Introduction
I have written this article because good quality content has become more and more important on the internet and I am sharing my own experiences. This article will not make you an author overnight, but it is meant to demonstrate how you can start writing an article.
Why is content so important?
If you have been on the internet in the last few months/years, you will have seen the phrase “content is king”. This refers to the fact that the major search engines frequently change their algorithms, which means that new factors become more important to get high rankings in these search engines.
Over the years, there have been all kinds of factors such as exact match domains, page rank, backlinking, social bookmarking, etc.
Throughout all of this, one of the most important factors remains good quality content and this will become increasingly important. This was reiterated by Google’s Matt Cutts in a recent video where he was asked about backlinks and content. He was careful to say that backlinks will continue to be very important for years to come, BUT good quality content will be even more important.
Here are the steps I use to write an article:
1. Select a topic you like or know something about
This may seem like a no-brainer, but if you’re looking to build a site that will last for years, since you’ll be writing content, it’ll be easier to keep up the momentum if you have the passion.
2. Select a theme that changes frequently
It’s easier to continue writing new content if there are a lot of changes. A good example is internet marketing, where it can be difficult to keep up with changes.
For me, another good example is sports, which I follow daily. One sport in particular that I really like is association football, where a lot of things happen on a daily basis. There was an incident in English football recently where I read a very good article in the press. In fact, I was so impressed with the article that I did some research and wrote to the correspondent, who kindly wrote back and congratulated me on my article.
That gave me an idea, where I could build a football website, write a monthly newsletter and invite readers to comment. If you listen to the radio you will always find people who are passionate about their clubs and players and who want to air their points of view.
Bingo – I build a football website, write topical articles, invite readers to comment, and monetize the site. What better way to earn money than doing something I enjoy.
3. Write about what you have learned
Most of what I have learned about internet marketing is self taught.
For example, a year ago I didn’t know anything about video marketing even though I knew it was very important.
I started learning by researching and watching FREE trainings on the internet, so now I make videos in different formats.
That made me think that I should write an article on the subject and make a video. Initially, I was reluctant, as can be, as I thought, “Other people know a lot more than I do.”
That’s true, but the experts won’t necessarily walk you through the basics.
4.Research
Fortunately, there is a lot of information available on the Internet. Be careful, you can’t copy other people’s work, but you can look for ideas.
For example, if you’re interested in dog training, type it into one of the search engines and you’ll be inundated with ideas. Search forums, article directories, Wikipedia, Google news, etc.
I am a big fan of Amazon Kindle and you can find many free e-books that will give you ideas.
5. Divide the topic into chapters
This will make the task easier, remember the quote: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”
For example, if you are writing an article on search engine optimization, you might have the following chapters:
1. Introduction
2. What is SEO?
3. What are the benefits of SEO?
4. How you can use SEO
5. Close
6. Styling
This is very important. You’re not writing an article for the national press, so it’s a less formal style. Don’t worry too much at this stage about perfect grammar, just put the ideas on paper.
Although people are prepared to read a long book, their attention span is shortened on the Internet. Divide the article into short sentences and short paragraphs.
Tell the reader about your own experiences; You may not think this is important, but it is. You are showing that you are human and they feel that “you are one of them”.
Use quotes. I just went to search engines and found this quote from Robert Benchley:
“It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t put it down because I was too famous at the time.”
7. Leave the item overnight
Once you have written the article, leave it overnight as tomorrow it will look different and you may want to change it.
You may also have some more ideas. I confess that I have woken up in the middle of the night and I have written some ideas in a pad. How sad is that?
conclusion
I hope you have found this useful to help you write articles.
Normally the article only needs to be 400-500 words, but this one is over 800 words and I wrote it in just under an hour.