how to write articles on websites

How to Write an Article: A Proven Step-by-Step Guide

Are you dreaming of becoming a notable writer or looking to enhance your content writing skills? Whatever your reasons for stepping into the writing world, crafting compelling articles can open numerous opportunities. Writing, when viewed as a skill rather than an innate talent, is something anyone can master with persistence, practice, and the proper guidance.

That’s precisely why I’ve created this comprehensive guide on ‘how to write an article.’ Whether you’re pursuing writing as a hobby or eyeing it as a potential career path, understanding the basics will lead you to higher levels of expertise. This step-by-step guide has been painstakingly designed based on my content creation experience. Let’s embark on this captivating journey toward becoming an accomplished article writer !

What is an Article?

An article is more than words stitched together cohesively; it’s a carefully crafted medium expressing thoughts, presenting facts, sharing knowledge, or narrating stories. Essentially encapsulating any topic under the sun (or beyond!), an article is a versatile format meant to inform, entertain, or persuade readers.

Articles are ubiquitous; they grace your morning newspaper (or digital equivalents), illuminate blogs across various platforms, inhabit scholarly journals, and embellish magazines. Irrespective of their varying lengths and formats, which range from news reports and features to opinion pieces and how-to guides, all articles share some common objectives. Learning how to write this type of content involves mastering the ability to meet these underlying goals effectively.

Objectives of Article Writing

The primary goal behind learning how to write an article is not merely putting words on paper. Instead, you’re trying to communicate ideas effectively. Each piece of writing carries unique objectives intricately tailored according to the creator’s intent and the target audience’s interests. Generally speaking, when you immerse yourself in writing an article, you should aim to achieve several fundamental goals.

First, deliver value to your readers. An engaging and informative article provides insightful information or tackles a problem your audience faces. You’re not merely filling up pages; you must offer solutions, present new perspectives, or provide educational material.

Next comes advancing knowledge within a specific field or subject matter. Especially relevant for academic or industry-focused writings, articles are often used to spread original research findings and innovative concepts that strengthen our collective understanding and drive progress.

Another vital objective for those mastering how to write an article is persuasion. This can come in various forms: convincing people about a particular viewpoint or motivating them to make a specific choice. Articles don’t always have to be neutral; they can be powerful tools for shifting public opinion.

Finally, let’s not forget entertainment – because who said only fictional work can entertain? Articles can stir our emotions or pique our interest with captivating storytelling techniques. It bridges the gap between reader and writer using shared experiences or universal truths.

Remember that high-quality content remains common across all boundaries despite these distinct objectives. No matter what type of writer you aspire to become—informative, persuasive, educational, or entertaining—strive for clarity, accuracy, and stimulation in every sentence you craft.

What is the Format of an Article?

When considering how to write an article, understanding its foundation – in this case, the format – should be at the top of your list. A proper structure is like a blueprint, providing a direction for your creative construction.

First and foremost, let’s clarify one essential point: articles aren’t just homogenous chunks of text. A well-crafted article embodies different elements that merge to form an engaging, informative body of work. Here are those elements in order:

• The Intriguing Title

The title or heading is at the top. It’s your first chance to engage with a reader. This element requires serious consideration since it can determine whether someone will continue reading your material.

• Engaging Introduction

Next comes the introduction, where you set expectations and hint at what’s to come. An artfully written introduction generates intrigue and gives readers a compelling reason to stick around.

• Informative Body

The main body entails a detailed exploration of your topic, often broken down into subtopics or points for more manageable consumption and better flow of information.

• Impactful Conclusion

Lastly, you have the conclusion, where you tie everything neatly together by revisiting key points and offering final thoughts.

While these components might appear straightforward on paper, mastering them requires practice, experimentation with writing styles, and a good understanding of your target audience. 

By putting in the work to familiarize yourself with how to create articles and how they’re structured, you’ll soon discover new ways to develop engaging content each time you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard!). Translating complex concepts into digestible content doesn’t need to feel daunting anymore! Now that we’ve tackled the format, our focus can shift to what should be included in an article.

What Should Be in an Article?

Understanding that specific items should be featured in your writing is crucial. A well-crafted article resembles a neatly packed suitcase – everything has its place and purpose.

Key Information

First and foremost, you need essential information. Start by presenting the topic plainly so readers can grasp its relevance immediately. This sets the tone of why you are writing the article. The degree of depth at this point will depend on your audience; be mindful not to overwhelm beginners with too much jargon or over-simplify things for experts.

Introduction

Secondly, every article must have an engaging introduction—this acts as the hook that reels your audience. Think of it as a movie trailer—it offers a taste of what’s to come without giving away all the details.

Third is the body, wherein you get into the crux of your argument or discussion. This is the point at which you present your ideas sequentially, along with supporting evidence or examples. Depending on the nature of your topic and personal style, this may vary from storytelling forms to more analytical breakdowns.

Lastly, you’ll need a fitting conclusion that wraps up all previously discussed points, effectively tying together every loose thread at the end. This helps cement your main ideas within the reader’s mind even after they’ve finished reading.

To summarize:  

• Critical Information: Provides context for understanding
• Introduction: Sheds further light on what will follow while piquing interest  
• Body: Discusses topic intricacies using narratives or case studies
• Conclusion: Ties up loose ends and reemphasizes important takeaways

In my experience writing articles for beginners and experts alike, I found these elements indispensable when conveying complex topics articulately and professionally. Always keep them at hand when looking to produce written material.

How should you structure an article?

Crafting a well-structured article is akin to assembling a puzzle – every piece has its place and purpose. Let’s look at how to create the perfect skeleton for your content.

The introduction is your article’s welcome mat. It should be inviting and informative, briefly outlining what a reader can expect from your writing. Additionally, it must instantly grab the readers’ attention so they feel compelled to continue reading. To master the art of creating effective introductions, remember these key points:

• Keep it short and precise.
• Use compelling hooks like quotes or intriguing facts.
• State clearly what the article will cover without revealing everything upfront.

