The Honest Way

Blogging is all about writing for enjoyment and for profit (if that is part of your reason) as well as increasing your online presence by creating the perfect foil for promoting your area of expertise.

Here at The Honest Way blog my area of expertise is quite broad, encompassing blogging in general, writing and publication, making money online via internet marketing and affiliate marketing, social networking and even some website design thrown in for good measure!

These subjects together give me a wide variety of topics to write about, so there is really never a dull moment in this blog. So what exactly is the subject of this post?

Well, sometimes you just can’t fit something into an exact pigeon hole, so this is broadly about writing, but also about using the skills and creativity that a good writer should possess in order to create an entertaining and informative article that the readers of this blog will enjoy and feel that they have gained something from their visit. Even if it’s merely an insight into the inner workings of Terry Didcott brain - now that might be a real can of worms!

When you’re writing for your own blog, always keep in mind what your reader might expect to get out of it - put yourself in your reader’s shoes and see your post from their point of view. If you can see that it has entertained, enlightened, educated, enthralled or mix and match any one of those four, then it should be good enough to publish!

Certainly good enough to read!

Terry Didcott
THE HONEST WAY

          

Have you ever wondered why some sites make money hand over fist while other sites don’t make a penny? One BIG reason is the headline.

When you’re selling things on the Internet you have about 3 seconds to make your point or lose your visitor. That’s how fast their attention span is used up. Click … WALLOP … they’re gone!

Fact: If your headlines are under-performing then they are costing you sales.

You need a great headline to get your reader’s interest right from the first second they lay eyes on it. But how do you create a GREAT headline unless you happen to be a professional copywriter?

Here are some tips that will point you in the right direction to write a great headline today.

• Review the sites of the 15 top marketers before you begin to write. Never take their copy (that would be stealing) but do draw inspiration from their headlines before you begin. It’s amazing how simple yet effective this technique is when you need a powerful headline.
• Make your headline short. Five to seven words works well. You can be more expansive in the sub-header, as by then you will have your visitors’ attention.
• Use a question as your headline. The point of your headline is to get people to stop long enough to consider your site. Asking a question is a great way to do this, if you ask the right question. The right question is always one that can be answered by your product.
• Use an exclamation mark or question mark in your headline. It is important to convey excitement.
• Be clear and concise. Tell your reader exactly how your product will help them.
• Use a “number of steps” formula. If your product will solve a problem in a certain number of steps, say so. For example: “Make Money in 5 Easy Steps”. People love simple solutions to their problems.
• Use a “number of ways” formula. An alternative to the number of steps. For example: “Five Easy Ways to Make Money”.
• Use an “in under” formula. When time or money is involved, using an “in under” or “for less than” approach works well. For example: “How to succeed online for under $100!”

By using these points you really can create powerful headlines for your website, emails or blog. The idea is to get people to stop and pay attention and with these, they will!

Terry Didcott
THE HONEST WAY

          

This is a timely reminder to those of us who write articles for submission to the various online article submission directories and ezines.

Whatever you do, always use articles you have written yourself, or if you do not have those skills and need to outsource to a ghost writer, make sure that the articles you submit are unique and not displayed anywhere else on the internet.

I’m highlighting this point because I myself just ran afoul of “Duplicate Content Syndrome” when I got hold of what I believed to be a brand new PLR package of articles. I submitted one to Ezine Articles after making some changes to the text as the original author’s writing style did not match mine.

Well the upshot of it was that it turned out they were not new and neither were they unique. The editor of Ezine Articles emailed me within a few hours of my submission not only pointing out the fact that I had run afoul of the terms and conditions but also suspending my account with them!

Ouch!

I had to explain what had happened, apologise profusely for my stupid mistake (and it was a stupid mistake because I should have checked the article was ok first) and then delete the offending article from my now precariously sliding on very thin ice account!

Ok, I was lucky. The editor accepted my apology and reinstated my account. But I could very well have lost it through using material that I hadn’t written myself.

Lesson learned!

We all make mistakes from time to time along our haphazard journeys through the intricate windings of this mortal life that some of us devote so much of to the online world. Sometimes our altercations are thankfully forgiven and we are redeemed, sometimes as in the case of Google adsense, we are not.

We know it as the school of hard knocks and the lessons that have to be learned come from our own mistakes, misfortunes and moments of blind stupidity! More often than not we learn from those mistakes and become better people for it.

We’ll still make other mistakes because we’re only human and that’s the way of life, but as long as we learn from those mistakes and don’t keep making them again and again hoping for a different result, then we grow as people and that’s what sets apart from the rest of the animal kingdom.

Ok, point made, I hope.

Bottom line: Don’t submit anything to Ezine Articles unless you wrote it yourself or outsourced it to a trusted ghost writer or bought it as a “Full rights” article from one of the article sites like Constant Content. Not if you want to keep your account active so you can use it to boost traffic to and gain priceless backlinks for your site and your business.

I hope this saves someone else from the hassle I just encountered!

Terry Didcott
THE HONEST WAY