- help build your profile

- draw traffic to your site, and

- help build a database of clients through associated e-courses or newsletter.

How do you write the article? You can come up with the content - How do you grab those readers and make them come back for more?

As you can construct and edit an article (it has a beginning, middle and end; and you can check the grammar and spelling); if you want to WIN readers - think about what they want to know.

Put your readers first. Give them what they want and they’ll be queuing up to read anything you produce.

A blueprint for writing articles that captivate your readers - whatever the topic - is a follows:

== 1. What Do Your Readers Want ==

You may know what they want because you’re an expert in the field. If you don’t know the subject well, you’ll have to research. Look for forums on your topic and see what people are discussing. What are the problems? Can you provide an answer?

== 2. Start With An Attention-Grabber ==

Work on your opening. Try to avoid trite questions like “Have you wondered why people find it difficult to lose weight?” It’s dull and it’s not targeting the person reading the article - what do they care about the difficulties “people” have losing weight? They care about THEIR weight problem!

The opening paragraph should give the reader that warm “Hey, this is about me!” feeling. - “This could be the answer I’ve been looking for…”

Example: “Diet gurus make it all sound easy: to lose weight, all you have to do is expend more energy than you take in. Huh! If it were that simple, the “Big People” stores would be out of business. For those of us tired of diets, gyms and dull group meetings, there is a back-to-basics way to tackle this. It won’t cost you a fortune or leave you feeling deprived.”

== 3. Write As You Speak… Then Edit! ==

The sample opening above illustrates the importance of the tone used in your article. You need ‘meat’to make it worth reading.

Write your article in a natural style that’s akin to normal conversation. If the first draft is too informal - fix that when you edit. Readers may want facts, tips, and strategies, but they want entertainment too! Let your personality shine.

== 4. End On A High ==

Most articles fizzle out! Writers often don’t know how to end on an upbeat note. They either stop dead or come up with a trite ending like: “So what are you waiting for? Get started today!”

The beginning and the ending of your article are the parts that make the biggest impression. Creat a feeling of anticipation… and leave them feeling satisfied (or excited) when you finish.

Offering advice to help solve a problem gives your readers a reason to feel optimistic about themselves. Don’t make promises… but offer hope. If you are giving hints on marketing or business, sum up the benefits. Experiment with using a humorous quote, or giving readers a specific action to get them started. Be creative.

Here’s a final tip: create a cheat-sheet. Divide it into beginnings/middles/ends and add more strategies as you think of them. (For example, using the tips in this article, you might write: ENDINGS - end on a high, offer hope, use funny quote, suggest action to get started.)

Do this, and you’ll be cranking out articles everyone wants to publish!

About the author:

Writing information on http://www.okwriting.comwith your Host, Sintilia Miecevole is waiting for you. You’ll have resources at your fingertips from writing, book compositions, novels, biographies, speech and thesis to resumes, essays, software and more. Go to http://www.okwriting.comfor your exciting writing experience. You’ll be glad you did!

At that point in my life, I hadn’t traveled too far past the Virginia state line. And to me, the rest of the world sounded alluring in a way the town I grew up in couldn’t compare.

So I considered my options. My story could take place on an island. An obviously appealing setting. Palm trees, sinking pink sunsets, water as blue as a robin’s egg. And of course, glistening white sand.

Or what about Italy? A place I had always dreamed of going. Olive groves, the chiming of beautiful old church bells, faded stucco buildings.

I set my first few manuscripts in exactly that kind of locale. The only trouble was, I had never been to any of those places. And once I got past the generic descriptions, I found myself facing what felt like an empty reservoir from which to draw my story.

I had read the advice in practically every creative writing handbook. Write what you know. And I began to understand that they weren’t just talking about plot and characters, but the place where the story unfolds as well.

What I knew was southwest Virginia. But what could the rest of the world possibly find interesting about it?

Despite my skepticism, I finally started a manuscript set in a small Virginia town much like my hometown. This was the first of my books to sell. No coincidence, I’m sure.

How did I finally come to see what was around me and what others might find appealing about it? By looking at where I’ve lived and what it has meant to me.

The physical beauty of Virginia is indisputable. Spring arrives with its paintbrush of green. Summer fills the orchards with apples and peaches, thickens fields with grass for hay. Fall dips maples and oaks in red and gold. Winter lays ice across our lakes and hides our roads under snow.

Those are the broadbrush strokes of my story, but I believe the details that bring a setting to life come from the individual places that populate a small community.

