Article Contributed by Eric Gruber
Do you ever find yourself staring at a blank screen or a blank sheet of paper when you’re supposed to be writing articles for your blog, for your ezine or newsletter and for article submission so you can promote your books, products or services?
How would you like to find ways to tap into a limitless supply of article ideas?
Yes, our imaginations run thin every now and then, and no, it isn’t easy to come up with article ideas sometimes. But, I promise you that there are ways to tap into a limitless supply of article ideas. No matter what your expertise lies in, you can always generate new and interesting ideas for articles IF you follow these guidelines…
5 Ways to Never Run Out of Article Ideas
1) Get inspiration from magazines covers.
Find a magazine that is as close as you can get to your niche and look at the titles on the magazine cover. Look at the titles that jump out at you and make you say, “That looks like it would be a good article–I want to read that!”
Many times you can bounce an article off of a title you see on a magazine cover. Can you convert that title to apply to something in your specific niche?
Now, notice I’m saying, “find a magazine that is somewhat in your niche.” Many of us have websites that are in niches that do not have their own magazines. For example, there is no magazine that I know of about Article Marketing.
But I sashay a short distance from my specific niche and look in related niches, such as Writing, Creativity, Productivity, and possibly even SEO. These are all issues that lie at the heart of article marketing, so they work as inspiration launching pads.
2) Don’t forget about the newbies.
When we’re writing on our area of expertise, sometimes we can overlook the obvious. We want to write helpful, educational articles, and our minds quite often go to topics that are more advanced.
Have you ever considered that someone reading your article might not even understand the basics of what you’re talking about?
I have to remind myself of this all the time–not everyone knows what article marketing is, and not everyone even knows the reasons why it’s a popular online marketing tool.
Could the same thing be true in your niche?
Think about it–although our articles are not sales oriented or promotional in any way, when we educate our readers on some aspect of our niche, we are increasing the likelihood that they will one day be our customers.
So, don’t forget about the newbies who are in your target market but aren’t knowledgeable about what you do. Try to think back to questions you had when you were first starting out. Think about what confused you. Think about the very basic things that you wish someone had explained to you before you became the expert.
3) Think about: “What are the 10 questions that my customers (or potential customers) most frequently ask me?”
Write those questions down and address each one of them in a separate article.
By completing this writing exercise, you’re letting your target market tell you what to write about. This makes perfect sense since you’re trying to appeal to them anyway.
4) Use template titles and fill in the blanks.
Here are some of mine:
* 10 Great Reasons Why ____
* How To ____ in 7 Easy Steps
* 3 Secret Tricks For _____
* How To Conquer ______
* The Top 10 Mistakes People Make When ____
* Reader Question: “[insert question here]”
You may notice that these titles are all List articles (any article that has a 1,2,3 etc list in it), How-To articles, and Question articles (articles that answer a question that is stated in the title).
These are my go-to article topic stimulators. Just seeing the format for the title gets the wheels of my brain moving (which helps creativity!)
Try filling in the blanks for the template titles listed above, and I bet you can come up with a compelling title to base a new article on.
5) Use Instant Article Writing Templates
You want to model proven article writing formats, such as those found in my Instant Article Writing Templates Kit. I did the hard work for you and identified more than 40 different formulas that will help you write your articles in 30 minutes or less – even if you think you can’t write articles.
Here are some of the article-writing templates that will help you…
* Myth Buster
* Top 10…
* How-To…
* Quiz
* Failure to Success
* Timeline
* 7 Things You Need
* What’s Hot, What’s Not
* 3 Stages
* Problem/Solution
* Differentiate Yourself – this template made PR Leads more than $10,000
* Plus many, many more
By following the five strategies above, you will:
· Gain the confidence to write articles whenever you want
· Banish writer’s block forever
· Remove all the frustration out of writing articles
· Develop ALL THE CONTENT you will ever need for your website, for your blog, for your newsletter and for article submission
So, are you ready to start writing your articles faster so you can get maximum exposure for your books, products and services?
About the Author
Article Marketing Expert Eric Gruber uses the power of articles to create online opportunities for Internet marketers, small business owners, authors, entrepreneurs and speakers who want more publicity, prospects and profits. Now, you can get his instant article writing templates that will help you write your articles in 30 minutes or less. Get 3 of his favorite article writing templates for free at: http://www.TryMyFreeArticleTemplates.com
Month: November 2009
Article Contributed by Kendall SummerHawk
If someone had looked in a crystal ball back when I first started my business and predicted that I would create a 7-figure coaching business, I think I would have snorted, and said, “Excuse me, but what are you smoking?!”
