The article not only became one of the most popular articles on this blog instantly, but it also gave me great insight into what you really want from this blog; it made me realize that you want solutions, not just tips.

As a result, I’ve been making a lot of changes to this blog lately, and one of those changes is to be giving you the exact resources you need to take your online writing career to the next level.

This article will be sharing with you 12 quality freelance job boards you should check out today if you want to grow your freelance writing business.

I’ve also indicated below the websites to let you know what to expect.

Here’s what each indication mean:

Job Quality

Quality: Good-paying offers and must check out; pays more than industry average.

Medium: Not as attractive as a “quality” offer, but still worth checking out.

Unsophisticated: Offers aren’t that attractive, or little about the pricing is revealed on the site.

Update Frequency

Regular: Updated at least 3 – 5 times a week, on average.

Once in a While: Updated less than 3 times in a week.

1. Problogger Jobs Board

Job Quality: Medium

Update Frequency: Regular

The Problogger jobs board is one of the best job boards online for blogger, and the thing I like about it most is how often it is updated. With the Problogger jobs board, you should expect an average of a job a day.

Most of the jobs are blogging-related, but jobs for other writing markets are also posted every once in a while.

The average pay for most jobs isn’t bad, but you’ll occasionally see offers from people who want you to work for little to nothing.

2. BloggingPro Jobs Board

Job Quality: Medium

Update Frequency: Regular

Similar to the Problogger jobs board, the BloggingPro jobs board is also often populated with jobs for bloggers and writers, and the pay isn’t usually bad depending on your skills.

3. FreelanceWritingGigs.com Writing Gigs Category

Job Quality: Medium

Update Frequency: Regular

FreelanceWritingGigs.com is one of the top websites online for freelance writers, with guides and writing resources added almost every day.

The “writing gigs” category regularly features jobs from various job boards on a regular basis.

Most of the gigs listed are well-paying gigs, but you should also note that a lot of the jobs come directly from Craigslist.

4. The Freelance Writer’s Den Junk-free Job Board

Job Quality: Quality

Update Frequency: Regular

In my opinion, this is the best among them all, but it comes with a price; after all, you can only get so much for free.

The Freelance Writer’s Den is a freelance writer membership site created by Carol Tice. Membership costs $25 a month, and one of the advantages of joining is the “junk-free job board”.

Carol is a proponent of the idea that writer’s shouldn’t be underpaid, and she even emphasizes the fact that no writer should be paid less than $50 per article; this is also reflected in the job board; plus you get tips and advice on how to pitch in a way that you get accepted.

I’m a member myself, and it curates the best writing jobs when compared to all the other sites above.

Before checking it out, you should know that I’m an affiliate, but that doesn’t affect my opinion of it.

5. FreelanceSwitch Jobs Board

Job Quality: Quality

Update Frequency: Once in a While

FreelanceSwitch.com is the most popular freelance website online, and they’re also very popular for their jobs board.

The FreelanceSwitch jobs board is a general jobs board for programmers, designers, and writers, but you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the “Writing Category” if you only want writing offers.

The job board is used by a lot of big brands that you’re probably aware of; you can see the latest job listings by visiting the jobs page, but you have to pay a $7 membership fee to apply to any of the available jobs.

The main job board is updated frequently, but the writing category is only updated every once in a while.

6. Krop Jobs Board

Job Quality: Quality

Update Frequency: Once in a While

Krop is a jobs board for designers and programmers, but writing jobs can also be found on it.

You can locate writing jobs by searching for any of these keywords or related ones using the search box provided; “freelance writer”, “writer”, “writing”, “copywriting”, “technical writing” etc.

Most of the jobs are quality jobs, but writing jobs aren’t added that often due to the fact that it is a jobs board for programmers and designers.

Krop also allows you to subscribe via email so that you can get jobs related to a certain keyword as soon as they are available.

7. Sologig Jobs Board

Job Quality: Medium

Update Frequency: Regular

Sologig is a jobs board for professionals, but it is linked above to the “writer”-related jobs category.

The offers aren’t that bad, and you can benefit from the fact that they have a lot of offers.

You can also search for related keywords to find more targeted offers that you can try.

8. WritingCareer.com Jobs Category

Job Quality: Unsophisticated

Update Frequency: Regular

The offers here aren’t consistent in terms of price, but you should find a few quality jobs if you dig deeper.

Jobs are added to WritingCareer.com consistently from some of the top freelance bidding sites.

9. Simply Hired Writer Category

Job Quality: Quality

Update Frequency: Once in a While

Quality writing job offers are being added to Simply Hired every once in a while, and I have linked to the “writer” search for direct writing-related jobs.

You can modify the results you get by searching for any writing related keywords you might be interested in.

Simply Hired has an option for you to be notified whenever new jobs are available in a new category, so make sure to scroll down to check that out.

Most of the jobs are directly from other reputable organizations, but I believe the pay is fair for most freelance writers.

10. Flex Jobs Writer Category

Job Quality: Quality

Update Frequency: Regular

Flex jobs is a popular professional job board, and there are lots of great offers available for you depending on what you have to offer.

Flex jobs is a premium job board, though, and you will be asked to pay a monthly fee of around $5 to be able to apply to jobs.

The link above goes directly to their “writer” section, and you can get a different result by searching for new keywords.

11. FreelanceWriting.com Morning Coffee

Job Quality: Quality

Update Frequency: Regular

This is the FreelanceWriting.com jobs category, with new freelance writing offers added every Tuesday.

You can subscribe to the newsletter to get offers directly to your inbox when they’re available, or you can visit the site every Tuesday for a list of available jobs.

Almost every offer available in the “morning coffee” section of FreelanceWriting.com is well-paying, so you just need to apply to the job that suits you best.

12. Whisperjobs

Job Quality: Medium

Update Frequency: Regular

Most of the job offers available on Whisperjobs aren’t that bad, but you should make sure you understand which job you’re applying to so that you are not underpaid.

BONUS RESOURCES

Since you’ve gotten this fair, I think it is only fair to reward you for it. Here are 4 more resources for getting this far.

#1: The Writer’s Handbook: How to Write for Traffic and Money

This is my very own guide on how to write for traffic and money, and it contains quality info on how to succeed as a writer online.

I’m not just including it on this list because it is great, but because you have to subscribe to my newsletter to get it; my newsletter subscribers enjoy a lot more benefits than those who only read this blog, so you wouldn’t want to miss out on this one!

#2. VirtualVocations.com Job Board

This isn’t as sophisticated as all the other job boards listed above, but it contains a lot of offers, and you should get a good offer if you dig enough.

 #3. JournalismJobs.com

This is another freelance job board you should check out; it isn’t as sophisticated as the original 12 job boards in this article, but it contains a few quality offers you might be interested in.

The jobs aren’t listed on the main page, so you have to get to them by searching for related keywords like “writer”, “freelance writer”, “copywriter” etc.

#4. Most Hired Jobs Board

Most Hired is another jobs board you might be interested in.

It is used mostly by designers and programmers, but you can get a few good offers by searching for writing-related keywords.

The Reality You Should Understand First

Before applying for jobs on any of the above listed sites, you should understand one thing; applying is no guarantee of acceptance.

You will probably be reading this post alongside thousands of other people, and some of the jobs board above are already popular, so you have to apply to as much jobs as you think you’re qualified for to get a good offer.

Most of these jobs board are awesome, but you need to put in effort to get results.

If you have any other job board you might want to add, or if you have any comment about any of the above-listed job boards, feel free to comment below.

PS. Please spread the word about this post on Facebook and Twitter to get more people to benefit from it, and to motivate me to write more posts like this.

PPS. My newsletter subscribers get the very best of my tips and resources, as well as advice on how to land their own clients without depending on lists like this one. If you want in, you can subscribe here.

Writers of all types will deal with writer’s block, this we know to be inevitable.

Where things change is exactly how you’ll deal with things.

Will you let writer’s block eat up your productivity, and come back for seconds to devour more free time?

