The Powertool Shed

To help build your profile and reputation within a large company create or contribute to, an internal newsletter. Your company collegues are an excellent network for you - lift your internal reputation by writing an internal newsletter that people will read. This article is full of tips to help you get started.

Write for the company newsletter. Offer to provide articles or updates for the internal newsletter. This is a great way to work with the production team (who are often volunteers looking for content for the newsletter).

When writing for internal correspondence here is a couple of questions and tips:

What do you know your topic? List on one piece of paper all the different aspects to your topic. You may like to create a map of your brainstorm to identify major headings or important points. This map will also help you locate sub points for each major heading.

Who will use the information or tips? Make a list of the people within the organisation that would be interested in your topic, and make a note of how to write this in a way that will appeal to them.

Why will they use it? This question will help you to structure your thoughts and write them in a way that is appropriate for your colleagues. Is it just for information? Will it help them do their job better? Will it boost their productivity? Will their lives be easier as a result of knowing your information - consider these questions when you write about your knowledge:

Why will people read it? This is similar to the question above, make it interesting and assist your team by explaining the main points of the article in the title or first sentence.

What tips can you give your co-workers about your knowledge? Try and turn your information into easily applied tips that people can apply straight away if appropriate.

Create an opening and closing paragraph - in the first paragraph or sentence state the premise of your article. In the closing paragraph or sentence remind your readers of the main points.

Create a call to action from the article - in the closing paragraph you might like to suggest action they can take to apply this knowledge or improve their understanding. You might suggest further websites they could review, books to read, other articles or texts on the subject - give them suggestions for what to do with this information you have shared in your article.

Create a promotional box at the end of the article to allow your colleagues to get in touch with you if they want more information. This should have your name, contact information including phone, fax and email. If you have a website for your department that would also help your readers.

Sharing your knowledge with others is a great gift and personally rewarding so start writing today and structure articles that are easily read and understood for your teammates.

Neen is a Global Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy - and where they focus their attention - Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more at http://neenjames.com/

When most people think of Article Marketing, what comes to mind is usually how to write the article rather then how to market it. But there is another way and I will show you in this article.

The latest rage seems to be Article marketing and with good reason. It’s by far the best free means of promoting your business and increasing your sales and opt in subscribers.

By submitting your articles to article directories, article announcement lists, and ezine publishers, you achieve several things.

First, you establish yourself as an expert in your field. Readers are more likely to listen to you if they feel you know what you are talking about.

Second, by attaching a resource box to your article, you are giving the reader a link to your website. If the reader is impressed with your knowledge, they will probable click on your link to see what it is that you are offering.

Third, you increase your search engine page rank by providing a non-reciprocal link to your website. Search engines seem to give extra weight to non-reciprocal links in their page rankings.

But many marketers are not comfortable writing their own articles. They just do not understand how to put their thoughts into words. Or worse yet, they do not have any thoughts merit printing.

That is why private label articles are in such high demand these days. There are several of these services available and more seem to be popping up every day.

Therein lies the problem. Depending on how these articles are used, the results can be good, bad, or downright unsightly.

The Bad: A everyday mistake made by marketers using private label articles is getting lazy. They merely copy and paste the article and submit it, as is, with no personalization.

At the very least, you should change the title. Most article directories require that your article be approved before they are posted. But do you actually think they read every article that comes in? Not likely.

They get dozens, even hundreds of submissions every day, so it’s unlikely that your article will really be read.

But most directory software will automatically search their database for duplicate titles. If the title of your article matches one in their database, yours will be rejected.

So do yourself a favor and at the very least, change the title. It might also be a good idea to change the wording in the first paragraph.

The unsightly: Many marketers load so many links in their article that it becomes one long ad. This will not only get you rejected, but ultimately banned if you do it frequently enough.

The Good: As stated previously, private label articles, when used correctly, can give the non-writer a big superiority over other marketers. They can increase your traffic, sales, and opt in subscribers. That is good.

