Content Magician, Freelance web content writers

Archive for October, 2008

I’ve always thought that when you’re a writer, you can literally write anything that is required of you. Be it a script or a magazine article, an advertising copy or a poem. As it turns out, it’s not true at all.

I’ve always wanted to write poems and lyrics to songs. I love music and I would love to write a really good one one day…but twas no to be. Turns out, I can write web copy, advertising copy, blog copy….but not lyrical copy.

In order to write lyrics to a song or a poem, one needs to immerse in an emotion. Akin to acting out a role in a play. You need to put yourself completely and unabashedly into the position of what you’re writing about and write as your heart feels.

This is something that many writers have problems with. Only those who are emotionally accessible…or MAKE THEMSELVES emotionally accessible are able to write lyrics and poems.

I guess, for now, I will continue to write my SEO articles, web content and other advertising copy that comes my way. But on the sidelines, I am not giving up hope of ever writing a really nice song (turns out, I am OK with coming up with a tune….just the lyrics!) one fine day.

Marsha M

http://www.marshamaung.com

A smart domain purchase for your new online business is much more important than many people may think. The right domain name can boost search engine placement and brand an entire business. Alternately choosing the wrong domain name can hurt your business from the start. Here are the top five tips for choosing a winning domain name for your online business.

1. Choose a keyword based domain name when entering competitive niches. Look for a two or three word phrase relating to your niche. This phrase should receive more than 500 searches per month and have less than 200,000 competing sites in Google when searching that phrase in quotation marks. Making a domain purchase using such a keyword phrase will help your website or blog rank better for that particular phrase.

2. Avoid hyphens whenever possible. While it was believed that using hyphens to separate words within a domain name helped with search engine optimization it is now generally frowned upon. It is recommended to avoid hyphens as they tend to make your domain name, and your business, appear spammy and unprofessional. If you must use a hyphen keep it to one instance only between a two word phrase. (MM-I don’t quite agree with this because in most cases, the most effective keyword related domain names are already taken up. To me, having a hyphen isn’t all that bad an idea. But that’s just my thought)

3. Choose the right domain extension. When making a domain purchase you should always try and secure a .com extension if possible. Since superior .com extensions are not always available your next choice should be a .net extension. In instances where neither is available then you can choose a .org extension if you really must have that particular domain name. Avoid .info, .biz and other extensions.

4. Choose a short and memorable domain name if you have the marketing to brand it. While ranking well for your niche is easier with longer, keyword based domain names those domain names don’t often stick in the minds of potential customers quite as well as a short and unique domain name does. Businesses such as eBay and Twitter are good examples of business who dominate their markets with odd one word domain names. Just be sure you have a good marketing strategy in order to make your domain name synonymous with what your business is about. (MM-then again, this is easier said than done unless you’re willing to sacrifice a couple of keywords here and there)

5. Buy aged domain names. Unlike registering a brand new domain name purchasing an expired domain name that has already been used for an online business can give your new business an instant boost of success. Backlinks and PageRank associated with that domain name will be instantly passed on to your business and help bring in early traffic while you get your business up and running.

Whether you choose a longer keyword based domain name or a shorter, memorable one depends on the needs of your new business. Taking advantage of the benefits of aged domain names is always a step in the right direction to early success which your new business can grow on. When making a domain purchase be clear on what your business needs and choose wisely. Your business’ success is riding on it.

Marketing on the web may be competitive. What is required to beat off your competition is that powerful sales copy. It must be outstanding, well written and most importantly, it must be powerful in giving that lethal blow to your competitors.

The success of your online marketing campaign depends very much on the effectiveness of your marketing copy. It really can make or break your campaign, simply because if it is not working well, you will not get much traffic and you will not be able to close your sales.

There is something within your marketing copy that is of vital importance to its success. It is none other than the headline itself. The word speaks for itself. It must be outstanding and it must be lethal. How then can you best power up your headlines to achieve success?

