Why Researching Articles to Death Is A Waste of Time

article marketing

Use "What?" for article marketing

A guest post by Sean DSouza of Psychotactics

The world was flat.
Now it’s round.
Who knows? Maybe it’s square.

Research helps. But there’s a problem with research.

And it’s called counter-research. Tea is good for you. Tea is bad for you. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Drink 16 glasses of water a day. The list goes on forever. And forever isn’t a bad thing, but the information is grossly conflicting. There’s almost nothing you can nail down with absolutely certainty.

And when you’re writing an article, it’s easy to want to absolutely nail the article down with irrefutable research. So you spend seventeen hours (or seventeen thousand hours, as the case may be) and you come up with data from books, white papers. Or just stuff you find online.

And part of the problem with research is:

1) Research is often funded by lobby groups.
2) Information passed down can miss out relevant bits.
3) Facts that we know about aren’t valid any more.

Let’s take the first: Research funded by lobby groups.

You know the groups. They are like you and me. They have an agenda. They want to sell something. So they make you want to like milk, or spinach or whatever. They fund research; they pour squillions of dollars into it. And all it proves is one thing: That whatever they’re selling is good for you.

Of course you don’t see the research that way.

The way the research is presented is in a nice, interesting fact-driven way that makes you believe in the product/service. Suddenly your perception changes, because as human beings we only have to be given facts and a truckload of statistics, and whoops we change our perception. Lobby groups aren’t some insane bunch of people. They’re just like you and me. We turn to our kids and tell them to eat spinach so that they can grow tall and strong. And the kids buy it.

Doesn’t matter if the spinach doesn’t have the nutrients to get those kids big and strong. Doesn’t matter if we’ve cooked the goodness out of the darned spinach. The kids eat into the idea—and hopefully the spinach. We are a lobby group. The lobby groups are lobby groups. We present information in the best light. Then we add figures and facts. And it becomes something written in stone.

And sometimes it’s not written in stone. Which takes us to our second problem.

Problem 2: The data is hand-me down

Take your tea bags and use the tea in them to polish hardwood floors. Put turmeric and honey in hot water and drink it. And your cough will go away. These are hand-me down facts. They work. But do they work for everyone? And are some of the details being missed out? Who knows? It’s impossible to tell and at best the details remain more or less accurate. Or inaccurate, depending on the situation. The problem is that you can go online today, find these facts (after seventeen hours of searching) and then believe them to be true.

And the fact is the facts often have holes in them.

You can’t necessarily trust that what you’re reading is correct and will work for you. So the only way to find out is to make it work for you. You take those tea bags and polish a part of your hardwood floor. Does it work? Do the floors shine? Ah, now you’ve got a personal story of your own. You’ve got your own hand-me-down tale to tell.

Let’s just hope it doesn’t get distorted along the way, shall we?

So that’s the problem with hand-me down data. It looks very valid indeed. But unless you try and prove it to yourself, it’s something you need to take with a pinch of salt—or turmeric

And that takes us to the final problem: The data keeps changing.

Problem 3: Facts that we know aren’t valid any more.

As recently as the year 1980, most neuroscientists believed that the brain was non-plastic. Plasticity means that the brain is adaptable. That damage, strokes and other horrible things that could ruin a brain, are not permanent after all.

There’s now research (yeah I know the irony of using the word there) that there was tissue damage of 97% in one brain area which should have rendered the patient incapable of doing anything.. And yet the patient re-learned everything: to crawl, walk, and then live a pretty normal life.

I want you to understand one thing. These were neuroscientists. They live, breathe, and map their entire careers around research. And they were wrong. The brain is plastic. We know that now. But hey, that data changes as well. And who’s to know what’s going to come around the corner?

So does this mean you should not use research in your articles?

No it doesn’t mean that at all. All you need to understand is that you can’t be spending those all those hours tracking down facts. Because often these so-called facts are wrong. And then there’s the issue of fluid facts. Facts change as we get to know more. And really what applies to one person is not going to necessarily apply to you.

