How to write a good article quickly?

Table of Contents:

A corporate blog article should be informative, useful, relevant, and translated from professional language to customer language. Learn how to create blog content so that articles are useful and understandable for your clients.

Take a theme from the client world

When choosing a topic for an article, base it on the concerns and interests of your reader:

• Help me understand the complexities of your niche;
• Tell how you, your services or products can solve the customer's problems;
• How do I choose a product or service from the entire range?
• Work through fears and objections that the client has about the company or products;
• If you need to talk about company news or new arrivals, transform this information into customer benefits.

One idea, one article!

Do not take too complex and extensive topics, stick to the principle of "one idea - one article.

The article will be overloaded with information if you write about everything only on the "tops". As a result, the reader will either find it very difficult to grasp the whole point, or he or she will go on to find more detailed information.

If you can't think of a theme, or you've run out of ideas, then:

• Collect in the sales department a list of questions that customers often ask;
• Ask your target audience directly, on social media, or in a newsletter;
• Look for inspiration on Google Trends.

Determine the usefulness of the article

Be clear about why you're writing, what you want it to accomplish, and why someone will read it. It is necessary to write on the case, consistently and logically disclose the topic.

Helpful action will tell you what you need to talk about and in what order, what subtleties of the topic should be touched upon and what is better left aside.

Make a structure

A good structure will help make the article logical and thoughtful. Ideally, by running your eyes over the structure, the reader already understands the gist of the article. It should be consistent, without contradictions or abrupt, unclear transitions.

When working on an article, the structure will help divide the text into subheadings. Here's an example of the article you're reading right now.

Without the utility and structure in the article, you are at risk:

• to reveal the topic in the wrong way or in the wrong way;
• lose the logic of your narrative and go into long, expert arguments that the reader won't understand;
• "slip" from one topic to another and fail to get the main point across;
• to write too hard or too easy;
• to publish a canvas of text without sections or subheadings that looks more like a scientific article than an expert article.

All this will prevent the client from reading the article, and you - to establish yourself in his eyes as an expert.

Gather information

Look at the structure and put all the facts, stories, figures, cases, research, and examples in between sub-paragraphs for clarity. This is what will make your article expert, lively, and interesting.

If you don't have enough material from personal experience, ask your colleagues. Make a list of questions and go to production, the call center, the sales department, or any other place where there is a lot of work with customers.

Just start writing!

At this point comes the creative anguish and fear of a clean slate. Here are tips to help avoid them:

1. Copy the structure into a new file without the information you previously collected. In this file you will write the article. This is how you cheat yourself, because there is no clean slate anymore.
2. In each sub-paragraph, briefly summarize what information you need to give the reader and how you need to end in order to move logically to the next section. Write down where you will insert examples, facts, quotes from colleagues, etc. This will prevent you from straying from the topic and giving unnecessary information.
3. Now imagine that your friend is in front of you, far from the subject of the article, and he now needs to clearly and understandably explain the whole point. You already have a plan of "explanation", now it remains in each subparagraph to spell out the "story to your friend". Remember that you are the expert here, not the reader, formulate the information so that it can be understood by ordinary people.
4. Try to write in flux, without stopping to edit and select the most appropriate phrases. If you realize that a point needs to be explained more easily, a term expounded, or removed, just make a note of where you need to make the information more accessible. That way you won't lose your mind. First the point, then the form.
5. Complete or change the material in the places where you made notes earlier.
6. Read each section separately. If the content matches the subtitle, you're fine. If not, you need to change the first or second.
7. Now reread the entire article and see if the content corresponds to the indicated useful action.

Think of a title and an introduction

Yes, most often they come up after the main material is ready, although it depends on them and whether people will read your article.

If you think of the text as a product, then the headline and the introduction are the packaging that should attract the buyer. If the packaging is unsightly, low-quality, or wrinkled, no one will even pay attention. So it is with articles: the title and introduction awaken interest in the main material.

It happens that a person spends half a day painfully writing five options for the title, and then another half day choosing the best one. This is an inefficient approach, after such "work" on the article you don't want to write anything anymore. It is easier to create a product first, and then packaging for it.

How to make a successful headline to the article?

A good headline is one that fully describes what's underneath and serves one of the functions (or several at once):

• promotes the article - draws attention to the material from the mass of other content;
• informs the reader - communicates an important thought or point of the article;
• helps you find what you need among other articles.