Fear not, if you’ve ever have the displeasure of running into writer’s block (and haven’t we all…), I’m serving up some fresh ideas.

(Image Credit)

1.) Talk it out

No, I don’t mean make a white-flag truce with your future post (don’t surrender!)

What I’m talking about is literally sitting back and discussing, out loud, where you want the post the go, and what type of things it should address.

This works even better if you record your talks, as you will never have to interrupt your “flow” to write down something particularly genius.

Most of us have no problem speaking (when we’re comfortable), so talking out-loud (as if you were discussing the topic with someone) can be a great way to get your ideas flowing, as the process of conversation leads itself to ‘instant’ idea generation: you have to think of things quickly in order to speak.

This forces you to think on your feet, and with this pressure may come a great foundation for you new post, and if not, it costs you very little time.

2.) Start a “article ideas” journal

Fate is a cruel mistress.

Dramatic intro aside, it can be quite cruel for writers to find themselves in a fantastic brainstorming session… only to be nowhere near their computer.

In fact, most of your best tidbits of genius will probably come this way.

Are you going to rely on your already busy and overloaded brain to remember each and every one? Even after you’ve flushed out some amazing details?

Rather than lose out on your best stuff, create a “post ideas journal” that will allow you revisit these nuggets of gold when the time is right.

With technology nowadays, this doesn’t even have to be a real journal.

While I personally still prefer a nice moleskine notepad, I know people whose ideas live and die on Evernote, being stored away (or later trashed) until they have time to pan out.

Point is, don’t let insight pass you by: write good ideas down and save them for later.

As an added benefit, you’ll start to create a “backlog” of post ideas that you can use for upcoming articles, creating a “to-do” list that will never leave you thinking of what to write about next.

3.) Change Your Setting

It’s been proven that changing up your daily routine can lead to more creative thoughts.

Have you been getting stuck in a rut lately?

Do you always have the same writing locale?

This is one of the easiest things to change, you might not even have to leave your house, a different room might be just what you need.

If you can manage it, a whole new location might also be a breathe of fresh air (quite literally, if you are able to take things outside).

Coffee shops, libraries, just a few of many places to enjoy a large, open space, all the while getting the new setting you need to switch things up while writing.

4.) Use the Pomodoro Technique

This is a neat technique that has started to be utilized for a lot of folks, but I think it works perfectly for writers.

If you have a large project ahead of you, instead of hitting the mental wall that your brain is bound to run into if you approach it “all at once”, use the Pomodoro Technique to split segments up into 25 minute work sessions.

The process works in half-hour intervals, because after the work session you get to enjoy a 5-minute break that can consist of getting a drink, stretching, and just plain getting up and moving around.

Check out tools like the FocusBooster app which allow you to use a timer right from your browser, great for getting started with the Pomodoro Technique right away.

This might sound goofy for those who have never tried it, but trust me, for some folks, this technique can be a godsend for getting things done.

5.) Get Physical

As much as we’d like to grapple our writer’s block in a merciless headlock, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

It’s long been known that exercise has more benefits than just your physical health, it’s also good for the brain.

You shouldn’t have to engage in any power lifting to get your brain ready for work, some simple stretching or a quick walk will do.

This is especially important for writers who spend a large portion of their day in front of a computer, but it’s the advice they are least likely to take.

That’s a shame, because it doesn’t take a health expert to tell you about the stimulating benefits of exercise, many folks who work largely “static” jobs can relate just how much better they felt when incorporating a little fitness into their daily routine.

Taking care of yourself can lead to less stress and burnouts, and taking a little time each day to move your body will help when your brain seems to just run out of steam.

6.) Evaluate Your Research

One of the most important steps for many great posts is comprehensive research.

There is somewhat of a danger to research that has to do with perfectionism, as many writers will use research as a way to procrastinate, telling themselves that they are getting things done (when really they are just browsing with no purpose).

More often than not, however, I’ve found that it’s a lack of research that leads to the glazed stare at a blank page.

Take the time to look into what you’re going to write about.

Find time to actually research, not browse the internet while you half-heartedly read 10 other open tabs.

Dive into some of the best (or closest in relevance) articles on the topic you are approaching, and see what makes sense, see what can be improved, and see what they might be missing.

You can’t cook up something good without the right recipe, and a well researched post will generally be a much easier post to write.

7.) Create A Writing Schedule

If writing is your profession (or if you want it to be), you need to take it seriously.

Writing “when you feel like it” is one way ticket to disaster.

Cultivating an established writing routine is the essential ingredient to getting past one of the main components of writer’s block: getting started.

Waiting for inspiration to strike takes the control away from you: put it in it’s place by treating your writing like you would anything else of note: practice it regularly and it will become a habit.

Just like getting to the gym can be the hardest part of the exercise, sitting down and FINALLY diving in to that new piece you need to write can be the hardest part about writing.

However, when you have a schedule to stick to, you won’t give it a second thought: with a specific time to write, you will learn to write at that time (rain or shine… ) and won’t be left with poor excuses like, “I’ll wait until I’m in the mood.”

8.) Prevent Interruptions

This would seem like common sense, but when you’re on the computer and have finally sat yourself down to write, small interruptions can create writer’s block where none existed, because you will be constantly thrown off track.

Some of my absolute favorite tools for creating a stress free (and insulated) writing environment are:

• SimplyNoise (white noise generator, you’d be surprised how much it blocks out those background noises, even in a “quiet” room)
• ZenWriter (this is my personal favorite tool for distraction free writing, but there are also free variants in WriteRoom (Mac) and DarkRoom (PC) that you can use)
• Noise cancelling headphones (not for everyone, but they really allow me to focus in and work steadily)

The other way to prevent distractions is to outright eliminate things that draw us away from writing.

If all that takes for you is a website blocking tool like StayFocusd, so be it.

But if it takes you disconnecting your internet for a while, or turning off your phone, or refusing to check your email, then that is what you have to do.

Don’t let the false rewards of checking small things like new messages distract you from the long term (but much more rewarding) accomplishments like getting your work done.

9.) Broaden Your Consumption

It may seem strange to recommend more reading to prevent writer’s block, but I’ve found that information consumption often directly effects output.

This is an important consideration for writer’s, because if what you’ve been consuming has become stale, your writing will reflect this.

Branch out of your reading comfort zone into styles, genres, and topics that you wouldn’t normally read.

Challenge yourself, and you’ll likely be rewarded with a new perspective.

10.) The “Brain Dump”

Sometimes, you just need to get something creative “out of your system”, and that is where the brain dump comes in.

Don’t wait, don’t plan, don’t even outline… just write.

You don’t have to publish everything you write, keep that in mind.

Sometimes you just need to get words flowing and out of your system.

Sometimes you just need to see a blank page full of your own work.

Whatever the reason, don’t hesitate to “dump” your thoughts onto the page, disregarding your normal writing routine, because sometimes it will be absolutely essential in order to get back on the right track.

Gregory is the author of Sparring Mind, a blog that combines smart content marketing & clever insights into social psychology to get results and cut through the malarkey.

Guest blogging is quite literally taking the world by storm. The model makes perfect sense: the host gets free content and the guest gets exposure.

If you already knew that, congratulations! You’ve mastered Guest Posting 1.0…and it’s time to take your game to a whole new level.

The following 5 guest posting strategies have been implemented successfully by some of the best bloggers in the industry. Each approach by itself will make your guest posts far more successful, but used together they can provide a quantum leap in effectiveness.

Strategy 1: Multiple Objectives

The first major mistake many bloggers make when guest posting is only focusing on generating traffic or links or attention. A good post will give you all of those benefits, so why not maximize overall effectiveness?

Guest posts can provide all of the following:

• Traffic
• Subscribers
• Credibility
• Backlinks
• Social shares

Create an excel spreadsheet to track the above metrics for each of your posts. Add another column describing everything you did to promote your post. Try to attach a dollar value to each metric – how much is a visitor or a subscriber or a link worth to you? After you’ve collected some data, determine which combination of topic, host blog and promotion produces the greatest overall return.

