New Year's Writing Resolutions: Steps to Success!
Don't you just love it when people make resolutions for the new
year? How many people that you know give up on a resolution once
they break it? Really, whoever said that if you fail [or fall]
once that you must quit altogether? Well, the good
news for article writers is that the measure of your success is
not weighed by one article or even by article writing itself. It
is an "attitude" that you must present, one that you need to
have on December 31st as well as on January 1st. Here are some
tips toward helping you in the upcoming year:
1. Write Frequently. I won't suggest what "write
frequently" should mean to you, but what it should mean is that
you come up with a set output that works for you. Nothing
ventured, nothing gained means this: you haven't challenged
yourself to bigger and better things. Think about this: whatever
"x" number of articles you write during the coming year will be
added to the total that you have written so far. If you want
free exposure for your site, then article writing is the best
way to go.
2. Submit Smartly. A fellow author recently boasted to me
that he submitted one of his articles to over thirty different
sites. Well, good for him! In reality, he just wasted his time.
What am I saying? As it turns out, several of the sites he
submitted to are not well ranked by Google, a few others
stripped out his links, and a third set are what I and others
would consider to be "bad neighborhoods." Better to concentrate
on a few good sites with your two or three wonderful links in
the resource box than to spend extra time submitting the article
to less than stellar sites. That bit of "wasted time" could best
be spent on writing another article!
3. Blog With Discipline. I finally got serious about
blogging just this past month. In some ways I am glad that I
waited, but in other respects I wish I had jumped in sooner. Had
I realized what a pithy paragraph or two of daily missives could
generate in the way of increased traffic, I would have begun
blogging long ago. Let's just say that I am committed to
blogging for the upcoming year! How about you?
4. Overhaul Your Site. You do have your own web site,
don't you? No, I don't mean the one or two pages that come with
your DSL account, rather your well thought out, carefully
designed, and frequently updated web site, right? If you have a
site and it hasn't had any serious overhaul in several years,
time for you to take a closer look at it and give it an update.
Yes, refresh the copyright information to include the current
year. Listing "copyrighted 2001" gives readers the impression
that your site hasn't been updated in years. Ouch!
One of my favorite expressions in life is this: "Winners never
quit; quitters never win." If you fall down, get up and keep on
working toward your goals. An entire army of authors are rooting
for you and encouraging you on. Should you find yourself missing
your goals, simply continue where you left off and you will be
the better for it.
Happy new year to you and yours...now start writing!