|  To Quote, or Not to Quote? That Is the Question.
By: Penny, EzineArticles Managing Editor
Our answer? Be the Source. Maintaining originality is the most important key to building your brand, credibility, sales, referrals, and ultimately viral distribution of your articles. Your view matters. It is your vision that keeps articles desirable to readers and as long as you are wanted by readers - publishers will want to use your articles in their newsletter (which means more traffic back to your site). Prove your status as an expert in your niche by not using more than 3-5 lines of sourced material in your article. Here's why: Articles Are Evergreen Evergreen articles have no expiration date; they are timeless. Timeless articles remain beneficial to readers and publishers because the content and information stays accurate and valuable. They will out-perform articles that discuss fads or topics that will no longer be a main head-liner a month or even a year from now. Articles Are Not Dissertations Readers and publishers want quick, easy, original, and informative content. This ideally is in the form of articles between 400-700 words. It's easier to republish an article of this size than a research report topping around 5,000 words. Also, our data shows the average article reader's attention span wanes after 2 minutes. And if that wasn't enough, it has been found that the average reader reads text roughly between 250 - 300 words per minute. That means after 2 minutes of reading (about 500-600 words), your reader is ready to call it quits on your article! Hence our recommendation: 400-700 words. Protect Your Credibility Plagiarism IS a serious matter. If you find yourself absolutely itching to quote another author, ALWAYS attribute the quoted content to the original author. You can find more information in our Editorial Guidelines: Article Content (Section 1.b.). We want to solidify your credibility, not the person you are quoting. Supplement quotes with plenty of your own commentary: 1) quote and cite the original source, 2) reflect how the quoted author's topic may have influenced your niche, 3) whether you agree or disagree, and 4) provide unique content the quoted author may have overlooked or neglected to provide! Bottom-line: Be The Source. If you want your articles to spread over the Internet like wildfire, provide YOUR own unique insight. Be the author that inspires readers, be the author that hooks publishers, and be the original source. Before you panic about providing content that is both unique and from your own view point, check out this video to help you get started and consider the 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Write Your Article. Then follow-up with these brainstorming techniques to stir up some hot new ideas for your niche. Share with fellow Expert Authors how you build your credibility by being the source. Please post comments, questions, or view what the Experts have to say here. | 
To Your Article Writing Success & Passion!
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