Article Writing Tips

by WebDiva7

Posted: 13 years ago 25 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

I am pursuing my BS in Business. The course I am taking now is Effective Communication. One of the sections pertains to web writing. I wanted to share because there are a lot of people who think Internet Marketing is a sham, but having tips from a textbook in a college course really brings everything full circle. And "they" call it Online Advertising.

Web Writing Tip:When a reader visits your website, you want to persuade him or her to respond in some way. Use the following 14 tips to help you get the response you want.

Always focus on the needs, wants, and desires of your readers.
Grab attention in the first line.
Chat" on paper to someone you know. Don't write to people in general.
Concentrate on the benefits (not the features) of your solution, service, or product.
Give specific, relevant information and don't be vague.
Use action verbs and write conversationally.
Be concise, but say what is necessary.
Provide a guarantee.
Keep your sentences short. (Maximum of 16 words on average)
Keep paragraphs short. (Maximum of five lines)
Tell your readers exactly what they need to do.
Always include a postscript with an incentive to act now.
Bold your headlines, use white space, and align your text to the left.
Ask someone to read your text aloud. If they frown, hesitate, or stumble, rewrite.

Source:
Chapter 5: Writing Persuasively on Paper and in Electronic Formats
Author: Deborah Britt Roebuck, Mary Ann McKenney

#article #tips #writing

Alfred23 13 years ago

Thanks for sharing! You start out with great ideas. Just follow the article writing tips discussed above and you shall observe significant differences on your articles.
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lewcrippen12 13 years ago

Nice tips
If any article is written according to your tips then its the considered as perfect article. I must fallow your tips to make my article best.
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alphaxyz 13 years ago

wow, thanks for the info. i need some guidelines to start writing articles and this is a good one

Jake.
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- rahuljain 13 years ago
  
  All these are really nice tips and I will surely follow for my site.
  
  Thanks
  
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amirsen 13 years ago

Really, no doubt your trick is very fantastic and fabulous for article writing yes you wrote well we should focus mainly main point and verbs should be action and well thanks for sharing so much important trick.
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Ashawndra Michelle 13 years ago

you know your stuff and girl i kno the feelin :/

in the east coast of NC and a fisherman town at that lol

Id like to add somthing else on your list

15. VALUE VALUE VALUE!!!!! Always add high quality content in whatever you put out online nobody want to read rehashed material and by adding in Quality Content your sure to find yourself with people ready to hear what you have to say. Its only a matter of time

All the best,
Ashawndra Michelle
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Jesse in Portland 13 years ago

Great Tips! I think number 6 is so important. Good writing is never passive - keep it lively and you can't go wrong.
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Hoodyy 13 years ago

These are some fantastic guidelines to follow.

Everytime I write an article from now on I'm going to comeback here and use that as a check list before publishing the article
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Jacqueline Smith 13 years ago

Great writing tips. I'm not one to be too impressed with what is taught in schools these days but I'm impressed.

Thanks!

Slugger....Best you apologize to the OP for your spam posting on her thread....then apologize for your "stupid warrior forum" comment and....you might just not get banned.....maybe. We tend to respect each otehr around here and hope you can learn to do the same.
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tpw 13 years ago

Nice tips. I am actually surprised to see someone in the offline world beginning to understand the nuances of writing online.
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KevinTorrence 13 years ago

Sounds like a nice, concise version of good ($$$) copy writing programs I've bought. :-)
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- celente 13 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by KevinTorrence
  
  Sounds like a nice, concise version of good ($$$) copy writing programs I've bought. :-)
  
  Yes, good point..... aren't all articles built around the AIDA principles in copy writing.
  
  “A” = Attention
  
  The first A equals getting the attention of your readers. This can be in the form of a headline but should also pertain to your introductory paragraph. If you don’t get the attention of your customer immediately, you’ve lost them for good. If your headline and first paragraph don’t hook them, the rest of your copy will never be read.
  
  But exactly how do you get your customer’s attention? The answer is simple: You do it by generating an emotion and setting up a situation. Let’s play with fear and greed for a moment. If, for example, you are selling an ebook with extremely good information about setting up an online business, these two emotions would be key because almost every “would be Internet entrepreneur” has a certain amount of greed (wants to make a lot of money doing it “his way”) and also has fear (questioning what if it doesn’t work and my family has no money).
  
  You may have heard that your headline should play to the biggest benefit. This is definitely true but not exclusive. You can also play on emotions in your headline and address a fear, pump up their egos or offer the answer to a burning question.
  
  If you choose to present a benefit, make sure it is indeed a “benefit” and not a “feature.” A feature is an aspect of your product or service. A software company might have a word processing program that offers spell check. This is a feature of the software program. The benefit of spell check is that your documents will look professional and be free of spelling errors. Professionalism and accuracy are the benefits of the spell check feature.
  
  Don’t tout that your product or service has a particular feature… sing the praises of the emotion-filled benefit (or end result) of using your product or service.
  
  “I” = Interest
  
  OK, we’ve gotten their attention… now we must focus on building their interest and supporting what we’ve told them thus far.
  
