Alert Blog Reviews » writing

Flex Your Literary Fast-Twitch Muscles Writing Twitter-Sized Stories

cgseo — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:01:36 +0000

If you’ve always dreamed of being published, but just didn’t have the time to finish a novel/novella/short story, Twitter may be your big chance at fame, fortune, and a spot on Oprah. Okay, okay, only fame. And only a little. For writers who like a challenge, there are a number of Twitter-based ezines that publish short (and I do mean short) stories. Some call them “Twisters,” others micro- or nano-fiction, and others simply “one heck of a challenge.” You’ve only got 140 characters to tell a complete story that leaves your readers nodding their heads with a sense of fulfillment. If this sounds like your cup of java, there are several venues where you can submit your tales for consideration. Some even pay big bucks (up to $1.50), so what are you waiting for? Twitter-fiction markets: Thaumatrope – @Thaumatrope If you can write a science fiction, fantasy, or horror story that fits in a Twitter box, send your submissions to these folks. Pays $1.20. Tweet the Meat – @TweetTheMeat This publisher of horror/weird/speculative fiction wants “fear in 140 characters or less.” Thanks to their weekly themes, there’s plenty to inspire you. Pays $1. Nanoism – @Nanoism Submit your thoughtful, literary nano-fiction to these folks. They’ll accept all genres but particularly want “stories that move us with their writing, stories that stay with us longer than the few seconds it takes to read them.” Pays $1 for one-tweet stories and up to $5 for serials. @Microcosms This publisher’s first “issue” isn’t scheduled to appear until April, but you can send in your submissions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror now. Pays $1. Know of other markets for Twitter stories? Share them in the comments! © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . Flex Your Literary Fast-Twitch Muscles Writing Twitter-Sized Stories

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Flex Your Literary Fast-Twitch Muscles Writing Twitter-Sized Stories

Strategies of Article Marketing

cgseo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:00:31 +0000

It is a common belief that Article Marketing strategy can be practiced only by those who are talented in writing. It is not so. Anyone can do it. It is worthwhile to consider the following points to succeed in article marketing: 1. Give an appropriate, interesting title for the article. 2. Contents should be easy to read, but should carry depth. 3. There should be no grammar mistakes or spelling mistakes. Mistake will result in losing the faith and the readers will underestimate your talent. 4. Give a little information about yourself, preferably at the end. Out of the millions of articles floating in the Net many of them are on article directories. Major Websites, small business owners, and those looking for free content to display on their website visit article directories regularly. With this there is so much competition for article marketers. This calls for efficient market strategy, so that your time and money are not wasted. You have to bear in mind the needs of the reader. The reader will try to know as to how useful is the article for him. How much he can gain out of the article? So your focus should with respect to the reader. Your writing should have the essence to win the heart of the readers. Obviously, you have to take some pains. You are expected to make a good introduction, body and conclusion. You must have the writing style and skill to attract the readers. Good articles will get high search rankings. Try to write about something new. Take your time to write nicely such that your efforts bear fruit. Find out the keywords needed for the topic. These keywords are necessary for the search engines. Give an impressive title. If your article tops the list with respect to the topic, you will grow. Internet site owners will back you and your articles will establish a permanent place in the website. Try to gab what the audience is interested in. Base your topic on that. Type your ideas for every article. Make your writing style consistent so that the readers recognize you. Remember, though Article marketing is free, it will require your extreme effort to find a place in the net because of stiff competition. The proper strategy comes into play how. The following tips can be useful: Article marketers always meet at forums to discuss about latest developments in marketing. You can post a small piece of your article. Make it a point to post everyday. • Make an e-book with your articles. Your readers should be permitted to distribute the e-book as well. • Write as many articles as possible. Then more and more people can read your article. • They will also try to get an idea on how to write, where to distribute, and so on. • Test it. How good is your article? Ask your friends to read it. Take their true opinion. • Follow their advice if any as your interest may not match with that of the readers. • Present in such a manner that readers enjoy reading it. Put bullets and numbers as required.

