Writing articles requires that you write like you speak. While training hundreds of article writers and marketers, I’ve identified five common mistakes people make when it comes to writing like they speak.

Let’s take a closer look at these five mistakes and what to do instead.

mistake number one – The first mistake that comes from not writing like you talk, I think, is that incessant, fruitless, foolish search for perfection, trying to get it exactly perfect.

We talked several weeks ago about writing near-perfect articles. A near-perfect article is simply one that represents you well, provides good information, makes people know, like, and trust you, and leaves them wanting more.

So the opposite of perfectionism is a near-perfect article with good information. I would rather have my near-perfect article working for me 24/7 than your not-quite-perfect but near-perfect article.
there’s-just-one-more-tweak-item still on your computer.

Mistake number two – Be very formal in your writing. This is not for APA style, it’s not for presentation at a major technical conference, so forget about formality. Write as you speak, chat with people.

Mistake number three – Write an article as a final paper, complete with footnotes and research. Research is fine, but don’t put it in footnotes.

Mistake number four – write too much Many, many people, because they haven’t learned how to write conversationally, think they have to put everything they have into an article, and they end up with about 1,000 words, 1,500 words. There are a lot of bugs there. One, you’re giving
away from the store. You don’t want to give the store away in everything you do.

Now some people are wondering, well, “Jeff, how can you say that, because you give the store away on every call?”

No. I give a lot of information, and I give and give and give, but there is so much
more behind this. If you are thinking that you could be on these calls and get the same as the Article Writing and Marketing Secrets Tele-Course, you are very wrong, because there is much more behind this.

But when you deliver good information, good things come, people appreciate it. but trying
doing too much hurts you; trying to do too much in one article hurts you. You can put it on other items, etc, etc.

mistake number five – The fifth mistake is that you forget who you are talking to. You forget you’re talking to people, you forget you’re talking to your ideal client, and you end up writing for a nameless, faceless committee.

I encourage you to avoid these mistakes and use these tips to write more and more articles.