Publishing: changing realities (IV)

How does a writing agency market itself effectively in a cyber reality that's bursting with free content? Writers these days are having a tough time competing for business. The game is complicated and the rules are changing.

The mini culture of ezine publishing is quite representative of the wider internet; if you write an article about your very own writing boutique, you generally are expected to submit it in the category labeled 'writing'. But the difference between this and other categories is that writers selling their skills as a product are virtually talking into empty space. Where other categories have a tangible target market directly at hand, writers submit articles about writing.

Writing about writing in order to purposefully market yourself is okay if you want to give advice to newcomers to the trade, but you don't attract any immediate clients this way.

In contrast to all the other categories that have real, often tangible, goods to sell to people who need them, writers market themselves to website developers by directly addressing the issues that concern them, and tend to just ramble on and on about the art of writing instead. A rather pointless exercise unless you've already missed your vocation and confuse sound writing with teaching.

A writer likes just to write about reality in all its facets and I can hardly imagine there's anything more tedious than to write about writing. Unless you have a psychological defect which forces you to continue to talk in metacommunicative terms ad infinitum, but there are not many such people around. I wonder what the defect is and am already itching to research the topic, and write something about it and ? yes, what? Publish it for free, hoping someone will read the byline and say; 'one more please', or, in a wilder dream: 'We'll put you on a monthly retainer if you write a few?' It happens this way, but you have to be lucky. Yet, our traffic numbers simply dictate we flush the 'net with more free articles we believe is an illogical waste-your-brain exercise.

What is the right path for someone to still sell writing skills?

These are the options:

a- Create RSS, XML feeds and syndicate to news services;

b- Prop up the output by including extra resources on existing topics that get good traffic;

c- Regard incoming links as search engine rank boosters rather than direct mega traffic generators;

d- Expand the online presence to include direct marketing, job bulletin boards, forums;

e- Invent something ludicrously insane to get attention and then capitalise on it like crazy.

Ad a- In the time frame of the last six months, I have cringed, bit my teeth and published articles for free on real topics including politics, culture, features, health. They have been posted in a host of freebie ezines, a few highly reputable professional special interest publications and our own ezine which is already RSS compatible. We also publish a ranting and raving blog which is a highly contrarian piece of mostly political fabric that is truly optimised for all outlets in the blogosphere too. It's worked miracles for our traffic.

Ad b- The output is however still too low to attract continuous traffic. It makes sense to see what the most popular topics have been and expand the coverage by including RSS feeds from other sources and create boutique style news packages out of them that are so specialised they beat the news aggregators. Read our other article The Grassroots of Publishing ? And the Beyond.

Ad c- Targeting the market for content writing by producing solid examples honing the trade remains key, especially because it creates incoming backlinks. These are the so-called non reciprical backlinks which are famous for propping up your rankings in search engines.

Ad d- Small agencies can mimick the news industry without too much trouble and provide better, tailormade, products. They have to ride a fine line however by not abandoning their natural target market (for tailor made hand crafted content, someone's gotta do it) or by excluding the outside world that's exploiting the same turf.

Ad e- Instead, making your weak point your strongest is best. If in the jungle, the life saving maxim is 'if you are not strong, be quick', in today's internet jungle the writer's should be 'if you are not big, be different'. Strong conceptual thinking is key in getting visitors to come back. Casting a human eye over aggregator news output and including extra sources as well as some home made articles are the ingredients to create content that's different and better.

Angelique van Engelen is a freelance writer based in Amsterdam the Netherlands. She runs http://www.contentClix.com and writes tailormade articles and content.

---

3 Article Outline Essentials

Most writers I talk with who experience "writer's block" do... 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

Writing Articles for Ranking

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

Writing Articles For Permanent Traffic

Writing articles is possibly the best way to generated free... Read More

Drive More Traffic to Your Web Site by Submitting Articles Online

If your business has a website, you're probably searching for... Read More

Article Math: A Multiplying Effect!

Writing for the internet requires that you create a large... Read More

7 Steps Toward Successful Article Writing

As you write the outline for your next article, there... Read More

Guest Articles: Good for Some, Bad for Others

A recent debate started me thinking about how some marketing... Read More

How to Create High-Quality Backlinks the Search Engines Will Love

One great benefit of article marketing is the generation of... Read More

8 Surefire Methods to Create an Article Title That Will Get Your Article Read More Often

Often all the Web Surfer will see is your title,... Read More

An Article about Articles

Everyone that publishes a newsletter or ezine knows that the... Read More

How To Increase Your Chances of Getting Your Article Published

Publishers and webmasters can spend massive amounts of time just... Read More

How To Write A Profit Pulling Article

Having an article published is one of the fastest and... Read More

9 Top Ways To Get Ideas For Your Next High Quality Article

Thanks to recent information that leaked by Google within their... Read More

Artricle Writing and Promotion: Your Fast Track to Profits

Writing articles, and promoting them for publication, is one of... Read More

Article Queries That Sell

Queries are not written like business letters or emails; they... Read More

How To Start Writing Articles Successfully

You have probably heard that writing articles is one of... Read More

Article Marketing 101 ? Article Writing Establishes You as an Expert

If you market online, whether it be your own information... Read More

Tracking Your Articles Properly

Writing articles related to your business is a great way... Read More

Create An Article Reference Box That Calls To Readers

There are two primary factors in creating a successful reference... Read More

Web Content Barn Blasted by Shotgun Software - Article Marketers

As we prepared to move our 12,000 article database from... Read More

The Magic Words to Writing Successfully on the Internet!

Writing effectively on the internet is the most effective way... Read More

10 Things To Remember When Writing Articles To Market Your Website

Whatever you're selling, writing articles to distribute freely amongst webmasters... Read More

Ezine Article Writing In 10 Easy Steps

1. Choose A Topic.You need to choose either a hot... Read More

Marketing Your Home Business in Just 30 Minutes a Week

It's all the rage. It's what everyone is talking about.... Read More

1111 What Opportunities Are Waiting For You?

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

10 Tips For Promoting Through Ezine Articles

What's the most powerful marketing technique on the Web? Search... Read More

Write Your Slice of Life: 6 Quick and Easy Steps to Writing a Personal Essay

Do you know why the "Chicken Soup for the Soul"... Read More

Reward Those Who Publish Your Articles!

It is pretty obvious that content is king online. It... Read More

8 Sources To Research Awesome Article Topics

Writing articles is by far the most effective online promotion... Read More

Writing Articles, But Still Not Getting Traffic? Your Articles Suck ? But I Can Help! (Part 1)

We've all been there. We hear about how articles will... Read More

Visibility, Credibility and Position Through Articles and Celebrity Testimonials

A huge problem for many people who are working on... Read More

A Writers Glossary (Part One)

Find definitions from A to G! A About... Read More