Strategy 2: The Guest Posting Blitz

Want to turn yourself into an instant celebrity? Go on a guest posting blitz.

Danny Iny used an all-out guest post barrage to catapult his Firepole Marketing website into the spotlight. The same strategy worked wonders for Josh Hanagarne, and earned him a chance to share his story on Copyblogger.

(Source)

Here’s how to launch a guest posting blitz of your own:

• Build a list of 20-30 blogs you would like to post on. BloggersPassion has a great list of blogs that accept guest posts.
• Browse each blog and develop headlinesfor potential posts. Try to have 2-3 post ideas for each blog. Make sure your topics are relevant for the host blogger’s audience but haven’t already been covered.
• Send email pitches to the first few bloggers on your list. Start with a personal introduction to demonstrate you know who the blogger is and what they write about. Conclude with a request to publish a guest post, proposing the headlines that you developed in the previous step. Include links to samples of your past work if you have them.
• Research and write like crazy! Once bloggers start accepting your requests, get to work! These posts are your first contact with the host blogger and his or her audience, and you only have one chance to make a good first impression.

Strategy 3: Join the A-List Conversation

This tactic works amazingly well in conjunction with the strategy that we just discussed. As Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz and the Blog Tyrant will tell you, use your guest posts to join the conversation!

Presumably all of the bloggers on your list for the Blitz strategy above are in the same niche. If you used their blogs to research your guest posts, give them the credit they are due and reference their work with a link. This demonstrates your industry knowledge and shows that you have something to add to the conversation.

After your post is published, send a quick email to the owner of each blog you referenced. If your original post was successful, you can even propose writing something for them on a related topic. This strategy allows you to leverage each of your posts to gain access to increasingly prestigious blogs. It also allows you to build your skills as you go, so that when someone like Chris Brogan finally accepts your pitch you’re ready to knock his audience’s socks off!

Strategy 4: Jaw Dropping Value on A-List Blogs

This is my favorite strategy because the potential return is absolutely astounding.

Despite its power, this approach is theoretically quite simple:

1. Write an amazing, jaw dropping post
2. Pitch your post to bloggers at the very top of the food chain

As an example of what I mean by ‘jaw-dropping value,’ check out this post on Chris Brogan’s blog, which was shared over 100,000 times. It’s a mammoth of a post, the topic is general enough to appeal to all audiences and the quality of the content is mind-blowing. In a follow-up post on Income Diary, Tommy explains how he managed to write this masterpiece.

(Source)

What’s the takeaway here? Sometimes one amazing post on a huge blog is more effective than hundreds of guest posts on smaller websites.

Strategy 5: Give Your Readers Something Special

Here’s a secret: Maneesh Sethi was the first person to truly convince me of the power of guest posting. Maneesh wrote a great post on Scott H Young’s blog and gave away enormously valuable information at the end, exclusively for Scott’s followers.

This strategy not only built Maneesh’s email list but provided his readers with an incredibly valuable eBook as a special thank-you present. This is a great way to add a personal touch to your posts while building your business at the same time.

My Special Gift for YoungPrePro Readers

This approach made such an impression on me that I’ve decided to give 1,000 copies of my new eBook, “One Question that will Transform your Struggling Blog into a Titan” completely free. Skip the sales page on my blog by using this backdoor link, which will let you pick up the eBook for free. Get your copy before they run out!

Conclusion

Don’t just read and move on, it’s time for you to put these five strategies to work! What can you do right now to optimize your guest posts for multiple goals, go on a posting blitz, reference A-list bloggers, create posts of amazing value and give your readers special benefits?

Implement these strategies and I promise your blog will never be the same. Thanks for reading, and enjoy the free eBook!

About the Author: Grant Hensel is the CEO of Viibrant.com a startup that allows experts in any field to create and sell online courses. You can read more of his work or contact him through the Viibrant Expert Blog.

P.S. Grant has also been deeply moved and inspired by Bamidele’s work ethic and success – congratulations on finding his amazing blog!

You’ve done the hard part. You found a brilliant idea for your article and you know exactly what your keywords are going to be. Now all you need to do is to put together an article that makes sense, one that gives all the information you want to share, in a way that is readable and succinct. You want to write an article that will be accepted by your editor or client – one that’s so impressive they’ll keep coming back to you for subsequent jobs. How do you do this? How do you write an article that makes your writing stand out above all the other brilliant writers on the web?

Develop your skill and technique for writing articles

You can have great article structure with everything in the right place. You can also be the best at keyword-littering throughout your article. However, if you haven’t got the skill and technique for actually writing the article, your work is dead before you’ve begun. I really admire successful writers on the Internet who’ve to write competitively in English against native speakers like myself. There are millions of writers who fall into this category and we have to take our hats off to them. Developing the skill can be one of the hardest stumbling blocks to writers who publish online, but thankfully, there are lots of ways to combat this.

Oni has many sound writing articles on his site including this one called, How I Write A Complete Article From Scratch. It’s beneficial to subscribe to writing blogs like this one and take some free online courses in punctuation and grammar. I’ve written a few grammar and punctuation articles which can be accessed for free on the web. However, here are some additional ways in which you can broaden your writing skill.

1. Use a thesaurus to widen your vocabulary. Your writing reads more fluently if you have a larger vocabulary.

2. Invest in a good grammar book and teach yourself better sentence structure. No matter how great your advice is, readers will be distracted by grammatical mistakes in your post.

3. Do your research right. Readers like to see figures to validate your points. However, if you’re making them up to impress, someone will catch you out. You will never be trusted again and all the hard work you did to build up your brand will have been wasted.

4. Always be yourself. Please don’t try to sound like someone else. Sure, they’re really popular because of what they do. However, remember that their success is partly built on who they are. They’re far better at being them than you are. The flip side of this is that no one is as good at being you as you are. Use this at your advantage. Don’t try to fit into and around their trend. Instead, make a trend of your own. You’re sure to succeed with yours because you understand it best.

Make your ideas for articles the ones that stand out

The best ideas for articles hit you when you’re not looking. This is why, in order to write articles that sell, you have to always carry a notebook to jot down these eureka moments. Sometimes I swear I’d remember my ideas because they seem so brilliant at the time. However, it only takes about ten minutes to forget them. The thing is, there’s hardly any unique topic left for writers to write about. The Internet is saturated with all kinds of articles and you can find virtually anything you want, already covered in detail by several writers. All this means is that you have to find a hook that makes the viewers swing your way. I don’t believe in being controversial to get traffic. I prefer to ask questions or tackle the subject from a humorous point of view. Here are some other ways you could make your ideas pop.

1. Do your research to find out how the article has been covered before. Find the angle which was most popular and take the opposite approach. For example, the topic of finding love has been extensively covered on the web. Flip this idea on its head and write an article about 5 most painful ways to dump someone.

2. Write an article that’s unique by using a personal experience. You can bet no one else can write such an article because your life is distinctive. You can apply this principle to almost any topic you have to cover.

3. Reading is a great way of building up your writing skill. It also gives you ideas for a vast amount of article writing.

4. Become an expert in your hobby and start writing about it. This alone will give you hundreds of options for article writing. The more you know about a subject, the more you have to share to others and the better you can teach them to follow in your footsteps.

Pay attention to the structure and ‘feel’ of your article

Hard copy articles and books have their own structure. When I studied writing I was instructed to read about 4 issues of any publication before submitting work to them. I was told that each publishing house has their unique rules and ‘voice’. Any article submitted therefore, had to complement their ‘house style’ or they won’t publish it. I ignored this warning and went on a writing rampage. I wrote dozens of great articles and sent them to all the hard copy magazines I’d ever heard of – without paying attention to their individual format. The result of this negligence on my part was widespread rejection. Some of them didn’t even bother to reply to me. I said that to say this: writing an article on the Internet needs to follow a ‘house style’ as well. No matter how great or informative your article is, it’ll soon be buried under the virtual slush pile of similarly great (or even better work) if it doesn’t follow the format of article writing on the web. Here are some crucial formatting to follow when writing an article on the Internet

1. Treat each article as your virtual CV. Never publish without first editing thoroughly.

2. Use at least one optimized image within your article. Learn why it’s vital to optimize your images here. The recent rise of Pinterest and Clipix makes it even more important to have better, more optimized images.

