Writing Blog

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your First Paragraph - I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your first paragraph and what you can do about it. A Biggie First paragraphs are a huge issue with me. Better to have died a small child than get this one wrong. If you can get just this one thing right, your publication rates will go through the roof. Unfortunately, almost nobody does it correctly.  The entire issue comes down to meta tagging. When I create a page on a site for an article, I have to enter the meta title and meta description. Your headline is the meta title and your first paragraph should be the meta description. If your first paragraph doesn’t fit my meta description needs, I will blow by your articles like a debutante on Rodeo Drive with a new credit card. I don’t have time to re-write your masterpiece. Don’t make me.  Here is what I want: 1. No more than 38 words.  2. Preferably two sentences. 3. Your keywords in t...

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate Your Article Headlines - I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate your headline and what you can do about it. The Headline There is a school of thought out there that your headline should be designed to captivate readers. In the real world, this is probably true. When I am looking for articles, it is not.  I want keywords front and center in an article headline. This may come as a shock, but I am using your articles as part of a search engine optimization effort on sites. With seo, the keywords always come first. ALWAYS!   Consider the following examples: 1. California Real Estate – The Secret to Making a Bundle  2. The Secret to Making a Bundle in California Real Estate The first headline is by far the best. The keywords are front and center. I can easily turn this headline into a meta title for site page.  More importantly, this tells me that you may be a writer that understands what I...

A Publisher’s Rant – Why I Hate The Body of Your Article - I’m a publisher for numerous sites. I HATE many of your articles. Here’s why I hate the body of your article and what you can do about it. You’re Giving Me A Headache Let’s cut to the chase on this issue. I really don’t care what you write about. As long as it isn’t an overt sales pitch, knock yourself out. I am more interested in the format of the article, not your view or take on the subject matter. The readers on my sites may not like what you write, but that is your problem.  I do care about the flow and format of the body of your article. I strongly encourage you to have a point and stick to it. If another idea comes to mind half way through writing an article, turn it into a separate article. Don’t try to cram it all into one article.  One Sentence Paragraphs Don’t. For the love of God, just don’t write these. The only time you should write a one sentence paragraph is if it is a narrative. Occasionally, you can ...