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Have a writing idea stirring inside?

Over the years, while mentoring writers, I developed a list of questions to help writers focus their ideas and shape them into writing that might then be published as a blog post, an article, or a book. I’ll share a sampling from that list. Some of the questions will bring more clarity to your idea while others will help you create stronger writing that connects well with your readers.

To try on the questions, consider a current writing idea that has come to mind. Then, as a coach who is familiar with the use of questions for processing, notice which of the following offer a foundation for your idea on which you can build and create. Pay attention to other ideas and questions that come up for you.

What is my idea?
What do I know or enjoy about this idea?
What do I hope others will “take away” or learn?
What about it is important to me that I want others to consider?

What form will this idea take?
Will it be a post, an article, or a book? Something else?
What are the different angles of approach (slants) I might take in writing about this idea?
Which ideas seem to excite me the most?

Who is this for?
How well do I know the needs or culture of my reader audience?
What do I need to do to learn more about my reader in order to know them better?
How might I put myself in their place so I can better capture their perspective, needs, or questions?

Why is this idea needed right now?
Is the topic timely and relevant to my reader audience?
If it has already been done, how might I create a unique angle to the topic or discussion?
How will this idea fill a void in what is currently offered?
What about this topic might make my reader say, “Wow!” or, “This is a new way to think about this.”

What are my qualifications to write this?
How is this topic an extension of the passions God has placed in me?
In what ways am I like the audience that I want to reach?
How am I uniquely positioned to bring a fresh angle to this topic?

What is the purpose of this post, article, or book?
What is the overarching, take-away message?
Is it powerful? How might I make it more powerful?
What are some of my subtopics, and how might they inform and strengthen the purpose for this article?
Written in one statement, what is my succinct purpose statement?

What else do I need?
What can I find out about this topic idea that I don’t currently know?
What do I need to do to strengthen the value for my reader?
What other research is needed?
What can I learn from conversing with my target audience?

Keep these questions on hand and add others that prove helpful for you. Use this as a base for creating a tool that you can personalize over time and use when a new idea stirs. You’ll likely begin to notice how the questions weed out weak ideas and strengthen those that are most relevant and powerful for you and your reader.

Play with your ideas, strengthen them, and then don’t stop there. Write!

Enjoy the process!

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

Last month, we explored how story can be used when we as coaches write to our clients, prospective clients, or other coaches. We might use a short anecdotal story as a part of an article or a blog post. We also might use a longer story within a book or resource to demonstrate the growth or transition process of a client or organization and therefore illustrate a coaching model or tool.

Here is an example of a quick in-and-out use of dialogue and an overview of a person’s story. I wrote this one as I began a possible chapter for a current book I’m working on:

“I don’t stand still. That’s not how I roll.”

I was life coaching an energetic woman who was oozing with passion and goals to do something that mattered. She was not lacking in creativity or ideas. In fact, sometimes she felt she had more pouring through her imagination than she could ever carry out. She also had appropriate education under her belt and was willing to take on more training—whatever it took. And yet God had her in a place that felt very much like she was standing still.

Whether as a short portion or a more developed narrative, use of story has endless possibilities and can effectively engage our reader audience. Let’s explore a few key tips:

Ten Ways to Begin Using Story

1. Acquire signed permissions from those involved or interviewed. If you cannot get permissions, change or generalize some of the details so that confidentiality is maintained.
2. When interviewing, listen for unique or inspiring angles of the person’s story. This could include difficulties or obstacles as well as victories.
3. Look for the human story—the real, the authentic, and the fallible.
4. Have in mind a key focus question that your story will explore.
5. Decide how much of the story is appropriate for what you will be writing and for the reader audience that you will be addressing.
6. Consider which POV (point of view) would present the strongest story. First person POV uses I/me/we/us. Third person uses he/she/they.
7. If a lengthy story will be used, consider layering in dialogue and setting, and possibly development of the story arc (an advanced concept).
8. Watch chronology. Will you tell the end first and then go back and share the story as it happened leading up to that end? Or will you tell it in the order of the events?
9. Consider how quotes or dialogue can be a powerful inclusion even in shorter uses of story.
10. Plan your conclusion for the story to include a strong take-away for you reader.

Study and Practice, Practice, Practice

Just as fiction includes character, setting, conflict, dialogue, and storyteller point-of-view, so can the true narrative. Developing the technique and craft of each of these requires practice and study. How might you do that?