Moving on, you encounter the body of your piece. This segment expands on the ideas outlined in the introduction while presenting fresh subtopics related to your core story. If we compare article writing to crossing a bridge, each paragraph represents a step toward the other side (the conclusion). Here are some tips for maintaining orderliness within your body:

• Stick closely to one idea per paragraph as it enhances readability.
• Ensure paragraphs flow logically by utilizing transitional words or sentences.
• Offer evidence or examples supporting your claims and reinforce credibility.

As you approach the far side of our imaginary bridge, we reach an equally essential section of the article known as the conclusion. At this point, you should aim to wrap up your message neatly while delivering on what was initially promised during the introduction. This section summarizes the main points, providing closure and ensuring readers feel satisfied.

Remember this golden rule when writing the conclusion: follow the  “Describe what you’re going to tell them (Introduction), tell them (Body), and then summarize what you told them (Conclusion).”  It’s a proven formula for delivering informative, engaging, and well-structured articles. 

One final tip before moving on: maintaining an active voice significantly enhances clarity for your readers. It makes them feel like they’re participating actively in the story unfolding within your article. In addition, it helps ensure easy readability, which is vital for keeping your audience engaged.

Tips for Writing a Good Article

A persuasive, engaging, and insightful article requires careful thought and planning. Half the battle won is by knowing how to start writing and make content captivating. Below are vital tips that can enhance your article writing skills.

Heading or Title

An audience’s first impression hinges on the quality of your title. A good heading should be clear, attention-grabbing, and give an accurate snapshot of what’s contained in the piece’s body. Here are a few guidelines on how to create an impactful title:

• Make it Compelling: Your title needs to spark interest and motivate readers to delve further into your work.
• Keep it concise: You want to have a manageable heading. Aim for brevity yet inclusiveness.
• Optimize with keywords: To boost search engine visibility, sprinkle relevant keywords naturally throughout your title.

By applying these techniques, you can increase reader engagement right from the get-go.

Body of the Article

After winning over potential readers with your catchy title, it’s time to provide substantial content in the form of the body text. Here’s how articles are typically structured:

Introduction:  Begin by providing an appealing overview that hooks your audience and baits them to read more. You can ask poignant questions or share interesting facts about your topic here.

Main Content:  Build on the groundwork set by your introduction. Lay out detailed information in a logical sequence with clear articulation.

Conclusion:  This reemphasizes the critical points discussed in the body while delivering a lasting impression of why those points matter.

Remember that clarity is critical when drafting each part because our objective here is to share information and communicate effectively. Properly understanding this approach ensures that the writing experience becomes creative and productive.

Step By Step Guide for Article Writing

How do you write an article that engages your readers from the first line until the last? That’s what most writers, whether beginners or seasoned pros are trying to achieve. I’ll describe a step-by-step process for crafting such gripping articles in this guide.

Step 1: Find Your Target Audience

First and foremost, identify your target readers. Speaking directly to a specific group improves engagement and helps you craft messages that resonate deeply. To pinpoint your audience:

• Take note of demographic attributes like age, gender, and profession.
• Consider their preferences and needs.
• Look into how much knowledge they are likely to possess concerning your topic.

Knowing this will help you decide what tone, language, and style best suits your readers. Remember, by understanding your audience better, you make it much easier to provide them with engaging content.

Step 2: Select a Topic and an Attractive Heading

Having understood your audience, select a relevant topic based on their interests and questions. Be sure it’s one you can competently discuss. When deciding how to start writing an article, ensure it begins with a captivating title.

A title should hint at what readers will gain from the article without revealing everything. Maintain some element of intrigue or provocation. For example, ‘6 Essentials You Probably Don’t Know About Gardening’ instead of just ‘Gardening Tips’.

Step 3: Research is Key

Good research is crucial to building credibility for beginners and experts alike. It prevents errors that could tarnish your piece immensely.

Thoroughly explore relevant books, scholarly articles, or reputable online resources. Find facts that build authenticity while debunking misconceptions that relate to your topic. Take notes on critical points discovered during this process—it’ll save you time when creating your first draft.

Step 4: Write a Comprehensive Brief

Having done your research, it’s time to write an outline or a brief—a roadmap for your article. This conveys how articles are written systematically without losing track of the main points.

Begin by starting the introduction with a punchy opener that draws readers in and a summary of what they’ll glean from reading. Section out specific points and ideas as separate headings and bullet points under each section to form the body. A conclusion rounds things up by restating key takeaways.

Step 5: Write and Proofread

Now comes the bulk of the work—writing. Respect the brief created earlier to ensure consistency and structure while drafting content. Use short, clear sentences while largely avoiding jargon unless absolutely necessary.

Post-writing, proofread ardently to check for typographical errors, inconsistent tenses, and poor sentence structures—and don’t forget factual correctness! It helps to read aloud, which can reveal awkward phrases that slipped through initial edits.

Step 6: Add Images and Infographics

Introduce visuals such as images, infographics, or videos into your piece to break text monotony and increase comprehension. They provide aesthetic relief while supporting the main ideas, increasing overall engagement.

Remember to source royalty-free images or get permission for copyrighted ones—you don’t want legal battles later!

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Article Writing

Regarding article writing, a few pitfalls can compromise the quality of your content. Knowing these and how to avoid them will enhance your work’s clarity, depth, and impact.

The first mistake often made is skimping on research. An article without solid underpinnings won’t merely be bland – it might mislead readers. Therefore, prioritize comprehensive investigation before penning down anything. Understanding common misconceptions or misinterpretations about your topic will strengthen your case. 

Next, sidestep unnecessary jargon or excessively complex language. While showcasing an impressive vocabulary might seem appealing, remember that your primary objective is imparting information efficiently and effectively.

Moreover, failing to structure articles effectively represents another standard error. A structured piece aids in delivering complex ideas coherently. Maintaining a logical sequence facilitates reader comprehension, whether explaining a detailed concept or narrating an incident.

