Article Marketers and Writers - How Do You manage to write short articles

[yommys01]

Hi warriors.. I am having some tough times writing short articles. I have been advised that short articles seem to be the articles with the best cltr but no matter how I try, I am not able to come up with short 350 words articles.

I tried to write an article in 20 minutes and before I know it I had written 712 words. Is there any trick warriors use?

[vagabondette]

what about turning longer articles into a series? If you can have 2-3 articles that cover different aspects of the same topic rather than one huge article you might get more bang for your buck. Just make sure you number them some how so people know to look for the others.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by yommys01

Hi warriors.. I am having some tough times writing short articles. I have been advised that short articles seem to be the articles with the best cltr

I believe that this is probably true. But what matters to me isn't CTR, it's the buyers' CTR.

I find that I get more clicks from short (275 - 325-word articles) but more sales from 600/700-word ones. I don't know how niche-specific this phenomenon is (if at all), but I'm starting to think that I shouldn't be trying to "précis" my articles any more, but should just let them come out as 700+ words if that's what comes naturally (which, to me, it usually does).

[John Hixson]

Originally Posted by vagabondette

what about turning longer articles into a series? If you can have 2-3 articles that cover different aspects of the same topic rather than one huge article you might get more bang for your buck. Just make sure you number them some how so people know to look for the others.

Spot on.

If you are writing 1000 words on a subject thats 4 x 250 word articles, more if you count the intro and conclusion.

Plan before hand, work out a series of 10 points that you would cover in a long article then break that down into an article per point. Where you might only have written 150 words on that point with an intro and a conculsion - lead into your article resource box that means you now have 10 x 250 word articles instead of one long one.

Great for backlinks, test whether it is better on your own site though, sometimes longer articles just work better

[A. Green]

Just another thought: You may choosing topics that are to general. For example, it would be hard to write a 250-word article on "gardening." Even the topic of "rose gardening" would be easier. Even easier would be a very focused article on one single tip like "Rose gardening: how bone meal can help." That way you can go into detail without getting a very long article.

[ebizman87]

Maybe this thread will help ya..

Lazy Man Way To Produce Article FAST!!

[JonathanBoettcher]

I like aiming for just above the minimum required by EZA (250 words) because if you keep your article within that limit, your signature shows up above the fold.

The other thing to keep in mind is that you're not going to be able to teach people a whole lot in such a short article, so keep the topics uber-specific - even the rose gardening example above could be narrowed down much more - like rose gardening in warm climates, in pots, or some such thing. The more you narrow it down, the easier it is to make a decent point in a short space. Then of course, you want people to come through to your site for more information. That's where you'll actually teach them something.

In terms of writing fast, I like to follow a template - very simply: short intro (1-2 sentences), 2-3 brief points that back up the main topic (each 2-4 sentences long, with a subtitled headline) and a conclusion paragraph.

When you're brainstorming, think of 3 little subpoints under your topic. Then when you get to writing, you just bomb off something about each point, and boom you're done. You'd be surprised at how quickly you can pump these out once you get used to the idea.

I guess there's two schools of thought with article marketing - volume vs quality. The way I see it, you're never going to dominate all the keywords you need to if you're taking 20-30 mins (most people are more like 40-60 minutes) per article. So I shoot for short articles, almost teasers, then get people back to the site where you can sell them on a product that will properly educate them.

/2cents

[pheonix44]

What I like to do is write a quick overview of the problem and simply talk to people in a conversational way regarding why they may have the problem. This way I do not actually give them too much information.

If I do this I find I get higher CTR and at the same time I am able to keep it short and entertaining as if I am talking to a friend. I will not go under 350 words though if I can control it.

[angela99]

Outline first.

Viz:

Title: "Skin Care: Eliminate Wrinkles, Get Soft Smooth Skin in 24 Hours"

* General Intro 25 words (restate the point in the title)

* Describe problem: 100 words

* Cover points of solution

Point 1- 50 words
Point 2 - 50 words
Point 3 -- 50 words

Once you've written 20 articles, you'll do this automatically; your brain works out what's needed, and you write to the word length you want.