A good article contains useful knowledge to the reader whether they buy your products or not. Present to them good content and you will increase the chances that they will click your link in the resource box.

Private label articles are a great tool, but do not get lazy!

Dean Morken is the Creator of Affiliate Marketing Info Center. Your on going informational guide to promoting your site. http://www.affiliate-marketing-info-center.com

Just a few days ago I wrote a piece entitled: “How to Write an Uncommonly Good Article - Six Key Steps Part 1.” I mentioned my credentials to write such an article then went about giving what I believed were the six key steps that would most improve the works of other authors. That is, make them pleasing for other people to read - which is the purpose in the first place.

So, what was my motive to write such an article? To get people to visit my website? Not really. To “big-note” myself? No. To denote myself as an expert on the subject? No, though I do have extensive experience in it. To help people who are struggling to write articles? Yes. That was the main reason.

I wanted to let people know why, when a person starts to read their article they quickly tire, maybe scan to the bottom then click away before finishing. I find myself doing that. I know lots of others do too. So, I wanted to let aspiring authors know why that can happen. I wanted to give them some tips so they can improve their readership levels.

At the time of writing I was conscious that I was setting myself up as a target. I knew that. When I posted the article I wondered how long it would take before somebody would take a shot at me. You see, I know there are snipers on the rooftops. Make yourself a target and they will surely have a ping.

Well, it took just 72 hours for the first bullet to come my way. Some people just cannot help themselves!

Let me explain a little further:

At the time of writing this article I have well over 100 articles circulating around hundreds of sites on the web. For anybody who has written even one article you will know what a significant effort this is.

Many of the articles I have written have received very positive, complimentary comments and ratings. However, as soon as you stand up and say “this is how you do it” and give an example of your own success, out will come some anonymous person whose prime task is to shoot you down.

Well… Mr, Miss or Ms Sharpshooter why don’t you have the gumption to identify yourself or go “head to head” with me? Put your long-range sniper rifle down for a while and let’s duke it out. One on one. Your best versus my best. There’s the challenge. Are you up to it?

Ooh. I can already hear the sound of running footsteps fading into the distance. Probably they will be running to the next target to fire off another volley at somebody else from a concealed position. What an existence!

I remember some years ago posting a self-help article on a very well known self-help site. I was trying to help a young lady overcome a drug addiction by giving her some encouragement. I figured that if she had the courage to make a public posting then I would help her. Several others did too. Except one - a fellow from New Zealand whose main aim was to lecture me on the concepts of “drug of choice” and “harm minimization” and my form of what he termed “mind bending.”

I suffered this person’s ridicule for weeks. Eventually, frustrated that his comments were largely ignored, he resorted to threats and all sorts of ugly abuse. Never once did he identify himself by anything except some strange pseudonym - another trait of a sniper - that I have long since forgotten. He existed only to ridicule, denigrate and criticize. How sad it is that there are people who do this sort of thing. It’s a bit like spraying graffiti in the dead of night on somebody’s lovely wall.

Whenever anybody publishes anything on the internet they open themselves up to become the target of all sorts of abuse. I guess it comes with the territory. In fact, I wrote another article about this sort of thing. It was called: “Understand That You Are Always Going to Attract Critics.”

In many respects you have to feel some sort of pity for the snipers. To feel the way that they do, to harbor so much anger at their own inadequacy and to try to bring other people down is a truly awful way to eke out an existence.

You can take another shot sniper. Just have the courage to identify yourself. But I guess that would be just too much to ask.

This article comes with reprint rights providing no changes are made and the resource box below accompanies it.

About the author: Gary Simpson is the author of eight books covering a diverse range of subjects such as self esteem, affirmations, self defense, finance and much more. His articles appear all over the web. Gary’s email address is budo@iinet.net.au. Click here to go to his
Motivation & Self Esteem for Success website where you can receive his “Zenspirational Thoughts” plus an immediate FREE copy of his highly acclaimed, life-changing e-book “The Power of Choice.”