If someone says they got a 33% increase in turnover, it’s not going to apply to you. That turnover increase was based on a certain strategy, in a certain market, at a certain time. It sounds like a fact, and it is. But it doesn’t always hold good for everyone. Researching information for your article makes it look great, but be aware that data is a moving target.

This may look like a research-bashing article when in fact it’s not.

It’s just a bit of advice to avoid spending endless hours trying to find research that may be flawed in the first place. Go ahead, do your research, but put an egg timer. If you don’t get what you’re looking for in about 22 minutes, it’s time to get your own facts together. No, don’t make it up, but tell us your own experience. In reality it may be better to simply write what you know because it makes for a good story and as you know, stories have facts.

Research makes things interesting. So if you find it, use it.

But your own case-studies are just as interesting. So don’t be bashful. Use it more often.
It saves you time. And yes, you may be wrong.

Well, so were the neuroscientists. So you’re in good company.

To read more articles by Sean DSouza—and get a very useful report on “Why Headlines Fail”, go to PsychoTactics.com

Join Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch in their spectacular training environment for bloggers: the A-List Blogger Club.

Categories: Craft, Freelancing

How to Write What People Actually Want to Read

best key word tool

Market Samurai


By Mary Jaksch, Chief Editor of WTD

So let’s say you want to write a piece that will knock the socks off your readers.

How can you find out if they’ll be interested in the topic you’re keen to write about?

Here’s a quick quiz: Which way works best?

  • Keep your fingers crossed as you write the piece
  • Ask your Auntie Dotty whether your readers will like it
  • Consult the IChing
  • Ask your readers
  • Find out what thousands of people want to know about

OK. So, it’s definitely uncomfortable crossing your fingers while writing (I’ve tried it) – and it may not have much effect. As to Aunt Dottie’s advice – she may not be in tune with your readers.

And the IChing is difficult to interpret. Here’s the kind of cryptic answer you get when consulting this ancient book of predictions: “To be powerful in the cheekbones brings misfortune” (honestly – I didn’t invent that!) As I said, it’s hard to interpret…or does that tell you what kind of piece to write?

The other two options work but – which one is best?

Option 1: Ask your readers

This is where the power of blogging comes into play. Because as a blogger you can consult your readers and ask them what they would like to read.

You can do that by using a free survey tool like Surveymonkey.com or you can ask them in a post. Either way, you’ll get some feedback.

Actually, you’ve already asked your readers. After all, blog comments are answers that your readers have given. If you look carefully at blog comments, you can get a good sense of the kind of topics they like and will respond favorably to.

The drawback with this method is that you’re only looking at your present pool of readers. If you want to reach out to new readers, it’s better to do some research to see what people out there really, really want to know.

Option 2: Use keyword research

What do you do if you want to know something online? Most likely, you’ll search for an answer on Google or on other search engines. That’s what most people do.

Whatever your niche is, there are a huge number of searches going on all the time.

It’s like a huge, hungry stream of traffic just waiting to find a post or video that can answer particular questions.

In the past, I’ve taken no notice at all of all this search engine activity. I would simply write what came into my head. In fact, if someone mentioned ‘keyword’ or ‘SEO’, I’d run screaming from the room.

But these days, I’ve turned into a SEO Ninja. Weird, eh?

Why is this keyword thing so important?

Because over time, more and more blog traffic arrives from Search Engines. When you start out with a new blog, there’ll only be a trickle. But over time this trickle can turn into a flood. All you need to do in order to direct huge traffic to particular blog posts, is to know the keywords that people use in order to search for posts like yours.

How to find keywords that generate huge traffic

The trick is to find keywords that many people are searching for – but where there are few competing websites.

Let’s put it to the test.

Imagine that you write a blog about health and fitness. You’re keen to write a post about fitness, but you want to make sure people really want to read it.

You’re faced with a group of possible topics that revolve around the following keywords:

  • What is fitness?
  • Exercises and workouts
  • Exercises workout
  • Health and fitness

Which do you think would be the best choice? (Quickly choose one without peeking below…)

Of course, you could ask Auntie Dotty. But you could also use a keyword tool to find the answer.

