Article maintenance tips

Edit till your eyes hurt!

If you're new to online article writing, you may not be aware that the real work begins after you write your article. Article maintenance has many components, not the least of which is editing. You will also need to decide where to place your article and how to categorize it. All these thing will determine the success of your article. Lastly, you must promote your article and link to it from other websites. This is how your article gains popularity on the web. Why do you want your article to be popular? So it will get page views, of course. Unless you have a problem with making money.

Editing

Breathe a sigh of relief. Your article is done. You may think it's perfect. It probably isn't. That's where the phrase first draft comes from. All writers have an editor, and for good reason. As an online article writer, chances are, you will have to be both writer and editor. Go over your article with a fine tooth comb. Naturally, you will have to check spelling, grammar and word usage. You should also be sure your title fits your article and that you have stayed on track. Does your article say what you wanted it to? Is it easy to read? Does it make sense? Would you enjoy reading it?

Placement

Now that you have the final draft, where are you going to place your article? If you write for several websites or clients, think about where it would get the most traffic. If it's an assignment, check to see it meets the specifications set forth. If not, you can either re-write it, or place it elsewhere. Remember, until you submit your article, it's yours to do with as you please. This fact may come in handy, if you've departed from the assigned subject matter altogether.

Categorization

Now that you know what venue you have chosen to place your article with, you may also have to choose a category. Some websites allow you to submit an article under more than one. You will have to think about which category your reader will look under for this information. If your article is about curing your dogs fleas with apple cider vinegar, it might fit under pets, alternative medicine or both. Choosing more than one category will make your article visible to more people.

Promotion

Most online article writers use social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote their articles. You will need to have a page on as many social network venues as possible in order to get the most from article promotion. Facebook has a cool option for making your article post visible to all Facebook users. This can help widen your audience beyond your social network circle. As you become more experienced at promotion, you will learn many other tricks like this one, to further your writing career. For instance, you should never stop promoting your articles, no matter how long ago they were written. You never know who might have missed them the first time.

Backlinks

I will close by mentioning one highly valuable technique for promoting your article. Online article writers call this method backlinking. The idea is to link to your article from as many venues and websites as possible. This gets the attention of search engines. It makes your article look like a hot property. You can do this through friends, your own websites, or other venues you write for. Just make sure it's not against the rules of the other sites. So, you see, the real work in online article writing begins after the article is written. Article maintenance makes a huge difference in your success.

This article was previously published by this author on a now closed Yahoo property.