Five Keys to Writing a Profitable Article For God
Just with this headline I have captured the market of the people that I want to talk to.
I want to talk to people that want to write an article to profit God's kingdom and so my headline spells that out.
So if you are reading this article you are most probably a Christian and you want to write articles that are an effective Christian witness.
So let us go to key one.
KEY 1 Write a headline that will attract as many people as you can If I wanted to write an article for people that are not Christians I would not have profitable article for God in it, the headline would simply be Five keys to writing a profitable article.
When you are thinking of a headline you want the headline to capture what your article is about, but you also want to state a benefit for the reader.
In this headline the promise of this article is that you are going to learn what you need to do to write a profitable article for God.
If you are going to take one hour writing an article, or even half an hour, you want to attract as many readers as you can.
You might be surprised that when we read the paper over 90% of people simply read the headlines of the stories.
Unless the headline offers them a benefit or they want to know about that subject the reader passes over the story or advertisement.
In fact headlines are so vital to readership that the journalists don't even write the headlines, their editors write them.
If you take some time to promise the reader a benefit plus explain what your article is about you'll find your articles attract more readers.
I learned about headline writing in books on advertising and I can tell you that everything they say is true.
You might want to write an article and spend the same time thinking about the headline.
While you're at it put some very careful consideration into the description of the article.
As if the headline attracts the reader, most often they will next read your description.
Let them know how they are going to benefit from reading your article there.
KEY 2 Write in simple language, I am not sure about you, but I don't enjoy reading books where I have to have a dictionary with me in order to look up words.
If you have a doctorate or you have advanced university training, please consider your audience.
Are you speaking to people of the same education level as you? If not, get a lot simpler with the way you write.
My style of writing is pretty simple.
That's because I am pretty simple.
I use smaller words, because that's the way that I speak.
A good way to write an article is to relax and pretend that you are in a coffee shop and explaining your articles content to a friend.
Just chat and use simple language and pretend you are having a conversation.
As I write I am saying out loud what I am typing.
I simply sit down and speak into the keyboard as my hands type my words.
People that have commented on my articles have said they can be quite deep but are easy to read.
I like to know that a profound truth can be shared in simple language.
Jesus in his parables proved that could be done.
The church still grapples with the meanings of the parables.
More on one of his parables later.
Keep it simple.
KEY 3 Tell stories Granted, in your article you are going to be writing on something with spiritual significance, and we will get to that, but try in your article to illustrate your points with a story.
I have been writing articles for about 16 months and this is article 303.
In the vast majority of them I have been speaking of something spiritual and for the ones that are posted in categories outside of the religion section I have always included some testimony or a story that brings out something spiritual.
I have found when you tell a story it is a fun way of exploring truths with your reader that they can't really argue with as they are your own personal story.
Whenever you are exploring a scripture verse a person can say that it just your interpretation, but when you bring testimony into the mix, it is harder to argue with as now you have your personal experience illustrating the point you are making.
There are great books you can use as a resource, but I feel if you are going to preach on a scripture or share a spiritual truth, you should always have a story or illustration to make your point more easily understood.
Jesus was the king of stories as I have said already and what is good for him should be good for us.
People really connect with you as a reader when you share some of your personal life and experience with them especially if it is something you have struggles with or was painful for you.
It edifies people to know that you too have suffered and might understand them.
KEY 4 Know your subject- be inspired The worst thing you can do is try and study a subject and write out of some obligation.
You have to feel the subject welling up within you, like a fire that is burning in your belly like Jeremiah's.
Your message has got to inflame your heart and well up within you before you write your first paragraph.
It's got to be sitting there in your mind just bursting to get out.
Don't write an article just to get a link to your website.
Write your articles as though the reader was only going to read your article and that is all.
Give them the very best that you have.
And the very best of what you have is when it is inspired.
When it's welling up within you.
Write a sample headline about your topic and then just pretend you have bought your coffee and you are explaining your message to a trusted friend.
Don't try and impress your reader with what you know, you already know your reader and they are your friend already, just have a good old plain chat to them about your topic.
Don't fear what people are going to think.
Don't think that you have to get everything right and said correctly.
Just say it as it comes out, just like you would over a coffee with your friend.
But know your subject.
This doesn't mean you have to be a world expert on your subject, but know some aspect of it that can treat the reader with some newfound knowledge.
You can write an article as little as 300 words and get it accepted, and for that you only have to share a little bit of information.
Let that 300 words be packed with illumination.
Some of Jesus' parables are that short but I tell you this, unless you are acting like the sheep in the sheep and goats parable, I don't care if you are a Christian who goes to church or not, you are not going to spend eternity in heaven.
See that was one long sentence with me making a point.
