Article writing is one of the best ways to achieve phenomenal success online. Distributing your work to other sites will allow you to promote a link to your website and receive direct visitors. These backlinks will also help to improve your site's search engine rankings, which will increase the number of indirect visitors you receive. And all of that means more traffic, more subscribers and more sales.



But to make the most of your efforts, it's vital to write articles that people want to read. So before you start, let's take a look at all the elements of a successful article.

The Subject

Before you start writing it's important to select your subject carefully. Let's face it, there's no point spending your time writing an article if nobody wants to read it. So do some basic research. Which websites are popular? What are other people writing articles about?

Once you've got a basic idea about the subjects that people want to read about, I suggest selecting a main subject and then creating a list of 10 or 12 sub categories on which you can write articles. For example, if your topic is money, you might want to sub divide your article writing efforts into different sub categories such as; business, credit, debt, insurance, investment, property, saving etc.

The Keywords

Every article you write should be aimed at a certain keyword. It will help to focus your attention on what the article should be about, and it will allow your articles to perform better in the search engine rankings.

So before you start, select a list of keywords and keyword phrases for each of your sub categories. If have 10 sub categories and you select 10 keyword phrases for each, that will give you a foundation to write 100 different articles about your main subject.

The Title

The title should tell you readers exactly what they can expect to discover by reading your article. And if possible it should tempt them to continue reading. So it's often a good idea to use the title of your article to pose an interesting question.

The Article Summary

For each article, write a couple of sentences that introduces your article and tells readers what they will find out if they continue reading. This importance of this step is often underestimated, as it's a vital part of attracting readers and drawing them into the body of your article.

Alternatively, you could wait until after you've written your article and use the first paragraph as the article summary.

The Main Body

Once you've done all that, it's just a case of deciding upon the subject of your article and writing 400-700 words about it. But bear the following points in mind;

Do your homework. Search the internet for all the latest news on your chosen subject. Keep up to date using forums etc.

Each article should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Aim to write 2-3 sentences per paragraph and perhaps 4-6 paragraphs. Any longer and there's a danger that your readers will stop reading before they reach your bio at the end.

Keep it relevant to the subject and the keyword phrase that you're using the article to target. Write what you imagine people would want to read when they type in that keyword.

Use short, punchy sentences.

Use short paragraphs, perhaps three or four screen lines at most, so that people find it easy to read.

Break your article into easy to follow chunks using headings and sub-headings. This will allow people to scan your article quickly if they don't have time to read it.

One idea per sentence.

One subject per article.

If possible, give useful advice to help people solve a problem.

And it goes without saying that your articles should be spelt correctly and use acceptable standards of grammar.

The Bio

This is where you get to promote your website. This is your payment for allowing other websites to publish your article(s). Your bio should contain brief information about who you are, your work and the site that you're promoting.

But don't just write one bio and use it for every article that you promote. Write a selection of 10-12 short bios like the one at the end of this article. Make sure each bio is worded differently, uses different linking text and sounds tempting enough to make people click through to see your site.

There are two reasons for using a range of different bios

a) People who read a few of your articles on different websites may eventually become "blind" to your bio. After reading a number of your articles they won't see the bio because it's always the same. So provide something different to capture their attention every time.

b) Search engines don't rank incoming links as highly if they always contain the same anchor text and are always surrounded by the same words.

It might seem like a lot of work to generate 12 different bios, but I can assure you that in the long run the extra effort will be well worth it.

Follow these basic rules and before long your website will start to grow in popularity and you will become recognised as an expert on your chosen subject.