Here’s a foolproof formula for writing perfectly developed articles that are neither too long or too short.
- Create an outline of your topic.
- List five or seven points to support your main idea.
- Write out 3-5 sentences per point so that you now have 5-7 well-developed paragraphs.
- Add your introductory paragraph and conclusion, which should be no longer than 4 sentences each.
- Think up a snazzy title that will be both catchy to your reader and include keywords.
Draft: DONE. Now what?
Once you’re finished writing the first draft, go back and read through your article text, checking for grammar, spelling and sentence structure. Yes, you can use autocorrect and spell check for this purpose, but the human eye remains the best way to catch typos and syntax errors in your articles.
What happens if your web article is too long?
The easiest way to remedy a web article that’s meandering off course into another topic is to break it in half. If you’ve followed the above formula for outlining the topic and filling in each sentence with details, then it shouldn’t take long to determine which parts of the article have run off the rails.
Simply do a cut and paste of the superfluous sections, and save them for use in a second article that you can link to from the page where you published the first.
Picture Perfect
Social media has really turned things competitive on the web. So if you have access to some really good images, take the time to post one on the same page as your article. When you share the link to Facebook or LinkedIn, the image will serve up from your site and it will create that extra interest needed to make people click and read.
Website Hack: Making Articles Out of Old Content
Every time you create something, whether it’s for a client, a project bid, a new marketing endeavor, or even just for fun… you’re planting the seeds for hundreds of web articles. Just imagine all of the articles that can spring forth from things like:
- writing drafts that weren’t used-old websites or blogs that you ended up scrapping
- eBooks that you once published which are now out of date (at least some of the info has to be relevant still!)
- samples you created for job bids that didn’t pan out
- old creative projects that you never finished
- other articles
Just make sure that in reworking old content, you aren’t violating any Nondisclosure Agreements you may have established with other people, and that you aren’t plagiarizing already published content.