A piece lacking aesthetic allure can fail its purpose regardless of the value of its text. That’s where images come into play. Neglecting them is an all-too-common mistake among beginners. Relevant pictures inserted at appropriate junctures serve as visual breaks from texts and stimulate interest among readers.

Lastly, proofreading is vital in determining whether you can deliver a well-written article. Typos and grammatical errors can significantly undermine professional credibility while disrupting a smooth reading experience.

So, when pondering how articles are written, avoiding these mistakes goes a long way toward producing high-quality content that embodies both substance and style. Remember: practice is paramount when learning how to write excellent material!

How to Write an Article with SEOwind AI Writer?

Using the power of artificial intelligence has been a major step in many industries. One such significant tool is SEOwind AI Writer , which is critical for those curious about how to write an article leveraging AI. In this section, I’ll cover how you can effectively use SEOwind AI writer to create compelling articles.

Step 1: Create a Brief and Outline

The first step in writing an article revolves around understanding your audience’s interests and then articulating them in a comprehensive brief that outlines the content’s framework.

• Decide on the topic: What ideas will you share via your article?
• Define your audience: Knowing who will read your text significantly influences your tone, style, and content depth.
• Establish main points: Highlight the key points or arguments you wish to exhibit in your drafted piece. This helps create a skeleton for your work and maintain a logical flow of information.

With SEOwind:

• you get all the content and keyword research for top-performing content in one place,
• you can generate a comprehensive AI outline with one click,
• users can quickly create a title, description, and keywords that match the topic you’re writing about.

As insightful as it might seem, having a roadmap doubles as a guide throughout the creative process. SEOwind offers a user-friendly interface that allows the easy input of essential elements like keywords, title suggestions, content length, etc. These provide an insightful outline, saving time with an indispensable tool that demonstrates the practicality of article writing.

Step 2: Feed AI with context

The magic ingredient to make your AI content stand out is feeding it with the right kind of information.

1. Define your Brand Voice

• Your brand’s voice is its heartbeat. We will help you sketch it out. Just provide SEOwind with some sample text.
• Check out this handy video on  SEOwind Brand Voice Feature
• Company and product details
• The more we know about your company, products, services, and audience, the better. This fuels the AI to craft content that truly resonates.
• Dive into our video on  SEOwind Company data feature

3. Integrate with Google Search Console

• Authorize GSC integration, so SEOwind can find relevant internal linking opportunities when writing your articles.

4. Choose a model for AI Writing

• Choose between GPT-4 (which offers a creative flair to your writing) and the Google Gemini 1.5 Pro (which focuses on data precision and accuracy).
• For more details, check the video  Gemini vs OpenAI

5. Enrich AI with your own insights

To stand out from generic content, it’s essential to enrich your AI-generated articles with your own insights and expertise. This not only adds value to your content but also positions your brand as an authority in your field. In order to add your own insights, just toggle on Your own insights when creating the brief (Section: Include in AI Article within Build your brief) and add your thoughts in the field.

Step 3: Write an AI Article using SEOwind

Once you have a brief ready, you can write an AI article with a single click. It will consider all the data you provided and much more, such as copywriting and SEO best practices , to deliver content that ranks.

Step 4: Give it a Human Touch

Finally, SEOwind’s intuitive platform delivers impeccably constructed content to dispel any confusion about writing an article. The result is inevitably exceptional, with well-structured sentences and logically sequenced sections that meet your demands.

However, artificial intelligence can sometimes miss the unique personal touch that enhances relatability in communication and makes articles more compelling. Let’s master adding individualistic charm to personalize articles so that they resonate with audiences.

Tailoring the AI-generated piece with personal anecdotes or custom inputs helps to break the monotony and bolster engagement rates. Always remember to tweak essential SEO elements like meta descriptions and relevant backlinks.

A quick product tour on how to create AI articles below

So, whether it’s enhancing casual language flow or eliminating robotic consistency, the slightest modifications can breathe life into the text and transform your article into a harmonious man-machine effort. Remember – it’s not just about technology making life easy but also how effectively we utilize this emerging trend!

Common Questions on how to write an article

Delving into the writing world, especially regarding articles, can often lead to a swarm of questions. Let’s tackle some common queries that newbies and seasoned writers frequently stumble upon to make your journey more comfortable and rewarding.

What is the easiest way to write an article?

The easiest way to write an article begins with a clear structure. Here are five simple steps you can follow:

• Identify your audience: The first thing you should consider while planning your article is who will read it? Identifying your target audience helps shape the article’s content, style, and purpose.
• Decide on a topic and outline: Determining what to write about can sometimes be a formidable task. Try to ensure you cover a topic you can cover effectively or for which you feel great passion. Next, outline the main points you want to present throughout your piece.
• Do the research: Dig deep into resources for pertinent information regarding your topic and gather as much knowledge as possible. An informed writer paves the way for a knowledgeable reader.
• Drafting phase: Begin with an engaging introduction followed by systematically fleshing out each point from your outline in body paragraphs before ending with conclusive remarks tying together all the earlier arguments.
• Fine-tune through editing and proofreading: Errors happen no matter how qualified or experienced a writer may be! So make sure to edit and proofread before publishing.

Keep these keys in mind and remain patient and persistent. There’s no easier alternative for writing an article.

How can I write an article without knowing about the topic?

We sometimes need to write about less familiar subjects – but do not fret! Here’s my approach:

• First off, start by thoroughly researching subject-centric reliable sources. The more information you have, the better poised you are to write confidently about it.
• While researching, take notes and highlight the most essential points.
• Create an outline by organizing these points logically – this essentially becomes your article’s backbone.
• Start writing based on your research and outlined structure. If certain aspects remain unclear, keep investigating until clarity prevails.

Getting outside your comfort zone can be daunting, but is also a thrilling chance to expand your horizons.

