How to Grab and Keep Your Readers' Attention

If you're like me, your goal as an article writer is to keep readers so absorbed in what you've written that they'll read each of your articles from start to finish. Here are five ways you can entice your readers into reading your articles all the way through. 1. First of all, your readers must see their need for reading your article. No need -- no read! You must put your finger on a problem that your reader needs to have solved. Spend time thinking about what those problems might be in your chosen topic and come up with solutions. Try to think like your readers and put yourself in their shoes. Then visualize your article at its final destination in a website or newsletter providing just the right help for your audience. 2. Give your article a sizzling title. Most publishers receive an enormous amount of article submissions each day. To save time they usually scan the titles of submissions looking for ones that stand out from the crowd. These publishers want to give their readers truly helpful information, so the titles promising the most benefits will be picked. With that in mind, keep your title short and promise to meet a specific need. Then be sure to deliver in the body of your article. 3. Select a hot topic. Be sure your subject is in high demand before you start writing or very few people will want to read it. Give practical advice based on current trends, but choose your own angle or approach to the subject. Ask yourself what is exciting in your field of expertise. Decide what you can share to help others. 4. Use emotions as your ally. People are reached through their emotions, so decide what emotion you want to convey. Do you want to arouse curiosity? Do you want to create an inspirational mood or a patriotic or nostalgic feeling? With this in mind, use language that will stir your readers emotionally. Use a thesaurus to find emotionally charged words. 5. Narrow your focus to provide relevant content in the limited space of an article. Spotlight a specific aspect of your topic and don't try to include too many issues. For example, "Everything you ever wanted to know about writing articles" would be too broad. "How to Write An irresistible Author Resource Box" is better because it's focused on one aspect of your subject. Specialization is powerful. Being too general is ineffective. For example, "How to Succeed with Your Website" is too general a subject. Try something like "5 Tips for Attracting Targeted Website Traffic" instead. 6. End with a call to action that points to your author box. Inspire your reader to take action. Then provide specific help in your author box as the next step in your reader's growth. Your resource box is what closes your sale, so make it compelling. Now that you've learned more ways to grab your readers' attention and keep it, you're ready to write more compelling articles.