Ghost Writers Around the World will write for you - outsourcing
By Bruce Riddell

The content of your site tells a whole lot about your website.
They will basically describe what your site is about and also
tell people what your site has to offer. Articles and website
content makes a whole lot of difference in your site because
they can catch the attention of your website visitors and keep
them in there.

With good website content you get the benefit of clearly
depicting what it is you want to share with people. Also, good
content and articles can lead people to your site. With more
traffic, you get to earn more from your site making it
profitable. A sites success, be it for profit or not, is the
number of the flow of traffic in your site.

So how does good content and great articles get you traffic?
Well, many search engines rely on the keyword and keyword
phrases of a site to put it in their results list. If your
content contains a good number of keywords and keywords phrases,
it may be chosen to be a part of the top listed sites in the
search result pages.

But before you think of just plastering your site with all the
keywords and keyword phrases it could hold, search engines also
filter out that abuse. You must have good well written articles
that incorporate the keywords and keyword phrases properly in
their content and articles.

There are many of those who cannot afford the time to write
their own website contents and articles. While writing content
and articles specifically designed for the internet may take
some getting used to and some researching and learning, there
are many writers that can be found all over the world who could
do it for you.

Many of us do not have the time to learn web content writing and
article writing designed for the internet. There are writers who
have great experience in doing this and charge only a minimal
fee for such work. Writers like this can be regarded as experts
in this style of writing and can greatly help your website to
get that coveted spot in the search engine rankings.

Other than getting your site in the web results page of search
engines, they can also provide your site with meaningful
articles and content that can impress your website visitors and
entice others to view your site. Every website could use the
extra traffic website visitors could invite.

Then there are those who need papers to be done either for their
school or office work. Top writers around the world are very
knowledgeable and do extreme researching to get a job done
right. They are also very adept in many writing styles that are
needed to best suit the client’s need.

Many writers around the world charge a minimal fee depending on
the type of writing job needed and the number of words needed in
the content. Usually, a two hundred fifty worded article would
cost from 4 to 8 dollars depending on the writers experience and
ability. This is a small price to pay for having a content rich
site or for a well researched and written paper.

There are also many sites that can offer you these services with
their team of well trained and experienced writers. They offer
many writing services to cover any writing needs. A writer can
be based anywhere in the world and are guaranteed to offer good
contents and articles. Each one are checked, edited and
proofread so that you would get your money’s worth.

Finding a good writer or a site that offers these kinds of
services is simply done by searching for them in search engines.
Type down your keyword or keyword phrase (e.g. Content Writers,
Article Writers) and you will see a long list of sites that
offer these services.

The top sites would probably be the best since they have done a
good job of keeping their content at a high quality to get them
high rankings. But you may also want to shop around and read
some of their sample work to get an idea of how much it will
cost you.

NOTE:

The author has a GHOST WRITERS DIRECTORY located at
http://authorarticles.com/ghostwriter.html where you can find
ghost writers to write content for your web site, newsletter or
ezine. Your writing project request can be listed for free in
this directory.

Ghost writers can subscribe to this directory for free and bid
on anywriting project listed.

.

Charles Dickens was born in Portsea, England, in 1812. His
father was a clerk in the Navy Pay Office, stationed at
Portsmouth. Although his job was well paid, his father had a
weakness for spending money and spent much of his life in
chronic bankruptcy.

In 1824, when Charles was just 12 years old, his father was sent
to debtor’s jail. Charles Dickens was sent to a boarding house
and given a 12 hour-a-day job preparing bottles of shoe polish
in a blacking factory.

But Dickens’ fortunes improved: a sudden inheritance allowed his
father to pay off his debts and he sent Charles to school.

At age fifteen Charles was placed as a clerk in the office of an
attorney, a friend of his father’s. In his spare time he studied
hard to become a Parliamentary reporter.

