I’d Like To Make It Easier For You To Whip Out Quality Content…

Yes, I really would like to make it easier for you to produce great content. I’m talking about the important content you use for your blogs, reports, article marketing, email autoresponder series, Powerpoint presentations,  podcasts, membership sites, etc… everywhere!

This is who I want to help:

• great writers who sometimes can’t think of what to write about
• writers who aren’t confident in their skills but could write well with a little help
• PLR writers who can’t seem to pick out topics and get started
• non-writers who need topics to simply hand off to their outsourcers
• PLR-haters who want to do it themselves
• people who want to produce original articles they can submit to article directories like EzineArticles
• anyone who likes the words “quicker” and “easier”

And this is what I came up with…

 Easy Article Starters

 

They’re just what they sound like – the beginnings of high quality articles. All you have to do is add your thoughts, and easily and quickly finish them. Now I could fumble through a better definition, but I’ll just give you some real examples so you can see for yourself. Chances are, you’ll get it better with a visual.

 

 

Here’s another one where I explain what to do with an Easy Article Starter:

 

There has been amazing unsolicited feedback since I launched this 9 days ago!

It’s great having people like you around Peg. If I had to come up with
NEW ideas on my own I’d never have time for anything else.  This just
added a whole new level to what YOUR ideas can do for MY business!

Thanks,
Debi J

 

Thanks Peggy.
Getting started on an article is always a struggle.
These make it so much easier. I can start writing straight away.
Great Idea.

Cheers,
Terry

 

This is an amazing innovation in article writing… Seriously, these
Easy Article Starters fix the number one issues both writers and
non-writers struggle with. Even though I write articles for a living,
the hardest part is usually getting started and planning the article and
this fixes that. Just from those examples I can see endless ways to
turn each one into tons of articles.

AmandaT

 

I’m continuing to add more packs in various niches, but so far I’ve done: 

Internet Marketing (4 of them)
Family and Home – WAH, homemaker, parenting/family, kids/teens, food (2)
Weight Loss and Fitness (2)

And I listed them all in a WSO so you can have them at ridiciously low prices.

With Google’s latest changes, the need to keep posting fresh content to your sites is even more important. I’m happy these article starters can help you with that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Article Ideas When You’re Not Feeling Creative

I've been asked about how or where I get inspiration for articles when I can't come up with any ideas readily.   Unfortunately, this happens all too often.  For as many times as I'm in creative freefalling mode, there are probably more times I haven't a clue what to write about and I have to force it.

It always depends on what you're writing – blog posts, articles for article marketing, or many times in my case – PLR articles to sell.  Please note that what I'm sharing with you are ways to trigger article ideas, not how to find articles to copy and plagiarize.

Writing PLR has it's own needs, but many of the ways I'm going to share here work across the board for other writing.  Any of these can trigger an idea or a whole slew of topic ideas.

 

Writing topic generators in no particular order:

Physical newsletters and propaganda that arrives in my mailbox.

Anything is fair game that lands on my kitchen counter – alumni newsletters, health brochures, AARP leaflets that they keep sending me even though I'm not that old, and various other paperwork that stacks up daily.  What catches my eye are articles that lend themselves to a Top 10 format or any sort of list.  Those make excellent fodder and are easy to write.

 

Online newsletters that I subscribe to.

Again, I'm always looking at info I receive through the eyes of a writer on the hunt for new topics.

 

Yahoo web search box.

I love this one.  I recently wanted to write 7 articles on the topic of yoga.  I don't know that much about yoga, so I stuck the word – yoga – in the search box and then started going through some of the alphabet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got more than enough topic ideas on yoga this way.  I prefer using Yahoo rather than Google for this because Yahoo shows 10 results at a time and Google only shows 5.

 

Magazines at the bookstore.

My favorite getaway is the bookstore.  The smell of coffee and books are ambrosia to me.  I really know how to live, eh?  I like to hit the magazine rack and find the magazines in the niche I want to write about.  I will scan the covers and tables of content, and then read some of the articles if it's a niche I don't know anything about.  This is a good way for me to learn some of the lingo as well.

 

Other blogs.

