This is a good basic foundation article that talks about the common mistakes many writers make when creating their content. A good article to start out with for newly aspiring authors.

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Common Writing Errors

Incomplete or Incorrect Comparisons
When making a comparison, it is important to make an explicit comparison. This is much more desired than a vague impression of comparison.
Incorrect-Tigers are different than butterflies.
Correct-Tigers are larger than butterflies.

Agreement of Subjects and Verbs
It is important to make sure subjects and verbs agree within a sentence. This may sound simple, but it is a common mistake that is often seen in longer articles.
Incorrect-In the United States of America, personal liberty and justice has always been staples of American philosophy.
Correct-In the United States of America, personal liberty and justice have always been staples of American philosophy.

Proper Division of Words
If a word must be divided due to a lack of space, the word should be divided by adding a dash in between two syllables.
Incorrect: repu-blican
Correct: repub-lican

Adverbs
If a word ends in -ly, it is not necessarily an adverb. Words such as leisurely and gingerly end in -ly, but both words are actually adjectives and should not be used in the place of an adverb.

Use of foreign words
When using a foreign word within an article, the word should be italicized. However, if an entire foreign sentence is included, it should not be italicized.

Possessives of Singular Nouns which end in S
The possessive form of a singular noun which ends in the letter s is formed by adding an apostrophe after the first s, and then adding an additional s.
Incorrect-Today we saw Lois’ new car.
Correct-Today we saw Lois’s new car.

Commonly Misused Words

Access-The word access should not be used as a verb.

Affect and Effect-The words affect and effect are commonly mistakenly used in the place of each other. The word affect means to influence, while the word effect means to achieve or accomplish some objective.

An-An is an article that should only be used before words that have a vowel sound.
Improper Uses-an utopian society, an historical society
Proper Uses-an underground railroad, a honor from the President

Its-The possessive form of it, its is often confused with it’s.
Improper Use of It’s-The dog spent over an hour searching for it’s favorite bone.
Proper Use of It’s-It’s going to be a very hot day today, with temperatures breaking the one hundred degree barrier.
Improper Use of Its-Its a good thing that the police arrived on the scene of the car wreck in such a timely manner.
Proper Use of Its-The dog was white, and its coat did not include any dark colors.

Say-Although there is nothing directly wrong with this word, many writers avoid it as often as possible. They view the word say as overused and lacking in any creative value. Synonyms for say include state, confide, declare and exclaim.

Very-Similar to say, it can be beneficial for a writer to avoid the word very in most instances. Very offers no real substance to a sentence, and normally contributes nothing more than clutter to an article.

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Hege Crowton has established her self as an expert copywriter.

www.EzineCrow.com www.davecrowton.com .
Copyright 2006 http://www.SubmitContent.com

This article talks about how to get the most out of your press release. A good article for beginners who are looking for addtional ways to get more exposure online for their businesses, or websites.

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A press release is meant to announce your website or your product to the rest of the world. Reporters and editors look for interesting press releases to fill up their publications. Press releases must be informative and appealing, giving interested parties a reason to publish your release.

Talk about why your product, service, or company is valuable and what benefits it offers to the public. Describe how your company came to be, and how you went about designing and developing your product or service.

By writing a press release, you are potentially getting your company and product out there to millions of people, so your writing has to be attractive and engaging. Even if it is in the format of a news article, it must still maintain the basic elements of any good sales letter.

Your priority is to please the editor or writer. Editors who are looking for press releases are used to seeing hundreds of press releases to choose from. You have to be unorthodox in your approach. Include angles and approaches that not only make your product or service stand out from the competition, but also make your press release stand out as well.

Do your research. Find out what is popular in the publications you would be targeting. See what is currently news worthy, and see if you can tailor your press release to somehow relate to the current hot topics.

Keep in mind that editors always have to consider the demands of their audience. If your press release doesn’t satisfy a publisher’s audience, it will not be published. And always keep your writing truthful. Nobody wants to publish hype.

Unless you are marketing something completely new, different, edgy, or revolutionary, most large publications will not be interested in what you have to say. A good idea is to target the smaller publications, especially local publications. When targeting this audience, remember that you are talking to people who are interested in local issues. If you can tailor your press release so it embraces what you think a local reader would relate to, you will have a better chance of capturing the interest of both the editor and her subscribers.

Be consistent. You are representing your company, and for any new or small business, you have to think about building a reputation. If you are honest, and include factual information, editors will begin to recognize your name. They will be more inclined to publish information written by a company they believe to be reputable and trustworthy.

Lay Out

Press releases are generally one to two pages long. Double space it and include 1.5 to 2 inch margins. At the top of your press release, put your company’s name, its logo, its slogan, and all the contact information that’s relevant. This includes your address, phone number, email address, and fax number.

Avoid bright or dark colored paper. Use company stationary if you can. Center the words: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE above your headline.

Content

Include a catchy headline. You are using your headline to help promote your product so it has to catch your reader’s eye just like a search engine ad or an ezine ad would. However, make sure it’s newsworthy and reads like a normal news article’s headline.

Use an inverted pyramid form when writing your release. Include all the pertinent information within the first two paragraphs, and get more specific and focused as you go along. Be sure to answer the who, what, where, when, why and how questions in this section. There is no predetermined order for including the answers to these questions. Just make sure the most important questions are answered first.

Remember the urgency of your content. You only have a short amount of time to convince people to read your release all the way through and go to your website. Keep it concise and to the point.

After you write the first part, the next sections should include all the information that supports or clarifies what came before it. Remember to keep it simple. This section should not include any information that is vital to hear or understand

One approach to writing your content is to think about stating a problem and talking about the solution. Obviously the problem you choose should be the most pressing issue at the heart of your target audience. What issue would make a potential customer decide they need or want your product or service? Your solution is your product or service. Highlight the benefits of your product or service and talk about why and how they deal with the stated problem.

Distribution

There are a few different ways to distribute your release. You should send your release to appropriate writers and editors at relevant magazines and newspapers. Send your release to trade journals that are focused on your industry. You can also post your press release online. Most will allow you to post it for free, although you can also pay someone to distribute your press release for you.

Here’s a list of free places to post your press release:

Free Press Release
PRWeb
PRFree
PR
PRLeap
24-7PressRelease

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