Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

The Perfect Storm: Dealing with article writer’s block

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If you're constantly getting article ideas and you have a system for keeping track of them, you'll have no trouble with the consistency of your article marketing. But if your idea catcher is empty, it's time to schedule a brainstorming session.

Brainstorming can happen in marathon sessions by yourself or with a coach or buddy, as conversations or surveys with your readers, on article dates, retreat days or whenever you happen to think of an idea and jot it down in your idea catcher.

Get your creative juices going by waking up all of your senses. For example, I find that the flow of water usually triggers the flow of my creativity. At the very least, clear your mind of other pressures or activities, set the intention to brainstorm, and ask for the ideas you're looking for.

Structures are key if you're feeling stuck for ideas. These may include writing prompts, fill-in-the-blank templates (Style Guide readers, don't forget about the Essay Article Generator – see Chapter 26 for details) or an editorial calendar. 

Article time: Where do you find it?

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I received these two related questions when I asked my readers what you want to know about article marketing:

  1. When you don't really have time to blog or write an article, what is the most time-efficient way to complete the task?
  2. How do I make the time to put article marketing at the forefront of my To Do list?

My short answer is that you don't find article-writing time, you create it! And once you create it, you protect it!

Decide

The first step to finding time for any new thing has to be a decision that the new thing is a priority. In this case, you've decided that it's important to grow your business, and you've read enough about article marketing fundamentals to believe in the power of article marketing to grow your business. Hooray!

Since growing your business is important, article marketing is important, too.

Create

So now you'll want to devote special time in your schedule to getting your articles done. I suggest you block separate times for brainstorming, drafting, writing, editing and publishing. Batch the tasks to get the most momentum (I wrote about batching in a previous post).

I'll be posting more suggestions about some of those specific tasks in separate blog posts, beginning with brainstorming. For now, just keep in mind that some tasks have more than one part, and you'll complete them in more than one sitting.

I'll take anywhere from two days to one week to bring an article from idea to publication, depending on the amount of research and/or collaboration I have to do.

Protect

Here's a self-care article I wrote back in 2006, with some relevant messages about saying no to anything that is threatening your article writing time.

And here is a timely message from my colleague Kim Nishida, about how what's important is also the most urgent.

Remember, article writing is in service of your article marketing, and your article marketing is in service of growing your business. Decide, create, protect!

Article marketing: What once was old is new again

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In response to my birthday request for article marketing questions, one reader asked:

How can I feel like what I'm contributing is fresh and new?

Great question, and one that I hear a lot. The truth is, much of what we're writing about may have been said before, in one form or another. So why bother saying it again? Here's why:

1. It's still new to someone. What you think is obvious may still be new to someone who is not as far along the path as you are. It might be an extremely helpful insight to them and they will be grateful to for you telling them. Writing prompt: When you look at it with a beginner's mind, what is fresh and new about this topic?

2. You are a unique and special person. No one else has had your life experiences, successes, failures, triumphs, challenges or lessons. If you are a member of your target market, then telling a story is a great way to put your own slant on any message that you share. Writing prompt: Can you make a connection between something that happened in your life and what you are writing about?  

3. Your readers are unique. Hopefully you've chosen a niche market and you know enough about them to write what they want to read. Writing prompt: When you look at it through the lens of their particular problems, what do you think they need to know about the tool, resource, strategy or theory that you're writing about?

4.  You have a unique connection with your readers. They relate to how you express yourself and your ideas. In fact, some of them are so precisely tuned in to the frequency that you transmit from that they simply cannot hear this message from anyone but you. Writing prompt: How can you deepen that connection with your readers and continue to deliver what they have liked about you?

5. Articles are ideas in progress. Your ideas will develop and ripen over time. You may repeat yourself or even contradict yourself (I know I have!), as you look for new and better ways to explain your ideas and help your readers. Give yourself permission to grow as a writer and as a tribe leader.  Writing prompt: How have your ideas and knowledge developed, and have you kept your readers up to date?

So if you want your articles to be fresh, try to express your uniqueness and that of your readers. Tap into your passion for the topic, your desire to help, and your willingness to challenge old ideas (even your own) and give them a new spin.

Article marketing is tribal marketing

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Let me start this post by stating a couple of things that article marketing is NOT.

Article marketing is NOT a quick fix or a pathway to easy money. In fact, it requires a lot of patience and consistency.

Article marketing is NOT about attracting strangers to your website and turning them into instant clients. Instead, it turns those strangers into prospective clients by inviting them into your tribe.

I recently read Tribes, by Seth Godin. It was recommended by client Barbara Richards, who was as inspired by it as I was. I now believe that writing articles is a form of tribal marketing, since it is such a beautiful way to:

1. Attract your tribe. The premise is that there are people out there who are just waiting for you to step into a leadership role in your area of expertise. By writing articles about those topics and publishing them online, you are helping those seekers to find you.

2. Recruit your tribe. A good article will draw people to your website to find out more about you and your ideas, products and services. As long as your website is working and has a pink spoon, this is an opportunity to recruit them.

3. Mobilize your tribe. By keeping in touch with your tribe on a regular basis via email updates, new articles and/or blog posts, you will build long-term, trusting relationships. At this point your members will genuinely appreciate hearing your new ideas, and most importantly they will be more likely to use those ideas, build on them and pass them along.

Your articles must do triple-duty to reach your tribe at these varying stages of membership, from curious strangers to hopeful new members to loyal long-term members. Keep that in mind as you plan your article marketing strategy.

Improving the open rates of your articles

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"Linda, are there any tricks that will improve my 'open rates' when I email articles to my newsletter subscribers (most of whom are women)?"

That was another great article marketing question in response to my birthday request, and in fact there are three ways you can generate interest in an article and improve your open rates:

1. The subject line: This, of course, is what your subscribers will see when you notify your list that you've written a new article. Instead of simply repeating the title of your article, try personalizing your subject line by adding the subscriber's first name (most email service providers have a tool for inserting any of the information you collected in your sign-up form). Also, try asking a question that will really engage your reader about the topic. For example, I might have introduced this article in an email subject line with the question, "Name, do your articles go unopened?"

2. The title of your article: The title of your article is a great place to think about the exact search terms, otherwise known as keywords, that your ideal client may use to find information about his or her biggest problem. Sometimes you may want to do what I've done with this article, where I chose a very descriptive, but somewhat plain title. Other times, you'll want to get more creative and attract attention with a little bit of mystery, like I did in this article about the creative process.

3. The article introduction: At most article directory websites, you will create an introductory or "teaser" paragraph that visitors will see on a search results page when they've looked for articles about a specific topic. Instead of simply copying the first paragraph of your article, you can use this opportunity to let people know exactly what they will learn or gain from clicking through to read your article, and give them a call-to-action to do that. For this article, I might end my introductory paragraph by saying, "Read this article to learn three different ways to improve your open rates."

And for my reader who asked specifically about engaging her female subscribers, please visit the LipSticking blog, where Yvonne DiVita and her crew write about marketing to women online.