Five Powerful Article Marketing Tips

When I began my journey as an online marketer, I learned from several mentors the great importance of article marketing in your business plan. The ability to share value with others, speak with my target market directly, and gain exposure for my business sounded very attractive to me. So, I dove in and began sharing what I have been learning about online marketing through articles.

Through trial and error, I have found that there are five key article marketing tips to keep in mind when devising your article marketing plan.

1. SHARING VALUE - Your article must contain value for your target market. Lets assume that your market needs to learn about the specific advantages of several WordPress plugins. You could write an article on not only how to install the plugin, but also how to edit it, and how to utilize it to the maximum for best results. You could also give examples of the results you have received by using the particular plugin. I know I love to read about specific case studies of how a certain technique has helped an individual.

2. BULLET POINTS - I know that I really appreciate information being broken down into digestible chunks. In other words, the simpler, the better. When learning about a new technique, if it is presented in a cryptic manner that takes a while to work through, I will move on to another technique, and will most likely be missing out on some valuable information. Since we are trying to provide value to our audience, keep it short and easy to read.

3. LINK TO YOUR ARTICLE - Once you have posted your article, its a good idea to post links to your masterpiece. Three services that I find valuable are Ping.fm, Pingler.com and Linklicious.me. These are all Free and Very effective in creating backlinks to your content.

4. CROSS REFERENCE YOUR ARTICLES - When composing your article, it is beneficial to you and your reader to provide links to other related articles you have written. For example, if you are writing about how to set up a WordPress blog, you could insert a link to a recent article you wrote about effective WordPress themes for different types of businesses. This helps your reader gain more breadth of knowledge on the subject of blogs and this helps you with backlinks to your content.

5. USE AN AUTORESPONDER - When someone gains value from your article and enjoys your writing style, they will be eager to read more of your work. If you have a link in your author resource box to a website (like your personal blog) that has your opt-in box linked to your autoresponder, the reader may easily sign up to receive more information from you. This is a great first step in building a solid relationship with your readers.

Article Marketing is powerful and can substantially improve your online presence. Your content will be on the web for many years to come and can be a very effective way of drawing interest to your business. Hopefully these article marketing tips will help you on your journey. Now, get out there, share great value, and start to build lasting relationships.

By Melinda Storrs

How You Can Improve Your Word Power Quickly and Easily!

If you want to be a great communicator, do you need to have a great vocabulary?
You might be surprised to learn that a really big vocabulary is not necessary in order to express yourself clearly and to move others with your words.
Some of the most dramatic messages that have ever been uttered in the English language actually used very simple words to stir the blood, or touch the heart.
Chances are that the passage does not rely on sophisticated words to create its power.

Think of Lincoln’s Gettysberg Address. Although President Lincoln spoke in a style that is very different from the way we usually speak today, his words still have the power to move us deeply with their clarity and their deep emotion. During the darkest days of World War II, Winston Churchill’s rousing speeches to the British people used very simple, common, powerful words to successfully ignite the courage and determination of his people.

So if it’s possible to communicate effectively without using a lot of very big words, why should we bother to try to expand our vocabulary? The reason is that learning new words expands our understanding and improves our “mental muscles”. Every new word we learn entices our mind to stretch into new areas.

When we have a larger bank of words to draw on, we improve our ability to think and express ourselves. In the modern world the ability to use words effectively is often highly rewarded.
The English language has an enormous number of words, perhaps more than half a million of them. Most people however, use a vocabulary of just a few thousand common words on a daily basis. It is possible to get by in the English language with a limited number of words, but you expand your options as you expand your vocabulary. When you understand very few words, you are limited in your ability to learn new information.

If you want to increase your vocabulary, there are many approaches you can use. When you come across a word you don’t know, see if you can figure out its meaning from the context. Look at the way the word is made up, with its letters and syllables. Does it remind you of any words you already know? What parts of it are familiar?

Many words in the English language are made up of common roots they share with other words. If you come across a word you don’t understand during the course of a lecture or a conversation, you can ask someone to explain the meaning of the word. It is occasionally true that other people may choose to look down on you if you confess that you don’t understand a certain word. Should you try to learn new words directly from a dictionary? It depends on your learning style and your preference. Some people will become bored very quickly while reading a dictionary, while others will find it fascinating.

