Writing an article to explain how to write an article.
I learned the first lesson as she sunk her teeth into me. And in spite of the blood, it was her words that hurt the most.
“Your articles are too long,” she insisted. “Who is going to read through to the end??” She bit me again, and said, “At least start with a story, something to engage them - so you don’t lose them before they’ve even begun.”
And she was right. If you’re going to write anything with substance, you need to hook people in, maintain their interest, and finish strongly. I wasn’t doing that yet.
I had to learn these key lessons the hard way:
This last line of the summary should tease them, by hinting at an important lesson from later in the article, by opening a loop which only gets closed later, or by making your reader a promise.
This part of the article is where you write all the things you want to communicate. You’ll specifically talk about their problem (the one your article is solving) and you’ll explain how amazing it will be when you help them solve it.
For you, it’s about getting your material read and sharing your message. And this is exactly the article you need to read, to learn how.
Because this section can be long, it’s an awesome idea to use bullet points.
And there is another tool you should use:
| Indented quotes!
Clever sub-headings will do two great things for you:
After they’ve read your article, they need to be clear on what they should do next.
Give them a link to click, tell them to buy your book, or subscribe to your newsletter. You decide.
So now you know the theory on writing longer articles, while still keeping your readers engaged throughout. You can see this in action in the article called “The average photo that you DO take”, at https://www.hashtagyourlife.com/stories/stop-perfectionism.
All you have to do is click the link.
Written by Greg Solomon,
@hashtaglifegreg
www.hashtagyourlife.com
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