As I mentioned in my last blog entry, I am currently working on a research paper on the topic of International Organizations and their false promises. At the risk of turning $1k Blog into a point for political debate, I’d just like to take this opportunity to show you how not to write an article by showcasing a sample paragraph from my paper.

Remember - unless you are writing a scientific treatise online, paragraphs similar to the one below should never appear in your article!

And yet these esteemed and dignified institutions are not always a source of convenience. To be sure, growing global standardization has made the world more flat than ever before. However, where technical international organizations – those with a narrowly defined functional goal – have achieved tremendous success in making the globe easier to operate on, broader, more inclusive organizations found themselves setting lofty and unattainable goals which they were manifestly unable to meet. At the same time, the sheer appeal of these very objectives, combined with the tremendous influence of well-oiled political and PR machines successfully misled the general public, creating a false sense of security and convincing many that the basic rules of international relations – such as Realpolitik and self-interest of states – have somehow been magically set aside starting from the second half of the 20^th century and supplanted by a multilateral system where governments readily delegate and surrender their sovereignty to the international organizations they themselves created.

This literary monster is probably enough to make even my International Relations professor contemplate suicide, not to mention your average Joe Bloggs who will probably want to click the big red X button in the top right corner of the screen by the time they make it to the third sentence. Therefore, when you are writing, always keep your readers and their background in mind - it’s nice to think that you are writing mostly for yourself, but if you really believe it, then you should be prepared for the fact that you will also be the only one reading your works, too.

This thought came to me a few moments ago as I was getting my research material together to write a term paper for my International Organizations class. Given the topic at hand, I will likely use more complicated words than I normally would in, say, an article submitted to my client. This made me wonder - how important is your choice of tone and vocabulary for an article and to what extent - if at all - should it match your topic?

Have you ever read a book or an article about a subject as light-hearted as, say, vacation planning that was written in such an innocuous tone that you wondered whether you are reading an overview of travel options or a PhD research paper on the causes of global warming?

Have you ever caught yourself reading words such as “endemic”, “proliferating” or, God forbid, “honorificabilitudinitatibus” (yes, it is a real word) - all in an article that is supposed to tell you about the newest Lego toy?

The point is that your tone and your choice of vocabulary should reflect your content and your topic. Look, we all know big words - and I am convinced of my ability to systematically and unnecessarily exaggerate the length and complexity of words and expressions used in my writing. But just because you know them doesn’t mean you have to use them.

Big complex words are great for a research paper. They’re fantastic for presenting your scientific findings to a committee of experts. But they are utterly worthless to the casual reader, especially if you are writing “light” topics, such as vacations or fashion.

Remember, when people look up information on a topic such as vacations, they already have a mental picture of a sunny beach, with waves crushing gently on the shore and scantily-dressed bikini girls walking by. They are not at all prepared to be bombarded with complex vocabulary that is completely out of sync with the topic you are writing on.

And if they are not prepared to deal with your writing, then expect them to move on and read another article instead - and you can be sure that they’re never coming to your site, too.

We’re all tempted to use long, complex words, especially in cases when we haven’t got enough research material to work with and need to “pad” our paragraphs a little bit. For example, a lot of my writing experience (before I started working online, of course) came from writing graduate-level research papers on International Relations (you can imagine the number of complicated words I used - some of the sentences were long and puzzling enough to confuse even my professors, which, sadly, is a point of sick pride for me).

However, please keep in mind that the tone and vocabulary of your article should reflect its theme to ensure a seamless reading experience for your visitors. Sure, big words make you sound smart - but your readers aren’t interested in a demonstration of your intellectual prowess. Instead, what they are looking for is an easy-to-digest article - and if they catch themselves having to read the same sentence once or twice to get the gist of it, then you know you are doing something wrong.

Recently, I discovered an amazing feature in Firefox that further reaffirmed my belief that this browser is indeed the best thing since sliced bread.

Basically, it turns out that you can bookmark all tabs currently open in a Firefox window with just one or two clicks of your right mouse button (just right-click on the tab and select “Bookmark All Tabs” in the menu that pops up). Even better, after all of those tabs have been bookmarked into a category, you can open all of them at the same time - again, with just one push of a button (highlight the bookmark folder you wish to open and, right after the last bookmark, you’ll see the “Open All Bookmarks” option).

What it means for you as an article writer is that you can afford to keep as many tabs open as you need to as you start your research without worrying about scribbling down individual links or having to bookmark 10+ tabs one by one. If you decide to stop your research for the night, you can just bookmark them all with one click and re-open them tomorrow, all while keeping them nicely organized in one folder.

I don’t know how the Firefox team manages to come up with some great features, but the world would surely be a worse place without them.

Let’s be honest here - when it comes to writing articles, most of us do our research online. Of course, ordinarily we would cite our sources by providing links to the websites where we found the information in the first place. Unfortunately, when it comes to PLR jobs - and, in 99% cases, if you’re writing for someone else, it will be a PLR job - the client will not appreciate a product cluttered with links to sites other than their own. Every such link is another opportunity for the reader to go somewhere other than the client’s site, therefore defeating the whole purpose of an engaging and informative article in the first place.