3. Use sections with bold (or larger) headings to make your article easier to read or skim.

4. Additional bonuses: do a ‘revision’ or ‘takeaway’ at the end of each article to recap the main points you’ve made. Readers and editors appreciate that. It’s also a helpful and clever way to build up your word count if you need to.

Use keywords throughout your article

This doesn’t’ apply to hardcopy magazines, but one of the most important things about writing online is to understand the importance of keywords, and know how to use them. If you were looking for writing course on the Internet you would type in ‘writing course’ into your search engine. The results that appear at the top of your search results page would obviously be those pages with high page rank and a good amount of back-links. However, one of the most important factors of getting your articles at the top of these search results page, is how relevant it is to the search query. This is where keywords come in. Your keywords must be used multiple times throughout your article, but in order to create an impressive article that sells, you need to be able to achieve this as cleverly and as unobtrusively as possible. Here are some crucial points on understanding and using keywords when writing an article online.

1. If possible, bold, italicize and underline your keyword once (for each element) in your article.

2. Go to Google Keyword Tool. It’s free to use. Type in your keyword in the ‘Word or phrase’ panel. Type in your captha, and scroll down see the results for how people are searching for that phrase. Note: you can toggle the ‘broad’ and ‘exact’ options to see related and exact terms respectively. Once you’ve found the terms people are using to find your keyword, you can also pepper these around on your article. This keyword tool can be used in several other ways, but I never write an article without first consulting it to find the best keywords within any particular topic.

3. If you’re asked to use a certain keyword throughout your article, but can’t find ways to use it naturally, be crafty and use statistics on the Internet by saying the following: ‘I typed in the phrase (for example) ‘how to write an article’ in my browser and found that … search queries were made for that term this month. Or, what does the term ‘keyword here’ conjure up in your mind? You may’ve always thought ‘keyword here’ was an unpopular phrase, but to me ‘keyword here’ is…’ There are so many possibilities. I suggest keeping a note of them to use when you’re pressed for time.

I have other ideas which are beneficial for writing articles that sell. However, I’ve now exceeded a thousand words and will have to keep those thoughts for a follow-up post. Please do share How To Write An Article That Sells on your favourite networking sites so that other writers can benefit from it too. Thank you

Anne is an author and freelance writer and blogs at her writing blog, A Blogger’s Books, where she’s written a series called, ‘How to Write An Article Online’.

You write and write but can’t get results, or you just can’t shake off the feeling that you’re inadequate.

You’re not alone.

We all feel the same way, and even successful writers and philosophers who were the best of their time couldn’t shake of these feelings either. No matter how much you achieve, it isn’t enough. And no matter how successful you are, that feeling of inadequacy will still be there.

The solution to this, however, is motivation. Instead of worrying about perfection or inadequacy, why not get inspiration from those you look up to? Why not see how they’re made, and what they’ll do in the same situation as you?

Here are 201 writing quotes to keep you motivated today.

While there are a lot of quotes listed, the idea is that you should read them gradually. Some of the quotes below will motivate you, some will make you think, and almost every quote has a deeper meaning. Bookmark this page today, and come back to it every day for a new quote to refresh your day.

What it Takes to be a Writer

If you wish to be a writer, write – Epictetus

There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you – Maya Angelou

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it – Toni Morrison

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter – Martin Luther King Jr.

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect – Anaïs Nin

In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable – John Steinbeck

I must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living – Anne Morrow Lindbergh

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads – Dr. Seuss

Writing and Emotion

If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it – Anais Nin

A good writer possesses not only his own spirit but also the spirit of his friends – Friedrich Nietzsche

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader – Robert Frost

For a creative writer, possession of the “truth” is less important than emotional sincerity – George Orwell

Never write anything that does not give you great pleasure. Emotion is easily transferred from the writer to the reader – Joseph Joubert

Reading/Learning/Listening

I learned never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it – Ernest Hermingway

One must be an inventor to read well. There is then creative reading as well as creative writing – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read – Groucho Marx

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that – Stephen King

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty. There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all – Oscar Wilde

The ear is the only true writer and the only true reader – Robert Frost

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man – Francis Bacon

The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book – Samuel Johnson

What I do believe is that there is always a relationship between writing and reading, a constant interplay between the writer on the one hand and the reader on the other – Guillermo Cabrera Infante

Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window – William Faulkner

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot – Stephen King

Practice, Perfection & Expertise

Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind – Bernard M Baruch

A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song – Maya Angelou

However great a man’s natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once – Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Some critics will write ‘Maya Angelou is a natural writer’ – which is right after being a natural heart surgeon – Maya Angelou

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit – Richard Bach

The first draft of anything is shit – Ernest Hermingway

But I am learning that perfection isn’t what matters. In fact, it’s the very thing that can destroy you if you let it – Emily Giffin

Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make you a far happier and more productive person – David M Burns

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people – Ane Lamott

Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order – Anne Wilson Schaef

The grandest seduction of all is the myth that DOING EVERYTHING BETTER gets us where we want to be. It gets us somewhere, certainly, but not anywhere worth being – Shauna Niequist

At its root, perfectionism isn’t really about a deep love of being meticulous. It’s about fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of disappointing others. Fear of failure. Fear of success – Michael Law

Preciousness and perfectionism are the enemies of laughter, Feig says. I’d go further: They can be inimical to creativity itself – Scott Brown

Dealing with Criticism

The writer of originality, unless dead, is always shocking, scandalous; novelty disturbs and repels – Simone de Beauvoir

Do what you feel in your heart to be right – for you’ll be criticized anyway – Eleanor Roosevelt

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life – Winston S. Churchill

Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches – Andy Warhol

Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them – Ralph Waldo Emerson

To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, be nothing – Aristotle

The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius – Oscar Wilde

If you have no critics you’ll likely have no success – Malcom X

Some who have read the book, or at any rate have reviewed it, have found it boring, absurd, or contemptible, and I have no cause to complain, since I have similar opinions of their works, or of the kinds of writing that they evidently prefer – J.R.R Tolkien

If you show someone something you’ve written, you give them a sharpened stake, lie down in your coffin, and say, ‘When you’re ready’ – David Mitchell

If critics say your work stinks it’s because they want it to stink and they can make it stink by scaring you into conformity with their comfortable little standards. Standards so low that they can no longer be considered “dangerous” but set in place in their compartmental understandings – Jack Kerouac

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ignore all hatred and criticism. Live for what you create, and die protecting it – Lady Gaga

Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms – George Eliot

The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews – William Faulkner

To acquire true self power you have to feel beneath no one, be immune to criticism and be fearless – Deepak Chopra

I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works – Samuel Johnson

Finding Opportunities

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger–but recognize the opportunity – JF Kennedy

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club – Jack London

No great man ever complains of want of opportunities – Ralph Waldo Emerson

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty – Winston S. Churchill

We often miss opportunity because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work – Thomas Edison

With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose – Wayne W. Dyer

You can’t outwit fate by standing on the sidelines placing little sidebets about the outcome of life. Either you wade in and risk everything you have to play the game or you don’t play at all. And if u don’t play u can’t win – Judith McNaught

Difficulties mastered are opportunities won – Wiston Churchill

Confidence

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt – Sylvia Plath

The writer must believe that what he is doing is the most important thing in the world. And he must hold to this illusion even when he knows it is not true – John Steinbeck

A writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid – William Faulkner

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do – Eleanor Roosevelt

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure – Mark Twain

When you’re different, sometimes you don’t see the millions of people who accept you for what you are. All you notice is the person who doesn’t – Jodi Picoult

We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same – Carlos Castaneda

Success is most often achieved by those who don’t know that failure is inevitable – Coco Chanel

As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live – Johan Wolfgang von Geothe

Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her – Lao Tzu

Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you – Cynthia Kersey

You have no responsibility to live up to what other people think you ought to accomplish. I have no responsibility to be like they expect me to be. It’s their mistake, not my failing – Richard P Feynman

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy – Norman Vincent Peale

Confidence comes not from always being right but from not fearing to be wrong – Eleanor Roosevelt

Let others determine your worth and you’re already lost, because no one wants people worth more than themselves – Peter V. Brett

The only power that exists is inside ourselves…. – Anne Rice

Creativity

The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life and one is as good as the other – Ernest Hermingway

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say – Anais Nin

My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living – Anais Nin

It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it – Anais Nin

My idea of a writer: someone interested in everything – Susan Sontag

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt – Sylvia Plath

We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down – Kurt Vonnegut

A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others – Ayn Rand

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions – Albert Einstein

Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t “try” to do things. You simply “must” do things – Ray Bradbury

The chief enemy of creativity is good sense – Pablo Picasso

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have – Maya Angelou

Mastery

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed – Ernest Hermingway

If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water – Ernest Hermingway

When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature – Ernest Hermingway

Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire – Napoleon Hill

I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering – Robert Frost

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug – Mark Twain

You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write – Saul Bellow

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass – Anton Chekhov

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers – Isaac Asimov

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit – Richard Bach

Writers don’t retire. I will always be a writer – Andy Rooney

Volume depends precisely on the writer’s having been able to sit in a room every day, year after year, alone – Susan Sontag

What one writer can make in the solitude of one room is something no power can easily destroy – Salman Rushdie

Easy reading is damn hard writing – Nathaniel Hawthorne

Writing is easy. You only need to stare at a blank piece of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead – Gene Fowler

You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile – Brian Tracy 

How to Get the Best from the Above Quotes

The only way to get the best from the above quotes is by bookmarking this page, or by printing the quotes and getting to it every day. The quotes listed above are too powerful to be comprehended in one day, and you can see yourself going over and over a particular quote for days.

Bookmark this post on Delicious or Stumbleupon, read it regularly, and email it to friends you think will benefit from it!

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I have been blogging for 2 years now, and one thing I’ve realized is that the best ways to serve my readers is by letting them tell me what they want, and how to serve it to them.

I’m planning to revitalize my content and approach to serving you, and I want to make sure you are a huge part of the process; taking this 5 minute survey will help me have a better understanding of what you want, what you like, what you don’t, and how to better improve the experience you get via this blog.

Click here to take the survey!

It only takes 5 minutes (at most), and I can assure you that the time investment will be much more profitable for you on the long run in terms of the changes it will lead to on this blog.

Kindly take the survey asap and let me know what you think!

Everyone knows that without content you cannot make any money online. You need to constantly crank it out if you want to run the information marketing business model.

You want information online and other people want it too!

But, we all know how hard it is to create valuable content, as it can take up most of your daily time.

Now, I’m not going to help you with content creation tips in this article, but I’m going to help you with the content distribution process.

If you asked me how to get your stuff in front of an audience, get more traffic and make more money, then here are some cool ways to do it…

1. Guest Post On Other Blogs

One of the best ways to distribute your content is to do guest blogging. You’ve probably heard about this strategy a number of times recently.

It’s not without reason because guest blogging is rapidly becoming one of the most popular internet marketing strategies to get quality traffic.

The concept is simple.

You search for the popular blog owners in your niche (other niches too) and find out whether they offer the opportunity for other blog owners like you to publish content on their popular, traffic-rich blog.

It’s a win-win situation because all blog owners know how hard it is to crank out high quality blog posts full of useful information daily.

Well, great! Now you have the chance to get your content live on a popular blog and get targeted (very important) traffic coming to your own website.

I strongly advise you check this traffic source out yourself.

The question is: “How do you find popular blogs where blog owners are looking for guest authors?”

Well, there are many ways to do it.

Go check out one of my other articles about guest blogging where I go into depth how you can find guest blogging opportunities.

6 Proven And Really Fast Ways To Find Guest Blogging Opportunities

2. Post Your Content To Blogging Communities

If you’re publishing your content on only one website or blog online then you’re most likely not getting much traffic.

If you’re publishing it on at least 10 different websites, then you have much greater chances to get massive traffic, right?

Well, a really simple way to gain extra exposure would be to join some of the blogging communities:

BloggersBase.com

BlogEngage.com

Blokube.com

Mmosocialnetwork.com

Bloggers.com

To find new joint venture opportunities, get more targeted traffic or just make new blogging friends, these are great.

Definitely go check them out!

3. Ebook Syndication

To get even more exposure, you could utilize something what is called ebook syndication.

The idea behind it is to take your existing content and convert it into a PDF format. Thus, you’re creating a PDF ebook.

Generally, any article will do the work. It isn’t necessary to create 2000 word PDF’s. Focus on quality content and you’ll be doing a very good job.

This strategy alone could bring you in 100′s of new subscribers for every article you write.

If you’re occasionally using Microsoft Word 2010 like I am, then you could use the built-in function to convert a word document into a PDF. I find it’s very easy and quality, and fast.

Other than that, you could use one of the many free word-to-PDF converters on the internet.

Here are three resources you can use to convert your files to PDF:

http://www.freepdfconvert.com/

http://www.youconvertit.com/ConvertFiles.aspx

http://www.pdfonline.com/convert-pdf/

Next, when you’ve converted the document into a PDF, then you need some ebook directories.

There are a lot of them to choose from:

http://www.changethis.com/
http://www.free-ebooks.net/
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/
http://www.thefreesite.com/
http://www.ebookjungle.com/
http://e-library.net/
http://ebookdirectory.com/
http://www.memoware.com/
http://www.ebook88.com/
http://www.sharewareebooks.com/
http://www.ebookee.com/
http://www.feedbooks.com/
http://directory.pdf-search-engine.com/
http://www.howto.co.uk/
http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/
Google Books – http://books.google.com
Idea Marketers – http://www.ideamarketers.com/bids/bookprocess.cfm

The beauty of the ebook syndication strategy is that there’s not too much work involved because you’re using your existing content.

Also, don’t forget to make some kind of a promotion at the end of your PDF report. Otherwise, there’s no big point in creating these PDF ebooks and loosing the visitor.

4. Document Sharing Sites

This is an extension of the previous strategy.

Although the name has changed, the idea is, basically, the same. You take your existing article or blog post, or visual material and submit it to the document sharing sites.

If you’ve already created the ebook or report, take it and submit it to some or all of the following document sharing websites:

http://www.scribd.com/
http://www.docstoc.com/
http://issuu.com/
http://calameo.com/
http://www.yudu.com/
http://www.myebook.com/
http://www.docshare.com/
http://www.esnips.com/

5. Article Directories

If you still want to do it old-school, after discovering the new content distribution methods, then I can remind you of article marketing and article directories.

Now, I really, really feel that for article directories, compared to what they used to be, it is “game over”.

Well, some of them might survive if they come up with something interesting, but for the internet marketer it’s a complete laugh now.

You cannot get 1000′s of visitors from one article on Ezine Articles or GoArticles because Google doesn’t rank them as high as before.

But, I’m not saying you cannot get a few dozen visitors from one article.

Article directories still work, but it’s not the easiest way around. You have to be a somewhat skilled copywriter and put extra great content or else you won’t get many visitors.

Craft the headline to perfection. Make bullet points and make it easy for the visitor to see your link to your website.

But, if you’re really serious about making money online, don’t focus on article directories in 2012. It’s a friendly tip. You’ll save yourself lots of wasted time and effort.

I just felt I had to tell you this ugly truth.

6. Joint Ventures And Email Newsletters

Joint ventures are a great way to grow your business. There are many people who already use JV’s to their advantage.

But, how can they be helpful to get your content in front of a completely new audience?

Simply, a great way would be to leverage their email list.

Some lists are big, some are small, some are responsive, others are not, but the point is that you could exploit those lists.

The job is this…

Let’s say you have an ebook or PDF report. And it is much better if it contains valuable information.

It’s important to go the extra mile when trying to create a JV relationship. This means that you should find your very best content.

