By Bill Fletcher
If you’re thinking, Writing Articles or Blogs shouldn’t be difficult! So what is the problem? Well for one, you have to give some thought in the Article or Blog and determine why you are writing it and to who. Take some time and Plan. A good Article or Blog is more valuable than one that is poorly written.
Here are some tips and advice on HOW TO MAKE ARTICLES and BLOG WRITING A BREEZE and how you should structure your writing.
The 5 Ps of Success:
Proper.. Planning.. Prevents.. Poor.. Performance
Good advice: Proper Prewriting Prevents Poor Performance!
Pre-writing is the planning, researching and organizing stage prior to the actual act of writing. If you treat the act of writing as a separate task that occurs after pre-writing, then you will squeeze more out of your efforts, alleviate frustration and save time.
Use these seven questions as a guide to pre-writing to ensure originality, creativity and quality!
Grab a notebook and answer the following seven questions before you set out to write your next Article or Blog.
- Who’s the article for? Define your target audience – right down to their likes and dislikes.
- What do they want? Brainstorm by looking for opportunities to provide solutions for your readers. Generate a list based on your audience’s most pressing problems or their needs and wants. If you begin seeing trends or themes, organize your list categorically. A great way to do this is to Google various keywords to see what people are seeking. Write them down and then develop a list of the most “wants”.
- Why? Pick a category, keyword or an item on the list and describe why the audience wants it (e.g., What ultimate benefit does it achieve? What does it solve?).
- What headline will best grab your reader’s attention? In fewer than 60 characters, draft a few headlines and consider the tone (such as compassionate, severe and informative), angle (such as How To, Top Tips and Why You Should …), benefit-oriented words (such as quick, painless and easy) that will resonate with your audience. This title may not be the final title you work with, but it will be your guiding vision for the article.
- What are the main points of your article? Incorporating your experience, research and insights, outline the main points you want to convey to your reader.
- What length and format will best suit the topic? Consider which format and article length that will provide the best user experience. If it’s actionable (e.g., how-to, top tips, etc.), use an ordered or unordered list format and keep the Article/Blog within 500-700 words. If it’s non-actionable (e.g., industry-related news), consider a bricklayer format that draws the eye down the article with bold headers highlighting key points between sections.
- What do you want your reader to do? Consider what the number one benefit you provide your target audience is and what’s unique about it. Use the message in your Resource Box and your call-to-action (such as sign up for a newsletter, visit your website to buy a product, read a related article of yours, etc.).
Now while I mentioned 7 questions here are number 8th and 9th.
8. People are not only readers but they are also Visual. Add picture to your Article/Blog. So some interesting pictures to get their attention or to drive the point home. Pictures of people or graphics will work just find.
9. We are so accustom to seeing movies that the motion picture companies and television program produce videos to entertain us or to cause emotion. You can do the same. Go to YouTube find some related videos and insert them in the Article/Blog. Better yet, record a video of yourself talking about the writing. This will brand you as an expert and someone people will want to follow. Camera shy? Just create a PowerPoint presentation and narrate it.
Here are some suggestion readings:
- Content Planning: Targeting Your Audience
- Make Writing Easy with Prewriting]
- 20 Writing Exercises and Tips for Expert Authors
- Your Unique Value Proposition and Your Articles
- Basic Article Templates for Expert Author
- Creating an Effective Call to Action that Gets Results
If you need or want a GREAT COURSE on Blogging I suggest you pick-up a training course from the master Rob Fore. Here are THREE courses that I have personally taken and can highly recommend to you:
All Three are excellent and will make you a better Article Writer and Blogger. Simply CLICK on the LINK ABOVE for each course to get additional information.
Here’s to your Success,