On the other hand, if you are not citing your sources - and, as a PLR writer, you’re forced not to - then you’re effectively exposing yourself to accusations of plagiarism. One way to avoid it is to “mix up” the information a little bit by using multiple sources. However, what do you do when there’s only one source on the topic you are writing? How do you avoid plagiarizing the work, since there’s only so much content you can write and so many ways in which you can write it?

The best way to avoid this danger is by taking notes. Read the site first and note all the information you find relevant, preferably in your own words. Once you feel you have everything you need to start writing, close the website and refer exclusively to your notes. This will force you to write everything in your own words and you will no longer subconsciously copy the writing style of the website. You can further reduce the risk by rearranging the logical sequence of your notes - in other words, by avoiding using the same content structure (Point A followed by Point B followed by Point C) and instead replacing it with your own (Point D followed by Point A followed by Point C - you get the idea).

Of course, none of this will change the fact that you are effectively engaging in plagiarism (since it is defined as using any ideas that you found in other works without citing your sources) - but it will, at the very least, help you cover your tracks a little bit. Plagiarism is an unfortunate but inevitable part of life for every PLR writer, and it is probably the only part of article writing that I genuinely loathe.

Alright, so suppose you just landed yourself with a contract to write an X amount of articles on a specific topic. Even before your client finalizes all the details, it’s a good idea to already start doing some research. This way, you’ll be able to notify your client of any specific problems that you feel may impede your research or the actual process of writing (for instance, lack of information, need for excusive access, confidential material etc). The purpose of this post is to give you a few pointers on how to get started on researching the material you’ll need for your articles.

Why do websites provide information? Unless the content owner is suffering from a bad case of verbal diarrhea, chances are, information is being provided to answer specific questions that visitors might have. What are the best places to rent a car in Chicago? Where in the area can I find a 24/7 grocery store? And is there a place around here a guy can get a drink? Remember, the key to making your articles interesting and engaging is to answer the questions that people want answered. A good rule of the thumb is to ask yourself - “Why would someone want to read what I’m writing?” And if your answer is something along the lines of “Well, it’s good for your general education and it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside,” then I strongly suggest you stop now, because, quite frankly, you probably have no idea what your readers are interested in.

How can you identify some of the key issues and questions? Well, there’s a couple of ways of doing it. Firstly, you can try checking what people are already searching for on the Internet. This involves doing a little bit of keyword research (don’t freak out now, it’s not that complicated) - simply head to Overture (http://inventory.overture.com) and enter your keyword/key phrase. For the sake of the argument, let’s enter “car rental” and check out the results. Hmm, let’s see now - people are looking for budget car rentals, airport car rentals and even exotic car rentals (are dancers included?) This should already give you an idea of what people are interested in - however, you will probably need to drill down a little bit more to get more accurate and specific results. If you’re comfortable with keyword research, it could be a good way of doing it - but if you aren’t, not to worry, there’s another technique that you can use that requires no special skills.

Ever noticed how people sometimes open the introductory paragraph of their article with a question (like this one?) Normally, this question will be addressing a specific need for information, and you can infer from it some of the questions that people want answered (otherwise why write an article?) EzineArticles is a good place to look for articles already written on the subject. Now, before you get all carried away, let’s be very clear on something - I am not suggesting you plagiarize existing works. This is bad business, both for you and your client, and if you get caught - and, chances are, you will - you’ll lose a lot of reputation and goodwill. Don’t do it. With that said, EzineArticles is a great place to get a general overview of the subject as well as to see what specific questions writers are trying to answer in their works.

Another way to get some hints on what people are looking for is by checking online publications. Quite a few of them will attempt to engage their reader with sentences along the lines of “If you’re new in Chicago, finding a reliable and inexpensive car rental service can be a challenging task.” There you go, then - that’s as good a hint as any as to what people are looking for. Give it to them!

Finally, forums are also a tremendous - albeit somewhat time-consuming - way of doing research and identifying key issues. Find some relevant forums (you can easily Google them up by using “topic name” + forum) and see what people are asking about. If you see a multitude of threads along the lines of “Oh my God, where do I find a good car rental in Chicago” - well, you got your work cut out for you, and it’s living, breathing people that are feeding you the info, not robotic search engines!

To summarize, always try to have a clear idea of the questions that you want to answer in your article. Remember, people don’t read online content for the sheer hell of it - otherwise Google would be out of work in no time - they’re reading because they want their questions answered. By figuring out what it is that they want and then giving it to them, you will make your articles that little bit more compelling and relevant, and both yourself and your client that little bit richer.

If you’ve ever written a university term paper before, then you’ve probably been taught to open it with a sentence along the lines of “This term paper will discuss” or “The objective of this research project is to evaluate…” Now, don’t get me wrong - this is a good way to grab your professor’s attention and tell him exactly what your paper about. Unfortunately, this is probably also why he always looked so bored when correcting papers!

