MOVED – How To Write Articles

Content marketing is powerful and effective. In fact, Bill Gates said it best in 1999 when he said “content is king”.

Content marketing can take many forms, including …

• Blogging
• Video
• Webinars
• Writing articles
• Submitting articles to other sites.
• Writing short reports (or long books!)
• Email marketing
• Podcasting
• And even more!

In the past 20 years, one of the top questions I’ve received is this …

“I’m not a natural born writer so HOW do I write articles?“

It’s a great question, one that deserves a detailed answer.

So I’ve written this article to show you how to write articles! (Kinda meta, right?)

Before we get into it, consider this important question …

If you had written only TWO articles per week since you began working to succeed online, how many articles would that be?

Now consider this – many profitable blogs have less than 100 articles on them!

Writing but a few articles a week can lay the foundation for a very powerful, and profitable, online business.

I can think of a dozen well-known marketers who started online exactly that way.

They began with content marketing and discovered an audience who liked them, trusted them and bought from them.

They went on to create their own products and build their online empires.

These are names you would know.

If it happened for them I believe it can happen for you too.

But HOW do you write a great and helpful article if you are not a “writer.” That’s the question I get a lot. So I’m going to answer it here.

Here is the formula I use to write articles.

Before we get to the “how to” let me say that this is but one of many proven models for writing articles.

I personally rotate between about five article writing models (or templates) to keep things interesting for me and for you, my readers.

Of all those models this one is the easiest to use and the most pleasant for the reader of your article.

This article writing formula helps you help people, and helping people is what content marketing is all about.

When you approach content marketing this way (with a true desire to help) reciprocity will work for you!

You will be rewarded for your efforts without having to resort to hype or high pressure sales tactics.

Here is the step by step process.

You are going to write a “how to article” that gives the reader three or five steps to take to accomplish a task.

This is a lot like a recipe.

If you can teach your daughter to scramble eggs or teach your grandson to shoot a basketball then you can do this with no problem.

You just need a little practice.

When you teach your kids how to do things you break the task down into tiny steps, baby steps, and make sure each step is clear and easy to do.

That is what you will be doing here as well.

By the way, it’s okay with me if boys scramble eggs and girls shoot baskets.

I was just giving an example.

So get in your mind something you can tell a person to do with three or five simple actions.

If you can’t think of something now no problem. 

You can come back to this article when you have your idea.

In my next article I’m going to share how to generate an endless stream of ideas so no worries.

Ready? Good.

Your article is going to have the following structure. Let’s look at the structure and then I will share for a moment about each item.

This overview assumes a five point article. Here is what each paragraph will contain.

1. Define the problem.
2. Review possible solutions.
3. Propose your solution.
4. Step 1 of your solution.
5. Step 2 of your solution.
6. Step 3 of your solution.
7. Step 4 of your solution.
8. Step 5 of your solution.
9. Summarize your argument.
10. Suggest a very specific action step.

That’s it! Simple, clean and effective.

One thing you need to remember is this. When writing for the Internet you need to keep your paragraph length short.

The best model for me is no more than three sentences per paragraph. Two sentences often works better. If I’ve done my job correctly, this article will have no paragraphs longer than three lines.

Let me give you an actual case stuey.

For the case study we will use my “Solve Your Traffic Problem Today!” article. 

What you see below are my notes, not the finished article.

To see these notes in action, you can read that article here.

Let’s say you want to write an article about how to get more traffic to a website.

And let’s say you are making the case that the reader should buy this super duper traffic course you are promoting.

How do you do that without high pressure selling?

Here’s how.

Remember, what you read next is NOT a finished article. Just notes about how to write an article around that topic.

The finished article is here: “Solve Your Traffic Problem Today!“

Paragraph 1 – Define the problem

We all need traffic but there is so much information out there that it becomes overwhelming and expensive. People are suffering from information overload.

Paragraph 2 – Review possible solutions

You could waste time and money experimenting and you might find something that works. Or you might lose all your money. You could just do pay per click or buy a solo ad or put an ad on Facebook. But there are risks.

Paragraph 3 – Propose your solution

A better way is to model someone who has “been there and done that.” Someone you can trust and who will help you.

Paragraphs 4 – 8 – Your five step solution

Take these steps in researching solutions.

1. Who are the leaders in the “getting traffic” field.
2. Can you afford to do what they teach you to do?
3. Does what they are proposing make sense to you?
4. Do they have a good reputation online?
5. Will you take action on what they suggest?

Paragraph 9 – Summarize your argument

If you find someone you can trust who has a proven model for getting traffic and you can afford to use what they suggest and will take action there is every reason to believe it will work for you.

Paragraph 10 – Suggest an action step

Make a list of the different ways to get traffic to a website and choose one that interests you most. Possibly include the list in the article.

I will write THAT article in the next few days and send it along so you can see what the finished product looks like.

For now YOUR action step is this

Think about things you can teach people to do in three to five short steps.

It might be getting traffic to a website or it might be baking a cake. Doesn’t matter really — the process is what’s important.

Once you learn the process you will be able to write articles quickly from your own experience or from your observations or research.

You will be an article writing machine!

There you have it. I have written literally over 1000 articles using this very formula. It works for me and I believe it can work for you too.

Article marketing changed my life and helped me build a strong online business that created both financial and time freedom. I want that for you too.

Because freedom is a beautiful thing indeed!