Article Writing and The Secret Of Keeping It High Value

Do you find it hard to know what to write? Sometimes I sit with my laptop staring at the screen wondering if I am going to be able to offer anything of value to my readers. I really don't just want to churn stuff out for the sake of it, which really doesn't help anyone.

A few years ago I was a leader in a small church, it was pretty much the same challenge there too. Every week at least twice I would need to stand up and deliver a message, a new message or an old message retold. It was usually the same audience so I couldn't re use the same thing week in week out. Though once I did stand up and say, "you haven't done what I said last week, so I'm not going tell you any more".

Every delivery had to be fresh, new illustrations and explanations. Each week I needed to inspire and encourage. I learnt two things that enabled me to keep up with this for several years.

1. Input - If you are going to keep putting out quality content, you are going to need more input. For me this is mostly in the way of reading. I devour books! All sorts of books but particularly books relating to success, business, personal development, leadership, and anything else which relates to my online business. More recently I have used CD's in the car, online videos and webinars. But the best thing about books is that what you read seems to stick better in mind that what you hear. You can also go back easily and reference things, get quotes etc.

2. Get out - Having lots of input is one thing but having an original thought or something useful to say is quite another. The secret is to get out more. Create space to think and digest all the stuff you've been inputting. I find that going for a long walk or bike ride is ideal, even driving. Or do something that doesn't require a lot of thinking, painting and decorating works well for me. Anything as long as you can let your mind wander over the things you've been reading or listening to. You soon find that fresh ideas start to take shape and you have something original and worthwhile sharing. Of course when you get to sit down and write you also have some reference points to help you build your argument. Capture your thoughts straight away. Either write them down or I often use the voice memo app on my phone.

I hope this is helpful to you in getting more productive with your writing. Don't forget that the better the content we write the better and bigger the following is likely to be of readers.

Six Great Ezine Content Ideas   

Writing Good Solo Ads

If you aren't writing good solo ads, things won't be much fun for you. Solo ads are a great source of traffic that many people struggle to get right. The fact is if you don't have a small marketing budget, it can be hard to make this form of advertising work well for you. But, if you can follow a proven plan, you just might succeed. Here's a great plan of attack:

Get people's attention. How are you going to get people to buy your products if you can't even get them to open your email? The subject line must compel people to open your email. This is the first step in the process of writing effective solo ad copy. What is a problem in your niche? Using problem based email subject lines works great. Write a subject line that gets people thinking about a problem they struggle with. It almost always get people to open.

Shorter ad copy always works best. Do you REALLY think that someone will read your entire email? Of course they won't. People like to scan content and look for whatever is most interesting to them. So keep your email copy around 150 words. Use bullet points that explain the benefits of your product and never write more than 2 sentences per paragraph. If you can make your content easy on the eyes, your click through rate will be outstanding.

Get people to click through to your lead capture page. Here's the most important part of your solo ad: getting people to click through to your squeeze page. Nothing else matters! If you aren't getting people to click through and join your mailing list so that you can warm them up to your products and services, you are losing.

Test and track every e-zine you publish to. If you want to write the best ad copy, track the results of previous ads. I know this might sound obvious but it is almost always overlooked by newbies. Believe it or not, you can actually keep using the same email over and over again. If it performs well for one e-zine, chances are that it will also do well for a different e-zine. If it isn't broken, don't fix it! Once you are experienced in writing good solo ads, it will be very easy to success with solo advertising.

Each step has its place. The subject line gets people to open the email, and the email ad copy sells the click. Focus your efforts on mastering each step, and writing good solo ads will become a natural process for you.

Six Great Ezine Content Ideas