From the Main Street of my childhood, there was Ben Franklin and the Melody Shop. Kittinger’s Drug Store, Brammer’s Five and Ten and N. Morris Department Store.

Ben Franklin was a favorite. After digging out coins for the parking meter, we would head downstairs to the toy department. The snack bar was also on the bottom floor, and I can remember the delicious smell of steamed hot dog buns and french fries wafting up in greeting.

The Melody Shop was the place to buy 45 rpm records - yes, I know, I’m dating myself! Kittinger’s for a cherry Coke. And at Brammer’s Five and Ten, my sister and I stocked up on five-cent candy which we resold at elevated prices to our cousins in the pretend store we set up in my grandma’s basement.

Country stores show up in my stories on a regular basis, and I’m sure their origin is the one owned by my great aunt and uncle. My sister and I spent many Saturday nights there with our grandparents. All the adults sat on stools in the middle of the store and talked, while we drank Sun-drop and ate Wise potato chips from bright blue bags.

Much of my love for the place where I grew up comes from my grandpa. He loved just getting out and looking at it. Bright and early on Sunday mornings, my sister and I would climb in his old blue and white Chevrolet truck and drive over to the local Quickette for the morning paper. We always took a detour of some sort, to check on cows, look at hay, see a pony he was thinking about buying for us. These were adventures, and we learned the county roads like our own backyard.

Pieces of these places have shown up in each of my books. I loved them, and I think that rings true with readers. I’ve traveled a bit since those first manuscripts, and although I may venture out in future books to other settings, it will be with a healthy respect for the gold in my own backyard.

About the author:

Inglath Cooper is the RITA Award-winning author of six published novels. Her books are often peopled with characters who reflect the values and traditions of the small Virginia town where she grew up. To read about her latest release, please visit her website at http://www.inglathcooper.com

When you email your list or put up content on your site, and assuming you want to generate loyalty, it’s necessary that you have content others haven’t seen a dozen times elsewhere.

If this makes sense to you, here are some ideas you can use to EASILY generate fresh content with a minimal amount of time and effort.

First of all, think about a subject in which you are interested. Let’s say it’s horticulture. Now if you’re not aware of it, let me put you in the picture. Most people do web searches from Google’s home page and stop there. Not at all creative. Not at all digging for information from which to develop original content.

So let’s go exploring…

1 - Google has lots of tools besides just web searches. They let you check the news. (http://news.google.com) As of this writing, there are 1,680 news items listed by Google on the word horticulture. Bet you could easily do a summary of some of these articles and create your own content. But let’s not stop there.

2 - Google also has “groups.” (http://groups.google.com/) These are folks who like to discuss *your* subject. So now you can go even farther. Look up horticulture in their groups. Now this information is potentially gold. Why? Because you can see what it is about horticulture that lots of folks are interested in.

Think you might be able to do a little research and come up with a free or even a for-profit report that gives them what they want?

Check out Google’s other tools, too. You can even get research info from universities through Google. Start here: http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/

3 - Next method: Do this search (keeping in the punctuation as written):

+horticulture +free +filetype:pdf

As of this writing, Google shows 196,000 hits for this query. What you get here are free downloads in pdf format about your subject.

Now you can’t simply copy and use it as your own information. You have to create your writing in your own words. But there’s no law that says you can’t summarize what you find in other people’s works. To make the point, you could even call your work something like: “Survey Report: Latest from the Horticulture Front!”

4 - Go to Alexa.com. Do a search on your subject, in this example, horticulture. It provides the exact same results as Google because it’s powered by Google. So why bother, right? Wrong. Because Alexa *does* provide value added information.

When you do the search, you don’t want to click the link that takes you to the listed site. Instead you want to follow the link that says “Site info.” When you do this, you’ll find a section called: “People who visit this page also visit.” This can be very valuable because it potentially shows *what the marketplace is interested in.* This can enable you to tailor your information product to what people want.

These are just some of the easy ways to branch out your explorations and find gold to weave into golden braids.

Golden searching…

[ Submitted with ArticleSubmitter Pro - http://www.articlesubmitterpro.com]

About the author:

David A. Bailey, Jr shares easy four-step method for building your English skills quickly and easily. Join the English Club to practice your English and make friends with other ESL students just like yourself. http://www.clube-de-ingles.com

If you approach these experts correctly, they will provide you with expert responses to all your questions. You will find these experts by checking search engines or related niche forums.

The easiest way to contact these experts, is by email with a list of questions. Before you submit questions or contact your expert, do your research on him/her. You need to approach these experts correctly therefore you need to consider the following points.

