Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Writing Internal Newsletters: How to Build Your Network and Your Reputation

To help build your profile and reputation within a large company create or contribute to, an internal newsletter. Your company collegues are an excellent network for you - lift your internal reputation by writing an internal newsletter that people will read. This article is full of tips to help you get started.

Write for the company newsletter. Offer to provide articles or updates for the internal newsletter. This is a great way to work with the production team (who are often volunteers looking for content for the newsletter).

When writing for internal correspondence here is a couple of questions and tips:

What do you know your topic? List on one piece of paper all the different aspects to your topic. You may like to create a map of your brainstorm to identify major headings or important points. This map will also help you locate sub points for each major heading.

Who will use the information or tips? Make a list of the people within the organisation that would be interested in your topic, and make a note of how to write this in a way that will appeal to them.

Why will they use it? This question will help you to structure your thoughts and write them in a way that is appropriate for your colleagues. Is it just for information? Will it help them do their job better? Will it boost their productivity? Will their lives be easier as a result of knowing your information consider these questions when you write about your knowledge:

Why will people read it? This is similar to the question above, make it interesting and assist your team by explaining the main points of the article in the title or first sentence.

What tips can you give your co-workers about your knowledge? Try and turn your information into easily applied tips that people can apply straight away if appropriate.

Create an opening and closing paragraph in the first paragraph or sentence state the premise of your article. In the closing paragraph or sentence remind your readers of the main points.

Create a call to action from the article in the closing paragraph you might like to suggest action they can take to apply this knowledge or improve their understanding. You might suggest further websites they could review, books to read, other articles or texts on the subject give them suggestions for what to do with this information you have shared in your article.

Create a promotional box at the end of the article to allow your colleagues to get in touch with you if they want more information. This should have your name, contact information including phone, fax and email. If you have a website for your department that would also help your readers.

Sharing your knowledge with others is a great gift and personally rewarding so start writing today and structure articles that are easily read and understood for your teammates.

Neen is a Global Productivity Expert: by looking at how they spend their time and energy and where they focus their attention Neen helps people to rocket-charge their productivity and performance. A dynamic speaker, author and corporate trainer, Neen demonstrates how boosting your productivity can help you achieve amazing things. With her unique voice, sense of fun and uncommon common-sense, Neen delivers a powerful lesson in productivity. Find out more at http://neenjames.com/

Writing a Flawless Research Paper in 4 Easy Steps

When it comes to writing a good research paper, you can learn many of the latest methods in research and report writing from your professors and librarians. Assuming you don't wait until the last minute, most research papers can usually be completed by following a few general guidelines.

For detailed reports, you can write a good research paper just by practicing a few steps. In fact you can easily turn your standard paper into a flawless research paper just by going through 4 easy steps listed below.

Step 1: Selecting Topics and Initial Research

Start out by choosing a good topic for yourself as this will decide the outcome of your summary. Once you have locked your topic in place, proceed in collecting your references and bibliographies. That will help you decide where to seek for solutions and locate the information you need from various media resources like encyclopedias and informative websites. After you get them all together in one centralized location, get some index cards where you'll add these bibliography entries in preparation for your outline.

Step 2: Arranging and Structuring The Paper

You are going to need additional note cards to sort out all the relevant information in a logical manner. The trick with the note cards is to put all of the related ideas into one single paragraph to fill up the entire note card. Adding the bibliographies and references to that information will aid in keeping things organized.

Once all of your note cards are complete, separate them into different groups. The versatility of the note cards allows easy shuffling and experimentation with different outlines. Try to arrange them into a tree structure where you have the main topics, subtopics, details, etc.

Step 3: Drafting and Proofreading

With all of the note cards properly organized, you can now proceed in making your rough draft with confidence. Write a couple of rough drafts for your research paper and make sure it complies to the note cards which represents your entire research paper summary.

You can also try using writing software that can generate the outline for you based on ideas that you can give. After you are satisfied with what you are reading, give it a final check for spelling and grammar and then let your professor approve it.

Step 4: Preparation and Final Development

Get your bibliography cards out and start preparing your bibliography section in fuller detail. This process should be real simple if you sorted out your cards so you can easily place them in the relevant areas. This is important when your research paper is being checked as sources may be confirmed in order to evaluate the paper

After that, you can begin paginating and preparing the table of contents and matching title page. Refer to the online resources or teacher's reference on how to make the correct title page and check if everything is in order. You should be have a very organized research paper if these 4 steps were done correctly.

Now you can triple your productivity and write books, articles, reports & presentations faster than you ever thought possible.

