by  R.A. Rowell; Writing Advocate

There's a myth out there that article writing is easy. Yes, when you start writing articles online, you can write about whatever you want. But, don’t think that online writing doesn't need lots of thought or effort put into it. You can’t just type whatever comes to you and hit 'publish' and expect it to be good web writing. As an experienced article writer for hire, I can tell you writing online content is not as easy as it might look.

Article Writing is NOT Easy

Technically, you can write whatever you want online. But, as with anything, the more thought and effort you put into writing your article, the better results you’ll get out of it. So, while you can write content on any topic, you need to be sure that you write it in a way that people can find it.

Sure, there are some easy topics for article writing out there. Something that you have a lot of knowledge or expertise about is going to be a lot easier to write than something that requires you to do a lot of research beforehand. But, even if you think you know something very well, it's still good to research that topic. The trick to writing successful articles is to make that piece an authoritative topic on that particular topic.

You don’t have to write the perfect post every time, though. Yes, there are those of us that can whip out a blog post in 15-20 minutes, slap a Creative Commons or public domain photo on it, give it a snazzy title, and publish it with an immediate audience.

But, is that true of most article writers? Certainly not.

Write Fast, Fix Later

There are article writers who can write 1000 words in 20 minutes. But, don't feel bad if you can't write that fast right now. It takes LOTS of practice to be able to write so quickly. For me, it was years of journal writing that started back in junior high. But, what helped me the most over the years was retyping my journals into the computer. It helped me practice typing. Also, it also made me rethink how I worded things.

Obviously, when you’re writing in your own journal, you're not going to worry as much about how you're wording things. You're just going to write whatever comes to you. It seems many people think that writing perfect prose just comes naturally to experienced article writers. That’s not true. For every post I whip out in 15-30 minutes, there are five more on the back burner. Of these five, three or four of those will likely end up scrapped.

There are also plenty of articles I whip out, then go back and revise. Online article writers are always tweaking. After all, what you write is live to the world. If you’re not happy with it, you’re going to change it. You want to always show something that is strong work. Even if it’s not your best, you want it to be something you’re fine with having your name associated with when it comes to web writing.

Another mistake people make is to just write for what the search engines want right away. It's much better to just write first and optimize later. It’s easy to have an idea that you’re not sure how to optimize for search. That’s fine. Write it first, then figure out your keywords. It’s easier to SEO a post after getting it completely written. While many people write to keywords, I usually write first, then keyword later. It sounds backwards, but it helps me to just get words out and not sound like an article spinning machine.

While knowing target keywords is important, you may find yourself shutting yourself off to topics, just because you don't have a high-volume search phrase. Not all topics will get a lot of search traffic to begin with. Not everything you write has to be Page One of Google material. That's OK. Just write what comes to you and optimize for what you can later.


Write Ahead, Always Be Ahead

To make up for those times where the writing flow isn’t working, many online article writers write ahead. This is why you see so many web writers hammer out a lot of posts at once. That way, you can go back and decide if something is ready to publish or not.

Still, everyone's writing process is different. Some of us take a lot of time to craft the best blog post that we can. When I have a post that I really want to come out the right way, it can be a long process. That post can take days or even weeks to get published online.

In 2020, many blog posts take the better part of four hours to craft. Today's best performing articles online are much more thoroughly researched and comprehensive than in the past. While that's a good thing, that content quality is improving dramatically over the years, it also means you have to put a lot more into your articles than ever to make them work out well.

But, if you just get your ideas down and worry about making them full blown articles later, you'll be in better shape. You can spend an entire day on a post, but when you come up to needing something new to post for the week, you may find yourself starting with next to nothing. It's best to get the ideas down first, find the piece that's most relevant to your target audience and/or interesting to you and go with fleshing that article out before moving on to the next one.

What Makes a Good Article or Blog Post?

Plenty of thought has to go into articles and blog posts. Much of it is research. Not only are you fact-checking or looking for additional info, but you have to know if that article is going to actually get interest. Will this topic resonate with your intended audience? Is it a subject people will even care about? There's so much going on behind the writing that most people never think about.

