Increase Web Site Traffic by Writing Your Own Ezine Article

In my previous article (Part 1 - www.isitebuild.com/writearticles)
we discussed the 7 ways to benefit from writing an ezine article.

Part 2 will cover the formula and format you can use to write
your own article as well as provide valuable resources where to
publish your articles for maximum exposure.

How to write your own ezine article

1. Research a topic you are very familiar with or have a passion
about. This makes it easier to write and will show through in
your writing.

2. Take out a sheet of notebook paper and create an outline of
your article. Write down all the points you wish to include.
Don't worry yet about the order because you just want to let
your mind flow in the beginning.

3. Write down a number of headings and sub headings that
concisely describe your topic. You will probably edit these a
number of times before you have finished your article.

4. Write a catchy introductory paragraph that will immediately
get the readers attention. If you are writing a "how-to"
article, you could first explain the problems people are having
"how to do this task". You then provide the solution to their
problems.

5. Offer clear solutions in succeeding paragraphs. These should
expand and support the heading, introduction and sub headings.

Write four or five sentences for each paragraph. Your sentences
should be formatted to 60-65 characters per line. This ensures
your article can be read by all types of email software.

Most ezine publishers prefer short articles under 500 words,
others prefer longer copy under 1000 words.

6. Write your conclusion - this paragraph should give a brief
summary of what you have just written, emphasizing the main
benefits.

7. Include a 5-7 line resource box at the end of the article -
give a brief description of who you are, what product or
service you are selling, your web site and email address. See
the resource box at the end of this article for an example.

8. Revise your article - read through it a number of times so
you are sure all the ideas build upon one another, support and
expand on your main topic.

Use your spell checker but don't rely on it (i.e. it won't pick
up the difference between there and their). Use the dictionary
for words you are not sure of.

After editing it a number of times, leave it for a few hours or
sleep on it then edit it again (or have someone else read it).
This gives you a fresh perspective and you will often refine it
until it's near perfect:-)

9. Submit your article to online publishers and article banks -
this will potentially give your article exposure to thousands
of people.

Article submission resources:

http://www.ezinearticles.com http://www.ideamarketers.com
http://www.makingprofit.com http://www.allwebarticles.com
http://www.goarticles.com
http://www.ezadsuccess.com/articles/submit.shtml
http://www.netterweb.com/articles

Article announcement lists

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Free-Content
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PublishInYours
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/article_announce
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aabusiness
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aainet

Directories of ezine publishers

http://www.directoryofezines.com
http://www.ezinelocater.com
http://www.ezinehub.com
http://www.ezineuniverse.com
http://www.ezinesearch.com

Software to send out your articles.

Ezineannouncer (Ezineannouncer.com)

Automatically sends your articles to 1000s of ezine publishers,
saving you a lot of time and money.

Tips:

Keep it simple - write to appeal to a large audience, so don't
use large words or jargon that people won't understand.

If you are planning on creating a web page from your article for
the search engines, then weave your keywords throughout
your text.

Send a thank you note to all people who publish your article.
This will help you build long term relationships for your business.

Plan to write an article every 2 weeks or so. You will see a
dramatic increase in web site traffic each time you submit your
article.. all without spending a dime.