Stop Struggling and Write Your Article - Part II

Don't let overwhelm hold you back- follow this expert advice and start writing your promotional article today.

In Part 1, I talked about the importance of planning and structuring your article. Here are three more essential steps to help you make sure your article is ready to go.

4. Avoid clichés (like the plague). As in, clichéd language, clichéd advice, and clichéd topics. To refresh your memory, a cliché is anything that's over-used, banal, or tired. It's anything we've all heard 1,000 times before and hoped we'd never hear again.

Some typical examples of overworked expressions (and there are thousands):

... bring you up to speed, at the end of the day, since time immemorial, chilled to the bone, a gleam in his eye, her heart leapt into her mouth, a level playing field, when all is said and done, on the same page ...

Clichéd language can be fixed with a good edit. First, determine whether you really need that phrase. If you do, express the concepts in ordinary terms. So, for "see if we're on the same page", substitute "see if we all agree".

Clichéd advice and topics might include:

"Achieve your goals"
"Build the life you want"
"Don't worry, be happy"
"Empower yourself"
and, my personal fave, sent to me in an e-mail newsletter: "Take a bubble bath".

I include in this category any concept that's corny and sentimental, or writing that attempts to express the inexpressible: all those fluttering leaves, vibrant sunsets, and yearning sighs.

It's really tough to write about intense emotions or universal experiences in a way that's original and subtle. Great novelists and poets spend their lives struggling to do this. If you're not careful, it's easy to end up sounding like a 50-cent greeting card.

Fixing clichéd ideas is more challenging than fixing clichéd language. You need to ask tough questions:

"What does this phrase mean? What am I really saying here? What situations illustrate this? What do I want people to get? What value am I adding here?"

Remember that people are looking for straight talk and solutions to problems. Your solutions. They want your ideas, expressed with your urgency and importance.

So don't give your readers hackneyed ideas expressed in stale language. Don't fob them off with a bubble bath, try shoving them into a brisk, eye-opening cold shower instead.

5. Proofread Your article has to be 100% perfect in grammar, spelling and punctuation before the public gets to see it. The public means anyone visiting your Web site, and anyone you submit your article to for feedback or possible publication.

I confess, I did work as a professional proofreader for a time. And when you spend your life looking for missing periods and dots over i's, you tend to get a little demanding. But there's a reason for my concern.

Your article isn't like a casual e-mail that you zap off without reviewing or editing: It's more permanent and public. Your article is you, and people are going to assess your value by how you present it.

Think of it this way. If you're fortunate, hundreds, even thousands of people may read your piece. You're probably hoping to get lots of new clients from this exposure. Posting or submitting your article is, in a sense, like going for a job interview.

Dot your i's, cross your t's. Make sure there are periods at the end of sentences. Make sure you know how to use commas correctly, that you haven't made any common errors (for example, it's instead of its; there instead of their; your instead of you're). Check for missing words; check the spelling of any unusual words.

If you have even the slightest doubt about your English skills, have a professional proofreader or editor review your article. At the very least, give it to a friend to read. Mistakes are very hard to catch in your own work.

6. Be brilliantly unoriginal. Your promotional article is almost guaranteed to fall into one of these five categories:

Sex

Love
Health
Finance
Career

What I want you to understand is that you don't have to have the greatest, most never-thought-of-before idea in the history of the universe before you write your article. In fact, you can't. It's all been done.

That's the unoriginal part.

Yet people are always itching to read, again and again, how they can improve in one of these areas (or about what a terrible time someone else is having in these areas, and thank heaven it's not them this time).

So please, just get over your fear and give us your unique take on the eternal topics. Your unique take - that's the brilliant part.

Brilliant doesn't have to be big. It can be:

• a new system for filing papers

• the absolute best way to make espresso

• the surefire way to find your G-spot or your Z-spot

• a strategy for saving money that only an accountant like you would know

We're talking soft innovations that flaunt your particular expertise.

Your brilliance could be in how you package your experiences. Have you been through a messy relationship, learned how to talk better to your teenaged kids, survived a life-threatening illness, started up a successful small business? Chances are, there are people out there just waiting to hear how you did it. This information is gold.

