Writing articles is a good way to promote your website or business and to explain product benefits. But you can’t just put anything together and expect it to do its job of bringing in traffic. You need to think about what it is you want to say and then put some effort into saying it well. You can enhance the written polish of your article by observing a few article writing tips:

1. Develop a plan and imagine objectives & potential outcomes

There is nothing worse than not knowing what you want to get out of writing your article. Before you actually say or write anything, work out your pitch.

2. You need a framework for your article

A standard way to layout an article is with an opening paragraph which sets out what the article is going to be about. Then comes the main bulk of the article – usually several paragraphs that cover the topic in depth, followed by a closing paragraph which needs to pull the different points together into a natural conclusion.

3. Avoid saying too much

Don’t feel that you have to tell your reader everything you know about a subject in one article. The ideal article length is around 400 words. It is better to focus on one aspect of a particular topic and cover it well than try to cram too much information in.

4. Be Professional

Keep the content of your article professional and don’t make personal comments about others or use an article solely to pitch your products or website. You need to offer information of value to the reader to make them want to read what you’ve written.

5. Use specific details where possible

For your article and views to be considered valid you need to explain exactly what you mean. For example, if you are writing a product review then say exactly what you liked and disliked about a product and wether those particular aspects are important or not. If you are providing tips then use examples to illustrate your points.

6. Keep the personal stories short. It’s not about you!

Keep personal anecdotes very short and use them to demonstrate a point, but not as the focus of the article.

7. Have a strong opening and closing.

Your opening needs to be catchy enough to hook your reader into reading the rest of your article. The closing is important because it should reinforce the key message you want them to take away and lead into them taking action after reading your resource box which can be more specific about the action you want them to take. Think of the conclusion as the warm up to the resource box.

8. Do several drafts

If writing articles isn’t something that comes easily to you then you’ll want to take your time to develop a voice for writing, a style that feels comfortable to you but that also gets across to the reader what it is you want to say. It is a good idea when article writing to do a first draft and then put it aside for a day or two and then go back to it and re-read it to see how it flows.

Whether you are writing articles for promotion or web writing, it is a skill like any other and one that you would be wise to learn more about. Seek help writing if you find it difficult and follow the article writing tips above and when the visitors start rolling in you’ll be pleased you did.
From her years of experience online Jill Brennan has put together a free ebook on article writing called “Kickstart Your Article Writing: 9 Ways to Breakout of An Article Writing Stalemate”. Its full of practical article writing tips and free tools. Go here: http://www.howtosubmitarticles.com/article_writing/ to get your copy today.

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