How to Make People Care What You Think

Dale Carnegie, in his famous book, How to Win Friends and Influence People talks about the magic of developing genuine interest in others. As writers, sometimes we have a selfish streak a mile wide. After all, that is why we write, to share our "unique" view of the world with others. Have you ever written anything, posted it and just known that everyone would flock to read it, only to discover that hours, or even days later, your blog traffic was still hovering at 3 hits and those are your own?

Yesterday we talked a little about a universal sales formula. The first step in that process is a thing called "prospecting". This is the discovery process that a salesperson must go through to determine who wants, and or needs their product, and which part of that audience they have easy access to. As a part of that process a good salesman will spend time finding out about the potential customer, or developing a genuine interest in what makes them tick. As artists it is easy for us to attempt to forgo that part of the process, break out the soap box and start in to add our two cents to the conversation. The internet has made that even easier.

When we assume that people will be in shock and awe when they discover the TRUTH that we have single-handedly revealed we do ourselves a great disservice. We must always keep in mind that, just like us, others are most interested in what effects and benefits them, and not what we think they should be interested in. So, how can we go about this discovery process? What if we just slowed down long enough to think about our audience, before hitting the "publish post" button? I am intending to ask myself how it will sound to someone who has not had the benefit of my experience. How can I make it relevant to them?

So, your turn, what other questions should we be asking about our intended audience? And, how should this effect what and how we share as writers?

How to Sell Anything, Anytime, to Anyone!

How You Can Sell Anything With Your Writing

Most people assume that the primary tool required to be a successful writer is talent. That could not be further from the truth. While there are many talented writers who are successful, if you ever watch television or films, you, like most of us, are constantly surprised at some of the scripts that get sold and produced.

In his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad (a must read by the way) Robert Kiyosaki tells of an interview with a young reporter whose work he had read and admired. She asked for his advice, since he has written multiple New York Times best sellers, on her own attempts at publishing her novels. He suggested she take a course in sales. The young woman was enraged, it seemed she was insulted that he thought her Masters in English Lit was not enough, why would she want to learn sales, she was a "writer". He gently pointed out that the cover of his book touted him as a best "selling" author, not best "writing", she like others who ask a guru for advice, left disappointed with the Truth.

So, here, loosely adapted from my good friend and networking master Boe Parrish from Corporate Care is the road map to writing to sell.

1. Know your audience. Who are they and what do they want to hear?
2. Find out what they want that you have to offer and find a way to ask this question: If I could solve your problem in a way that benefits you, would you buy.....
3. Tell them how you can accomplish just that!
4. Present your solution in terms and pictures that will appeal to them, based on step 1.
5. Ask them to buy from you, join your organization, donate to your cause, whatever the case may be.

So, what about you? Which steps do you typically leave out? Are you the typical "artist" or "writer" that only wants to hear themselves talk and forgets to say things that his audience will care about? Or do you forget to ask them to take action? What else do you find works well for you?

Three Big Mistakes I Have Made With My Blogs

I recently went to a writer's lunch at Lifechurch in Edmond Oklahoma to hear Tony Steward of Joetoprocycling.com talk about his experiences with creating online content, both in his own private ventures and also as a member of a content creation team for Life Church's online communities. Here are three things I learned from his talk that I was doing wrong.

Number Three: I don't have a plan. I have a lot to say, but it all just sort of comes out in no particular order. I have heard him speak on the subject briefly once before and he shared his tools for planning blogs, which I need to get from him again, because as I already pointed out, I DON'T HAVE A PLAN. (people with plans amaze me, and I am sure would have recorded his initial advice and already be using the tools to organize their posts into meaningful thoughts)

Number Two: I am not encouraging conversation. While I desperately want to hear what people think of what I write I don't write in such a way to encourage them to engage in commenting. I have a tendency to "share what I know". Tony expressed, that while he is learning a lot about cycling, and quickly gaining expertise, he leads with his ignorance. In other words, he starts with a question, or something he wants to learn and asks for opinions and advice, leaving room for others to add to the conversation.

And the Number One mistake I have made: I try to say everything in a format that is meant to be bite sized. Rather than condense one or two good points on a topic into a few good paragraphs, I write a novel. There is a place for Tolstoyan literature, it's called a library. People on line are busy. They are picking up your blog in the three minutes between the end of their morning projects and the drive to lunch. While they want to hear what you have to say, they don't want to hear ALL of it right now. Give them a few actionable ideas or thought provoking questions and leave it at that.