Sure, you can just sit there and use a blog as your personal journal or as a way to curate content. That's perfectly fine. I used to do web writing that way. That’s when I just wanted to connect with others through online writing without really thinking about it as a career. Article writers and other web writers should just do whatever works for them. But, if you want to take your web writing to another level, that’s when you have to start treating it with far more care.

Yes, it's absolutely a myth that article writing doesn't require a lot of time and effort. It really does, especially when you're trying to grow it into a career. Yes, just starting a blog and writing anything takes time and effort. Even if you’re just writing for fun, it's never as easy as it looks! After all, you're publishing your article to the general worldwide public. That’s nothing to sneeze at! But, article writing for profit gets more complicated and requires a lot of time, effort, and patience.

So, the old saying “if you blog, they will come” isn't exactly true. You have to put in a lot of time and effort for a blog or website to live on. For those that can do it consistently, be proud of them for doing something they love! If you have the passion to put extra thought into effort into everything you publish online, there will be a pay-off in the end.

by  R.A. Rowell; Former English Major

Like any good copy writing, articles and blog posts should be written in a conversational style. As an article writer or blogger, you want to be personal and treat your reader as if they are a close friend. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should overlook grammar errors in your writing.

One of the worst mistakes that bloggers and article writers make is to allow for common grammar errors to damage their credibility. Some common grammar mistakes in web writing include:

• Ending sentences with prepositions
• Improper use of punctuation marks
• Inappropriate, missing, or excessive use of modifiers
• Misusing pronouns and contractions

If you are looking for more backlinks and subscribers to your blog or website, here are five common grammar errors to fix in your writing. Fixing these mistakes will improve your overall writing, as well as your credibility as a professional web writer.

‘Your’ and ‘You’re’

One of the most common grammar errors online is misusing ‘your’ and ‘you’re.’ ‘Your’ is always meant to be used as a possessive pronoun. ‘You’re’ is simply the contraction of ‘you are.’ Yet, you often see things written online like ‘Your a beautiful person,’ or ‘I want to see you’re house.’ Why is it that so many bloggers overlook this obvious grammar error?

Unfortunately, many free grammar check programs won’t catch this mistake. Because of this, many web writers leave this mistake in many of their articles and posts. To many readers, this will make a post look sloppy and hurt the writer’s credibility. Don’t lose respect over such a simple usage mistake, especially one that pops up so constantly.

‘It’s’ and ‘Its’

Another common grammar error is misusing the contraction ‘it’s’ and the possessive pronoun ‘its.’ This is perhaps more common than mixing up ‘your’ and ‘you’re.’ Sometimes, this mistake is not quite as noticeable. That doesn’t mean it should be overlooked, though.

‘It’s’ is a contraction used in place of ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ while ‘its’ is a third-person possessive pronoun. To avoid mixing up these things, read your copy aloud and be aware of how you use ‘its’ or ‘it’s.’ If you can replace an ‘its’ with ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ and it makes sense, you’ll need to fix that usage. Be sure that when you write ‘it’s’ that you are using it as a possessive pronoun. That is a common mistake, but don’t let it hurt your credibility as a writer by showing up too often in your articles.

‘There’ and ‘Their’

While ‘there’ and ‘their’ are both pronouns, their uses are quite different. ‘There’ is used to refer to a place or thing. ‘Their’ is a plural possessive pronoun. Yet, you will often read things that say ‘There business has been very successful…’ or ‘Their is a clear difference between…’ in articles, which simply reads wrong. This simple mistake is committed more frequently than you’d think, too. Don’t be one of the article writers or bloggers who overlooks this mistake.

‘Affect’ and ‘Effect’

These two words are often confused. While misusing these words aren’t as glaring an error as some of the above, it’s still something that should be checked for any time you write an article or blog post. ‘Affect’ is used as a verb, while ‘effect’ is used as a noun. They do mean about the same thing, so it’s easily to switch them up. But you don’t want to have a sentence that reads “Millions of people were effected by the power outage last week’ or ‘The bill could have a negative affect on the education budget.’ This error can lose you some respect with readers.

