The Article Writer

I hate February. The month is too short, yet the bills remain the same. Car notes and medical payments are not prorated to reflect a month two days too short.

At the same time, I find myself working extra hard just to bring in money…one eye on my work, the other eye on the calendar.

So, is there anything good about February? Yes, and we call it Springtime here in the northern hemisphere, although here in the Raleigh, NC area winter has been nothing more than a couple of days of on/off snow showers. No measurable precipitation and already many trees are budding, the forsythia have been out for weeks, and the daffodils are up.

Okay, I’ll ease up on my February criticism.

I wrote previously regarding some of the lesser known article directories out there and am learning some things about them.

Out of the 10 “new” sites, 4 quickly processed my articles while 5 are still in process of approving my submissions. A 10th site was so structurally unsound, i.e., wouldn’t accept my sign-ins and it had no way for me to contact the manager, that I took them off of my list. This is too bad as the directory openly advertises via Google and the manager probably isn’t aware of the problem. Anyway, I replaced the directory with a new site and they have quickly approved all of my submissions.

So, the score right now is this: 5 approvals and 5 in the process. I sent a note of thanks to the 5 that quickly approved my articles and may follow up with the other sites to see if their approval process can be expedited.

Currently, 521 articles written by me are circulated online. Another 25 or so ghostwritten articles are also online and I frequently recommend article directories to those who ask.

I think I have scared off a few clients when I discussed my copywriting rates with them. As a matter of definition, copywriting involves much more than simple article writing. Copywriting makes big demands on each word used, especially when the words are being used as web content.

Copywriting Is Much More Involved

Copywriting requires diligent selection of words, verbiage, and sentence structure. Oftentimes, what is said in a complete paragraph must be narrowed down to a single, beefy sentence. In there lies the talent of a copywriter: transforming voluminous verbiage into a short, concise thought.There are times I can write a 500 word article in as little as 15-20 minutes time. Not so with copywriting. It can take me that long to wrestle with just one or two words as I come up with the right words for the right sentence. Oftentimes it is this word wrestling that produces the best copy and something neither the client nor readers will soon forget.

Oh, by the way, my published rates are for article writing only. For my copywriting rates, you must request a custom quote.