How to Write Your First Article

A year ago I couldn't imagine the roller coaster ride my life is on now. My only article writing experience had been on my own websites and Helium.com, now here I am having sold more than a thousand of them! One of the keys to my success has been the formula developed by my largest client, Demand Studios. In it, you begin with a brief description, or overview-which is where we are now- then move on to the how-to portion, broken into at least three steps.

Step One: Choose a topic that you are familiar enough with that you could comfortably speak about it for three to five minutes, without needing to search for something to say. No matter whether it's brain surgery, or celebrity gossip, start with something you know.

Step Two: Create a title, or headline. With Demand Studios (DS) the titles are pregenerated based on an algorhithm that creates titles from popular search terms. You can think of it like this: If I were looking for the information in this article, what would I search? Now, compose a compelling headline, incorporating those terms.

Step Three: Ask three questions about the headline. In the case of celebrity gossip, your headline might read, " How Stars Maintain Their Million Dollar Smiles". In which case the questions might be: What kind of dental products do they use, what kind of dental services do they use, which three celebrities have the brightest smile?

Step Four: Research answers for each of your questions. Use online sources whenever possible, for web articles, and include a link to the source material. -links can be made by highlighting to the search engine result, right clicking and choosing the "save shortcut" option, then pasting into your article.

Step Five: Write at least three sentences answering each question in an informational way. The first answer might start off: A surprising number of celebrities prefer over the counter tooth care products to more expensive brands....Give the reader good, solid information.

Step Six: Publish your article to a site such as Helium.com or Article Base. These sites do not provide up front payment, but can be a way to build up a catalog of samples, and do pay revenue based on views, so a writer who is willing to self promote can make a few bucks this way. (we're talking coffee money, not house payment money).

When you are ready to step up your game, check out Demand Studios, Suite 101, or Seed.com for more opportunities.

Still not convinced you can write your own website and blog articles, but need content anyway? Contact me @ Markrmorris2@sbcglobal.net, for a free consultation about your needs and a rate quote on your project.

Helium.com: http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oG7lJXL71MUOgAJkhXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTBybnZlZnRlBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDMQRjb2xvA2FjMgR2dGlkAw--/SIG=11abe1vfp/EXP=1287553239/**http%3a//www.helium.com/