Writing Online Articles
Lesson 8 from You Can Make Money Writing
Writing online articles is different from writing for a print
magazine, as pointed out in a previous lesson. Writing 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 writing the body of the article.
You may find, as I did, that you enjoy writing articles more
as you complete more of them. You may also like the idea of sharing
what you know with others. These are both good purposes for writing
an article, but always keep in mind that the primary business
purpose is to get the readers to come to your website so you
can make some money. To do that, follow these guidelines.
Keywords
I will repeat this again: the best article in the world won't
help you if nobody can find it. Don't believe those who say you
should just write well and not worry about search engine optimization
or keywords. Think of it this way: If you have a used car lot
and you advertise in the yellow pages under "transportation
services" rather than "used cars," you'll have
far fewer people finding you.
With online writing this means your article needs to have
the keyword(s) that people will be searching for in it, 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, because contrary to the impression given by some internet
gurus, this is not an exact science. 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 (or at least
the first paragraph).
* Have the primary keyword in the last paragraph.
* Have the primary keyword in a sub-heading (if there are
any).
* Have the primary keyword two-to-six more times in the article.
Many search engine optimization experts would add that you
should have other related keywords scattered throughout the article.
It isn't really necessary to think about this 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. If there
is another keyword that is really worth targeting, do it with
another article.
To repeat: Target one keyword with each article. This is easier
and more effective than trying to "stuff" your writing
with many search phrases.
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 for this.
Ask yourself: 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. If the article is about training dogs, for example,
and you were once sued because your dog bit 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.
Another way to capture the reader's interest is with a "tease."
For example, your article on training dogs might say in the first
paragraph, "Later I'll show you the absolute fastest way
to teach an old dog a new trick, but first let's look at some
basic training rules." If they have any interest in dog
training at all, they'll want to know what that "absolute
fastest way" is.
You can also promise some benefit in the first paragraph.
You could say, for example, "By the time you finish this
article, you'll know more about dog training than 90% of the
dog owners out there. By the time you've applied these techniques
for a week or to, you'll have the best dog in the neighborhood."
A quick itemization of what the readers are about to learn
can keep them reading too. You might say, "You can use the
following techniques to train your dog to walk at your side,
sit on command, shake your hand, and even fetch the newspaper
for you." The idea here is to list at least several things
the readers will learn, so that if even one item is something
they want to know, they'll keep reading.
Writing the Body of the Article
How long should an article be? At the moment, my general rule
is 400 to 800 words, and five to ten paragraphs. Directories
will reject an article if it's too long, but the limit is usually
many more words than you should be writing anyhow (1500 is a
common limit). If your word-processing program doesn't count
words, just keep the article to ten or fewer paragraphs of about
this size (which has 79 words in it, including these).
Most directories also have a minimum word count requirement.
This can range from 250 to 400 words. If you end up with just
four short paragraphs for your article, you should probably rewrite
a bit to lengthen it, or add something more.
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 one:
Sub-Headings and Other Formatting
When you write an article, the content will often determine
the formatting, at least in part. Whenever it seems appropriate,
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.
Also, you should try to have your keyword (or at least part
of it) in a subheading if you are using them. For example, suppose
you're writing an online article targeting the keyword "investing
secrets," titled, "Investing Secrets That Can Make
You Rich." You might cover a few "secrets" in
detail, and then under a subheading "A Few More Investing
Secrets" have six more without much detail.
Continues here... Article
Keywords and More
Note: This is part of the book, You Can Make Money
Writing. There are links to all the all the lessons/chapters
on the home page.
|