I don't always know when another's blog will inspire me, so I usually don't go looking for blog inspirations.  What happens is sometimes when I read a blog I find myself intrigued with the idea behind a post and realize I have strong opinions about the topic.  I have an ongoing list of topic ideas and I'll add a sentence or two about the idea to my topic list.

 

The Warrior Forum – questions being asked.

On occasion, when I want to write about Internet marketing, I head over to the Warrior Forum and look at the questions people are asking.  These are generally questions from inexperienced people and ones that I can answer (in an article).

 

My blog readers/commenters.

This blog post you're reading right now is really just a looong answer to Travis' question.

 

My list

Somedays when I send out an email to my list, I get several questions on the subject.  This lets me know that  a) They're interested in it and  b) I should explain it further.

 

My customer request list.

My opt-in form on my PLR site asks for topic suggestions as one of the form fields.  About 50% of the subscribers actually take this seriously and let me know what they want me to write about.  I appreciate the requests.

 

EzineArticles.

I pick the article category I want, then check out the various article titles.  This is often all I need to write my own articles.  I'd rather not read the articles as I want to be original.  I just use the titles to give my brain a kick-start.

 

Elance – what jobs people are requesting.

Customers go to Elance constantly looking for people who will write stuff for them.  If I see several requests for articles on top-selling Amazon toys, for example, then it's an indication that this is a hot niche and I can make some PLR sales on this topic.

 

The Warrior Forum – WSO subjects that are selling.

Warrior Special Offers, where Internet markets hock their digital goods, is a great place for ideas.  For example, I might see a product for offline marketers.  Each bullet point might be a topic worthy of a 400 word article.  Or take several bullet points and add some of your own to make a Top 10 article.

 

Top Clickbank products in various niches.

The articles I want to write are the ones that people want to buy.  What's the point of me writing PLR for a niche that's not at all popular?  Therefore, I try to follow the niches that see the most success.  Looking at the top Clickbank products, in say, the health and fitness category will give me lots of ideas for articles.

 

Google news.

Lots of ideas here without even needing to read the articles. 

 

My own stash of PLR.

Who doesn't have PLR on their hard drive?  Sometimes I take a walk through my PLR folder and instead of wondering "Where the heck did I get  that?" I think "Wow, I could write an article around that title!"

 

Products I've purchased.

Who doesn't have info products they've purchased on their hard drive?  Let's say I want to come up with some articles about blogging (like for the recent blogging PLR pack I wrote).  I have all my downloads in general categories so I leaf through the blogging info I've downloaded and quickly scan the likely candidates.  Viola!   I've got ideas I can put a different slant on.   

 

Interesting tweets.

Instead of saying "Oh that's funny!" when I read a tweet, I think about how I could turn it into a blog post or article, applying it to my niche.

 

Emails

There are some marketers who actually send emails that are educational, not just promotional.  I know, hard to believe, isn't it?  I can always count on some good ideas from emails I get from these marketers.

 

So that's my list of article idea generators. 

 

What would you like to add to the list? 
What get's you coming up with ideas and cranking out the articles or blog posts?

 

 

 

Day 1 Written Word Challenge

Well, as I figured would happen, I was too pumped up to sleep well.  I woke several times and gave it up at 4:30 am when I found myself composing my thoughts into blog posts.

But I did good on the challenge!  And frankly, I'm surprised with what I accomplished today.  That's what this challenge is all about – finding out what I'm really capable of. The biggest pat on the back goes to my astonishing outcome of writing 5 PLR articles before lunch.  And I did work out in the morning and run my son's snowboard back to the shop so it wasn't nonstop work. 

Wow, who knew?  Not me!

Here's the deal… I wrote 5 articles without procrastinating, checking my email constantly, playing spider solitaire first, or hacking through my jungle of  internal whining.   The articles were on a subject I don't know that much about, so I did have to do some research.  And they're still rough, but the hardest part is done. 

Here's the thing – I make on average $20-30+ per PLR article I write, so to have a bundle of 7 PLR articles ready to go on Wednesday means about $140-210 income.  So why don't I write the PLR bundles more consistently?  I've got too many other things going on that I also enjoy spending time on.  Writing PLR is not the only way I make money, but it is a consistent earner for me.