Misplaced and ‘Dangling’ Modifiers

The other major grammar problem that web writers make is misplaced and ‘dangling’ modifiers. Modifying phrases can change the entire meaning of sentences, and if they are put in the wrong place, they leave sentences to be easily misread.

Misplaced modifiers are phrases or clauses that are meant to modify one word or words, but are placed next to other words, which confuses the entire meaning of the sentence. Dangling modifiers are phrases or clauses not clearly or logically related to the words they are placed next to, or modifies. They are usually at the beginning of a sentence.

After writing your copy, be sure to read it through and make sure that each sentence flows properly, especially those with modifying phrases separated by commas. If it’s not clear what exactly the sentence is saying, then you should rewrite that sentence.

Each time you’re ready to hit submit on your latest article or publish on your latest blog post, be sure to read it aloud. You don’t want to commit any of these five common grammar mistakes, or accidentally leave something that reads unclear or flat out wrong. Your readers will never thank you for it out loud, but they will respect you more for correct grammar. If you have been making any of these errors on a regular basis, though, and you make an effort to fix them, people will definitely notice. Tighten up your copy and you’ll reap the rewards.

Need to make sure that your article or blog post is properly copy edited for grammar mistakes and free of typos? Check out the Editing services from Brand Shamans & Intent-sive Nature!

by  R.A. Rowell; Writing Coach

There are many schools of thought when it comes to the best article length for SEO. The good news is that there isn’t a perfect article length that ranks best for SEO. Both short articles and long articles can perform well in SEO. The best length for an article really depends on the topic itself and how in depth you’re looking to write about it.

Are Short Articles Good for SEO?

At one time, a common piece of SEO advice was to write 300 and 500 word articles based on a very specific keyword phrase. But, are these still best for SEO? With the focus appearing to be on longer content that covers a topic more in depth, this no longer seems to be the case.

Still, short articles do have SEO value. Many content marketers argue that 300 to 500 word articles are a good length for readers who want a specific question answered. For awhile, 500 words was considered a solid length for a useful article. Short articles are best for topics that don’t require a lengthy look. So, it comes down to just how specific the topic you are looking to cover is and if a more in-depth look is even necessary.

What is true is that many internet readers are looking for quick answers to their questions. They’re not sitting down to read a book, after all. Sometimes, if a topic can be split into several articles, it’s probably a good idea, as long as each article answers a reader’s question.

One suggestion is to create a short series of articles with a keyword phrase as part of the title. Then, break it into several different articles that are accessible from one another. That way, you can list them so readers can pick and choose the specific topic they’re looking for. The advantage of this for you is that if someone is truly interested in everything you’ve written on the topic, they’ll read the entire short series.

Can Long Articles be Good for SEO?

While short articles, and series of short articles, are a good idea, long articles can be good for SEO, too. Just as there are those that preach that short articles are best for SEO, there are others that preach that long articles are even better for SEO. The argument for long articles is that search engines consider longer articles to be more valuable resources. So, they tend to rank better in search results.

But, just as is true for those that say shorter articles are better for SEO, this isn’t the complete truth. If a topic deserves an article that’s 1000 words or even 2000 words or more, then it’s probably worth doing. If your article is really long, one really good idea is to use subheadings that separate your longer article into shorter chunks. You may even consider a short table of contents at the beginning of your article that links to the different sections of the article. That way, readers who may otherwise just skim will click on that specific section.


The Best Articles for SEO Are Targeted and Relevant

If you’re looking to write the best articles for SEO, just be sure to stay on topic. It’s fine to write about multiple ideas in an article. But, for the web, it can be best to split it into multiple articles, or use the subheader tactic mentioned above.

Basically, see what articles that keep visitors on your own sites. Watch for the lengths of those articles. If your audience likes shorter articles, write shorter articles and break up longer ones. If they favor longer articles, see if you can combine some shorter pieces into longer ones, and create more long-form articles. If it’s somewhere in between, just keep up what you’re doing already! Essentially, the best article length for your content is whatever your audience likes best.

