3 Ways to Help People Remember What You've Written

by Barb Sawyers

With the constant onslaught of information, it's getting more difficult for people to remember everything they've read. That's why it's so important for writers to aid their recall. To do this, help readers deposit your information into their memory bank, add some strong glue and offer some cues to help them retrieve the information later.

Deposit into the memory bank

- Make sure your communication offers value and relevance. That's how the brain prioritizes memory deposits.
- Revise your writing until it's easy to understand, using your target readers' terms, not the jargon of your business or profession.
- Give people a context in which to remember. Tell them, for example, they will want to remember this information the next time they go to write an important email to a prospect.
- Focus on what's important and avoid the clutter.
- Organize your information, guiding your readers with numbers, bullet points, categories, acronyms, subheads or other devices.

- Use a strong visual to reinforce what you want readers to remember.
- Link what they already know to your new information.
- Create a catchy slogan.
- Persuade your readers to repeat your most important message out loud.
- State your main point in the introduction, then repeat it in the body and conclusion.
- Ask the readers to apply what they've learned by completing a practical exercise.
- Tell stories, anecdotes or jokes that play on emotions or connect different points.
- Rhyme. Who can forget: In August 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue?

Retrieval cues

- Follow up with communication that repeats the images and other cues you provided originally.
- Use emotional prompts. "I'm scared. Now what did Oprah tell me to do when that happens?"
- Or look to problem-solving cues. When people encounter the problem you can solve, they will dip into the memory and retrieve your solution.

Now repeat after me, loudly: "I will help my readers deposit information into their memory banks, add glue to keep it there and give them some retrieval cues to pull it out."

Or maybe you should just say, "Woo, glue and cue."

http://www.stickycommunication.ca
http://barbsawyers.wordpress.com

Barb Sawyers writes articles, newsletters, announcements, scripts and other communication that are read and remembered. With a masters in journalism and more than 25 years' experience, Barb has enabled many corporations, small businesses, government agencies and nonprofits to communicate more effectively.

She's working on an e-book called The First 25 Words.

A member of IABC/Toronto, Barb is past chair of the Alliance of Independent Practitioners, a large group of independent communicators.

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Top 4 Types of Information Or E-Books That Sell Best Online

by Gab L Chu

Why is information the best thing to sell online? Because information is the backbone of the internet. That's the power of the internet, where information can be available and updated with click of a mouse. Speed is a given, as you are only limited by the speed of your internet connection. People from all professions and locations log on to the web to search for various types of answers to their questions. Some of the popular ones include researching data for a school project, understanding how to increase productivity at work, searching for alternative cures to their illnesses, and reviews of products. These are lucrative needs that your information products or e-books can fulfill.

The top 4 types of information that sells best online are:

1) Timely information. This is especially true for technology related topics, such as the latest software, games and their walkthroughs, latest product reviews and how to market products online.

2) Scarce info is also very valuable. A lot of information can be obtained online for free, but not all required information is there. More in depth information or specific information usually requires paid products.

3) A lot of information are readily available FREE on the internet. However, if you can re-package all these materials, re-organize them into a comprehensive, easy to read report, people will pay you for your efforts and service.

4) Teach consumers how to solve a certain problem quickly and efficiently. The common how to's deal with how to feel better or look better, and with the given speed of the internet, people are naturally more impatient and wants quick solutions.

Selling information lowers the barrier of entry into internet trading and selling. If you are an expert in a particular niche, you can put up some information products of value and sell them to internet communities. The additional advantages are plenty, such as no need to have inventory space, and low cost of shipping for CDs, or even none if product is download-able. The whole internet marketing game takes time to master, so learn from those who have been there to shorten your learning time, and avoid painful mistakes.

Gab Chu has helped hundreds of Internet Marketers create wealth from their own online information product empire using strategies to better product creation, and traffic tactic, secrets and techniques. Get $19 worth of a F-R-E-E Report by visiting Trialed and Time-tested Informative Resources at http://loveformarketing.com/imsuccess

3 Easy Tips to Help You Break Into the Hot Niche of SEO Article Writing

by Angeline Plesek


SEO article writing is one of the hottest niches for freelance writers. There are companies that understand the importance of using good SEO content to drive traffic to their websites and they are always looking for decent SEO article writers. Even in the current economic downturn, you can get SEO writing jobs if you market yourself as an SEO content writer.

