How To Be A Web Content Provider!

by Stuart Elwell

Would you be happy with reaching literally millions of people by being a web content provider. Whatever you're selling, it would be nice if you could do this on a regular basis, FOR FREE, through a large number of other people's ezines and websites, wouldn't it?

Well this is what you can be doing when you start writing content and articles for the countless online newsletters, ezines and webpages that are looking for your input. One thing common to all Internet publishers is that they are all looking for good articles to publish.

If you can be a content provider of interesting and informative articles for them you stand a good chance of getting included in their website/next publication. However you probably won't get included if it is simply a sales letter disguised as an article. But if you can provide good quality and informative web content you can often be their savior.

Then, they will give you what you need in exchange. They will give you exposure for your business...

How Web Content Providers Benefit:

The publisher will actually expect you to include a small advert at the end of the content you provide. This will get published along with the article itself, and is seen as a fair exchange for the content you have provided. It's how you benefit from the deal!

This small ad is usually referred to as a "resource box", but you can put almost anything you like in here so long as it is only a few lines long. You are free to advertise whatever you are promoting. You could point people back to your website, affiliate program, or tell them how to subscribe to your own newsletter etc.

If you're like most web content providers you probably don't consider yourself a writer. It doesn’t matter, it is your knowledge that's important. What do you know about your industry? If a friend who understands very little about your specialist subject was to ask you about something related to that industry, what would you say. Write it down. You don't have to write like an English professor. If fact this would put a lot of people off from reading all your article. To be a good web content provider you should write as you speak, be down to earth and user-friendly.

The Internet often seems so impersonal. Your readers are seeking someone who is real, so why not write as a real person in a conversational manner.

Have a think and try to choose a hot online topic. Look at the articles from other magazines and newsgroups in your industry. A good web content provider should write about current subjects that you're pretty sure will interest people.

The title is important and should grab people’s attention otherwise they may never read the rest of the article. If they don’t read the article, they won’t see your resource box. Therefore have a good think about the title and live with it for a few days until you feel you cannot improve it.

For the actual web content, around 500 words is a good rule of thumb. Try not to be too long winded. Most users will do a quick scroll to see how long the article is before reading. If it's too long or too short you may lose them. People don't like to read for too long online so stick to the point.

At the end of the article add your resource box info. You will receive the best results if you can include a short message related to the article you have just written.

If you have impressed readers with your expertise, there's a good chance they will want to learn more about you and what else you can offer them.

Just like with the headline, you'll need to leave your article for a short while, and "sleep on it". Come back to it the next day and edit it. Improve parts that you then feel could be made a little better. It's amazing what a short rest will do for the creative process.

Once you're happy and cannot improve the article any more, now it's time to submit to ezine publishers. Below I have provided a list of places that ezine publisher look to find the articles of web content providers. If you can get your article published at these websites, getting into many ezines should be the logical outcome.

Remember, this process could get you huge targeted exposure, so it's well worth the effort - and it costs you nothing but your time.

Best wishes for your future.