Fundamentally, all you have to do is take that ebook or PDF report and write them an e-mail offering them your stuff. The key here is to do it for free. You’re not selling them anything here.

Tell them that you want to give them your best stuff for free, but in return you get free exposure to their audience.

They could promote your ebook or PDF report to their email list, put it as a bonus somewhere on their website or on the thank-you page after someone has bought from them.

There are many possibilities to leverage their online property.

Depends on how big their list is, but you could easily get 100′s of extra visitors from one good email promotion. Many of them would join your own email newsletter.

What To Do Next…

The next step for you would be to check out some of these content distribution strategies.

I’m not saying that you should go crazy and try them all out at once.

The best bet would be to focus on only one or maybe two in the beginning to become familiar with the “game”.

After that you can move on to the next strategy. Wish you luck!

About the author: Exclusive “Make Money Online” report free for a limited time only. Ray Wilson has decided to give away all of his best proven traffic strategies. Go check it out and claim your free copy today, click here.

I have read lots of articles over the years that have been full of fluff. In fact, that includes some of my own articles. I’ve had my fair share of 700 word articles that could have been cut down to 300 words producing a more coherent, readable, and interesting article.

Clear writing has one huge advantage. It has a better chance of keeping our attention. A lack of fluff leaves our minds clear of confusion and boredom. No matter what type of writing you do, learn how to keep your readers’ attention with clear, concise writing.

Cut to the Chase and Be Direct

Introductions are important. They tell readers what’s in store for them if they keep reading. It should pull them in. It should not be so overflowed with excessive explanations and planning that they fall asleep before they get halfway through the article.

Be direct. Introduce the main point of the article and immediately begin tackling the supporting points. Interesting writing and an attention-grabbing topic will get the reader’s initial attention just fine. Now you need to give them what you promised.

The same goes for individual paragraphs and sentences. Don’t write more than necessary. Here is an example of a proper direct sentence and a drawn-out one.

You should learn how to write sentences more clearly and directly because your writing will be a lot easier to understand.

Learn to write sentences more directly for clearer understanding.

Can you see the difference?

Don’t state the obvious

I’ve always had a tendency to say “you should” or “you can” at the start of sentences. Commands don’t need those intros because it’s already implied that I’m speaking to ‘you’. Also, saying “I believe” or “I think” is usually unnecessary because your opinion is implied.

Of course, this isn’t always the case. It depends on what kind of articles you’re writing. If it’s technical writing, you need to be more careful with your choice of words.

Avoid Redundancy

Sometimes writers don’t realize when they’re doing this. Restating a sentence to clarify a point is one thing. Repeating yourself over and over because you forgot you already said it or because you think you’re saying something new is another.

Always proofread your work. If something sounds strange, work on it until it flows right. Repeating yourself in a rough draft isn’t a problem. Not catching it and cleaning up your work, that is a problem.

Ignore Word Count

Sometimes you will have a certain word count to reach or a range to stay within. Don’t worry about this while you’re writing. It will only frustrate you and mess you up. You’ll end up missing important points and opportunities for good writing in your articles because you’re worried about the word count.

Write your first draft and see where your article is at that point. Write fluidly and the word count will fall into place. If your word count is way off by the time you finish, go back and edit to adjust the count.

If you need to add more, you have a better idea for how much needs to be added once the article is complete. Add an entire new point instead of lots of filler sentences added to the existing topics.

If you are unfortunate enough to have a word count to follow, worry about it after you’ve finished your masterpiece. Writing a good article should take as many or as few words as it needs.

Narrow Down the Topic

You’d be surprised how much you can write about very narrow topics. With that said, a broad topic will be impossible to adequately cover without an excessive amount of words. If you’re writing articles, they should be articles, not novels.

If you finish your article and notice that each sub topic is not adequately covered, consider narrowing down the topic or cutting the number of subtopics. The topic needs to be well-covered without redundancy. It’s a delicate balance that will be easier to find with practice.

Plan your Writing

Whenever I write, I always have subtopics, and I always write them out before getting to the meat of the article. This will keep your article focused, make writing easier, and keep the process more efficient.

When you have each point listed and waiting for you, as soon as you meet each one, you can get right to the discussion instead of getting stuck trying to think about what to write.

Work on Flow

An article should read like one article, not 5 smashed together. Lead paragraphs into each other. Organize each point so that one falls into the next. If you picked a good topic and planned it out right, flow should be easy.

The hardest part about writing a good article is grabbing and keeping the reader’s attention. Unique, eye-catching information is just the first step. Always have clarity in the back of your mind while you’re writing and you’ll be able to do justice to the excellent information you have to share with your readers.

Samantha writes for TeenMoneyCentral.com about a variety of make money online and small business topics. She has been blogging for almost 6 years with a focus on financial topics, but she also likes writing about her other hobbies including baking, gardening, and art.

In an attempt to hide the fact that we were all 98 pound weaklings…my friends and I used to challenge each other to see who was the bigger man.

We took it to the extreme.

We scaled our high school in the middle of the night, ran five miles completely barefoot through the woods and routinely attempted (extremely painful) acrobatics off a local bridge.

But that’s just the beginning. Compared to what you’re about to hear…that shit is tame. And far less dangerous.

Here’s how it went down.

It was mid January, the sun was sinking below the pine trees…and we had our dumbest idea yet. What started as “we should camp out in the yard” had somehow turned into “we should walk two miles into the forest and sleep on the riverbank…without a tent.”

Brilliant.

And so we set off into the pitch-black Maine woods. Pushing into the darkness and the cold, hurdling trees and crossing frozen streams…four nerds who had no idea where we were going.

After 40 minutes of walking, we (somehow) arrived at our destination: a half frozen river that snaked through the dark hills.

We made camp.

The sky was completely black as we gathered firewood and built a “lean to” that any boy scout would be ashamed of. But we were ignorant adventurers. And after an hour of pure “man labor” we were sitting around a crackling fire feeling like Bear Grylls.

And then the idea struck.

“We should swim across the river,” my friend Will declared. We all laughed and said “HELL no! There are freaking ICEBERGS in that water!”

And there were. Big chunks of ice floated in the arctic current, drifting by like lifeless polar bears…

But my friend was insistent.

“No, this is happening,” he said, shooting down our reluctant comments one by one. “No shut up. Stop being a bunch of girls and man up. We are DOING this!”

Before I knew it I was shivering in my boxers, standing on the riverbank and gazing down into the black water.

The woods were deathly quiet. Images of my imminent death flashed across the screen of my mind. I’d seen this in movies a dozen times. Someone gets trapped beneath the ice and can’t find the opening. Words like hypothermia and frost bite swirled through my mind like premonitions…but there was no turning back.

“We jump on three,” my friend said. “And remember. You have to swim across the river AND back. No wimping out.”

ONE…TWO…omg no no please no…THREE!

Together we stepped forward and leaped into the air. Time moved in slow motion as I hovered above the river, gazing down into its obsidian depths.

The second my skin touched the water, I thought my heart stopped. All thoughts disappeared and my body instinctually thrashed to the surface like a hydrophobic dolphin. Gasping for air I let out a high pitched wail, bellowing swear words into the night.

Despite what every cell in my body was telling me, I forced myself to keep swimming. When I reached the opposite bank, my body had gone completely numb. My skin burned. My head pounded…but I had to go back. I had no choice.

Cursing my friend and praying to stay alive I hurtled an iceberg and crashed beneath the surface once more…fighting forward with every ounce of remaining strength.

Now at this point I bet you’re probably looking at your computer with a look of amused confusion on your face wondering, “What the HELL does this have to do with writing??”

Well…I’ll tell you.

It’s an example of one of the least used (yet most powerful) tools in any online writer’s arsenal: storytelling.

You see, the human brain is hardwired to seek out and appreciate good storytelling. It’s human nature. As Robert McKee eloquently puts it:

“Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience. They are the currency of human contact.”

Stories are a writer’s most lethal weapon. They suck readers in, captivate an audience and keep people engaged, entertained and devouring every last word.