Companies that look for SEO article writers look for candidates that have writing samples to show, can meet deadlines, and understand the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) and its use of keywords in SEO articles to help drive web traffic.

Yes, it's true-some SEO writing gigs pay poverty-level wages and this can work for you if your primary motivation is to just build a portfolio of samples. Some of these jobs pay from $3 an article up to around $15 an article. But...if you want to write SEO articles to make a living-there are companies that will pay decent wages for well-written content.

Here are 3 tips to help you land a gig as a successful freelance SEO article writer:

1) Study and understand search engine optimization basics. I recommend reading Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. This is a resource guide that was published for webmasters, but it can help copywriters understand the importance of keywords from an overall perspective- from the back-end of a web page, to the front-end SEO content.

2) Market yourself primarily as an SEO article writer. Don't focus on other types of writing. Companies prefer to hire writers that have some basic knowledge of search engine optimization.

3) Write some sample SEO articles for your portfolio. If you don't already have SEO writing samples, they are easy enough to write. Choose three to five topics that interest you and write articles that are anywhere from 300 to 500 words each using relative keywords. Make sure you understand SEO basics and do your keyword research first.

Once you've studied the SEO basics and collect some SEO writing samples, you're ready to get a gig in the hottest freelance writing niche!

Angeline Plesek is an SEO freelance copywriter and the publisher of The Copywriter's Vault, an online information resource for copywriters and Internet marketers. To visit go to: http://www.copywriters-vault.com

Making Income Online With Your Own Freelance Writing Business

by Wendy Rahilly

Whether you are a trained, college educated writer or a stay at home mom struggling with making income online, freelance writing is picking up speed and has made a promising presence on the Internet within the last 5 to 10 years. Being a freelance writer sits solely on the shoulders of the person looking to write from home full or part time. This is because a freelance writer, along with their writing abilities, is the one being marketed.
There are several avenues a freelance writer can take to when becoming a knowledgeable and spoken freelance writer in today's busy writing scene.

If just beginning to think about writing from home, it is best to sign up with various online writing groups. These writing groups can be found through websites for stay at home moms or parents, exclusive websites groups for writers, employment websites which post writing jobs and websites where a writer can bid on a job. These are some of the best ways to begin making income online with writing and getting your name and product out there. Yes, your ability to write good articles online is a product for sale. When companies or private clients are seeking a writer for a particular project, this is the best way for you to gain more exposure and begin making income online. This is true especially if your writing is well written and thought out. Following instructions from a potential employer is a must along with asking questions when something does not make sense to you. It is better to ask questions the first time around than having to do a re write.

Here are some ways you, the freelance writer, can start your freelance writing business:

Education in Business or Writing: When it comes to education in business or writing, this is up to you. It is not necessary to have a degree in business or writing, but it does not hurt either. When you see your freelance writing business take off, and you being to hire more writers, it would serve you well to keep track of writing jobs going out and coming in. This means having prior business knowledge on how to keep track, or have inventory, of your writing jobs for tax purposes will serve you well. These days, all you might really need is a Business 101 course which you can take online in probably 4-6 weeks. This should give you a taste of what it is like to be making income online with a business, freelance writing or not, from home.

Learn the Freelance Writing Marketplace: Writing online is not the same as writing for print publications. As a freelance writer for a print publication, you will need past writing experience. This means you must have writing samples to show your potential employer. Another thing to write for print publications is, on a monthly or bi-monthly basis, you already have a consistent readership. That is, your readers are probably subscribing to a magazine that you write for. When it comes to freelance writing online, this could be a hit and miss readership. Along with this type of readership, it is imperative that all your articles have keywords the search engine will pick up. If your keywords are popular, your articles will appear at the top of each search engine page.

Negotiating Price: Sometimes, you, the freelance writer are in charge of how you are making income online by being given the opportunity to set your own price per words written. Other times, you are given a price to write for, per words written. It is up to you to leave it, or take it. Now, since you are just breaking into the freelance writing field, it is best to take what money you are given. Remember, the more you write, the better you become and the more writing jobs you will land. Just remember to begin portfolio of all your past writing assignments. Every article you write is a reflection of you and what you prefer writing about. In turn, these are the type of jobs you are more likely to get. The better your writing is the higher pay you will receive.

Find out how to be making income online and earning $100 per day online within 30 days with your freelance writing along with 20 other methods to make money online.