As an article writer, I'm constantly looking for ways to improve my articles. By studying other writers, it doesn't take long to see some of the mistakes article writers make that could be easily avoided.
I also use articles to promote my business, build my brand, and show my expertise. However, unlike a lot of article writers, I'm actually concerned for my reader.
Writing articles isn't just about using articles to promote yourself. It's also about creating valuable content to brand yourself as an expert and get your writing read.
When readers trust you, they will want to buy from you.
Below are some of my biggest pet peeves as a writer. If you want your articles published across the internet, then these are things you should definitely avoid.
1. Putting affiliate links in the body of your article.
Most article directories these days won't even accept articles with links in them at all unless the site is very well known, and often they won't even accept them then.
If you are putting any links in your article at all, especially affiliate links, I can almost guarantee your article won't get published.
If you want to put affiliate links in your article as a way of giving your reader more information, then save that technique for your website. Deeper linking in your article will actually help you then, and you won't annoy the article directories.
2. Misspelled words in your title.
It's one thing to have a misspelled word or two in your articles. Readers may or may not even notice. However, you can quickly put your credibility in jeopardy when you misspell a word in your title.
Although I always use a text editor to write my articles so there's no crazy characters in it when I submit, you can always use Microsoft Word or some other utility with a spell check to make sure your words are spelled correctly.
One of the easiest tricks I ever learned for writing articles, or anything for that matter, was to read it out loud after I wrote it. This can help you catch a whole host of mistakes, including improper grammar or punctuation. It will also help you find your voice. Injecting your voice into your article gives it a more unique flavor and makes the article more interesting.
3. Too many links in your resource box.
Most article directories will accept two to four links in your resource box. It really becomes a problem when the resource box is longer than the article, or you have a ton of links promoting all kinds of stuff.
If you want to put more than one link in your resource box, and you should so that you get more mileage out of your article, keep it to two or three, no more.
4. Useless information in your resource box.
This ties in with point three. It's really not necessary to tell your whole life's story in your resource box. The information you include should be relevant to what your article is about, and it should lead your readers to more information on the topic.
Although all that extra information may sound interesting to you, most readers really don't want to waste their time wading through useless information unrelated to the topic.
5. Proper article formatting.
Email has changed tremendously over the years. It's no longer necessary to format it to 65 characters, or whatever format you plan to put your article in. Also, using Microsoft Word to write your articles can add plenty of unnecessary characters to your article.
Use a text editor to write your articles so that your article easily formats itself correctly. You can always go back later and do your spell check.
Article writing is as much an art as anything else, and you can easily improve your results by making a few simple changes.
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