I mentioned in last month’s post that you can begin to note when the use of story grabs your attention. Study what made it work for you and note the elements that were used. Ask yourself what key question was answered and how the writer concluded the story or transitioned into another section.

You can also learn more about the craft through quality resources. While focused on screenwriting, Story—Structure, Substance, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting, by Robert McKee is a classic study on the craft of story. At 480 pages, it’s a bit hefty, but if it’s your goal to write story well, include it as a part of your training.

A shorter read (272 pages), recommended by Lynn Vincent at the recent Mount Hermon Writers Conference, is Feature Writing, by William Blundell. The description on the front of the book says, “From initial idea to final self-editing, a step-by-step guide to reporting and writing as a continuous, interrelated process—with an emphasis on storytelling techniques.” This is a new one for me. I’m looking forward to learning from it!

Another new-to-me resource that I downloaded on my Kindle within the last month is, StoryCraft–The Complete Guide to Writing Narrative Nonfiction, by Jack Hart. I like what I’ve read so far.

One last favorite recommendation that I have on my shelf is Writing for Story–Craft Secrets of Dramatic Nonfiction, by Jon Franklin, a Pulitzer Prize winner. He has a distinct style and technique that is worthy to consider.

What will you do or read next to develop your craft of writing story?

Wherever you are in incorporating writing into what you do as a coach, keep at it and enjoy the process!

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

What draws you into a book or an article? What holds you there captivated and keeps you reading more? It could be many things, but do you find yourself, in part, pulled in through a story?

In a recent CCN teleconference, I addressed some of the current trends in nonfiction publishing—what publishers and readers want. One of those trends, that I believe will continue, is story. For the nonfiction writer, this could come in the form of a snappy anecdote or a journey into your own or someone else’s story.

Why Story?

Stories build trust and connection and open up conversation. That has been true from the beginning of time. But it goes even deeper than that for today’s reader. They are looking to story to make sense of what is going on within our current, often-confusing culture.

An editor from Penguin Publishing said this about today’s reader:

“I think people nowadays are assailed on all fronts. They’re busy, they’re overwhelmed by the pace of life, by information. They can’t make out the shape, or the path, or the arc of their own life. Everything is a blur . . . People are looking for some kind of narrative thread, some kind of plot that makes sense that doesn’t feel so formless.”
—Diane Turbide, editor, Penguin Publishing, December, 2011

Restated, our readers live in a busy, overwhelming culture. What they need is connection and grounding through the narrative thread–story that can build a framework to discover meaning for their life.

Story is one way that effectively creates space for discovery and connection. And how well positioned you are as coaches to bring that for them!

The Craft of Storytelling

Story as a craft is more often associated with fiction, and novelists naturally spend much focused time developing skills to tell a good story. But these skills are excellent pursuits for the nonfiction author as well.

In fact, it is very possible that a section of story excerpted from its larger context could be told so well that a hearer or reader would need to guess if it’s nonfiction or fiction. Is it a true account told by a storyteller who has skillfully woven the facts through a creative use of fiction techniques? Or is it fiction written with such factual, researched detail that it seems real? Either way, what we’re going for is compelling storytelling.

Lynn Vincent is a master at the craft of narrative nonfiction. One excellent example is her book Same Kind of Different as Me, written with Ron Hall and Denver Moore. Vincent has the ability to step into the voice of the characters of the true stories she tells. In this book, she alternates chapters in the voice of Denver and then Ron.

Here’s a short excerpt written in the voice of Denver:

Me and Thurman had a room in the back of the house. I didn’t have no proper bed, just a mattress set up on wood boards and cement blocks. I kinda liked it though, ‘cause I had a window right over my head. In the summertime, I could leave the shutters open and smell the warm earth and look up at the stars winkin at me.

Seemed like there was more stars in those days than there is now. Wadn’t no ‘lectric lights blottin out the sky. ‘Cept for the moon cutting a hole in the dark, the nights was just as black as molasses, and the stars glittered like broken glass in the sun. (p. 14)

And then in Ron’s voice:

As I mentioned, I did not start out rich. I was raised in a lower-middle-class section of Fortworth called Haltom City, a town so ugly that it was the only one in Texas with no picture postcard of itself for sale in the local pharmacy. No mystery there: Who would want to commemorate a visit to a place where a shabby-looking house trailer or cars stripped for parts squatted in every other yard, guarded by mongrel dogs on long chains? (p. 18)

What’s Next, Storyteller?