What is your process for writing an article quickly?

In terms of speed versus quality in writing an article – strikingly enough, they aren’t mutually exclusive. To produce a high-quality piece swiftly, adhere to the following steps:

• Establish purpose and audience: Before cogs start turning on phrase-spinning, be clear on why you’re writing and who will likely read it.
• Brainstorm broadly, then refine: Cast a wide net initially regarding ideas around your topic. Then, narrow down those areas that amplify your core message or meet objectives.
• Create a robust outline: A detailed roadmap prevents meandering during actual writing and saves time!
• Ignore perfection in the first draft: Speed up initial drafting by prioritizing getting your thoughts on paper over perfect grammar or sentence compositions.
• Be disciplined with edits and revisions: Try adopting a cut, shorten, and replace mantra while trimming fluff without mercy!

Writing quickly requires practice and strategic planning – but rest assured, it’s entirely possible!

Seasoned SaaS and agency growth expert with deep expertise in AI, content marketing, and SEO. With SEOwind, he crafts AI-powered content that tops Google searches and magnetizes clicks. With a track record of rocketing startups to global reach and coaching teams to smash growth, Tom's all about sharing his rich arsenal of strategies through engaging podcasts and webinars. He's your go-to guy for transforming organic traffic, supercharging content creation, and driving sales through the roof.

Table of Contents

• 1 What is an Article?
• 2 Objectives of Article Writing
• 3 What is the Format of an Article?
• 4 What Should Be in an Article?
• 5 How should you structure an article?
• 6 Tips for Writing a Good Article
• 7 Step By Step Guide for Article Writing
• 8 Common Mistakes to Avoid in Article Writing
• 9 How to Write an Article with SEOwind AI Writer?
• 10 Common Questions on how to write an article

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How to Write an Amazing Article In 10 Simple Steps

Writing articles is like waving a magic wand to create ripples in a vast ocean. With each stroke of your pen, you conjure waves of inspiration that reach shores far and wide, touching the hearts and minds of people worldwide. Whether you’re just starting out or enhancing your writing skills, mastering the art of article writing can open doors to endless possibilities. 

In this guide, we’ll cover the essential steps and techniques to help beginner bloggers, journalists, and freelance writers craft compelling articles. You’ll learn:

• The basics of article writing
• Structuring your content effectively
• Refining your writing style
• Polishing your work through editing and proofreading

With these tips and templates in your toolset, you’ll be ready to showcase your work to a vast audience, connect with like-minded individuals and establish a professional online presence. We’ll show you how WordPress.com’s user-friendly platform makes the process seamless.

Ready to get started?

In this article:

Informative Articles

Opinion pieces, how-to guides, feature articles, news articles, interview articles, 1. how to identify your target audience , 2. how to choose a topic, 3. how to write a headline, 4. how to conduct quantitative and qualitative research, 5. how to craft an angle , 6. how to write an outline, 7. how to write an intro, 8. how to write the body section , 9. how to write a conclusion , 10. how to edit the article , web writing best practices , best tools for writing articles, 1. the problem-solution template, 2. the listicle template, 3. the step-by-step guide template, 4. the comparative analysis template, write amazing articles and publish them on wordpress.com, types of articles .

Articles can be of different types that serve different purposes and cater to various reader interests. Let’s look at some of the most common types of articles: 

These aim to provide readers with valuable information, facts, or explanations on a particular topic. They focus on educating the audience and are typically well-researched.

Example: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What’s the Difference?

These express the writer’s personal viewpoint or perspective on a specific subject. These articles allow writers to share their thoughts, insights, and arguments while encouraging readers to think critically and engage in discussions.

Example: define: Brand

These provide step-by-step instructions to help readers accomplish a specific task or learn a new skill. They break down complex processes into easy-to-follow steps, enabling readers to achieve their goals.

Example: How to Choose a Domain Name for Your Website

These are presented in a list format, featuring a series of items or points related to a specific theme. They offer readers a convenient and organized way to consume information. Listicles are often used to highlight top items, tips, or recommendations.

Example: Best Small Website Builder: The Top Options Compared (2020)

These are in-depth and extensively researched pieces that explore a topic or profile of a person or event. They go beyond basic facts and delve into the nuances and details, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding.

Example: Meals for One

These report on recent events, developments, or noteworthy stories. They aim to provide readers with factual information objectively and concisely. News articles typically adhere to journalistic principles.

Example: ‘Breakthrough’ geothermal tech produces 3.5 megawatts of carbon-free power

These feature conversations or discussions with individuals of interest or expertise in a particular field. These articles often include quotes or insights from the interviewee, providing readers with unique perspectives and valuable insights.

Example: Automattic Women: Selena Jackson

Depending on your goals, target audience, and subject matter – you can choose the appropriate type of article to communicate your message and engage readers effectively.

How to write an article in 10 steps 

The basic structure of an article contains 4 parts:

• Opening paragraphs (introduction)
• The main discussion (body section)
• Closing paragraphs (conclusion) 

However, there are more than just 4 steps to writing an amazing article. Doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or a pro; following a structured approach can help you create better articles faster. You can follow this proven 10-step process for that. 

• Identify target audience
• Choose a topic 
• Write a headline 
• Conduct quantitative and qualitative research
• Craft an angle 
• Write an outline
• Write an introduction
• Write body section
• Write conclusion 
• Finish editing 

Let’s discuss each step briefly. 

Target audience refers to the person or group you are writing for. If you’re writing for everyone, you’re writing for no one. You need to identify who you are writing for to ensure you effectively communicate your message to the audience. 

Understanding your target audience is crucial for creating content that resonates with them. Consider their demographics, interests, and needs. Research their preferences, pain points, and what they expect from your article. This knowledge will help you tailor your writing style, tone, and content to appeal directly to your intended readers.

Once you’ve researched the audience, create a user persona with common traits and then write for that one person.  Creating a user persona is not just a list of data points. It’s like an imaginary person with a name and specific characteristics that help you understand their needs.     

