Getting the Best from Spin Rewriter – Product Review Pt 2

Marketer Lynn Serafinn takes you on a guided tour of article spinning software , and shares secrets for creating content for article directories.

Earlier this week, in Part 1 of this article series I introduced you to a product called Spin Rewriter, an online tool I’ve been playing with to create variations of my articles for distribution. In that post, I talked about the ethical and practical issues surrounding the topic of article spinning in general (not just with Spin Rewriter). If you missed that article, you can read it by clicking here.

Today, I want to get more specific and walk you through the features of Spin Rewriter. I’ll also show some examples of how I’ve used it to get good results.

Spin Rewriter – An Overview

Spin Rewriter is web-based, meaning you have to log into your account to access it. What’s good about that is you never have to worry about updates, as you’ll always be accessing the latest version. Of course, you’ll have to have a reliable Internet connection to use it. I’ve used it easily on my little netbook PC using both Firefox and Chrome, and haven’t had it crash or stall on me yet.

Transparency: Throughout this article I use my affiliate link to Spin Rewriter. That means, if you happen to purchase it, I will make a commission. However, as you will see in this article, I ONLY ever use my affiliate links for products I personally use and would recommend.

Before you begin your spinning project

For the best results, before you start thinking about spinning, I recommend you put in some time to ensure that your article will work when you distribute it in article directories:

• First, decide which article directories you intend to submit your article to. All directories have different submission criteria, and you’ll save yourself a lot of time if you prepare your article in advance so it meets the criteria of all of the ones you intend to use. Most have a minimum word count (500 word minimum is a good idea). Most will reject your article if it contains spelling and grammatical errors or if it reads like a promotional advert. Most will also reject your article if your ‘resource box’ (your bio) has a call-to-action that has nothing to do with your article. For example, if your article is about how to grow organic vegetables and your call-to-action is for web services, you are likely to be flagged up as a spammer.
• Next, go through your article carefully. Edit it. Proofread it. Take out all overt references to yourself and your business. Make SURE there are no ‘self-serving’ links in the text. Prepare your resource box according to the specifications of the sites you have selected.

Once you’ve gone through these preliminaries, you’re ready to start preparing your article for spinning.

Inserting your text

To set up an article for spinning in Spin Rewriter, log in and paste your finished article into the form:

You can also paste multiple articles, but I don’t recommend this, as you’re going to be doing a good deal of work on each one, and it’s a whole lot easier to work on them one at a time so you don’t make any errors. Trust me, after an hour or so staring at spintax, you’ll start to go cross-eyed, and that’s when you’re most likely to make mistakes.

Feeling Lucky? Best Not To.

Below the field where you paste your text, you can set a number of options, such as whether or not you would like the programme to rewrite whole phrases and sentences, change the order of sentences or even write paragraphs of its own.

Below the box that says, ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ is a link that says ‘settings’. If you click on it, this window will open:

You can see some additional options here that are almost daring you to take a risk on the number of synonym suggestions you would like Spin Rewriter to generate. Just for kicks, I took a paragraph and set the settings to the most extreme I could make them, and then hit ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’. This is what I got:

ORIGINAL TEXT:

Getting the message out about your product need not be expensive. You will need some basics, such as a website, a means of setting up your landing page and download page, and an autoresponder system. These tools are not free, but they are vital ingredients of your online business anyway, so you should acquire them if you don’t have them already. But apart from that, there’s no need to pay a penny for marketing your leads generating product.

I’M FEELING LUCKY SPUN TEXT:

Getting the message out about your product require not be actually pricey. You will definitely need some basics, including a website, a method of establishing up your landing page as well as download page, and also an autoresponder system. These instruments are not free of charge, but these guys are actually critical components of your online company at any rate, so you must acquire all of them if you do not get all of them currently. But other than that, there is actually no need to pay for a cent when it comes to industrying your leads bring in item.

As you can see, there’s some pretty funny spin in this version. To be honest, it’s not as bad as I’ve seen in other ‘automatic’ spin software, but it’s not very usable as it is. It’s this kind of spun text that gives spinning a bad name and why you’ll see many article sites say they won’t accept ‘spun’ text. This appears spun because it looks as if it was never read (or written) by a living, breathing English-speaking human being.

