You want to be able to write really good articles that will get read? Here are 15 top tips for you. I’ll show you step by step how to write a truly perfect blog article.
Writing really good articles – the how-to
15 simple steps make the difference between a good article and a mediocre one. Stick to these 15 simple steps, and your blog will get more readers.
Because then, with a little practice, you can write really good articles.
Point 1 – Write an enticing headline
Your headline must have a benefit for your potential visitors. It must also convey what the article is about and of course: it must arouse curiosity and entice people to click on it.
Therefore, always write your headline first and also try several variations, among which you can then choose the most successful headline. Extremely successful websites, for example Upworthy, let for each post 25 different headings write by the editors.
Only one of them makes it to be published. The best of the 25. To find your best headline, you can go through the following categories:
- The direct headline: Write perfect blog articles
- The indirect headline: The only blog you can browse through
- News Headline: My new e-book
- "How to…" headline: How to write a great article
- The Question Headline: What skills are you still missing?
- The command headline: Get my new free e-book
- The "reason why" headline: 7 reasons why I don’t like your blog
- The customer opinion headline: Why I read this blog every week
Point 2 – Do in-depth and very accurate research
Researching is very important, your articles should be very high quality if you want to achieve a lot of traffic in the foreseeable future. To do this, you feed Google with different search terms or short sentences.
At the bottom of each search results page you can find the so-called "long-tail keywords". These are search terms that are composed of several words and entered by the searching users to find a solution to their problem.
And that’s what you should be offering them. Approach it this way:
- Look at the first fifty search results.
- Open the matching pages
- Scan these pages for matching content
- Filter out the junk
- Read up on your topic and develop an expertise for your article
With a high quality, long and well researched article, you will always stand out from the other bloggers and rank better in the search results.
Really good articles Are always well researched and unfortunately also costly.
Point 3 – Don’t forget keyword research
Finding the right keywords with the Adwords Keyword Planner.
Google gives you two good tools for this at once. One is Google Search, as just mentioned, and the other is the Google Adwords Keyword Planner tool, which is really excellent.
Both approaches together form the foundation for a well search engine optimized article. Pay attention to little competition and sufficient search queries for the desired keywords.
Really good articles are always also search engine optimized.
Write really good articles: The SEO optimization
- Write the keyword once in the title – as close to the beginning as possible. Make sure that the title of an article is always marked with a heading 1. More on this later.
- Integrate the keyword into your first headline, this should be a headline 2.
- Make sure the keyword appears three to four times in the article
- Draw the keyword once Bold from
- Write the keyword in one of the images or graphics used as an alt tag
- Use the keyword as the name of the image
- Use the keyword in the URL of the post and keep it as short as possible
- Use the keyword in the meta description. This brings click-through rates and, in my experience, has a bit of an effect on rankings as well.
However, keep one thing in mind at all times: write your articles first for your readers, then for the search engine.
Point 4 – Write a first draft
Now write down everything about the topic that comes to mind and seems important to you. You do not need to pay attention to a good structure or spelling at this stage. The main thing you write.
It doesn’t matter if it’s ideas about the core content, the introduction, the final parts or the structure. It’s all about writing the content and getting enough content to make a good article.
Point 5 – Now create the structure
The structure of an article is really important. Make an effort. Create the inter-headings. Make sure that you use these headings to describe what is in each paragraph.
The subheadings should keep the scanner in the text and arouse curiosity. However, they should not reveal too much, otherwise there would be no reason to read the article.
Always keep in mind that many people on the Internet do not read, but "scan" the texts for the information they are looking for. Catch these visitors and make them read the article.
The structure for the search engine
The structure is also important for Google, a good structure ensures a better ranking. Basically, the following rules apply:
- Write an introduction. It should not be too long and make you curious.
- Write many short paragraphs, instead of long paragraphs. Structure your texts with subheadings.
- Feel free to use good visuals. If you are good at graphic design, create images for your posts.
- Use – if suitable – supplementary videos from Youtube
Point 6 – Fill the gaps in your structure
Point four and point five have now provided you with a kind of form that you now have to fill out with further information. Tailor your post so that it fits well in this form and blends in well with the individual sections.