(1) Determine what works best

Find out what kind of headline do you want for your marketing copy, and how will this headline create the impact that you want in order to get sales. Understand realistically what is the intention of your headline and how it can be made to beat off your competition. In a nutshell, you have got to do some brainstorming to reach a consensus on what is the best headline for your marketing copy.

(2) Create the first powerful strike

Headlines are created to capture and influence attention and interest. It is therefore vital to exercise a good selection of words for your headlines. These words must be able to strike that first blow, and they must be able to retain the interest of readers too. Words that are effective and sell powerfully will help power up your headlines. You will get to stimulate the interest of readers and eventually influence their wallets.

(3) Catch all attention

In order to capture the attention of your readers, your headlines must first of all catch their attention. That said, creation of attention-grabbing headlines will lead readers to continue reading your marketing copy. Their mental interest will be sustained and the chances of closing them are very high. In a nutshell, catch their attention and capture their mental focus. Support your headline with a sub-headline which just adds on to describing your offer.

(4) Capitalize on the power of words

Words if used correctly can be very powerful. They will help power up your headlines as the latter are usually the first sentences in your marketing copy. Use “power” words such as proven, secrets, free, success, unleash and power in your headlines. They have been proven to create powerful impact upon readers, and bring them to making buying decisions.

In conclusion, creating powerful headlines will help your business tremendously. They will influence the conversion rates positively and will help spin your marketing copy effectively. Competition will be beaten flat.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

For latest updates on how to increase traffic, raise page ranking, write effective articles and powerful squeeze pages, create explosive blog marketing system, learn about viral marketing, and bring in massive income from your internet marketing business, please Click here.

Webmaster: Jeremy Long Chia Teik.

Whenever I sit down to write an article, I face a dilemma. I have to think about writing according to a personality. It’s important for a writer to think about whether it’s going to be a search engine article or an article written for the readers. A writer would have to adopt two completely different writing styles when writing for one or the other.

When you’re writing a search engine article, you have to keep keyword-placement in mind. Where are you going to place all those strategic keywords? What are the related keywords that you’re going to use in it? And most of the time, when you’re writing a search engine article, you forego style, flowery words and fancy sentence formation. Personality-driven style of writing is not required when you are doing internet marketing.

On the other hand, when I write for an audience, a fan-base or a blog-style article, it’s completely different from when I am writing a search engine article. I try to focus on how the readers will absorb the information, perceive my expertise, how easy it would be for them to go through the words, what I am trying to highlight to them, etc.

A search engine article is also shorter than an audience-driven article, hence, sometimes, they make no sense whatsoever. The main purpose of writing the article is….yes, internet marketing. Most internet marketers will tell you that an article written for the purpose of internet marketing should adopt the 5% keyword-density rule….which means that if you are writing an article of about 500-word article, you should have right about 25 or so keywords and related keywords in there! Some people believe in the 3% rule or the 4% rule….well, it’s completely up to you how many keywords you want to place in the article but this is what the experts conclude, so, you might want to take that into consideration.

It’s easier to write an audience-targeted article when compared to writing a search engine article, nevertheless, I always try to kill two birds with one stone. I do this by giving all my articles enough personality to qualify it as an audience-driven article but it is also packed with keywords.

You might want to try that out yourself.

It still continues to stun me every time someone asks me, “Is there such a thing? Freelance blog content writer? A freelance what….web content writer? Is there a NEED for it?”

I give up.

To say that I am a veteran freelance blog content writer, I probably am not. I can point you to some of the biggest online movers and shakers in terms of online content production or blog content development. But I HAVE been writing freelance for more than a decade….PROFESSIONALLY….which means for more than TEN YEARS, I’ve been continuously paid to produce web content, write blog content and advertising copy for people.

And when people ask me something like ‘Is there a NEED for it?’, I can’t help but feel a little insulted.

On a website, navigation is something I would rate as NUMERO UNO. If your website is not easy to navigate, WELL….good luck to you! I mean, it’s the truth. The second would be content. At the very least, I am pretty honest with you and I am trying to shove a sales talk down your throat. Navigation of a website is more important than the web content or blog content because…who do you think would have the patience of clicking through from one page to another just to find the web content or blog post that they want to read?

