10 Effective Tips To Improve Your Articles
Freelance writers are always looking for ways to make their articles sound smarter, gain more engagement and become more effective overall.
Here are ten tips to help improve your articles:
1. Make sure you are saying something
There is nothing worse than a promising headline that under delivers in the content. Make sure, before you start a new piece, that you have a point (or several), and that you can explain that point clearly. Keep your target audience in mind and always consider what they would find useful, what they would want to know.
2. Stay specific
When it comes to writing useful articles you should keep them short and sweet. That’s not to say going in-depth isn’t a good thing but instead you should always be looking for ways to trim the fat and eliminate fluff. Stay specific and on topic and get rid of anything unnecessary from your text.
3. Use simple language
Unless you are writing specifically for an academic audience, don’t over complicate your content with excessively long or hard to understand words. Simple, clear, and precise wins every time.
4. Use short sentences
Simplicity also extends to how you construct your piece. Using short sentences, where possible, will hold your reader's attention and make it easier to read your text.
5. Write in the active voice
To write in the active voice, you should use the SVO sequence: Subject, Verb, Object. While this isn’t always possible, the active voice does bring immediacy to the writing and helps create better clarity over who is doing what.
6. Create white space
Keep paragraphs short, use bullets, insert images and leave white space between and around your words. This helps people skim read and makes your writing look less dense and thus becomes easier to read.
7. Create a call to action
Every piece of writing has a purpose. What’s yours? Make sure your article includes a clear call to action; otherwise you could be missing a trick.
8. Try not to ramble
If you are trying to hit a particular word count, but you are struggling, avoid the temptation of rambling to try and get there. You readers will lose interest, and your point won’t come across. Just say what you’ve got to say in the most direct possible way and try not to worry if your article isn’t as long as you hoped.
9. Don’t be repetitive
The same goes for repeating yourself. If you say it well, you’ll only need to say it once!
10. Become a pro editor
The more eagle-eyed you are, the more likely it is that you’ll send off or publish your piece error-free. If you can avoid mistakes and spelling or grammatical errors, your piece will be polished and professional, and your readers will thank you for that!
Use the above tips to help produce more effective, engaging articles that you can be proud of.
Bethany Cadman -author of 'Doctor Vanilla's Sunflowers'
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