How to Write a Good Article

If you can learn how to write a good article, it will become your ticket to non-stop, targeted free traffic.

You’ll not only attract more visitors to your website, you’ll also be seen as an authority in your niche.

But if you’re stumped on how to write a good article, don’t be.

Writing good articles isn’t hard, you just need some basic, consistent strategies that you can follow for writing in a manner that is unique, interesting and relevant.

Use Your Words To Write Good Articles

Your best tool will be your words. The words you use should be descriptive, appeal to the emotions of the reader and grab attention.

Jim Edwards, one of my favorite internet writers, says that writing a good article is really about using the right words, and Jim’s book on how to turn your words into traffic convinced me of that, it was my start for how to really use my words for writing high quality articles that actually got targeted traffic to my websites.

But using the right words can do more than generate traffic, they will ultimately capture a reader’s attention and trust.  This is how people follow you and look to you as a respected authority.

A Good Article Starts With a Good Title

Your article’s title is your lure. A good article title will do more than be descriptive, it will grab your reader’s attention.

“How to lose weight” is a descriptive title but “How to lose 10 pounds in 3 days” is an attention grabber.  Do you see the difference?

Using numbers in your title is also a good strategy.  For example “How to Plant a Rose Garden” isn’t going to draw as much attention as writing  “The 5 Steps to the Perfect Rose Garden”?

Numbers let the reader know exactly what they are getting and in how many parts.  Readers like that.

A Good Article is Easy to Read and Has a Logical Flow

The paragraphs in your articles should be no more than 2 or 3 sentences, I’d say 4 at the very most.  This makes the information easier for the reader to understand and digest.  A paragraph with too many sentences is a lot to read on one idea and you’re likely to lose your readers attention.

The first paragraph should give a good summary of what the article is about.  It should be written to entice your reader to keep on reading.

Your ideas should flow logically. Skipping around from idea to idea and making repeat statements makes it hard for your reader to follow along.

The last paragraph should conclude or sum up the main points of your article. This is where you can highlight the ideas that you want your readers to remember.

Use Bullet Points in Your Article

Readers are scanners, they pick out the ideas that catch their eye, so make it easy for them to get those ideas quickly by using bullet points.

Bullet points will break up the look of the article and help readers digest information faster by helping them pull out only the points they are most interested in.

A Good Article Writer Knows Their Audience

Have a clear picture in your mind of your reader.  What emotions, concerns and struggles will someone reading your article have?

If you’re writing an article about homeschooling for example, your reader will probably be a stay at home mom.  So what would the wants, desires and concerns be of a mom that home schools her kids be?   They’ll probably be somewhat different than for the stay at home mom who sends her kids off to school every day.

Know what those concerns and cares are and address them when writing your article.

Craft a Good Article Resource Box

A good article doesn’t stop with writing great content, also create a resource box that compels your reader to find out more about  you or your business. If your reader got through your article, they’re probably curious about you so this is your chance to let them find out.

Before composing your resource box think about what you your goal is for your article.  For example, are you looking for more home page links and traffic or are you trying to increase newsletter subscriptions?  The goal you have in writing your article will guide you in how you craft your resource box.

Use these article resource box examples to help you get started.

I also loved the Article Autopsy.  For $9 it has some great tidbits and ideas (no fluff) for getting my articles read and getting readers to take my call to action.  It was a small price to pay for the bigger benefit of lots more free traffic.

More on how to write a good article:

http://www.copyblogger.com/write-article-fast/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Writing_better_articles

More Good Stuff...

1. Choosing Your Article Topics
2. Using Your Article Without Your Resource Box
3. Article Stealers are The Worst!

Tagged as: Article Marketing