By focusing on your target audience, your content will speak directly to them, which will help you increase engagement and build a loyal readership base.

Before you embark on the exciting journey of article writing, you must first conquer the challenge of finding the perfect topic. The topic you choose sets the foundation for your entire piece, influencing its success and impact.

First, select a topic that interests you and aligns with your goal of writing. You don’t want to write about everything and anything. Start by considering something that aligns with your knowledge and expertise. Writing about something you’re passionate about or have expertise in makes the process more enjoyable and lets you provide valuable insights to your readers. 

Or you can also focus on solving specific or common problems in your niche. Identifying common challenges or problems and providing practical tips, step-by-step guides, or sharing personal experiences can make your content highly valuable and relevant to readers.

Researching trending topics is another easy way to find a suitable topic. Stay updated with the latest trends and discussions in your industry or niche. Explore popular blogs, news sites, and social media platforms to identify topics currently gaining traction. This ensures your article addresses timely issues and captures readers’ attention.

Lastly, take a data-driven approach through keyword research. Use keyword research tools like keyword planner or SEMrush to look for keywords with decent search volume and low competition. It ensures organic traffic.

“On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy.” David Ogilvy, copywriting legend

The headline is the first component someone reads. One single word can attract or repel them.

The first step in crafting a great headline is to analyze every word. Is every word necessary? If you remove a word, will the headline still make sense? No removable word in the headline is considered a tight headline, with nothing extra to distract from the meaning. So, keep a headline direct and persuasive so the reader is engaged.

Next, aim to craft headlines that are:

• Ultra-specific

Including all these elements in one headline might not be possible, so aim for at least one or two. Doing so will strengthen the headline and encourage readers to read on.

Here are a few more insights on keeping your readers engaged:

• Use proven headline formulas to upgrade your headline to a better level
• Keep the main idea and the keywords of the headlines relevant
• Focus on benefits. Benefit-driven headlines get more clicks
• Inject power words to command attention
• Trim unnecessary words

Solid research strengthens the credibility of your article. When you use the right data, it makes your article stronger and more convincing. 

What is quantitative data?

Quantitative data is objective data that can be measured and assigned a numerical value.

What is qualitative data?

Qualitative data cannot be measured or assigned a numerical value. Instead, it is information that is referenced not by numbers but by concepts, feelings, characteristics, and emotions. Qualitative data is subjective.

For quantitative research, you can use Google to dig out data, statistics, and surveys to support your claims and add credibility.

For qualitative research, you can conduct interviews, gather anecdotes, or explore case studies to provide valuable insights and real-life examples.

To stand out against multiple articles on a similar topic, find a unique angle that sets your piece apart. Consider what makes your article different or special. It could be a fresh perspective, a unique approach, or new insights. Determine your article’s unique selling point and emphasize it throughout your writing. Maybe it’s an expert opinion, an authentic recipe, a top-secret method, or a completely new discovery. 

For example, instead of writing a generic article on “how to deal with depression,” – write:

By offering something distinct, you’ll capture readers’ attention and give them a reason to choose your article over others.

An article outline is a structure that guides your writing process and ensures your article stays focused and well-structured. Once you start using outlines, you’ll find writing articles become much easier.

Start by listing the main points or sections you want to cover based on your research and angle. Then, under each section, jot down the sub-points or supporting details. Don’t hesitate to revise and refine your outline as you progress. Whenever you find something new, add it in its respective position. 

Google Docs is great for creating an outline for your article. Or you can also use Workflowy to organize your ideas into sections and subsections. 

Here’s an example outline I made for my article on ‘how to write an amazing article.’

Click for more tips and templates for creating outlines .

The introduction sets the tone for the entire article by grabbing the reader’s attention. The introduction is your opportunity to hook the readers and provide them with a clear understanding of what your article is about. 

Begin with a compelling opening sentence that grabs attention and sparks curiosity. Then, give a bit of background information and context to set the stage for your topic. Finally, conclude the introduction by stating your article’s main objective or thesis, giving readers a preview of what they can expect.

Example: “Did you know that humans can actually hold their breath for more than 20 minutes underwater? By following some techniques and enough practice, you, too, can extend your underwater breathing time. This article will equip you with seven expert tips to enhance your underwater breathing and unlock the wonders beneath.”

When structuring your article, it’s important to divide it into well-organized sections or paragraphs that delve deeper into the key points you want to convey. By using subheadings, you can break up the text and provide readers with a clear roadmap, making it easier for them to navigate and understand the content.

Each section should begin with a concise topic sentence that introduces the main idea or focus of that particular section. This is a signpost for readers, helping them anticipate what they will learn or explore next. 

For instance, if you’re writing an article about the benefits of exercise, one section could be titled “Improved Mental Health,” with a topic sentence like: “Engaging in regular exercise has been shown to have profound effects on our mental well-being.”

Support your statements with evidence, examples, and relevant data to ensure credibility and engagement. This adds depth and persuasion to your article. For instance, if you claim that exercise reduces stress levels, cite scientific studies or share personal anecdotes that illustrate how exercise has helped individuals manage their stress effectively.

To maintain a seamless flow of ideas, use smooth transitions between paragraphs. This allows readers to easily follow your train of thought as you progress from one point to another. Transitions can be achieved through the use of transitional words or phrases, such as “in addition,” “furthermore,” or “on the other hand.” These help establish connections and guide readers through the logical progression of your article.

This is where you end your article. A good conclusion can leave a lasting impression on the readers. Avoid introducing new information in the conclusion and summarize the key points discussed in the body of your article, emphasizing their significance and relevance. Avoid naming their conclusion “Conclusion.” 

Avoid generic headings for your conclusion heading. Be specific like:

• Learn more about [topic]
• Why is [topic] important?
• Does [topic] make sense for your business?