The scaffolding of nonfiction must be research, facts, and reality. That’s a given. But couch that with a well-told true narrative or anecdote and you’ve amped up the creativity and reader connection several notches. It’s also more likely that your reader will remember your key message when they put down the magazine or close the cover of your book.

Which story will you tell? Whether it’s yours or someone else’s, look for the significant life-changing moments: a triumph or a failure, a happy or sad moment, a poignant discovery or a monumental decision. Most great stories also have some point of conflict attached to them. Even if the story you tell will only take up a couple paragraphs, it should be compelling, It should serve the purpose of developing your topic and and connect well to your target reader.

Next month, I’ll delve more into a few techniques and tips for the narrative or anecdotal story. For now, I encourage you to look for examples in the books you love or showing up as anecdotal stories in articles you’re reading. Notice what grabs you and if you’d like, share what you’ve found here.

Until next time . . . enjoy writing!

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

Today I’ve been playing with words, tossing them into the air and seeing where they land on the page. But even as they do, I can’t leave them entirely alone. Their arrangement is not set. I shift them around, slide different ones next to each other, and dismiss many others to the wings for another time.

What ends up remaining? Something quite different than what you or anyone else might write. And that’s a very good thing. What would it be like if all writing landed in exactly the same place?

Boring. Bland. Automated and flat. Wouldn’t you agree?

Your Distinctive Voice

Thankfully God’s unique creation of each of us extends to the expression of who we are, even to the words we put to page. In writing terms, this might be called “voice.” Your writing voice comes out of who you are and the individual way you express your thoughts and personality through the symbols of written language.

In many ways you can’t help but pour who you are into what you write. It flows out of your personality and passions into the words you choose and the way you put those words together. Those words create imagery as well as a cadence and tone that is unique to you—a writing fingerprint of sorts.

Where to Look

It takes a while to identify and develop your writing voice. It’s a process that requires years and watchful patience. You write and write and once a while, delightfully, you notice something special emerging.

But one place you can see glimpses of that voice is in where your coaching and your writing seem to intersect. What similar topics or passions can you identify? And what about the coaching presence you bring to your clients that spills over into how you write to your reader audience?

Notice who you are, what voice you bring to coaching, and then how that voice can shape the way you write. Two more ways to identify your writing voice:

• Review several recent samples of your writing. While you write differently depending on the purpose of the piece or your reader audience, you likely have some fairly consistent markers—in word choice, in tone, in the way you reach out to your readers. What do you notice?
• Listen to what others say about what they sense when they read what you write. If needed, ask a few who would offer an honest perspective. You might be pleasantly surprised when someone identifies what you naturally bring to many situations, including coaching.

How Voice Matters

When you know what you uniquely bring to a writing piece, you won’t settle for stringing words together just to get the job done. You’ll offer your readers an exciting and compelling reason to read past the first paragraph and you’ll keep them engaged. Mostly because you showed up! Your reader meets a real person and there they sense your authenticity.

So keep writing and watch for the voice that is emerging. Be open to how God is leading and honor the voice that he has given you.

If you’d like to strengthen your writing skills to boost the reach of your coaching, watch the CNN newsletters or the CNN website events page for the workshops and mentoring groups that will be offered for 2013, or contact Jan for more information

More posts in this series:

Begin to Dream About Writing
Be a Writer: Next Steps
Be a Writer: Your Unique Offering

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

When you think of incorporating more writing into what you do as a coach, what crosses your mind? What resources?

Let’s look at some of the foundations that can help you create a strong offering. First, a review of a true story.

Recently I interviewed CCN coach, Sandy Marshall. You might have caught the article about her in a recent CCN newsletter under Coaches Making a Difference. I also referred to her in the first of this series of posts on writing. Sandy personally experienced a transition point in her career that began to define new directions for her coaching. This also translated into a viable written resource she could offer her clients. A few things I notice from her experience:

• She took time to take a good hard look her life interests, experiences, and passions.
• She developed a workable coaching model that well represents who she is and what she offers as a coach.
• She then developed a written resource that was a natural and strong fit with her core passions and coaching philosophy.

