Expert Author Showcase: Stephen Craine
Meet EzineArticles’ Expert Author Stephen Craine
Sales manager and trainer, Expert Author Stephen Craine shows his readers and clients how to invest in themselves so they can get the most out of their work and enjoy life.
Beginning with a foundation of articles based on everyday procedures, Stephen soon learned there was great success in writing engaging articles that integrated real-life events to areas of his niche. “One of my most successful articles was based on what I saw happening while I was having new windows fitted at my house,” he commented. Noting the window-fitters’ poor attitude to passersby’s inquiries, Stephen was inspired by the lost opportunity to sell more windows.
Gaining inspiration by events, advertisements, sales calls, and other ideas he jots down in his notebook, Stephen writes quality articles to build exposure and attract visitors to his website. Although reluctant to publish articles in the beginning, Stephen found it was well worth the effort to extend his credibility through his articles in order to build an online presence.
“I’ve built a website-based business that is giving me great satisfaction and a second income,” Stephen commented. “I have never paid for links to build traffic or taken part in link exchange schemes. My traffic, my online presence, and my revenue, have all built up slowly and consistently,” he continued. “Article writing on EzineArticles.com has played a big part in that success.”
Check out more highlights from our interview with Stephen below!
What are 3 article writing challenges you’ve faced and how did you overcome them?
#1 – Worrying that people would be critical about my article content. To overcome this, I looked at my experience and thought: After managing sales teams all this time, I must have picked up something useful that people will want to read.
#2 – Getting my ideas into a logical order that communicated what I wanted to say … For me the most useful tools have been the Article Templates. They have helped me to communicate my message in an effective way that follows a logical path. The templates have also helped me to form ideas as the basis for articles. I was a complete beginner when it came to writing articles and planning out the article into neat sections kept them short and to the point, it gave them purpose … I would recommend all new writers use the templates.
#3 – … I would try to target as many people as I could (sales roles, business owners, marketers …). Now I have the confidence that the articles will work best to attract readers and visitors to my website if I aim them at specific groups of readers.
If you had to start over again, what would you change?
I would write many articles with a common aim as part of my marketing plan at the same time. [It] has taken me a couple of years to learn that this is the way I get the best results. At first I would write an article because I had a good idea, then I would look for a page on my website and link the article to it. I would recommend to new writers that they first think about what they want to achieve, where they want to send their readers, what they want to gain, and where article writing fits into their business plan.
Take Stephen’s advice to discover how you can reach new heights of success with your efforts by coordinating your article writing plan with your business plan.
Do you have a question or comment for Stephen? Feel free to leave it in the comments section below. On My.EzineArticles.com? Add Stephen to your Network!
Thanks for the info. I am trying to take the same approach with my site …
I have articles and links to things seniors will enjoy.
Pat
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