Tools to test your articles' readability level

How user-friendly is your writing? If you are writing for the public, you know that it's wise to avoid using professional jargon.

Other factors are also important, especially when writing online:

• Make your paragraphs short - they are easier to read when they don't exceed 5 lines.
• Use headings, sub-headings and bullets - makes your content jump out at the reader
• Keep sentences brief, but vary the length and structure, so that your article doesn't read like a grade-school primer.
• Write in a conversational tone - speak to your reader.
• Write at a level that is easy for most people to understand - from 12-year-olds to your grandmother.

You can test the readability level of your articles. Microsoft Word has this built in.

There are also online tools, available here. Simply copy your text, paste it into the box, and you'll get instant feedback on several readability dimensions.

Pauline

p.s. Join my monthly Q&A calls, where I will answer your questions about marketing. Get more info here.

.

5 ways to position yourself as an expert

If you have specialized knowledge and experience to help others, then you are an expert.

HERE ARE 5 WAYS TO PROMOTE YOUR EXPERTISE:

1. Give talks and lectures in your community. Even if you don't get paid, you are building your reputation as an expert - which can generate business for you in the future.
   


2. When you give a presentation, pass around a sign-up sheet for people to write in their names and email addresses. Then follow up by sending them your e-newsletter, tips or other helpful information.


3. Get someone to interview you, asking you questions about your area of expertise, and record the interview. All the better if the other person has some name recognition in your field or in your community. Place the recording on your website.
   


4. Write articles. Here's a link to several of my blog posts on tips for writing articles.
   


5. Under your signature add one or two tag lines - not only showing your professional designation, but also promoting your expertise. Thus, your signature on emails and letters might look something like this:

John Doe, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
...Helping couples fall in love again

Jane Smith, CPA
Public Accountant
Family business expert

Why position yourself as an expert? These days, with fewer consumer dollars to go around, more people will turn to experts, in order to get the most value for their investment.

Get more visible online, so that people can find YOU and learn more about how you can help them.

I've removed the guesswork for you, in my step-by-step home-study course, Market With Authority: Build Credibility and Professional Name Recognition on the Web.

-- Pauline

Holiday-themed articles: Re-use them every year

Every professional should have a file of holiday-themed articles. Whatever your field, write about something related to the Christmas season, New Year's, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc.

Once you write a holiday-themed article, you can use it every year, with minimal tweaking.

It's OK if you publish it over and over - because someone reading it this year might not have noticed it last year.

People pay attention to what pertains to their own lives at any given moment. Thus, your Valentine's Day themed article on how to stay emotionally connected when your spouse is overseas, will be noticed by women whose husbands are in Iraq. But it probably won't be of much interest next year when their husbands are back home.

OK, now that you have a set of articles, what can you do with them?

• Rotate them on your website or in your newsletter
• Submit them to article banks such as ezinearticles.com, so that others can find and publish your content in their own newsletters or websites.
• Upload them to social media sites such as scribd.com
  
• Post them on your social networking page, such as Facebook.com
• Create press releases out of them and send them to off-line media - newspapers, TV, radio. See my blog post on press releases.

Always be thinking a couple of holidays ahead, and plan your strategy on how to distribute your articles.

It's also OK to repurpose them in different formats. See my slideshow on 7 Ways to Repurpose Your Content - and let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

And be sure to include in every article that you write:

• Your full contact information - name, phone number, email
  
• A link to your website
• A specific offer or directive - e.g., Start building your expert status online today, with my step-by-step audio-narrated course, Market With Authority: Build Credibility and Name Recognition on the Web. ;-)

--Pauline

p.s. My friend Mark Hendricks is still going gangbusters with his 12-Days-of-Christmas Giveaway. Get dozens of marketing tools for free! See my last blog post below.

Special marketing tools giveawy

I don't usually promote specific marketing programs, but here's one you must not miss: Mark Hendricks's "12 Days of Christmas" program.

Every December since 2003, this Internet entrepreneur known for his integrity as well as his expertise, has coordinated a giant giveaway program, with Internet marketing products donated by dozens of the best marketers online. (I'm honored to have my product included.)

These products will be released a few at a time, every 2 days in December - which means you'll have access to dozens of high-quality products over the 12 release dates.