I guess, as a freelance blog content writer, I am a pretty lucky gal. I’ve never had to struggle through a difficult conversation trying to explain the whole search engine optimization, internet marketing or online promotion methodology to them. They know how it works – and they set me to it. End of story. With that said, I am also lucky that my blog content writing clients are willing to pay for quality.

They know that if they pay peanuts, they get monkeys. There are a lot of monkeys out there, unfortunately.

Anyway, I would describe the content on your website as the meat attached to the skeleton. Your website would be nothing without it, hence, if you’re not a writer yourself, it makes sense for you to hire a web content writer (ahem, like me), who can do the job quickly, efficiently, independently and affordably.

Hiring a blog content writer for your blog posts, some say, if like lying. Oh, I was so hurt at one time when someone else ‘flamed’ me for ghost blogging for my clients. “It’s like a lie. You’re a liar. A bullshitter”. Not exactly. You see, when someone hires me as their blog content writer, what I do is that I do the research on my part. If it’s an industry that I am not familiar with, then I would have to put a lot of hours to find out what makes the readers tick. It’s not as simple as picking up a pen and just sucking it up to the corporate leaders or the company’s CEO.

If that was the case, my life as a web content writer would have been much easier, trust me. The role of a ghost blogger like me is very important for the company’s image. If I do a good job, I attract regular visitors, help with the branding process, and help the company collect data and feedback from the blog or website visitors. If a blog content writer (I am not saying me! LOL) does a bad job, the website or blog owner suffers. And the writer gets off Scot-free.

Anyway, my point is that you need to hire a web content writer who knows how to write and make sense, and then make the message stick in the minds of the readers….ideally, forever, but in reality, for a long time. Even if someone was just stumble onto your website or blog without really intending to and likes the content that you have placed there, you’ve created an impression. If this person REALLY likes the blog content on your website, then he or she would come back for more later on.

Makes sense, I am sure.

And there’s one other thing about hiring a blog content writer that you should always remember. That search engines love content…the fresher, the more links it contains and the more people linking to you equals a good website or blog. So, remind your web content writer to do just that lest he/she gets carried away with writing non-seo optimized content for your website.

The most important page that your blog content writer should focus on is the main/home/index page of your website. or in the case of your blog, the first page that the search engine pulls out when it crawls into your url. I’ll leave the whole ‘linking’ hullabaloo for another time because it’s not something that your blog content writer can control too much. Linking is more your job, as a website or owner or your webmaster. It’s something you and your webmaster should sit down together (or online) to discuss on an extensive basis.

I can understand completely how a writer, even a really creative and adrenaline-pumped blog writer or freelance writer, can just run dry on ideas. It can hit you….just like that! Out of the blue. It’s just like waking up and asking yourself, “Hey, where’d my nose go?” Experienced freelance writers, web content producers or blog writers know that writing is a little bit like Kung-Fu. You have to keep at it, keep practicing and also never let your own head get too big.

For example, sometimes people load praises on you so much that you think you’re right there at the top with the big timers. So, when the writer’s block hits you, you don’t quite know where to place your pride and yet….you’d rather be hammered to death than admit that you’ve run out of ideas. The ugly head of ‘writer’s block’ rears its head and it turns into a terrible monster. By then, writing, instead of bringing you joy, becomes a miserable chore.

Whenever I run out of ideas, here’s what I do….I blog-hop! Yup, I hop from one blog to another, reading into the lives of these bloggers in hope that their positive (or negative, depending on what blog you’re reading) vibes will rub off on me. It helps too if you keep a notepad, a laptop, palmtop (or whatever else that you can keep close to you all the time) with you so that when the mind idles and wander off, you can pull that equipment out and start jotting down ideas and topics that you can write about.

I find headlines and news to be of incredible help to me, as far as finding ideas for a blog topic or an article in concerned. It doesn’t have to DIRECTLY relate to what you’re writing about, you see. It’s almost like finding a similarity between the two, your article/topic and the news and headlines. I don’t know if I am actually making sense to you but it helps me, so, I’m just sharing this with you.