Moral of the story: Feeling lucky ain’t so lucky. There is NO way you’ll get good results from an auto-spinner by putting it completely on autopilot. Don’t use ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ unless you really don’t care about the integrity of your work. If you want nicely-spun articles, plan to spend a little time getting them to work right.

The Smarter Spin Rewriter Method

By far, the better method to use in Spin Rewriter is to click the ‘Start the Rewriting Process’ button rather than the ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’ button. I was fearful when I first clicked this button because I thought it would start rewriting everything for me. But instead, it scans your article for possible synonyms according to your settings (i.e., how deeply you want the text to be spun, and how radical you would like their recommendations to be). After you press this button, wait about 30 seconds, and another window will open that looks something like this:

You’ll notice that most of the text is coloured green. That means Spin Rewriter has suggested synonyms for that word. Spin Rewriter is pretty ‘smart’, and it’s very good at understanding the meaning and the grammatical role of your words in context. That’s actually the brand’s USP.

If you see pairs of words or short phrases with a line underneath them, it means Spin Rewriter would like to suggest a synonym for the pair/phrase. If you click on any of the green words or phrases, the list of suggested synonyms will pop up. Often, you will find two or three that are perfectly acceptable substitutes for the original word.

Underneath the editing screen is Step 2, you’ll see some buttons giving you some different options for assigning your synonyms. The first ‘rough’ approach is the one-click option, which is similar to ‘I’m Feeling Lucky’:

Here, you can select the level of risk you’d like to try, say whether or not you’d like to automate multi-level spinning and enter any protected keywords or terminology you’d like to ensure does not change. Once you’ve adjusted the settings and hit ‘Start the One-Click Rewrite Process’ it will give you a screen where the options it has selected for you are shown in spintax.

Alternatively (or in combination with the ‘One-Click Rewrite’ method) you can highlight words or groups of words individually and manually select the synonyms you prefer:

You can select as many synonyms as you like for each word or phrase. You can also insert ‘blank’ if the word can sometimes be deleted without ruining the meaning of the sentence. You can even write your own synonyms in the empty text box at the top of the list. For example, in one article I wrote about Twitter recently, for the phrase ‘people on Twitter’ I made up the synonym ‘Twitter users’. Finally, you can assign synonyms WITHIN parts of phrases or sentences that are also ‘spun’ at a higher level.

Going through synonyms might look tedious, but it can actually be very relaxing and fun if you approach it with the right mindset. My suggestion is that you settle down with your favourite music and a nice cup of tea (or glass of wine) and look forward to it as a kind of big cryptogram. I can get quite engrossed in the coding stage and get a real feeling of satisfaction when I see it all working.

Working with care

By using one or a combination of these two options (one-click or manual selection), you’ll eventually end up with some pretty complicated looking spintax. Below is the same block of text I used in the earlier example, a screenshot of the spintax I made after going through all of Spin Rewriter‘s suggested synonyms (with my own additions).

ORIGINAL TEXT:

Getting the message out about your product need not be expensive. You will need some basics, such as a website, a means of setting up your landing page and download page, and an autoresponder system. These tools are not free, but they are vital ingredients of your online business anyway, so you should acquire them if you don’t have them already. But apart from that, there’s no need to pay a penny for marketing your leads generating product.

SPINTAX:

Sometimes you’ll accidentally get something wrong in your spintax. If you look carefully, you’ll see an error in the code above (where it says ‘don’t them already’). Don’t worry if this happens; you won’t have to start all over again. You can fix such errors easily in Step 3. You can also save your work and come back to it later.

Final Step before spinning

Below Step 2, there’s a big button that says ‘Continue to the Final Step’. When you click it you’ll be taken to a screen that looks like this:

Here you can edit the code on-screen OR copy the code to your computer to fine-tune it in a text editor and then paste the edited code back into Spin Rewriter.