There is brilliance in your own communication style. Are you kind and patient, buzzy and edgy, witty and ironic? Are you more like a kindly grandfather or more like a visionary CEO? Whatever your qualities, be utterly yourself.

Your brilliance can be the simplicity and clarity with which you give your advice-the way you get your idea across so well, it's like we're hearing it for the first time. The way you inspire. The passion with which you speak.

So don't worry that they've heard it all before. Of course they have. But they've never heard it all from you.

About The Author

David Roddis, The Writers' Coach, helps independent professionals write killer marketing copy, promotional articles and information products that attract more clients. Go to http://www.coachdavid.ca/fasttrack1 to join his mailing list and receive a free copy of "12 questions to fast-track your article". For more information, visit http://www.coachdavid.ca.

---

Are You Submitting Your Articles?

Last month, I began promoting Jason Potash's "Article Announcer." I... Read More

Increase Site Page Rank By Writing Free Articles

Are you looking for a better way to promote your... Read More

Advertising that Wont Cost You a Dime is to Write Articles

Search Engines are constantly on the "look out" for freshly... Read More

Writing for Dollars - How To Get Started

"When you provide good information from which readers can learn... Read More

The Secret To Promoting Sites With Articles

Publishing articles on the Internet is a tremendous way to... Read More

How to Measure the Value of Your Article Marketing Campaign

It's not enough to scatter your articles across the internet... Read More

Writing Articles to Improve Link Popularity

There are many different ways to improve link popularity for... Read More

Getting Your Foot in the Door (Or How I Finally Got Published)

This has to be the number one thing that most... Read More

Why Article Writing is Increasingly Important in This SPAM Era

There is no doubt that Spam has affected online business... 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

Review of Ezine Article Creator V2.0

By now most entrepreneurs realize that the most cost effective... Read More

A Writers Glossary (Part Two)

Find definitions from H to P... ~~~~~~~~~~~ H ~~~~~~~~~~~ Haiku... Read More

Website Promotion: Alternatives to Article Banks

Writing and submitting articles to article banks is a well-known... Read More

Everything I Needed to Know About Article Writing I Learned from My English Teacher

By now you probably understand how important writing for trade... Read More

Direct Sales Reps CAN Write Articles - Heres How!

We all know that article writing is a great way... Read More

The Real Reason You Should Be Marketing With Articles

Article marketing has become very popular of late, especially with... Read More

The Benefits Of Article Writing For Your Home Business

Once you learn the benefits of article writing, you may... Read More

Article Marketing: Know your Topic

Everyone knows an expert is just a drip under pressure.... Read More

Do Free Articles Work?

Take a look around the Web and you'll find thousands... 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

Where to Get Great Ideas For Your Next Article

There are times when I want to write an article... Read More

Effective Affiliate Marketing Using Articles

Every day thousands of people join affiliate programs and yet... Read More

Writing an Interview Script

Gathering information from interviews is really simple. You ask the... Read More

How To Submit Your Articles To Article Announcement Lists

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

Do I Really Need To Write Articles For E-zines?

When I was first advised to start writing articles, this... Read More

How to Be An Expert In Your Field

One of the most tried and true methods of self-promotion... Read More

There is an Article Deep Down Inside of You Just Looking to Bust Out

The Most Economical Way to Advertise online is to Submit... Read More

Free Reprint Articles That Will Interest Publishers - 4 Tips

Have you been writing and submitting your free reprint articles... Read More

Why a Good-Quality Photo Should Accompany Your Articles

I'm betting that that 3 out of 4 of you... Read More

You Are Losing Customers By Not Doing This

Not doing what, you ask.Writing and submitting articles.Writing articles is... Read More

The Difference Between Article Marketing and Traditional Article Writing

Lately, there seems to be some confusion between Article Marketing... Read More

10 Ways Writing Articles Can Improve Your Business

Writing articles has proven time and time again to be... Read More

How To Write and Publish A Successful Ezine Article

The ezine article is of major importance to the world... Read More