Here is a screenshot of the keyword tool I use, called Market Samurai (you can get a free version at Bestkeywordtool):

best key word tool

You can glean some crucial information here. If you write a post about ‘health and fitness’ you’ll be up against huge competition: over 79 million websites target this particular keyword phrase. Not good.

However, if you write about ‘what is fitness?’, or about ‘exercises workout’, the competition is a lot lower. (It may still look high at first glance, but most of the competing websites may only mention a particular keyword or keyphrase in a forum, or in some obscure place.)

The important thing is that over half a million people are searching for the phrase ‘what is fitness’ each and every day. That’s huge traffic!

Through doing some keyword research, you’ve not only found a great keyword phrase that will bring traffic to your site, you’ve also come away with inspiration. After all, “What is fitness?” is a lovely topic to write about.

You can easily see that if you had chosen, say, ‘health and fitness’ instead of ‘what is fitness’, your post would have no chance of appearing high up in the search engines. That’s why it’s important to become a bit of a keyword ninja. Your blog will thank you :-)

In order to optimize your post for a particular keyword phrase you can get a free plugin, called WordPress SEO which helps you to use the keywords you’ve found in all the right places.

For full SEO (Search Engine Optimization), you should use your keywords in the title, in subheadings, in the text itself, as well as in the image tags.

Here are an easy YouTube tutorials which explain how to do keyword research:

Tip: go to Bestkeywordtool to download a free version of Market Samurai.

Remember, I’m not a geek. So if I can learn to use a tool like this, so can you. In fact, learning how to do keyword research has been one of the major breakthroughs for me as a blogger. I just wish I’d learned how to do it when I first started out.

What’s your sense of keyword research? Should writers bother with it or not? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

best key word toolMary Jaksch is the Editor of WritetoDone. She is also the blogger behind Goodlife ZEN.

Join Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch in their spectacular training environment for bloggers: the A-List Blogger Club.

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft

Writing About Yourself Without Being Arrogant or Apologetic

how to write about yourself

How to write about yourself?

By Thursday Bram of of EnhancedFreelance.com

I wrote my first sales page in the third person. I was young, naive and desperately wanted to be taken seriously — and I thought ‘we’ sounded more professional than ‘I.’ After all, it would be sheer arrogance to assume that anyone wanted to hear what ‘I’ had to say.

The ebook sold okay, but I got an email at least a thousand words long, lambasting me for claiming to be a ‘we’ when it was so obvious that it was just me.

Who Wants to Write About Themselves?

Writing what you know is supposed to be easy. What do we know better than ourselves?

In theory, writing about ourselves should be easy. But even if you’re a full-time writer, pounding out thousands of words at a time, writing about yourself can be incredibly difficult. A short bio can be agonizing, while a sales page about your expertise can be the cause of writer’s block so severe that you never want to write again. After staring at a blank screen long enough, it seems tempting to put the bare bones and an apology for even trying to convince the reader that you’re worth the time it takes them to scan your words.

Of course, this isn’t universal: There are a few lucky people around us who can pour words about their experiences and expertise on to the page without a qualm. Those are the folks that are prone to a very different temptation. Arrogance can creep into such writing very easily.

I’m not about to point to any particular person as apologetic or arrogant, but think about the about pages and sales pages of some of the bigger bloggers you know. There are some blogs where it’s obvious that the person writing is able to just start typing and work with what comes out, not always toning down any arrogance that shows up. There are others where, especially in early posts, you can see more starts and stops — more thought and stress goes into the work. The really great writers leave some signs of thought in their work (even if we’re just talking about a simple bio), while polishing off rough corners. Those are almost always writers who have been at their craft for years.

Learning to Write About Yourself in Less than a Decade

If you don’t have years to dedicate to honing your writing craft, there are techniques that you can use to learn the skill significantly faster.

One of the first issues you have to resolve is getting comfortable with telling other people how awesome you are. I’m not the sort of person to get particularly concerned with the more mystical aspects of writing, but when it comes to writing about yourself, you have to be in the right mental space. There are lots of options, but since we’re all different, you ‘ll likely need to go through some trial and error to find the right way to see yourself.

  • Write a list of why you’re the perfect expert or writer for this project.
  • Meditate before you write.
  • Ask other people to tell you why they think you’re good at what you do.
  • Recite some affirmations.

