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How To Get The Free
Publicity You Crave!
by Ron
Knowlton
Every good
internet marketer wants it - free publicity!
But with so many new articles mass-produced and
poured out onto the internet each day - "article
saturation"
is rapidly becoming
the new problem!
Article saturation - or article overload - is where
there are so many good articles to choose from that your
new article
is easily overlooked!
And it's a real problem now for even experienced
webmasters seeking
free publicity!
Why? Because everyone seems to be doing this lately
- writing and sending out articles.
And while there are still many, many ezines and
content-oriented web
sites, it's becoming more and
more
difficult to get the free exposure that once came almost
instantly
with each new article!
So how do you overcome this latest obstacle? How do you
get your
article noticed among the flood of new
articles
coming out each day?
RATE YOUR ARTICLE BEFORE SENDING IT OUT
Take a good look at your new creation. How good is
it really? Come on - be honest (or find a respected
friend who
will give you an honest opinion).
Where does it rate - exceptional - good - average -
mediocre - or poor
when compared with others?
If it's in the mediocre or poor categories - don't
expect to get much, if any, response after sending it
out.
Because now it often takes four or five days (or
longer) to post an article to a free content newsgroup.
Used to post
the
next day!
And response from publishers used to come
immediately. Now, if you receive a single response - you
may consider
yourself lucky! And that only happens if your article is
good
- really good!
That's how bad it's getting!
So, with the flood of good articles out there - is
this form of free advertising (article writing) dead?
Should you just "pack it in" and find
another way to promote?
No - not yet!
Let's take a look at how you can distinguish your article
from the
crowd - and still get the response
you crave - free publicity in multiple publications!
QUALITY WINS OUT EVERY TIME
Some writers send out a stream of articles hoping to get
lucky -
hoping that one will actually get
published.
These "production-line" articles usually
have one thing in common. They ramble on and on. They're
"word-count" rich and
"valuable-content" poor!
You start reading and soon realize there is only one
little, very
small gem buried somewhere deep inside the
middle of the article and that's about it. The rest is
fluff - a
wordy diatribe that eventually winds it's way to that one
very small gem!
Many readers are lost after the first paragraph or
two - and needless to say, stop reading about then as
well.
STOP PLAYING 'ARTICLE ROULETTE'
Instead of playing "article roulette"
(sending out article after article - hoping one will get
published),
aim
instead for one very polished, high-quality,
information-packed
article!
And you'll see results immediately! Because editors
are still very hungry for this type of article! And
believe me - there
are
still too few of these articles out there!
SIX IDEAS THAT WILL PRODUCE IMMEDIATE RESULTS
1) Pack each article with great information!
Ever notice how the best articles are usually
"loaded" with good information!
Offer more than just one great tip! Offer many!
2) Thoroughly research your topic!
Spend time with specialized search engines! Find the
extra information
that will produce the high quality
article you crave. This extra information will fill in
the blanks -
giving
the high quality you need!
3) Scan a similar article on the same topic for more
great ideas!
Go to one of the great article libraries on the
internet and look for a similar article.
Places to look include:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/webmarket/
http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.soar
ingprofits.co
m/articles.htm
http://www.ezinearticles.com
When you find that similar article, you may find
additional links that
will help in writing your article!
There
may also be some great ideas you can expand upon and
include in
your own article! But, be careful, taking (er ...
stealing)
article content can put you in direct violation of
copyright
law - and make an enemy or two in the process! Use ideas
- not
article content - from these similar articles.
And remember that great ideas can help to trigger
more great ideas that the author of the article did not
include in his
or
her article!
4) Add links!
Most great articles include link after link after
link where
you can go for more good information!
When you're done reading, you're almost winded
trying to absorb it all.
And, to be truthful, these articles are not always
well written - but you know that the writer gave the
topic a lot
of thought. And without exception they're almost always
well-researched!
5) Give your article a sharp focus! Use a main idea,
then
several subtopics!
Not everyone can write well.
But most are able to link their thoughts together in
a way that makes sense - so the reader can understand the
point
of the article.
Organization makes the difference!
If this is a problem for you - try using a
"Venn" diagram
before you write - to connect your ideas together -
before you
actually start to write your article!
A "Venn" diagram uses a main idea (usually
circled) with a "web" of lines going out to
other circled
ideas (subtopics).
With this method of topic organization, you will
soon have a very big web of ideas - each connecting back
to your
original topic (the central - or main - idea). This will
give
your article a very sharp focus.
Now, start writing - connecting your ideas together!
Outlining your ideas (before writing) using a
"Venn" diagram (or similar method) can
eliminate the
tendency to
ramble!
6) Let your article sit for a day or two. Then come
back to it!
You'll see it differently the next day. You may even
catch some
mistakes you overlooked the first time
through!
Sometimes you'll end up rewriting key parts of your
article and
greatly improving them! This has happened
to me many
times!
IN SUMMARY
While the internet may be saturated right now with
article after
article, there is still a tremendous hunger
for
high-quality, information-packed articles!
Write a great article (using some of the tips above)
and your success in getting them published and bringing
in the free
publicity you crave will greatly increase!
___________________________________________
Ron Knowlton is a
former
journalist
and the founding editor at <http://www.soaringprofits.c
om/>
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