Here's how the program works:

1. Sign up here

2. That will put you on the list to get emailed notices when new products are posted.

3. Click the links in the emails to browse and to download whatever you want - all FREE!

What's the catch?

The donors are providing their products at no charge, in order to introduce themselves to you and to showcase what they can offer you.

For most of the products you will be asked for your name and email address, which will subscribe you to their individual mailing lists. 

There is no obligation, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

If you are new to marketing online, this is a great way to explore the possibilities.

Pauline

Get media attention with a press release

You don't have to be a corporation or a publicist to write a press release. Anyone can write one.

The main purpose of a press release is to make a newsworthy announcement about your business. Journalists are always looking for story ideas - and your press release may prompt them to contact you.

In order to get the attention of the media, your press release must answer the question: "Why should anyone care about this?"

Write a press release to announce things such as:

Your new book

An event that you're planning or sponsoring

A new service that you're offering

Expert training that you have completed

Write in an engaging manner, as if you were talking to a friend. The press release should fit on one page, and should have attention-grabbing headline.

In my Market With Authority Home Study Course, you'll hear a Chicago Publicist reveal how she worded a headline that generated calls from major media with minutes of posting a press release online.

Press releases follow a certain format. For guidelines and tips try one of these websites:
eHow: How to write a proper press release
wikiHow: How to write a press release
PRWeb: Press release tips and guidelines
Pressbox: Writing press releases for online use

Submit your press releases online. Here's a list of sources.

Scribd - the 'youtube' of article publishing

In my last blog post I described how to get more mileage out of your articles by submitting them to article banks.

Here's another idea: upload them to Scribd.com, which combines article hosting with social media.

That means people can comment on your articles and/or easily share them with others - thus the potential for your articles becoming viral.

Scribd uses technology called iPaper, which converts documents to Flash format. (Scroll down to see an example.) Flash is built into all Internet browsers. If you can view youtube videos, you will be able to read iPaper documents. iPaper uses less memory than Adobe Acrobat, and loads faster.

To use Scribd, sign up for a free account. Upload your article in .doc, .pdf or other supported file types. All formatting and images will be retained as you originally set them.

Next, choose a topic category for your article, and type in keywords that tell the search engines what your article is about.

You can decide whether to make your article public or private.

You can also decide whether to allow the article to be downloaded, and in what format (plain text, Word doc, pdf.) If you want your article to be read only online, and not downloaded, uncheck all the download options.

Assuming you make your article public, website owners can add it to their site by simply copying and pasting the 'embed' code - similar to how youtube videos are streamed through individual websites. Your article appears in its entirety, in its original format. You can use the embed code to show your articles at your own website, blog or Facebook page.

Here's an example of one of my articles that I uploaded to scribd.com. To enlarge the font, click the little down arrow to reveal a drop-down menu. Or to view in full-screen mode, click the icon at the top right corner of the document window.

Breaking Up is Hard To Do - Especially for Men

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Health divorce breakup

Get more mileage out of your articles

One of the best ways to establish yourself as an expert online is to write articles.

You can post them on your website, of course. But to get greater distribution, you should submit them to article banks, such as ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com and others. Just search for "article bank" at your favorite search engine for thousands of other article banks.

Article banks are websites dedicated to collection and dissemination of articles written by experts who offer their work for free.

When you submit your articles to article banks, they may get picked up by publishers who are looking for fresh content for their ezines, newsletters and websites. Thus you have the potential of reaching audiences that you would otherwise not have access to.


Boost your chances of getting your article picked up by publishers:

• Publishers generally look for brief articles that offer tips, advice or insight - emphasis is on BRIEF. Keep your articles to 500-700 words.

• Keep your focus very narrow. Better to cover one or two points well than to try to pack in tons of information.

• Write on topics that appeal to large groups of people. But don't be so general that your article is watered down.

Include links back to your website.

In the body of your article, or at the end, be sure to include a link back to your website or blog. 2 reasons for this:

1. It will encourage readers of other people's ezines, newsletters and websites to visit your website. Those who click on your link are obviously curious about you or what you have to offer. Once they get to your website, they'll learn more about how you can help them.
   
   
2. It will boost your ranking in the search engines. When people click over to your website from somewhere else on the internet, that tells Google and other search engines that these other websites are "recommending" you - which raises your popularity value in search results.

Click to learn more about marketing yourself online to build a strong expert presence in this tough economy.

-- Pauline