Personally, I find that writing out a bulleted list is one of the best ways to tackle this sort of problem. That’s because not only does it remind me of why I’m a good fit for what I’m working on, but it also gives me a head start on the actual writing. I may have to rephrase things to avoid any awkward arrogance, but that’s easier than starting from a blank page.

Next, you need to build awareness of who will be reading what you’re writing. If we’re just talking about a bio to attach to the end of a blog post, it’s generally not tough: the audience is the same as the post you’ve just written. They’re going to want to know if you’ve done anything else on a similar topic and where they can find more of your excellent writing, provided that the post was good.

But if we’re talking about something a little more in-depth — like sales copy — your reader probably has a very specific problem or concern that she’s hoping that you (and whatever you’re selling) can fix. You have to be aware of those concerns and figure out how you can reassure your reader. A ‘Mama Knows Best’ attitude isn’t going to cut it. You’ve got to put together something that directly addresses potential problems and doesn’t solely rely on expressing your own abilities. Write out the questions you think someone would have, if you need to, and answer them. Include examples from your own experiences if you can (and if they’re a little humbling, so much the better).

The more you can focus on the reader and getting across what she needs to know, the less you need to worry about your own voice. You’re an expert (otherwise, why would you be writing), but you’re also more concerned with making the reader comfortable than with talking about your own greatness.

Write in Drafts

Especially with the fast pace of writing online and publishing instantly, it’s easy to get out of the habit of writing first for review and then for the general public. But when you’re writing about yourself, you’re literally too close to the topic. Even if you’re comfortable with the process, it’s easy to make assumptions that someone will know exactly what you’re thinking when they read your work.

That makes writing a first draft and showing it to someone especially important. We can get stuck inside our own heads far too easily, but if you can find someone who preferably has no involvement in the project at all to look over what you’ve written, you can avoid a lot of the potential problems that go along with writing about yourself.

Thursday Bram has been freelancing for more than eight years — the last four full-time. She’s the co-founder of EnhancedFreelance.com, a membership site for freelancers ready to up their game.

Join Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch in their spectacular training environment for bloggers: the A-List Blogger Club.

Categories: Craft

The Ultimate 15 point Checklist to Make Your Writing Come Alive

Make your writing come alive

A guest post by Marya Zainab of Writing Happiness.

So you have defeated all the noises that play havoc inside your head, and finally put down something on paper – you have written a piece.

First of all, a big congratulations to you. First drafts are often the easiest to write provided you have understood them for what they are; just the first drafts – the initial write up. You will have many of them.

According to Natalie Goldberg of Bird by Bird and Writing Down the Bones, they are almost always shitty and you don’t know what your finished piece looks like – yet. But that’s ok, because now the real work of writing starts.

Gather your draft and start editing. This is where craft and structure begin.

#1 Read Aloud

Read the text aloud to yourself. You will discover many inconsistencies in your writing that you will not be able to discover otherwise.

Sometimes, your writing will feel jittery and you may stumble over words. Make a note of it all. Aim to read it without watching it fall flat.

Read each piece at least once, listening for crazy sentences. Rewrite more by simply saying out loud what you are really trying to say.

#2 Read for Voice

Have you found your voice yet, or are you still working on it? Either way, read your draft to see if it sounds like you.

Can your voice be heard? Does your writing resonate with the sound of your voice? Can your reader guess it might be you who have written the post? If not, rewrite to let your personality shine through.

A strong voice will add authenticity to your work. Choose your words carefully and soulfully. Readers always appreciate this quality in writing.

#3 Keep Your Readers in Mind

Who have you written this piece for? Imagine them when you are reading it again.

Is your language appropriate? Have you confused or patronized them, appeared sexist? Have you said anything that might not sit well with your audience?

You want to be considerate of your audience – neither appearing to be snobbish, nor talking to them like you would to a child. Show your respect for your readers.

Keeping their faces in mind, change any sections that you have doubts about.

#4 Is your Lead Right?

Is your lead like bait that will pull your readers in or something that would repel them?

When you are writing a narrative, you are telling a story. Your beginning needs to pull the reader in. Let your reader know what your piece is about.