It's just a matter of practice. :-)

Tip: outline and write on different days, or in different work sessions. Outlining/ structuring uses your left brain, writing your right brain...

I like to outline 20 articles for each article writing campaign, so that I've always got around 100 to 200 article outlines ready to go.

Hope this helps. :-)

[desmond11]

I think you need to add some personality and some humour to your articles. This is where articles written by human beings trump auto article writers hands down.

Try and write from the heart and don't worry about how long the article is. When you become a bit more experienced you'll learn to write at speed and not worry how long the article is.

Bullets

I think bullet points are really important as we all love to skim through these days. I think with so much distraction on EZA, bullets is the way to go. I struggle to write 250 word articles since there's no way I can pack real interesting content into an article while trying to get across my personality at the same time. Not saying it can't be done. I'm just saying I personally struggle.

Write Fast

The best way to approach your article is to just write at lightening speed with mistakes and the wrong grammer. You then later go back and correct them at the end once it's written. The main point is to get something down in black and white that you can edit later. I'm up at 5.30am and write 4 articles until 6.30am using speed writing techniques (simply getting my thoughts down quickly).

To focus on writing short articles in my opinion is focusing too much on something that isn't that important. Your prospect is looking for valuable info. You offer that info, but incomplete leaving them wanting more.

[Justin Jordan]

Focus on one thing.

Short articles are just about perfect for focusing on one very small area of whatever. Pock something that you feel you can address competently in 250 words or so. Short articles are not the place for lists or broad topics. If you keep your article tight and focused, your reader will feel like they;ve been rewarded for reading and, with any luck, want to click on your link to find out more.

Plus, being lazy helps.

[AndyBlackSEO]

Depending on the reader, long articles can put people off. When you see a large articles with dozens and dozens of lines it just 'looks like a lot of hard work'.

Short articles that replay the problem, and hint or offer a solution is what you are obviously striving for.

Try writing say three bullet points and then structure your article using those three points. It just sounds to me that you are going into too much detail.

Break it down and then force yourself to write one or two paragraphs on each point.

[Bryan Zimmerman]

Depending on what you are writing about, I like to do this.

1st paragraph: Remind them that the problem sucks

2nd paragraph: Remind them that they are just one of many with the problem and that it can be fixed.

3rd paragraph: Remind them how much better it would be if they don't have that problem anymore

Resource box: HEY HERE IS WHERE YOU GET YOUR PROBLEM FIXED, RIGHT HERE ON MY LINK

Keep each paragraph to 85 words and your golden and your done in 10 minutes.

But, again, it depends on what type of niches your are targeting

[Pipinscott]

Yeup, keep Bryans plan in mind and focus on one issue like Justin said you will be golden.

[entrepreneurjay]

ezinearticles has a word counter when your writing an article to give you an idea of how long your articles are. I use that tool even if im not submitting one to ezinearticles.com...

[dndoseller]

Think of it ore like you are writing a summary of an article.

Sometimes I'll grab a whole bunch of articles on the same topic and just summarize each one with a sentence or two.

[Marhelper]

Learn to utilize an outline .. it will make all the difference.

[Ofthemix]

I agree that if you tend to write incredibly long articles, you should break them up into a few articles.

Personally, I just write out an article title and then hammer out an article. It takes me about 15 minutes to write an article. Some end up being a little over 250 words, some end up being over 600 words. I really don't pay much attention to the length. As long as I can pump articles out in a timely manner, that's all that matters to me.

It sounds like Bryan has a great method for writing articles. You might want to follow his advice.

