Writing Articles To Build Your Online Presence - A Beginners Guide

One of the most effective (and free!) ways to get noticedon the web is to write articles. Even if you have nowriting experience, it is easier than you may think, evenfun. You can write an article on just about anything youwant and choose how you want to publish it.

The best way to start is to write about a subject youunderstand thoroughly, such as the subject of your ezineif you have one.

Use a search engine to research what you want to writeabout, and browse some online discussion forums whichrelate to your subject to gain additional knowledge.

There are article-writing ebooks and other literatureavailable on the web that can provide you with useful advice if you are intimidated to write your first article.Just do some web searches to see what you can find. Someof the literature is free, some isn't.

As you conduct your research, begin writing a rough draftimmediately while ideas are still fresh in your mind. Youcan revise, edit and rearrange later. Your articledoesn't have to be perfect, as long as it is presentableand easily readable.

Keep your lines formatted to about 60 characters. The'Lucida Console' font uses the same amount of space foreach character, so you could use it then set your marginsaccordingly in your word processor program.

I use Notepad which uses Lucida Console by default. Iturn off word-wrap and set the window size to where I wantit and hit 'enter' as my text fills a line. You may comeup with a method that works better for you.

When your article is finished, you'll need to add what iscalled a "resource box" at the end. This is where you place a few lines which include your name, as well as anything you'd like to offer your readers.

You should make your resource box stand out by placing a line of asterisks or hyphens above and below it, for example:

*********************************************************
Copyright © 2005 [your name]
[email address if you wish]
[several lines to advertise your website, ezine, offer
freebies, etc]
*********************************************************

When you feel comfortable with your article and ready to publish, you can choose from several different options available to you. You can use all if you so choose:

* Article Directories
* Ezines
* Article Announcement Lists

Article directories are websites that you can submit yourarticle to. They will review it then publish it on theirsite, making your name and links in your resource boxavailable to all who are interested in the information youprovide.

You get an added benefit of having your website's searchengine ranking increase as your link is placed in more andmore article directories! It all depends on how much timeyou want to spend submitting to the hundreds of availabledirectories on the web.

You can also browse ezine directories, searching forezines relating to your article's subject. Look for thosewhich indicate they accept article submissions.

Send a polite email to the publisher asking to submit yourarticle, and include the article. If you prefer, send itas an attachment.

There are also article announcement lists which you cansubmit your article to. These can be found by doing a websearch for 'article announcement lists'. You have tosubscribe to the list before you can post to it.

When posting to an announcement list, include in youremail your rules for reprinting your article, such asallowing it to only be reprinted if no changes are madeand only as long as your resource box is included. Theserules are up to you, ultimately.

You can also use submission websites or software such asEzineAnnouncer which are designed to submit your articleto a large number of places, cutting down on time you haveto spend doing it manually. These programs come with aprice, so look them up and decide for yourself if they areworth it to you.

Read this article again, and formulate a plan based on theadvice given. The methods outlined above will get youwell on your way to boosting your online presence, and youwill be surprised by how effective they are.

Copyright 2005 Jeremy Hershberger

Jeremy Hershberger is a computer specialist, Internet marketer, and webmaster of his "Plug-In Profit Site". For free training and essential advice on building and enhancing an online business, subscribe to his Internet marketing newsletter here: http://www.online-income-solutions.com