What you might offer as a written resource—whether in a tri-fold leaflet, an article, or a book—should be a natural extension of who you are as a person and as a coach. The resource will feel right, congruent, and strengthen the existing foundation of your coaching ministry or career. How might you begin to identify your unique offering?

Look at who you are as a person and as a coach

You might already have a good sense of your niche and identity in coaching or you may be just beginning to explore. Take time in this stage. Prayerfully consider who God has created you to be and where he is taking you with your coaching. What are your interests and your unique experiences that are a part of who you bring to a coaching conversation? What passions bring energy to your pursuit of developing yourself as a coach? Consider these and list or journal about what comes to mind.

Develop a coaching philosophy and models unique to your practice

You’ve probably noticed that coaches who are making a difference in organizations and with clients and are well known through their writing have developed unique concepts and models. Three that come immediately to mind are Patrick Lencioni, Tony Stolzfus, and Chad Hall.

Who comes to your mind? Take a look at the coaching resources on your shelf and note what the authors offer. Then alongside the list you developed in the step above, identify and fine-tune what defines your coaching. Consider the biblical and philosophical basis along with who God has created you to be as a person and coach. What consistent needs or questions are coming your way that makes you a unique partner for your clients? What models can you design or strengthen?

Write that resource that is a natural expression of you and your coaching

You’ve done the work to be a coach who is making a unique difference in the clients that God sends your way. Beyond those great coaching conversations, you can now also reach your clients through great written resources. What could you write that would be a natural outflow of who you are what you are already doing in coaching? Consider all the ways you might use writing to augment this resource offering: on your website, as a small brochure, in an article or blog post, as a booklet or even as a book.

In the upcoming monthly posts, I’ll continue to address some of the specifics to consider in the resources you might offer as well as the writing skills you can hone to create the best possible end product.

And if you’d like, join me for the monthly teleconference, Write Your Way to Coaching Success, that will give opportunity to explore the possibilities for your coaching business as well as provide time to look at your specific projects and ideas. The first of these is scheduled for January 24th, 2013. Check your inbox for the announcement or contact me privately.

Keep writing!

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

As coaches we might ask our client a question to allow space for them to explore a possibility or dream.

What if you could make that happen?

What might it look like to step toward that dream?

What would you do first?

What would it look like for you if the dreams and possibilities included being a writer?

In November’s post, I encouraged you as a coach to begin to dream about writing as a part of what you offer within your coaching business or ministry. I told the story of one coach who almost dismissed the possibility. Instead she shifted her perspective and her next steps took her into an adventure with writing that is proving to be rewarding for her and her clients.

When we catch a view of a direction God wants to take us, we have a choice to take intentional steps in that direction. If you’re wondering if God is inviting you into writing as a part of what you do as a coach, take a moment to pray and ask God to show you what it might look like for you. Then consider where you would begin.

Here are a  few ideas to get you started.

Tips for next steps:

Commit to writing regularly.
Set time goals appropriate to where you are with your writing and what you want to accomplish. I suggest writing every day at least for a few minutes and then gradually increasing that time. If needed, start with three times a week, but the key is to schedule your writing time. Get it on your calendar and value and honor the opportunity.

Immerse yourself in excellent writing.
Read books that are similar to what you want to write, blog posts that you enjoy, or magazine articles that inspire you. Note what seems to work for the piece and what you want to begin to try for your own writing.

Explore, learn, and grow as a writer.
In relationship to your writing goals, what do you need to learn? Where are your strengths and your weaknesses? What resources do you need in order to tackle the areas that need growth? A book, a workshop, a mentor, a writer’s group?

In the book category, here are a few recommendations:

An Introduction to Christian Writing, by Ethel Herr
The Productive Writer, by Sage Cohen
Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, by Mignon Fogarty
Stein on Writing, by Sol Stein (fiction and nonfiction)
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser

One more tip (have fun with this one):

When you have a few resources on hand, you can of course read them cover to cover, but to keep the information fresh and applicable to the writing you are doing every day, try this: As a part of what you do to settle into a writing session, pick a writing book off your shelf and turn to a section. Random is okay! Read a few paragraphs and apply what you’ve reviewed to your writing that day.

Enjoy writing!

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

Imagine working alongside one of your clients who has come to you to coach around connecting in stronger ways with those she serves through her new small business. While exploring options, she identifies several crucial areas that she feels she needs to develop.