Start at the top and work your way down. The headings you have already set are a good guide for this area of writing.
Point 7 – The fine tuning of the article
You now have a blogpost blank in front of you. A diamond in the rough that you now need to cut and polish. Read your article aloud.
- Pay attention to whether the text sounds rhythmic.
- Is the style okay? Correct.
- Start many sentences with the same words? Correct.
- Does everything read smoothly, or have you written too awkwardly?? Correct.
- Do the individual text passages make sense? Correct.
- Do you have repetitions in the text that can be deleted?? Delete.
- Are there text passages that still need to be completed? Add.
- Make sure the spelling is correct? Correct.
Point 8 – Let your text rest for a day
Excellent texts differ from good texts by a kind of "maturing time". So give yourself a day off and let your post mature. After a day of rest you have a different view on things, you are not so dense in the subject anymore.
This can improve your post even more. Because after a day of rest you will have a different perspective on things and can truly improve the text even more.
After a day’s rest, reread the article and correct stylistic errors, inconsistencies, poor explanations and – if possible – make the text more readable.
Point 9 – Find suitable images or videos
Really much traffic can come from writing really good articles.
Supplementing blog articles with images and / or videos is a great thing, but not universally appropriate. Of course, people often want to advise you to picture every article.
However, this only works with really good images and rarely with stock photos that you can download for free from the Internet. Of course, stock photos can still be edited well in a photo program (Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, etc.).) to personalize it. Or use an online service like Canva.com to create very individual graphics using templates.
Then again, stock images can also work.
It is good if you can find videos that support the content. Such content is sure to be well received and used by your visitors. Especially the young generation goes for it.
Point 10 – Again, check your spelling
It’s really important that you correct your blog posts for spelling. Mistakes are bound to happen, even to professionals. Yes, even full-time editors of big online magazines like Spiegel or Zeit. Despite editing/proofreading.
Nevertheless, you should strive for absolute freedom from errors. Correct your texts very carefully, or have them corrected by someone who knows German well.
Should you not be one of the lucky ones who know such people, then use the online possibilities of korrekturen.de and the Duden online.
Both are good and free tools. By the way, texts that are full of errors make a very bad impression on your visitors.
Point 11 – Format your post attractively
Now is the right time to format your post. Include important things Bold font or in Italic from. You derive even more important statements with a headline 4.
Your paragraphs should reflect an idea. This is not always possible, but try to keep it.
Set links to older articles, which can thematically support your contribution. When you first start blogging, this won’t always be possible.
But the longer you blog, the more supporting articles you will be able to link to. Don’t exaggerate here, three to four internal links are okay.
Also try to link external sources and further information. Don’t be afraid that it will hurt you for ranking in search results, the opposite is true.
Important: only by scanning the content must be comprehensible for your readers.
Point 12 – Final work in WordPress
The final work before publishing an article is really important.
- Sort the article into the right category
- Complete this with some suitable keywords
- Edit the URL of the post so that it contains only the keywords, and no stop words, such as: Like, you, too, and…
- Choose a suitable article image (post image). The better the image (and its processing in a photo program), the better for the article. Many people are visually inclined and can also be enticed to read by the article image.
Point 13 – A final check of the text
- Is the Headline enticing?
- Is the URL okay?
- Are the Images good and appropriate?
- Is the Formatting in order?
- Do you have the Spelling tested?
- Reading the article Fluent and understandable?
- All work Links?
Item 14 – SEO title and SEO meta description
Now you have just one more step before you can send your article out into the world. Set a special SEO title and the appropriate meta description.
An SEO title is always used when you want to use a different title for your post on your website, for example, than in the search results on Google.
The SEO meta description is set to make Google’s search result more understandable for the searcher. In addition, the user will know immediately if the item in question solves his problem or not.
You can make the settings in the editors of the well-known SEO plugins like Yoast-SEO, wpSEO or All-in-One SEO below your writing editor. Writing really good articles also means tackling these little SEO things.
Point 15 – Publish your post
Congratulations! Now you’ve been through the tough school of a budding, successful blogger. You have worked through all the important points and have not forgotten anything.
Now you can either publish your post or schedule it for a specific date.