In the toilet…or while having a nice, calming drink after work…take the time to look around you and actually see the things around you. You’ll be surprised at how your creative juices can be jolted alive by the simplest things in life….like, a frog jumping in the garden, or your kids playing the piano, or the flailing curtails flapping its tails in the breeze.

Keep your mind open for ideas on what to write and you’ll find it, that’s my philosophy. As for what inspired this idea…it’s the ‘lack of ideas’ that inspired this article, so, go figure!

I think one of the hardest lessons to learn as a professional freelance writer is this….finding your own personal writing style and also accepting criticisms from those who prefer a different style of writing. For instance,….yes, you would have guessed, journalists and published authors.

Generally speaking, these professionally-trained individuals are highly qualified people where writing is concerned and frown (very deeply) upon the style adopted by bloggers and internet freelance writers because of their lack of style and formal training. ‘The foundation isn’t even there’…. ‘that’s a whole load of bull’…or ‘he/she could use a few months in proper training on how to write PROPERLY’.

They view the materials written by bloggers and internet freelance writers as an insult to their profession.

Professionals, as I would now like to call them, are particularly harsh on bloggers, internet freelance writers and so-called self-proclaimed freelance writers because they’re pretty much against vanity press. It seems, to me, their awards, certificates and accolades, perhaps, have given them the right to criticize other styles of writing not taught in school.

I guess in a lot of ways, it works out just right because if I was a lawyer and someone came up to me, claiming to know more about an area of law that I was educated for, I would be on my feet slamming on tables, fuming at the sheer arrogance of this person claiming to know more about the law…which is something I was trained for.

But I think some professional writers, authors, reporters, journalists should just hang loose for a bit here and stop being so harsh on internet freelance writers. There is a long brick wall standing between these literature experts and freelance writers….a long, thick wall and frankly speaking, I don’t see how freelance writers and bloggers can be a threat to journalists.

Bloggers and freelance writers have evolved so much with Web 2.0 that a ‘new style’ of writing has been developed. Instead of churning out striking web of words, the focus is on how to deliver thoughts, feedback, reviews and ideas in as personal a way as possible and in the shortest period of time.

People who read on the internet couldn’t, really, be bothered with how well spun an article is. Journalists and newspaper writers should just stick to their own industry…writing for magazines, books, newspapers, and other more traditional form of media….unless they’re willing to bend their own rules and principles a little.

Bloggers and freelance writers can then focus on how internet writing works and generate reasonable income from providing their ‘services’ to their clients.

So, please….don’t be harsh on us just because we’re not QUALIFIED. The same way journalists can’t comprehend or do away with using a certain method of coming up with a masterpiece, bloggers can’t quite understand why something so simple has to be so complicated.

The same way a journalist will find it hard to be a copywriter and a copywriter might have more than a little trouble writing a screenplay, people cannot unreasonably impose journalistic principles on bloggers and internet writers who rely significantly on Web 2.0 and vanity press.

In this case, shouldn’t we just say ‘we agree to disagree‘?

Recently, I’ve just taken on a writing job that requires me to write a lot of nonsensical stuff and basically to fill out a web page with enough keywords without losing out on the point of the whole article….by the bunch. For those who have worked with me, you know where I stand about these things. It’s not always about the quantity but the quality.

Which is something I try to maintain as best as I can – I don’t always succeed, mind you, but I DO try my best to be as meticulous as I can.

While writing these articles, there’s an urge for me to remind everyone out there that when you’re trying to promote yourself or your products or services to people who are surfing the internet, please, please, PLEASE do not forget to focus on two things and forget about one thing.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

1. To focus on the sale and reel them in, impress them and make a long story short. Use words that they can easily understand.
2. Remember the message that you’re trying to bring across to them

THINGS TO FORGET

1. Word-counting

Which is what I am doing right now and it’s not fun.

