Which Bible principles can be used as a guide to online content writing success? Find out here.
The Bible touches every aspect of life even those seemingly non-existent when it was written. How is that possible? A caring God saw into the future and gave broad guidelines that govern every facet of life. Let us look at these general principles as they relate to success in online content writing success.
(1) Develop your writing skills
Jer. 12:5 says “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”
TRANSLATION: If you want to succeed in a market with so many talented writers and want your work to be read by all and sundry you have to work on your writing skills if there is any deficiency there. Not every reader is objective enough to pass over glaring grammar mistakes, misspellings and poor choice of words. Use Microsoft Word in English to help point out your errors but it is not perfect. If English is not your first language use Google Translate alongside it to help you express yourself but trust more in Microsoft Word than in the other. Machine translation is never perfect and I dare say it never will be. We still live in an age where, as Isa. 29:21 says, we “make a man an offender for a word ….”
(2) Use words that are not hard to understand
Rom. 12:8 says “Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Neh. 8:8 “So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.”
1 Cor. 14:11 “Therefore if I [Paul] know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.”
1 Cor. 14:19 “Yet in the church I [Paul] had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”
TRANSLATION: Do not try to impress people with words like “equilibrium”, “obsequious” and “obfuscate.” The average person, your greatest audience, will be impressed to stop reading.
(3) Promotion from God
Psa. 75:6,7 says “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”
TRANSLATION: Every writer sooner or later realizes that he must market his work for it to be seen and read. However, before using man-made efforts nothing helps like the blessing of God. No one promotes better than the God who made the ones who made the web. Often it may seem like your work is in vain but Isa. 55:11 says “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Jesus can make all the difference. In John 21:3 we are told:
“Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
Then Jesus came by them and said in verse 6:
“… Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.”
Jesus knows how to help you fish with the net!
Of course to find God’s favor you have to do God’s will with the right heart. Let your content be as Philippians 4:8 says “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
(There are those who have not followed this rule and are successful. Can you imagine how much more successful they would have been if they followed this principle? Not only would they have been more blessed but their writings would have blessed the world in a more meaningful, lasting way.)
(4) Your own promotion
Matt. 5:14,15 says “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.”
Eccles. 11:1 “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.”
TRANSLATION: Promote your work as much as possible and you will eventually see results.. Writing is to be read so find ways to get readers to read your articles. Use Stumbleupon and other sites giving a twist to Isa. 59:10 which says “we stumble at noonday as in the night.”
(5) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Eccles. 12:10 says “The preacher sought to find out acceptable words ….”
TRANSLATION: Even Solomon saw the need to find words that were “acceptable” or as the original Hebrew also means “delightful.” In the writer’s case the “acceptable” or “delightful” is whatever words are being searched for in the world. These are the terms and topics that people are finding delight in. Use Google’s Keyword Tool, the Alexa ranking system and other tools to give you the words and terms that are most searched for as well as to suggest terms to you that are very popular as well. Use these as keywords so people can more readily find your articles. Remember Prov. 25:11 says “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
(6) Do not only look at the disadvantages of a site
Eccles. 11:4 says “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.”
TRANSLATION: Do not only look at the fact that the writing site does not have as high an Alexa rank as another site. The lower ranked site may have more traffic for your themes. Wikinut is ranked way down at #32,183 yet eighteen articles there without promotion can at times get you more traffic than one hundred articles at the much higher ranked writing sites. (The pay is not all that great though). Putting your articles on a newer, smaller site may allow your article to be seen more readily than only placing it at an established site where it may be like a needle in a haystack.
(7) Diversify
Eccles. 11:6 says “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.”
TRANSLATION: Work continuously to diversify, diversify, diversify. Vary your topics. Vary your writing sites. Diversify where you promote your work. There are a whole range of sites to write for: Triond, Bukisa, Hubpages, Infobarrel, Seekyt and many others. There are also a host of places to promote your work. The top ones are Stumbleupon, Digg, Del.icio.us, Reddit , Twitter, Facebook etc. (See 15 Places on Facebook to Post Your Triond Links, 11 More Places on Facebook to Place Your Links (Triond, Hubpages, Bukisa Etc) and Even 13 More Places on Facebook to Place Your Links (Triond, Squidoo, Helium Etc) There are also revenue sharing sites to put your links and gain Adsense like Shetoldme, Squidstop, MyCibb, Page360.net etc. Find out which forums are the biggest and post on these Big Board Forums. Put your links on your blog. In short: you must diversify. (Of course at the same time do not spread yourself too thin).
(8) Be Diligent
Prov. 22:29 says “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean [average] men.”
TRANSLATION: Slave at it until you master it. You will find yourselves among the top people someday like a Joseph or a Daniel. Diligence will take care of quantity and quality until you and others are content with your content.
(9) Comment, Like, Vote up the articles of others
Luke 6:38 says “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”
TRANSLATION: The more you comment on the articles of others the more likely you will get comments back from them. A “Like” or voting up an article (as is done on some sites) increases the chances of them reciprocating.
(10) Do not be too hurry to start earning
Prov. 28:20 says “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.”
TRANSLATION: If you are faithful and diligent you will be rewarded but if you try to get rich quick you will use all sorts of shady methods. Your revenue sharing site will ban you and your Google Adsense account will be no more.
(9) Success breeds success
Prov. 19:4 says “Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour.”
TRANSLATION: Once you have a wealth of experience and start to find success making you more visible many people will add you as a friend or aspire to have you in their network of friends to draw from your talent and experience. More friends means more readers without total dependence on search engines.
Be sure to follow the related rule in Prov. 18:24 which says “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
So these are nine Bible principles to online writing success. Let your success be one that is lasting and meaningful, enriching, not merely yourself, but enriching the lives of others