What do you find is the best article length for your own web writing?


Need to make sure that your article or blog post is properly copy edited for grammar mistakes, free of typos, and optimized for SEO? Check out the Editing services from Brand Shamans & Intent-sive Nature!

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

Some of the best advice I've ever read on outlining an article came from the book “How to Write a Book for Beginners" by Ryan Stephens. While this advice had to do with outlining a nonfiction book, it’s applicable to any kind of nonfiction writing, including article writing. When you think about it, a nonfiction book is really just an article or a collection of articles that’s dozens or hundreds of pages long!

When Ryan asked his friend about how he outlines his books, his friend told him it's as simple as answering two types of questions. There are the questions people actually ask and the questions they should be asking. In the case of a nonfiction book, you want your chapter titles to be the questions people ask. Then, the subheadings are made from the questions you believe people should be asking.

The best part about this advice is that it works for article writing, too. As someone who used to be rather allergic to traditional outlining, this simple approach is refreshing. But, while it looks simple on the surface, how easy is it to know what questions to ask, and how can it help you write better articles?


What Questions Do People Actually Ask?

The type of research involved in finding the questions people ask on a regular basis on a given subject used to be rather time consuming. Fortunately, today we have good old Google Autocomplete to give us a treasure trove of what people actually search around a given word or phrase. Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines offer a similar question to help us dredge up further ideas. 

The idea is that if an autocomplete feature is suggesting particular search queries, then there’s obviously more than a handful of people asking that same question. These autocomplete features are helpful places to begin keyword research for your articles. Or are they? 

As I set to writing on this topic, I ended up asking myself: ”What if the best questions people want to ask aren't even being typed into Google?” Now, that is a question that I wouldn’t see people typing into Google! It's funny how when you start asking yourself questions how you come up with more questions. 


What Are the Questions People Aren’t Asking Google?

This is when I figured out what Ryan's friend was really onto when he said you should outline using questions. The thinking behind using topics people search online is that they are questions that will continue to be asked. But, when people have questions, do they always turn to Google or another search engine?

As a writer of web content, it seems like I began to sort of assume that if people don’t search for it online, it’s not relevant to what I have to write. For so long, I’d dredge up keyword phrases based on my autocomplete research. But, after reading that Ryan Stephens book, I started to wonder how learning the secrets of successful nonfiction books could help me write better articles. 

The idea dawned on me that I should seriously look into learning more about writing nonfiction books. But did I Google it? Nope. I searched Amazon for free Kindle books on writing. That's right. People still look for answers in books. Who would've thought? Believe it or not, though, there isn't a book readily available for every topic.


Articles are Great, But Books Can Be Better

What I learned through this exercise is this: even if people write a hundred thousand articles on a topic, it doesn't mean there's a good book on it. So, why does it matter if you can't find a book on Amazon for a question you have? To me, it screams opportunity. As a writer, this smells like fresh blood does to a shark.

So, now we've established that people search Amazon sometimes before they even think about Google. That's not a tip you see everyday. But, I do have a friend of mine that suggested using Amazon to see what titles are out there on a given subject you want to learn more about. I’m positive he’s not the only one who does that.

Yes, Amazon has its own autocomplete feature in its search bar. It’s actually going to give you some different results to Google, as people are searching for subjects they are looking for books about. But, beyond Beyond, there are a lot of other places to look for answers to your questions. You can't possibly check them all. So, where do you look for your questions to answer?


So, How Do I Find the Questions People Should Be Asking?

The best way I've been finding questions to ask - the ones people should be asking like Ryan’s friend said - is not by doing keyword research. You certainly should still do some initial keyword research, because you can find some good opportunities to target your content that way. But, when you set yourself to answer a question, you should never limit yourself to just what people type into a search engine. The best way to know what questions people should be asking is to think of the questions you would ask yourself.

