Welcome to Brenda Segna SEO Services and SEO Copywriting Blog

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

How To Format an Article

Formatting an article--an article format is different depending on where you are sending it. If you are writing for the web, your article needs to be formatted for the website that you are writing for. It should include keywords from that site.
Most magazines have a set of guidelines that you can write, visit their web page or read in Writer's Market for specifics. Normally it should be double spaced, a size 12 font, and the style of font must be easily read, Times New Roman, is your best bet.
Most magazines accept submissions electronically, again you just have to check their guidelines, some will accept attachments, while others want you to cut and paste into the body of your email.
You will also need to provide a word count. You should always do a spell check and grammar check. Even if your copy is great, if you have misspellings and a lot of problems with grammar, most editors will hit the delete key! I hope this helps you. If you have more questions please feel free to ask!

Ciao for now!
Brenda

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you. How are often are you going to write? And do you know what you are going to write about each time?

Anonymous said...

Brenda thanks for answering my question. I have another one, do you make any money from freelance writing? It seems like everyone is out there just to screw you over. They want a professional writer, but no one wants to pay you for what you're worth. It is really frustrating.

Brenda said...

Michelle,

I plan on writing regularly, but I don't have a schedule or an outline of what I am going to write.

Freelance writing is a tough gig! And like any field there are those who try to take advantage of the freelancer. Like paying a $1.50 for an article. We work hard, we do the research, we write the article and they want to pay $1.50.

Writers are in demand, but some people just don't want to pay for the cost of service. Then I get an email from a guy who says that everyone he hires plagiarizes. Okay, you pay someone $1.50 for an article, you get what you pay for! NOTHING!

If they want quality writers then they are going to have to pay for them. Don't sell yourself short. Hang in there! Keep writing! And thanks for reading my blog!

Brenda

Anonymous said...

What are some good places online that a freelancer can write for and make money?

Brenda said...

Jason,

Yes there are numerous place online that a freelancer writer can make money. Google freelance writing jobs. Market yourself as a writer. Most web pages need a writer to help script their pages. Do you have a degree? That will make you more marketable.

If you are a good writer, are persistent, you can be successful writing for online business!

Thanks for visiting my blog and asking your question. Feel free to come back anytime.

Anonymous said...

How do you guarantee payment? I just wrote a bunch of stuff for this guy and he stiffed me. It irks me to no end that these SOB's can get away with it. How do I protecty myself?

Brenda said...

Mark,

Freelance can be tough. You can ask for a percentage of your agreed upon price upfront. Also you can check out the people that you are writing for by Google them and asking for references from them as well.

This is a two-way street. The Writer has a right to know who they are writing for as well. You can also type in the person's name and 'arrest' after it in Google and that will tell you if there is a criminal record or background.

I hope that helps and I hope you have better luck with your writing endeavors in the future.

Thanks for visiting my blog and for asking your question. Come back and visit anytime!