How to write an article. Algorithm

I want to talk step by step about the basic principles of writing articles. This knowledge will help you connect with potential clients and secure your expert status. The more articles you post on the Internet and print media, the more recognizable your name will be, and as a result, your status will increase and more people will use your services.

Let’s start with the basics. Using the step-by-step instructions below, you can write an article easily and simply:

1 step. Topic selection

When choosing a topic, remember one article reveals one topic. Another important aspect is that the topic should be interesting, familiar and relevant to you personally. In addition, it should be focused on your target audience, i.e. to those people who will need it and who will subsequently use your service.

In this vein, I want to touch on another important issue — article format. To maintain expert status, you need to write in the following formats or layouts, call it what you like:

So here’s the first format: «Problem + Solution» — isolate the problem of your target audience, and voice it in the article. And most importantly, give some practical recommendations for solving this problem. If you describe good recommendations and practices, readers will immediately understand that you are a practitioner, savvy in theory, and not a theoretician — idler.

Second format: «Tool designed for…» — describe a technique or tool that is used only in your field, but which few people know how to use correctly. So you declare that you not only know how to use it, but you can also explain it to others.

Third format: “My clients often ask… (Q&A)” — describe the problem situation with which the client or several clients approached you, tell about the solutions that your client came to after working with you and what his problem has in common with the problem of the majority and how to solve it. In general, everything is like that.

Fourth format: «Expert review» — write about a phenomenon (a book, a novelty in your service market, a well-known fact, etc.) and give your expert opinion, analyze, reflect, provide useful information or give practical advice.

Fifth format: «Practical recommendations» — step by step describe one or more techniques that give a complete picture of the actions in a problem situation relevant to your readers. The article you are reading is written in this format.

It is in the above formats that you should learn to write articles in the first place, because. they are in demand by people who want to solve their problems. In addition, it is the practical content that interests magazines and newspapers. «Water» got everyone.

If your goal is to write an article for print media, then first analyze the theme and style of the magazine or newspaper, its target audience. Write an article that would be sustained in the style of the publication. If your target audience is not among the target audience of the magazine, do not waste time and effort. Look for suitable publications and your readers, who can later become your customers.

2 step. Name choice

In choosing a name, the main thing is not to overdo it and stick to the golden mean. Don’t be too original, but don’t skimp on banalities either. The title of the article should be of interest, kindle curiosity readers, arouse the desire to know what’s next.

There are rules for a good headline:

• It is important that the title draws attention to itself, “clings”.
• It is important to arouse curiosity and motivate to read the article.

Attention: attract more often those articles whose titles contain a hint, the hope of satisfying a need or solving a problem. If in the title “reveal all the cards”, then its reading will no longer be so interesting and necessary. Your task is to give a hint, intrigue, inspire to read the article. The title does not ask or suggest, it beckons and declares.

• The title should be readable with one glance. Between the long and short names, choose the second one.
• Use words that are understandable and commonly used by the target audience for which the article is written.
• If you are writing an article for a website, use a keyword in the title, i.e. the word that is associated with the popular topic described in your article.
• Too much good is bad. It is not necessary to add emotionality to the headline (and even the article) with a fence of exclamation or question marks. The spelling rules have not yet been canceled. In addition, do not write the title in capital letters. This, of course, gives emotionality, but in this case, it seems that the author is yelling or aggressive.
• If you are writing for a print publication, be prepared for the fact that your name may be changed to another, but this is already a negotiable topic, but still remember this.
• Use working article title templates:

«How… « A fairly common start, and a very successful one. This is a direct indication of the problem and the way to solve it.

— «How to build a successful business»

— «How to find your calling»

«Quick Guide…» Now society loves concentrated knowledge without too much water, and the offer of a quick guide to anything will be in great demand.

— “A short guide to building a successful business”

— A Quick Guide to Finding Yourself

«Method / methodology» Will give the article an image of scientificity and / or practicality. It “shoots” well if epithets are added to it.

— “The most effective method of building a successful business”

— «Best Methods for Finding Your Purpose»

“The quick way / how fast…” For a long time and a lot no one wants to mess with the problem, most people will not give up the opportunity to quickly resolve their issues.

— «How to quickly build a successful business»

— «A quick way to find your calling»

«An easy way / an easy solution…» This pattern also works. Simple solutions are always needed.

— «An easy way to build a successful business»

— «An easy way to find your way»

«Create…» This template is an appeal to the emotions and creativity of readers.

— «Create your formula for a successful business»

— «Create your own path to self-knowledge»

«Now you can…» Those. thanks to this article, you will achieve, be able to do what you need so much, if you want, of course.

— «Now you can make a successful business»

— «Now you can find your calling»

“Free, unique, best, authentic, effective, inimitable, etc.” These words always attract attention.