The truth is when I first started my business I just wanted to make as much money as I had when I was at my j-o-b. Believe me, that number wasn’t even close to 6-figures, much less 7.
But something shifted when I saw that 6-figures was possible. I became intrigued to figure out what it would take to reach that magical milestone.
The biggest “A-ha!” came when I started including Divine Guidance (read, intuition) in every marketing or business decision.
Now, remember that intuition is not fear or self-doubt. Those emotions are just trying to sidetrack you from stepping into your place of power. You can tell if it’s fear or self-doubt because you’ll find yourself saying things like, “It’s not the right time” or “I don’t think I’m ready yet.”
Sorry, gals, that’s fear speaking. How do I know? Because fear gives you reasons not to do something, while Divine Guidance places opportunities at your feet.
Okay…so, what does Divine Guidance have to do with reaching 6-figures and beyond, all with grace, ease and simplicity?
Plenty!
After coaching thousands of women business owners I’ve discovered that there are four key areas where you may be letting fear make your decisions, instead of tapping into the grace and ease of Divine Guidance.
If you’re serious about creating a 6-figure business (or beyond), here’s a simple checklist you can use to make sure you’re connecting with the full power of Divine Guidance, instead of playing small due to fear or self-doubt.
I recommend printing these tips out and taping them to your wall or bulletin board as a daily reminder to integrate Divine Guidance into your marketing. This, more than anything else, will help you leap into 6-figures (or beyond) in a way that is powerfully authentic for YOU!
Tip #1: Choose Your Tribe of Ideal Clients
Getting crystal clear on who your ideal client is will help make your marketing fast, easy and powerful to implement. Understand that a “refuse to choose” attitude is simply fear holding you back.
Don’t make choosing your niche a big deal, okay? Simply look at the people most like you, who want to know how to do something that you find simple and easy. Ask Divine Guidance to make this clear for you. Just be sure not to discount or ignore the answer that your intuition gives you!
Hint: if your current ideal client hasn’t been responding well to your marketing then chances are good you’ve been playing small. Now is the time to specialize. Don’t ignore how important this is because specialists make a big impact for others, and make big money!
Tip #2: Stop Trying to Grow Your List by Dribs and Drabs and Instead Grow Your List by the Hundreds, Even by the Thousands
If you’re serious about creating a 6-figure business, you’ll need to step up and make yourself known to others who can direct hundreds, if not thousands, of people to you.
Ask your intuition, “What do I need to do to create a powerful, confident presence with the people who market to my ideal clients?” For example, the action my intuition guided me to take was to ask famous people in my industry for testimonials for my info products. I got nearly all of the ones I asked for, which led to JV opportunities. In one month alone I grew my list by over 25%!
Tip #3: offer a System, Not Just a Service
If you haven’t yet offered a system then you’re going to be shocked at how much easier it is to sign up new clients! People love systems because they offer them a feeling of security and reassurance that you know what you’re doing and it will work for them.
The power of offering a system will give you immediate attention and credibility. So, whether you create your own or find it’s faster and easier for you to get training and use someone else’s, just do it.
Tip #4: Stop Being Afraid of “How You’ll handle More Business” and Start Seeing Opportunities to Expand Your Impact
Feeling fearful about how you would handle more business simply means you have the desire to have more business, but don’t just yet have the specific know-how or strategies to make your business expandable. No worries. All you need to do is find a mentor who’s walked the path you want. Your mentor will help give you answers, resources and tools to make your business simple, easy and fun to run while it grows.
The trick is this: Do not let FEAR of growth keep you from taking action to expand your business (or yourself).
If you look at every obstacle as an opportunity to request help from Divine Guidance, you’ll quickly find yourself, as I did, moving easily into 6-figures. You will then find, just as quickly, yourself expanding effortlessly into even greater amounts of money, marketing and soul!
About the Author
Kendall SummerHawk, the Million Dollar Marketing Coach, is an expert at helping women entrepreneurs at all levels design a business they love and charge what they’re worth and get it. Kendall delivers simple ways entrepreneurs can design and price their services to quickly move away from ‘dollars-for-hours work’ and create more money, time, and freedom in their business. For free articles, free resources and to sign up for a free subscription to Kendall’s Money, Marketing and Soul weekly articles visit www.kendallsummerhawk.com.