The UC4C and Generating Article Topics

And the winner for the Ultimate Call for Content is Rodney Southern! Congratulations!

The top ten finalists and the winning article can be viewed from the AC News Team: "Ultimate Call for Content Winner and Runners-Up."

As for me, I'll just keep trying. I actually came up with several article topics from my submission, "Collaborative Media Editing is "What's Next?" for the Internet." (Now I just have to get to writing them). I believe AC was trying to push producers into thinking outside of the box with this contest, giving us free reign on article topic choice. Hopefully the trend will continue.

Generating article topics can be rough. Swubird, of Swubird's Nest, mentioned in his last comment that reading helps him come up with article topics. I use reading myself. Sometimes I read something and think, "I need to write about that."

Ideas don't just come to me from Internet reading. Junk mail, magazines, books, and sometimes even billboards give me leads. Occasionally one word will get me off on a writing spree.

I've been working on developing a wider perspective on things. For instance my article, "Go Green Eternally: Green Burials, Sky Burials, Cremation, or Promessa," developed from a conversation I had with my Father-in-law about his funeral preparations. Talking to people can generate many good article topics. Heck, even eavesdropping can give you an idea or two...

I keep a notepad handy to jot down things down when I get hit with an idea for an article. Most of my topics sit in contemplation before I actually get to writing about them. Some topics are scratched off or narrowed because they are too involved or overly done.

I'm finally figuring out the ropes at AC. They want articles readers want to read. They want articles that have good ad alignment--something I've read over and over on the forum. They want the articles to be well written with good SEO. I'm finally getting the SEO thing. With those things in place page views rise, the site makes money, and the producers get paid.

I believe I'm doing pretty well. Considering I've got a few articles that are dead, a couple of poems, seasonal, and local interest only pieces. My page view average for 51 articles is about 488 and continues to rise. Take away the poetry and the dead entries and I'd be well over a 550 average.

I need to keep up the momentum. My anniversary with AC is the end of August. I'd love to raise my average to at least the 550 to 600 range by then. Now I'm off to work on it...