Brian Gosur

Advice and Strategies That Will Take You Out of This World

Tag Archives: articles

8 Ways To Get People To Read Your Blog

You put a lot into your writing. You go through the process, put it all together and click the publish button….and nobody reads it. Weeks go by and not one hit. What did you do wrong?

Almost 80% of all the people that surf the net are scanners. You have about 5 seconds to capture their attention. If you don’t they are off to the next site.

Let me give 8 quick steps to check before you quit writing all together.

1. The Scanner

A study showed that almost 80% of all Internet users scan rather than read. Think about how many times you’ve been surfing the web for information, you find a site, scan it quickly to see if they have what you’re looking for, and if they don’t you move on.

How can you catch the scanner, make him lean into your content, engage him so that he will stay and read your information?

2. Just The Facts Mam

If you have a complex topic to cover, and are long winded, like me, consider writing a series of posts. This will keep your reader coming back to get more and they won’t have a ton of content to digest.

State your conclusion first and support it with the sentences that follow. This helps scanners to move from point to point, and decide where they’d like to dive in deeper.

3. Break It Up

There is nothing more hard to face then when you finally find the information you want, but as you approach it you see this very small tiny print. Like reading, “War and Peace”. You just find it’s not that important, and move on.

Everything becomes more readable when you can see a lot of white space. Feature one idea per paragraph, and keep them short — three or four sentences at most, and even write some one sentence paragraphs.

You can also break up your content with subheadings. Subheadings are a powerful resource to keep the reader engaged and flowing through the rest of your content. Make your subheadings clear and to the point with no BS.

Subheadings are very important when dealing with scanners. They will often just go to the subheads and read only the ones that they want, so make them compelling and to the point.

4.  Use Bullets

Bullet lists, not bullets for your gun. Scanners love bullet lists because they are an easy way to scan multiple points. They look different from the rest of your text, so they provide a visual break for your reader.

5. Use Image Captions

I always like to look at the pictures first. I guess that’s why lots of people love to read the comic section of the newspaper.

Studies have shown that deep image captions are the biggest read of any article. These should be two to three sentences long and they have the ability to capture the reader into digging deeper into the article.

6. Add Relevant Links

Adding internal links, that keep the reader on your site and reading your best material, are very important, but also external links that show the reader, you’ve done your research, and expand his knowledge of the topic to other experts.

7. Highlight The Important Stuff

Use bold print to highlight relevant and important things that you want to bring to your readers attention. These are very easy for the scanner to see as he scans your content. On the other hand, this can work against you if you highlight every single little insignificant piece of information.

Have you ever seen those articles that have everything highlighted with bold print. You don’t know what to read first.

8. The Numbers Work

For some reason, numbered lists work very effectively. Look how many articles have in their titles, “3 ways to do this”, “10 simple steps to take”. You’re reading one right now. Numbers are an incredibly effective way to both capture attention and to keep the reader oriented.

Don’t quit writing, just try to implement these 8 ways to get people to read your blog. Trust me, they really work.

Happy writing.

The Function of Keywords

The function of keywords is to attract the search engine’s attention. Once attracted, the search engine lists the site that contains the keyword. This system opened up avenues for search engine abuse by web masters. Because of a search engine’s heavy dependence on keywords, anybody could write “sex, xxx, porn” and other strong keywords even though the website contains nothing of the sort. As a result of this abuse, the reputations of search engines all over the web begun to suffer. Surfers got re-directed to websites that had no relevance to their query.

To stop the abuse and enhance their accuracy and reputation, search engines devised an algorithm method where web crawlers not only looked at the keywords, but also at the contents that goes along with them. With this new method of indexing, web masters and internet marketers were finally forced to perform honest work. They stopped using words like “sex, xxx” and porn” where there was none and begun writing relevant articles that give accurate descriptions of their website or products.

