When writing an article, for traditional or electronic media, you need to play up to the psychology of your audience. They’re only going to keep reading as long as they are getting something from you, so what is it they’re after?

In the first instance, they want to be empowered. When they click off of your webpage, they want to know or be capable of more than they were when they started. Whether you are writing an information or opinion piece, the same point stands.

If you are writing an information piece, Five Steps to a Perfect Blog, for example, make your five steps as clear as possible. That means not only saying what your reader must do to achieve their aim, but also pointing out potential pitfalls and traps that can be easily avoided. Knowledge should never be assumed. Omitting supposedly ‘obvious’ details is as bad as patronising your reader.

And always leave them wanting more – remember how Scherezade in Arabian Nights extended her life by never completing her story? Well, what will keep your readers coming back? There may be a tangential point included in the article, or you may wish to divide a major topic across several posts, but if your original article is giving something to your readers, they’ll be back for the sequel.

Talk to Write My Site if you would like to explore business blogging, article  PR or SEO copywriting. All work is covered by our Quality Guarantee to ensure you’re 100% satisfied with your content.

When it comes to writing an article for web publication, structure is king. It allows you to outline your key ideas and creates an obvious path for the reader to follow you down as you expand upon your introduction. Follow our bulletpoint guide for succinct, effective article writing.

The basic structure when writing an article is simple:

• Your introduction should outline the following paragraphs and any through-line of the article you’re writing. You want to grab your reader’s attention right away, so don’t be afraid to open with a potentially controversial statement or leading question.

• The body of your article will then expand upon these points each in turn. There should be no more than one point per paragraph and each should meld seamlessly into the next, which will enable your reader to follow the train of thought more clearly.

• Your summary will draw these points together and bring out any conclusions to be drawn from them. This is the time to answer any leading questions raised in your introduction – don’t leave your audience hanging or confused as to your intentions.

• It has often been said that a good article shares many attributes with a strong public address – it should have a carefully considered tone, flow logically and fit within the allotted time frame. This comparison can be taken a step further – an acid test is to read aloud your article once written. This will help you identify any cracks in the structure – points where the text is stilted or unclear. If the article works in speech, then you know the writing is sound!

To experience the full range of benefits that article writing can bring, take a look at Write My Site’s unusual article marketing service.

Social media success stories wanted!

Not too long ago we wrote an article about guest blogging. We’re now extending a cordial invitation to you, our readers, to be our guests on this blog. If you’d like to contribute an article to the Write My Site blog (with a link back to your website, of course) please drop us a line at info@writemysite.co.uk with the words “Guest Article” as the headline.

We’re looking for contributions from companies who’ve successfully used social media, blogging or article marketing to promote their products and services. If you’ve achieved results using these marketing methods, we’d love to hear from you.

Content has to be at the centre of a successful link building strategy. That’s the verdict from Bing, the new search engine from Microsoft which aims to rival Google. The search engine’s webmaster blog clearly states:

“We’ve said it before, and you’ll hear it said again: content is king. Providing high-quality content on your pages is the single most important thing you can do to attract inbound links.

“If your content is unique and useful to people, your site will naturally attract visitors and, as a result, automatically get good links to your site. By focusing on great content, over time, your site will naturally acquire those coveted inbound links.”

Here are Bing’s top tips for stellar web content:

•  Develop your site as a business brand and be consistent about that branding in your content

•  Identify relevant industry experts, product reviewers, bloggers, and media people and let them know about your site and its content

•  Write and publish concise, informative press releases online as developments warrant

•  Publish expert articles to online article directories

•  Participate in relevant blogs and forums and refer back to your site’s content when applicable (Note that some blogs and forums add the rel=”nofollow” attribute to links created in user-generated content (UGC). While creating links to your content in these locations won’t automatically create backlinks for search engines, readers who click through and like what they find may create outbound links to your site, and those are good.)

•  Use social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to connect to industry influencers to establish contacts, some of whom may connect back to you (be sure you have your profiles set up with links back to your website first)

•  Create an online newsletter on your site with e-mail subscription notifications

•  Launch a blog or interactive user forum on your site

•  Join and participate in relevant industry associations and especially in their online forums

•  Ultimately, strive to become a trusted expert voice for your industry and let people know that your website contains your published wit and wisdom