#HAHD Celebration Teleseminar

We’re celebrating the wrap-up of the 100 Articles in 100 Days Marathon Challenge!

Whether you made it to 100 articles in 100 days or not, we want you to celebrate this incredible ground-breaking marathon with us during a very special teleseminar co-hosted by Chris Knight, CEO of EzineArticles.com and Jeff Herring, The Article Marketing Guy.

ON THE AGENDA:

• How to scale from being an article marketing dabbler to being a Massive Article Content Creation & Free Traffic Attraction Machine
• How lessons learned from this first challenge can help you do this without losing yourself or quality during the process

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
11am-Noon Central Time

TO LISTEN IN/PARTICIPATE:
Phone-Number: 404-260-0037
Conference ID: 5859880#
Listen by Webcast

We hope you’ll join us live because we’ll be announcing how you can submit your request for a FREE EzineArticles #HAHD limited-edition mug!

Please SUBMIT your Questions in the form of a blog comment below and we’ll do our best to get answers to them via the teleseminar.

What Are YOU Missing on Twitter?

If you’re a Twitter user who doesn’t follow @EzineArticles, you’re missing a lot of great EzineArticles information and training! The following is a list of (50) random author tips, insider info, fun facts and reminders we’ve tweeted in the last two months. Any one of these could have been the magic bullet to help you take your article marketing to the next level.

Just CLICK on any of the “ReTweet This” links to auto-populate your Twitter status field. Then just edit for length and retweet to your heart’s content!

• Golden rule of HTML for Article Writers: Every HTML tag you OPEN, must be CLOSED. http://is.gd/ulS9 [ReTweet This]

• Tip: Don’t use URL Shorteners in your Resource Box or article. Better to include a URL from a domain that you own/control for life. [ReTweet This]
• Article Writing Tip: Let each article stand alone and deliver your intended message. Your readers will love the simplicity of your delivery. [ReTweet This]
• “Hit the ground running” in your article body. Your 1st sentence and 1st paragraph should deliver immediate value to your reader. [ReTweet This]
• Most authors find it’s easier to write (1) 1000 word article than (2) 500 word articles; yet (2) 500 word articles always outperforms. [ReTweet This]
• Article Writing Tip: Don’t let your article’s primary aim be to attract traffic. Let it be to help your reader improve or solve a problem. [ReTweet This]
• What’s the IDEAL word count? 400-800 words. Anytime you approach 1200 words or more, consider breaking the article in half. [ReTweet This]
• Your resource box should not be more than 15% of the article body length. Don’t oversell here. Let your expertise shine through the article. [ReTweet This]
• Resource Box: Include one benefit-oriented sentence about what specifically you can do for the reader that is related to your expertise. [ReTweet This]
• If your reader wants to contact you, can they? Or do they need to be a sleuth? Add your name and contact info to your site and be known! [ReTweet This]
• Article parts are not syndication friendly. Consider changing titles so each article stands alone and not dependent on another article. [ReTweet This]
• If content is King, RELEVANT content is Queen; ie, the power behind the throne. Writing articles about lawn care doesn’t sell puppy food. [ReTweet This]
• Your article should not need your article summary in order to make sense. The ARTICLE SUMMARY is a teaser to the full article. [ReTweet This]
• Don’t quote or source in your articles. Readers want your voice. Give them what they have not yet discovered or read elsewhere. Be unique. [ReTweet This]
• Make your articles easy on the eyes. Use proper format, paragraphs, and lists. The goal: easy reading and quick info-sharing. [ReTweet This]
• If you COPY and PASTE from MS WORD and you use our WYSIWYG editor, be CERTAIN to use the “PASTE FROM WORD” button only. [ReTweet This]
• Know and understand SEO, but don’t depend on it for your marketing plan. Draw readers with expert content, not just well-researched keywords. [ReTweet This]
• Q: What tense should I write in? A: Present tense is more exciting and makes info sound current. Ex: Articles make (vs ‘made’) my day! [ReTweet This]

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Posted by Christopher M. Knight on June 29, 2009 at 7:38 am

1,302 views | Comments (9)

Eliminating the Scam Pest

Sometimes the only way to get rid of an annoying pest is to eradicate it.

Imagine you have a problem with insects in your house. Not just one or two, but thousands of insects that seem to show up everywhere. They’re getting into your bed, your food, your furnishings and your clothes. The shear number of insects makes it obvious that you have to take action.

What would you do? Would you open the door and hope they leave on their own? Or scoop them up one-by-one and release them outdoors?

Obviously, the correct answer is neither. You would simply get out the bug spray and eradicate them.

We’re facing a similar situation here at EzineArticles, but our pest isn’t insects… it’s the word “Scam” in article titles.

We have literally thousands of scam-titled articles infesting our article submission process and the time has come for us to take action. We need to eliminate the word “Scam” now. Effective immediately we will no longer allow the word “SCAM” to be included in any article title.

(Continue Reading…)

Linking to Great Content

Episode #8 in Gary’s “Top 10 Reasons for Article Rejection” video series!

In this video, we go on a magical journey with our friend Gary to landing pages near and far to test the URL’s placed within article submissions. Join Gary as he discovers the joy of excellent landing page content and the terror of an Internet trip that goes where no reader should ever go…

Downloadable Versions:
           

Gary’s Tips for Pain-Free Internet Travel:

• Make sure all URL’s (links) lead to landing pages with great content
• The URL must lead to a fully-functioning website landing page
• NO Parked Pages
• NO “Under Construction” Sites
• NO Sites that are Purely Advertising
• NO Dead Links
• Test. Test. Test your links right before you submit your article!