Good dictionaries will do more than just give a definition of a word. Some will show you an example of the word used in a sentence. Most dictionaries will show you correct pronunciation. Some will tell you the historical derivation of the word. Many English words have their roots in ancient Anglo-Saxon, French, or German.
Language is always evolving and new words are being created every day. New words can come from technology, from scientific discoveries, from other languages, from pop culture, and from the streets.

When learning new vocabulary, you can better integrate it into your brain if you actively involve yourself in the learning process.
When you encounter a new word, write out a definition of it in your own words, and write one or more sentences using the new word in context. Visualize the word in its printed form. Say the word out loud, and spell it out loud. Say a sentence out loud that uses the new word. Make up an image in your mind that will help you remember the word. If you make the image funny or bizarre, you will probably remember it better.

After you have read an article or book, try writing out two different versions summarizing your ideas. Do one version using very simple, everyday words. Do another version that uses very complex sentences and advanced vocabulary, like you imagine a university professor might write.

If you are committed to expanding your vocabulary, how many new words should you try to learn in a day? Just two new words a day will add up to more than 7000 words in ten years. Ten words a day would add 36,000 words in ten years.

Once you have learned a lot of new words, should you work them into your conversation every chance you get? For example, if you are speaking to a group of high school dropouts you may want to use different words than if you are speaking to a group of scientists.

Don’t use an impressive vocabulary merely as a means of showing off, always using big words when small ones would do. People can often intuitively feel when you are using fancy words merely for effect, and not because you need them to communicate.

Give Your Child a Jump Start on Reading
As a parent you do not have to be a reading expert to give your child a jump start in becoming a reader. However, I hope you are not waiting until the child is about to start school before making reading a key part of daily life. Research says that the support that parents give to a child is the most critical factor in a child’s life.

Reading is the most important determiner in how well a child will do in school and in life. Reading can open a child up to the world of knowledge like nothing else can. It is important that the process start long before a child enters school. The only person that can establish that needed foundation is a child’s parent. There are so many things that a child can learn from a parent about everyday activities and from being read to by a parent. Besides that, it can be an enjoyable experience for both the child and parent.

It all begins in infancy when a child hears voices. A parent needs to do a lot of talking to a child. It is very important that there is eye contact between the parent and child so that the child learns to listen and focus. As the talking leads to reading, the selections should be chosen carefully based on simplicity, size, attractiveness, and interest. Reading aloud to a child should be done several times a day for short periods of time and should become increasingly longer as the child becomes older. It has been acknowledged that a parent does not have be an expert in reading to read with his or her child. The following basic things should occur during a reading session: choose a book the child likes; find a comfortable, quiet place to read; explore the book by looking at the cover, title page, and pictures; read and stop to discuss the story frequently; help the child see the connection between words and pictures; and encourage questions and comments from the child. There are many materials available that can assist parents in some basic techniques.

Children will value books and respect them if a parent demonstrates that same care and value of them. Parents can also model being avid readers and life-long learners. Children need that modeling very early in life.

In choosing books, they need to be appropriate age level for the child. If a book is eye catching and is motivating, a child will read it again and again. Books that utilize repetition and rhyming are always very popular with children. Books that are filled with pictures, are ideal for reading sessions because the child will be receptive to more discussion and comment by looking at the pictures.

Where will you find the time to do the reading session with your child? Shave enough time from TV viewing to work on the reading activities with your child. In addition, use the television time to tie into language development. Choose programs that meet the following criteria: captures the child’s interest; encourages listening and questioning; helps the child learn new words; helps the child’s self-esteem; and can be connected to real life.

There are many stages of language development that can be addressed by parents. A parent should be involved in all components. There are many materials and handbooks available from which parents can learn the basics and can learn some specific activities to use with children. Children need a jump start in reading, and parents can make that happen.

Integrating Language and Science Instruction

Introduction
Integrating language skills with science instruction has become an alternative to traditional instruction. In the integrated approach, teachers held high expectations for their students and deliberately promote critical thinking skills which help them succeed in academic courses.

The science process skills-including observing, predicting, communicating, classifying, and analyzing-are similar to language learning skills-seeking information, comparing, ordering, synthesizing, and evaluating (Short, 1991). These skills are important keys to integrating science instruction with language acquisition. Motivating and engaging students to speak, ask questions, learn new vocabulary, and write down their thoughts comes easily when they are curious, exploring and engaged in science or science inquiry. Integrating literacy activities within teaching of science helps clarify science concept and can make science and more meaningful and interesting to the student.