Clue them in early so they know exactly what to expect. They need to go through the experience with you. If kept in the dark for long, they might lose interest quickly and drift away. Provide them with details that will invoke their interest in the topic.

#5 Is Your Conclusion Right?

What is the point to your writing?

Through your insights or your take on something, the reader can connect with the experience you write about. The ending needs to bring them some understanding and insight, or lead to a slight shift in awareness. If your writing doesn’t do anything like that, you need to revisit its purpose.

You need a beginning, a middle and an end – its that simple. Pay attention to your ending, you must get it right. If you are not happy with it, rework it.

#6 Smooth Out Changes in Tone

Your tone is your attitude towards the topic, reader and yourself. It is impossible to write without a tone – it is apparent in the selection of your words.

Your voice, tone and structure will emerge as you write. It’s impossible to do that in your head. You have to have a first draft in front of you to begin your critique. Only by writing, you will be able to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Read again to see if there are any many clashes in tone. Decide on the dominant one and keep it constant throughout. Make sure your writing maintains a consistent tone.

#7 Use Verb Contractions

If your tone allows it, if the rhythm permits it, use contractions to lighten your prose. Instead of saying ‘You were not even listening, say you weren’t even listening to me. Replace I will come with I’ll come and so on.

#8 Look at Paragraphs Again

Does your paragraph have a topic sentence that supports one point for the whole paragraph?

Each paragraph should be a series of sentences exploring one main idea. Every sentence should relate to that main point. New thought? Start another one.

Your paragraphs should connect with each other in a logical, seamless flow. Use transitions to logically connect one paragraph to another.

Vary the length of your paragraphs to make them more interesting.

#9 Vary Length of Sentences

Have you varied the length of your sentences? Give your reader’s mind and eye a rest by doing that. Split long sentences into two to make them reader friendly.

#10 Fix Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence is not necessarily one that goes on and on. It is perfectly fine to craft long sentences.

A run-on sentence is when two or more clauses (complete meanings) are joined by a comma instead of being separated by a full stop. You can also use a conjunction to connect the clauses.

I went to a party, I was really exhausted. This is a run on sentence, it has two complete ideas.
I went to a party. Afterwards, I was really exhausted. Or
I went to a party but I was really exhausted afterwards. Both are correct.

Get rid of any run-on sentences and excessive commas. Use full stops more boldly. Could you improve your sentences by restructuring them?

#11 Get Rid of Clichés

Cliches are sprinkled in to make your writing feel professional, often it does the opposite.

The only thing that your writing needs is that it is honest and specific. You don’t have to use fancy, clever or literary language.

Instead of using cliches, aim to write to surprise your reader. Say something unexpected, use humour and delight them, and enjoy yourself in the process.

#12 Use Exclamation Marks Sparingly

You need emotion in your writing: anger, grief, frustration, embarrassment, fear, love are all that makes it interesting. However, don’t try to bring attention to them by using exclamation marks. Use strong, vivid words to communicate that instead.

A sentence that falls flat without using an exclamation mark, is a flat sentence. It should have the same impact, even when you take the exclamation mark away.

#13 Check for Qualifiers

Check your use of adjectives and qualifiers (words that precede qualifiers) such as very, little, quite, rather, just, indeed etc.

Use strong words, use them with authority.

#14 Eliminate Unnecessary Words

We use thousands of unnecessary words in our writing. Go back and revise, cut everything that you can without affecting the meaning and the message in your piece. If you won’t notice its gone, remove it.

Every single word must pull its weight. Tighten your prose. Eliminate repetitious information.

#15 Proofread

Finally, proofread. Make any last minute corrections.

Give it at least twenty four hours. Its handy to change the font, size or colour when you do. The text will feel fresh, like you are reading it for the first time.

Many people still rush through this stage and inevitably end up with typos and other mistakes in their writing. Be thorough, use a spell-check.

You know you are done, when you have done the best you can. Relax, and be proud.

Which aspect of editing do you dread the most? What excites you? Share you best editing and revision tips in the comments below.

