Don’t Make These Mistakes In Your Articles – Do It Right And Make Money

Two weeks ago I led a morning seminar on article writing with a group of business people from a local Chamber of Commerce. They were a representative cross section of small, successful businesses, people who were well educated, some to university and masters level, and all were interested in developing their business’s online presence through article marketing.
Although I had prepared a schedule, I asked them to submit draft articles beforehand which we could discuss.
Well, in the end I didn’t need to refer to my notes. Each and everyone of their articles contained some real howlers. So what follows is a summary of those mistakes for you to be on the lookout for in your own submissions. Because article mistakes cost you money – lose your reader, and you lose potential income. It’s as simple as that.
First – Spelling. For heaven’s sake, use your spell check software. I just lose confidence in the writer’s content when I come across one spelling mistake after another. If you know you always confuse ‘separate’ with ‘separate’ or ‘believe’ and ‘believe’ make an effort to get it right!
Second – Grammar. If there is one thing that gets my dander, it is reading “should of” for “Should have”. Another common error is when someone writes, “Their in the garden” instead of “They’re in the garden.” Or what about:”The hard drive is hot and its overheating” instead of “It’s overheating.” You don’t have to be a pedant to cringe.
Third – Content. Sometimes, articles are just plain unreadable. They have either been mangled by some wretched, third-rate, so-called spinning software. Or the writer’s first language is not English (nor, sometimes, their second.) Read, and re-read what you’ve written. Ideally, read it aloud before you submit. Learn how to use paragraphs. Provide an introduction. Summarise your article in the final paragraph. All this helps the reader and benefits you too. Who is going to have confidence in your product and click a link in your signature file after struggling to make sense of what you’ve written?
Fourth – Style. There’s a spectrum here: you can be too formal, or you can be too breezy. Of course, there are moments when either is on the button, but, for the most part, a conversational, natural, readable style is probably best. Don’t ramble. Be succinct. As the old, politically incorrect, adage has it, an article should be like a woman’s skirt – “Long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting.”
Does all of this mean it’s even harder to write good, publishable, readable articles? Not at all. Because you know all of this – nothing that I’ve written is news to you. In fact, when we shuffled people’s articles around the group in the article writing seminar I mention above, and asked people to read someone else’s article, the mistakes became abundantly clear.
So, to summarise, check your spelling, your grammar, your content, and your style. Or get someone else to proof read quickly what you’ve written. Isn’t it better to get it right first time, than have your article put on hold by the article directory you submit to, or trashed by your reader. Get it wrong, and you lose potential income. Get it right, and you could have a customer for life. And that means an income stream worth writing for.
You’ve got great articles ahead of you – so do them justice.
My best to you.