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Writing an article for online use is different from writing for a print magazine, as you will see. The title and description were covered in the previous two lessons, and the all-important author's resource box will be covered in the next. This lesson is about the guidelines for writing the body of the article.
The Purpose Of Writing An Article
You may find, as I did, that you'll enjoy writing articles the more you do it. You may like the idea of sharing what you know with others. These are both good purposes for writing an article, but the primary purpose is to get people to your website so you can make some money. To do that, follow these guidelines.
1. Keywords
I will repeat this again: the best article in the world won't help you if nobody can find it. This means you need to have the keyword(s) that people will be searching for in your article, so the search engines can find the article and display it in the results. You also need to have your keyword(s) in the right places in the article.
I won't get into a technical discussion of keyword density here. However, I can tell you that my results for both my website pages and articles were much better once I learned and started following a few simple rules. Here they are:
* Have the primary keyword in the first sentence.
* Have the primary keyword in the last paragraph.
* Have the primary keyword in a sub-heading.
* Have the primary keyword two-to-six more times in the article.
* Have other keywords scattered throughout the article two-to-ten times.
I don't actually even think about the other keywords much. They will occur naturally as you write, and you can't really expect a single article to compete for traffic from several keywords in any case. It is better to just concentrate on the primary one.
2. The First Paragraph
The first sentence or two are often used by both website owners, article directories, and search engines as a description of or introduction to the article. Make sure that they work as this. If a reader sees the first two sentences, will she understand what the article is about and have a reason to read it? The title, the description, the first lines, the body and the resource box - these are links in a chain. If one is broken, the reader won't follow it to your website.
Grab their attention with that first paragraph. How? One way is with stories (but there are many). If the article is about training dogs, for example, and you were once sued for your dog biting someone, start with that. Tell the story in a few sentences, and then tell the reader how they can avoid a similar disaster by using the tips in this article. The first paragraph must - one way or another - make the reader want to read the rest of the article.
3. Writing The The Body Of The Article
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Are you over-writing? There is a simple way to write much more concisely. This way you can keep that article short enough for internet attention spans. Here is my simple method. 1. First, write the article. Just write it without worrying about the length or conciseness. 2. Edit it. Look over the article and start working on it. Eliminate words that are not necessary, don't repeat things too much, and look for ways to say things in fewer words. For example: Over-writing? Internet attention spans require short, concise articles. Try this: 1. Write the article. 2. Edit it. Take out unnecessary words and duplicate ideas, and find a shorter way to say everything. |
Keep the paragraphs short. If they get long, break them up. Many readers will just close the page if they see a mass of undivided sentences. Notice that I rarely have more than six sentences in a paragraph. It make it easier on the eyes, doesn't it? An article is also more interesting and easier to read if you have sub-headings, like the following.
Sub-Headings And Other Formatting
When you write an article, the content will often determine the formatting in part. When you can, though, break up an article with sub-headings, numbered lists, bullet-lists and other formatting features. They make it easier to read and more interesting.
Some article directories won't accept articles with HTML. If they do, keep the use of HTML to a minimum in any case, because when other take and use your articles, they may copy-and-paste the article and lose your formatting. If my sub-heading above were in an article, for example, I wouldn't center it, and I would just use bold tags (<b>) rather than the larger headline tag (<h2>) that I used here.
Don't know HTML? If you put a sub-heading in bold tags like this: <b>Six Ways To Dress Up Your Article</b>, it will display like this: Six Ways To Dress Up Your Article. That may be all the HTML you need for article writing. You will need to know how t make a link, of course, and that will be in the next lesson. You can just use the numbers, stars or dashes on your keyboard for listing things, as I do below.
Writing An Article - A Summary
- Keyword in first sentence.
- First two sentences work as introduction / article description.
- First paragraph makes the reader want to read the rest of the article.
- Five to ten paragraphs total, and 300 to 800 words total.
- Short paragraphs.
- Sub-headings if appropriate, with the primary keyword in at least one of them.
- Concise writing that delivers real value to the reader.
- Primary keyword in the article at least three times total, but no more than nine times.
- No links in the article (more on this later in the course).
- Last paragraph contains keyword and leaves the reader wanting more information.
That last guideline is important, because you want the reader to continue past the article, to the author's resource box. This is where they will learn about your website, and why they should visit it.
Next Lesson: The Author's Resource Box
Note: Not yet subscribed? To get a free lesson each week by e-mail, go here: Article Marketing Course. To buy the course as an e-book at a reduced rate, (and with a bonus), visit: Writing Articles E-Book/Course.
Lesson 8 - Writing An Article