1.
First, hone your writing skills.
As you're competing against people who have already excelled in this field, it's very important that you've got amazing writing skills.
Don't even think about writing your first article if you're struggling in putting your thoughts and ideas into writing.
What I suggest is that you attend writing seminars or even hire a writing coach first to make sure that you'll have what it takes to create exceptional articles that will wow your target audience.
2.
Understand the importance of using keywords on your content.
As you'll be posting your articles online, it's very important for you to realize the importance of optimizing your content.
You would want your articles to become searchable in the online arena and as much as possible, you want them to show up on the top 10 search page results.
This can only happen if you use keywords on your articles and if you follow the algorithms of Google and other giant search engines.
3.
Define your audience.
As a writer, it's important that you have a solid idea about the audience that you're targeting.
You'll become better in putting together great, targeted content if you know exactly what your target readers are looking for.
Get to know their goals in life, their struggles, the things that they would like to learn, and their burning questions.
It would work to your advantage if you won't stop increasing your knowledge about these people.
4.
Consider the publishers.
I am sure you would want to distribute your articles on ezines and directories.
Thus, I suggest that you get yourself familiar with their general rules and terms of service so you can save your copies from being rejected.