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Monday, September 7, 2009

Attributes of Great Online Writers

The 12 Attributes of Great Online Writers

Expert online writers can help your website to climb to the top of Google. So when you're looking for top results, here are 12 key attributes you should look for - and expect nothing less.

1. They save you time. Effective writing is labour-intensive and can constrict your schedule. Hiring an online writer allows you to focus on all your other priorities.

2. They meet every deadline. In fact they thrive on meeting deadlines, so they always produce work on time.

3. They solve a problem. Good writers don't promote a technique that boosts PageRank (feature), they promote more traffic (benefit). They don't list facts; they solve problems.

4. They are great researchers. Writing requires fact gathering such as online research, interviews, anecdotes and statistics. Good writers are experts in obtaining background information.

5. They think of the overall user experience. Information architecture, coding, metadata and design. Your online writer knows what helps users to find and read content.

6. They live and breathe SEO - and that's what delivers high rankings. They know about keyword density, article PR, link-bait - all wrapped up in cracking content.

7. They are social media savvy. Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. To take full advantage of Web 2.0, your web writer should know about all the main social sites. In fact, they should be members.

8. They're passionate about content strategy. Most content is crap. But content is the web - it deserves time and attention. That's where content strategy comes in. Your writer should take up the torch for content strategy - most will want to make content matter.

9. They love Google. Google is the most popular search engine - by a wide margin. So web writers will be infatuated with Google. In fact, it's probably their default homepage.

10. They give your customers reasons to believe. Great writers prove your product will perform - and they remove risk. The result? Your customers' confidence confidence goes through the roof.

11. They ask for the sale. If you have something to sell (or an email list to opt in to), you have to ask. Explicitly. Online writers know how important this is. Otherwise no one gets paid.

12. They write with reading in mind, using plain English. They use lists and bullets. They edit - a lot. They choose short words, short sentences, short paragraphs. They respect your readers' time, which means your readers will be back for more.

Need an expert online writer? Visit http://www.brightcopy.gg or email tineke@brightcopy.gg.
Tineke is a successful copywriter who has written for Vodafone, Waitrose, Natwest, Vets4Pets, Southport Tourism and many more.

Simple Tips to Be a Successful Freelance Writer

Back in the old days, it was quite easy to get freelance writing jobs. When our grandparents were still in their teens, they already had jobs at newspapers and magazines. Back then, they were also gutsier and were more resourceful. Perhaps it was because of the urgency during their time that they had no other choice but to excel and do their best.

These days, we have the comfort of technology. Writing does not require you to actually own a pen or a notebook (although other people find such practice more conducive to writing). Modern technologies like the Internet, television and even mobile phones have paved the way for more freelance writing jobs.

But how come only a few seem to have tapped into this new media (especially the internet)? After being in the business for quite some time now, I've come to realize that some people are just not aware. They think it's hard work looking for a gig online. I'm here to correct that notion.

It's not difficult to find writing assignments online and sustain it as long as you find your niche.

Freelance writing jobs start out with you looking for something you're comfortable writing about. At first, you might be given assignments you know next to nothing about. However, don't be dissuaded and give up.

Since you're already online anyway, why not try doing research? Research is a freelance writer's best friend. For example, I was once tasked to write about employee relations. Back then, I had no idea what I could write about. Instead of returning the assignment, I looked around for information and read other articles. Soon, I found myself understanding what it meant and I was able to come up with a great piece.

Freelance writing jobs will expose you to a wide range of topics. However, you will soon find yourself having a greater and easier time writing certain topics. At this stage, you have already found your niche and while you may still keep your old job, you can now begin looking for other opportunities that will focus on the topic of your interest.

There are plenty more tips for freelance writing jobs where this came from. Already unspoken rules, of course, include polishing your grammar and being responsible for your articles. Plagiarism is absolutely a no-no. The Internet might be an endless vast space but it's not that hard to bump into articles every now and then.

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Easy Writing For Children

It's easy to pick up a children's book at your local bookstore or library and think, "I could have written this." After all, there are few words and the words and thoughts are simple. How hard could it be?

It's much harder than you think. Whether you're writing a picture book for toddlers or a novel for the young adult market, you have to have some knowledge and training in the profession of children's writing to succeed.

Like any profession, children's writers have worked at perfecting their craft. They have taken classes, attended workshops and joined critique groups. Then, they submitted their books to editors who worked with them even more. Being a children's writer is not for the thin-skinned.

If you're interested in writing for children, there are several steps you can take to help you achieve your dream.

