Recipe: Writing Articles or Tips

Just like public speaking, writing articles for your market niche can help you become more credible as well as more visible. A well-written article or a series of useful tips on a subject of interest to your niche will get their attention, demonstrate your expertise, and increase your name recognition. You can publish and publicize your articles in a wide variety of ways:

Submit your articles to magazines, trade journals, newspapers, websites, newsletters, e-zines, and online article directories

Publish articles or tips in your own e-zine or blog, and on your website

Write a regular column for a publication or website

Guest blog for other bloggers writing for your niche

Include copies of your articles in your marketing kit or media kit

Send copies of (or links to) an article to people on your follow-up list with a “thought-you-would-be-interested” note

Send copies or links to all your clients

Notify your social media network and blog readers of new articles and link to where they are published

Use articles or a collection of tips as a handout at trade shows and speaking engagements

When you speak to a group, offer to send articles or tips to anyone who gives you their e-mail address

Leave an article behind with prospects after you have a sales conversation or include one with a proposal

Frame your published article and hang it on your office wall

Compile your articles or tips into a free e-book that you give to prospects or subscribers to your mailing list

The first step in getting an article published beyond your own newsletter or website is to identify appropriate writing or publishing venues. What print and online publications do the people in your market niche read? What websites do they visit? Ask your clients and prospects what publications they subscribe to, browse regularly, or buy. Notice which periodicals are lying on their desks or poking out of their briefcases, what publications they link to on social media, and which e-zines they forward to you.

For print publications, you can look up possible venues in directories for writers, such as those published by Writer’s Market. For websites, blogs, and e-zines, you can look them up online by doing keyword searches for your target market or professional specialty.

As with public speaking, the best topics for your articles will be those that allow you to share valuable information with your audience, but are not self-promotional in nature. An article that is little more than a sales pitch for your services won’t get much attention.

If you are new to getting your writing published, start with publications and websites that don’t require much writing experience. Association newsletters are an excellent first target, as are the blogs and e-zines of colleagues, referral partners, and vendors in your niche. Online article directories that collect articles for free use by editors and publishers (e.g., EzineArticles or Articlesbase) will accept articles from first-time authors.

Other possibilities are employee newsletters, community newspapers, or advertising periodicals, like those that list homes for sale or job openings. Once you have been published in a few venues like these, you will have a track record as a writer and be able to approach publications and websites with more readers and a higher profile.

In most cases, you won’t be paid for your articles. What you will receive, however, is an extended byline or “bio slug” printed at the end of your article, where you can describe your professional services and give your contact information and/or website URL.

Many venues will be happy to accept a completed article or allow you to pitch your article idea with a phone call or brief e-mail. Other publications, particularly the more prestigious ones, will require a writing query first. If you’re not sure what a particular venue requires, look for editorial guidelines on its website, or contact the appropriate editor or blog owner and ask. Most print publications list the name and department of each editor in a box near the table of contents, or for newspapers, in the editorial section.

If you contact the editor by phone, be prepared to pitch your article idea on the spot. Describe your proposed topic, explain why it is of interest to readers, and tell why you should be the one who writes it. A brief e-mail query should contain the same details. If you’re convincing enough, many publications will give you the assignment right then. Others will ask you to send a formal query letter and include links to samples of your writing.

If a publication’s guidelines request that you query first, don’t try to skip this step by sending a completed article in the hope that the publication will print it. It’s likely the editor won’t even look at it, and you will have wasted your time.

A query letter should begin with a strong lead paragraph, written just as if it were the opening paragraph of the actual article. You want it to capture the editor’s interest, introduce your topic, and show that you can write. Continue the letter by describing two or three key points you intend to have your article to make. Then propose the article itself: “I would like to write a 1,500 word article on the benefits to employers of integrated disability management programs. I plan to interview three employers who have experienced significant cost reductions….”

Conclude the letter with a brief description of your background that indicates why you are qualified to write the article. If you have previously been published, include links to two or three samples of your writing in your letter. Query letters are typically sent via e-mail.

The elapsed time it takes editors to respond to a query varies widely. Follow up after 30 days if you haven’t heard anything. If the publication you are querying requests “first rights” for the articles it publishes, don’t send the same query to another editor until you are sure the first one doesn’t want it.

Once you have had an article published in one venue, don’t stop there. Many publications and websites are happy to accept previously published articles. When you have an article published, make sure you are agreeing to give the publication only first rights or one-time rights. Then you can get a great deal of mileage out of the same piece by submitting it over and over to different venues. Again, check the editorial guidelines. If first rights are not required, you can offer articles that have been previously published.

After you have successfully placed a number of articles, you might consider finding a venue for an ongoing column. Landing a regular column with a publication or website respected by your target market is a major milestone in establishing your expertise, and can significantly boost your name recognition.