8 Article Writing Tips for Beginners and Students

Table of Contents

Introduction: Why Article Writing Tips are Important

When you write articles according to the time-proven article writing tips and principles, you can build a good career for fun and profit while serving your community well by letting people know about your business in a non-pushy way.

When you write articles, it’s important that you speak to someone in a language that they will understand. You should also keep in mind that when you are writing an article for marketing purposes, it should not be too promotional or salesy.

Who Needs Articles?

There are three categories of people who need article writing services.

Business owners,
Content marketers, and
Bloggers.

All these three types of people can use article writing services in one way or another to create content for their business, to promote themselves, or to get something out there.

Business owners make excellent customers for your article writing business. They are the ones who usually have a product or service that needs to be promoted through content marketing campaigns. Starting an online store, looking for ways to grow your customer base, etc., you need articles that speak directly to your audience and show them how they will benefit from using your product/service. It’s not just about creating a blog post that talks about your company’s history, it’s also about making sure that you catch the attention of potential customers to grow sales.

What Makes a Great Article?

A good article should have a captivating introduction that pushes the reader to continue reading. You also need to have a clear conclusion or takeaway.

A great article is one that draws people in and makes them want to read more. It is geared towards one type of person, so it can be very specific.

For example, if you are writing an article on how to build your own home theater system, it should be targeted towards people who are interested in building their own home theater system.

4 General Principles of Writing a Great Article

Step 1 – Stop Worrying About Your Grammar and Focus on Your Content instead!

It is a common misconception that good writing means perfect grammar and punctuation. In fact, the most important thing in good writing is the content. It needs to be engaging, entertaining and informative if it wants to be a success.

Constant checking for mistakes can distract you from the actual writing process and your ideas will start to feel stale as a result. And even if you’re not distracted by mistakes, you’ll notice that it’s hard to be creative when your focus is entirely on grammar all the time.

Step 2 – Make Sure Your Article is Well-Researched and Credible

Writing a compelling and engaging article is not an easy task. It takes hours of research, thoughtful structuring, and an element of creativity to make it stand out.

There are many ways to do research for writing articles. Some writers prefer doing the research themselves while others rely on keywords to find information online. Neither method is better or worse but there are some factors to consider when choosing one or the other.

The first step in ensuring that your article is well-researched and credible is deciding what type of content you’re writing – longform or shorter posts. Longform articles require more time spent researching, reading, and organizing information into a compelling narrative with a strong conclusion that’s both informative and entertaining at the same time.

Step 3 – Be Mindful of your Audience and Speak their Language

In this step, it is important to keep in mind your audience. Who are they? What are their concerns? What language will they understand best?

In order to reach new audiences with articles, you can use Buzzsumo as a tool. It is a great marketing platform for discovering what content is being shared on social media and then create your own content that aligns with those trending topics. This way you can reach a whole new audience and even drive traffic back to your blog.

Step 4 – Keep it Short and Informative or Entertaining. Pick One!

Images are an important part of content marketing. They can help you to tell a better story and evoke emotions in your audience. It is worth investing in high-quality images to use on your blog or website.

The best length for an article depends on your objectives, what you want to say and how much time you have to say it. For example, if the goal is to get the reader’s attention, a shorter article with a strong call-to-action (CTA) may do the trick. On the other hand a longer article may be required when you want people to take action based on your message.

8 Article Writing Tips

(1) Decide on the point of your article.

Among all the article writing tips this one is probably the most important since without it no article makes any sense.

Why are you writing it? What kind of an argument will you defend? What is the significance of the point you are trying to make? Answer these important questions before you sit down and write the first sentence.

(2) Write a strong lead to pull in the reader.

Your first sentence should grab the reader with a strong hook before you lose them. Try describing something in mid-action like “when the exam started, Bob realized he forgot his laptop at home.” The lede should be exciting, suspenseful, but true.

(3) Write your opener and conclusion as the very last thing after you’ve written the rest of your article.

Why? Because an article changes while you are writing it. As you keep writing, you discover new angles, new links, and new arguments. If you stick to a pre-set opener and conclusion, you will handcuff yourself to a predetermined template. Your creativity and freedom will suffer.

(3) Tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Here is the most basic universal format for a story: “The cat climbs up the tree. The cat cannot climb down and cries for help the whole day long. As the night sets in, a fire truck arrives and rescues the cat. The End.”

(4) Proofread your article once, twice, thrice before publishing it.

There is nothing worse than an article replete with grammar and punctuation errors. There is no excuse for it.

(5) Provide quotes.

Quotes will increase the authenticity of your article.

The best quotes come from interviews. Get in touch with experts in your subject matter and get their opinions either through email or in person. Such interviews are a great source for fresh quotes.

(6) Write every day and as many articles as you can.

Writing is a muscle. If you do not write every day, your writing muscle will get weaker. Your mind will have a harder time coming up with new ideas and connections. The act of writing is your best teacher. Trust the process and write every day.

(7) Include a CTA.

Include a call-to-action – Your article should always have a call-to-action that encourages readers to take action as soon as it’s finished reading.

(8) Use Keywords in Your Title.

It can be tempting to put all of your energy into making your article look great before worrying about keywords, but don’t forget them! If you want people to find your article when they search for specific keywords then make sure to include them in the title.

Conclusion

Be specific when you’re writing an article. Nobody wants to read vague articles with no point. Give your readers a clear idea of what they can expect from reading your content.

Be concise. Your readers do not want to read endless paragraphs with nothing valuable in them. Keep it concise and use bullets or numbered lists where possible.

And also don’t forget to be relevant. Focus on the subject of the article and be sure that your reader will learn something valuable by reading it. Don’t just repeat what everyone else is talking about, provide something new and valuable for the reader!

Follow the above principles and article writing tips for a life-long article-writing career for fun and profits.