-•- HomeOfficeDigest.com Newsletter - Issue 173 -•-
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THE HOME OFFICE DIGEST NEWSLETTER
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BE YOUR OWN BOSS
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Protect yourself! Although you may consider some of your business
associates to be friends, you should try to have a legal contract
for most business deals. No one thinks they're going to get the
short end of the deal, but when large sums of money start pouring
in that money tends to change people. If you aren't interested in
spending the $100 - $300 of so to have a basic contract written
up then you should, at the very least, write up a document for
both parties to sign which outlines the major points of your
deal. I've never liked lawyers much myself, and I realize that
feeling is shared by many, but lawyers do serve an important
purpose in the business world. I hate signing contracts, and
I hate asking other people to sign them even more, but any
business partner worth having won't be offended by signing
a contract that will protect both parties.


FEATURED ARTICLE
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TWENTY FIVE TIPS IN WRITING ARTICLES FOR THE WEB

by Craig Lock

Writing articles can provide you with enormous
amount of exposure on the Web. You are branding
yourself on a shoestring budget - it hasn't cost you a
cent, but a little time and effort Writing a free content
article is simple and follows a similar professional
approach as an article for a standard, paying market.

People want quality content : for their ezines and their
web sites .; however, the competition for content is
fierce. Every Web site owner wants content and
hundreds of writers want their content visible on the
Web It's FREE promotion through your signature file
at the end of your article* Articles that give good
information or explain how to accomplish something
are usually best, and will be read most often.

Here are some pointers in writing articles for the www:

Firstly,

1. Accept that writing for the web is different to
writing for the off-line world. People tend to skim and
scan (note alliteration) when reading online. They
read quickly scrolling down the page.

2. Identify your target audience.

3. Give your article a catchy title that will grab
attention and make people want to read.


4. Keep your title reasonably short. Put some thought
and effort into your heading - again to get your reader's
immediate attention.

5. Be professional and take your article writing seriously.
Write about something you know professionally. Don't
be overly casual in your writing (ie. don't write exactly
as you speak)

6. Keep your paragraphs short.

7. Get to the point quickly (enough waffle with
maple syrup, Craig!).

8. Target your article to your audience with "focussed
information".

9. Be brief, if you are a "waffler", like this writer.
People want immediate information online and have
limited time usually - it's the "instant coffee, sorry
generation.

10. Write briefly and concisely (redundant words,
meaning the same thing, Craig!) Try to keep your
article under 1,500 words. Most paying markets
usually only accept between 500 and 2,000 words...
and with a bit of luck they may even "pick up" your
great article. Try to be concise in your wording. Brevity
is the hall-mark of good writing...or so say many of the
teachers of writing!

11. Use the OCCASIONAL exclamation mark (!) to
get your readers attention. Forget the ALL CAPITAL
LETTERS and exclamation points!!!

12. Be credible (big word, eh?) at all times. I try to
write my articles in a "conversational style with dashes
of my funny humor".

13. Use HUMOR. People like to have a bit of fun
with the occasional laugh, whilst being informed on a
serious subject. At least I believe so!

14. Write from "your heart", so that you come across
as a REAL person. Just write what comes naturally
with INTEGRITY...and BE YOURSELF.

15. Be totally honest in your writing and don't
"borrow" too much from others content. It's so easy
to "steal" on the www - so do your own work and if
you "borrow ideas or material, ACKNOWLEDGE.
"Incidentally, I have borrowed some ideas in this article
from some good writers and well-known internet
marketers - thanks a lot, David, Michael, John, Meredith,
Joe and Edward).

16. Be humble.and don't talk down to your readers.

17. Use bullets (not live, please) in your articles -
it makes the points easy to follow.

18. Don't forget your byline ...or your "business card".
Make sure that you resource box at the end of the
article provides enough information to identify yourself
and provide contact information. It's FREE advertising.

19. Offer a free report with your article - this is an
easy way to collect a list of addresses for marketing your
product(s). An instant target market.

20. Check all the links in your article before submitting it.

21. Offer your articles by autoresponder

22. Conclude with a strong message. Your final point
(and paragraph) should be a message that summarizes
your article or gets your reader to take further action,
like "GET STARTED" (as I've done in this article).

23. Finally, make sure your layout is good (not one
of my strong points!), as this greatly enhances your
prospects of getting published Use a spell-check. Go
over your article carefully and be an editor yourself.

24. Make sure your article flows properly.

25. Re-read and re-read, until you get it "just right."
"Aim for perfection, but settle for excellence" in your
article writing.


SUMMARY:

The internet is such an amazing medium for
communication and SHARING information. I've just
submitted this article and it's been published almost
instantaneously (big word!) in a few places. So YOU TOO
can write articles on your chosen subject in your internet
marketing efforts. MORE TRAFFIC = INCREASED
SALES

Writers and internet marketers - Grab this moment in
history well. "Carpe diem" (seize the moment!).

Why not start writing articles for the www in 2002?

A New Year is a new beginning.

YOU CAN DO IT.

Craig Lock


"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
- Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe (German
philosopher)

As the ancient Chinese philosopher said so well,


"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a ...
broken fan belt and a flat tire"...
er sorry...

a single step.

P.S: I hope that these tips help in your article writing .
In my opinion it's the best internet marketing strategy.

To your internet marketing dreams

Happy writing

-----------------------------------------------------------
Craig
Creative Writing Course
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/creative.html
Craig's first five books are available at:
http://www.nzenterprise.com/writer/books.html and
http://www.novelty-gift.com/ebooks.html


DOWNLOAD OF INTEREST
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The download of the week this week is WS_FTP Limited Edition.
If you are in need of an FTP program that will get the job done
quickly and correctly, this is the program you need. WS_FTP by
Ipswitch is perhaps the most popular line of FTP software in use
today and for good reason. It has an easy-to-use graphical
interface and advanced features. It contains profiles that can
be set up to toggle between commonly visited FTP sites. Newer
features included corrections to FTP servers for year 2000
compliance, a default transfer mode option in session parameters,
auto re-get, prompts for file overwrites and preserving file date
and time, support for new firewall and host types, and other
minor corrections. To get this software go to Ipswitch.com
or search for WS_FTP at http://www.download.com


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