 

Day 1  TOTAL – 4125 written words

Blog Posts - 1358 words (2 blog posts) Articles - 0 PLR Articles - 2444 words (5 articles) PLR eBook or Report - 0 Blog Commenting - 323 words  ( 5 comments) Forum Posting - 0 Emails - 0 I didn't count tweets.

 

 

Join Me In The Written Word Challenge?
Day 1 of The Written Word Challenge
Day 2 Results
Day 3 Results
Day 4 Results
Last Day Results!

Join Me in The Written Word Challenge?

I earn my living by writing words.  The more I write, the more $$ I make.

I decided this would make a good idea for a challenge, because I could use a little push right now.  I will post my word counts each day for a whole week (Mon-Fri).  And I will try to increase them every day or as much as I can without totally stressing myself out.

ALL words will count -
blog posts
commenting on other blogs
forum posts
articles
emails
sales pages
info product creation
etc.
- because all these words are either directly related to making money or in building  brand which will, in turn, have a positive affect on income.

Do you want to join me? 

I totally realize this next week is NOT going to be the best with the holidays approaching and shopping still needing to be completed.  Plus my kids will be home more than usual… but what the heck.  It seems like every week has it’s distractions. 

I’ll post my daily results in the comment section, and you can do the same! 
And you don’t have to start the same day as me – - take this challenge whenever you want to.

The end results will be interesting; not the total word counts, but what all has been created and happened because of those words.

Cheers,
Peggy
P.S. This idea was inspired by Ruth at WebCareerGirl who challenged herself to write 50,000 words last year!

Internet Marketing Creative Freefalling

photo credit: whatleydude

 

That creative feeling doesn’t come on demand.  Oh no, it sneaks up on you and if you don’t notice it or invite it to take up temporary residence in the guest room of your mind, you’re going to lose a great opportunity to be, well, creative.

I’ve got it going on right now.  So what do I do?  Drop everything else and let my ADHD attach itself to my creativity.  I know it’s not going to last, so I want to milk all the ideas and writingness that I can.  I call it Storming my creative brain with brainstorming.

So this is what it looks like when I’m “in the flow”:

1.  I’m planning out ideas for blog posts for my newest blog at allstarplr.com/blog. Wow, I didn’t think I could come up with that many blog post topics right off the bat.  I’m going to have lots to share there!

2.  I’m starting this post for my peggybaron.com/blog about striking while the creative iron is hot.  I’m not going to finish it now though; I’ve got a great start and I can round it off and bring it to a close later when I’m not feeling so gifted and happy about writing.

3.  I’m starting another post about Ways to Monetize Your Face-Time.  Cool name huh?  The idea came from a conversation I’m having in my head with a blogger who has asked me some questions.  I was thinking about the best way to answer him via email, rather than in the blog’s comment section, and how it could be a profitable endeavor for both of us. 

4.  Outside my make-money-from-Internet-marketing world, I’ve got a dream to publish a book about Raising Teenagers.  I started writing these 1-2 page stories/chapters about my interactions with my teens based on true happenings in my (hopefully) funny, yet witty way.  I just came up with a good one prompted by this past weekend and the subsequent grounding that struck me as hilarious – the chapter, NOT what happened.  So I wrote that up.

5.  Next up – I will outline a new article I’d like to write for the article directories.  I already have my keywords so I’ve got to figure out what I’ll say.  What I should be doing is writing the family Christmas letter instead of letting that sit over my head until Dec. 23rd.  I guess I’m not feeling that creative.

I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, I’m trying to tell you that when the creative urge hits, allow yourself to go into freefall.  Don’t be afraid to open lots of new Word docs and start in on several things at once. 

I believe a true creativity bender doesn’t lend itself to just one project, but many.  Because ideas for one project lead to ideas for another, and so on.  It’s important to capture all this so try to allow each one some time and write it down or record it.  Then when the mood leaves you, and it will, you can then take each thing to completion.

I say, don’t hold yourself back!  What do you think?  Do you do anything different when you’re feeling on fire? 

Next up… how to force your creativity when it’s nowhere to be found.  This will be about where to find ideas for articles that I, ahem, promised to blog about this week.

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