If you must be generic in the conclusion’s heading, then go for:

• Closing Thoughts
• Final Words
• To Sum It Up
• To Wrap It Up

Recapping the whole article helps the reader remember the list of tips. After the recap, tell them what to do next. If someone reads your whole piece, chances are, they’re invested and will take action on your Call to Action ( CTA ). Don’t let that power and impact go to waste. Guiding them to bookmark the page or follow a link to another relevant article is 100x better than stopping at the recap.

The conclusion should be short and should give the reader a clear sense of finality. Ensure you don’t leave the reader confused about the information presented or your stance on a particular topic. 

Once the draft is finished, you’re well on your way, but there’s still a bit more to do – editing. It’s a vital part of good writing. It shapes a piece of raw coal into a glittering diamond.

No matter how good you are, the first draft is always full of mistakes, and there is usually room for improvement.  

When you have the draft, take a break from writing so you can start editing with fresh eyes again. You’ll see a lot of things that you missed earlier. Review your article for clarity, coherence, grammar, and spelling errors. Ensure your writing flows smoothly and effectively communicates your ideas. To make things easier, use some tools to help you edit; I’ll discuss those in a later section.

Next, remove anything unnecessary from your article. Anything that doesn’t add any value to your article shouldn’t be there. Then, check to see if you’ve missed any necessary information. Add statistics and relevant information to solidify your writing. 

If you have the option, have a friend read the draft. A new perspective can usually detect problems. Make necessary revisions and proofread multiple times until you are confident in the quality of your final piece.

By following these ten steps, you can create a well-crafted and engaging article that captivates your audience from start to finish. 

• Stay true to your unique perspective:   As a writer, your unique perspective and voice are your most valuable assets. Embrace your individuality and bring your authentic self into your writing. Avoid replicating existing content or mimicking other writers. Instead, focus on expressing your thoughts, opinions, and experiences. Your distinctive viewpoint will set your article apart from others and create a personal connection with your readers. Be confident in your voice and don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through.
• Offer valuable insights: To engage your audience and leave a lasting impression, your article must provide genuine value. Research your topic thoroughly to unearth valuable insights, fresh data, or unique angles that haven’t been extensively covered before. Share your expertise, research findings, or personal experiences to enrich the reader’s understanding. Offering something new and valuable establishes you as a reliable source of information and keeps readers coming back for more of your content.
• Strive for clarity and coherence in your writing: Clear and coherent writing is the hallmark of an effective article. Ensure your ideas flow logically and smoothly from one paragraph to another. Use clear and concise language to convey your message without ambiguity. Avoid using jargon or overly complex terms that might confuse your readers. Utilize transition words and phrases to create seamless connections between sentences and paragraphs. When your writing is clear and coherent, readers can easily follow your train of thought, making the reading experience enjoyable and memorable. 
• Keep it short and simple: Use simple and easily understandable words to communicate your ideas effectively. Break down complex concepts into smaller, digestible chunks. Short sentences are easier to read and comprehend, allowing readers to grasp your message quickly. Also, don’t stretch your paragraphs too much. A paragraph should contain 3 to 4 lines maximum. Longer paragraphs create a wall of text that discourage readers from continuing.
• Do not copy/plagiarize: Originality is key when creating web content. Plagiarism is unethical and can have severe consequences. Always credit and properly cite any sources or references you use in your article. Provide your unique insights and perspectives to add value to the reader’s experience. Plagiarism damages your credibility and hinders your growth as a writer.
• Use subheadings and make it scannable: Web readers often skim through articles rather than reading them word by word. Help them navigate and grasp your content easily by using informative subheadings. Subheadings break up the text, making it scannable and allowing readers to find the information they are interested in quickly. Use clear and descriptive subheadings that accurately represent the content of each section.
• Use pictures and tables: Visual elements such as pictures, infographics, and tables can enhance the overall reader experience. Images can help illustrate your points, make your article visually appealing, and provide a welcome break from the text. Tables are useful for presenting data or comparisons in a structured and organized manner. Ensure that your visuals are relevant, high-quality, and appropriately sourced.

There are many tools out there to help your writing journey. Let’s introduce you to some of the most useful tools you can get for free to take your article writing to the next level. 

• ChatGPT:   ChatGPT is an AI-powered writing tool that helps writers generate ideas, write sections, conduct research, and fix grammar. AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, a technology that allows machines like ChatGPT to understand human language and respond with natural-sounding text. While AI is powerful, it’s essential to fact-check its outputs since it can sometimes make mistakes in providing accurate information. Use ChatGPT wisely, and it can be your helpful writing companion!
• Grammarly: It’s a popular writing tool that helps writers improve their grammar, spelling, and punctuation. It works as an automated proofreader and editor, checking your text for errors and offering suggestions for improvements. The pro version also has a built-in plagiarism checker. 
• Wordtune: It’s an AI-powered writing tool that assists in rephrasing and improving your sentences. It offers alternative wordings and suggestions for stronger vocabulary and can even rewrite entire sentences to improve readability and style. Wordtune can be especially useful when you want to convey your message more engagingly and concisely. 

These tools can greatly support your writing and editing process, making it easier to produce high-quality articles. However, it’s important to note that while AI tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, and Wordtune offer valuable assistance, they are not substitutes for human creativity and critical thinking. Reviewing and revising your work personally is essential to ensure that it aligns with your unique voice and meets your intended goals for the article.

Article templates 

Templates can serve as a helpful starting point to structure your content effectively. Here are four commonly used article templates:

This template is ideal for addressing a specific problem or challenge and providing a solution to your readers. It consists of the following sections:

• Introduction: Present the problem or challenge, and explain its significance or impact.
• Problem Analysis: Dive deeper into the issue, providing relevant facts, statistics, or examples to support your claims.
• Solution Presentation: Introduce your proposed solution(s), explaining how they can address the problem effectively.
• Implementation and Benefits: Discuss how readers can implement the solution and the potential benefits they can expect to achieve.
• Conclusion: Summarize the problem, restate the solution, and leave readers with a call to action or a final thought.