If you have a topic or question in mind, write it down. Then, ask yourself the questions you would ask in order to be satisfied that your question has been sufficiently answered. But, how do you know you’re asking the right questions when outlining your article?

I'm loath to say it, but I'll say it anyway because it will help illustrate a point. There's no such thing as a stupid question. Some will rebut that with: until you ask it. Others will follow up with: only if you don't ask it. I'm inclined to agree with the latter rebuttal.


So, What’s the Best Way to Find the Questions People Need to Ask on a Subject? 

It turns out we’re not all brilliant masterminds who have billions of unique thoughts everyday. In fact, none of us are. But, I do have good news. The genius is in making the connections between thoughts and ideas. Anyone can do this if you work at it. 

So, yeah, if you're thinking something, it's highly likely someone else has thought the same thing. But, if you're acting on it, then you're doing something creative. That's an important distinction that people don’t often realize.

As someone who usually skips outlining an article entirely, why do I suddenly seem keen on taking a step back and really asking some hard questions? Because by asking questions, I find myself asking even more of them. Eventually, I'll recognize which ones seem the most important to answer. Then, I set to work.

What people actually ask is what you'd probably be asking yourself anyway. Yes, seeing what people are asking through a sort of social proof is important, too. But, when you are trying to write an article, you turn the idea faucet on and let it flow for a bit. Then, when you’ve come to a point where you need to turn to finding answers, this is when you know you have a whole bunch of good questions.

So, how do people even look for answers in the first place? It’s not always as simple as...

Should I Google It?

...or, in place of Google, insert your favorite search engine. Keep in mind people use Amazon and YouTube search to look for answers, too. There’s also Quora and other Q&A websites. Google can be a great discovery tool, but that is all that it is. Finding the answer you’re seeking may in fact be a click away. But it may not be. Even if there are results, will they satisfy you? 

In my experience, if it's not a simple question, most of the time you'll find irrelevant results or feel underwhelmed by what you do find. Don't blame Google. No one has answered it well enough yet anywhere the Google spiders can find it. For writers, these queries are fresh blood for article writing!

But, not everyone asks Google their burning questions. Not too many people actually type into Google “should I Google it?” when they’re figuring out how best to find answers. Choosing to use Google is an internal decision. There are so many other search engines out there. While Google is the most-used, by a crazy large margin I may add, not every good question people ask will be easily revealed to you that way.


Should I Look for Answers in a Book?

Turning to books to seek an answer to your question may seem like a quaint solution to some people. If you are even considering turning to books, though, I applaud you - even if it’s an ebook. There’s solid reasoning to this decision making process.

By no means is a Google searcher lazy or lacking in any sort of capacity. But, there are some questions that require some digging for good answers. You can do this through Google, too, of course, but hitting the books means you want more than online articles can give you - no matter how well-written and researched they are.

I hate to break it to you, but what you read online is not always accurate. I also hate to break it to you that what you read in a book isn't always accurate. However, books seem to be much more trusted. Why is that?

Yes, it's true that books tend to be more robustly researched, edited, scrutinized, and peer reviewed. But, online articles can be all of these things, too. Plus, pretty much anyone can self publish both e-books AND print books in our on-demand age. So, there isn't too much difference between what you find online or in books, right?

Here's the key difference: books are longer. Even short ebooks are longer than the vast majority of articles published on the web. Books require more effort to create on the part of the writer and a lot more research to be done right. If you’re turning to books to answer your questions, you're no longer just a searcher, but a researcher. Likely, you’ll have to visit your local library or buy books to seek answers. If anyone goes to that much effort to learn more about a subject, it must be important.

This is where we must bridge the gap to what people should be asking. 


What Questions SHOULD We Be Asking in Outlining an Article?

Many questions people are probably only asking internally, but not actually searching. Others have questions that may require more research than many people actually want to do. So, because we writers are wonderful human beings, we go do the hard work so others may benefit from our immense labor. 

Or, we're self absorbed jerks who hope to get paid the big bucks for becoming the top expert on subject X. 

Either way, same result.

