Writing for Websites
Continuation of Lesson 11 from You Can Make
Money Writing
Writing for readers is the more obvious goal, but with articles
distributed to promote your website or blog, you are also writing
for websites. More precisely, you are writing for webmasters
or owners of websites.
Why do you have to think beyond the reader? This is another
difference between articles for online distribution and print
articles. With articles on the internet you want to do more than
just put them in directories. You also want them to be taken
and used on websites and in other people's newsletters. Ideally
each article should spread itself around the internet, creating
a bunch of incoming links to your website - every one a potential
stream of income.
Naturally, webmasters want an interesting article, just like
any reader, but they have other concerns too. They are running
businesses, after all. They want articles that help their bottom
line. Here is some of what they are looking for:
1. One link (two maximum).
A link in the author's resource box is enough. They don't
want too many non-paying ways for their visitors to leave. It
is considered especially bad form to put links to your site in
the body of the article.
2. No blatant sales pitches.
No "Why My Website Is Best," or "Six Reasons
to Buy My Product" articles. Articles should be informative
and useful to the reader - even if he or she isn't looking to
buy anything. Selling should be done in the "About The Author"
box, and that "sale's pitch" should be aimed at getting
the reader to your site.
3. Simple HTML.
Many website owners will be copying your article, but not
necessarily the HTML code - this depends on where they find it
and their technical skills. They may not want to recreate your
side bars, highlighting and graphics - so they just won't use
that article. Keep the formatting simple.
4. Short articles.
There is only so much you can put on a web page before the
loading time slows down. There also has to be room for their
own advertising, links to to other pages, etc. Keep your articles
under 800 words and they'll be used more often.
5. Keyword-optimized writing.
It should be clear from the headline and first sentence which
keywords are likely to lead readers to your article. Webmasters
don't just want more content for existing visitors to their site.
They are hoping that your article will bring in new search engine
traffic as well. For that, the article has to be at least somewhat
keyword-optimized.
Get Others to Use Your Articles!
I wrote an article for my website, "The Secret Information
Site .com." It was used by a website owner for his site
as well as mentioned in his "Mind Power" newsletter.
Hundreds of visitors came to my site from that website and newsletter,
resulting in dozens of sales of my $17 e-book over the following
two weeks. I still get regular traffic from the site years later
(and the book is $27 now). The article will probably always be
there. Now if I can just get another dozen good sites to use
that article...
The point? Articles used by others are more valuable than
those just sitting in the directories. Give those webmasters
what they want! You are writing for readers, but also writing
for websites that will use the articles.
Continues here... How
to Submit Articles
Note: This is part of the book, You Can Make Money
Writing. There are links to all the all the lessons/chapters
on the home page.
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