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Here are a few writing tips. Even if you were a writer before starting a website, you will have to learn a few new things. Writing articles for online publication is not quite the same as other writing. Mostly these differences have to do with formatting and linking and the short attention span of online readers, but there is one important difference in how you actually use words in online articles.
Writing Tips - Keywords
When you first start writing articles online, you have to get used to including keywords. There are those who will tell you that you should just write without worrying about optimizing. I disagree. It is true that the writing sometimes suffers a little from keyword inclusion. How do you put the great keyword "internet marketing article" into an article four times and still have it "flow?" The answer is, you do your best.
Why? Again, they won't read your article if they have no way to find it. Suppose you have an article about writing short fiction, and it is essentially about how to get ideas for the stories. If you don't have the words "creative writing ideas," in the title and article, those who search that keyword won't find it. Why would a search engine display your article in the results when there are many other relevant articles that have those exact words in them?
Let the writing suffer - just a little. This is the toughest of these writing tips to put out there, because we all want to do the best article we can, but the "best" in this case has to include keywords that make it possible to find the article. Notice that I worked in the keyword for this article (in italics above) one more time, and it is a bit awkward, but it still works okay, doesn't it?
With practice you'll find that you get smoother and smoother at working in those keywords. Need a refresher on how many times to include them and where? Here it is - Put the primary keyword:
- In the title.
- In the description.
- In the first sentence (or at least the first paragraph).
- In a sub-heading - if you have any.
- Three or four times in the article body.
- Near the end of the article.
Other keywords can be scattered throughout the article. You don't really have to think about these if you don't want to. The primary one is the important one.
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What do you do when you just can't seem to get that article started? Start it anyhow! It doesn't matter if the words won't come out right. To write a good article, start by writing a bad article. Then rewrite it. The process of writing anything at all will get your mind back into the writing mode. Let me put it another way. Suppose you are sitting there staring at the screen, not knowing what to write. You should already have a topic and keyword. Now just write, "I want to write about... and write whatever comes to mind. Write, "What I know about this topic is..." and complete that sentence. Use any little "tricks" you can to start writing anything. Then, once you are writing, start over if you have to and write it right. |
More Writing Tips
Be a story teller. My wife and I were living in a leaky mobile home in Michigan when we started our first website. Using borrowed software to create our first page, we made something so ugly that... Are you waiting for the rest of the story? That is the point. Stories keep an article interesting. Once you have your topic and keyword, try to include a story (true or not) that is relevant.
Use lists. A list like the one made with dashes above, a numbered list, or any kind of list, makes an article easier on the eyes, and more interesting. On a web page, you can do even better, using side bars, colored headlines and more. You are limited in what you can do with an article, but at least do what you can to keep it readable and interesting.
Use examples. I could have just made a list of tips, including these last three, "Be a story teller," Use lists," and "Use examples," and left it at that. However, examples make it all clearer and more "real," don't they? Try to use examples when you can.
Involve the reader. A question makes you feel more involved in an article, doesn't it? Another way to involve the reader is to include sentences that reference the readers experience, like, "You probably have seen..." or "You may already know..." However, don't assume too much about the readers experience. An internet beginner won't feel anything but confusion and annoyance if you write, "You probably have the correct keyword density, and you know how to do PHP scripts..."
Have something "new." What does the average person not know about your topic? Concentrate on those things first. Every article on saving money on car insurance will have the tip "Get several quotes," and they should. However, the article that tells you that if your kids are at a college that's more than 100 miles away, you can have them taken off the insurance policy and save a lot of money - that is an article that is more likely to make the reader come to your website for more information.
Tease the reader. A previous lesson covered how to "tease" the reader in the resource box, to get them to click through to your website. You can use this technique more subtly in the article itself, to arouse the
Next Lesson: People Will Steal Your Articles (What To Do About It)
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Lesson 18 - Writing Tips