So, what about you, what have learned to or not to do with your writing? What works for you, or what would you like to do better?

Up Front Pay Writing Sites Part1

When you are ready to start getting paid for your writing, one of the best avenues to consider is work for hire writing sites. There are a number of different sites out there that will buy articles on a variety of subjects, the only way to ensure that you will, in fact, get paid upon publication is to use a site that offers up front payment.

What These Sites Are

Most of the up front article buying sites are content factories, or writer's studios for a specific site or family of sites. One of the best known is Demand Studios. They own a large variety of information sites including Ehow and Live Strong.

Most of the projects available through these sites are general knowledge articles, or service journalism. They may include how-tos and tutorials, as well as informational “about” type articles. The topics can range from medical to computers, and include topics as diverse as home improvement and performing arts.

While you are typically allowed to use copies of your work as representative samples, and can expect to see your byline on the published article, you should not expect to be able to resell content created for these sites. You are selling all publication rights.

Applying For the Job

An application process of some sort is usual for pay-up-front writing sites. You will need to submit a fair amount of personal information, including address, phone, email and with some a social security number.

You will need to be able to provide resume style information about your past writing experience and at least one written sample of your work, some also expect you to already have some work online. (more on this in future posts)

It can take from an hour or two to several days to receive approval and start working. Once you are hired, you will find that most sites have a tutorial section with writer's guides and advice on how to best present your work so that it will be published.

Choosing Your Assignments

To accept projects, you will either be given a limited list of topics deemed appropriate for a beginner, or given access to a larger list of titles to select from. Each site will have different pay scales for different categories of work.

You can expect to earn $3 to $15 per piece, some pay slightly hire for more advanced projects. There is also typically a deadline that must be met and at least some formatting expectations, study all of this information before accepting any projects.

In the beginning, sticking to subjects you know well will limit the necessary amount of research. Demand Studios and a few others, will require you to locate research sources and indicate where you got your information as a part of the project, so make sure to save links, titles, authors, and the like with your article.

Tomorrow we will discuss how to organize, compose and submit articles that will pass the copy editors and get you paid!
**Tomorrow, bonus, top five up front pay writing sites!

Types of Online Writing Sites

So, you've written your first article, and sharpened your focus on a narrower window for your writing. Now, it's time to get paid for it. There are literally hundreds of sites online that will buy your work from you, connect you to clients that will buy your work from you, or share their ad revenue for your posting articles on their site.

The three main types of sites that freelance writers use to publish their work are: Work for hire sites that buy your work outright, Revenue share sites, that can pay well if your work is popular, and Job listing or contract bud sites that connect you with potential clients.

All of these can be used to get your foot in the door, get some samples written and learn the ropes, tomorrow we will talk about work for hire sites and how to get connected to the best ones.

Choosing a Niche for Your Writing

We all hear the word niche thrown around a lot on line, but how many of us really know what it means? In essence a niche, is a highly specialized category. Choosing a good niche for content creation -writing articles, creating videos, etc- requires a little bit of research. In my last post I mentioned choosing a topic, pretty much in passing, the gist of it was, write what you know. This is a great way to get started and gain a little confidence by having written a few short articles. To expand on this, add a little twist, write what other people want to know.

Inside every topic of interest there are dozens of sub topics that people are interested in learning more about. Take for instance the category of " Sports Memorabilia". -Google search reveals nearly 4 1/2 million results- In this vast sea of interests there are literally hundreds of sub categories. Each sport could have a category, such as baseball.

Inside baseball there are dozens of things that can be collected. One of the most common is baseball cards. To narrow it down even further we could select vintage baseball cards, but to really find a niche we would want to specialize even further with something like "Vintage rookie baseball cards". - Google search of 153 thousand sites- This is a healthy number of sites. It tells us that there is a lot of interest, but not so much competition. If you can refine it even further you have a better chance of getting noticed.

Any niche that provides several thousand sites has enough interest to have potential as a business venture. Anything between 5 and 25 thousand is ideal, high interest, not a lot of competition. Write your articles based on these types of themes and include the "key words" -your search terms- at least three to five  times throughout a 350 article for good saturation.

Check out the free trial of Market Samurai for even more help on keyword generation and finding niches. There is also good information regarding this available for free  on Challengeblog.com

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/