The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention

by Nicolas Cole

The usual mistake writers make here is they try to fit too many ideas into one single piece of content. Instead of writing the single best article on “How To Land Your First Client As A Freelance Photographer,” they write an article that touches a bit on clients, and a bit on lenses, and a bit on accounting, and a bit on photo editing. Even though the title is telling the reader, “I’m about to give you an Actionable Guide,” they’ve unconsciously written a Curated List instead—leaving their reader confused and unfulfilled. Anytime you fail to deliver on your promise to a reader, you’ve lost them. Instead, you should write one article exclusively about “How To Land Your First Client As A Freelance Photographer.” If any thought, insight, opinion, statistic, story, or random anecdote doesn’t have to do with that one specific topic, it shouldn’t be in the piece. Period. “How To Choose Your First Lens As A Freelance Photographer” should be a second, separate article. “How To Handle Your Own Accounting As A Freelance Photographer” should be a third, separate article. And so on, ensuring the promise you make to your reader is delivered on to the very best of your ability.