The questions that require the most digging, the ones not answered well by existing literature, or at all through the results of a Google search, are the ones we should be asking in our articles. Those are the ones we should be writing about and answering. Yes, it can be hard work, but the end result is going to be something pretty cool that probably hasn’t been done before. 


How Does Asking a Bunch of Questions Help You Outline an Article?

It's quite ironic that when I first began writing this very article that I neglected to even outline it. But, as I went along, I realized that I had something rather profound here. At first, I began to ramble and lose focus. Fortunately, I found a way to right the ship before the article turned into a complete mess. I took a step back and just asked the questions I felt I needed to answer for the article to feel complete.

So, is there a process to outlining an article using these questions? 

Turning the more common questions into chapter titles helps you get into the mindset of your audience. If you’re writing an article, this is how people are going to discover it in search. If you’re writing a book, people will find these in your table of contents, if you choose to make that part of a free book preview (which you should). You also show your audience (and potential publishers) that you have your finger on the pulse of your audience for a given topic.

People also like it when you’re asking questions that echo the ones they themselves have been asking. You position yourself as an authority by asking the right questions. It may entice them to follow you or actually buy something you have to offer!

While turning your article or book into an FAQ of sorts isn’t a terrible way to go, you want to get down to creating something more. That’s where the sub-headers come in. They’re quite useful in keeping your audience’s attention and allow skimmers to  get some value from your work without reading closely. By turning your subheadings into questions, you force yourself to answer them well.

While asking these questions are really helpful in outlining and focusing yourself on the questions you need to answer, they’re good to keep in the final version, as well. Many people, myself included, have long used subheadings that read as statements or even like commands. While there isn’t anything wrong with this, asking questions instead adds a new dimension to your writing. Not only do people appreciate that you’re asking good questions, but you make your readers ask more questions of themselves.

By asking the right questions people really ask and those that should be asked, your article writing will be a lot more focused. You’ll also find yourself driven towards writing good answers more quickly and more often. These questions can serve as the backbone to any piece of nonfiction writing that you’re doing. Once I started writing this way, I can say I write more quickly and more effectively than ever before.

Plus, I started asking a lot more questions on my own. Is that ever a bad thing?

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

If you’re a first-time writer, you may be reading a lot of different writing advice about how to get started. There’s plenty of writing advice out there, some good and some bad. Here, we’ll ask some questions about common advice that’s given to first-time writers. But, we’ll expand on these ideas a bit more and give you some actionable advice for your writing. Even if you’re not a first-time writer, these are questions you probably still should be asking yourself.

Before we get started, keep this in mind: You can be the most talented and skilled writer there is, but neither talent nor skill is a guarantee for writing success.  What you’ll find is that passion is the most important thing when it comes to writing. We’ll get to why this is later.

Now, here are six key questions first-time writers should ask, or any writers, really.


Question #1: Why Must Writers Must First Be Readers?

A writer must be a reader, first and foremost. Whether you are a writer of nonfiction, novels, songs, poems, or even technical manuals, writers must read. While we each develop our favoritism for certain genres or topics, we must each always look to broaden our knowledge.

Why is diversifying your knowledge so important? True genius lies in making connections that others simply haven’t made yet. By diversifying your reading material and spheres of knowledge, you expand your mind and allow it to make connections with seemingly unrelated ideas.

If you limit yourself to a single genre or a handful of topics, you will limit your ability to discover new ideas. Also, by opening yourself to other genres and topics, even if on a whim, you expand your ability to learn. In a world that becomes seemingly more specialized everyday, the writer must learn to do the opposite.

First-time writers often struggle finding their writing niche, and that’s OK. Even experienced writers feel the need to branch out and find something new to write from time to time. The best way to find new ideas to write about? It’s reading.


Question #2: How Should You Choose a Topic to Write About?

You’re probably sick of hearing the same old advice of “write what you know.” First-time writers hear that a lot. As with a lot of common advice, though, there is a lot of truth to it. However, there’s more to choosing a topic than that. You might know a lot of things. Of course, there are always going to be more things that you don’t know than you do.

