What I Have Learnt after Writing 100+ Articles.
What makes a good article?
Why do some writer’s succeed, and why do others fail? It’s not a hard question, the successful writers write better articles and are good at marketing their articles, whilst I’m not going to delve into the marketing department, I’ve read a lot of good articles, and found some common characteristics.
They have some form of personal experience.
Good articles are inspired by experiences that have happened in a person’s life. I’d go as far as to say, the best pieces of art as a whole are from personal experience. With many self-help articles and dating articles, we see that they list down some interpretations of solutions, and then we hope to provide some value and make money.
What happens with these articles is that they provide hope but, they’re not helpful. They don’t make lasting change, and I’m guilty on many counts of writing like this, and after about 100 articles, I have realised that it’s good to advise with topics that you have experience with.
I can’t write an article on dating, it wouldn’t be of any value. I’m 18 years old and my relationships have been a few high school flings. There’s no substance and no value provided for the reader, this brings me onto my next point…
Good Articles Provide Value.
Our readers pay money to have access to a vast array of articles. They pay about $5 a month to read, and the best writers acknowledge this fact. My question to you is, can you give more than $5 back to the reader? If a person reads your article, how effective will it be for them?
If I were to write about dating it wouldn’t be so effective, on the spot, I can only think of two pieces of advice, ask a person out if you like them and be a good listener, that’s it. Frankly, that’s not worth $5. I have had a phone addiction and a lot of screen time with too much tech, so I can write about that, as I have done here:
When you write an article, think about the reader, what point do you want to get across to them? Here, I wanted to help my readers with their digital life. Is it from my personal experience? Yep, the opening paragraph documents my struggles with digital media.
If you want to provide value, do not target the masses. Everyone has different problems that you and I may not understand. It’s wise to think of an ideal candidate for your article, in the case above, the ideal candidate was a person who struggles with time offscreen and falls into different YouTube rabbit holes.
They are Edited Well.
Sometimes you may read an article, and it may feel like one long wordfest. The best writers have well-edited articles. Editing is a valuable skill to have, and it makes you into a better writer. Generally, you want your story to be well-written, compelling, and free of typos. Grammarly is a great tool to edit your articles.
Is your story well-formatted? The best writers make sure their stories have clear beginnings, middles and ends, the language clear and concise.
Be specific, don’t beat around the bush, Niklas Goke is great at this, you don’t have to use complex language to sound smart, on the contrary, show your intelligence by simplifying a complex topic. Don’t use clickbait headlines, and please back your story with some evidence.
Good articles are not overdone.
Any great athlete knows when to walk away and retire, likewise any good writer knows when it’s time to stop writing. I used to struggle with this, but now I’ve overcome this problem.
You get a nagging feeling when you’re overfilling your article, that’s when it is time to go, like I am now, bye-bye, I hope this article helps you!