  Again… think back to your own buying experiences. You love the body style and the interior is just perfect! You really want this car but now you start to have a twinge of reality. You’re not yet to the justification stage, but you wonder if this is truly the car for you. When building interest, you must show your prospective customer that your car IS the car for him/her.
  
  The keys here are benefits, emotions, benefits, and emotions! (NOTE: one way of building interest is to include sub headlines throughout your copy.)
  Next, the buyer embarks on the ever-challenging task of justifying his/her purchase. Especially if it’s a large purchase. Our interest section should also use emotions to address the fact that this purchase is a good bargain, the right step, a sound decision, etc. But in addition to that, we need to let the customer know what will happen if he/she doesn’t buy our product or service.
  
  Depending on the product, the negative result might be the fact that he miss all those stares from beautiful women, his hair will continue to get thinner and thinner, he will have to struggle to get all the information he needs for launching his online business or any other consequences. The goal here is to create a few statements that will cause the customer to say, “Oh! I didn’t think of that!”
  
  “D” = Desire
  
  The “D” in AIDA indicates the desire to buy. Your first section is the set up… getting their attention and letting them know exactly how you can fulfill their dreams. The second is building up their interest and triggering the emotions that will make them feel good about the purchase (and letting them know what will happen if they DON’T purchase). But the third (the desire section) really turns on the charm. It is written to tug on the heartstrings in order to create that final desire to buy.
  
  Perhaps the biggest benefit of our imaginary ebook is that the reader will be in an excellent position to set up and run his/her own Internet business. Customers will have all the information they need right at their fingertips. That’s great! But… deep down inside your customers have two desires. The first is the desire to succeed… not just “run a business.” The second is the desire to obtain more freedom… the most common reasons sited for starting a business.
  
  Remember how the buyers’ mind works… right now they are open to anything. This is the best time to pump them up and get them excited about your product or service. They have not yet come to the justification stage where price might play a factor. While always, ALWAYS being truthful, the “desire” aspect of your copy should portray the best and biggest benefits your customers will receive. It should speak to the joys of being able to leave work and run an errand in the middle of the day.
  
  It should talk about not having to put up with odd looks from the boss every time you need to leave early because your child is sick and other things that would-be entrepreneurs dream of. Make their mouths water!
  
  “A” = Action
  
  The final A in AIDA stands for action. During the action phase of copywriting, we must give them enough motivational cause to take action and buy. At the moment we get to this point, the customers should have all the information they need. We – as copywriters – will have walked them through each step of the buying process and emotional journey to the point of purchase.
  
  Alot of the articles I choose to write and brings in lots of sales does this the best. It is hard to master, but one you hit that button, look out. That sales and optins come in fast.
  
  Thanks
  
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Sarah S 13 years ago

This is a very helpful set of guidelines! I found this one interesting, it's not on the usual lists of writing tips:

Originally Posted by WebDiva7

[*] Ask someone to read your text aloud. If they frown, hesitate, or stumble, rewrite.

Thanks for sharing!
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mleopold 13 years ago

That's a great checklist to help start an article, or for those who write well, a way to go back through their article to verify they 'dotted the I's and crossed the T's'.
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Janice Sperry 13 years ago

Great tips. A few of these I was doing naturally or by instinct. The list is a great way to think more consciously about it however. This is a keeper that I am printing out.
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chengnuomima 13 years ago

good tips,I'm also learning how to write my seo article
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- LinkPark 13 years ago
  
  Thank you for these tips! I think i should rewrite some of my articles ;-/
  
  Thanks
  
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Fun to Write 13 years ago

These are good tips for web page copy in general. They can also be used as a blueprint for writing articles.

However, "ad sales" (which I think of as Adwords, video, banner ads) is totally different than writing benefit-oriented web copy.
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StephanieMojica 13 years ago

Focus on your target market's pain and your unique solution; this will help you get more people toward your website.

For example, the pain of some business owners is getting more clients (money!) Your solution should focus on the potential pleasure, such as "explode your profits in just days..."

Good luck!

Stephanie
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tandren544 13 years ago

Great stuff! I need to remember to use #11 more often.
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Drizlek 13 years ago

I have to admit, seeing this kind of information in a book meant to teach college students is good stuff. What surprises me is that the information they are giving is actually good information, not just some filler garbage.

And yes, number 11 is one that all of us need to keep in mind.
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FatterMike 13 years ago

Great guidelines! really useful to make good content, any advice on the article title? I always suck when it comes to title.
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Mark R Carter 13 years ago

These are excellent suggestions and a must for every new marketer starting out. Thanks for sharing.
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SamFrankly84 13 years ago

Gah! I'm loving this forum so much more than a few others I've visited because everything here, this post included, is top quality. (Sorry, I couldn't help myself. )

Anyway, this is definitely spot-on with everything I know about article writing. I'd like to also say that focusing on a person's problem (and why it's not their fault) is extremely helpful.
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bestitrix 13 years ago

There are different ways to approach writing but you've made some valid points in regards to grabbing their attention and then getting them interested on a product. Great Post
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