As a result of this new indexing system, the industry of search engine optimization (SEO) article writing was born. SEO article writers are required to write meaningful articles that thoroughly describe the product or website. Aside from using correct and appropriate writing methods, they also have to reserve slots within the article for the seeding of keywords.

As far as search engines are concerned, they index your website by scanning the top of your website first. Be sure to have descriptive articles of about 500-700 words as this is what the search engines look for. Within that 500-700 word article, embed your keywords in it without breaking the smooth flow of the article. Try to avoid grammar deficiencies because of keyword seeding. Your article needs to be as correct as it can be for the search engine to understand what your website is saying and what relevance it has to a searcher’s query.

You can try the old method but you will not get as good results as you will with the honest way. Furthermore, attempting to mislead a search engine can lead to a low ranking.  Aside from being given low priority in searches, search engines also have the option of removing your website from their index. If this unfortunate development happens to your website, you’re in trouble.

The internet is evolving. Just as it took centuries for the laws of the United States to reach maturity, the internet is hurrying along at light-speeds to protect everyone who decides to visit it. If you try to disrupt the flow of one of its economies, various individuals and corporations that own a stake in the internet will immediately smother you and the tools you use for disturbing a relatively peaceful environment.

As honesty seems to be the best policy for now, SEO article writing is the way to go. Do not compromise your articles for the sake of keyword density. After all, when your customers get to your website and read a poorly written article, they probably won’t come back to read another one.

Creative Article Writing

Creative article writing doesn’t just mean putting down thoughts into words then typing and writing it. You have to capture the interest of your readers and get them to keep on reading. To send your message across you have to get the attention of the reader.Get them to see what you see and feel what you feel.

The main ingredient in writing a good article,  is a large dose of creativity. While creativity may come natural to many people, others can get into a block that can drive someone crazy. It can happen to anyone when they get writers block and just can’t seem to get their creative juices flowing.

Putting words into images in the readers mind is an art. A clear and crisp depiction requires a certain flair that only creativity can provide. Similes and metaphors help a lot, but the way an article gets entwined word for word, sentence by sentence then paragraph by paragraph into a whole article develops the essence of the article.

So just what do you have to do when nothing comes to mind? There is no surefire way to get the perfect ideas, but there are easy ways to get your creative juices flowing. No one can guarantee you of having the perfect mindset but many methods may aid you in achieving that state of mind. Here are five easy ways that I use.

1) Keeping a journal is a great way to keep your thoughts and ideas down on paper. Ideas can be triggered by anything you may hear, see, or smell. Your senses are your radar in finding great ideas. Write all of them into a journal and keep it with you for future reference. You may also write down anything that you have read or heard, someone’s ideas could be used to develop your own ideas. Remember that ideas and creativity can come from anywhere; it’s the development of the idea that makes it unique.

2) Relax and take time to sort things out. A jumbled mind cannot create any space for new ideas. Everyone must have a clear mind if one wishes to have their creativity in full speed. Get rid of all obstacles that can be a hindrance to your creativity. If you are bothered by something, you cannot force your mind to stay focused.

Learn to relax. Think about your experiences and interactions with others. Your experiences are what shape your mindset and your opinions which could be reflected in your writings. Try to discover yourself, find out what triggers your emotions. Discover what inspires you and what ticks you off. You can use these emotions to help you in expressing yourself and your ideas. So many people today never take the time to reflect on their inside.

3) Create a working place that can inspire your creativeness. Your working place can be quite a hindrance if it doesn’t make you feel happy or relaxed. Creativity comes from being in a good state of mind and a disorganized workplace that causes distractions won’t be a good place to fire up the creative fireplace.

Surround your working place with objects that makes you happy and relaxed. You may put up pictures, or scents, objects that inspire, or anything that can get your creativeness cranking. A clean and well organized workplace also rids of distractions and unwanted hindrances. With a good working place, you can work in peace and never notice the time pass by.

