How to Write an Article
How to write an article for your web site or for article marketing — some pointers.
As we probably all know, the best way to write an article is to draw upon your extensive knowledge of a subject in which you are a specialist. However, many people starting out with article marketing are not exactly specialists in a particular subject area, or are not aware of how to tap into the knowledge they do possess. So, here is some help with how to write an article if you are new to such writing.
You should, of course, start with something to say about a particular subject area, an opinion you want to give, or some points you want to make, but many articles begin with some basic research and the viewpoint is formed out of that. Keep in mind that the aim of your article writing is to help or educate your readers in some way. Here is how to do some research quickly, though it is really no substitute for proper, in-depth research. It will, however, give you an overview as a starting point.
Begin by going to secondary research sources such as online article directories, news web sites and other information archives and search for articles or info in the subject area in which you are interested. You can also perform a similar search at Google and check sites such as FAQS.org, About.com and Wikipedia.com. If you are writing about products check out competitors’ sites.
While reading on your chosen subject, make brief notes about any points you want to mention or discuss in your own article. Then, think about what you have learned. What can you add to help the reader? What problems can you see that others have not considered? How can you help solve those problems? Note down your thoughts.
Begin your article with an introductory comment or two — in effect set the scene — then quickly move on to tell the reader what you are going to cover in your article. Next use your notes to write the main points of your article as a short list to begin with (in your own words of course — never plagarize!) The aim is to use your research to spark your own ideas, not copy other people’s ideas. So you must add your own thoughts, ideas and comments as you flesh out your list of main points with the details. At the end try to come to some kind of conclusion in the final paragraph about where you stand on what you have discussed.
When writing your article, keep in mind your purpose. Your primary purpose should be to provide good, useful information that will inform or help your readers. If a secondary purpose is to encourage the reader to find out more by visiting your website through a link in the ‘about the author’ resource box at the foot of the article, you have to decide first why the reader will want to visit your site. What is the reader’s motivation? Are you making it clear that the article the reader is reading is just a sample and that there is more extensive information to be had at your web site?
Having come to some conclusions about this, you can write the article with this in mind too. For example, supposing that you run a business and your website sells bags of all kinds, and in your article you want to promote stronger, better-made hiking bags or backpacks specifically. Then you might write in your article about the different ways in which hiking backpacks are used in practice — storing maps in the outside pockets, attaching a sleeping bag at the bottom, keeping water proofs inside the largest compartment and so on — and how a weaker bag could leave a hiker in the lurch if it falls apart out in the wilds. In your article you would be trying to show the reader that not all backpacks are created equal and that some are more durable than others.
Your article resource box would then tell the readers where they can obtain a backpack with all of the advantages and none of the disadvantages that you have written about, so directing readers to your web site. In this example, your initial research notes might have been about the characteristics of different kinds of backpack products, research on backpack materials and seam-stitching methods, combined with your personal experience of trying out these different kinds of bags in the field.
Of course, the aim with all such article writing is to present your unique point of view on a subject area, to educate readers or help them with a problem that they may have. Looking at other people’s work for ideas and making some notes on some of their points is research along the road to making something new of your own, and it is the presentation of your own thoughts, opinions and experiences that make an article worthwhile.
Ask yourself what you can bring to this subject area that is unique to help your visitors. If you end up answering “nothing” to this question then you have chosen the wrong subject area for your article writing efforts. Successful article writing — and indeed article marketing — grows out of a genuine interest in one’s chosen subject or niche, so you should always try to develop your business in an area in which you are already very interested or in which you feel that you are becoming interested.
As with any kind of writing, understanding of technique and structure is honed by reading other people’s work, so to become a good article writer you need to be a good article reader too.
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