Carla Vaughan - Author Spotlight

In the Author Spotlight this week is author and HR and Career Planning guru, Carla Vaughan. In reviewing her articles, the one thing that I immediately spotted was her segmentation on really the same topic, but for specific jobs or industries. For example, here is a quick list of the articles I am referring to:

Marketing Managers Need Cover Letters, Too?
Cover Letters for Administrative Assistants
Cover Letters for Teachers: How to Get the Best Job
The Real Estate Agent Resume: Is Yours Helping You Get More Clients?
Cover Letters for Graphic Designers

This is an interesting twist on a subject Chris brought up awhile back in his blog post about writing articles for specific geographical locations. Here though, Carla has adapted that to her niche and created articles for specific job seekers. This is a great idea and something I think most people could implement to target different groups with their writing. Lastly, I recommend this article Carla has about dealing with writer’s block - something we all have faced on occasion.

Sheri McConnell - Author Spotlight

This week’s Author Spotlight is on Sheri McConnell, a suggestion from one of our editors that had reviewed her articles. In addition to being an EzineArticles.com Platinum Author, Sheri is also the the President of the National Association of Women Writers. When I asked the editor that suggested Sheri for the spotlight this week why she picked Sheri, she said:

“Her incoming articles are all approval ready, nothing needing to be fixed or tweaked at all. Also, her articles are very well organized … they’re reader friendly - good voice behind the writing. It’s obvious she knows what she’s talking about …”

Looking at Sheri’s articles, they appear to have perfect article mechanics: Good keyword intelligent titles, clean and concise original content as well great structure from an approving editor’s standpoint. The last comment made by the editor was “I can just scan and approve, especially knowing it’s an article of Sheri’s.” So the article writing lesson here is that if a little extra time is taken when submitting to make sure the article is “approval ready” chances are the submitted article will be approved much quicker. :-)

Dr. Scot Lewey - Author Spotlight

The Author Spotlight this week shines on Dr. Scot Lewey, “The Food Doc.” One of the primary reasons Dr. Lewey was chosen this week was the creative use of his professional photo gallery. Instead of the normal larger head shots or poses, Dr. Lewey has used his professional gallery as a graphical display of his medical specialty and to a certain extent visual prop for his topic matter. While not a big fan of the surgery shows on the Discover Channel and such that show the inner workings of the human body, I had no problem “stomaching” (huge pun intended) his gallery and it made me want to delve into his articles when I saw these photos come in.

We often talk about finding your niche in article writing and Dr. Lewey has definitely done this, using his medical speciality and expertise as the subject matter of his articles. As the father of two young boys with food allergy and GI issues, I personally found his articles very interesting.

From an EzineArticles stand point I loved his articles because they’re well put together, a classic Resource Box and good submission quality.

Two lessons to take from Dr. Lewey’s articles and author spotlight: Be creative in your use of the EzineArticles.com tools presented for you and if you’re having trouble finding your article writing niche or topics to write articles on, find that one thing you excel in or enjoy the most and you’ll have found your niche.

Jim Estill - Author Spotlight

This weeks Author Spotlight is on Jim Estill. Jim was chosen today for 2 reasons:

1) Any time I read about someone starting a business from the trunk of their car and growing it to include a staff of 300 employees, it always piques my interest

2) And this article: How To Write An Article In 20 Minutes

In almost every teleconference we do, Chris talks about how to crank out a massive amount of articles in a short time. People always seem to be amazed that it is really possible. Jim’s article here is more proof that it is possible to create quality content in quantity.

Lastly take note of the Resource Box in Jim’s articles….short, concise and most importantly one URL that is an actual URL and not an anchor text link. This is another point we like to drive home because while yes, a keyword anchor text link may give you some additional search engine love….if a publisher misses to link it up because it doesn’t look like a URL when they are loading the article you’ll be All Out of Love (yes, an Air Supply reference).

Small Business Owners: I would recommend this article of Jim’s, good advice on competing against your larger competitors: Gorilla vs Guerilla - How Smaller Businesses Can Win

Kammies Thoughts on Branding with Articles

EzineArticles expert Kammie Kobyleski recently wrote a blog entry that got our attention called: “Writing for WOM & Branding the Croc Hunter Way”

Here’s an excerpt from it:

“Thought about linking over to the ezinearticles.com website so you could see for yourself how advantageous it is to write about what you know, submit it to the database and let the universe work it’s magic. Meaning if you really are an expert in your field, people WILL find your articles and they WILL use them on their websites, on their blogs, in their e-zines and in their newsletters. You WILL begin getting sited across the blogosphere and beyond as a “go to” person for your business/product/service.

So I was gonna say, get busy writing. Get your fingers tapping on those keys and churn out a few simple, but sassy articles on what it is that YOU’RE an expert at. Knit mittens for kitties? Cool. Write about that. Sell the latest and greatest widget or wadget? Awesome! Are you the next big techno-savvy small business consultant that the rest of us just can’t live without?