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Strategies of Article Marketing

AOL’s SEO “Strategery”

cgseo — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:40:20 +0000

Is this a classic case of “meet the new boss, it’s the same as the old boss” (hat tip to Roger Daltrey and the boys)? It is being revealed that AOL has a plan to bring itself back to prominence and it is oddly reminiscent of the company’s past AND its CEO’s past as well. How you ask? Well, apparently there is a concerted effort underway to generate as much ‘craptent’ (that’s crappy content for those of you who need an assist) as possible to try to gain some ground in the search engine results. Techdirt has a little fun in helping us remember the days of mailboxes full of AOL CDs . How patently ‘ungreen’ of AOL. I don’t miss those days, do you? Remember how AOL first became “famous”? It cluttered the world (and our garbage dumps) with millions upon millions of CD-ROMs offering “try AOL for free!” It seems that pollution is in AOL’s genes, and it just can’t get away from it. How else to explain AOL’s new plan to rebuild its brand: to flood the internet with poorly written, but quickly written, content based on whatever search terms are hot . Danny Sullivan points out the amusing fact that AOL is looking to leverage search engines for more traffic this way, at the very same time as others, such as Rupert Murdoch, are claiming that Google is “stealing” from him in sending traffic, and he’s considering opting-out . So that addresses the company’s past, now let’s take a look at Tim Armstrong’s history before he became the Google Golden Boy which then landed him at the head of AOL. An article from ClickZ back in March brings to the fore an interesting piece of data that Armstrong seems to want to forget happened but he apparently isn’t afraid to apply some of the tricks he learned. It is widely recognized that Associated Content was the master of ‘craptent’ generation for search engine gain. Earlier this year it looked like Armstrong was looking to be at arm’s length with that fact. Associated Content has been criticized for helping to fuel poor-quality Web content, but is it rewriting history, too? Since Tim Armstrong, once touted as co-founder of AC, has been making headlines for ditching Google to take the CEO role at AOL , I figured I’d poke around the AC site and see what his affiliation with the firm is currently. Well, lo and behold, Armstrong’s name seems to have been scrubbed from the corporate info on the site. Once more than willing to broadcast that Armstrong was a co-founder of AC, the company’s site currently states, “Associated Content was founded by Luke Beatty in Denver, Colorado, in 2005.” I guess Armstrong went back in time and disassociated himself. Armstrong held a board position with Associated Content until March 2008 but as of the writing of that article back in March of this year he was still a an “active investor” according to a company spokesperson. So it seems that Mr. Armstrong is determined to keep the word associated in his bio, as in he may still be associated with developing crappy content to get search results. You think his time at Google taught him a thing or two? I guess we’ll see. That is if we can wade through the dreck that AOL is looking to offer to the masses. Good luck with that “strategery” which many are already bemoaning. Effectively, it’s a plan based on adding crap into the system to trick search engines. It’s pollution and web spam as a business model. But as folks like Umair Haque are fond of pointing out, business models based on tricking people and not adding any real value aren’t business models that will last. Ouch.

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AOL’s SEO “Strategery”

Cup of Joe: Create Great Content or Hardcore?

admin — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:45:43 +0000

You ever have one of those moments when you say something so crazy and off the wall that it has got to be true? For me this happens without me even giving a second thought about it because, to be honest, most of the time it tends to be exactly how I feel–and being sincere is what this whole thing is about, right? So today’s story is about being sincere and having high standards. Our story begins with a service called Aardvark . Are you familiar with Aardvark? In short Aardvark is a question and answer engine. Basically you tie your social media accounts into their engine. When you have a question you can send it to Aardvark through IM or tweet, Aardvark then searches for an appropriate user to answer the question. Alternatively, by participating you are also added on a queue to answer questions from folks in the network. All and all the concept is pretty solid, however I am starting to get tired of giving free advice. So consider that when you read my most recent advice I gave through Aardvark. The names and identities have been changed to protect the innocent/crazy. So before you get all huffy on me and start calling me names, lets recap what just happened. Our friend above, (lets call him Bob ) decides that he wants to start a blog. But unfortunately Bob doesn’t know how to write well or develop good content. Bob doesn’t want to learn how to make his writing better, or different methods of content creation, because quite honestly Bob is lazy. Oh and on top of being lazy, Bob is also cheap. So what does Bob decide to do? Bob decides to go on the internet and use a free service to ask for free advice on how to succeed with as little work as possible. Do you see what the problem is here?? The Problem isn’t Bob . The problem is the millions of other people on the internet just like Bob . If you can’t create good content, provide a good service or product, and are too lazy to improve yourself, then maybe owning a business on the internet isn’t for you. In which case please go back to MySpace and leave me alone!

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Cup of Joe: Create Great Content or Hardcore Pornography?

Google Already Indexing “Real Time” Web?

cgseo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:49:02 +0000

Sometimes I make a mistake in my writing. I know, hard to believe. So, after correcting an earlier typo, I just happened to check Google’s search index to see if my post had been indexed yet. Not only had the post been indexed, but the typo fix–from just seconds earlier–had already been updated! 0 to indexed in just 37 seconds? That’s pretty “real time” don’t you think?

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Google Already Indexing “Real Time” Web?