The Do's and Dont's of Article Writing: Article Writing Tricks & Tips

Every business needs to publish content and that too regularly to attract, grow, and entertain its audience. While everybody needs great content, they essentially need the right people to write the required content.

As a content writer, it is important to know how to write for your audience.

An article with good content is more likely to attract the attention of potential readers, so it’s essential to understand what makes a good article.

The old cliche- 'Content is king' is always going to be there. This means the content is always important for any business.

Writing articles means you need to be smart and follow the right way to write for your audience. It does not matter how hard or easy it is, as long as you are smart about what kind of article each reader needs at that point in time.

However, most newbie writers miss the most important tricks of article writing. Chances are they might or might not be aware of SEO writing.

Thus, in this guide, we have shared the various Do's and Dont's of Article writing along with the article writing tips and strategies.

The Do’s of article writing

Remember to be professional

So meticulously researching, validating, and writing for your clients offers them a sense of total confidence in you.

But making an incorrect assumption might break the spell. Even the most well-intentioned client will lose respect for you if he/she notices false information or errors in your articles.

Don’t write on behalf of someone else without checking all publishing details with him/her first.

Do research thoroughly before writing about any kind of article marketing product’s particulars including its requirements, cost structure, etc.

Every article marketing consulting service has its own unique template which is different from the template of your company.

Make sure you have the customers' permission before writing an article for them, this is important because once they don't approve it then it's difficult to get their approval in the future.

Of course, there are various steps involved in the process of article writing, but basically, each step is to make your content more engaging and meaningful for the reader.

Make sure it is meaningful for the readers

For many writers, article writing is a big chunk of time committed to reading the same thing over and over again. And post-reading that article, they then go back into their boxes of articles that are stored in Google Docs or Wordpad.

That doesn't make sense!

What you want is to get a new readership of your content because what's old needs changing with time anyway. Yes, it will take more time for a new methodology but the result is worth it.

This is how the experts on the Internet make their credibility.

Don't stuff with large graphics and media files

Graphics look good because they explain the writer's statement more clearer.

But, what most marketers suggest is to not overdo these images and videos. Whatever it is that you are presenting, avoid using overly complex graphics.

You should include some simple infographic design with an article or a section that explains.

This will help you promote your content through the media-friendly templates and images section on your blog/website, which makes the readers more attentive to what they see.

These elements become an attraction for them to check out details about us or order our products.

Remember to Proofread your content

Proofreading and editing are like fine-tuning your content. It can make a huge difference in its quality and appeal to readers, especially those who know nothing about the subject matter you're writing on.

There is no better time or place to do these than after you've written it because you will eliminate any mistakes that may have slipped through the cracks at the draft stage and also after sending it off for review.

Make sure to check for grammar and sentence formation in your content. Apart from this, it is the tonality that matters for most content marketing experts. Make sure to check for any spelling errors or fluff in your content.

Write unique content

The point of writing an article or blog post is to reach out and inform your readers. But without a well-written structure, engaging ideas, and compelling content, you'll be doomed from the get-go.

Besides all this, the content should be unique. By unique, it doesn't mean to be plagiarism-free here.

Your content must have personal opinions and additional useful information other than what your industry competitors have written about.

Keep sentences and paragraphs short

Most content marketing experts keep this as a priority. Short sentences are easier to read and understand.  

The goal is to make the reading easier for your target audience.

Search engines as well as the readers love short paragraphs and easy sentences. In general, the readability level must be that of a 4th grader.

Pick A Niche That Is Best For You

You can't be skilled and passionate about everything. If you are opting for a writing career, it is important to narrow the niche or industry that you will be writing for.

You must have exemplary content writing skills along with a knack for that subject.

It is tempting to choose a topic that will earn you the most money, but be careful. The more specialized the industry or niche is, the higher its competition level.

Practice Content Writing

Writers must create engaging content for their target audience or be willing to craft it themselves based on what they know best. But, you can't improve your skills until you practice content writing.

Take up the challenge and work on the content that is in your niche.  You can create a free blog on any blogging platform and write your content there to get feedback from the experts. And, you never know you might get some potential customers there.

Learn and Master SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for writers is vital if you want your website to rank higher in search engines.

SEO merely doesn't mean to include the keywords into your content. The article should have a compelling meta description, heading tags, external and internal links, and the use of LSI keywords.

Readability also plays an important role and search engines might take it as one factor to rank the content. Thus, it is advisable to keep the sentences short and divide long content into various sections.

Read our guide to master the art of SEO writing.

Don'ts of Article Writing  

Do Not Use Complicated Vocabulary

Even if you are writing for a professional website, there must be an easier-to-read option.  Do Not Convey too much Information in just one sentence.

The content should flow smoothly and help the reader learn more about one thing rather than bombard them with too much information which they may not comprehend.

The best practices of good writing should have easy-to-understand words. Do not complicate the content in a way where your readers had to switch to the dictionary to understand the context.

Above all, avoid using Over-the-top vocabulary and too much jargon in the web content.

Avoid wordy content or repetition of words

Wordy content is not only boring the readers, but it is also bad for SEO.

You can use Word Count to determine how many words you have written so far. Use common sense when deciding on where to "cut" down your writing every now and then so as not to waste space or write unnecessary words.

You can use shorter versions of difficult phrases or replace them with synonyms in order to improve readability and enforce consistency within your post. It is always a good idea to come up with different words and unique sentences.

Do not do keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing is a common technique to place keywords in your content without an appropriate relevance. This will make you lose the trust of the reader and leave them with bad memories after they abandon their visit.

Remember that search engine ranking factors such as keyword diversity, keyword usage, and frequent use of different variations of words will play a pivotal role in how your site performs rankings for relevant terms.

Do not write thin content

It depends mostly on the industry or your client's requirements, but most writers suggest avoiding thin content. A content of around 500 words is not enough to make an online presence.

There is no need to write anything that can be misinterpreted or such content which may confuse your readers. The long content should be informative and useful for your readers.

Don’t write an ineffective conclusion

Last but not the least, focus on the conclusion of your article. The conclusion is the summary of your article and all the points you have presented.

Your conclusion should reach out to your readers and provide a call to action profile.

A call to action is cited because it will help your customer to provide an immediate action based on your parameters.

Do not use too many personal stories

Personal experiences are good for writing but you should not overdo it as it might seem as fake even if its not.

Remember, the best practices require organization and striking a balance. If you are writing on a behalf of CEOs or CTOs, personal stories with appreciable jargon would go well.

Conclusion

Copywriting or article writing is a unique skill that you can learn, hone, and improve over time. Just like with every other professional exercise, there are some things you are supposed to do and not do in content writing.

While the majority of people will be happy with just submitting their articles to the search engines or simply using the content marketing strategy without much planning, these are not good ideas at all.

Before you start writing, you should be clear about your target audience and content creation plans. You also need to consider the format of your article, which is very important.

Put an equal amount of interest and energy into every piece of writing. Do not spend too much time thinking about the introduction or conclusion. That's why we have got the Scalenut AI Writing Assistant for you.

Scalenut SEO Assistant will help you with writer's block and create a compelling article.  The great thing about the tool is that it’s free, so you can try it out for yourself before deciding whether or not to invest in the full version.

It won’t take long to get started, and if you do decide to buy, there are no hidden fees or extra charges.

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