When editing, you can sometimes accidentally introduce syntax errors into the code. If you try to spin the code with errors, Spin Rewriter will let you know. However, it will only give you a rough idea of where the error is located in your text (as it cannot read your mind as to what you had intended). If you’re unaccustomed to working with spintax, it might take some careful scrutiny to see where you’ve made the error, but typically it’s something very simple, such as leaving out a curly bracket at the beginning or end of a group of synonyms.

Also, Spin Rewriter itself seems to be prone to generating two types of minor error (unless they’ve updated their software since I did my last spin). The first is a tendency to put a space between the last word in a synonym sequence and the punctuation (like a comma or full stop/period) directly after it. The second error is putting full stops/periods at the end of subheadings within the article body. These small blips can be very irritating if you end up having to edit this manually after you’ve generated multiple versions of your article, and are so small that you’re likely to miss them when you submit your ‘spun’ articles to directories. So I do recommend copying the code onto your computer and searching for these two types of errors before you finalise your articles in the next step.

Doing a ‘Test Drive’

Once you’re pretty sure your code is working in Step 3, I recommend doing a ‘test drive’ by clicking ‘Generate a unique version of this text’. This will give you ONE variation of your article that you can copy and paste if you wish. It’s a good idea to take this variation into your word processing software (e.g. Microsoft Word) and check it for any clumsy grammar or stray punctuation marks. If you locate any errors, go back and fix it in the code. Keep testing different variations until you’re confident there are no semantic errors or typos in the text.

Here’s one ‘test drive’ of the text (94% unique compared to the original) that Spin Rewriter generated after I made all the necessary changes:

NEW TEXT = 94% unique

Getting the word out regarding your item need not be pricey. You will need to get a few fundamentals, such as a website, a way of putting together your landing page and download page, and an autoresponder system. These resources are not cost-free, but are important components of your Internet-based business, so you should get them if you don’t already have them. Apart from that, there’s no need to spend a penny on promotion for your leads generating item.

Perfect! You know you’ve mastered the art of text-spinning when you read the article, and don’t even notice where the text has been changed.

Moral of the story: Success in Spin Rewriter comes from the combination of Spin Rewriter‘s excellent processors AND the loving care of a detail-oriented, linguistically gifted human being.

Exporting Your Articles – It Feels Like Christmas

Now that you’ve performed your due diligence preparing your spintax, and you’ve done a few test runs of your article, it’s time to reap the benefits of all your hard work and export your articles.

Exporting articles can sometimes feel like Christmas, because you can actually export and download up to 1000 variations of your article in one go (where you’d use them, I’m really not sure!). I typically export about 50 articles each in its own text file:

And now, you’re ready to upload your articles to your selected article directories. Of course, these articles will be in plain text, so to make them look perfect, you’ll need to format them individually (bold, italics, etc.) when you submit them.

Spinning article titles

To bring diversity to your content, it’s also a good idea to spin different titles for your article. But rather than simply spin synonyms for the original title, I take a little extra care to come up with 8 to 10 different titles for the same article. I enclose all of these unique titles within my spintax code. Then, I spin synonyms within each title. Here’s an example of some spintax I set up for the title of an article I wrote about using hashtags:

{{Five|5} {Top|Important|Vital} {Ways to Use|Ways Marketers Should Be Using|Marketing {Strategies|Techniques|Tactics|Tips} for Using} {Hash Tags|Hashtags} on {Twitter {and|or} Facebook|Facebook {and|or} Twitter}|{Hash Tags|Hashtags}: {Five|5} {Must-Do|{Essential|Vital}} {Twitter and Facebook|Facebook and Twitter} Marketing {Strategies|Tips}|{Hash Tags|Hashtags}: Are You Using Them {Effectively|Right} on {Facebook and Twitter|{Twitter and Facebook|Social Media}}?|Are You Using {Hash Tags|Hashtags} {Effectively|Right} on {Facebook and Twitter|Twitter and Facebook}?|Are You Making the Most of {Hash Tags|Hashtags} on {BOTH|} {Facebook and Twitter|Twitter and Facebook}?|{Hash Tags|Hashtags}: Top {Five|5} Marketing {Strategies|Tips} for {Twitter and Facebook|Facebook and Twitter}}

Here are just a few of the hundreds of possible titles that can be made from this code:

Five Vital Ways Marketers Should Be Using Hashtags on Twitter and Facebook

5 Must-Do Facebook and Twitter Marketing Strategies

Hashtags: Are You Using Them Effectively on Facebook and Twitter?

