The 3 Rules of Writing Engaging Articles That Attract an Audience

How to suck people into your stories and have them begging for more

With Medium’s over 100 million readers, there are a lot of opportunities for writers to get published and attract readers. But just writing article after article without a human element won’t work. You need to write engaging articles that draw readers to you. And the strongest method of attracting readers is by creating an emotional connection.

There are 3 rules for writing emotionally engaging content.

Rule #1: Be real and don’t make things up

Use actual people and events in your stories. Your readers will recognize when you create fictional people and situations. And they’ll know you’ve done it to boost engagement.

There are millions of authentic life situation stories that you can use when writing. You don’t have to resort to making things up. And puffing up a story just to get engagement may end up hurting you.

Rule #2: Be human and approachable

When writing a how-to article or a product review, you need a human connection. Without it, it’s almost guaranteed people won’t read it. People want to know how other people have benefited from a process or product. They want to read testimonials of a life event and not a list of facts.

Adding the human experience to a story creates interest and curiosity. If you can’t find a testimonial, but you have an experience that relates to your article, use your own story. Just be careful not to write a diary. Keep your reader in mind. They don’t care about the details of your life story; they only care about how your story will help them.

Rule #3: Tell a story and your readers will love it

People love to hear a wonderful story. And the more emotionally relatable the story, the better they’ll like it.

Pharmaceutical commercials thrive on human condition stories. They show average people in normal settings. Then they weave into the story a medical problem and how their product will help resolve it. People will watch the commercial. If they find an emotional connection with the symptoms, they’ll call their doctor.

That’s what, as writers, we need to do. We need to build a strong enough emotional connection that our readers will act upon it. Whether your aim is to share information or to elicit a response, you want your reader to keep reading to the end.

Final thoughts

People want information, but they want it served in a way that engages them. They don’t want to read a made-up story. They want to read about actual events. And they don’t want cold, hard facts. They want to find out how other people resolved a problem or learned from a situation.

People love to read a story that they can emotionally connect with. So give it to them. They’ll love you for it.

Get writing.