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What if you want to promote your website or get paid to write for other webmasters, but don't know how to write articles for use online. Just use one of the three following formats. They can make it easier than you might think to put together articles that readers will love.
List or Bullet Points Article
Perhaps the easiest of all the article formats, the "list article" uses "bullet points." Create a list of "Ten Best Ways To..." or "Four Tips For..." or "Six Mistakes That..." Start with an introductory paragraph, and then have a list that is made with stars, bullet points or numbers - or just subtitled paragraphs as in the case of this page. A few sentences to wrap things up at the end is optional. Of course a resource box with a link telling the reader how to get more great tips is a must if you are promoting your website or blog.
Articles that list "mistakes" can be especially attention-getting for readers. For example, what cat owner wouldn't want to look at an article on "Three Things Most Cat Owners Do Wrong" just to see if he was making any important mistakes in his cat care. Words indicating "secrets" work well with list articles too, as in "Seven Secrets Of Making Money Online," or "Four Insider's Tips To Stock Investing."
Advantages/Disadvantages
Often called a "pros and cons article," this is another easy format that doesn't require any great writing skill to create. After some quick online research (and you can skip this if you're sufficiently familiar with the material), you describe the good and the bad of a product, idea or controversial issue. Even those who already have their opinions will want to know if there is a good or bad point they missed.
I once wrote on the pros and cons of article submission software, pointing out the efficiency gained (versus manually submitting articles to directories) and other positive points. Afterwards I listed the flaws in the common programs, ranging from the fact that they don't work with many of the best directories to the problems of improperly filled-in submission pages. I included the fact that the best directory I use doesn't allow automatic submissions, yet generates more traffic than the next 100 directories combined. For maximum exposure, software alone won't do it.
This brings up an important suggestion if you do an "advantages and disadvantages" piece. Have one or two bits of information that the reader is not likely to know before reading your article. That makes you the expert.
Q and A
A "questions and answers" article is similar to a list-article. You simply list important or common questions people have related to the topic, and then provide answers. For this page I am writing, I could have listed questions like "What's the easiest type of article to write?" (answer: bullet points) and "How long should articles be?"(answer: 300 to 800 words), and "What are other easy ways to write something interesting?" (answer: questions and answers, of course).
The basic "how to" articles are some of the most popular, by the way, and they can be done in a question and answer format. Notice that this one is titled "How To Write Articles." Finally, if you regularly get email questions from visitors to your website or subscribers to your newsletters, save them and answer them - it's an easy way to generate web site content and articles.
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