Article Writing- 7 Mistakes You Should Avoid When Writing Articles

The following are 7 of the more common article writing mistakes:

Using “big” words. - Writing for the Internet is much different than writing for academia. Many times people use “big” words, when simple language would be just fine. Instead of saying “results are guaranteed instantly,” write “get results fast.” Read your article out loud to make sure it sounds casual. And avoid using the “thesaurus” function on your word processor.

Using long paragraphs. - Readers don’t want to wade through long paragraphs, especially when reading online. Keep your information in tight, bite-sized chunks of no more than four sentences. As a rule of thumb, use one main idea per paragraph. This makes your article easier to read.

Repeating yourself. - If you don’t have 500 words worth of material, don’t try to stretch out the article. Restating the same thing over and over is a waste of space. If you need more material, do more research or add another angle to the article.

Writing in third person. - Writing about “they” or “a person” is much more formal and much less inviting than writing to the reader. Use “you” and give your reader specific advice geared toward them. That is, if your topic allows it.

Copying other people’s work. - Other articles on the Internet are not in the public domain. That means that they have copyright, just like any other book or magazine. Stealing articles and passing them off as your own is unethical. Also, search engines can penalize your website if you use duplicate content, meaning you’ll lose traffic. The Internet can be used to research topics, but make sure your articles are unique.

Forgetting to proofread before submitting. - Before you send an article to a buyer, an article directory or post it on your website, make sure you read it over. Even with spellcheck and grammar check some mistakes can sneak by. Nothing looks worse than having an obvious spelling error or misused word in your article. Read your article out loud so you can hear any errors you may have made.

Writing the “same old article” - Depending on your topic, there may be dozens if not hundreds of other articles out there on the subject. If you’re writing an article on a popular topic, try to find a fresh new angle on the same subject. Instead of writing an article on how to flip houses for profit, write one on how to avoid common house-flipping mistakes. This will make your article stand out.

By: Joshua Spaulding

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

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