A Million Page Views - How to Find Success Writing Articles on Associated Content

You know, that with most articles, you have to read through hundreds of words till you get to the golden nugget of advice you're looking for. Well, not here (more on Naked Yoga later). I'm going to tell you straightaway how you can get (probably) a million page views. I think, through my research (which may be badly flawed), it is down to having at least a thousand pieces online.

Now, if you write just articles, and strip each article down to 350 words, then you will need to write, let me see (adds up on fingers), 350,000 words to get a million page views, which is the equivalent of writing a book of 1,000 pages in smallish print. Put like that it doesn't seem so difficult. Look at Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace'. Leo would have reached several million page views, I suspect.

10 Page Views Tips for Writers

1. Don't be too generous with your writing. Don't put a lengthy masterpiece online all in one go (AC friends time is not limitless!). Spread it out into several parts.

2. Your writing shouldn't be drastically shortened just to fit in with the 350 word limit though (it used to be 400, but I see that's now changed!). If an article runs to 500 or 600 words, and you can't really shorten it, then publish it as it is. People want to be lifted by quality writing, and if it looks rushed then you will not attract so many fans.

3. Previous material. Dig out material from the past, and just edit it here and there - unless it's just so good it doesn't need editing. Don't be scared of publishing articles or stories which have been published elsewhere, especially if you think the good AC readers deserve a chance to see the wonder that they may have missed.

4. Be prolific. Some of the most successful AC writers publish several articles a day. Now that is hard work, so that is why it is an idea to look at writing from your past, and a good idea is to save ALL your omitted paragraphs from articles. Put them in a file called 'edits', or 'edits1', 'edits2', etc. Some paragraph you didn't think fitted in with an article may act as a spur to write another one. You may actually lose fans if you publish several items a day, because they won't be able to keep up, but if they look at just one item that is fair enough, because through sheer weight of numbers, re articles, the hits will come flying in.

5. Try and pick subjects which will have an overall appeal to people inside and outside of Associated Content, but don't write just to please an audience. Write to please yourself as well. Don't sell your soul to the great page view god! What to publish is always a bit tricky, as with a really popular subject, i.e. celebrity news, then you are competing with a lot of writers. With an obscure subject, i.e. a history of Whaplode Drove (my village), there'll be less people interested, but you've got a better chance of your article being spotted.

6. Try and use keywords in the first paragraph of your article, without making it look a desperate attempt to get hits, i.e. "Angelina Jolie is a beautiful looking woman, oh, yes, Angelina Jolie is. Angelina Jolie is an actress who is famous..." This is more subtle: "Angelina Jolie is an American actress who is as famous for her relationship with actor Brad Pitt as for her acting. Angelina Jolie is also famous for her, some would say controversial, humanitarian work." Here's a good article on Easy SEO Techniques for Online Article Writers by Lyn Lomasi.

7. I think Maria (100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 page views) Roth said that fiction doesn't do as well as articles. You can see all her badges here, and maybe go as green as me...

8. AC friends help, and a lot of them. Though try and get people with similar interests to be your friends. It's also not a good idea to follow a writer whose views you find consistently offensive, and then write "Great job" just to get a page view back. Don't cheapen yourselves.

9. Twitter is a great tool - if you can find people who will pass on your links, in return for passing on theirs. See my article on using Twitter here.

10. Finally, the best motivation of all. I will post a naked pic on AC if I fail to get a million page views by the end of this year - with a rose in my teeth, and with a strategically placed copy of 'The New Yorker'. I challenge everyone to do the same. Those who fail to reach the target should start subscribing to 'The New Yorker' right now... Oh, Naked Yoga? Just a ruse to get you to read until the end...

Oh no, I'm thinking some people won't visit my page so much because they'll want to see me with 'The New Yorker', but it works both ways, of course...