What begins to rise to the top is the importance of having materials that communicate with her clients and, even better, that provide important resources.

She keeps exploring.

Sure, she could contract an advertising firm for the smaller items, such as flyers and two-fold brochures. But then, if she could write those herself, what a difference it would make. Not only would she save money, she knows her unique clientele like no one else. Pamphlets might also be good. And then you hear the rise of excitement in her voice when she suggests a creative resource offering that she has thought about often.

She stops. Her enthusiasm flattens as she tells you, “But I’m not a writer.”

“What if you were?” you ask her.

And she begins to dream.

Simplistic perhaps, but did you guess that the client in the above story could be a coach with a coaching business or ministry? Think of all the writing possibilities she might step into.

Think of all of those you might.

An introduction . . .

I’ll introduce myself. I’m Jan Kern. Chronologically, in relationship to the work I’ve done and have built upon, I am an author, writing mentor, and life coach. I’ve been invited by the Christian Coaches Network to write a monthly post to address the important topic of coaching and writing.

Did you notice? Not coaching or writing. Not coaching and maybe writing. But coaching and writing. They go together—quite well, really.

I hope through these posts to explore writing tools and topics that will stir the possibilities for the unique dynamics of your coaching business and ministry. Whether for marketing or in order to provide a few helpful, well-crafted resources for your clients, writing is a tool and skill you can acquire and strengthen.

Another Story—True This Time

Recently I interviewed one of our CCN coaches, Sandy Marshall, for an upcoming new feature for the CCN newsletter. While she shared, she mentioned writing a book, and I was curious about her process. In her own words, she hadn’t been a writer but had heard that writing was a way coaches could increase visibility and showcase what they do.

Her response to that? It hadn’t been on her bucket list of things to do, and beyond that, she didn’t feel she had anything unique to say. She said, “Right away I was dismissive of my own voice.”

How many of us do that? We are coaches who are trained to listen for language that reveal our clients’ belief systems that trip them up, and yet, being human, we as coaches are not immune to dismissing our own unique voice, perhaps especially when it comes to writing.

Thankfully Sandy recognized that right away, and she began to consider what value she might uniquely bring to her clients. She stepped into the writing arena with her own book offering, coauthored with one of her clients. It will be releasing soon, and I’m looking forward to sharing details about that with you in the upcoming interview for the CCN newsletter.

Our Own Writing Arenas

Look around at all the different ways we as coaches can and do use writing. At the very least we need to write clearly in our correspondence with our clients. We can also augment the success of our businesses or ministries and our connection with our clientele when we creatively engage them through our marketing or our client materials and resources.

Begin to dream. What would you like to learn or create in a new way with writing as your tool? What if writing became easier?

(Please feel free to comment and share, particularly what you might like to learn. Truthfully, it would help me as I develop CCN writing workshops for coaches to be offered in 2013.)

Jan Kern
Author, Writing Mentor
Life and Leadership Coach, ACC
CCN Professional Member
www.jankern.com
www.courageousmoves.com

Want fresh ideas?

We have a goldmine right at our fingertips. Every month, CCN has new and fresh ideas to expand our thinking. Let’s explore just a few of them…

Want a place to list your business?

It’s FREE with your membership in CCN. You can list your website and your business and your niches. When people google for a Christian coach, CCN pops up and when they go to the site, there you are…just waiting to be found! J

Want professional support?

Every month, there are opportunities to learn from very skilled coaches. This is a FREE benefit from our membership. We can learn how to serve clients with: ADD, or by using Emotional Intelligence material, or Single parent coaching, or the Postmodern Millenial Generation coaching, or coaching using Conflict Management, or Leadership coaching, and there was even a call about Strategic Planning. That’s just some of what you may have missed out on…but next month can be different for you. You don’t have to miss out anymore. Get in line for a blessing on the CCN teaching calls.

Want emotional support?

Why not go to the CCN site and find another coach within your same niche and connect together. And remember that just participating in any of the calls during the month are ways to remember why you are doing what you are doing as a coach. It can be lonely. These calls remind us that we are not alone! And the calls tend to “normalize” what coaches naturally experience in their businesses.

Want encouragement?

