The Secrets to Becoming a Successful Internet Web Site Author

There are a plethora of online sites looking for contributors, sites like Associated Content, Text Brokers, Triond, Suite 101, Factoidz.Com, etc. all these sites are constantly on the lookout for writers who can produce quality articles that will meet their readers needs. As a site editor on one of the aforementioned sites I can assure you that we welcome professional grade writers with open arms and do everything in our power to make their experience with us a pleasant one. You might say we are like the Marine Corp who want "a few good men." Unlike the Marines, we aren't looking for a few good writers; we are looking for as many as we can find.

It's relatively easy to start contributing to an online site like Associated Content or Factoidz.Com but succeeding as an online author and making the time you spend researching an article, writing it and then rewriting it financially worthwhile isn't always easy. Someone once said that genius is five- percent inspiration and ninety-five percent perspiration. Much the same thing can be said about the craft of writing, writing is five- percent inspiration and ninety-five percent perspiration. It's relatively easy for a writer to come up with something to write about, especially since most of these online sites allow you to write about whatever subjects you are knowledgeable about and have an interest in. The ninety-five percent perspiration is what it takes to turn that idea into a publishable article that will meet your readers needs. As a site editor, I have writers ask me what it takes to succeed on my site and I want to share the advice that I give them with you here in this article.

The first thing that I tell them is to spend more time on creating a catchy title for their article and spend extra time in creating any subheadings that you may plan to use. Writing for the internet is much like giving a speech, you must capture your audience's attention within the first 30 seconds or they will move on to another, more interesting site. Take another look at the title I gave this article " The Secrets to Becoming a Successful Internet Web Site Author." Now consider this as an alternate title, "How to Become a Successful Internet Web Site Author." Which of these two titles do you find more intriguing? Which one would be more likely to grab your attention and hold your attention? Since you are still with me, it must have been the one I used. I don't want to belabor the point, but learning how to create catchy titles is key to becoming a successful writer online or offline.

Writing successfully for the web is a lot like writing how-to books for the do-it-yourselfer, break the text up into many short paragraphs. Solid pages of text are a sure-fire way to lose your readers. Right up there with the short paragraphs is sentences, use short simple sentences and when you use compound sentences make sure that they are absolutely necessary. Write in clear, easily understood language and when you have to use jargon or acronyms, define the terms or acronyms right away i.e. ISO (International Standards Organization).

Asking an occasional question is also a good way to hold a reader's attention and to pull the reader's attention back if it has started to wander elsewhere. I write photography articles for everyone from the neophyte to the advanced professional. Once, writing an article on digital photography for the new digital photographer, I opened the section on using the camera's programmed shooting modes by asking these questions: Which programmed mode do you prefer shooting in? Which mode is best for the type of photography that you do? I had already explained the various modes and what each mode did when I introduced the reader to the features found on most digital cameras. Asking these questions not only worked to recapture the reader's attention if it was wandering, they got the reader to think about what he or she had already read.

Break a paragraph up by using bulleted or numbered lists to separate supporting facts or to list sub steps in a multi step process. Besides making the step easier to follow, this process helps create extra white space and the one thing that we want to use a lot of when writing for the web is lots and lots of white space.

Success or failure of an article depends on how well you understand and relate to your audience. You have to take a tone in which you aren't talking down to them nor talking over their heads. You also have to present your material in such a way that the reader understands why it's important that they understand it and they must understand how they will benefit from learning it. We can't assume anything about what our audience already knows about a subject, we have to present it in away that assumes no knowledge on their part.

Don't try to cover too much in one article. Limit your article to one topic and cover that topic thoroughly. For example, I have written an article on Depth of Field for the new photographer and then went on what DOF (Depth of Field) was and how understanding it would help the reader take better pictures. I then went on to explain lens aperture and lens focal length and how these interacted to generate depth of field. Everything that I included in that 1200 word article related to DOF, nothing less, nothing more.

Conclude your article by offering links to other sources where the reader can find additional information on the topic.