Listicles are popular for their easy-to-read and scannable format. This template organizes content into a numbered or bulleted list, providing concise information or tips. It typically includes the following sections:

• Introduction: Present the topic and explain its relevance or importance.
• List Items: Present each point on the list, with a brief description or explanation for each.
• Elaboration: Provide further details, examples, or insights for each list item.
• Conclusion: Recap the main points covered in the list and offer a closing thought or a call to action.

This template is useful for providing a detailed process or instructions on how to accomplish a specific task. It follows a sequential structure and includes the following sections:

• Introduction: Introduce the task or process and explain its significance or benefits.
• Step 1: Describe the first step of the process, including any necessary background information.
• Step 2: Detail the second step, and continue with subsequent steps until the process is complete.
• Tips and Considerations: Offer additional tips, tricks, or important considerations to enhance the reader’s understanding or success in following the steps.
• Conclusion: Recap the steps covered, emphasize key takeaways, and provide a closing remark or call to action.

This template is suitable when comparing and contrasting two or more subjects, products, or ideas. It follows a structured approach and consists of the following sections:

• Introduction: Present the subjects being compared and explain the purpose or context of the analysis.
• Comparison Criteria: Identify the specific criteria or factors used to evaluate and compare the subjects.
• Comparison Sections: Dedicate separate sections to each criterion, providing a detailed analysis and comparison of the subjects based on that criterion.
• Overall Assessment: Summarize the main findings and provide an overall assessment or conclusion based on the comparisons made.
• Conclusion: Reinforce the main points, highlight any recommendations or conclusions, and encourage readers to share their thoughts or experiences.

Other than these short templates, you can find millions of examples online. Simply search for a similar article you want to write, and click on the first few links to see the structure they’ve used. 

Congratulations! You’ve now gained a comprehensive understanding of how to write amazing articles. By following the steps and techniques in this guide, you are well-equipped to embark on your writing journey and captivate your target audience.

Remember, writing articles is not only about conveying information; it is also about connecting with readers on a deeper level, inspiring them, and sparking meaningful conversations. 

The next step is to find a good place to publish your amazing articles now that you have the tools to get started. You can easily get started with a website from WordPress.com. It’s quite simple to get started once you follow some super simple guidelines from WordPress.com support.    

So, what are you waiting for? Start creating your WordPress.com account today, unleash your writing prowess, and let the world discover your remarkable talent!

Happy writing!

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About the author, mehedi hasan shoab.

Mehedi is a freelance writer for SaaS, marketing and finance businesses. He's the founder of PowerhouseBlogger.com. Mehedi is growing businesses with sizzling writing, one piece at a time.

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• How to Write a Web Article

Dave Schools , Former Digital Strategist

Article Category: #Strategy

Posted on April 18, 2016

Follow this simple and proven framework to organize your writing for effective delivery on the web.

F o l l o w t h i s s i m p l e a n d p r o v e n f r a m e w o r k t o o r g a n i z e y o u r w r i t i n g f o r e f f e c t i v e d e l i v e r y o n t h e w e b .

When I first started writing on the web, I knew nothing. I was scared of the gavel-wielding, faceless, Redditesque crowd (whom I now love). But I found my first footing when I submitted an article to a niche blog I liked and followed (more below).

Since then, I’ve been able to write several top stories on Medium, including my best one: I sat down with a millionaire who operates 10 businesses while sailing around the world with his family , which has 7.2k recommends and has been picked up by several publications including Business Insider, The Observer, Quartz, et al.

I’m not trying to be boasty (intentional new word — trying it out), I’m just saying there is a structure that works for single-topic web articles. My hope is that it will help new writers take the leap as I did.

Credit for this structure goes to Crew and to Andrea Ayres Deets , who is an amazing writer and inspired me to write several years ago.

The first time I ever freelanced, I submitted an article to the Crew Blog and Andrea replied with the loose and simple formula they use for structuring their posts — one that I still use today and the one I am about to show you now.

Let it be known, there is no perfect formula for a successful blog post . It takes more than words and pictures — a lot of which is out of our control (i.e., network algorithms, timing, audience, etc.). But sometimes you need a good framework (the one below built up a 1 million+ visitors) to get started. I did. So here it is.

(Anecdote) Start with an experience from your own life. Write a story in the first person. Be vulnerable. My favorite writer, James Altucher , says to “ Bleed in the first sentence .” This builds personal connection with your reader, even if you are representing a big brand. To me, this is where the good writers distinguish themselves from average writers; the best writers can tell a short, gripping, and humorous story in less than five sentences.

(Transition) After the opening anecdote, you need to transition to the thesis. Tie the personal story to the thesis by writing a sweeping statement with broad application.

(Thesis) Answer the reader’s question: why should I read this? You’ve cast your net widely with the transition, hoping to catch as many readers as possible, now laser in to a specific and compelling case. Make the time they spend reading your article a rewarding experience.

Your thesis should be damn similar to your title. The reader clicked the title because they thought it sounded interesting; if they leave the article after reading your thesis, then it means you mistitled your post (click-baiter!). The title-to-thesis relationship should be monozygotic.

II. Main argument 1   Lose yourself here. Now that the reader has agreed to listen, quote experts, cite research, and draw from history. Do not insert your own opinion here. Rely on the authority and experience of big names. 

This needs to be a research-backed argument. Bring in science to support your claims. No one can argue with science.

[show chart or diagram graphic]

Also, its super helpful to give readers a 1–3 sentence description of the research you cite, just in case people don’t have the time to go to another link to read it themselves. 

III. Main argument 2   Continue building momentum. Except this time use case studies from various sources. You’ve stated your point and given facts to back it up, now tell a story showing it worked for someone.

[show picture of person/people in story]

Once you’ve told the story, knit argument 1 and argument 2 together. Show how the scientific proof manifested in the story. This congruence creates a neural connection between the right and left brain of the reader, resulting in the foundation of a memory .

