How To Submit Articles: 3 Steps For Writing Your First Article

Writing your first article submission may seem a bit daunting if you're not used to writing on a regular basis. Many business owners who are marketing their websites online are in that situation--perhaps the last time they wrote anything resembling an article was when they were in school.

You may be wondering if you have the skill to write a free reprint article. If you have a good command of the English language, then most likely you'll have no problem with it once you get the basics down. Writing articles is not hard at all--article marketing is an extremely popular and effective marketing tool that business owners from all walks of life engage in.

Just like with any new endeavour, you will start out slowly, and then it will get easier the more that you do it. Taking baby steps is key--if you try to just sit down and write an article in one sitting without any forethought or preparation, you'll likely get frustrated.

But it doesn't have to be that way. I've got three very simple tips to help you write your first article:

1 - Determine your article topic. All your article topics should be teaching your readers how to do something or teaching them about something. That is why free reprint articles are called "educational articles". They are meant to teach.

What should you teach your readers?

Think in very basic terms about your niche. What are some key concepts that your reader really needs to know in order to do well in your niche? Take a moment to jot down any ideas that come to mind.

It might be a good article idea to give an overall introduction to your niche. There are a lot of elementary ideas associated with your field of business that you take for granted that others may be in the dark about. As your first article, give a bird's eye view of what your niche is about.

2 - Make your article reader-friendly.

You might not have considered it, but formatting plays a crucial role in an article's effectiveness. By formatting, I mean how the content is arranged on the page. Internet readers are dealing with unique reading conditions--they are reading off computer monitors or laptop screens, which aren't the easiest on the eyes. They also are likely to be skimming information, as many internet readers do.

Most people who come to your article will be looking for something specific--they need a question answered or they need to know how to do something in particular. They don't have the time to be trudging through large blocks of text. If they look at your article and don't immediately see the information that they're looking for, they'll start looking elsewhere.

Here are some tips for formatting your articles:

=> Use a bulleted list to highlight information with special significance.

=> Use a numbered list to guide the reader through sequential steps or a series of tips.

=> Keep your paragraphs short. A few sentences is sufficient. It's easier to take in content if it's broken into smaller bits rather than appearing in one big chunky paragraph.

=> Use sub-headings to divide your content and guide the reader through your article.

3 - Keep an eye on your word count.

It's a good idea to have a word count range in mind when you begin your article. This helps you to avoid writing an excessively long or short article. (If you have enough information to make a "long article", consider breaking it into two shorter ones.)

Publishers have different ranges of what word counts they will accept, but a common one is 400-1500 words. Now, that's a big range, and it's just what is "acceptable" to most publishers. If you really want to create content that will be ideal and attractive to most publishers, shoot for a range of 600-800 words. Most word processing programs will have a word count tool, so you can easily stay on top of the length of your article.

Once you sit down to it, I think you'll find that article writing is not as hard as you imagined. There is a method to it, and the actual writing and teaching parts are skills that will improve over time, but with some effort and attention and with following these three basic tips, you will be able to craft a worthwhile piece of content that will be helpful to many people for years to come.

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