Yes, to be a successful writer you have to know what you’re writing about. But just because you know a lot about something doesn’t mean that’s the topic you should choose. Whatever you write about, it should either be something you love or something you hate. The truth is that you need to write about something that you’re passionate about, because that will show in your writing and make it better!

Can I Write Something I Don’t Know? This is when the common  “write what you know” advice seems limiting. If you’re interested in some topic that you don’t really know a lot about, then, by all means learn about it. As you research this topic, if you find you’re actually rather passionate about it, then keep learning about it! You can eventually turn what you don’t know into something that you do know a lot about! Just make sure that you really love it before you dive into writing about it.


Question #3: Can You Ever Stop Learning?

No writer is ever going to be perfect. It doesn’t matter how skilled or knowledgeable you become. There is always room to grow, both as a writer and as a person. If you don’t continue to expand your mind, you will find your writing suffer as a result. There’s so much pressure to keep writing the same thing and sharpening your focus. As a writer, you should write what you love, but keep learning other things. Even if you focus on writing nonfiction, you should never stop yourself from reading fiction or poetry. You just never know where your next good idea will come from.

A mind that becomes too focused on just one kind of writing, one way to tell a story, or one anything will eventually become complacent. This can cause your writing to become stale. Much of your audience will grow bored with the same thing after a while. This is why you must keep expanding your mind. For example, even if you’re an established horror writer, you may draw inspiration from science fiction and romance. If you focus too much on what’s already been done without introducing new combinations of ideas and new perspectives, you and your writing will suffer for it.

Also, your writing will never be perfect. So, there’s always room to learn from other writers, whether it be through their style, their storytelling, or just their ideas in general. First-time writers certainly have the most to learn about the writing craft, but even the best writers still learn all the time; that’s how they stay the best!


Question #4: Why Should You Keep Building Your Vocabulary?

If you’re a writer, you should know as many words as you can, right? This seems obvious at first. But, one common piece of writing advice is to actually use the simplest words you can. Of course, Ernest Hemingway is quite famous for his poignant use of simple words in the narration of his stories. But we’re not all Ernest Hemingway, are we?

Yes, using uncommon words, often called “big words,” “college words,” or “SAT words” can be daunting for a lot of readers. So, yes, when a simple word is fine to use, just use that. It can be very tempting for writers to show off their vocabularies. But just because you don’t use them every day in your writing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know them. It’s actually good for your readers to have to look up a word in the dictionary once in awhile, after all. But, then, why use them at all?

Words are surprisingly complex when you actually study them. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and how they have changed in usage or form over time. The etymology of even common words is pretty fascinating. In fact, the study of individual words alone can actually help you develop writing ideas.  

And, of course, building your vocabulary will allow you to reduce the chances of not being able to find just the right word for an idea. After all, words are little encapsulations of ideas, and the more of them you know, the more ideas you can easily express.


Question #5: Should I Write Down Every Idea I Get?

Here’s a question that many first-time writers ask: should I be writing down every writing idea that I get? Yes, the most important thing about ideas is to not let them get away. Ideas often occur to us at the most inopportune times. Writing an idea down on the back of a napkin might sound cliche, but it does actually turn out that doing that has saved some great ideas. Always be prepared to capture ideas when you least expect them.

The beauty of the human mind is its ability to come up with pretty amazing ideas unexpectedly. The idea for the next great novel of all time could occur you to just about anywhere. Even a piece of character dialogue could hit you as you’re walking down the street. If an idea sparks your interest, write it down in whatever way you can. Yes, even carry around napkins if you have to!

Don’t fool yourself that you might simply remember the idea later. Yes, sometimes you may remember it perfectly. But another beautiful, and often tragic, thing about the human mind is that it can be at time impossible to remember something you came up with just five minutes ago. Ideas are always racing around and can bury one another. We’re all brilliant in a way, and we all have ideas. Most aren’t going to be good, and some will be OK. But all it takes is one great idea to get you writing. That one idea could take you further than you could ever now imagine.