All three functions imply a benefit that the reader will receive after reading: learned, was able to improve, began to understand the subject, learned more, can do something new, etc.

The benefit of your material is already spelled out in the useful action and theme of the article, go back to it and make a headline.

To make a good headline appealing, use order, audience, or format markers.

Do away with uninformative and yellow headlines, creativity and emotion over the top.

How to write an interesting introduction to an article?

According to a Microsoft study, you only have eight seconds to engage the reader. That's how long a person's attention span is, so in the first paragraph, you have to make the most of the argument for your material.

• Start with a goal

  Tell the reader why you wrote the article. Let them know what you want to tell them. You can simply expand the headline.

  What should be a sofa bed for daily sleep → Give tips on choosing a sofa for sleep. Learn what type of transformation is reliable, how to choose the size, what filling and upholstery you should pay attention to in order to buy a comfortable and reliable sofa for daily use.

• Start with a story

  If there is a situation that preceded the idea for the article, you can start there: "We ran into a problem, there could have been such consequences, but we solved it. Now we'll tell you how we did it, so that you don't repeat our mistakes.

• Designate expertise

  Tell why you can be trusted, make it clear that you know the subject and really understand what you are writing about. Do not dryly list your regalia, but explain how your merits and experience will help to solve the problem indicated in the subject of the article.

Take a break

Put the article aside for a few hours, or even better for a couple of days. Reread it with fresh eyes. You may want to add or reduce something, see logical inconsistencies or abrupt transitions. You may even realize that the structure is no good, but you will already have a new one in your head.

Don't start editing right away; make notes in problematic areas and keep reading to the end. Then finish or rewrite what you have marked.

Let others read

• Take the article to a colleague or anyone else "in the know. Ask them to check the facts, accuracy, and completeness of the information. Correct the comments, if any.
• Now let someone "out of the loop" read the article. Ask him if everything makes sense. If not, ask him to formulate the questions he has. After that, fill in the blanks.

Read aloud

Above we advised you to write as if you were telling a friend about something. Now check to see how close the story is to a conversation.

Edit

Now you need to correct spelling, syntax, stylistic errors and improve readability. You can give the article to an editor or copywriter to proofread.

Prepare for publication

Make the text easy to read. Yes, you have already worked on making the article easy to understand, but a solid canvas will frighten the reader, and he will leave without reading a single line. It will be a shame.

The text is easier to read if:

• paragraphs consist of 2-4 sentences;
• there are thematic illustrations or videos;
• lists and tables are included in the structure;
• Important information and key points are highlighted in a different color or font.

A few more tips

Don't allow for ostentatious expertise.

Expertise is a deep and multifaceted understanding of the topic, the ability to explain the complex in accessible and understandable language. A lot of clever and complicated words is not expertise, the reader will not search for the meaning of obscure words to understand what you wanted to tell him. In a good article for clients, specific slang and terms are used as a last resort, and their essence is necessarily explained to the reader.

Don't be afraid to write too simply.

Clericality, five-story sentences, and verbose nouns create the image of a professor who speaks with a very intelligent air. It is not worth aspiring to.

To get to the point, the reader does not have to wade through "for lack of availability of the necessary arguments, one should begin to examine the matter from a more serious point of view. All these words lend weight and volume, but carry no meaning.

The simpler the form, the closer you are to the reader.

Checklist for an expert article

• Takes a topic from the reader's world.
  Solves a problem, illuminates a complex issue, explains, teaches, helps.
• Find a useful action.
  Why would anyone want to read this article? Why am I writing this article? How will the reader benefit?
• Think about the structure.
  All transitions are logical, there are no unnecessary digressions and unclear transitions, the essence of the article is clear by structure.
• Gather Information.
  Gather all the facts, stories, figures, cases, research, and examples in one place.
• Writing an article as a story for a friend
  
  • To spell out theses.
  • Arrange the examples.
  • Writing until I run out of ideas.
  • Reread and add to it.
  • Rewrite the difficult points.
• Check whether the content corresponds to the designated topic and useful action
• Think of a title and an introduction
• Reread and revise in a few hours/days
• To give to others (colleagues and friends)to read
• Make changes to the comments
• Read aloud
• Edit
  Correct grammar and stylistics, remove "water" and verbal garbage.
• Make the text reader-friendly
• Done! You're adorable.
• Collect and process feedback
• Choose a new topic and write the next article

And remember: regular publications are the first step to the success of a corporate blog.

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