Do you have a desire to learn how to write a good article for your blog and/or website? Do you want to learn how to craft highly-compelling and attention-grabbing titles that leave your readers anxious for more? Do you want to learn how to pull in all those readers and maintain their focus all the way through to your call-to-action? If you answered, “yes”, to any of these questions, this comprehensive guide is for you! Knowing what to say is important, but knowing how to say it is even more critical. Here, you will learn how to create highly engaging articles that will win over your readership instantly!

writing a great article
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Creating a Catchy, Compelling Title That Instantly Entices Readers

The first -and most important – component to an article is the title. It is the first thing your reader will see. It must be catchy. It must be compelling. The goal of the title is to instantly entice your readers. It is the one chance that you will have – as a writer – to convince readers to continue reading the information that you have to share. The following outlines various strategies that will assist in formulating a successful title:

  1. Commit to Solving a Problem – Every reader that stumbles upon your article is in search of a solution to a problem that they are experiencing. One strategy for drawing in readers is to create a title that commits to solving a problem. Your title should promise to provide answers. Phrases such as “How to” and “Tips to” and similar phrases are highly effective in creating a title that promises to solve a problem.
  2. Get to the Point – While wordy titles may be effective in certain niches, it has been found that those that contain as little as 5 to 14 words actually receive the highest level of readership. Be short, concise, and to the point.
  3. Start with a Question – When composing a title, start with a question. The trick is, ask a question in which your reader would respond with a “yes”. This strategy has been proven to be highly effective in drawing in readers.

No Left or Right Hooks, Only Strong Hooks

Immediately after the title, you have only a few seconds (which translates into a few sentences) in order to draw in your reader. This is where you must make it known that indulging in your article is well worth the time. In these first few sentences, you must continue to draw in your reader, convincing them to continue reading. There are several techniques for achieving success in creating a strong hook. These include asking a question and encouraging your reader to wait for the answer. The next is to include a surprising, startling, or weird fact. Finally, you may initiate the article with a conversational, friendly statement that will result in your reader becoming immediately invested.

Informative, Yet Compact

It is always best to ensure that your articles are highly informative, yet compact; that is, keep the sentences and the paragraphs short. This helps to push the reader along because it makes for a quicker reading pace. The following outlines a few tips on keeping your writing short and simple:

  1. As a writer, it is natural to get caught up in your words. You just have to make certain that the words and your writing style is not getting in the way of that which you are attempting to convey.
  2. Pay special attention to the adverbs that you utilize. Always go with stronger words that convey meaning in a more emotional manner.
  3. Avoid being redundant with your words. If you must reiterate a point, do it in a more creative way to ensure that your meaning is stronger.

Editing is Critical

Always review your article to ensure that you are not using words and phrases that are unnecessary or are being repetitive. You want to make your point and validate your argument. If you discover any words or phrases that do not compliment these two actions, simply eliminate them. It is imperative that your article has a natural flow. Also, while it may be tempting to write for search engines in order to increase your ranking, avoid this. Write for the people that are reading your article. It is the living, breathing readership that will make or break your content, not Google or other search engines.

Make it Visually Appealing

While it is true that the quality of your writing is important, the truth of the matter is, how it looks is also important. You should always make certain that you make your work as visually appealing as possible. Techniques that you may use include utilizing variation when it comes to the length of your sentences and paragraphs, the size of text that you use, and the font. Images should also be used to help in breaking up the text. The following outlines more strategies for making an article visually appealing:

  • Utilize bullet points to assist in breaking up blocks of texts throughout the article.
  • Use formatting techniques such as bolding and italics to aid in highlighting ideas and information that you want to stand out to the reader.
  • Integrate images in order to break up the text for your readers and enhance their interest.

Determine Formatting

It is a known fact that not all articles are created or utilized in the same way. There are different types of articles and all have their own formatting. As a writer, you know and understand that there are infinite sources when it comes to topics. In much the same way, there are unique article types that cover those topics. The following outlines a basic list of the most common article types that you may use in content marketing:

  1. Book Reviews – These types of articles focus on providing professional opinions and detailed insights on various types of books that have been published. These are typically short and to the point.
  2. Clinical Cases – These articles focus on describing case studies done on a medical or clinical basis. These are highly technical and typically quite long. These are usually written for more advanced writers.
  3. Columns – These reflect the personality of the writer as they are written in that writer’s style. They may cover personal thoughts and/or experiences, interpretations, humor, and the emotional side of the writer. They vary in length.
  4. Commentary – These articles are typically 1,500 words or shorter and explain why a book, article, report, etc. is interesting to the writer. They may reflect personality.
  5. Essays – These are typically very short articles. These describe the experience or the opinion of the individual writing it. In most instances, they present certain views on just one topic and the entire focus is placed on a specific subject.
  6. Feature Writing – These are comprehensive articles that include a high level of details about an assortment of topics. They could be on events, certain trends, people, or even certain topics. These are typically very long, in terms of word count.
  7. Freelance Articles – These are written by self-employed writers and vary in creativity and technicality. Freelance work may include writing blogs, sales copy, articles for certain publications, interviews, manuals, digital books, and more.
  8. How-To – These are specific and are very descriptive in tips and/or steps on how to perform certain activities. They often include solutions to problems. It usually contains numbered points and/or bullet points. One of the most popular how-to articles are recipe articles found on the internet.
  9. Investigative – These articles focus on uncovering some type of truth on an event, a person, a group, or a specific subject. It contains facts, not opinions. The writers that compose these types of articles face a lot of opposition and challenges in their work, but are often the most respected in their field for breaking stories.
  10. Lifestyle – These include a large variety of topics, but all pertain to issues related to a person or a group’s lifestyle. These are written in a highly personalized manner and are often localized to a particular area.
  11. News – This is a straightforward type of article that is filled with facts. There are no personal opinions or any type of bias reporting in news articles. The goal is to teach the reader what happened from start to finish, in a particular instance. News articles vary in length.
  12. Original Research – These are highly detailed articles that include background information on studies, methods utilized, a hypothesis, the results of the research, and a comprehensive interpretation of what was found or discovered. A discussion including possible implications may also be included. These are usually very long articles.
  13. Question-And-Answer – These articles center on facts. They provide common questions asked by internet users and the answers to those questions. Since the induction of high mobile technology usage, these have become exceptionally popular among content marketers and internet users, alike.
  14. Shorts -These articles are typically 500 words or less. They focus on a particular niche or topic within a niche. In blog posts and website articles, these are considered to be the most common.
  15. Trend Articles – These focus on a particular movement. Examples are divorce rates, the number of people engaging in certain activities, real estate, and medical condition treatments. These may be either long or short.

What’s the Difference Between Short and Long Articles?

Short articles are typically between 300-700 words and focus on one subject or point. These are written like blogs. The content and the language used is usually simple. They may be written by anyone. Long articles are typically 700 to 3,000 words or more in length. These typically cover more complex subject areas. The content and the language used is typically more complex. Long articles typically need to include subheadings and visually methods for breaking up information, such as bullet points and numbered lists. In most instances, the writer will be an expert in the topic that they are composing because such a vast amount of information is required to compose a long article.

Keyword Integration

To write a good article for the purpose and intent of content marketing on the internet, you must integrate keywords and/or keyword phrases in a strategic fashion throughout the article. Keywords are the basis for search engine optimization (SEO). As a writer, you should avoid stuffing the article with keywords and/or keyword phrases. Google actually penalizes websites for this act. The goal is to create high-quality content designed for human readers; not keyword-stuffed content written for search engines. The title, first paragraph, and last paragraph should include the keyword. Also, the keyword should be sprinkled throughout the article – including the subheadings.

Good Idea
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How to Gather Topic Ideas

There are several unique strategies for gathering topics to write about for your article. It is essential that you focus on your niche. For short articles, focus on specifics. You may write in a broader fashion if you are composing large articles. It is often best to use a topic generator. FX Tools offers a blog idea post generator that you may reach by clicking here: https://www.webfx.com/blog-topic-idea-generator/

Let’s say that you want to write about the topic of articles. When you use this generator, you will get back various ideas, such as:

  1. 6 Harsh Realities of Articles
  2. The Top 6 Articles Blogs You Should be Reading
  3. The 6 Most Valuable Slide Shares About Articles
  4. 5 Articles Books You Need to Read
  5. 26 Of the Leading Articles Guides

It allows you to come up with a wide assortment of ideas that you may use for composing content for your niche. If you find that you struggle with ideas and/or creating content, we here at Brick Road Media may assist you with your content marketing endeavors. Not only will we help in coming up with content ideas and writing the actual content, we also create websites and ensure that your site is completely optimized for your overall success. If you would like to learn more, contact us today at: https://brickroadmedia.com/