Are You Making the Most of Hashtags on BOTH Twitter and Facebook?

When you combine hundreds of different titles with hundreds of different versions of the article, you create tremendous diversity of content.

Should you spin your resource box?

For each article you submit, you will also need to create a resource box, which is your bio and your ‘self-serving’ links. Of course, you might choose to spin this also, but given the fact that every article site has different specifications for their resource box, I wouldn’t just go and bang in one that was made by spinning. Some allow you to code it with html. Some allow you to put anchor links. Some allow you to put in two links, while others allow up to three. Start with a ‘boiler plate’ resource box for your article, and tailor it to meet the requirements of each individual site.

Closing thoughts

Over the past two months, I’ve spun four different 1500-word articles using Spin Rewriter. Each took me about an hour to set up to my satisfaction. By using the strategies I’ve shared with you, my spun articles were immediately approved by all seven directories to which I submitted them. That tells me the process I’m using in Spin Rewriter works.

To sum up, here are the things that will help you get the best from Spin Rewriter:

1. Start with your own, original content, not content you have purchased elsewhere.
2. Decide which article directories you want to use; read their specifications carefully.
3. Edit your article as necessary to meet the specifications of your chosen directories.
4. Create several variations for the title of your article.
5. Paste in your text and set very conservative parameters in Spin Rewriter; be sure to specify which words should not be altered.
6. You can start by choosing either ‘one-click’ spinning or ‘start the rewriting process’; even if you choose ‘one-click’, you should go through the article manually to make your synonyms more accurate and diverse.
7. When done, test drive your spintax and make changes and corrections as necessary.
8. Watch for extra spaces before punctuation, or punctuation appearing where it doesn’t belong. Fix anything that needs fixing.
9. When you know your spintax is working properly, export a batch of spun versions of your article as a zip file.
10. Manually submit your articles, taking the greatest of care with the formatting and resource box for each.

Of course, spinning your articles is only one part of the process for expanding your credibility on the Internet. The first part of the process is to know how to write great articles in the first place. Then, you’ll need to know where to distribute them and how to promote your article so they drive traffic back to your website and your services. I’m addressing all of these subjects in my upcoming book on blogging (I do have the title, but don’t want to share it yet!) that will be coming out later this year. If you subscribe to this blog, you’ll be sure to hear about it when it comes out.

I hope you found these two articles on Spin Rewriter useful and that you’ll have fun with it if you decide to try it out. I hope you’ll share your thoughts, comments or questions in the comments below.

Lynn Serafinn
16^th August, 2013

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LYNN SERAFINN, MAED, CPCC is a certified, award-winning coach, teacher, marketer, social media expert, radio host, speaker and author of the number one bestseller The 7 Graces of Marketing — How to Heal Humanity and the Planet by Changing the Way We Sell and Tweep-e-licious! 158 Twitter Tips & Strategies for Writers, Social Entrepreneurs & Changemakers Who Want to Market their Business Ethically. She is listed in the Top 20 of the Top Marketing Authors on Twitter by Social Media Magazine and was a finalist for the prestigious Brit Writers Awards. She also received the eLit Book Awards Silver Medal in Humanitarian and Ecological Social Affairs, as well as the Bronze Medal in Business and Sales.

Lynn’s eclectic approach to marketing incorporates her vast professional experience in the music industry and the educational sector along with more than two decades of study and practice of the spirituality of India. Her innovative marketing campaigns have produced a long list of bestselling non-fiction authors through her company Spirit Authors. Lynn is also the Founder of the 7 Graces Project CIC, a not-for-profit social enterprise created to train, support, mentor and inspire independent business owners to market their business ethically, serve society and planet, and restore all that is best about humanity.

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