You Are Losing Customers By Not Doing This

Not doing what, you ask.

Writing and submitting articles.

Writing articles is a cost- effective way of promoting your business. It exposes you to potential customers in a way that few other marketing vehicles do.

Writing and submitting your work to online sites gives you fr*ee marketing opportunities. It also increases your credibility in the eyes of potential customers.

Have you taken advantage of this very effective marketing strategy?

If not, why not?

* What If I Can't Write?

Common question, common excuse with a simple answer: if you can talk, you can write.

You don't need to be a professional writer before you can write as a way of marketing your business.

All you do need to do is

• Want to write

• Decide to write

• Write

* What Should I Write?

A few ideas are:

• Articles

• Tips (eg top ten or top five ways to....)

• Letters to editors

• Reports (yes, reports!)

Think of some more and add them to this list.

* What Topics Should I Write About?

Here, your only limitation is in your imagination. So be creative and let these questions serve as guidelines in helping you decide what to write about:

• What information will potential customers find useful?

• What are you interested in? Find a way to make it relevant to your business and write about it.

• If you were in your potential customers' shoes, what topics (related to your business) would interest you?

• In what ways have you solved problems for people in the past? Write them down. Chances are, other people would benefit from the solution you provided.

• What are your experiences as a business owner? Write about them.

• Fill in the blanks :

• How To .......

• Top 5 Ways to......

• What Many People Don't Know About......

• My Favourite Pastime is....

What you've got now is a bunch of potential headings for your articles, tips, reports or whatever. If you think about it, there's a lot for you to write about.

All you have to do now is actually put pen to paper (hand to computer).

* What Should I Do With What I've Written?

Submit, submit, submit!

Newsletter editors and webmasters all over the 'net are looking for fr*ee content for their subscribers and visitors.

Imagine the exposure you get by submitting an article to an ezine with thousands of opt-in subscribers. Fr*ee of charge, too! It'd be more expensive (and not always as effective in pulling in prospects) to advertise in the same publication.

Here is a brief list of places that accept articles for publication or announcement:

• PromoteYourArticle@yahoogroups (you need to subscribe fr*ee)

• article_announce@yahoogroups.com (subscribe first. Fr*ee)

• http://www.articleblaster.com/submit-articles.htm

• http://www.family-content.com/articles/submit.shtml

• http://ezinearticles.com/add_url.html

To receive a list of 50 groups and sites that accept submissions send an email to submissionlist@daysofsuccess.com.

Here's how it works. The key is to have a system that you use. An example is below:

• Write at least one article each month.

• Include a resource box at the end of it.

• Include permission to fr*eely distribute it at the top.

• Submit it to at least 5 sites each day.

* To make your writing easily acceptable and profitable

• Provide useful information. No sales letters or pitches.

• Include some way to get readers to contact you: you could offer a fre*ebie or a link to your website. This info goes into your resource box.

• Make your resource box about 4 - 6 lines long. I've included mine at the end of this article to give you an idea.

• Write it using a text editor like Notepad - that's how many editors prefer to receive submissions.

• Format it to be 65 characters long per line. Press the 'enter' key each time you get to 65 characters (unless your text editor has word-wrap in which case you'd set it to wrap at 65 characters).

• Always obey submission guidelines to the letter.

• Follow the writing tips below.

* Writing Tips

• Write like you talk. Be conversational in your writing. If you can hold a conversation, you can write.

• After writing your first draft, leave it to 'fallow' then start on your next article.

• Never submit your first draft. Rewrite it after a day or two.

• Spell check thoroughly. Check for grammar errors too. Get someone else to read through it if you can - they may pick up something you've missed.

• Obey submission guidelines (it's so important, hence my repeating it here)

• Write something everyday. Even if it's just a personal journal entry, just write. It'll get you into the habit, and keep you creative.

Practice what this article says and write something today.

About The Author

DR Kem Thompson is a Business Writer and Business Coach. Visit www.daysofsuccess.com/bizwriter.htm to find out how she can help you promote your business through writing articles and other business material. For a fr*ee list of 50 submission venues, send an email to submissionlist@daysofsuccess.com.

kem@daysofsuccess.com

---

What to Write About

This is a perennial question among writers and wannabe's. Many... Read More

How to Use Autoresponders With Your Articles

Now that you see that articles are the number one... Read More

Article Marketing: Free Speech Means Free Plugs for Your Business

Article marketing works like this. The majority of webmasters are... Read More

The 2 Headed Dragon: Let Others Publish Your Material and Keep Your Site Unique

Is Putting your Articles in the Public Domain really a... Read More

1 Powerful Strategy To Craft Your Article For Maximum Readership

Do you know one of the most powerful marketing techniques... Read More

So You Want to Be an Author - These Are the Easiest Types of Articles in the World to Write

Being an Internet Article Author is far and away the... Read More

Resource Box Rules: Winning Tactics

Lets face it people use articles to send traffic to... Read More

Be in the Trade Publications Your Customers Read

Your publicity dreams may include being featured in Forbes, Fortune,... Read More

For The Serious Internet Marketer: Heres A Quick And Easy Way To Reach 1000s of Buyers today

Why do so many internet marketers waste their time on... Read More

Article Marketing & Copywriting Secret: How To Make Your Article TITLE Sell

Most authors are wasting their time producing dozens to hundreds... Read More

How To Write Effective And Unique Articles That Are Optimized for the Search Engines

It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More

Article Marketing

A revolutionary marketing device that I call article marketing I... Read More

The Online Writing Business Requires Constant and Regular Writing

Many writers do not understand that the online writing business... Read More

Writing Articles Sells Books

Are you a reluctant marketer for your book? Do you... Read More

Ezine Publishers Want These 5 Things From Article Authors/Writers

Want your articles to get picked up and reprinted by... Read More

An Affable Article

It doesn't really matter who you are; you definitely know... Read More

How to Use Articles to Generate Free Traffic to Your Website

Writing articles that are available for reprint is an excellent... Read More

Articles: How To Turbo Charge Traffic When Your Promotion Budget Is Tiny

Writing articles for your site and for the use of... Read More

Writing Articles for Ranking

I have seen the question asked so many times. How... Read More

1111 What Opportunities Are Waiting For You?

There are many ancient writings, which dive into the importance... Read More

Creating Your Perfect Article Summary ? 7 Tips

What should be in your article summary? It's otherwise known... Read More

Handling Rejection

Rejection is part of a writer's life. You must cope... Read More

Do You Know the 7 Essential Parts that Make Up a Resource Box

The Whole reason you write those articles is so you... Read More

You Can Also Write

I am sure that there would have been a moment... Read More

How To Submit Your Articles To Article Announcement Lists

Get the Facts you need to start promoting you free... Read More

5 Plus One Internet Marketing Strategies to Improve Article Quality to Increase WebTraffic

Writing quality articles is time consuming for the very best... Read More

Success Starts with Articles

No one can logically argue against the fact that content... Read More

Publishing: changing realities (IV)

How does a writing agency market itself effectively in a... Read More

How to Write an Effective Article

Writing a great deal of articles myself, I see a... Read More

What Can a 13-Year-Old Kid Teach Us About Article Marketing?

Yesterday I met a 13-year old boy with a devilish... Read More

15 Commandments To Submitting Articles - Article Submission Sites

1) Don't use all capitals in your title:People don't like... Read More

The Best Place To Submit Your Articles

If you've spent any time online trying to promote your... Read More

Article Writing For Fame And Fortune

How would you like to have your name and web... Read More