Article writing is in vogue. Be it for optimizing websites or blogs, sharing information or building product awareness, articles are written by the dozen every minute of the day. There are professional writers who do it, there are also bloggers who do it; sometimes people who've hardly any experience at article writing put pen to paper and produce hugely popular stuff. And then, there are also some of us who want to write but aren't quite able to decide what to write on.
For the first few articles you write, follow a set pattern, a guideline system. Doing this, you won't have to start from the scratch each time since you'll have an outline or framework to build your article upon. Treat your article like an essay. As with essays, have a skeletal structure of 4-5 paragraphs, each with at least five sentences. Introduce the idea in the first paragraph and keep the conclusion to the last one. The largest portion, the body of your essay, must contain the main argument and supporting sentences.
Select a topic that could be of potential use to a large section of your audience. Take care to choose one that you're good at yourself. There's hardly any point in writing an article on English grammar if you're a computer programmer.
Topic decided, brainstorm and come up with a headline for your article. Don't spend hours trying to come up with a super-duper headline. If you really cannot think of one that you think is awesome, keep one of the trial headlines as makeshift. Have a headline that is simple and clear. Your reader must get a reasonably good idea about the article just by reading the headline. Include bait, something that is going to entice the reader to read more than just the headline. 5 Unique Ways to Free Link Building is sure to get you more readers than a simple Link Building Ideas or plain Link Building.
Introduce your article to your audience with a general statement. Consider you are writing an article on How To Write Blogs. Begin with a very general statement about blogs; perhaps something along the lines of how popular blogging is, or how bloggers have redefined the idea of self-expression. Next, associate blogging with writing and how important it is for a blogger to write well. With this, you've not just introduced your topic to the reader, but have also created a sense of anticipation.
A big chunk of your article falls under the body of the essay. Back your introductory statement with specific examples and sound reasoning. Mention why it is imperative for a blogger to write engaging posts. Elaborate and explain how he can do so. Include, if possible, what he must avoid. These 'steps' ensure better reader-understandability.
In the next paragraph, list all that he stands to gain by writing well. Make it as clear and simple as possible. Present your idea as being entirely easy-to-implement. Never resort to assuming or exaggerating facts just to drive your point home. People who read your articles are likely to be just as intelligent, and at times, more gifted than you are. Adopting the wrong methods will only pull you down the credibility scale.
Conclude your essay with a paragraph that reiterates the statement you made in the first. It may not always be necessary to conclude each time you write. Sometimes open ended essays fare much better than tightly packed ones.
P.S.: Note that there is no formal conclusion to this one. It isn't required; and so, it isn't there.
Beginner's Guide To Article Writing by Shaheen Mohiuddin of WriteYup.
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