Article Writing 101: The Art of Writing Sensational Articles

Maybe it’s the idea of writing an article that has been giving you sleepless nights. Or the fact that you’ve spent forever bumbling from blog to blog foraging for a piece that will help you demystify article writing.

 

Regardless of how you ended here, the good thing is that you’re here anyway. Let’s cut the chase and get to deconstructing article writing.

 

 First things first, article writing isn’t complicated.

 

This is an art that’s as old as time itself and one that many before you have perfected. That said, there's no reason why you too can’t master it.

 

This piece will tell you about article writing, examples, techniques and everything in between.


As a quick primer, check out our blog on the 5 different types of articles explained and how to write them.

 

What is an Article

 

An article is a piece of purposeful writing that you craft for a large and specific audience. You’ll find most articles in newspapers, tabloids and journals.

 

Why Write an Article

 

 

 

 

 This definition leads us to the question, why? 

 

There are several ways to spend a Friday or Saturday evening; there’s wine, pizza and Netflix. Why on earth would you spend it writing some article?

 

There are several reasons why you might be trying to write one currently as you stand.

 

It could be to raise issues on a given concern, shed light on a neglected issue or awe your audience with the latest emerging technology. 

 

One way or another, an article is one way to get your thoughts out there to the world, and today, we’ll teach you how to write one as good as these ones right here.

 

The Difference Between Content Writing and Article Writing

 

Are you writing an article, creating content, or doing both? This is one dilemma you can’t run away from as you embark on your article writing journey.

 

Despite the many parallels between them, there is a thin line between article writing and content writing. Some of these include:

 

  • Article writing is an art form, while content writing is an industry-based form of writing.
  • Article writing has a select format (which we’ll cover later), while content writing doesn’t
  • Article writing is purposely written for a specific audience that differs from some forms of content writing.
  • The overbearing reason content writing exists is to generate leads, whereas article writing is primarily for information and awareness.

 

On that account, here are two of our blogs that you should definitely check out:

 

11 Insanely Helpful Blog Post Ideas for Your Business Blog (With Examples)

 

Writing a Feature Article? Here's Everything You Need to Know

 

What is the Format of an Article? The Anatomy of an Article

 

 

 

 

Articles have a select format that differentiates them from other types of content on the web.

 

Unless you make some terrible mistake (or the whiskey was too strong), your article will mostly follow this format:

 

1. Heading 

 

The header is the title of your article. Besides any hero image that may accompany your article, the header will be the first impression you make on your audience.

 

And that’s not all. It’s the only part of your article with a 95% guarantee of readership from your audience; the same can’t be said about your conclusion, for example.

 

 Your title has to be spectacular for these reasons—you can’t afford to mess this up and tank your whole article while at it.

 

Here are a few tips for crafting a compelling header:

 

  • Make it as eye-catching as possible
  • Ensure that’s it’s precise and concise
  • Summarize your article in the header

 

2.  Writer Byline

 

After the header, you will proceed to write your name as the writer on its line. This small detail is essential as it separates article writing from other forms of content writing.

 

Unlike in articles, on most blogs, your name will surface at the bottom, often after everything else.

 

Well, let’s get to writing your name because, as simple as it seems, there is a wrong way to do it.

 

Here are a few things to cross of your checklist while writing your name:

 

  • Writing it with italicized or bold text
  • Use both of your names for formal articles and one for informal ones
  • A title or mention of a profession such as “Dr” can help with credibility
  • Use “By” before your name

 

3. The Date

 

The date of your article should come right after your name on the byline and never on the same line. 

 

It’s also crucial to remember that this is the publication date, so it doesn’t matter if you took three days or a week to finish writing your article.

 

Some of the considerations to put in place while writing your date include:

 

  • Leverage the Month / Day/ Year format
  • Everything but the day and year should be in words, don’t use “/4/” for April
  • You can write the time of publication on the same line as the date if necessary

 

4. Body 

 

Your body is the part of your article where you argue your case with the reader. This is where you write whatever information you intend in a language that your target audience can understand.

 

While writing your body, ensure that:

  • You write in the voice and tone of your target audience
  • Avoid writing fluff and being vague 
  • Back all your claims with necessary proof and statistics

 

5. Conclusion

 

You’ve made it. Now what’s left is developing a conclusion that ties up everything you’re argued in your article this far.

 

Look at it this way; if your entire article were a joke( hopefully it isn’t), the body would be its setup and your conclusion the payoff.

 

Your conclusion is like a ribbon that ties everything neatly together before you present it to the reader; it’s not essential, but God does it help.

 

Here are a few tips that will come in handy as you write your conclusions:

 

  • Reinforce the ideas that you’ve argued in your article
  • Your conclusion should summarize everything 
  • It should also offer a way forward or a look at “how we got here” in the first place
  • All in all, the role of a conclusion is not to leave your reader hanging after reading your article

 

Steps in Writing An Article

 

For every exceptional article you meet on the web today, there are days upon days of preparation that made it a reality.

 

This includes hours spent doing research, conducting interviews, and making inquiries. Preparation goes a long way, and here are a few steps to guide you through it: 

 

1. Come Up With A Topic

 

There isn’t a better way to kickstart your article other than settling on a topic or something to write about.

 

In some instances, you may be forced to write about something you’re not passionate about entirely—cough cough Covid.