Stories are the secret to making your writing stand out online.

Here’s how to use them.

Storytelling: THE Deciding factor

Before we dive into specific strategies on how to implement storytelling in your freelance writing or blog, there’s something I need to say. Something that is CRITICAL to your writing success.

I was listening to a TED Talk the other day with Andrew Stanton (creator of Toy Story, Finding Nemo and Wall-E), when he said something brilliant. Something that encompasses all the intricate pieces of a story into one single sentence:

“The greatest story commandment is: Make me CARE.”

Such great advice.

In every piece of writing you create, regardless of the topic, keep this quote in mind. If your writing doesn’t make the reader CARE…you simply can’t expect them to consume or share your content.

With this in mind, your task is simple:

Create something engaging. Build suspense. Evoke emotion. Write “Epic Shit.”

And what’s the best way to do this?

Yep. You guessed it…storytelling.

The Secret to Effortless Storytelling

…is not as glamorous as it sounds.

Sorry, but if you were hoping for some “magic bullet secret sauce of awesomeness for lazy people”…you’re gonna have to look elsewhere.

That’s not my style. Never has been.

Just like all other worthwhile skills, storytelling is an ability that is DEVELOPED over time through diligent and consistent practice. It doesn’t happen overnight.

Jeff Goins explains it like this:

“When my wife and I moved to our new house this summer (where there weren’t as many hills), I started running again. Because of the flat terrain, I found myself going for longer runs without really noticing it.

Soon, I was running nearly every day. I did this for a couple of months. I got into pretty good shape, but I did it mostly for the joy of running.

Since I was comfortable running three to four miles per day, I started increasing the distances. First, five. Then six or seven. Now, even as much as eight miles.

The weirdest part? I rarely feel sore.

I’m running the most consistently I’ve ever run in my life, and it’s causing me the least amount of pain.

What’s made the difference?

The answer is the same thing that makes it easier to write than ever before:

PRACTICE.

I didn’t set out to run every day without any discomfort. Nor did I ever anticipate being able to write with such ease. But it happened.

Why? Because I’ve started approaching writing like I do running. I get up every day, no matter what, and I do it. I try not to think about it too much or listen to my own doubts.

I just start. Some days are better than others, but the one thing that is constant is that I do it often. And it’s starting to get into my muscles. My body is beginning to remember. It’s getting used to the practice.

And slowly but surely, it’s getting easier.”

I love that.

To drive this point home even further (and give you an additional insight) there’s one more thing I want to share with you. It’s from an article I recently read by the infamous John Carlton.

In the article he writes…

“So the main rule for writer/marketers is this: Learn what kind of story appeals to your audience. If you don’t know, you’re taking a risk with anything other than a paragraph-long tale.

Don’t pretend to know how to weave a story that gets listened to. Instead, learn the craft. (Just as you would never pretend to be able to play guitar if you wanted to impress real musicians.)

There are no shortcuts … but you can get hip to good storytelling fairly quickly if you apply yourself.”

He goes on to say…

“You gotta tailor your tale to your audience. That’s the primary lesson. A story that bores the bejesus out of one person, may dazzle the hell out of someone else.

And you should get good at knowing whether you’re bombing or scoring quickly (so you can change course if necessary).”

Such great advice!

Storytelling is an art. Take the time to understand what kind of story will make your audience care…then start practicing.

That’s the secret.

How to Tell a Compelling Story in 3 Steps

You understand the power of stories and the “secret” to effortless writing. Now let’s get practical.

While only practice can give you that clear and compelling “voice” we’re all searching for, here are three key steps that should get you started.

1. Define Your Objective

Every good story has a purpose. A clearly defined point that the author is trying to convey.

Online, this often translates to a specific “call to action.” For example, you might create a story that is designed to get people to share your content, subscribe to your email list, buy your product or simply pay attention to your message.

So before you start…determine your objective.

Make it crystal clear.

Then move on.

2. Use a “Pattern Interrupt” to Suck People In

Most online writing is dryer than a saltine cracker. It’s flakey, bland, and boring.

Ryan Deiss puts it like this:

“Finding information on the Internet today is sort of like drinking tap water in a 3rd world country. Sure, it’s wet…it might even quench your thirst…for a bit. But before long, you’re vomiting out of both ends because the “water” (like most of the “free content” on the internet and blogs) turned out to be filled with dirt, filth and parasites.”

In spite of that hilariously graphic visualization, Ryan speaks the truth. The web has now become a virtual dumping ground for mindless rambling.

Chock FULL of pointless, boring, good-for-nothing content.

Because of this, people have been conditioned to expect mediocrity. Boring, cookie cutter content has lulled us into a half conscious browsing state…barely aware as we click from blog to blog.

BOOM SAUCE! That’s where you come in.

Your job is to grab these glassy-eyed people by the throat with unexpected verbiage and make them “Wake the eff up and pay attention!!”

In the mysterious world of NLP, this is called a “Pattern Interrupt.” In essence, a “pattern interrupt” is a strategically surprising action or statement that catches people of guard and forces them to give you their undivided attention.

As Andy from StomperNet puts it, “a Pattern Interrupt is the distant cousin of “Exceed Expectations” but with Moxie.”

Too funny. But very accurate.

For an example of what I’m talking about, watch the beginning of Frank Kern’slatest video. Frank’s a master at pattern interrupts and between the rap music, driving, special effects and “corn hole”…I’d say this is a pretty killer pattern interrupt.

Ultimately, creating a captivating intro that “hooks” your audience comes down to just two steps:

1. Understand the “norms” in your niche. Figure out what people have come to expect.
2. Do something “completely different.” This can be a question, a ridiculous story like mine, a contradictory or compelling statement…you get the point.

Done right, this works like nothing else on earth.

As Jonathan Feilds puts it, “pattern interrupts give you the power to change behaviors, opinions, assumptions and decisions in the blink of an eye. Yours and others. In business and in life.”

3. Tell Your Story

I know what you’re thinking…

“Wow, great advice. “Tell Your Story. That’s genius.”

But hold up. We’re gonna break this down.

While there are no specific “rules” for creating a compelling story….there are some guidelines.

Here are my top four.

1. Tell your story chronologically

Every story has natural “flow” or momentum to it.

With this in mind, the simplest way to convey any story is to tell it chronologically. To start at the beginning and move through the action step by step until you reach the “climax.”

As Jeff Goins adds, “Ira Glass calls this (chronological storytelling) the “anecdote”—a story in its purest form—and likens it to a train on which you’ve invited others to join. Those riding along can feel that you’re headed towards a destination.”

Very cool stuff.

2. Every story needs conflict

Every good story needs conflict, suspense and tension. Ideally all three. Without “emotional” conflict or something that must be overcome, you quickly drift back into the saltine littered desert of boredom. Not where you want to be.

As Oscar winning screenwriter William Goldman once wrote, “No one wants to listen to a story about the valley of the Happy People.” Movies pedal sex and violence but passion and tension are the same thing. Don’t just “report” what happened…dramatically proclaim your epic tale. Even if your writing topic is as boring as a brick…find a way to weave in some mystery and anticipation.

Find the obstacles. Find the drama.

If things go static, stories die.

Want to improve your ability to create or communicate conflict? Read fiction. Novels from people like James Patterson, Steven King…heck, even J.K. Rowling (Yep. Big HP fan right here. Get over it)

3. Brevity is key

Excess wordiness will kill your writing. Clutter is a disease. Sentences like, “Every fiber in Bob’s body prepared to fire like gazelles at the waterhole as lions circled the herd, climaxing with a lurch and a leap of forward momentum unlike he had ever experienced before!” can be shortened to “Bob ran like hell!”

As William Zinsser writes in his classic work On Writing Well, “The airline pilot who announces that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable precipitation wouldn’t think of saying it may rain. The sentence is too simple—there must be something wrong with it.”

Keep sentences short and punchy. No wordiness. No B.S.

As David Siteman Garland says, “If you want some fluff, go pet a bunny.”

