Put Your Articles On the Speedway to Sales
Your audience is hungry for information. But they want it in the
right format. The format must be easy to read, easy to digest
and easy to apply. If you deliver your articles the way your
audience likes it, they will reward you by reading every article
you publish. They will even visit your website, sign-up for your
ezine and eventually visit your product page just to receive
more of your helpful information. By writing short articles you
can capture attention, gain more traffic, create more sales and
most importantly, be helpful to people when they need it. Here
are seven quick tips to help you format your articles and make
them go the extra mile:
1. Question/Answer. This is a popular format for
everyone wants their questions answered in a 123 fashion. If
only all questions could be answered in a numbered method.
Discover your audience's burning questions that you have the
answers for. List the questions; write a short paragraph that
answers each question. Write a short introduction and even
shorter summary. There you have it. An easy to read and easy to
digest short article answering your audience's most pressing
questions.
2. Problem/Solution. I absolutely love this format. I
myself have gotten tons of problems solved with this format,
after reading someone's problem/solution article. Therefore,
many of my business problems that I solve become guess what kind
of article? Yes. You are right; they become problem/solution
articles. Simply describe the problem in one short paragraph and
offer the solution in a one sentence paragraph below it. Or vice
versa, describe the problem in a one sentence paragraph and give
the solution in the longer paragraph.
3. Myth/Truth. The myth/truth format is another format
that I use often in my writing. I guess because there are plenty
of myths to destroy in any field. No, really I don't see it used
as much as the other formats. So it becomes one of my attempts
to be different. Also, you can easily convert other formats of
yours or your favorite writer. For example, if you are inspired
by another writer's topic instead of plagiarizing their work
simply turn their list of mistakes into secrets or solutions.
Simply present the facts in your own voice and viewpoint.
4. Tips/Advice. I think you know by now. I love writing
short articles that help people. I mention that because I felt
myself wanting to write, the same words at the beginning of this
tip. You know," I love the tip format." This article is a great
example of the tips format. I listed eight tips and short advice
on how to accomplish the tip. So, list out your tips and write a
short paragraph of advice to explain the tip.
5. Top Ten List. A variation of the tips format is the
top tips list. Your top tips list may consist of the Top Five,
Top Ten, Top Seven or practically any number of ten or less. I
have even written the single most important tip to ...Sometimes,
that one gets more attention than the other numbers, because it
answers a desire in all of us that want it as easy as possible.
It's great if I can achieve it in a single step or even the 2
most important ways sound better than three or seven.
6. How To. Just as we all want to achieve anything in the
easiest way possible, we also like to be shown how to do
anything and everything. My clients have often said to me, "Just
give me 5 easy steps or 3 easy steps and I know I can do it. I'm
the same way, aren't you? Format your article to teach something
and offer easy steps to accomplish it. Again, list them and
write a short paragraph explaining each step.
7. Ways/Secrets/Habits. Another variation of the How-to
article can be written in ways, secrets, habits, or things. I
have even formatted one of my articles into weapons called "7
Weapons to Conquer the Giant Procrastination." The weapons
became how-to tools to overcome procrastination keeping you from
writing your best book now. Visit
http://www.writetowin.org/win-articles.htm for a copy of this
article.
8. Reasons. Most people can understand any given topic
better if they can know the whys or reasons that support it.
Websites are becoming more and more popular across the globe. As
a website developer, I wanted to help my clients understand
strong reasons for them to get a website now. Yes. The article
became, "10 Reasons You Need a Website." Think of something you
want to convince your clients of and write an article doing so.
For a software developer wanting to sell more of his ebook
creation software, his article became "18 Reasons to Write an
eBook and Give it Away Free"
Every one loves bite-sized, useful information. Why not join the
Information Revolution, by writing short articles to promote
your ezine, website, product or service. Your readers will enjoy
receiving your expertise and make sure your articles go the
extra mile by telling all their friends about your informative,
helpful service.