At age nineteen he entered the parliamentary gallery as a
reporter for The Mirror. It was a well paid job and he soon
became known as one of the best shorthand reporters in London.

Dickens began writing fiction at age 21, under the nom de plume
of ‘Boz’. In 1836, when Dickens was 23, he began writing a
series of short stories (The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick
Club) which appeared in cheap monthly installments. By the age
of 24 he had become internationally famous.

Charles Dickens burst onto the literary scene at a unique moment
in English history

Until the end of the 18th century, England had been a mainly
rural society. But from the late 1700’s onwards, land holders
started forcing people off their land to make way for sheep
farming.

At the same time the Industrial Revolution was creating new
towns and cities with belching smoke stacks and factories that
needed workers - the English countryside was emptying and a new
urban working class was emerging.

The concentration of people in towns and cities created
something that had never existed before - a mass audience.
Newspapers, Magazines and Newsletters sprang up to cater for
this new and growing demand.

Books were being serialized in Newspapers and Magazines - those
who couldn’t afford to buy a book could read it in weekly
installments. Dickens wrote and published most of his novels in
this fashion - a chapter at a time.

Between 1837 and 1839, Dickens wrote three of his most famous
novels Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and Nicholas Nickleby.

In the first ten years of his writing career, the manic part of
Dickens’ manic depression had given him an endless source of
energy and inspiration, but now he began to succumb to
depression.

In the 1840’s he started to experience writer’s block. He would
spend days locked up in a room, unable to put words on paper. He
wrote: “Men have been chained to hideous walls and other strange
anchors but few have known such suffering and bitterness…as
those who have been bound to Pens.”

Dickens was an extremely energetic man and a compulsive
traveler. He traveled the length and breadth of England,
Scotland and Wales and also made frequent trips to France and
Italy. In 1842 he spent six months in America, where he was
given the kind of reception reserved for modern day rock stars.

In 1856 Dickens purchased a large residence in Kent, the kind of
house he had always dreamed of owning.

Although Dickens became wealthy, he never forgot his origins.
Throughout his life he visited the factories, the slums, the
jails and the poor houses. Indeed, his novels were a social
commentary on the appalling conditions of 19th century England.
He was well known for his generosity and received requests for
money wherever he went.

He is considered by many to have been a genius and the greatest
English writer of the 19th century.

When Dickens died in June 1870, he left an estate valued at over
$US6.5 million (2001 value).

I started writing when I was 16 years old. To this day I love writing; I love the fact that we can translate words into images. It is incredible when I think about it. Everyone should write, writing is a way to express your feelings, what you want, what you are.

There is no excuse. With word processors, which are a godsend by the way, you can just start writing and you don’t have to worry about spelling mistakes, having to retype anything, and many other things. If you are reading this is probably because you want to write, but for some reason you haven’t done so.

If you think that writing will only take time away from you, you are wrong. Writing improves you in every way you can imagine. So what are you waiting for? Grab your copy of Microsoft Word, and start writing!

Before you do that, there is something you must ask yourself. Would you write even if nobody read it? If you answered yes to that question, you can be a great author. It is true that writing doesn’t become real until you have an audience, but remember that at first no one will want to read what you have to say. Perseverance is the key. If you want to write well, you have to practice, practice, and practice.

For your writing to be successful, you also need to read a lot. Reading is great. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. If you are deciding whether you want to be an author or not, keep reading.

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about authors such as Stephen King and Dan Brown. You probably think that they are the only authors that really make $$$, well that’s simply not true. When you go to a bookstore, you see thousands of books. That means that there must be at least a few thousand successful authors out there. That’s without counting e-books, online articles, newspapers, etc. And you can be part of that! The internet is growing like never before, people from all over the world are starting to read whatever you write. It’s just an incredible opportunity.

So what do you think now? Writing is not only good for making money. Writing is also good for advertising purposes. A teacher of mine once told me “There are only two useful skills in life; to read and to write.” That’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever heard.

