Keeping Your Articles Fresh

I admit that the internet is definitely for the “here and now.”
Always changing, what may be popular one day may be irrelevant
the next. A den of “fast track fads” is what the internet has
become. Still, if you are an article writer, you know that the
web content you provide for your customers today must have an
extended shelf life with it, otherwise your customers lose out
and your reputation sinks. You can write relevant and persuasive
content that doesn’t lose its sheen with time; read on and I
will show you how.

It is a given that if you write seasonal
articles these very same articles will quickly lose their appeal
once the season is over. Few people are interested in
Valentine’s Day pitches outside of January and February, but you
can keep their interest strong year round by not directly
focusing on products, but on the history of the holiday.
I have discovered that my seasonal articles are likely to get
read “out of season” if they deal more with something beyond an
overt sales pitch. Give readers something to digest other than
talking about chocolates and flowers; you can discuss “love” a
timeless subject with universal appeal!

In addition, stay away
from explicit dates. If you mention something to the effect,
“here in December 2005…” you will quickly age your article in no
time. This can be difficult to do if you are mentioning
something like current mortgage trends or recent world events.
All of those hurricane articles you read just a few months ago
seem distant and certain to be ignored by readers who are
focusing on current events [however, they may become valuable
again when the next hurricane season rolls around]. It is okay
to write current event articles, but expect them to quickly fade
into oblivion once the event has passed.

Typically, the subject
of “shelf life” does not come up with my customers. If I am
asked, I mention that each article should have at least one
year’s appeal before an update might be necessary. This is
reasonable length of time given the fast paced changes on the
web. Naturally, if the customer wants me to do the update, they
will be charged the same rate as a fresh article: in reality I
provide to my customers a new article, not some cut and
paste update.

Finally, I never give explicit guarantees for an
article’s effectiveness because once it leaves my hands, I
seldom know exactly what a customer will do with it [i.e., place
it in a newsletter, turn around and sell it, put it on their web
site, etc.]. My customers know that what I write for them can be
effective, but its ultimate impact is only as good as what they
choose to do with it.


Paul Kellum has a new article directory,The Article Shopper. You
can submit your articles for free, and also get free content for your
website,ezine or newsletter. http://www.thearticleshopper.biz

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