12 Tips for Writing Articles on the Internet
By David McKenzie
Posted Tuesday, July 13, 2004
I have compiled a list of 12 tips I think should be helpful when you are writing articles on the internet.
1. Use lots of white space. People like to read in 'chunks' of information so have lots of space in your background.
2. Use short paragraphs. Following on from tip 1 keep it short and let your visitor read little pieces of information at a time.
3. Use the occasional exclamation mark (!) to get your readers attention. But please do not over use this as many people now appear to be doing.
4. Ask a question so that your visitor will read on to find the answer. This keeps the readers attention focussed.
5. Put a lot of thought and effort into your heading. If the heading does not get the visitors attention straight away then they will just move on and not even read your article. Try 'The 7 Secrets to Successfully breeding Cane Toads' rather than 'How to breed cane toads'.
6. Use bullets to quickly outline a number of points that may be important in your article. Readers can scan through these.
7. Use numbers if this is appropriate for writing an article. For example the way I am writing this article.
8. Outline the benefits to your reader. They want to know what they can get out of reading the article so portray the benefits of what you are writing about.
9. Do not waffle. This is never more important than on the internet. People get bored quickly and there are a million other articles they could be reading instead of yours. Get to the point quickly - in the very 1ST line!
10. Target your article. Make it on one topic only and stick to the topic. Do not try to write about 2 or 3 things in the same article. Keep your focus on one topic to keep the interest of your reader.
11. Conclude with a strong message. A message that summarises your article or gets your reader to take further action.
12. Finally, be humble. People admire people who are humble. Do not talk down to your readers.
Learn as much as you can about writing on the internet. It really is different to writing in the offline world. Read as many articles as you can and see which ones you find easier to read.
About the Author
David McKenzie in an author of an ebook "How To Write Free Articles and Market Them With a 0 dollar Marketing Budget". Visit (http://www.brisney.com/).
