Article Marketing…Ghost Writer and More!
August 1, 2008 · Print This Article
If you’re a small business owner that has heard “you need to submit articles to grow your business” but find yourself not getting anywhere with your writing, then I invite you to read this great interview with Denise Williams.
This blog post is part of Denise’s “WAHM Blog Tour”. As a virtual assistant I tell my clients how important it is for their business to submit articles. I also know that you are a very busy business owner and might not have the time or desire to write and submit your own articles. This post is full of information that I’m sure you will find helpful and might just answer some of your questions.
Please contact me, Stephanie at buckeyeva@gmail.com if you are serious about taking your business to the next level.
Happy Reading!
Question 1: What should I look for in a ghostwriter?
You can find your perfect ghostwriter by looking for a lot of the same things your clients look for when they need a virtual assistant.
One of the most important things to look for is how well you and the ghostwriter communicate with each other. Someone may be a good writer, but that won’t matter if the end result is all wrong because they didn’t understand what you wanted.
A good ghostwriter will ask questions about your project, your business, who’ll be reading the article, and what you’ll be doing with the content.
These types of questions show that the writer wants to know what you need the content to do.
Here are some other things you’ll want to consider when you’re looking for a ghostwriter.
Writer vs. writing service. If it’s just one writer working alone, what happens to your project when she gets sick, or falls behind? A writing service is usually a team of writers and might be more reliable.
Ask for writing samples. When you’re looking over the samples, you’ll want to check the writer’s spelling and grammar. Ask a friend to review the samples with you if you’re not sure.
You also want to look for a writer who writes in short chunks or paragraphs. These are easier to read online.
Does the writer offer revisions? At WAHM Articles, we offer up to two revisions on each piece of content, but not everyone does. If it’s not stated anywhere, ask.
Does the writer require payment up front? It’s common for writers to ask for at least part of the payment before they’ll begin a project. You can protect yourself by paying through a third party, like PayPal.
It’s also a good idea to “try out” a ghostwriter by contracting them to write a short article or blog post, before outsourcing a bigger project like your e-book.
If you and the ghostwriter don’t work well together, you’ve only lost a few dollars. And if you turn out to be a good fit for each other, you’ve just made a wise investment!
Question 2: How often should a business owner submit articles?
As often as you can.:)
How consistently you submit articles is far more important than how often you submit articles.
For example, let’s say you decide to submit an article every day (which would be fantastic, by the way) but after 30 days you’re burned out and can’t stand the thought of writing another article ever again. You have 30 articles out there, and you might never write another one.
On the other hand, let’s say you’ve decided to go at a more comfortable pace and submit one article a week. After 30 days, you will have submitted only 4 articles.
But, if you can keep up that pace consistently, in a year you will have 52 articles in circulation. If you can keep going, in five years you’ll have 260
articles. As long as you’re writing and submitting articles at a pace that’s comfortable for you, you will continue indefinitely, and that number will keep growing.
The more frequently you can write and submit articles, the sooner you’ll see results. But you need to balance that with creating a momentum you can maintain.
And here is a short bio you can publish with the post:
Denise Willms is the head writer of WAHM Articles, a ghostwriting service that helps online business owners reach the “mom market.” She is also owner of http://www.WAHM-Articles.com, a directory of free reprint articles for moms.
You can find your perfect ghostwriter by looking for a lot of the same things your clients look for when they need a virtual assistant.
One of the most important things to look for is how well you and the ghostwriter communicate with each other. Someone may be a good writer, but that won’t matter if the end result is all wrong because they didn’t understand what you wanted.
A good ghostwriter will ask questions about your project, your business, who’ll be reading the article, and what you’ll be doing with the content.
These types of questions show that the writer wants to know what you need the content to do.
Here are some other things you’ll want to consider when you’re looking for a ghostwriter.
Writer vs. writing service. If it’s just one writer working alone, what happens to your project when she gets sick, or falls behind? A writing service is usually a team of writers and might be more reliable.
Ask for writing samples. When you’re looking over the samples, you’ll want to check the writer’s spelling and grammar. Ask a friend to review the samples with you if you’re not sure.
You also want to look for a writer who writes in short chunks or paragraphs. These are easier to read online.
Does the writer offer revisions? At WAHM Articles, we offer up to two revisions on each piece of content, but not everyone does. If it’s not stated anywhere, ask.
Does the writer require payment up front? It’s common for writers to ask for at least part of the payment before they’ll begin a project. You can protect yourself by paying through a third party, like PayPal.
It’s also a good idea to “try out” a ghostwriter by contracting them to write a short article or blog post, before outsourcing a bigger project like your e-book.
If you and the ghostwriter don’t work well together, you’ve only lost a few dollars. And if you turn out to be a good fit for each other, you’ve just made a wise investment!
Question 2: How often should a business owner submit articles?
As often as you can.:)
How consistently you submit articles is far more important than how often you submit articles.
For example, let’s say you decide to submit an article every day (which would be fantastic, by the way) but after 30 days you’re burned out and can’t stand the thought of writing another article ever again. You have 30 articles out there, and you might never write another one.
On the other hand, let’s say you’ve decided to go at a more comfortable pace and submit one article a week. After 30 days, you will have submitted only 4 articles.
But, if you can keep up that pace consistently, in a year you will have 52 articles in circulation. If you can keep going, in five years you’ll have 260
articles. As long as you’re writing and submitting articles at a pace that’s comfortable for you, you will continue indefinitely, and that number will keep growing.
The more frequently you can write and submit articles, the sooner you’ll see results. But you need to balance that with creating a momentum you can maintain.
And here is a short bio you can publish with the post:
Denise Willms is the head writer of WAHM Articles, a ghostwriting service that helps online business owners reach the “mom market.” She is also owner of http://www.WAHM-Articles.com, a directory of free reprint articles for moms.
[…] You can read what I told her here. […]