ARTICLES WRITING MISTAKES:Plagiarising or 'buying articles, Rambling

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Feature and Column Writing MCM 514

LESSON 40

ARTICLES WRITING MISTAKES

Making your articles available for reprints by publishers is the cornerstone strategy in building an

avalanche of readers.

If you want your articles to be picked up and massively distributed by others, here are seven common

mistakes, which must be avoided by the article writers.

Mistake #1

Too many grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors

You've been super busy writing articles. Your eyes are tired. Your brain hurts. Don't start slouching yet!

Lots of writers pound out countless articles every day. There's nothing wrong with that if you are

pounding out content of exceptional quality.

Be cautious of these common mistakes article writers make when they're tired:

· Misspelled words

· Poor grammar

These are the top two common article-writing mistakes.

Mistake #2

Too much hype, bragging and self-promotion

If you are as good as you know you are, there is no reason to fill the body of the article with hype,

gratuitous links or blatant self-promotion. Readers are smart and will see right through your "hype-veil."

Better to only sell or pitch your company in the RESOURCE BOX below the body of the article.

Research indicates that the resource box often gets a 3 per cent CTR (Click Through Rate) on the Internet

and 40 readerships. Be sure you take advantage of that by not selling hard in the body of the article.

Mistake #3

Content-based on what you need to learn, and what your reader needs

Put yourself in your reader's shoes and ask yourself, "What does this article offer me?" Research what

your reader wants to read by doing survey's with your own audience to find what people are looking for.

Mistake #4

Making your article broad or superficial in content

It's better to go in-depth on a narrow topic. Define it. Explain it. Relate to it. Use bullet points or

numbered lists. Offer a secret or expertise that you have around the topic. Be original in covering your

topic as narrowly as possible in a way that has not been done by others. Brevity is golden.

Mistake #5

Headline and article summary does not grab readers' attention

The headline is often 95% of the initial reason why someone might read your article or pass it over for

another article. Don't bore your audience out of the gate with a dull headline or worse, a boring

introduction to the article.

If you have to use two sentences to make your headline, you're thinking too hard. Keep it simple and

make it brief. Use keyword research tools to optimise your article title.

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Feature and Column Writing MCM 514

Mistake #6

Plagiarising or 'buying articles'

It's ok to research the Internet for article ideas, but it's not ok to copy word-for-word of any article.

Paraphrasing can also be classified as plagiarism. Be original. Let the words flow from your mind into

your article. You will sleep better at night and your articles will have a higher value with the editors and

in the marketplace.

Buying articles is not a great idea...especially if you do not get an exclusive licence to use them. What

good is the same article if thousands of people call it their own? If you do outsource your article writing

to ghost writers, make sure you have an exclusive right or licence to the works.

Mistake #7

Don't burn out the RESOURCE BOX by overloading it

The RESOURCE BOX is your pay-off for giving your article up for reprints, but don't abuse the welcome

mat.

Mistake #8

Vague or generalised writing

Are you being straight forward and to the point in your article? Be careful not to "beat about the bush."

Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Mistake #9

No "meat" in your message

Does your article contain valuable information to the reader?

Mistake #10

Rambling

Again, get to the point. Don't use half your article trying to get to where you're going. Get to the point and

get there fast.

Mistake #11

Article is too long

While there are no word count rules for article writing, it is wise to be careful not to get too long-winded,

especially if your article will be printed online. Be succinct.

Mistake #12

Article is too short

If you try to take too many shortcuts just to make a shorter article, you will probably leave your readers

hanging. Be precise and concise in your articles. Don't cut the length just to make the article short.

Mistake #13

Too many tenses

Watch out for multiple verb tenses in your articles. If you begin by writing in the past tense, stay there.

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Feature and Column Writing MCM 514

Mistake #14

No subheadings

Gone are the days when people use to have sub-heads in the articles. Now it is clear cut written in a

straightway; hence there is no need to write sub-headings as an interested reader will read through if the

writer had made it interesting.

Mistake #15

No clearly defined paragraphs

In addition to having your article proofed by others, you may also want to be sure that you have clearly

defined paragraphs. Nothing is worse than a big blob of text with 20 run-on sentences.

Many readers no longer read articles in depth and often only 'scan' your article. They want small bites of

information that can be easily digested... also known as "info-snacking."

Mistake #16

Not keeping the voice in the same person

Keep your "voice" in the same person throughout the entire article. If you are using the first person voice

(I, me) or the second person (you, we, us) or the third person (they, them, he, she)...be consistent by

staying in one voice for the entire article.

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