Question #6: What’s the Best Writing Advice of All?

Every writer can ask this question, and the answer is actually quite simple.

Write Because You Love to Write!

A lot of writers make publication the end goal for their writing. While wanting to be a published author is definitely an excellent goal, it shouldn’t be the only one. Your main goal in writing should always be writing what you love to write. You may not always love what you write, but you should love the very act of writing itself. No, not everything you write is going to be published. Even Stephen King has unpublished manuscripts.

You should only publish when you feel you’ve written something that you actually feel is worthy of publishing. So many writers spend so much time on trying to write something to be published and are frustrated when no one wants to publish it. Lots of times, there’s going to be nothing wrong with what you’ve written.

The truth is that publishers have to make money. If they don’t think an idea will make money, no matter how good it is, then they will likely pass. This isn’t your fault and you shouldn’t let it discourage you. If you’re looking to publish, you can always self-publish to get it out there. Then, just write something else. You can always follow the money with your writing, but it shouldn’t be ever be your only end goal.

As a writer, following your passion is all you should be doing. Your writing is going to be better when you’re not writing just to publish. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t have publishing as a writing goal. What it means is that when you sit down to write, don’t worry about the publishing being the end goal. Passion is everything with any art, and it especially shows in writing. Writing what you know and love is what drives a writer to create. If you’re not driven to create, then you’re going to have a hard time writing. It’s as simple as that.

So, with these six important questions answered, get out there and just write!

by R.A. Rowell; Content Creator

We live in a world where so much information is available at our fingertips. Yet despite the vastness of the internet, there's still a chance to write unique content that covers a topic no one has happened to publish online just yet. But what is the best way to ensure that you're setting out to write truly good and useful content? You'll want to think of each piece you create as a new tree in an evergreen forest of content.

Some pieces will never become more than saplings. They simply won't take root and will wither away. But from the dust of those failures, other saplings will gain a foothold and slowly grow. Once in awhile, one tree will shoot high above the rest. But while it's great to be awesome at the tallest tree in the forest, every tree is important.

Evergreen content is made up of timeless elements. There are certain universal questions that people will always be looking to answer. Sometimes, people will look for a better answer. Your evergreen trees must be able to adapt to the shifting winds of search queries and potential shifts in the online climate. The deeper your roots go and the better connected the forest is, the more sustainable it will be.

Organic search traffic brings your trees the nutrients they need. But you must water them a lot in the beginning. You must identify which trees are your strongest and be sure to invest time and energy into them. The stronger they are, the better the other smaller trees around them will do. You have to remember that your evergreen forest of content is an ecosystem all its own. It feeds off of the surrounding ecology, but it needs to sustain itself, as well.

Sometimes, you may pay someone to water and tend to your forest. You want to only hire tenders who will treat your forest with great care. You don't want to let in those who will litter or otherwise disrespect your forest. While you can't always prevent this from happening, you can always take care to focus on those who will understand how precious it is to grow a beautiful forest that can be enjoyed for countless years to come.

The last thing you want to happen is for a fire to start and burn down your forest. While rare, ecological disasters happen. Whatever you do, be sure to keep the seeds from your top content trees safe, in case you need to start over again. The beautiful thing about evergreen forests is that with the proper care, even a damaged or ravaged forest can one day thrive again.

You may not be confident that you can grow more than a small garden of content. Some of it may be made up of only annuals. That's okay to start somewhere. From the death of these plants can spring new perennial life. It's important to be patient. Prune and fertilize as necessary, but never overdo it. If it's meant to survive, given enough water and sunlight, it will.

Building an evergreen content forest will bring new fresh air to the world. Not only that, tending to it will yield fruits beyond the humble beginnings from which you planted. Good, solid contributions are welcome if they complement your forest. It may start as a small garden with a single plot or even a handful of seeds. But it's well worth the work, if you're willing to do what it takes. There will be those out there who will appreciate it if you just build it tall enough.

Do you think you're ready to grow an evergreen forest of content? You may be a lot closer than you might now think. If you need a little help, it never hurts to ask.