might be different.

Jan

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Super Jan, Congratulations!

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Thanks Jan and Connie, I will give them ago myself.

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Chris wrote:

“…the article should/must relate to your area of expertise. It should be very obvious to your reader that you are the expert in the niche of the products and/or services that you also sell.”

Yet there are a few authors here who write about anything under the sun to get clicks back to their website.

Especially in the Internet Marketing section. One author (I won’t mention any names) shows up so much it’s a turn off. His articles are “good” but I doubt he’s an expert in all the areas he writes about.

What about that?

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Hello everyone,

Chis asked, “How do you decide what to write about?”

Consider me old fashioned, but I listen to my clients questions and try to write articles which give them answers. I figure that if I have one client with a question, a dozen other people probably have the same question. I often get my best ideas while helping my clients work through their problems.

I only worry about key words when I come to the title and key word section of the article submission form. I have plenty of content, but I know that key words help people find my content.

Finally, it strikes me that anyone who can write a quality article in 10 to 15 minutes is an above average typist. It took me five minutes to write and edit this comment. But then again, the article I threw together in less than an hour seems to have gotten my most views and click throughs so far, despite its two typos. Go figure.

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Thank you.By posting my own comments I have got some feedbacks, which echoed my viewpoints in a different angle.Anyhow, whatever ezine does it is thought provoking ,useful and gives further ideas to analyse oneself.Again thanks a lot.

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Thank you all for your comments.

I am a beginner at this having written just two articles so far. In my particular case, when writing an article I’m trying to do two things.

1) to market my web site
2) to share my beliefs

I would be grateful for any comments.

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Linda,

Just be sure that “sharing your beliefs” doesn’t destroy your first goal “market my website”.

Example: Let’s say you believe in a particular political party… stating such may annoy and turn off 50% of your readership.

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Christopher, thanks for your comment. I do completely understand what you are saying, and generally agree with you. However, I am one of those people who have to say what I feel even if it affects my readership.

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Linda,
I would like to see you write some articles about losing your husband. I am working with someone right now who writes on grief and loss. It can be very therapeutic to write about personal things while you are working on selling your home. Where will you relocate to when you sell?

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Hi Connie

Thanks for your comment. You know I never thought to do that and I understand why it could be a good thing to do. I will work on it and see if I can come up with something. As to where I am relocating, just the nearby city, Cottonwood. As I don’t drive, (I live in a remote area and have to rely on people to go grocery shopping). Moving to Cottonwood means that I will have access to a bus route and be near my daughter and friends.

Again many thanks for the suggestion and watch my posts, you’ve given me inspiration.

Linda

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Hi,

In my opinion you shouldn’t waste your precious time writing your own articles but to outsource this task. And then use the free time you gained to *promote* your product.

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I always thought I had some what of an advantage running a think tank, because we discuss so many different topics that I hardly ever run out of stuff to write about. I know when I was in the franchising business, my limits would have been the service sectors we serviced and business articles pertaining to that niche. So, I completely agree with what you are saying here. In fact in simi-retirement I am writing about the things I do that make money, and the things we discuss in our think tank – my basic niches. Lance

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This is in regards to Peter Sherman’s comment about not wasting precious time to write articles. Peter, do you have someone in mind that you use to write for you, and how much do they charge? Thanks!

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