Let me say that point again in shorter sentences.
Have a very good read of the sheep and goats parable in the Bible.
Are you feeding the people that were hungry and who asked you for money? Are you clothing those people whose clothes are year's old and black form being homeless without a washing machine? Are you visiting prisoners, people that you have known and have gone to prison? Are you visiting the sick? Are you giving the person who wants a drink a drink? If you are not, judgment day is going to be a very sad day for you indeed, no matter what your theology or man's teaching that you have received.
You see with one long sentence and one paragraph I was able to say something very important to you readers plus make a point.
As long as you know what you are speaking about, your article is a good one.
I feed the homeless and give people money when they ask and take in homeless and do all of these things, and its not out of fear that I do all these things, its out of love and Jesus wants all his followers to act with that sort of love.
KEY 5 Practice improves any skill -don't be a gunna man! There are two types of people in this world.
Actually there would be more then two but lets just say two for this point I am going to make.
There are the people that talk about what they are (gunna do) going to do and there are the people that are doing what they said they would do.
Some people have idea after idea and never get to fully do any of the ideas.
They just half attempt things and give up for all sorts of reasons and compensate by saying they are going to do something else now.
These people live a very sad unfulfilled kind of life full of excuses and regret.
They are always gunna do this and gunna do that! Then there are people that set their mind to do something and even though they might not be very talented when they start they do it often enough until they become perfect at it.
You are reading this article as you want to know how to write a profitable article for God.
As God's servant I encourage you to stop reading and start thinking about the title for your first or next article.
Maybe there is a scripture passage that you want to explain to people.
Get the passage out and have a read of it.
Think of a time where that passage has influenced your life and think of the story you would illustrate it with.
Take some time and think of the headline and then go to your computer, pretend you are speaking to a friend and share with us all what came to mind.
And if you have decided to write your first article now simply vote this article out of five stars to show me how many readers were inspired.
Practice really does make perfect.
You can even have grammar and spelling mistakes in these articles and they will get accepted.
I'd rather have good content with a couple of typos in it rather then not having types an article to start with.
Sure, you will have to know how to share your faith.
But let me tell you, the stories are the secret ingredient to an article.
You write about any subject in the world but in your story mention Christ and give his name glory and God will use your article to plant seeds in people's lives.
You sow the seed and leave it up to him to water it.
So go to it, write your first article and email it to me and I will give you some feedback on it if you like.
Be blessed.
I want to talk to people that want to write an article to profit God's kingdom and so my headline spells that out.
So if you are reading this article you are most probably a Christian and you want to write articles that are an effective Christian witness.
So let us go to key one.
KEY 1 Write a headline that will attract as many people as you can If I wanted to write an article for people that are not Christians I would not have profitable article for God in it, the headline would simply be Five keys to writing a profitable article.
When you are thinking of a headline you want the headline to capture what your article is about, but you also want to state a benefit for the reader.
In this headline the promise of this article is that you are going to learn what you need to do to write a profitable article for God.
If you are going to take one hour writing an article, or even half an hour, you want to attract as many readers as you can.
You might be surprised that when we read the paper over 90% of people simply read the headlines of the stories.
Unless the headline offers them a benefit or they want to know about that subject the reader passes over the story or advertisement.
In fact headlines are so vital to readership that the journalists don't even write the headlines, their editors write them.
If you take some time to promise the reader a benefit plus explain what your article is about you'll find your articles attract more readers.
I learned about headline writing in books on advertising and I can tell you that everything they say is true.
You might want to write an article and spend the same time thinking about the headline.
While you're at it put some very careful consideration into the description of the article.
As if the headline attracts the reader, most often they will next read your description.
Let them know how they are going to benefit from reading your article there.
KEY 2 Write in simple language, I am not sure about you, but I don't enjoy reading books where I have to have a dictionary with me in order to look up words.
If you have a doctorate or you have advanced university training, please consider your audience.
Are you speaking to people of the same education level as you? If not, get a lot simpler with the way you write.
My style of writing is pretty simple.
That's because I am pretty simple.
I use smaller words, because that's the way that I speak.
A good way to write an article is to relax and pretend that you are in a coffee shop and explaining your articles content to a friend.
Just chat and use simple language and pretend you are having a conversation.
As I write I am saying out loud what I am typing.
I simply sit down and speak into the keyboard as my hands type my words.
People that have commented on my articles have said they can be quite deep but are easy to read.
I like to know that a profound truth can be shared in simple language.
Jesus in his parables proved that could be done.
The church still grapples with the meanings of the parables.
More on one of his parables later.
Keep it simple.
KEY 3 Tell stories Granted, in your article you are going to be writing on something with spiritual significance, and we will get to that, but try in your article to illustrate your points with a story.
