|
|
|
|
|
I remember the first time I tried online writing - it was only in 2005! I did almost everything wrong - no keywords in the headline, a poor resource box, spelling errors and other mistakes. I wondered if it was a waste of time, but a couple weeks later I started to see traffic coming into my website from the directory where I posted the article. Even better, that traffic was starting to make me money from advertising clicks. I had never even considered writing for print magazines, but this was easy and fun. Within seven months I was making a living writing about things that interested me.
The goal of online writing is not the same as that of writing for print magazines. You write a magazine article to entertain, inform and to keep readers interested in the magazine, where the advertising is. The goal of an online article writing is to get readers to leave the "ezines" or websites where they are reading your article, by way of the link to your website.
This is a crucial distinction. Of course you want to entertain, inform or otherwise give value to readers, but all for the purpose of getting them to click through to your site. In other words, a poorly written article that gets more clicks is more successful than a well-written article which doesn't entice the reader to click through. There will be tips throughout the lessons on how to get those clicks, and a full lesson on the "author's resource box," where the link to your site is located.
Other Differences Of Online Writing
Internet attention spans are short. You need to get right to the point in fewer words. The ideal online article length is somewhere between 400 and 700 words. Some article directories won't accept articles that are more than 1100 words. (Don't worry - all these rules and guidelines will all be summarized later in the course.)
Online writing is just for "your" readers. Magazine articles have to start by pleasing the editor, and for this they have to be on popular topics. With online articles you can target a few thousand people who share your common interest in rock collecting or whatever. You can then publish your article, get the readers to visit your site, make money from them - all with no rejection letters or anyone to tell you that your topic isn't commercial enough.
Online writing is about "keywords." Writing to target the right keywords is something you'll get used to. You may love to write about "angling" for bass, but if people are typing "bass fishing tips" into the search engines, you better have those words in your article - and in the right places! This isn't as difficult as it seems, but it sometimes makes for awkward writing. More on this in an upcoming lesson.
Perfection is not required. Do you best, but don't worry if you are a poor writer. You'll get better with practice, and expectations are different online. People want information online, and are more forgiving of shaky writing skills. Just be sure to have good content - good form can be learned with time.
You are your own editor and publisher. The better article directories do have editors, and they will occasionally reject a poorly-written article or one that is a blatant sales-pitch. However, it is up to you to research the demand for your topics, rewrite your articles, check your spelling, and distribute your articles to the right places to get them read. This isn't as much work as it seems, as you will see.
You get residual income from your online writing. It can be tough to get a magazine to buy your articles, and you get paid just once. An online article might deliver enough traffic to your site to generate just a few dollars per month - but it can keep doing that for many years.
You can see the advantages of online writing, but maybe you're not sure you can write interesting articles. If this is the case, you need my Free Online Writing Course:
|