The CCN site has a spot to privately enter your own prayer requests. It is confidential and only goes to the prayer team. You don’t have to wait for Stephanie to contact you each year. (Although, that is so powerfully affirming!) And don’t forget that…monthly, CCN also offers a free conference call for the purpose of praying for each other. Have you had opportunity to share with other coaches in this powerful way? What better way to advance the kingdom and to make us better coaches than praying together?

Want to do a book study with other coaches?

Book studies: That’s yet another option also available through the CCN site. I just checked and it looks like there are currently at least two book studies to choose from.

Want greater exposure on the Internet?

Write an article for the CCN blog. Like this one…for the purpose of helping and breathing new life and encouragement into other coaches. The Internet search engines pick up those posts, which also increases the likelihood of people going to the CCN site and doing a search for your name.

What’s that in your hand?

Like God said to Moses so many years ago: “What’s that in your hand?”

CCN is in our hand …a goldmine right under our fingertips…only a computer “click” away… a resource for nearly anything a coach could possible hope for…and all compliments of the very reasonably priced membership. (I’m only touching the tip of the iceberg, here.)

Is CCN in your list of Favorites?

Try checking out the site at least monthly to see what’s new. Write a blog so you can share your wisdom with other coaches. I also want you to know that if you miss the teaching calls, they are available for your use whenever it is best in your personal schedule. Just go to the CCN site to listen at your convenience. Of course, the live calls are best because you can ask questions.

A goldmine right at our fingertips. Just waiting to be mined by you and me!

Pam Taylor, Christian Life Coach, www.loavesandfishescoaching.com

If you’re a new coach trying to build a presence online, consider article marketing as a strategy for gaining recognition and driving traffic to your website. How many times you have researched a topic online in the past six months? Personally, I’ve researched several topics related to web design, marketing best practices, understanding my teenager and the list goes on.

Google has become my best friend when it comes to finding information. I enter my keywords in the search box and press the return button. In a split second, hundreds of links to my subject pop into view. Some of these links are entire websites and others are articles on my subject. Most often I choose articles first. It eliminates the need to sort through an entire website to find my answer.

If the article I read was helpful, I will visit the author’s website and see what else they offer. I’m thinking, “They helped me once (building a level of trust), so how can they further assist me (they earned the opportunity to interact further with me).”

If you’re considering article marketing for the purposes of creating awareness of your services, building trust and driving traffic to your website, here are a few suggestions that will help you streamline your time.

First, identify your ideal client. What are their most pressing needs? The answer to this question easily translates into article topics or themes. What is your unique solution to those needs? Second, where is your target audience located? Are you privy to list-serves, online communities or blogs that you can participate in? It’s always better to target a captive audience when possible.

Next, choose a couple of article repositories that will accept your articles. Check out their writing specifications. Some repositories allow you to add links, italics or numbers, i.e., step 1, step 2. Others do not. Here a short list of article repositories: www.bnet.com, www.ezinearticles.com, www.buzzle.com, www.associatedcontent.com, www.articlealley.com, www.ezinefinder.com/, http://goarticles.com/, www.ideamarketers.com, www.articlebase.com, www.selfgrowth.com, www.articlesfactory.com, www.articlesnatch.com.

Clump your time. Dedicate a block of time to writing several articles at once. Then look at your calendar and schedule when they are to be released. If you can write several articles per clump you’ve freed your time and mental resources considerably.

Include a two or three-line sentence at the bottom of each article with an invitation to contact you for more information as well as a link to your website.

Schedule to release your articles once or twice a month. While articles “live forever” online, I’ve noticed visits to my website begin dropping after the second week. On average expect 20-30 visitors to your website per article.

Make sure your website has an inviting home page or landing page. Add a subscriber box to all your website pages inviting visitors to subscribe in exchange for something even more valuable than the articles they’ve read. It’s important to maintain contact with your website visitors.

Set up a tracking system to determine the success of your article marketing campaigns. Most article repositories track how often your article is viewed and the links that are visited. Using Google analytics on your website can help you narrow these statistics further.  Ideally, your article marketing goals are achieved when clients visit your website.

Article marketing is not the quickest way to build a presence online but it certainly is not wasted effort. Consistent, good article writing will help build your subscriber list and showcase your expertise.

Marcie Thomas, CLC is a Christian coach specializing in marketing for service based businesses. Join her and Gary Wood, PCC for their upcoming business building workshop at www.christiancoaches.com/eworkshop. Marcie can be found online at www.marketinghelpforchristiancoaches.