When I first ventured into freelance writing, I really thought there wasn’t any difference in writing website copy and writing articles. That was until I started bidding on website copywriting jobs, and had potential clients offering to pay me for every sign-up that went through my website copy. Read the rest of this entry

If you decide on being paid to write, one of the most important decisions you need to make is your specialization, meaning, what sub-industry in writing you want to concentrate on.

These are the most well known sub-industries in freelance writing:

* Academic Writing

Some very good examples of this are thesis papers and the like. It’s basically research writing for scholars. Read the rest of this entry

If there’s one thing that should be said about freelance exchange websites, you’ll get the feeling that they’re catered mostly to people who live in Asia.

With the cost of living practically 1/4 or 1/5 cheaper than the United States and Europe, writers who come from India or the Philippines can bid on projects at much lower rates*. But this doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time for native English writers. And it doesn’t mean there’s are fringe benefits that can be gained from bidding on jobs, even if you think it’s peanuts. Read the rest of this entry

Make no mistake about it. Article marketing takes a little more effort than simply writing articles and submitting them to article directories. This is the reason why there are cardinal rules in article marketing and they are are as follows:

1. Optimize your articles for keywords.
2. Write headlines that gain attention.
3. Evoke interest in the article body.
4. Call to action (CTA) in the resource box.
5. Get more visitors to visit your article.

There’s a reason why optimization for keywords is the number one step in article marketing. People use keywords to find things on the Internet. And keywords are what you’re going to use to bring your article to your intended audiences.

But of course, delivering the package is only the first step. Keep in mind that so many other competing websites are also fighting for attention, which is why you need to write headlines that grab attention. Headlines are essentially the makers and breakers of articles. If you want people to read your article, then attract them with a very good headline. In article marketing, there are certain types of headlines that grab more attention than others.

Headlines that begin with “The Top 5 Gifts To Give This Valentine” and headlines that ask questions easily grab more attention that others. Other types of headlines that attract attention are commands like, “Learn How To Groom A Dog Now!” and abstract headlines like “What You Should Know About Fluffed Tails and Trimmed Coats.”

It takes a skilled writer to pull off a creative headline. And it also takes writing skills to write exciting content that whets your readers’ appetite enough to make them click the link in the resource box.

When you article has been submitted to the article directories, you need to promote it even further. Keyword optimization within your article will get it ranked in the search engines; however, you need to generate links to your article so that it ranks higher. Thankfully, you can easily do this through social bookmarking. Bookmark your article at sites like Delicious to generate links to it. You can also use resubmit your article to other article directories, but with the link in the resource box changed to the link of the original submission.

With so many articles competing for attention in practically all niches and categories, it’s really a wonder how the average article marketer can draw in readers to that coveted Call-To-Action, or much less grab their attention. As it is, it’s not enough that an article is optimized for a keyword, it also needs to be engaging.

Strangely enough, most article marketing articles found on the Internet rarely, if ever, have that “ah” factor that convinces readers to buy a product or a website. It’s a fact that most Internet users will only pay attention to the top 3 results on search engines like Google and simply scroll down the rest. You’re lucky if your article is indeed on the top 3, but what if you are on the top 4 and downwards?

Think Of Newspaper Headlines

Do you read newspapers? Or do you watch people at a clinic waiting for their appointment with the doctor? The average person will simply scan the headlines until something grabs his attention, then he reads it. Internet users treat search engine results pages (SERP’s) very much like newspapers – they only read the banner headline and scan the headlines of the secondary stories. (Keep this in mind when you feel like simply spinning articles for your article marketing.)

Thus, it is critical to create headlines that grab attention. Like the articles in the newspaper, your headlines will determine if your article is going to be read or not. You won’t get a second chance with your article if you don’t get it and do it right the first time.

Creating The Headlines

In other writing disciplines like copywriting, THE ingredient for success is the writer’s ability to harp on other people’s pain (major, major pain), and offering a solution to ease that pain. This pain-harping ability should show itself first in the headlines. Write headlines from your own experience, specifically, which headlines grab your attention the most?

In general, these are the type of headlines that grab attention in article marketing:

* How-to’s (“How To Win Your Man Back From His Mistress”) * Top 5 or Top 10 lists (Top 5 Things A Woman Can Do To A Cheating Husband) * Headlines that ask questions (Can You Really Live Without Your Man?) * Headlines with a call to action (Fight For Your Man!)

Headlines Are Only The Beginning

Headlines are really just the beginning. You need to support the headline with content that delivers up to its promise of offering a solution to their pain. Give the solution to them freely and repeatedly. For being hogged with information overload, people want something intangible immediately. They won’t be giving you their email address just to get more information.