It can be all too easy to lose concentration when writing an article, leaving you with the potential to make several grave errors that can lead to your article being rejected by the big players in the industry.
Keep your articles on the straight and narrow by taking note of the following pitfalls. When you believe you've finished your article, give it the once over and ensure you're not making any of these mistakes.
1. Boring Headline-
The headline is the first thing your potential reader sees. Your headline is the advertising billboard for your article. If it doesn't shout 'Click me! Click me!' then you're wasting your time. Make sure the headline quickly says what the article is about, in a punchy way. Let the viewer know exactly what they're going to find in the article, and what they'll get out of it.
2. Over-Promotion-
Over promoting your business, product or service in your article is a big turn off for editors. These articles are supposed to be unique, helpful, and hopefully insightful pieces of content that are of some actual value to the reader. An article directory is not a place to directly advertise your business, or post a press release. Keep mentions of your business to a minimum. And remember, it's the 'About the Author' section of you article that is the place to advertise your business!
3. Bad English-
Having bad spelling or grammar in your article is a sure way to get your article rejected. Double and triple check each article before it's submitted. Read it backwards if you have to! Do whatever is necessary to make sure your English is perfect! If a couple of bad spellings get past the Article Directory staff, don't think yourself lucky. It's your name on this article, and bad English will only damage your reputation.
4. Generalisation-
With the maximum recommended length of your articles being 2500 words, you have to keep your writing concise. Keep to the point, and don't go off on a tangent. Keep referring back to your headline, and make sure your article is fulfilling its title. Don't start nattering. People want information quickly and bluntly. If you start talking about another subject, stop. Save that subject for another article. People are looking for specific information, so give them specific information.
5. Lack of passion-
Make sure your articles show how passionate you are about the subject you're writing about. You're not writing a dictionary or a textbook; you're writing a piece of content that you want people to read in its entirety. You want publishers to take note of your article and use it for their own purposes, and the only way you will achieve this is by showing your passion. Wear your heart on your sleeve!
6. 1st Paragraph Let Down-
Writing an article is similar to writing for a newspaper. You need to keep people interested. You need your reader to carry on reading. That's why you need an introductory paragraph that grips the viewer. A paragraph that makes them feel as if they need to read on. Note that most people will merely skim read your article, and the part of the main article they will pay the most attention to is your opening paragraph, so you have to make this something special.
7. Overuse of Keywords-
Another common mistake that many people make is believing that they must have a huge keyword density to get their article to the top of the article listing. This is not true. Of course, place keywords in your article- it will only help- but it's not the be all and end all of article writing! If you write good quality, interesting and passionate articles, people will take notice. Many article sites allow users to rate articles; these ratings are far more important than your keyword density! Always, Always focus on quality over keyword density.
8. Wrong Keywords-
Although keywords are not the most important aspect of your article, they should still be taken seriously, that's why we recommend using a good quality keyword research tool such as Overture . Carefully analyse how many times each possible keyword is searched for and choose the best one for your article to ensure you achieve the best results possible for your article.
9. Ineffective Resource Box-
This is your own billboard. Your own flyer. Don't simply stick your name and a quick link to your site in this part of the article. Give the reader something to click on your link for. Give something away for free- an ebook, some software, a competition entry- anything that will catch the readers attention, and make them think 'What's this? I'd like one of those!', then when they click on your link for their free gift, you can start your hard selling and marketing. Think carefully about how you will get people to visit your site after they've read your article, this is one of the main reasons people write articles in the first place, so make sure you get it right.
10. Giving Up-
Nobody said writing and submitting your articles was going to be easy. And nobody said submitting one article will open the floodgates and generate masses of traffic to your site. You have to keep at it. Try to regularly upload articles with links to your site. This will keep the links fresh, and will keep the search engines interested in you. After a while your single, lonely article on the net will become stagnant, so keep uploading articles and eventually you'll see it paying off. Your incoming links will increase, your reputation as an expert in your field will slowly build and traffic will start to make its way to your site. Result!
About the Author
Incepto.co.uk is a UK based copywriting company providing unique, high quality, discount article writing, SEO articles, ebooks, web copy, product descriptions, reviews, editing and proofreading on any subject.
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