I have been writing articles for about 16 months and this is article 303.
In the vast majority of them I have been speaking of something spiritual and for the ones that are posted in categories outside of the religion section I have always included some testimony or a story that brings out something spiritual.
I have found when you tell a story it is a fun way of exploring truths with your reader that they can't really argue with as they are your own personal story.
Whenever you are exploring a scripture verse a person can say that it just your interpretation, but when you bring testimony into the mix, it is harder to argue with as now you have your personal experience illustrating the point you are making.
There are great books you can use as a resource, but I feel if you are going to preach on a scripture or share a spiritual truth, you should always have a story or illustration to make your point more easily understood.
Jesus was the king of stories as I have said already and what is good for him should be good for us.
People really connect with you as a reader when you share some of your personal life and experience with them especially if it is something you have struggles with or was painful for you.
It edifies people to know that you too have suffered and might understand them.
KEY 4 Know your subject- be inspired The worst thing you can do is try and study a subject and write out of some obligation.
You have to feel the subject welling up within you, like a fire that is burning in your belly like Jeremiah's.
Your message has got to inflame your heart and well up within you before you write your first paragraph.
It's got to be sitting there in your mind just bursting to get out.
Don't write an article just to get a link to your website.
Write your articles as though the reader was only going to read your article and that is all.
Give them the very best that you have.
And the very best of what you have is when it is inspired.
When it's welling up within you.
Write a sample headline about your topic and then just pretend you have bought your coffee and you are explaining your message to a trusted friend.
Don't try and impress your reader with what you know, you already know your reader and they are your friend already, just have a good old plain chat to them about your topic.
Don't fear what people are going to think.
Don't think that you have to get everything right and said correctly.
Just say it as it comes out, just like you would over a coffee with your friend.
But know your subject.
This doesn't mean you have to be a world expert on your subject, but know some aspect of it that can treat the reader with some newfound knowledge.
You can write an article as little as 300 words and get it accepted, and for that you only have to share a little bit of information.
Let that 300 words be packed with illumination.
Some of Jesus' parables are that short but I tell you this, unless you are acting like the sheep in the sheep and goats parable, I don't care if you are a Christian who goes to church or not, you are not going to spend eternity in heaven.
See that was one long sentence with me making a point.
Let me say that point again in shorter sentences.
Have a very good read of the sheep and goats parable in the Bible.
Are you feeding the people that were hungry and who asked you for money? Are you clothing those people whose clothes are year's old and black form being homeless without a washing machine? Are you visiting prisoners, people that you have known and have gone to prison? Are you visiting the sick? Are you giving the person who wants a drink a drink? If you are not, judgment day is going to be a very sad day for you indeed, no matter what your theology or man's teaching that you have received.
You see with one long sentence and one paragraph I was able to say something very important to you readers plus make a point.
As long as you know what you are speaking about, your article is a good one.
I feed the homeless and give people money when they ask and take in homeless and do all of these things, and its not out of fear that I do all these things, its out of love and Jesus wants all his followers to act with that sort of love.
KEY 5 Practice improves any skill -don't be a gunna man! There are two types of people in this world.
Actually there would be more then two but lets just say two for this point I am going to make.
There are the people that talk about what they are (gunna do) going to do and there are the people that are doing what they said they would do.
Some people have idea after idea and never get to fully do any of the ideas.
They just half attempt things and give up for all sorts of reasons and compensate by saying they are going to do something else now.
These people live a very sad unfulfilled kind of life full of excuses and regret.
They are always gunna do this and gunna do that! Then there are people that set their mind to do something and even though they might not be very talented when they start they do it often enough until they become perfect at it.
You are reading this article as you want to know how to write a profitable article for God.
As God's servant I encourage you to stop reading and start thinking about the title for your first or next article.
Maybe there is a scripture passage that you want to explain to people.
Get the passage out and have a read of it.
Think of a time where that passage has influenced your life and think of the story you would illustrate it with.
Take some time and think of the headline and then go to your computer, pretend you are speaking to a friend and share with us all what came to mind.
And if you have decided to write your first article now simply vote this article out of five stars to show me how many readers were inspired.
Practice really does make perfect.
You can even have grammar and spelling mistakes in these articles and they will get accepted.
I'd rather have good content with a couple of typos in it rather then not having types an article to start with.
Sure, you will have to know how to share your faith.
But let me tell you, the stories are the secret ingredient to an article.
You write about any subject in the world but in your story mention Christ and give his name glory and God will use your article to plant seeds in people's lives.
You sow the seed and leave it up to him to water it.
So go to it, write your first article and email it to me and I will give you some feedback on it if you like.
Be blessed.
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