Keep your questions short and too the point: You will turn the person off if you are asking long winded questions, long questions lead to long answers and you don

Deciding on a theme can be a daunting task. What exactly are you going to write about? Your niche needs to be a popular topic that many people are interested in.

If you are going to blog about yourself, then you better have a very interesting life, or you will have difficulty keeping your readers coming back for more. You should choose a topic that will make it comparatively easy to grow your readership and build a strong following.

Since many bloggers write about their favorite subjects, it

There are a few fabulous techniques for slaying this particularly ugly monster:

Just write! Write absolutely anything, even if it doesn’t pertain to what you want to write. It doesn’t matter how bad it is, it’s just important to continue. Even if doesn’t even make sense! Who knows? Somewhere in all of the mess, there might be a few incredible pieces!

Take a walk! If weather permits it, a walk outside just might help you, as something you see might break the wall that’s holding those good ideas hostage.

Remember when you were in kindergarten? That’s right, take a nap! Some of the best ideas come from dreams. And it’s been said that we often dream the solutions to our problems.

Meditation is an easy task, even if you’ve never practiced it before. There are many reliable resources that can teach you how to meditate. Like taking a nap, meditation offers the ability to quiet the mind long enough to find a solution or an idea.

Exercise! Exercise! Exercise! Do some yoga or aerobics, or maybe go to the gym and walk on a treadmill. While you’re at it, observe the other people in the gym. See if that doesn’t jog your brain into giving up those great ideas.

Sometimes, it just helps to talk to another writer. There’s an expression that many authors use - “Only another author would really understand this.” It’s true - it’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t write how sometimes our minds and our muses just don’t want to work with us when it comes to our writing and coming up with great ideas. So, call another writer friend and talk about your writer’s block. Sometimes two heads really are better than one.

It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a research paper, a love letter, or the next great international bestseller - everyone suffers from writer’s block now and then, even people who don’t consider themselves writers! The important thing to remember, no matter what option or techniques you use, is not to let the writer’s block defeat you. You have to destroy the monster!

About the author:

Amanda Baker writes for All Things
Pondered

CARTHAGE MUST BE DESTROYED

Carthage was Rome

There are several proposals for immigration reform being discussed now. They say they will solve the problem of so many illegal immigrants coming to and staying in this country. Some are offering amnesty, others guest worker cards, others temporary cards.

Some people are talking about rounding them up and sending them all back to where ever they came from.

How would we do that? First, how would we find all of them? If we were able to find them, who would do the processing and paperwork to organize the deportation? Would we hire planes and buses and buy them tickets to go home? It sounds like it would be impossible and also impossibly expensive to do this for the millions who are here, some for many years.

If the roads were filled with buses and the skies with planes taking all these people out of this country, what would happen then? Who would do the work they were doing here? There would be a huge shortage of workers for farming, construction, landscaping, restaurants and tourism. Last season, growers could not get enough workers to harvest their crops and this year is worse. Prices of everything would rise dramatically and some produce would not be available at all, because it would be rotting in the fields.

These people take jobs that most other residents won

Almost all of us who are not immigrants, are descended from immigrants. The United States was built by immigrants and it will always be a country of immigrants. When we think of Chinese, Italians, Germans, English, French, etc. we picture distinct people, cultures, food and languages.

When we think of Americans, we picture a combination of all the other countries. And it is always changing. When people used to picture Americans they saw white people from England, Germany and Scandinavia and the black people descended from slaves. Then Irish, Italian and Jewish immigrants came; at that time none of these people were thought of as white. Asian immigrants came next and now the picture we have of Americans is becoming more Spanish speaking and from Latin America.

Throughout our country

Everyone in the world knows that English is the language spoken in the U.S. and most immigrants are prepared to learn it. But when they arrive, many of them (especially Spanish speaking) find signs and other information in their own language and quickly realize that they don’t have to learn more than a few words of English.

It is completely understandable why they are reluctant to learn it. Learning a new language is hard, if people don’t have to do it, they probably won’t. But these people also won’t ever be fully integrated into our society. In the past, the first thing new immigrants did was learn English. They had to know English to work and drive and shop. When everyone in the country speaks the same language, even with an accent, the country is much more united than ours is now.

Now they can live in their own little communities, watch TV, listen to the radio, read a newspaper, shop, work and even drive without speaking ANY English. They can get government forms in their own language and almost all offices and departments have interpreters available for them.

Many new residents know almost nothing about this country they live in. Without understanding the language, they don