— «Free course on creating a successful business»

“An effective way to find your calling”

What Everyone Should Know… Such a title inflames the need to test your competence in a particular issue.

“Every novice businessman should know this”

“Every successful person knows this.”

«Numbers». Articles are more successful if there are numbers in the title. Well suited for names — 5, 7, 15, 100, 101, etc. Often numbers are combined with other templates.

— “How to build a successful business in 6 months”

— “5 easy ways to find your calling”

«Secrets». This is where the innate human curiosity and inquisitiveness comes into play. This template works well in combination with numbers.

— «Secrets of successful business»

— «7 ancient secrets of finding your way.»

These are not all existing heading templates. Other examples you can easily find on the Internet and books. And yet this does not mean that all the titles of your articles should begin or contain templates. Experiment, act, look for your own style. In addition, the «fashion» for names is changeable, be aware, come up with your own.

3 step. Article outline

You need to write a plan according to which the article will be built. It happens that a person tries to write, guided only by one topic, without building a general concept of the article. This usually leads to collapse and waste of energy.

You should write a plan. It should be pretty simple:

• name,
• introduction (briefly reveals the main idea of ​​the text),
• the main part, consisting of several recommendations or theses,
• conclusion (conclusions, summing up).

4 step. Introduction

The introduction should gently lead the reader to the main topic. In addition, in the introduction you indicate the issues of the article (what?), and the target audience (for whom?).

5 step. Main part

direct discussion. Here you can give some important practical recommendations or explain the basic concepts of this topic. In the abstract description should be specificuseful and valuable information. A good addition would be stories or parables, interesting facts, as well as your own experience and view of the issue raised in the article. Well, if you fill the text with epithets, it will add emotionality to dry facts. In the main part, you need to indicate the answers to the questions posed in the introduction.

Try to keep within 2-3 thousand characters, i.e. in 1-2 pages. At the same time, remember that you are not just writing an article, and an article for a specific target audience, more precisely for a good and pleasant person to whom this topic is important. Keep this in mind so that your text is friendly and understandable, then you can build a trusting relationship with your readers.

6 step. Conclusion

Here you summarize, focusing on the positive result, as well as the fact that the information provided in the main part will help to cope with the problem.

7 step. Subtract article

You need to read (check and correct) the text only once, without thinking for a long time and without delving into idealism, otherwise it will lead to extortion, countless corrections and, as a result, to an unwritten article. The purpose of proofreading is to correct typos and remove repetitions by replacing them with synonymous words. The text should be light, competent and simple.

8 step. Check uniqueness

This is a very, very important step. If your article is one hundred percent unique, then it will be indexed as new on the Internet. This means that its rating against the background of other articles on this topic will increase among search engines. This means that the probability of getting into the first positions will increase significantly. The more clicks to a unique article, the more in demand the site. And this means that the influx of visitors is growing and your popularity along with it.

The text will be considered unique if the combinations of words that are used in it are not found anywhere else. We are talking even about those texts that you wrote yourself from the first word to the last point. It happens that the phrases you use have already been used by other authors. You can check the uniqueness and increase it in special programs, one of them is Text.ru http://text.ru. One hundred percent uniqueness is also in demand in printed publications.

9 step. Text formatting

It is important to arrange correctly, i.e. format text. Formatting techniques create visual cues for readers and make reading text easy and understandable.

There are the following formatting elements:

• Separate headings and subheadings. Choose for yourself two or three ways to highlight text, if there are more, you risk causing unconscious irritation and fatigue among your readers.
• Bulleted or numbered lists. Our brain is used to classifying everything, and this formatting technique will make it easier to read.
• Highlight key phrases or words. This helps with speed reading, you can immediately see whether it is worth delving into more details.
• Readable font. Sophisticated fonts are hard to read, which can also lead to unconscious annoyance and reading fatigue. Therefore, choose an easily readable font, I personally like Calibri.
• Simple sentences. In psychology, there is a golden formula — 7 plus / minus 2. It applies to the number of words in a sentence.

Remember the golden mean, excessive use of formatting elements can lead to loss of text quality. Speaking about the design of the text, illustrations should also be mentioned — pictures, tables, diagrams, photos are welcome. It is important that the illustrations are of good quality and fit the theme.

10 step. Save

Now is the time to save the article, close it, and most importantly, remember which folder it is in. Ideally, it would be nice to create a separate folder, something like «an article to promote my Personal Brand.» If the article is written by hand, it is better to convert it into electronic form, and then save, close and remember where it is.

Do not rush to publish a newly written article. If possible, let it rest and after a while, read it in a different setting and aloud. This will help to notice and correct possible shortcomings. Ideally, it is good to give the written article to the editors of another person.

Using this step-by-step instruction, you can easily write your article, even if you are doing it for the first time. Successes in creativity, all the best.