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How To Get Your Articles Read

Guest post by: GT Bulmer

Article Overview: The sad truth about writing articles is that no matter how well they are written they are virtually worthless if people don’t read them. The purpose of an article is to inform, educate, entertain or otherwise enlighten a reader. If you are going to put the effort into writing an article, you should also format it in a way that is appealing to the reader. Here are five tips on how to get your articles read.

How To Get Your Articles Read

The sad truth about writing articles is that no matter how well they are written they are virtually worthless if people don’t read them. The purpose of an article is to inform, educate, entertain or otherwise enlighten a reader. If you are going to put the effort into writing an article, you should also format it in a way that is appealing to the reader. Here are five tips on how to get your articles read.

First, a note about your intended audience: everybody’s interests, expectations and reading styles are different. You can’t please everybody, but you can present your text and your message in a lively and organized way that keeps your ideas flowing forward and is comfortable for people to read. If your sentence or paragraph structure is awkward or uncomfortable you could lose your reader.

One more note before we get into the structure of an appealing article: the more knowledgeable you are about your subject, obviously, the better quality your article will be. Write about something you know about, or take the time to research the subject so you can include greater detail and depth.

Here are five tips to help make your articles interesting and get them read:

1. Begin With a Snappy Title or Headline: Your title must be directly relevant to the key point or purpose of the article. The use of keywords is fine but keep the title as short as possible. As much as is possible in a few words, your title should create curiosity or hint at providing a solution to a problem your targeted audience may be experiencing.

2. Use Short Paragraphs: It is very important to break your article up into bite sized pieces. Long paragraphs, and especially articles with no paragraphs, are tedious and tiring to read. Many potential readers will either turn away from an article with long paragraphs, or they will give up reading the article before they get to the end.

The average paragraph should be two or three sentences long with occasional shorter and longer paragraphs mixed in. It is good to mix them up because variety appeals to readers.

3. Numbers and Bullets: Another way to break up the format of an article and present it in an interesting way is to include numbers or bullet points. Readers respond well to articles that include these elements. In some cases, it is the bullet points that caught the reader’s attention in the first place and motivated him or her to read the complete article.

Start your article with an introductory paragraph or two, then insert your key points as numbered or bullet points, and then close your article with a wrap-up paragraph or two.

4. Sub-Headings: As an alternative to numbers and bullets, you can use sub-headings or sub-titles to break up your key points and ideas. The sub-heading should be short and clearly relevant to the idea that will fall under it. Sub-headings are ideal for presenting a subject in an orderly, step-by-step manner that keeps the reader interested and moving forward through the article.

5. Quality Content: Depending on the nature and purpose of an article, you may want to include content elements such as personal stories, examples, metaphors and similes to illustrate your points, and facts and figures to give perspective and make the article authoritative.

The subject of quality content, technique and style is a topic that could be covered in an article of its own. Basically, you should keep your articles professional in appearance, respectable in presentation, friendly in style and comfortable to read.

The main focus of this article has been to provide you with a few tips to help improve the structure and appeal of your articles.

The happy truth is that there is a market out there for your articles and if you take a few extra minutes to research your topic, write informative content, and structure the article in an appealing manner, you will attract the readers you seek.

Now, as you contemplate your next writing project, be sure to apply the insight you have gained here on how to get your articles read.

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Article Tags: get your articles read, home business resources, how to write articles, internet marketing, writing articles, writing tips



Related Forum Posts
Re: How can I promote my site? - Hey, Since your site is a video sharing site, I would suggest you to use Chill .com it will be really helpful I can assure if used effectively. Try to bookmark each of your video URL on top social bookmarking sites and share in social networks. Apart from that you can also write few articles related to the video say 2-3 and submit to top article sites like Ezine Articles, Articles Base. Make a guest post in a related niche blog and frame a interesting post with catchy title and in the end you can mention how will it be useful watching the video to understand and post the link.
Re: Looking for a Blog topic? - Great advice GT. This and every other quality forum, every book you read, every article or website can be a source for your own writing. Find a topic, blog about it and LINK BACK to the source (or acknowledge the author if it is a book - or add an Amazon link). Every time you link out a good site you are giving your readers value. Don't worry about losing traffic or getting/not getting back-links. Just DO IT! It will make your blog much more informative and therefore more valuable and more attractive. The best blogs always have tons of links heading out to whatever good stuff the blogger finds. Read, learn, write, link. Read, learn... etc.
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Jan 21, 2011 - I'm already working my way down the list. Read 3 of them so far. Thanks as always!
Re: Don’t worry, Enrich your life and Be happy - [quote="lisa":1rc4ik2q]Start saying positive things especially about yourself. How you communicate to yourself affects your thinking and your emotions, as well as your self-esteem.Change your mental pictures. What and how you see yourself and your surroundings make a difference to your thinking.Read more. Read about how those people who fought fear with courage and succeeded in life. Through reading, you will gain new knowledge and understanding and it will help you clear whatever is blocking your thinking and create more ideas. [/quote:1rc4ik2q] Lisa is right about this. Positive self talk can really make a difference. When you catch yourself saying something negative (whether verbally or just thinking it), turn it around and make it into the opposite. You have to remember to do this continually until it's just habit that the positive thought/saying becomes the first thing you hear instead of the second. It becomes automatic.
Re: February 14 Triple Crown Update - Yes, since we started the contest Jay has won every time for the Referred Articles category!


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