ezine articles and "curly" quotes - apostrophe's

[jkgourmet]

I am submitting my first articles to ezine. I use MS Word to write and edit my articles.

I read the stuff about the "curly" tranlation issue with quotes, dashes, apostrophe's, etc. and turned off the smart quotes thing in MS Word, like ezine suggested (at least I think that's what they suggested. . .)

When I put the article in and then look at the preview of the article, all the words with apostrophe's show up in red, like they are misspelled. Is this the way it should look, or is there something I need to fix?

[Lynn Terry]

The best thing to do is use Notepad, or any text editor. That said, if you're sure that the apostrophes are correct, it should be fine to publish. I've never had mine show up in red, but I always write in plain text then copy & paste into EA.

Anyone else know?

[jkgourmet]

How about writing in MS Word, then copying to Notepad, then copying from there to Ezine?

Word makes sense to me. I like how it formats and corrects my spelling errors. I like that I can get synonyms as I type without leaving the program. Hell, Lynn, I only discovered Notepad even existed on my computer about 8 weeks ago, and I've been using computers since like, 1980. Really - I had to google "where is notepad on my computer" to find it.

[DianaWalker]

Yes, Notepad is under "All Programs"...."Accessories"...

During my earlier days of submitting articles and doing blog posts, I also did not know this, that we need to put the wording into plain text first and it was so frustrating to have it look so bad.

Yes - doing the article or blog post in Word first, then into Notepad and then into your article post or blog post, is what I do now.

That doesn't make me feel so bad, Jeanette, because it definitely took me a long time to discover Notepad too!

Diana

[Kayla Fay]

I type into Notepad and copy/paste, and my apostrophes always show up in red, too. I've never quite gotten the hang of formatting for Ezine Articles. Your articles will post - and be approved - with those pesky red letters, though.

Is apostrophe supposed to be pluralized that way?

[marksierra]

Just my two cents here...

Using Word for its spelling capabilities and its synonym feature is fine. Don't worry about formatting though (assuming you're talking about bolding and underlining and what not). That simply won't have any effect on the end result because I don't know of any article directory that allows formatting withing the body of the article. Okay, maybe there are a few, but from what I can recall from seeing other articles, there's no formatting.

Then copying and pasting your final product into Notepad to dump all the junk Microsoft puts in is the next step. From there, you're right...just copy and paste from Notepad into the article directory and you should be set.

[jkgourmet]

A big thank you to everybody who helped out with this confusion. It may be an extra step to use ms word then cut and paste to notepad then copy and paste to ezine submit, but if that works it's fine by me. Much easier on my tire old brain than using notepad as a starting point word processing program.

[CG12]

Hi Jeanette,

Thought I would throw in a little of my own thoughts on this subject. I too use Word to write my articles to Ezine then copy and paste to Notepad before submitting the article.

I am not sure why but Ezine's text editor just does not like contractions. Those are usually the "red lines" I get when I preview my articles too, even though I know that the contractions are used correctly.

Another little time saver for me has been writing my Summary, Keywords, and Custom Bio Box (for each individual article) at the end of the article I am writing while still in Word. I then "select all" copy and paste into notepad so I will have all the info I need when I go to paste the article into the submission section on Ezine. This has really helped me not only save time but have a reference point of keywords to look at for other articles. (I tend to write my articles in a series)

Hope this helps a little.

Christine

[StephenT]

I agree with Christine that the contractions do show in red when you preview the article, but they don't show that way in the article. I used to do my article in word and then load it onto Google docs. Then I just started using ezines little word download tool and it seems to work fine. Of course I am still using a Word version that Gates made in first grade!

[CG12]

I'm glad you pointed out that the contractions appear fine in the article Stephen. I neglected to say that which was important to note because the bottom line is we want our articles to give off the best appearance without any distractions.

Christine

[jkgourmet]

Reassuring information about the red words in the preview. Thanks.

As I understand it, ezine allows TWO links for every article. I use one in the signature box to the main url of my blog. I try to use the other someplace in the body of the article to point to a specific page of my blog that directly relates to what I am writing about in the article. Is that close to correct?

Christine (and others) how much effort do you put into the summary? And how often do you change your signature box (assuming you are submitting articles that are all promoting the same site.)

[StephenT]

I try to give a down and dirty over-view of the article in the summary. I don't spend tons of time there, but I do try to use keywords and phrases to drive traffic.

I change the sig box nearly every time. I just mention, "if you would like more information on " " the visit mysite.com

[jkgourmet]

why do you change the signature box every time? And thanks for the quick replies, Steve. You're always SO helpful!

[StephenT]

I change it to link back to blogs I have posted on the same topic as the article.

[jkgourmet]

why not use a link within the article itself for that pointer, and use the same signature box as a general 'what my blog is about' elevator speech kind of thing?

Ezine allows two links. Do other article sites restrict you to only one?

[Kayla Fay]

I almost always use a custom signature - tailored to the article. For example, at the end of an article for fifth grade science projects, I would put something like this:

"For more great ideas for your fifth grade science project, get your free copy of "The Non-Scientific Parent's Guide to a Science Project" at www.24HourScienceProjects.com."

Sometimes I don't even put my name, come to think of it! BUT right below an article is this: Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kayla_Fay

Every article I do I handle a little bit differently. And honestly, if your article is good enough and you give them incentive - they'll click through.

[FrankDickinson]

I write most of my articles in Google Docs and haven't had any problems.

[StephenT]

why not use a link within the article itself for that pointer, and use the same signature box as a general 'what my blog is about' elevator speech kind of thing?

Ezine allows two links. Do other article sites restrict you to only one?

You could do that too. I use the sig box as a sort of call to action. Nothing to strong yet, but I will when things start poppin'

[CG12]

Hi Jeanette,

I just got back to the forum and noticed your question; I've been writing articles myself today. :)

Stephen and Kayla have given you some good advice.

Ezine does allow 2 links and most of the others do too. Some even allow 3. (I'll have to check the list of other sites I use to be sure which ones or you can PM me if you would like)

What Ezine says about linking and the content of your articles is (I am paraphrasing not quoting) The body of your article is for givinggood relevant information to your readers on your topic at hand. The signature box is the time for takingif you will. In other words you can give your audience a call to action to visit your site.

My approach to the signature box is very similar as those mentioned.

The reason for changing the signature box is to make sure that my call to action is sent directly to the post on my site that I am promoting with each particular article. I also use a direct link to my site in my signature such as "visit www.yoursite" now to find out more information on whatever it is I am writing about in this particular article.

I hope this helps a little.

Christine

[jkgourmet]

It does. It reminds me that I just have to try different things and see what works. Or take my best guess and get on with it.

Thanks all for the help, suggestions and, well, everything.

[CG12]

Jeanette,

You are exactly right. That is what I try and do a little each day, try new things and see what works. We may not be on the same body of water, but we are floating on the same kind of raft. Hang in there we can and will get through the rough waters. :)

You may not know this but I have learned from you too. I read many of your posts and questions. You actually ask I lot of the same questions I think about and while I don't always post a reply I do take in what you and the others answering you have to say. So I wanted to thank you for that.

If I can help you in any way let me know, I'd be willing to try.

Have a good evening,
Christine