Getting Ideas For Your Articles

By Terri Seymour
Posted Sunday, August 29, 2004

When I first started writing articles, I didn't think I would be able to think of things to write about. I would get an idea and get an article out and then think; What do I write about now? After you get each one out it seems like you are running out of ideas, but the opposite is true. As you write more articles, you are able to identify good article material more easily and more often.

If you come across a good idea and are a little unsure of what to include in your article, do some research. What better place than the Internet for research! If you are having difficulty coming up with ideas, there are ways to "train" your mind to recognize an article in emails, ezines, message boards, and other places. Ideas for your articles can be found anywhere!

*Message Boards - Make the rounds on your favorite boards and see what people are discussing. What questions are people asking. One simple question can be turned into an excellent article.

(http://www.wahmpreneur.com/discus/)
(http://www.free-publicity.com/cgi-bin/talk.cgi)
(http://www.bizweb2000.com/wwwboard/)

*Discussion Lists - Same as with the boards. When you are reading the posts, always ask yourself: Would this make a good, informative article? Do people want or need to know about this?

mailto:ideasbypost-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
mailto:momsbiz-subscribe@egroups.com
mailto:join-epub-@list-universe.com

*Emails - You can get ideas just by reading emails from friends and associates. As when I received an email from a friend who said she was so stressed out she was considering quitting her business. The idea just hit me and my article "Don't Quit...De-Stress!" was born. Just think of each event as it could be written into an article. Positive and negative.

*Current Events - Keep abreast of what is happening on the Internet and in the "real" world. Many news stories can be made into informative and effective articles.

(http://www.newsbureau.com/)
(http://www.netnewstoday.com/)
(http://groups.com/)

*Your business - What are some of the things you do in your business that are helpful and efficient? Maybe the way you organize your time and work. Many people are not too good at this and an article filled with easy to do tips and ideas would be very successful. Take other parts of your work that you could write into a good article. Just about every aspect of your business can be an article, you just need to write it down in an informative, organized fashion.

*Ezines - Ezines are goldmines of information and can harvest numerous ideas for articles. If the ezine is listing some places to find link exchanges, you could turn that into an article on how to go about doing link exchanges. The ezine might have some affiliate programs featured. Write an article on what you should look for in an affiliate program.

You might think that because you are not a writer, you would not be able to write articles. NOT TRUE! All you need to do is write something you know about, maybe do some research to back up your facts, and then sit down, start typing as if you were talking to a friend and in no time at all you will have a great article. Your mind will become "trained" into seeing articles in all places. Do not give up if you do not like your first draft. Just change it around a little until you do like it. I have submitted a couple of articles I did not particularly like, but they did surprisingly well!

Writing articles is a very important part of your online business. Do not let your doubt stop you from becoming a successful article author!

About the Author
Terri Seymour owns and operates MyOwnEzine.com Learn to publish and promote your own ezine. mailto:subscribe@myownezine.com Complete list of her articles for reprint please email: mailto:myownezine-index@getresponse.com Earn 50% with the MOE Affiliate Program (http://www.myownezine.com/moesalespage.shtml)