Research suggests that increased student participation and peer interaction enhances the students' language better that teacher-directed activities (Ruddell, 2004). For instance, teacher can use cooperative learning jigsaws where students become experts on topics through texts that they read or listen to, take notes on, and teach to peers. Using cooperative learning method gives integrated teachers an opportunity to encourage interdependency among group members, assisting students to work together in small groups so that all participate in sharing data and in developing group reports.

Instructional Strategy
Unfortunately, today many classroom teachers who teach either science or language do not think science and language are interdependent (Short, 1991). Language teachers do not address the language needs of the students within the framework of the subject matter's objectives. They may think teaching content subject matter is not essential. Similarly, the content teachers may not understand language issues, nor be prepared to use English as a Second Language (ELL) methods for which they might have little or no experience.
Students can improve language proficiency through science instruction as either the background or theme of lessons. For example, once a science topic has been discussed and students have shared their knowledge of it, pertinent vocabulary may be taught. Reading and writing activities and content-area instruction can be integrated in one lesson or unit, or the approach can form the basis for an entire curriculum. An instructor takes first an objective from a content area curriculum, such as science, and determines the kind of language students need in order to be able to accomplish that objective. As a teacher helps students develop the science process skills of inquiry, language process skills or language learning strategies are simultaneously being developed. Two fundamental characteristics of the learning process, transfer and language dependence, frame our understanding of critical issues in teaching and assessing English learners in the science classroom (Short, 2002).

The integrated approach focuses on the fostering of thinking skills and the student-centered method of the instruction. Integrated teachers utilize a variety of teaching methods such as inquiry-based learning, cooperative learning, brainstorming, cooperative learning, hands-on, interactive activity etc.

By providing opportunities to use language in meaningful contexts, teachers can facilitate their students' transition into mainstream courses (Crandall and Peyton, 1993).
Integrated teachers need to pay attention to the science to be learned, the language skills required to learn it, and the reasoning abilities needed to be manipulated. Teachers should encourage students to conduct independent research, but provide support students solicit assistance from each other. Through this approach, science teachers become sensitive to language problems that exist in their current textbooks, supplementary materials and teacher talk, and recognize other potential problem that their students may experience. The approach also helps language teachers as well, through a variety of methods used to introduce authentic and relevant science into classroom (Short, 2002).

Integrated lesson planning skills
Each integrated lesson should have a language and science component and the goal for the teacher should be to develop academic achievement and language proficiency simultaneously. To prepare clear science and language outcomes, teachers should draw on a variety of resources that include standards of knowledge and skills in a science area, language proficiency standards, prior student performance assessments, and available course materials. For example, a science teacher would prepare an integrated science and language lesson by first examining the science standards to determine the concept and skill to be learned, then selecting learning objectives, tasks, and materials appropriate to the students as determined by assessments of student performance.

To address the practice of integrating reading, writing, listening, and speaking, teachers must identify and work with students on two sets of discourse skills-one specific to a subject area, the other more generalized. Observing and calculating the speed and acceleration describe science outcomes, whereas discussing and writing about the methods used to compare types of distance measurement describe language outcomes related to the science. Integrated teachers should consciously attempt to sort the descriptive verbs used in standards documents and course materials into separately identified language and content outcomes.

According to Sherris (2008), the integrated lesson plans have at least two key benefits. First, the teachers clarify for themselves the separate content and language objectives of the lesson, which can improve their delivery of the instruction. Second, if these objectives are both explicitly presented and subsequently reviewed within each lesson, students become aware of the separate content and language goals, which may help them direct and monitor their own learning.

Students also develop the ability to carry out other content related tasks, such as lab experiments, creative scientific calculations, and historical inquiry. Integrated Lesson Plan
Lesson planning is critical to both a student's and a teacher's success. For maximum learning to occur, planning must produce lessons that enable students to make connections between their own knowledge and experiences, and the new information being taught (Rummelhart, 1995). In effective instruction, concrete content objectives that identify what students should know and be able to do must guide teaching and learning. As with content objectives, language objectives should be stated clearly and simply, and students should be informed of them, both orally and in writing.

The integrated science lesson plan guidelines ( see attached table) describes the teaching phases in integrated lesson plans and the most effective science lessons for ELL are those have language and content objectives. As students gain both science process and English language skills, they will be able to examine independently scientific explanations and use logical reasoning to communicate. Higher-order thinking skills, such as articulating predictions or hypotheses, stating conclusions, summarizing information, and making comparisons, can be tied to language objectives.