Most of the time, when people ask me, ‘What kind of blog should I get? Should I pay for one or would a normal one do?’I answer them very simply:-

1.  It depends on your budget. Do you have a few spare cents to spend on a blog platform? No doubt, it’s not expensive to pay for your own domain name, find a hosting and then have one of those free or really cheap blogging softwares installed….but it’s a commitment here that we’re talking about. So, on whether you want to get your own blog or make use of a free blog from…say, from blogger.com or wordpress.com….it depends.
2. How techny are you? When you have your own blog and you’re into this whole blogging thing and you’re really serious about it….you need to know how to….or know someone who knows how to ‘fix problems’ whenever there are glitches. Trust me, not knowing how to ‘fix these problems’ can affect your mood for the whole week while you wait for it to be ‘fixed’. 
3. How serious are you about blogging seriously? I mean it, seriously speaking, how serious are you about blogging seriously? I am also talking about commitment here…except that it’s not in a monetary form. We’re talking about blogging regularly and gaining some fan readers who would come back to read what you have to write about regularly. In order for that to happen, your blogging would have to be consistent so that your readers know when and what to expect from you when they hop into your website
4. Is it a business or a personal blog? If it’s a business blog, I would STRONGLY encourage you to pass on the free blog thing….you need something more professional. Listen, if you’re a business and you have a blog domain name like iwouldkilltobuildyourwebsiteforyou.abcfreeblog.com….it doesn’t look very good. On the other hand, if you have a domain name like blog. killerwebsiteblog.com….now that is something else. For personal blogs, I wouldn’t bother investing in my own blog except for this one, www.contentmagician.com but it’s only because this blog is a conglomeration of BOTH business and person. My personal blog can be found here and sometimes, it’s being a freelance writer as well but not always….so, I chose to go with the free blog blogger was offering. 
5. What kind of stuff are you going to blog about or post in your blog? This makes a difference because with a free blog software like wordpress.com, there are many (TOO MANY) limitations and you don’t have full control of your blog content. When they kick you out, that is it. You no longer own any of the web or blog content that you’ve posted in there…THEY own it. Trust me, I know this because I got kicked out by Wordpress and it’s painful that I can’t do a single thing about it now eventhough it was my fault that they kicked me out. But yeah, if you’re going to post a lot of personal stuff, audio, media, videos, images or other materials that you OWN and have CREATED and have LEGAL RIGHTS to, go for your own blog. 

This isn’t quite the kind of life-changing articles you can easily find elsewhere on the web but it has its points. Sometimes, writing articles quickly can work to your advantage….tremendously. I am planning on coming up with a video to illustrate to you how one can write an article without mulling too much about the intricacies of using bombastic words or taking too much of your time.

In the meantime, enjoy this article and absorb what you can from it.

Cheers, Marsha

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Writing Articles Quickly
by Al Lifeson

Nobody disputes that writing articles is a great way to promote a website or product. But it can also be time consuming. So how do you write good producing articles quickly?

First you must understand that there are two different approaches you can take when writing your articles. You can either try to give away a freebie in exchange for an email address, or you can try to make direct sales.

The following advice is given to those who wish to make direct sales by getting readers to click to a sales page where a product can be bought. It can be used to get sign ups and the like, but longer articles seem to do better for that while shorter ones seem to work best for direct sales. At least that is my experience.

Most article sites only require a minimum of 250 words. I can write those in 15 minutes or less. So can you and here is how.

First, give the article a short title using decent key words. For direct selling purposes, using a benefit as the title is best.

Next, write a simple statement and follow it with the question you are about to answer. The statement is just a lead in to the question and should point out a benefit to be derived from the problem you are solving, and what the problem is.

Then just answer the question like you were talking to someone, but write the words instead. All you need is three or four good sentences for the body of the article, and add a few sentences here and there that make sense but really only serve as filler.

Close the article by touching on the benefit of the product you are selling.

Most people are scared to write articles and that’s why they don’t do it. Others have tried and found that no one was clicking their links, so they give up.

Just start writing short articles and posting them. As many as you can, even if they are not perfect. There is no better way of learning to write articles quickly.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Now let me show you how to get the readers to click your link.

http://www.targetputting.com/art