[Zeus66]

Yep, it comes down to laser focusing. Don't stray. If a tangential idea pops into your head while writing (and it almost always does if you're a good writer), try putting those offshoot ideas into an "idea file." I keep one open (Notepad) on my desktop at all times. When I go on an article writing tear, I end up with a bunch of great ideas for more articles that totally just pop into my head as I'm doing the originals. Honestly, I never run out of article ideas just from this one simple technique. Try it!

John

[John Hixson]

Originally Posted by Zeus66

Yep, it comes down to laser focusing. Don't stray. If a tangential idea pops into your head while writing (and it almost always does if you're a good writer), try putting those offshoot ideas into an "idea file." I keep one open (Notepad) on my desktop at all times. When I go on an article writing tear, I end up with a bunch of great ideas for more articles that totally just pop into my head as I'm doing the originals. Honestly, I never run out of article ideas just from this one simple technique. Try it!

John

Great tip, and one I follow myself - although my file is called the 'article factory' as it provides me with a constant conveyor belt of the next idea.

If you do a lot of writing (as I do, both for myself and clients) such a file is a great help. But I also suggest keeping a notebook on you at all times if you are looking to do article marketing OR microniche marketing. It's amazing how many times an idea has popped into my head when I am out and about, and until I thought to bring along a notebook I would forget about 75% of them (guesstimate).

In fact the latest idea for a microniche I am targetting came when I was in a cheese mongers, which was a surprise as it had nothing to do with cheese. But whilst i was waiting I jotted down 7 or 8 article ideas for my niche, which I then used the article factory idea file when writing to come up with another 20 odd article ideas for article marketing and backlinking for it.

[Sylviane]

One of the methods I use is what I call my one question article where I ask a question towards the beginning of the article and answer that question through the article. I also do this with two questions sometimes. This should help you write shorter articles.

I created a free writing tutorial that you can get here!

[Pat Jackson]

I keep all of my articles at about 250-300 words. Occasionally it might slip out to 400 or so, but I can usually write one in about 6-7 minutes. Here is what I do;

1. Whatever the topic you're going to be writing on, make sure you have a very good understanding of it. If you don't, then do some research.

2. I have found that writing articles in the form of "tips" usually works well. So, because of this, I then pick out about 20-30 tips that I can easily expand on. I write these tips down and sticky tape them on my desk above my computer.

3. Then start writing. Right a short intro and then randomly select any 3 of the tips and expand on each one for about 50 or so words.

That's it. If you have a good amount of knowledge on the subject you're writing about then you can write heaps of articles in a short amount of time.

Your articles will sometimes be talking about the same things but they will always be unique.

[Thomson]

I think the best way to write short articles is to provide some introduction and then get to the summary i.e. main purpose immediately. This way, you do not go much ahead and the readers do not read which is not important.

I have noticed that readers do get bored and leave the article if they do not find the information they are looking for. Hence, it is better to get to the point as soon as possible as we write articles for readers.

[tdpubs]

There are a lot of really great answers here. I write at whatever length my clients determine is best for them but for myself I like to write around 450 words. when I'm feeling organized I'll go ahead and lay out 10 articles at a time.

I start by researching at least three or four questions pertaining to the subject at hand. I like to brainstorm by coming up with titles first. I then research the uniqueness of the titles when I have a good bunch of titles that works for me; I then play with the questions.

Each 450 word article will tend to have three questions laid out in the body of the article. Above them will be my introduction, below them my conclusion.

However you manage to standardize your process; that should be a personal matter. More important than anything, you should standardize the process for yourself in a way that makes you comfortable and willing to sit down and pound out as many articles as your brain will allow. You will get quicker with practice.

Dennis

[acedalright]

BAng Bang BANG

Make your bullet points and get out.

Here's a tip...

Pick 5 points you want to make, then write a one paragraph intro and a one paragraph ending.

Then make your ...

*1. Five

*2. Bullet

*3. Points

*4. In a

*5. Row

Done in 350 words - Easy!

[Doctor Article]

Follow the advice of Angela99 and Zeus above and you can't go wrong