Market Writing: What Every Internet Content Writer Should Know

Learn the basics for writing for a targeted audience on the Internet. Internet content writers that understand their markets are writers that will achieve success more quickly.

If you are a writer that is writing for a living, then it is important to learn how to write for the market. The market is a targeted group of readers that are actively searching for information about the subject(s) that are of interest to them.

Many of my Triond friends are already aware that I wrote 3 articles about free music websites that were published at Triond. These articles are a perfect example of writing for the market. However, during the process of writing and publishing these articles some new lessons were learned and adjustments to my marketing had to be made.

Music is one of those subjects that millions of people are interested in and are actively seeking while online. I understood that this subject would do quite well, because the articles focused on two things.

First, music articles, if written correctly would attract the audience that is targeted, and second, the articles made it easy to locate free music websites. Readers are people and people want to learn things that they did not already know. A good article is one that teaches new things and about subjects that the readers were already interested in.

What to write about? When writing for the market it requires a bit more research than writing about a subject that you already know about, because markets are consistently evolving. So, to write for these changing markets the writer needs to be in the places where many discussions are happening.

Join a forum, because this is an excellent place to learn what people are interested in. More specifically, if you are writing about photography, then join an active photography forum and read more than you write when visiting. It is like listening instead of talking, because you learn more when you listen and that is what you want to do - learn.

What you are listening for are things or subjects that people are asking a lot of questions about. If you notice a lot of questioning about a particular subject, then do some research and find the answers, and then write an article about that subject. Your goal here is to teach those people or people like the ones in the forums about the subject(s) that the questions were asked about.

Of course, the broader the subject is, then the better the article will do view wise, but not necessarily income wise. Usually, articles that are written for a niche market will produce fewer views, but more income.

Subjects that would hit a large audience would be the following:

Politics - “The US Presidential Race” or about “Obama” more specifically.

Entertainment - Anything about “Music, Movies, or Television Show”

Animals - General “pet care, pet products”

Technology - “Gadget Reviews, Computers, Internet”

Teaching Aides - “How-to articles”

Money - “How to make money, making money online”

Now, here are several examples of niche market articles:

“These articles are focused on usually just one specific subject.”

Politics - “Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Voting Machines”

Entertainment - “Target a specific movie, show or person”

Animals - “Health, Grooming Techniques, Competitions, etc.”

Technology - Be specific “Mac, Windows, Servers, etc.”

Teaching Aides - Be specific “How To Grow Beautiful Roses, etc.”

Money - Stay focused “SMC, Triond, StoryMash, etc.”

Of course, there are many other subjects that I did not cover, but you get the idea.

  • Mass-market articles are aimed at the broadest market possible.
  • Niche-market articles are targeted specifically at a very narrow market.

There are many niche markets out there that are quite big, but are still smaller than targeting every reader out there.

Articles that do well for me, are articles that suggest or that leads my readers to other websites, games, or new things to do while online. People are online for many reasons, but the ones who out there reading articles are the ones that are interested in finding new things to do while online.

If you write about traveling to Mexico, but have not linked to any other source online about Mexico, then you are writing for a niche market wanting to travel to Mexico. If you have linked to other valuable travel sites, travel guides or travel savings sources, then the readers that have read your article may bookmark it or tell their friends about it.

People surfing the web, will respond better to articles that suggest or point to new things and places to visit while they are on the Internet. If your article’s subject is about something that can only be participated in or visited off of the Internet, then this article will not attract the broadest audience as possible, so this would be considered a niche-market article.

It is also OK, to write about subjects that every other writer out there is writing about. Every writer has a unique way of explaining a subject, so your article may address an issue better than someone else has explained it. Thus, you are now developing the valuable exposure that you need to become a successful Internet content writer.

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9 Responses to “Market Writing: What Every Internet Content Writer Should Know”

  • Ruby Hawk
    May 17th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    Thank you for all the much needed information.

  • Unofre Pili
    May 17th, 2008 at 9:39 pm

    Thanks for the generousity.

  • Athlyn Green
    May 18th, 2008 at 8:09 am

    Excellent article, Nelson, clear, concise, helpful.

    Well done.

  • Judy Sheldon
    May 18th, 2008 at 8:26 am

    Nelson, thank you covering this topic in such easy to understand language.

  • Rachel
    May 18th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

    Thank you for writing this article. I’ve been here at Triond for about one month already, and have stumbled through the articles and kind of discovered that’s how my articles work for me. :)

    We have to write on a wide range of topics, something that will lure the masses. Then when the audience are used to seeing your name, they will naturally look out for your articles. :)

  • Darlene McFarlane
    May 18th, 2008 at 8:48 pm

    Great information, Nelson. Thank you for sharing with us.

  • MindIT
    May 19th, 2008 at 4:04 am

    Thank you very much and hope you will continue providing such excellent guidelines…you are doing a wonderful service to us…

  • B Nelson
    May 19th, 2008 at 10:31 pm

    certainly enjoyed.. thanks

  • Mark Givens
    June 11th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    I struggle all the time with the thought that some of my writing, especially my writing *about* web-writing, isn’t quite exclusive enough, so it’s actually kind of reassuring to hear someone suggest that a creative voice is as valuable as an esoteric insight. It’s almost as if you can’t offer much of anything new if you’re not involved in a super-technical line of work, but you can always offer the nuance of insight that just isn’t there for most people, if you say it just the right way.

    Thanks, Nelson.

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