If you are writing an article, always avoid kicking it off with a sentence explaining what it’s all about. It’s old, it’s boring, it’s just not exciting, and it will put your readers to sleep faster than an overdose of sedatives. There are many ways to open an article - a lot of good ones are in Crystal’s post on the Warrior Forum that I linked to yesterday - but this is one way not to do it.

Adding some jokes and deliberate overexaggerations here and there is a tremendous way to lighten up your article and make it more engaging for your readers. However, let’s be honest about something - not all of us find it easy to come up with jokes that we can easily integrate into written text. Sure, Scott Adams can probably come up with a whole page of dead chipmunk jokes in a blink of an eye - however, I’m not Mr. Adams, and, if you’re reading this, then probably neither are you. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t put a joke or two in your articles.

See, I believe in artificial, technical, calculated humor. For some of us, humor comes naturally and we find ourselves putting jokes in without even having to think about them first. Sure, that’s a great way of doing it - but it doesn’t work for most people, myself included. Therefore, there’s a lot to be said about jokes that you painstakingly research and methodically integrate into your content. Now, this might not sound as glamorous and care-free as you might expect, but the point I’m making here is that you don’t need to be a stand-up comedian to add quality jokes to your article that will make your reader chuckle. Don’t freak out if you realize that your article reads like a Ph.D paper - there’s still some humor within you, you just need to drag it out of yourself and into the text in a more methodical and technical manner.

Yes, it can be done - sometimes it takes time and effort, but your readers will appreciate it.

For those of you new to Internet marketing, I thought I’d take a moment to explain the concept of PLR (Private Label Rights).

Suppose you’re looking to promote your website and/or product in the tried-and-true bum marketing way - by submitting an interesting, engaging and SEO’ed article to, say, Ezine Articles (EZA for short). If the article is good enough, people on EZA will read it and hopefully click on the link in your bio box (and if you’re really lucky and the article is really good, then it will get circulated around via newsletters as well as reposted on other people’s sites - all with your link included). In short, you’ll end up with some nice traffic and plenty of inbound links if you play your cards right, which should help you a lot when it comes to competing on Google for SERPS for the keywords you need.

But what do you do is you can’t write articles, don’t know the first thing about search engine optimization of content or just haven’t got the time to do either? That’s where Private Label Rights articles come in. Basically, when you purchase a PLR article, you can do whatever the heck you want with it - modify it, rewrite it, print it out and make paper airplanes out of it. You can even put your name on it if you’re so inclined - and you will be, because passing off PLR articles as your own is one good way of coming up with content for your website as well as for article directories.

Now, obviously, you won’t be the only one buying that PLR article, and duplicate content hurts your ranking in Google, so the next step is to modify the article (remember, you have every right to do so since you own all the rights to it) and to make it truly unique. Submitting a PLR article to an article directory is a sure-fire way of either hurting your own Google rank (because everyone who’s ever bought the article is now doing the same thing) or getting banned from EZA (they don’t like PLR or ghost-written content) - in fact, you’ll end up dealing with both, most likely.

However, since the PLR article is already optimized around keywords, all you really need to do is rewrite it rephrase its content. Remember, the research and search engine optimization have already been done for you - now you just need to make the thing unique.

Does this sound like a lot of work? To an extent, it is - but it’s a heck of a lot less work than writing an article all by yourself (you’re looking at an hour per article, research included - less once you have some experience in the field), and it’s definitely much cheaper than paying someone to ghostwrite articles for you (for instance, I charge about $10 per article, whereas you can easily get a package of 20+ PLR articles for roughly $15-20, depending on their topic and content).

So, as you can see, PLR articles do have some drawbacks (the need to rewrite being the major one), but they’re a quick and effective solution for anyone looking to add some content to their site or submit a piece or two to EZA/Goarticles. Most importantly, PLR articles are also extremely useful - and profitable - for bum marketing (and if you want to know why, stick around, I’ll be experimenting with that before too long).

One thing that I - and I’m sure a lot of others - have struggled with is how to write a good introduction to your article that gets your reader hooked enough to make them read the rest of it. Well, never fear - Crystal just posted an amazing list of hints over at the Warrior Forum (can you tell I love that place?) which contain some rather ideas on how to kickstart your article.

Here’s the link:

http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=134735

There are Macintosh users in our midst! Though you’re most likely oblivious to their presence, they’re there - congregating in secret sects, dabbling in occult rituals and worshing their mystical deity known to outsiders only as the Great Apple.

All joking aside, though, when you’re submitting your articles to a client, keep in mind that their OS might not necessarily be the same as yours. What it means for you as an article writer is that all that lovely formatting you did in Microsoft Word can go to waste, since a Mac client will have a heck of a time opening it. Therefore, when accepting an article contract, be sure to always check with your client what format they want the articles delivered in - it’ll save both of you time and trouble.