Why do I baulk at writing articles?
I LOVE writing - I love WORDS. I even have a BA in English Literature, for pete's sake. So why do I always get to the "now write an article" stage and freeze?
I have had this problem from Day One, when I was being initiated into my Brave New World of affiliate marketing by PotPieGirl (thanks, PPG). She taught me how to set up a Squidoo lens - great (I actually did two, I was feeling so clever) - how to put the content into them - fine - I did more or less everything she told me to do - except write any articles. And of course I got no traffic. Big disappointment, after all that effort, even though I knew it was my own fault (not PPG's!).
Then I discovered another path that actually got me onto the first page of Google (without quotes - 70,000 pages indexed) before I wrote a single article - Whew - I thought that was pretty cool because it got me off the hook of writing articles (I'm still excited about my rankings, actually, although it probably shows what a complete newbie I am, because I'm #4 on Google, #4 on Bing and #3 on Yahoo, all with a brand new PR0 website). I'm getting quite a few hits a day from all over the world (and they're nearly doubling every month) - but I've only had a couple of sales. STILL don't want to write any articles to drive traffic and build backlinks. (Actually, I've thought about this since starting this post and I think the problem with non-conversions is probably the website itself - but the fact still remains that I could drive more traffic and get more backlinks - my lesson for future websites that possibly don't get so lucky first up. But I digress - this post is to query/explore my fear of writing and submitting articles).
I joined WA and started the tutorials - and AGAIN I've stopped at the "now write an article" lesson. For about 3 weeks now. Maybe four.
One reason I can think of is my wretched perfectionism. I've been exposed to so much GOOD (no, make that EXCELLENT) writing over my lifetime - literary classics - that I think I feel insignificant and inadequate with my writing. It's as though I expect (or want) my articles to be literary masterpieces.
Intellectually I know this is ridiculous - and everyone out there reassures me: "Just do it - it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to have ingredients A, B & C". I know - it's not rocket science. Duh. And I've read some pathetically-written articles that people (who aren't afraid) have published.
I also think that it could be that I'm still not comfortable with marketing as such. I still seem to have this mindset that my article has to "sell" something, yet I also know that this is the worst way to write an article. I am finding it difficult to find a mindset about marketing that I can identify with and that I'm comfortable with, because intellectually (again) I know that marketing is NOT selling.
(Funny thing - I've enjoyed writing this post, probably because I'm writing from my heart and I'm not marketing anything. Can I use it as an article for anything? lol)
Aaaarrgghh! What's wrong with me? (and I feel like idiot for even posting this!)
Recent Comments
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I agree with the fear problem. I published when in college and have published business articles for high end business publications and press releases without breaking a sweat, yet when I went to write an article about how to build chicken coops (not really my product) I froze.
I realized I was worried it wouldn't be approved, I worried it wasn't good enough, I worried no one would click through and I worried someone WOULD click through.
I think your writing background has presented you with a very sharp double edge sword. You're a writer so anything less than perfect scares the bejeebers out of you.
In order to get over it, just write. I use dictation that I outlined in my blog, but find your voice and just write. Don't over analyze, don't think about it; just write as if you were the reader, not the writer. Focus on keywords and content, not style or punctuation. Style and punctuation will come naturally to you. Write 4-5 articles back to back and then do the happy dance when you're done.
I guarantee you will laugh about this in three months and wonder how you, a writer, could get stuck writing.
This is just plain old FEAR. There can be a myriad of reasons you find this so frightening and if I were your friend I would tell you to do one of two things. Either move on to something you do not fear or find a hypnotist or someone who practices Neuro-Linquistic Programming to lead you to an alternate association. As Jim Rohn used to say, "If you do what you've always done, then you will get what you've always gotten." That's the definition of insanity. If you had to choose between selling one of your beloved horses or write an article which would you choose? By the way...there is an alternative. Study and learn Pay Per Click advertising and if you need articles written simply outsource them. There is more than one way to skin a cat...
I really understand and relate. Something that's helped me is Julia Cameron's morning papers. Did you read The Artist's Way? The book is designed to free the creative channels in everyone, and one of the exercises is to write 3 pages every morning. Write about anything you want. I do automatic writing. It gets you in the habit of "flow". Now the articles are easier for me. Get your keywords, but don't worry about them too much until you finish saying what you want to say. If you can plug in those keywords, do it, but don't force it. The article is for people to read, not Google. I don't worry so much any more, therefore, not inhibited, and have become more prolific. I think that'll help you.
Just Do it - it doesn't have to be perfect... sound familiar? Well, we've all heard it, and I can almost guarantee you that majority of newbie IMers go through EXACTLY the same thing you do! You can pretty-much bet on it. I was helping another guy get started and he performed ALL his tasks perfectly, UNTIL I told him to get started writing articles and *poof* he disappeared! Ultimately, writing is tedious for most - I'm sure most of us relate to you. You just have 2 be disciplined and "eat it" only because you have to. Good luck with that - I feel your pain!
Horselover, I could have written that blog post. I have over 200 Squidoo lenses, but articles make me freeze. And yes, it is ridiculous!! One thing I did might help you. I did pay someone to write a few articles for me. Then I edited, changed things, and finally got a couple of articles posted to ezine. I am a proofreader from years and years of secretarial work. I am not a perfectionist, but, I am particular about some grammar and spelling issues.
My goal is to write an article a day for 30 days -- after that, I think I will be a real article writer. But I refuse to agonize over them. I hope next month you and I both will produce at least 20 articles and let them go! :)
lol Maureen! when I die, my children will put Action Breeds Action on my tombstone -- I keep saying that - and have for their entire lives!
I understand exactly what you're talking about. The interesting thing is that once you're in writing mode--like, no matter what, I'm just going to get this stuff out there...I find I just stop worrying so much about being perfect. Not sure how else to describe it, but action breeds more action. I wish you all the best. Rooting for you! ~ Maureen
I enjoy writing too but I too have the same problem with getting articles out. I've put out some articles already and they have hit to top of the search engines (some of them) however, a few clicks but no click throughs. The clicks have now dropped off to near zero. It must be the way I write because there's others who have made millions on the same stuff I write about. The one thing I find a chore with writing for the search engines is doing keywords. That really slows me down with it.