4) Set the mood. Setting the mood requires you to just go with the moment or to induce your self to feeling what makes your mind works best. Finding out what makes you tick could help you find ways to get your creative juices flowing. Set the pace and tempo for your mood and everything else will follow.  Take some time to smell the roses.

There are many ways to set the mood. A little music, a good movie, some fresh air, or what I often like to do…..people watch. I walk to the park and just take in all the surroundings.

5) Take a break and just do something out of the ordinary. Letting yourself go and have fun produces adrenaline that can take your imagination to another level. Take an adventure or go for a long walk. Whatever it is that is unusual from your daily routine can take the rut out of your schedule. In no time at all, your creativeness will make use of that experience and get your imagination to go on overdrive.

Learning MLM secrets, such as these, can set you apart from everyone else. It can give you the edge that you need to go to the top.

Fill out your information down below and I will show you how you can use article writing to boost your traffic and generate leads for your business for FREE!!

Are You A Sponge Bob Square Pants When It Comes To Writing Articles?

Wisdom can be found in the most unexpected places. Today, wisdom bubbled up from a pineapple under the sea. I suddenly realized that everything you’d want to know about  writing articles for your website can be taught by Sponge Bob Square Pants and his friends.

When you undertake article marketing  for your newsletter, blog, or website, which character are you most like?

Squidward: Squidward is B-O-R-I-N-G. When writing articles, are you a Squidward? Do you just get the words down on paper or are you finding a fun twist to entertain your audience and keep them coming back for more? Take time to make your articles stand out from the thousands of other dull articles out there by including personal stories or just having fun while writing. For instance, this article could be entitled “How to Write a Good Article”, but would it stand out from the hundreds of other articles about article writing? Probably not.

Mr. Krabs: This crustacean is focused on one thing and one thing only, making more and more and more money. Only a cartoon could actually have dollar signs drawn in his eyes. He thinks of no one, only how he can benefit. Are your articles focused on you or on the reader? Are you providing information or do you have blinders on, thinking only about how you can make money from the article you are writing? If your article reads like an ad or is self-serving or full of  yourself, you might write like Mr. Krabs.

Patrick: SpongeBob’s best friend, the starfish, has a good heart, but isn’t the brightest creature in the sea. Do your articles make you sound like an expert? Are you providing valuable content or just pushing out sloppy articles as fast as you can? Always double check for typos and grammatical errors. If you’re challenged by spelling and grammar, ( like I am), click the little tabs at the top for spelling before you submit your article. Or slow down, set your article aside for a day and then reread it before you click the “submit” button.

Plankton: The smallest creature in the sea is also the sneakiest. He’ll do anything and hurt anyone to steal someone else’s work (the Krabby Pattie secret formula). Write your own material. Don’t be Plankton. Don’t copy and paste someone else’s work, edit it, and try to pass it off as your own. You will be caught, and it just isn’t worth it. Take the same amount of effort and work on your own thoughts and ideas. Plankton never gets away with his schemes, either. He’s on Plan “Z” and is still pathetically failing at his attempts to steal the secret formula.

SpongeBob: This little guy always tries to do the right thing, and is a hard worker. He may not always end up getting the results he hoped for, but he bounces back and tackles his work with a renewed vigor. SpongeBob works very hard, he’s a good friend, he always thinks of others, and tries to have fun no matter what he is faced with. Hardworking, friendly SpongeBob is the guy to be when writing articles.

Although this is a silly lesson in article writing, I hope you’ll remember the important messages our underwater friends have taught us.

1. Be entertaining. Not boring.

2. Write articles to help others, not with dollar signs in your eyes.

3. Proofread your articles carefully, and provide valuable information.

4. Write your own material. Don’t copy others.

5. Be a SpongeBob! Hard work and persistence pay off.

Before you know it, you’ll develop a following for having informative and entertaining articles and you’ll be King or Queen of the sea, and your business will grow because of it. No matter what business you are in, learning MLM secrets like these, can produce leads that will benefit your business.