 

However, every other time, you’ll never go wrong with writing about a topic that you’re passionate about or interested in. 

 

While coming up with a topic, find a pen and consider the following steps:

 

  • Find a broad area of interest examples are health, banking, and global finance
  • Break down your area of interest into small constituent parts, e.g., decentralized finance, fintech, or recessions
  • Come up with a set of questions for each of the subsections you’ve chosen
  • From these questions, select a topic that you deem urgent and intriguing or one that you’re interested in answering

 

2. Identify Your Target Audience

 

Now that you have a topic in hand, you have to shift focus to your audience. What good is an article if you can’t find people to read it and ways to reach them?

 

 Some of the questions you can ask yourself while identifying your target audience include:

 

  • What is the approximate age of my target reader?
  • What generation are they in?
  • What’s their gender?
  • Through which means is this article most likely to reach them?

 

To answer these questions, you’ll have to develop buyer personas. A buyer persona is a graphic representation of your reader.

 

It covers who they are, where they work, their political views, passions, dreams, and aspirations. That said, a fundamental understanding of your reader will go a long way in helping you find the way forward in your writing.

 

3. Find Your Intent or Purpose

 

That’s enough looking outwards. It’s time for some inward-looking, soul searching, and self-awareness. 

 

Our question of the day revolves around the reasons for you writing an article in the first place. What are your intents and motivations?

 

This may come as a surprise, but there are many writers who write entire articles without knowing why they started writing in the first place.

 

Here are a few reasons you might have wanted to write an article in the first place:

 

To Inform

 

Most articles on the web today are informative pieces. Their writers wrote them to provide answers to questions people have about exciting topics.

 

Here are a few tips when writing to inform:

  • When writing about a crisis, fearmongering and alarmism work against your article
  • Seek to gain trust and credibility as early as possible in your article: you can throw in something about your experience, e.g., in my 15 years of …
  • Be objective and biased, even if you’re rooting for or against this new concept or way of reasoning.

 

Critique Conventional Ways of Thinking

 

Such articles are created to challenge people’s perspectives. Often, they have ideas that contradict conventional reasoning and don’t waste time raising them, sometimes as early as the title.

 

Here are a few tips:

 

  • More than ever, you need stats and data when critiquing societal conventions
  • Be polite so as not to come out as condescending
  • Always cover both sides of the coin and argument
  • Instead of lecturing your reader, help them walk a few miles in other’s shoes and see the other side’s perspective

 

Raise Awareness of a Given Issue

 

If you’re writing an article, one of your primary motivations might be to shed light on a neglected issue by society.

 

As mentioned earlier, don’t waste any time and start raising awareness as early as your header or title. Here are a few tips when raising awareness:

 

  • Don’t blame your reader for their ignorance or lack of prior knowledge
  • Expose your readers to different perspectives and ways of looking at things
  • Cover the biases that made them blind to the issue in the first place

 

Gather as Much Information as Possible

 

What’s left is gathering as much data and information about your chosen topic as possible. Here are a few excellent places to start:

  • Interviews
  • Reading existing articles on your topic

 

Your 3-Step Guide To Writing Amazing Articles

 

 

 

 

We’ve covered all there is to writing an article. However, something tells me that you’re here for more than just writing the average article. 

 

 You want perfection, and this section is here to help you with just that. Here are some tips:

 

1. Make Information Useful to Your Reader

 

Apologies for the flashbacks to 9th-grade computer science, but explaining the difference between data and information is necessary for this section.

 

Data is raw facts.

 

 Information, on the other hand, is meaningful data.

 

 When writing your article, it’s important to create context and make the data meaningful to the user.

 

For example, it’s one thing to create a title informing the reader about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 

 However, it’s another to create a title informing the reader about the extra bucks they’ll be spending at the pump due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

 

One is data, the other information.

 

2. Brevity 

 

In all forms of writing, less is always more. That said, if there’s a shorter way to pass information to your reader, don’t waste time; take it. And there’s more.

 

It’s becoming apparently clear that readers no longer read articles, to the alternative, they skim through looking for what they deem important.

 

For this reason, you have to start writing for both readers and skimmers, and you can do so by:

 

  • Bolding what’s important
  • Using bulleted lists instead of prose formats
  • Break your argument into sections and subsections

 

3. Use Writing Tools and Technology

 

Fortunately, writing articles isn’t what it was ten years ago. There’s now software that can make all your difficulties a thing of the past, and let’s not even mention the fact that you can outsource it entirely.

 

Here are a few software tools that will make your article writing more enjoyable:

 

 

And oh, there's also the incredibly important bit about SEO. Check out our guide on article writing SEO here.

 

That’s a Lot of Work, But it’s Nothing Zoey Can’t Handle

 

Did you know that there are people out there who can express your ideas, thoughts, and passions in better ways than you can? Think about it for a moment.

 

And while at it, stop to consider that there will never be enough time to put all your perspectives into words and put them out there ( at least not on your own). 

 

That’s our specialty here at Zoey. 

 

We take your ideas, thoughts, and perspectives and present them to the world in a way that will mesmerize you both. Put differently, our article writing services are the best out there, and that's just putting it mildly.

 

 For more information, contact us today so that you can catch up on sleep or go to that dinner while we do all your work.

 

 

 

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash. Thanks, Jess :)