7 Secrets to Explode your eBook Sales! Part 4

Secret #4: Creating passionate articles will explode your eBook sales!

Copyright 2004 Bluedolphin Crow - All Rights Reserved.

Aho,

All the experts finally agreed on something. Writing articles about your eBook can be one of the most successful ways of eMarketing.

However, one of the biggest problems on online is learning how to write a great article. You should not just type any old thing and call it an article.

First, you must put your passion, your personality into the article. In addition here are some steps to follow to explode your eBook sales using free articles.

Step 1: Generate an article idea that everyone will want to read about. Review your eBook and look for the benefits that your eBook provides to the readers. Make a list of these benefits.

Now, take one benefit at a time and create an article. This will assure you of generating an article idea that people want to read about.

Step 2: Write a simple outline. Once you have your first benefit idea selected. Take another sheet of paper and write a simple outline for that idea. This will give you the beginning content for your article. Later we will "fill in the blanks" of this simple outline to create the article itself.

Step 3: Choose a killer title that will draw attention. This is one of the most important aspects of your article. Without a killer title, your article will be passed over for another.

Now what do I mean killer title? What I mean is a title that has a benefit stated in it and draws peoples attention.

Answer these three questions to help you write that killer title.

1. Does the title draw a reader to take a look?

2. Does the title promise to solve a need for

the reader?

3. Does the title offer specific information?

Another way to start writing killer titles is to write at least 20 to 100 titles for each article to start. Then review other people's article titles. Then review your list and select your best killer title. I will tell you from my own experience that the more titles I write for an article, the better my title becomes. I have never used any of the first few titles when doing the above exercise.

Step 4:

Grab your readers with an attention-grabbing opening sentence. You can use either a statement or a question here. The idea here is to not only grab the readers' attention. It's also to keep it.

The best way I have learned to write an attention-grabbing opening sentence is to go online to an article directory and read the opening sentences to articles with a similar topic. I then discover which opening sentences are attention-grabbing and which are not.

Once I've done this I find it really easy to get my attention-grabbing sentence out of the way.

Step 5: State the primary purpose of the article by introducing a problem. By looking at your main benefit again you can turn it around into a problem. What is it like without the benefit? Here it is best to use a statement rather than a question.

If you are having trouble with this step simply write out an answer to this statement: "One of the biggest problems..." Use this to jar your idea centers in your mind. You can also begin your primary purpose statement this way. Look at the beginning of this article for an example.

Step 6: Take out the sheet of paper that has your outline on it. Now, write two to four sentences for each part of your outline. Imagine for a moment that a 7 year old has asked you about your article. How would you explain it to that child? Great! Now use that in your article.

Most ezine publishers and owners like articles between 400 to 1500 words. They also want it formatted to between 60 and 65 characters per line, including spaces.

I have found it best to use "notepad" when beginning to write out my articles and NOT a word processing program. This way there is NO formatting in the article. It is just the article in plain text.

Another point here is to use the word "you" a lot. You want the reader to feel comfortable while reading.

Step 7: Include two to three free resources that the reader can find online to illustrate and/or highlight your article content. Using this of course is only if it is appropriate to your article content.

Step 8: Write a resource box for the end of your article. Make this between 4 to 8 lines max. Here is where you tell a little bit about yourself and then highlight your website or email address. See the bottom of this article for an example of a resource box. It is the information that follows, "about the author," below.

Step 9: And finally, with your article written it is time to reread and rewrite. I have found that reading it aloud and/or having one or two other people read it helps a lot at this stage.

Don't run into a problem many beginning article writers fall into. Many of them don't like something they wrote and try to begin again. STOP! Don't begin again. Simply edit around the copy that flows.

Step 10: Now last but definitely not least, reread your article for grammar mistakes and use spell check one last time! This IS the most important step.

Once your article is done you should do the following two things.

1. Submit your article to "article announce" services online. An article announce service is a email service that posts articles for everyone. You have to be a member to submit your article. Once you join you can post your articles as you have them completed. Usually only one article submission to each of the announce services per day.

Writers, Publishers and Website owners watch the articles being announced for content that they can use.

When you join these services, it is best to use a second email address. This way the large numbers of articles you will be receiving will not interrupt your personal and business email.

Here are a few article announce services to subscribe to. After you email them to subscribe, READ the email they send you and FOLLOW the directions on formatting your article for each of them. This will increase your ability of having your articles published in these services.

I have listed only article announce services that are located at Yahoo eGroups. After you have subscribed and read each email you receive. Go to this URL to post your articles:

http://groups.yahoo.com/mygroups

Article Announce groups:

Article Announce Subscribe: article_announce-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

AAInternet Subscribe: aainet-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Articles Archive Subscribe: articles_archives-subscribe@egroups.com

Free Content Subscribe: Free-Content-subscribe@egroups.com

NOTE: to subscribe simply send a blank email to each of the addresses above.

2. Ok Great! Now its time to submit your article to online article archives and article directories. Article directories and archives are web sites that contain hundreds and thousands of articles from all over the world. Once you post your article at one of these locations your articles will be in front of thousands of readers, Publishers, writers and website owners.

Here are three to get you started:

http://www.1st-in-articles.com

http://www.webmomz.com/users/signup.shtml

http://www.goarticles.com

Well that's it for today.

Thank you for reading. Have a great week!

Blessings Bluedolphin Crow

About the Author Bluedolphin Crow Ph.D. is the author of an eBook called: eBook-Marketing-Secrets-Revealed! Rreserve your copy go to: http://www.ebook-marketing-secrets-revealed.com