Take a class: If you've never taken a writing class, this would be a good time to sign up. It will teach you how to organize your thoughts and how to perfect your grammar. Taking a class that focuses on writing for children would be even better. You can find these classes or workshops at your local library, community college or you might try looking online.

Join a writer's organization: Writers organizations hold local workshops, meetings, sponsor critique groups and classes. Look around your community. You might be surprised at how many writers you find.

Join a critique group: Sure, you think your writing is great. But have you shown it to anyone else? Before you submit it for publication have another writer read it and tell you what s/he thinks.

These steps can get you on the road to a successful career in children's writing.

For more tips on writing for children, visit Phyllis' blog at http://www.phyllisquigg.blogspot.com

Ways to Make Money Online For Writers

As a freelance writer, there are loads of ways to make money online. The Internet is afterall nothing more than a collection of content, much of which is text based. From blogging to content writing to copywriting, there are loads of different writing fields you can get involved in that could generate a serious income.

That's not to say earning money as a writer is easy - it's just that with the variety of different ways to make money online as a writer, there's so much demand for writing services. As a content writer, you can easily command up to $100 an hour, with even just a few months experience. Provided you know which clients to work for, you present yourself properly and you deliver on your client's expectations every time, this isn't far off what you can expect to earn.

Bloggers are paid anywhere from $5 to $500 per post. Some blogs pay writers per post, some pay through revenue share, some bloggers earn money through ads on their own blogs, and others do it for free. It's a much more specialized type of writing than content writing, and much more difficult to succeed and make money in. Because of the demand for high quality, the competition is fierce, and while it can be possible to earn money blogging on some of the smaller networks with very little experience, your earning potential may be restricted, unless you start your own blog.

Copywriting is again very specialized, but also provides opportunities for earning a great deal of money. Sales copywriting for Internet marketing especially pays particular well, with fees ranging from about $97 through to $10,000 and beyond for a singly sales letter. Again, it's not as straightforward as writing articles, but it can still be a great way to earn money writing if you know what you're doing.

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How to Work Online As a Freelance Writer

Writers are one of the most in-demand online jobs you can find. After all, someone has to write all the billions of words that appear throughout cyberspace. If you have a natural ability to write, a good command of the language, proper grammar and can follow style requests, then you might consider becoming a freelance writer.

One of the great perks of being a freelance writer is working from home. With email and instant messaging, writers no longer have to commute to an office for a face-to-face meeting with their clients. Important details can still be explained over modems instead. Some people might think that writers are simply people who type away at their computer all day. Sure, that's true to a certain extent but don't forget the creative process involved in formulating just the perfect content for all those website owners.

Another convenient perk of the freelance writer is the ability to have total control over their workload. Writers can accept or decline assignments as they please. If they don't agree with the subject matter or they're planning a vacation, they can simply say "no." Freelance writers can also set flexible hours which is helpful if their client is in another time zone. Writing in the dead of night while the family sleeps is preferable to many writers who long for a silent place to work.

How Much Work is Available?

Granted, not every website owner will have the budget to hire a writer. Same holds true if a writer sets their prices too high; not everyone can afford to use their services.

But let's think instead of all the types of content writers create for an online business owner:

1. Website Copy - there are millions of websites in cyberspace, maybe even billions. All those websites have copy written to explain the purpose of the website.

2. Product Descriptions - every online store that sells products needs compelling product descriptions that are not only accurate but makes the shopper want to buy the item immediately.

3. Sales Pages - if an online business owner has a digital product to sell, chances are they have an online sales page promoting all the great benefits of their product. These are often rather long and tout all the reasons why the shopper should buy it NOW.

4. Blog Posts - blogs are more casual and personal websites where you can post your inner most thoughts or new information about your business. Blogging platforms have become very user friendly which makes it easy to post content but many business owners just don't have the time. Freelance writers will often ghostwrite these blog posts, which simply means the writer does the work but attributes the work to their client.

5. Article Writing - very similar to blog posts, articles are important pieces of a website's content. Some online business owners also do article marketing, which simply means writing an article for use on another website. Again, very few business owners have time for writing the actual article so they will hire a ghostwriter.

The list of written content for website owners could go on and on. With so much competition online, good writers are in high demand and they can often name their own price. Add to that the ability to work from home and picking and choosing assignments, freelance writing is a great work at home job opportunity.

Chris Simpson is dedicated to helping people find honest and legitimate work at home opportunities and home based business ideas. Find legitimate work at home jobs and many other great opportunities to make money online today at: http://www.HomeNetPro.com