Article Surfing Archive

Each day hundreds of articles make their way to the Internet from article submission sites to blogs. Yet, if the purpose of article distribution is a marketing mechanism to increase web site traffic, what creates the loyal readers who look to find your articles on the web? Simply, what makes one article viewed and consequently distributed many more times than another?

In reviewing my own articles, I realized that the more that I could connect my personal or professional experiences to the content of the article, the greater the increase in views. People want more than the purely technical information. They want to know from your experiences what worked, what didn't work and by sharing your experiences how the article can help them.

Writing from a personal viewpoint is a challenge because you as the writer do not want to overload the effort with a lot of 'I's.' However, by not including some personal perspective, the reader cannot make a connection with you. If the reader cannot connect with you as the writer, there is a greater likelihood that the reader will not read your complete article. If they don't finish the article, they probably won't forward the article, review the article nor include the article for future distribution. HINT #5: People will buy who you are first and then what you do second.

When writing using personal experiences, you are beginning the development of a relationship. As more articles are submitted, readers have the opportunity to see you as a giving, sharing individual who truly wants to help them overcome a current challenge or prepare them for a future one.

Since I have changed my writing style to be more personal, I have experienced dramatic feedback in both the articles and the monthly newsletter than I co-publish at www.processspecialist.com/newsletters.htm. Will ever reader relate to your article? Absolutely not! However, I believe that if the goal is to increase traffic to your website and to have your article widely distributed, you must make yourself unique. Given all the information out there, one of the simplest ways to achieve that goal is to write from a more personal viewpoint.

Asking yourself the following three questions may help you write with a personal viewpoint while sharing what you do or know.

1. What excites me as a reader?

2. From my own experiences, what can I share to help others?

3. Am I truly sharing or editorializing?

Copyright 2005(c) Leanne Hoagland-Smith, www.processspecialist.com

This article may be freely published. Permission to publish this article, electronically or in print, as long as the bylines are included, with a live link, and the article is not changed in any way (grammatical corrections accepted).