Blogging Ideas

This post on the 10 (no, 11… yes, 11) tips for newbies is not written from the catbird seat point of view of the article publisher or database manager. It is rather by and from the point of view of an author who recalls the early misgivings. It is written especially for the beginning article writer. I have composed and presented hundreds of compositions for publication to numerous of article directories and database managers and still finds article writing my nemesis.

1. Needs vs Wants:
Compositions and Blogs are necessary in present day system of search engine indexing. Not what the newbie wants to hear. Just think of what the Holy Book states, “there has nothing over taken you that is not common to man”. That’s right! Many of us detest article and blogging at times, and some of us dread the journey to pen and paper (or keyboard as the case may be) all the time. Many a webmaster would call them “a unavoidable evil” as they are not mostly anyone’s best wished house keeping jobs.

2. Just Start, It Gets Better:
First it is often hard to get a subject or theme and to get started. We know authors who actually get sick thinking about the process. Lighten up. There are a lot to write about, name it: alternative medicine, cancer diseases, true religion, life insurance, playing online poker, cheap insurance. Others may think of even more unusual topics such as penis enlargement and cheap viagra. Once an writer has a starting point and gets passed the introductory thoughts, article and blog writing usually works pretty smoothly.

The key thing is that you begin writing. Pick a theme you know something about and just begin writing. You will be pleasantly amazed at just how easily ideas flow. Don’t assume everyone knows what you know. They don’t. Will Rogers once said, “all men are ignorant, just on different subjects”. And, so it is!

3. Good vs Perfection:
Your old English composition professor is not looking over your shoulder. Your composition need not to be perfect. It doesn’t mean it should not get a point or to say that it does not have to be correct. At least it does or it should be. But, perfection is not the goal and is, in fact, rarely possible. Too much detail and you run the risk of losing your reader on several levels. Too long and
most readers simply don’t have the time or interest to read the material irrespective of how important it is.

4. Blog Length vs Article Length:
Most web publishers require a minimum of 600 words per article – some will let you slide with four hundred (400) words. Blogs can be much smaller. Blogs can and maybe should support appropriate images and embedded links.

Don’t over do it though. Too gaudy or too slow to load and you have wasted your time, ticked off a potential reader, and probably upset a host who can ban you entirely from their service. articles, on the other hand, typically cannot carry these extra touches concurring to the essentials of most publishers.

5. Format:
Save your article in ASCII format. There are a lot of software from which to choose to get the job done. A search for ‘free ASCII editor’ or for ‘free plain text editors’ will provide one with a multitude of free options. WordPress is a popular pick. If all fails simply use notepad to turn out your masterpiece.

6. Grammar and Spelling:
Once you have your article or blog run it through a good spell checker and a good grammar checker. Microsoft Word works well for these purposes. Just don’t use the MS Word copy for publication of your article. Rather use its suggestions to make any necessary corrections to your copy in plain text. The MS Word copy will work for blogs although other editors are favored.

Like the good old days when you were encouraged by teachers, you will find article and blog authoring skills become better with time and practice.

7. Publish and Announce:
Once your article is ready you may want to utilize some automatic tools to publish and announce it. First do a search for Blog servers and select those which best suit your needs. Register in one or more and publish your blog there. Then search for blog and RSS announcers and use them to get your blog noticed.

Now that you have that out of the way find an article wizard that will post your writings to free article publishers. You can post them one at a time by hand if you are really bored and have absolutely nothing else in life to do. Using an automatic poster you can publish to hundreds of hosts in an hour or so. The only way to go.

8. Patience:
Now, have some patience. Here is where you lose control. Many of those who host articles are timely and your writings will be reviewed in a span of 1 to 2 days. But, many others will be days and weeks down the road therefore never date an article – a sure way to get rejected.

9. Rejection – “sorry your article has been declined”:
Be prepared for most hosts to reject your compositions. Do not be personal about this. It usually has little to do with you or your article.

Some sites routinely reject compositions for spelling errors when there are none or where there is more than way to spell a word. And, just as in any other endeavor some hosts are simply too slow-moving and get so far behind, the best and quickest thing to do (and perhaps the only alternative) is to reject the whole article. You will know who does this over time.

Then there are those who run your writings through the sausage grinder and if they find certain words, irrespective of how they are used, your article gets no farther. These are those who can’t even publish the Bile because of the words it contains that may offend readers. These are people who are narrow-minded and doesn’t deserve a place in article writing.

Remember, just as in everything else in life, for every rule there is an exception.

10. Always believe, and keep cranking out articles:
Since most authors, especially newbies, prepare only one copy of an article against the advice of most seasoned authors it is important that the newbie keep his chin up – keep the faith. That will be easier as more and more of your articles are accepted and published taking visitors to your website while producing those all significant links to your sites.

It is not unavoidable that every publisher to accept every submission. After one or two hosts publish your article on any given subject, the search engines tend to penalize additional postings of the same article. This is close to spamming and while it could help someone find you, it probably won’t. It is not necessarily, the more the merrier. The additional listings will not increment your page rankings or links reported by the search engines. It is more significant to get your article published by directories with the highest Google PageRank possible.

Now, one Incentive Hint for you: Along with “the rejection slip” will usually come a proposition on how to “fix” your article and a asking that you submit it again. Don’t blow your time. While trying comply with one database manager’s request you could have written a new article where you can get more exposure. There will be enough web publishers will get your article up so move on and save yourself some time and heartburn.

Each person has a thought or idea at least once a day usually at the wrongest time. How many of these ideas are lost because you procrastinate? Don’t procrastinate! Go! Write that thought before it is gone forever.

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