Be a writing whiz: market your articles
by Khieng 'Ken' Chho
If you’re a writer who can write short, snappy, but chock-full-of-information
articles, then the Web is your perfect home. For anatomical reasons, web surfers
cannot read long articles with text-rich paragraphs – but they’re after
information, and if you can provide it, then you’re a winner.
But how do you let the world know that you can write well? And how can the
world know that you are willing to offer your services as an article writer?
The key is to successfully market yourself by marketing your articles. But if
you can’t send out dozens of emails to prospective clients, or spend hours
designing a website, what can you do to get people to hire you?
The key is to write one, and only one ground-breaking article, and to include
a resource box.
A resource box contains information about you, and it will usually be at the
end of your article. But to make your Web visitors curious, you have to make a
resource box so brief and loaded with information, they’ll want to hire you
after they read the first five words of it.
So what should be in your resource box?
- Give your name – not your full name that stretches all the way out of your
birth certificate, but the name you would like to be placed on checks, and how
you would like request letters to be addressed. Oftentimes, online writers rely
so much on their email addresses and contact details that they forget to put
their names down.
- Give your website address, if you have a website. Direct your prospective
clients to formal samples of your writing – not to your informal blog where you
have details of what happened during your day, all in “Net-Speak.”
- Make your pitch – a one to three sentence proposal that shows readers what
makes you and your writing unique. Some marketing experts refer to this as your
unique selling proposition, or your USP, the promise of fulfilling an unmet
need. Others call it the “Elevator Pitch,” or what you would tell a prospective
client if you were caught for a few seconds together on the elevator.
- The key to making a pitch is brevity: say in a few words all that makes you
special.
- Make a call to action by inviting people to visit your website and take you
on as a writer. This can be done in a simple sentence that will tell prospective
clients that you are the person for the job, and that if they do not take you
on, they will regret their choices for the rest of their lives (of course, in
not too many words).
- Lastly, give your contact information. Give only your professional email
addresses, not your “cute” email addresses, such as teddybear@ilovechocolate.com.
This does not reflect well on your credibility as a writer, and it will make you
appear juvenile, no matter how “cute” your email address is. Stick to yourname@youremailprovider.com
(Yahoo and Google Mail are acceptable providers). If you do not have such an
address, get one.
“Your Name” email addresses are not only more professional-looking, they are
easier for your busy clients to remember.
If you follow your writing rules when making your resource box – that is, if
you keep it short and to-the-point, you’ll be sure to get a lot of clients
clamoring for your services in no time. All you have to do is advertise well and
frequently, and make your writing shine.
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