 A Simple Formula For Coming
Up With Hundreds Of Winning Article Ideas
By
Randy Ruggles
Copyright © 2004
So you've decided to try your hand at writing articles because you've heard
it's a great way to promote your business on the Internet.
You've overcome your paralysing fear of grammar. You've borrowed a good
thesaurus. And you're confident you can write an article that's interesting
and informative.
The problem? You don't have a clue what to write about.
Here's a simple technique to help you come up with tons of article ideas.
First, you should already know which general theme your articles will revolve
around. Marketing? Cooking? Science? Music? Obviously you'll choose a theme
that appeals to the target market of your product or service.
Next, you probably already own several books that deal with this theme since
it's your area of interest. (I suggest if you're not already an avid reader,
become one before attempting to write articles.)
Go grab one of your books. Open it to a page.
Now read a paragraph. Any paragraph will do. Then, ask yourself this
question:
What is the main idea the author is trying to communicate in this passage?
(Hint: often the main idea of a paragraph is the first or the last
sentence.)
Now write the idea down on a piece of paper. Could this idea be developed
into an entire article? Could you add examples from your own experience to
flesh it out and cover the topic in more depth?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not recommending you plagiarize someone else's work.
That would be bad. But remember - you can't copyright an idea. There's nothing
wrong with taking someone else's idea and giving it your own fresh
perspective.
Let me do an example with you to illustrate how this works.
I write articles about marketing for home-based businesses. I have a fairly
large collection of business books. Let's go to my bookshelf and see what
we find, shall we? (Hmmm . . . I really should organize this thing
someday.)
Here we go: "Multiple Streams Of Internet Income" by Robert Allen. I open
the book to page 122. My eye falls on this paragraph:
"Remember, your first and most important task is to entice your visitors
to leave their e-mail address and give you permission to contact them again.
The more valuable your free gift, the less resistant they will be to leave
their e-mail address."
The main idea of this paragraph is the importance of capturing the e-mail
addresses of your Web site visitors. So, I write that down.
Next, I brainstorm possible headlines by using 'who, what, where, when, why
and how.' For example:
1/ How Top Internet Marketers Get Your E-Mail Address
2/ What FREE Things To Give Away On Your Site To Capture E-Mail Addresses
3/ Why Getting Your Visitor's E-Mail Address Is Crucial
These headlines need work. But any one of these ideas could be developed
into a full article.
Let's do another one.
Oh, look. Here's "Making Money In Cyberspace" by Paul and Sarah Edwards.
On page 5, I find this paragraph:
"You can start doing business in cyberspace for $100, or even less. Lots
of people - especially large companies who want to make an impressive showing
- have spent more, but you don't have to."
Potential article ideas?
1/ 10 Internet Businesses You Can Start For Under $100
2/ How To Start A Business On The Internet For $100 Or Less
3/ 5 Reasons Why An Internet Business Is Easy To Start (one of the reasons,
of course, being its low start-up cost)
Don't think you have to re-invent the wheel when coming up with topics to
write about. Don't reject an idea just because you think it's already been
done. Your article will be unique because you'll bring to it your own unique
style and perspective.
Just use this technique to get the ideas flowing. Then get writing.
About the Author:
| Randy Ruggles
is a direct-response Copywriter and Marketing Consultant. He is the author
of “How To Start Your Own Home-Based Coupon Book Business.” For
powerful, persuasive copy that sells, visit http://www.randyruggles.com/.
Get his FREE 10-day, e-mail course called “The 10 Most Common Advert-
ising Mistakes (and How To Avoid Them)” by sending a blank e-mail to
mailto:[email protected]. |
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