How To Fast Track Your Article Marketing Program: Voice and Style

Writing articles for distribution is a rather intimate thing. The goal is a momentary one-on-one relationship with another human being. The writer must come across as attainable and friendly, yet retain an air of authority in the relationship. It's a fine line to walk between domineering and feeble. The mix must be just right or you risk losing your reader.

So, exactly how do you go about accomplishing this? There is no steadfast rule for how to do this other than develop a voice and style that works for you. One of best ways to find your voice is to know who you are writing to.

Who Is Your Target Audience?

This is often more difficult to determine than gathering the research for the content of the article itself. One thing to avoid for certain is writing to a whole market. It is almost guaranteed to come out reading like B-rate commercial on television. Pick one specific segment of your niche and write to them.

One method to use is to research that segment of your customer base you want to reach and see what questions they are asking on blogs and in forums. Jot those questions down and go find the answers to them. Many times, you will come up with a fairly large list of article topics that way.

Pick one particular topic and think about it for a few minutes. Lean back in your chair and close your eyes. Imagine yourself having a conversation with just one person you found asking questions: Debbie, the mother in Minneapolis or Paul, the retired guy in Denver. Compress them into one image of a person you will address with your article.

Voice and Style

Your job as an expert in your field is to impart your knowledge on those needing the information you possess. Strive to write from the perspective of teacher to student or parent to child. Use a conversational voice just like you would if talking with a friend or colleague. It's ok to be nice, even humorous, in fact it's best. But you must keep that air of authority about your demeanor.

Your authority is where your power lies: if they believe you're in charge, you are. They will trust you and follow you wherever you lead them. It's as simple as that.

Once you have set the tone of your voice, pick a style of writing that fits it. There are endless possibilities here and you will need to experiment with them until you find your stride.

Don't limit your writing one particular tone or style for every article: never type-cast yourself. Write from a total person perspective. No one is happy, upbeat and perky every minute of every day nor is anyone angry all the time. That's just not the human condition.

Avoid Spam

There are only two things you are selling in your article: your expertise in your niche and a click on your link in the resource box to learn more. That's it, nothing more. Never spam your readers. Conversions take place on your website, sales page, squeeze page or blog. The sole purpose of the article is to get the reader to one of those pages.

Keeping that in mind, never give them the whole answer they are looking for in your article. Give them about 85-90 percent of it and follow with your "call to action" to click on your link to get the rest of the story. If your article is well crafted, it "sells the click" in the author's resource box.

Don't stress out about voice and style, just keep them in mind. Over the course of time you develop them both into something that is unique, entertaining, informative and real.

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