Articles by Alexis

Speedy Writing Tip: Turn Off Your Inner Editor

Today’s speedy writing tip is brought to you by my university composition professor who said, “Write in white heat; edit in cold blood.”

(Or something like that. I can’t be sure because that was 20 years ago and I’ve had 3 children since then.)

Her point is: when you’re writing something – anything – just charge through the task like an angry bull.

How to Write in White Heat

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Speedy Writing Tip: Make a Mindmap

Writers are always looking for ways to write faster and more easily. As someone who’s been writing for 20 years, I’ve found mindmaps to be invaluable.

Mindmaps help me organize my thoughts, brainstorm topics, and expand ideas. When I make a mindmap before writing, I find the actual writing to go much more smoothly and quickly. It’s as if my subconscious had already pretty much written the material and I’m merely typing it onto the computer.

In addition, with today’s mindmapping tools, it’s easier than ever to take your ideas from a mind map to the written page. More on that later.

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Beyond Articles Part 2: 10 More Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content

Last week, I gave you 10 ideas for spreading one single article all over the Internet without having to rewrite or spinning it.

If you take the extra time and effort to rewrite, you’ll get even more content out there to promote your business. It’s much easier to create new content when you already have something to work with – much easier than starting from scratch.

So before you work on an entirely new article, take an existing article and take it for a spin.

10 article spinning ideas:
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Beyond Articles: 10 Creative Ways to Distribute Your Content

So you’ve got a great article written. You’ve done your keyword research and placed it in strategic but natural places throughout your article. The article is informative and engaging, and it has a compelling call to sign up for your newsletter.

What next? Put your article to work – again and again. Of course, you would submit it to an article directory or post it on your blog.

But don’t stop there. That one article can become a stream of content to help promote you and your business.

Here are 10 ideas to get you started:

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The Art of Preselling

Do you hate “selling”? That’s a big problem when you’re actually in the business of selling something, whether it’s a product or service. Selling can feel sleazy, salesman-sy and dirty.

Here’s something that might make you feel better about selling your wares. Brian Clark of Copyblogger.com says that, in fact, “People love to buy stuff, but they don’t like to be sold to.”

The answer, then, is not to sell, but to presell.

What Is Preselling?

Preselling means getting your prospects in a buying mood. You’re not actually selling something, like a salesman does. Instead, you’re creating the desire to buy.

You get pre-sold all the time. For example:

• Your girlfriend calls you gushing about the new Italian restaurant that opened in town. You make a mental note to try it after your next movie.

• You’re looking for a breadmaker but don’t know which model to buy, so you read a blog which reviews and compares different models.

• Your brother tells you how he completely cleared his sinus infection by using a neti pot. Since you suffer from allergic rhinitis, too, you decide to go out and try a neti pot yourself.

In each of these examples, the people you interacted with did not try to sell anything to you. They were simply giving you information that you might find helpful. In fact, except for the blogger, none of them had anything to gain  from your purchase of the product or service in question.

This is what preselling is all about.

Preselling Principles

How do you presell effectively through content?

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