You are probably thinking that if you want to write, then you will have to put aside other activities. That’s completely wrong. This day I write, I work, I have a beautiful wife, I study and I’m as happy as anyone can be. You tell me if you can’t do anything other than writing. I consider writing a hobby.

So now you are probably thinking what kind of author you want to be. That’s totally up to you. Remember that you must write about a subject that is familiar to you. Ideas will just flow through your mind if you write about something you like. If you decide that you want to write a book, do so. Perhaps write about something that happened to you, or about something that you thought about at some point in your life. The things you can write about are endless! If you write a good war book, be sure to tell me, because I’m going to buy it.

Remember that success is achieved by 99% of failure. So if you were to fall, remember this and keep writing. Never stop writing. One thing that the world lacks of are good authors, there are so many open positions. If you start now, who knows, in a few years you could be making more money than Bill Gates can count. There are more and more people every day that like to read. Not because of the TV, which doesn’t help at all, but because education is greatly increasing all around the world. And since you are reading this you know how to read English and therefore, you can take advantage of this revolution.

So the bottom line is that you should start writing, and keep writing until you think about writing when you are not even writing.

About The Author

I write for a hobby, I worked for a newspaper company in the past, and I consider myself to be good at it. My website is www.truewebsite.com my e-mail is ngi@truewebsite.com.

Copyright clause: distribution allowed with the author’s name.

“I don’t feel like it,” you say, reaching for another cup of carefully brewed cappuccino. “Planning is for other people, and besides, it might ruin my street cred.”

Nothing ruins street cred among creative types like having to work a menial job into your sixties. Sure, we’d all like to be discovered, get paid a lot for our paintings, photographs, words or sounds. But until that happens, it’s best to have a five-year plan, even if you are a creative type.

The first step in your plan should be to decide how you want to be perceived, legally, that is. Are you working in a band? Maybe it’s best to spell out how your royalties will be split. Are you an author, working for him or herself? You might find that you can save more money for retirement by forming an LLC or corporation. Legal Zoom can help you with all the details. Because everything is done online, including the quick and easy payment, you can leave yourself that much more time to be creative. Whether you need a divorce, a contract, or a will drawn up, they can get it done, faster than you can say, “Pass the cinnamon.”

And speaking of retirement, when’s the last time you thought about yours? It’s not like creative types get to have pensions, and with the way social security’s looking right now, it may as well be called social insecurity. Sharebuilder 401k was designed for small businesses (that means you, too, even if you’re only one person), so they can offer great 401k plans that you oversee, you deposit funds into, and you enjoy when you’re ready to kiss The Man goodbye for good.

Another crucial part of any five-year plan should include a look into your credit as well. If you’re prone to over-shopping, carrying debt, or just not caring much, you might want to think about getting an American Express card. Their Small Business Cards are designed to help you build credit not only as a human but as a business. And since you can choose to pay off the entire balance each month, or leave some of it revolving, your credit is not suffering under the weight of all your purchases.

As you think about credit, you also need to think about identity theft. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s only becoming more prevalent as we morph into a country of Internet shoppers and people who buy gas with debit cards. Identity Guard provides several ways of protecting your identity, and making sure no one can mess up your five-year plan with accounts opened in your name, without your permission.

Lastly, no five-year plan for creative types is complete without a little visit from Uncle Sam. As creative types, we may be tempted to ditch the outstretched hand of the Tax Man, but its always best to cooperate as best you can. Tax Brain can give you all the tools you need to comply with the laws in your area, and save tons of money. They can help you file quarterly tax forms online, if you are 1099d, and keep all your previous tax forms on file, so it’s much easier to whiz through the process next year. For those of you who were on your hands and knees in the closet looking for receipts on April 15th, I’m talking to you.

Thus concludes our five-year plan for creative types. Now get out there and make something pretty!

Copyright 2006 GrammarGods.com

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