Tips To Writing Web Articles

WEB ARTICLE TIPS

1. Answer the questions: who, why, where, when, what and how. If you answer these questions, you are half way to writing a good article. You’ve no doubt read newspaper articles. Journalists always use this type of format. Practice reading news articles and identifying these six things. You’ll see how journalists use them to create quality content for their newspaper. Then write your article in a similar fashion answering these questions.

2. Check grammar and spelling as you go and when you have finished the article. Nothing shows lack of professionalism more than an article full of misspelled words and poor grammar. Be sure to check for homonyms that spell check won’t correct like: they’re, their, there—to, two, too. you’ll want to make sure you use the right form of each when you write. Sure, some people won’t notice, but those who do won’t take your information seriously if it’s riddled with grammatical errors.

3. Give your article a good hook. This is the first impression the reader will have of your article. You could write the most fantastic, helpful article ever, have an average title, and it would never get read. This is one of the worst things that can happen to a great piece of writing. The trick is to have a good hook. Make it something that catches the reader’s attention. Readers want to know that if they're going to spend time reading your work that it is going to be worth it. The best titles express exactly what the reader will take away from your article. A good hook in an article will reel your audience in again to see what you write next.

4. Prepare a good introduction. After your title, your introduction is your second impression you make on the reader and it is very important. If a reader sees a captivating title, clicks on it, and startsreading the first paragraph only to find it irrelevant or uninteresting, they’re not going to waste another two seconds to read the second paragraph, let alone the rest of the article. Give them a reason to continue reading. Write something bold or controversial. Use a famous or entertaining relative quote. Tell them what they’re going to learn from you, and then jump right in.

5. Organize your article well. Reading an internet article is much different than reading one in print. Generally, online, people tend to skim rather than actually read, regardless of what the content is. This makes organization and readability two key factors to consider when writing any online content. You can use subheadings, numbers, and bullets. Create bold subject headings or bulleted points throughout your article to guide your reader’s eye and help speed-readers grasp the concepts quickly and more effectively.

6. Be yourself. This doesn’t mean you have to write like you talk, but write in language that expresses your personality. Try not to use too much “technical jargon,” and stay away from the Thesaurus. Big words do not equal a smarter, better article. Depending on your target audience, there may be times when it’s important to use technical terms or bigger words. In general, however, you shouldn’t have to use the dictionary to read an article online. If people have to do that, they not only will click off of your site, they won’t care about the information you have to share. Just be yourself, and express who you are. Sure, you want your work to

impress your readers. They can’t be impressed, however, if they can’t understand it. Just talk to them in a style you feel comfortable with, and they’ll listen.

7. Use examples or tell a story. Articles with examples get the points across more effectively than those without them. Stories and examples help you engage the reader by putting the topic at hand in context and allowing them to see how the takeaways may be applied. Sometimes you read an article, and you think you understand the concepts, but you’re not sure how to use them. If the writer tells a story or gives examples, then the reader won’t have to wonder if they got it right. They’ll see how those concepts can be used.

8. Do not tell your readers you're writing the article because you want their business. This is one of the worst things you can do. Simply share your information and show them how what you have to offer can apply directly to their business. If you do, they will begin to trust you and turn to you when they are ready, as you have already proved that you are a valuable resource.

9. Edit! Remember that “spell check” is important, but it doesn’t get everything. Read and reread your article to make sure everything is correct. Make sure the flow is good, and it will make sense to the reader.

Online Writing and what it entails

STEPS IN WRITING PROCESS

Before you begin writing anything, it is important to understand the writing process. Writing is more than just putting words on paper. It takes thought and planning to produce quality content, and having quality content is more than important…it’s imperative! Never has the

phrase, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right,” more important than when preparing content for your site.

When you prepare to write an article, series of articles, blog posts, or

even a script for a video for your site, ask yourself what you are going

to write about and in what way are you going to talk about the topic.

Think about the final use of the article and tailor the article to suit its

purpose. Think about it: is it promotion, informative article with an

action involved from the reader, or is it purely for education purposes.

There are many different ways to write and many approaches you

can take. Look at all the ways you can approach the article, and

select the best approach for your purpose.

After you know your topic, brainstorm for ideas. This is simply writing

down ideas and thoughts about the subject. Jot down all of the ideas

you can come up. They might seem silly at the time, but write them

anyway. Jot down everything you can think of. You may find it

helpful to keep some means of writing ideas with you at all times. It

can be a note pad and pen, or an electronic device. Whichever it is,

you’ll be able to write down the ideas as they come to you. You don’t

have to use them all. You can decide that later. Just get your

You should prepare an outline of your article, blog post, or ebook.

Preparing an outline will help you to prepare quality content for your

website. It keeps you focused and on track. You know that your

content helps the websites web marketing, web ranking and content

marketing efforts. The outline will help you create a logical order and

flow to what you write, and improve your chances of higher web

rankings.

Once the outline is complete, you’re ready to begin writing. Follow

the outline, and use the information you know or the information

gathered from researching other resources to fill in the blanks. If you

remember the “fill in the blank” tests from school, you’ll know that this

is an important part of the writing process. If you don’t put the right

words in the right blanks, you fail the test. If you don’t fill in the blank

in the right way, your writing will fail. People will click on your site,

begin reading, see it isn’t quality content, and then click off. You’ve

probably done that yourself many times. The internet makes it so

easy it has become automatic to some people. Click on—read junk—

click off. It’s as simple as that. Filling in the blanks properly,

however, will cause people to click on to your site repeatedly.

There are three major portions to any written material: Introduction,

Body, and Conclusion. You should always start with a good

introduction. Then you prepare the body, which is the meat of the

material. Last, but certainly not least, is the conclusion. In the

introduction you should tell the audience what you are going to tell

them and what they can expect to learn. The body of the article will

include the details about the topic and mention different points that will connect to the reader. These details should give the reader what you told them they were going to get. The conclusion is where you summarize and state any conclusions that the reader should have come to once they’ve read your material. The conclusion is the last impression you will make on the readers, so you always want to go out in style. Let them leave feeling taking the time to read your material has been worth their while. Write your first draft without being over-critical. In your first draft, you’re basically getting all your information down on paper in a fairly logical format. Then, you go back and revise the draft in a more critical manner. It often helps to read the article aloud. As you do, make mental notes to fully pronounce every word. This will help you

find grammar errors and inconstancy in the article. It will also help you keep a good, steady flow to your writing that isn’t confusing. If you stumble over the words when you read it, so will your reader.

Once you’ve completed reading the material and any errors have been corrected, you’ll probably repeat the process again and again until the article is satisfactory to you. You may discover you need to:

• Rearrange paragraphs to make it flow better

• Reword awkward sentences

• Remove extra words, repetitive sentences, or even whole paragraphs

You need to realize that no one is perfect. Learning to write articles, blogs, or ebooks takes time, creativity, patience, and practice. You may feel you have something great and find out it wasn’t so good after all. Don’t be discouraged if you have to change your draft several times before you get it right. Just remember, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Once you have that article, blog, ebook, or video that you feel is “just right,” it will be worth it. Not only will you feel great about yourself, you’ll have quality content that is fit to reign. You’ll be surprised. Once you have been through the process of writing your rough draft and editing the drafts a few times, you’ll get used to all of these things. It will become automatic, unconscious competence writing and you’ll wonder why you ever thought it would be so difficult to start with.

If you follow the all of the above steps, before you know it you will be able to be a competent writer. Being a competent writer is the first step to creating that dynamic content you need for your website