4. Make your readers solve problems

Finally, don’t “give” your readers the satisfaction of knowing the ending to your story right away.

Make them work for it.

They love it.

As Andrew Stanton (the Pixar guy) puts it, “Don’t give the audience 4, give them 2+2. Take them almost all the way there…then let them solve the problem themselves.”

The Greatest Storytelling Tactic Of All

I’m gonna wrap things up now…

…then give you a chance to join my upcoming project at the end of this post.

But before I do, there’s something I want to talk about. Something that makes everything you’ve learned so far look like “small potatoes.”

What strategy am I talking about?

Two words: OPEN LOOPS.

If you’ve ever watched Lost, 24, or The Sopranos you know all about open loops…but you may have never called them that.

Here’s how they work:

You’re fully captivated by a story, you’re on the edge of your seat, wanting desperately to know what happens. The action rises. The tension builds. And then…the episode is over. You have to tune in next week to see what happens.

Here’s an example.

Get it?

You build excitement and the expectation of higher value…then leave the story UNRESOLVED. This way people have to wait (or travel to another website…hint hint) to see the resolution.

This is brilliant. Works every time.

There are countless ways you can apply this to your online writing…but here are my top two:

1. Create “context” between your content

Most blog posts and auto-responder messages exist in isolation. They cover entirely different topics and stories.

This is fine and very common, but if you want to drastically boost your open rates and comments…I highly recommend creating “context” between your content and using open loops to create anticipation for each new “episode.”

Read that last line again. Let it sink in.

I first learned this strategy from Andre Chaperon who calls this a “Soap Opera Sequence” and writes:

“Each new email installment is like a new episode.

There is a connection to previous emails (context)…and there are connections to future emails/events (open loops).

Missing an email in the series would have a similar effect as missing an episode of Lost/24.”

Super powerful stuff.

2. Use cliffhangers to leverage your guest posts

Finally, open loops or “cliffhangers” can also be used to leverage the power of guest posting to your advantage.

Instead of just writing a post and linking to your byline at the end, you build excitement and the expectation of higher value…then leave the story UNRESOLVED. This way people have to visit your landing page to know what happens.

Here’s and example:

“While all these strategies will give you big-time results, there’s one tactic that outperforms all others. This tactic works like nothing else on earth. It allowed me to generate an ABSURD amount of email subscribers over the past few weeks. I still can’t believe the results its gotten me.

To see a crystal clear example of what I’m talking about…head over toFree Life Project. You don’t wanna miss this.”

But don’t just exaggerate in order to get people to click. Just like my swim across the river, your writing should take your readers on a journey.

Shock them with the icy surprise of a pattern interrupt, fight through obstacles and build anticipation, then warm your readers up around a fire of satisfaction. Reward them for for sticking with you. Really over deliver.

Do this, and your readers won’t just make it through your writing alive…they’ll climb from the banks of your article feeling strong, inspired and alive.

This is your objective. Now go write a story.

Logan Marshall is on a mission to help aspiring entrepreneurs change the world with their message.If you’re one of them, check out the cinematic trailer to his upcoming blog.

Come to think about it, every success is all about failing at the right time and at the right amount of times.

I’ll make a good case study in regards to this.

A lot of people read this blog and benefit from the free advice I offer, but very few people know about the failure that gave birth to it.

It was in 2009, I was just finishing in high school and I was about to sit for my school cert exam.

I was a science student, and while I wasn’t the best in class, I was pretty confident about what I know. I sat down for 9 papers, I failed a good number of them including the critical ones; I failed Chemistry, I failed Physics, and I failed Math.

I was frustrated.

Right after I finished my Physics exam, I knew I was bound to fail it. I was pretty sure about passing Chemistry, though; I read before the exam, and I was pretty sure about my answers to most of the questions.

You can imagine my frustration when I got the same D in both Chemistry and Physics when the result was out. I was sure of passing the former, but I knew I will fail the latter without a miracle. I was bewildered when I had the same score for both papers.

I know, this is where I should start complaining about how the education system is corrupt or how I was cheated. But I won’t, because it was a good thing, actually.

I had an epiphany then. I knew I never wanted to work for anyone, I never even believed in the educational system of my country, so why let another person grade my abilities at succeeding in life?

One thing I haven’t said, though, is that I hate reading. Or at least, I hate reading school books. I don’t hate reading in general; I’ve spent as much as 7 hours in a day reading sometimes, but that was a book of my choice, not something I’m being forced to read so as to pass some exam.

Dealing With the Shame

In a nutshell, I didn’t take my failure lightly. Like most students that fail their school cert exams, I had to deal with the shame. I had to look for a way to explain to all those who had prayed that I will pass, but I was sure of what I wrote.

It was then that I made the best decision I have ever made in my life. I started blogging, and I decided that I won’t retake the exam unless I succeed at it.

I went online and spent 20 hours creating my first website, I kept at it for a few months and discovered it wasn’t the best approach. I soon discovered blogging, I knew I had no choice but to succeed at it. I kept at it for 8 solid months without making a penny, working an average of 12 hours a day, every day, building my blog.

I never thought for a moment about giving up. I knew this must work, because I had no choice.

Little did I know that I was learning a lesson in success, one I hope this article helps you learn, too.

On Success, Failure and Persistence

If you read my story above carefully, you will notice 4 things shone.

My Epic Failure: I had been walking the same road every other kid walked. It was the same go to school, get good grades and get a job. I knew something wasn’t right with this, or I knew it wasn’t for me. But I didn’t have the courage to face my mother. Even if I did, I didn’t have the courage to face the society.

Failure taught me a major lesson; that life isn’t about pleasing everyone, but living it for yourself. I have been brought up to work hard and be graded by other people, and as such I had to believe I’m not better than what other people think of me.

Even though I was so certain about that Chemistry test, I got the same grade as the Physics test I was sure I would fail. How was that for a coincidence?

Failure taught me that life isn’t about waiting to be graded, it is about looking for what you want, focusing on it and doing it over and over till you succeed.

Changing Course: I already had a road planned for me from the day of my birth, and it was the same “go to school” road planned for almost any kid today. Of course, my parents aren’t wrong. After all, they only wanted the best for their kid. Failing my school cert exam taught me that success isn’t about going a road designed for me, it isn’t even about pleasing my parents, but looking for my own road and being the master of it.

Persistence: After changing course and discovering what I love, I had to keep at it or face the shame of being a failure again. I willingly put in thousands of hours before making my first cent online, but I knew it was what I loved to do, and I wasn’t willing to give up on it.

This isn’t just about making that first cent, but about the satisfaction of knowing that I’m not destined to be a failure. This isn’t about making a few bucks, but about knowing that I’m the master of my own destiny; not the one that my parents created for me, nor the society for that matter.

It is about success, and about giving what it takes.

For me, it only took 8 months, but I know I will still be doing it even if I didn’t get any results in two years.

Success: This was what I’ve been working for, and everything above led to it. Even the failure. In fact, the failure was the most important part of it, because I wouldn’t have had the courage to start my own course if I didn’t experience that failure in the first place.

By failing that exam, what the whole world saw was a failure, but what really exists was success in disguise.

My Message

Every failure is a sign that success is near, every success is backed by persistence, and you can’t really succeed until you find your own course.

Whether it is at writing or any other thing, you have to fail over and over again before you succeed.

The good thing about success is that you will have that confirmation that it is near, no matter how much you’re failing. You’ll have the confidence that you’re doing the right thing.

If the only thing enticing you to the career you’re pursuing right now is the huge income you see others making, but you have no conviction that it is your course, then you’re probably wasting your time at it. Because no matter how much you succeed at it, you will never be fully satisfied.

However, if the career you’re pursuing right now is truly the one of your making, you will always be satisfied no matter how many times you fail at it. Deep down inside, you know you will!

If you love this post and think it is inspiring, kindly share it with a friend or two. It will surely have an impact on them!

PS. For those who are wondering, I eventually retook that exam and succeeded at it…but only after I was getting results from my blogging.

PPS. The video I mentioned above is currently trending online, and I think you should check it out!