Marya is a communicator of ideas, exploring the human face of blogging. She offers quirky insights into personal development for bloggers. Catch more of her posts at Writing Happiness. For practical tips and inspiration, read Give Your Blog a Complete Makeoever – 18 Action Steps to the Path of Blogging Success.

Join Leo Babauta and Mary Jaksch in their spectacular training environment for bloggers: the A-List Blogger Club.

Categories: Blogwriting, Craft - Tags: , ,

Become the Hero of Your Writing Life

Be your own hero

A guest post by Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering.

The villains in my story are not vampires or psycho-killers, but they can suck the life out of me and kill my spirit just the same.

One is a grade eleven geography teacher, one’s a high school crush from the old neighbourhood,  one’s a smarmy guy in a fancy boardroom, and the other one is a pitiless workshop leader.

These are the villains of my writing life.

They creep into my bedroom at night and whisper to me that I’m not smart enough, not interesting enough, not talented enough, not good enough. They barge into my psyche and start trashing the place. They rip apart my ideas and ridicule my novel. They toss my self worth around the room and stomp all over my dreams of ever being published. They leave me shivering in the corner amidst the shredded remains of my novel.

Then I wake up and realize none of this is real.

We all have our demons. We’ve all heard crappy people say crappy things to us at one time or another in our lives. We hang onto that crap for way too long, letting it croon its repetitive song at centre stage in our brains, while we relegate any praise, awards or accomplishments to back-up singer status. But if we really want to keep on writing, we have to become the heroes in our own story. We have to stand up to those villains, be vigilant, stay awake to what matters and not let nightmares shape our writing life. To truly come to a place where we see ourselves as good enough, we must defend, fight, envision, love and do our writing. We must let our writer lead the charge.

Defend

Defending your right to write is one way to fend of the bad guys. When they show up, exercise your right to not let them in. Gently close the door and keep writing. Even if the writing isn’t perfect, flowing or great. Occasionally they’ll hammer at the door, but put your head down and stay focused on the work. Slowly, they’ll lose interest and leave you alone. Ignore them long enough and they’ll go away for good.

Fight

There comes a time in every heroes story when you have to kick some ass. Sometimes those villains are sneaky buggers and manage to get past the door, invading your psyche and acting like they own the place. Well they don’t. You own you. Take them out! Call each one out, look them straight in the teeth and let them know who’s boss once and for all. Standing up to this old baggage, those long-held hurts or those deep wounds can be the catalyst that finally exposes their weaknesses and sends them packing. Once you see them for what they truly are — false, ridiculous, timeworn, useless or petty – they tend to disappear in a hurry.

Envision

Focus on your writing dreams, not your nightmares. See them, believe them and live them. Sure they’re not real at the moment, but neither are your nightmares. Both can fuel you in good or bad ways. Choose to fuel your writing life with dreams of joy, abundance, family, fortune, fame, connection, adoration, fans, blessings, readings, best sellers, Ellen appearances, a house on the ocean … whatever works for you. Your villains will hate this vision and crawl back to wherever they came from. Let them.

Love

Take your writer out once in a while and romance them. Treat them like they’re special because … they are. Let them know you love them. Make them a nice cup of tea, arrange a cozy corner for them to write in, take them for a long walk to ponder a chapter, take them out to a lovely café to write, give them a good book to curl up with and be sure to let them get lots of rest, good food and exercise. Taking care of your writing hero will ensure they are strong enough to defend you when your villains try to bust in.

Do

Write. Write when the villains knock. Write even when they bust in the door. Write about them. Write about your dreams, your love of writing and your inner hero. Write. Write. Write and live happily ever after.

Katie is a smart, interesting, talented, worthy writer working on a novel, a documentary film and an online course called The Habit Course. She blogs at Momentum Gathering.

Read Katie Tallo’s ‘bestselling’ posts on WTD:
Adventures of a Naked Blogger
201 Ways to Arouse Your Creativity

The A-List Blogger Club has changed my life. When I started blogging, I didn’t know a tweet from a widget. Now I write a successful blog that has gone from zero to over 4000 subscribers in only one year. Mary and Leo have created a community that is a total reflection of who they are — generous, genuine and successful!

Categories: Craft, Creativity

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