Are you a content writer looking for an in-depth article writing guide? Then, you have come to the right place! It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur or an expert, it is never too late to learn how to write an article. It can be confusing when you want to write a professional article, since there are so many things you need to keep in mind in order to achieve that. We have listed the steps of article writing to guide you in your process of article writing.
An article is generally informative and straight-forward, unlike blogs which can be humorous and twisty. To write a professional article, you need to be fact-based and use infographics, diagrams or graphs to give out information to your readers. An article writer has no room for expressing personal ideas or opinions. He/ she resembles a journalist in many ways. This article writing guide is going to show you the steps to venture into the world of article writing, as it is very popular in the content industry. To know more, about the steps of article writing, keep reading.
Step 1: Decide Your Topic
The first step of article writing is to decide on a topic. You need to come up with something original. It has to be related to the popular topics on search engines. You cannot choose something too ambiguous as users might never find it. It has to be something controversial so that you can cast a wide net for readers. It should be interesting and gripping. It is the most important part when you want to write a professional article, as it will also decide your target audience and scope for readership.
Follow these STEPS TO IDENTIFY THE TARGET AUDIENCE: KNOW WHAT IS MARKET to narrow down your targeted readers. Moreover, it will determine your tone and vocabulary too. And, will direct you to the amount of research you have to put into it.
Step 2: Do a Thorough Research
Any good article writing guide will emphasize on the amount of research that goes into article writing. Articles mostly function on researches, surveys and examinations. You have to go through the details comprehensively and mention them correctly in your article. An article just gives its readers all the information at its disposal so that the readers might form their own opinions. If you are not thorough with your research and put any incorrect information, it will result in a bad reputation for both you and your company. In some cases, you might even face legal charges. Therefore, it is always advisable to be research-oriented in article writing.
Step 3: Make a Draft
The next step of article writing is to make a draft. If you want to write a professional article, you cannot write it in one go. There is a process of trial and error involved in article writing. You may need to make a rough draft first and polish it again and again till you get the final product. This process is long and perhaps boring. But you need to keep making drafts until you have perfected your work and are satisfied with it. Here we have listed down some of the 10 TIPS FROM A PERFECTIONIST TO ENHANCE YOUR SKILL IN WEBSITE CONTENT WRITING. At the end of the day, your readers will appreciate the effort.
Step 4: Use the Inverted Pyramid Method
The Inverted Pyramid method is used in the world of journalism and you might find it useful in the content writing world as well. In this method, the most important information is put in the first few lines, the body consists of lesser important information and the conclusion sums up the whole article. If people do not want to read the whole articles, they just glance at the first few lines and get the most vital pieces of information. To write a professional article, make it compact and precise while you arrange your information in a specific manner.
Step 5: Do a Plagiarism Check
This is one of the most important parts of our article writing guide. You must avoid plagiarism at all cost and produce 100% original work. If your work has plagiarism, it will cause in a bad impression from readers. Your website will also receive a bad reputation. In some severe plagiarism cases, your website might even get sued legally or loose rankings on the search results. There are online plagiarism checkers that are quick, free and effective like SmallSEOTools and Copyscape. Here are some of THE BEST ONLINE PLAGIARISM CHECKERS AVAILABLE. You must use these tools to eliminate any plagiarized content in your work.
To learn about plagiarism in more detail, read our blog on WHAT IS PLAGIARISM & WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR BLOG WRITING?
Step 6: Do a Readability test
A readability test is a very important aspect of content writing. Here we have discussed about READABILITY TESTS: KNOWLEDGE REQUIRED TO DO A READABILITY TEST ONLINE so that you can proof-read your work correctly and make it error-free. Your work must have the required amount of ease that is essential for your intended audience. It is the last step of article writing as it will determine how effectively your work will appeal to its audience. If your article is too difficult, your audience won’t be interested to read the whole thing.
There are various readability tests that you can avail. One of the popular test is flesch-kincaid test. Click this guide on FLESCH-KINCAID READABILITY TESTS AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN SEO OPTIMISATION to conduct it for your writings.
It is not easy to write a professional article due to the amount of research and skill it entails. This article writing guide has given you the idea involved behind each step. It would take you a bit of practice before you start writing articles that are worth publishing. If you keep all the above guidelines mentioned in this post, you will get an early head start. Next, check out THE ABSOLUTE GUIDE TO BLOG WRITING.