Remember: The landing page URL’s in your articles’ links must have great content and be valuable to your readers, otherwise they may end up going somewhere no reader should ever go…

To see all the videos in the “Top 10 Reasons for Article Rejection” series, surf over to our video archive page.

Have your links ever sent readers on a journey like Gary’s? If so, share some of your travel stories, both the good and the bad, with the rest of the EzineArticles community.

Pain Points Article Template

This new article template is the perfect cure for your ideal customer’s pain!

This template is based on the concept of pain. More specifically, the pain your ideal customers may experience and the pain reliever you can provide. Two simple questions form the backbone of this template:

1. What are some PAIN points that your ideal customers experience?
2. What are some STRENGTHS/BENEFITS your company delivers to remove or prevent those pain points?

Let’s imagine you’re going to write an article using this template. The article is targeted at small business owners who are curious about article marketing. Some pain points you might consider addressing would be:

• Pain of losing a competitive advantage
• Pain of not having traffic
• Pain of not being recognized
• Pain of not knowing how to get your articles & message out to the market
• Pain of not wanting to screw up when trying the article marketing process
• Etc…

(Continue Reading…)

Posted by Christopher M. Knight on June 23, 2009 at 10:01 pm

1,440 views | Comments (23)

PLR = Article Vomit

Question: What is a Private Label Rights (PLR) article?

Answer: Any article for which you do not own the exclusive rights to the content.

As you can probably guess by the title, we’re not overly fond of Private Label Rights content. That’s because the typical PLR scenarios look something like this:

• An author will buy a PLR article pack and submit it as his or her own…
• Or, an author will try to rewrite PLR content and submit it as his or her own…
• Or, they will buy content from a ghostwriter and not triple check the content for originality, only to find out later it’s not original.

This happens far too often and we’ve expended an enormous amount of effort to tag, identify, and not accept this type of content.

As a matter of fact, we feel so strongly about PLR articles that we don’t even allow them to be promoted in our members’ articles. Here’s what the EzineArticles Editorial Guidelines have to say about the matter:

1) i. MUST NOT contain information on: …the promotion of Private Label Rights articles as a good thing (it’s not)…
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Give This Cartoon a Caption

Time for some pointless Father’s Day fun!

You’ve probably noticed that this cartoon has no caption. We need your help in coming up with the perfect one. Submit a funny EzineArticles-related caption via “Comments” and in one week we’ll pick our favorite.

If yours is selected, you’ll not only receive the accolades and adulation of the EzineArticles community, you’ll also receive this fine EzineArticles mouse pad.

Plus, we’ll recognize your accomplishment in a future blog entry.

So get your thinking cap on and submit your best caption in the comments (one per customer, please). Maybe you’ll become the proud owner of a useful, yet stylish, EzineArticles mouse pad!

Oh, and keep submitting those articles! =)

Guide to Avoiding Excessive Links

Episode #7 in Gary’s “Top 10 Reasons for Article Rejection” video series!

In this video Gary helps us understand how excessive links, the wrong kind of links and the inappropriate placement of links can cause articles to be rejected. He goes on to explain how the incorrect use of links can make even a great article look “spammy” and create a negative user experience.

Watch the video to hear what else Gary has to say on the subject…

Downloadable Versions:
           

To Recap:

• Up to 4 links in your article = 2 self-serving + 2 non-self-serving
• Too many links look spammy
• Non-self-serving links should be after the 3rd paragraph
• Self-serving links should go in the Resource Box

(Continue Reading…)

Write with Distribution in Mind

Improve your articles’ chances of being ‘picked up’ by publishers!

EzineArticles alone is a great place to gain exposure for you and your business, but it also serves as a excellent stepping stone for even more exposure through online distribution. Articles you publish on EzineArticles have a good chance of being picked up and republished by a variety of online publishers.

This stroke of good fortune can significantly increase the size of your audience… provided you haven’t mistakenly done something to limit your articles’ ability to be picked up in the first place.

What to Avoid:

• Using language like “In my other articles on this site” or “here at EzineArticles…”
• Placing a reprint rights statement in your resource box which prohibits distribution. We don’t allow this and will place your article in problem status for being in violation of the reprint rights.
• Writing article parts. Article parts are not distribution friendly and may hurt your chances of being picked up by publishers. Every article should stand alone.
• Adding graphs, charts, or other formatting which are not as easy to reproduce as plain text.
• Using your first article to introduce yourself to the EzineArticles community. Do not say things like, “This is my first article. I am looking forward to writing many more. My future articles will be about…” This doesn’t make sense when published on other sites.
• Writing articles which are 1000’s of words long. Several shorter articles (400-700 words) will outperform one long article (over 1000 words), and are more likely to be picked up by publishers.
• Writing research papers which are stuffed with sources and references. Publishers are looking for you to share your own unique expertise; they may be turned off by an article which looks like it’s only appropriate for a peer-reviewed journal or academic site.
• Writing ‘time sensitive’ articles. Publishers won’t be able to update or change your content, so make sure it is “evergreen.” It should be as useful and informative today as two years from now.

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Summer Speaker Series 2009

Erin Blaskie’s 2009 Summer Speaker Series Interview

On June 10th, I had the opportunity to be one of the speakers for Erin Blaskie’s 2nd annual Summer Speaker Series for an interview entitled “Article Marketing: What You Need to Know.”

This interview was designed to be an overview of what article marketing is all about.

Listen to the interview:

[Download the MP3] (57 minutes / 19.6MB)

Sorry, there is no transcript… But, I took 45 notes: (Continue Reading…)

Posted by Christopher M. Knight on June 16, 2009 at 3:08 pm

1,720 views | Comments (16)

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