Right on! Then sit your happy ass down, put your creative hat on, and start hunting and pecking. Because this method of WOM really works. The features and author tracking tools are awesome….”

We couldn’t have said it better Kammie… :)

Posted by Christopher M. Knight on October 3, 2006 at 6:43 am

Views 699 | Comments (5)

Author Spotlight - John V. W. Howe

I was watching the morning news before heading into work, enjoying a cup of coffee after letting the dogs out and a story came on about Baby Boomers and their changing lifestyles as they grow older. So when I was searching for an author to Spotlight this week and came upon John V. W. Howe, who’s bio reads “and has recently started several web sites to help Boomers (baby boomers) become entrepreneurs when they retire”, I figured it had to be a sign. So besides this little bit of kismet, I also thought John did an excellent job with his extended author bio and this article in particular:

Publish Your Own eZine Without A Website

…jumped out at me as this question is sent in quite a bit by authors who want to start an ezine &/or submit articles but don’t have a website. Here’s another good, thorough article on a topic which we receive many questions on as well:

Really Simple Syndication – RSS

If you’re a person that is looking for information on Entrepreneurialism I would also suggest his Ezine or website, good information for pretty much anyone no matter what age.

Author Spotlight - Rikki Arundel

This week’s Author Spotlight is on International Keynote Speaker, Rikki Arundel. While only having 13 articles, the quality and consistency of her submissions quickly elevated her to Platinum Status with EzineArticles.com. Good use of keywords in her titles, pretty much spot on in regards to article content and length and her Resource Boxes are great too.

When reviewing Rikki’s articles, this one really struck a chord with me as I had just experieced something very similar to what she describes on a recent shopping trip:
Small Business Marketing Tip - Putting the Customer First

Finally, Rikki went an extra-step by adding EzineArticles.com to her ma.gnolia.com bookmarks under her profile. Nice job Rikki!

Author Spotlight - Ellen Mossman-Glazer, M.Ed.

Today’s Author Spotlight is on Ellen Mossman-Glazer, M.Ed., a Life Skills Coach and Behavioral Specialist, specializing in Asperger Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, ADHD, and learning difficulties. The primary reason Ellen was chosen today is that she really has done an outstanding job of leveraging her titles for optimal results. This is a topic that Chris has discussed a few time in this space, most recently here and here.

When looking at Ellen’s article titles, she nails these concepts both in including her keywords but also in expanding beyond them to let the reader know about what aspect of Social Training the article is about. She stays true to this format in her articles that aren’t on Social Training as well.

Another item I thought Ellen did a good job of was her Resource Box: A nice short bio with a plug to join her Ezines (call to action) and only one URL using the actual address instead of anchor text, which helps to make sure the link doesn’t get overlooked when someone republishes it. You can see what I am talking about here.

Lastly, on Ellen’s website, her “Featured on EzineArticles” button (left nav near the bottom) links up to her expert author URL instead of our home page. This is smart and exactly what we want to see authors do because her website visitors will be able to click on that button and then immediately view her articles on EzineArticles.com. Nice job Ellen!

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Author Spotlight - How to be in the Author Spotlight

Earlier this week someone emailed in asking how to “get in the Author Spotlight?” So this week’s Author Spotlight is actually on some things we look for when choosing an author to “put the Spotlight on”.

• Recent Activity - Has the author been active in the last day, week or month. Generally, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and an author that is actively submitting articles will usually have a better chance of being in the Spotlight than a dormant one.
• Membership Level - While it may happen from time to time and we will Spotlight a Basic Level Author, we usually choose Platinum Level Authors for the Spotlight.
• Use of Author Bio, Extended Bio & Author Photo - We like to get to know our authors and an author which utilizes all the features of the Extended Author Bio makes that easier for us. It also makes it easier to Spotlight that author as there is more info to share.
• Article Submission Quality & Form - If the article content is great AND the formatting which the article is submitted is stellar, chances are you may be in the Spotlight. Two reasons really: 1) Great content helps everyone & 2) Perfect formatting allows our Editors to approve articles quicker.

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Tim Connor - Author Spotlight

Today’s Author Spotlight is Tim Connor. The reason Time was picked this week is because when it comes to his extended author bio, Tim has pretty much used every aspect of it, including a detailed bio, a good-looking author photo, usage of the Recommended Books section and an Ezine listed as well. Just need to get some professional photos added, Tim. ;-)

His articles, besides being a model of consistency when it comes to formatting and submission guidelines, are informative and well written. In his article inventory are a nice combination of sales articles, motivational pieces and other topics. Tim also has a nice, clean site where you can check out his public speaking and other endeavors.

Tim is a CSP (Certified Speaking Professional) and we’ve often found that they make a very ideal EzineArticles expert author. Factoid: CSP’s must present a min. of 250 professional speaking engagements in a 5-year period serving a min. of 100 different clients, must subscribe to a professional code of ethics and must receive excellent ratings from past client surveys. Less than 10% of the ~5000 members of the National Speakers Association (NSA) earn the CSP designation…way to go Tim!

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