IV. Takeaways (3–5 depending on length)

• Use a bulleted or numerical list
• to give the user specific and
• actionable ways to implement the thesis

Remember, takeaways should be backed by examples and research for why these ways and methods are superior (or why these will get readers the results they desire).

V. Conclusion Circle back to your beginning anecdote. Finish the story, or mention how you would do it differently now that you know the thesis. This has a satisfying “bookend” effect on the article.

Finally, zoom out to a bird’s eye view and show the macro-impact of the thesis. The goal is to leave the reader inspired.

So there it is. I hope that makes it easier for you to write your next web article. It helped me. 

But can I be honest for a moment?  I don't always use this format. And actually, I hope you don't always use this format. How boring would that be? Use it as a guide. As Pablo Picasso said:

"Learn the rules like a pro so that you can break them like an artist."

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B.S. in Digital Marketing

Writing for the Web: A Beginner’s Guide

Strong web writing skills are a key component of successful digital marketing strategy and effective search engine optimization (SEO). Though writing for the web encompasses a wide variety of different content, crafting the right kind of content is especially important for blog and website platforms. Writing for the web has its own set of best practices and style guidelines, especially because readers interact with web content differently than traditional text. For example, only around 16 percent of site visitors read web content in full . And according to the Nielsen Norman Group, about 80 percent of site visitors scan web content rather than reading it word by word.

How to Write for the Web

Add to these statistics the fact that most only scroll to the halfway point on a webpage , and brands have their work cut out for them in terms of connecting with the reader through content marketing. Why spend the time and resources to craft high-quality content if no one is reading it? This is the challenge facing marketers today. The good news is that there are ways to effectively reach modern readers — and hold their attention. It all starts with keeping copy concise, scannable and objective. The following are some of the key features of successful web writing.

Inverted Pyramid Structure

Arguably the most important element of writing for the web is presenting information in a way that makes sense for the reader. Inverted pyramid structure, long used by journalists because it gets to the point quickly, puts the primary information first. Supporting information comes after, and the least important elements are at the end of the text. “Journalists have long adhered to the inverse approach : start the article by telling the reader the conclusion … readers can stop at any time and will still get the most important parts of the article,” the Nielsen Norman Group says. This means that writers should leave “deep content” for the relatively small number of readers who make it to the end of a piece, Moz says. This approach allows writers to prioritize information, and readers to choose how much detail they need on the topic: “Very interested readers will scroll, and these few motivated souls will reach the foundation of the pyramid and get the full story,” the Nielsen Norman Group explains.

Scannable Content

In addition to presenting the most important information first, web content should be easy to scan. Users rarely read to the end of content, so it is important to format text in a way that allows them to find the information they are looking for quickly and easily. Elements like headers, bold and highlighted text, bulleted lists, graphics, captions and more accomplish this. Enchanting Marketing offers the following (helpfully, bulleted) list of questions to evaluate whether your content is scannable to readers :

• Does your headline communicate what you’re about?
• Does your image caption communicate a message?
• Do your sub headlines summarize your key points?
• Do easy-to-scan bullet points reduce wordiness?

In general, “Your web visitor is hunting for information or products. Ensure he can understand your most important information by just glancing at your web page,” the same post says.

Concise Text

Because readers are looking to find information as quickly as possible, writing concise text is another key component of successful web writing. Users don’t stay on a page for very long. This is why marketers measure “bounce rate,” or the percentage of visitors who navigate away from content. To hold reader interest as well as maximize time on site, be as concise as possible. According to Buffer, the ideal length for a blog post is seven minutes , or 1,600 words. And for posts that incorporate many photos or other graphic elements, the average word count should be closer to 1,000. Though research varies from site to site , this gives content creators a good idea of what to aim for. Once again, Enchanting Marketing has provided a helpful checklist for keeping content short and sweet:

• Use short paragraphs
• Use short sentences
• Skip unnecessary words
• Avoid jargon
• Avoid the passive [voice]
• Avoid needless repetition
• Use the word “you”

Aside from actually writing less content, a good way to keep readers’ attention is to break up text into short paragraphs that can be easily scanned and digested. This works in tandem with concise text to ensure the user views as much content as possible.

Objective Language

Users want content to be easy to understand, and another way to accomplish this is by writing in a conversational, informal tone. Ensuring that your tone is objective makes information easier to process. Avoid overly promotional messaging because it makes users question the credibility of the content itself : “questioning the credibility of promotional statements seems to distract users from processing the meaning,” the Nielsen Norman Group says. This is also why Enchanting Marketing warns against using “clever phrasing.” Web writing should be as simple and easy to follow as possible. “Web visitors quickly glance at your web page before guessing whether they’re in the right place or not,” Enchanting Marketing says. “They just want to make a quick decision.”

One way to make your content more readable without sacrificing valuable information is to incorporate hypotext. According to Dejan Marketing, hypotext is “a way of revealing content on-demand. It acts like a traditional link, but it doesn’t interrupt user experience by sending readers to another page. Once clicked, the extra information is injected into a desired spot in the page. Another click hides it away.” By showing the most important parts of the content, readers can create their own experience. The same article provides several benefits of hypotext:

• Supports easy scanning and better content overview by removing visual clutter
• Encourages content consumption through low word count
• On-demand information retrieval enables interactivity and personalization
• Users stay on the page they’re reading, which minimizes interruption

From a content strategy perspective, hypotext also allows the writer to include more detailed information as an option while remaining concise.

As effective web writing becomes more and more important to overall marketing strategy, the volume of content being created is increasing at an unprecedented rate, according to Dejan Marketing. From blog posts to advertorials, opinion pieces and lists, the web is home to a wide variety of content competing for user attention. But if marketers can incorporate the best practices covered here, they stand to benefit from the world of opportunity that content marketing presents.

Creating optimized, high-quality content is one of the foundations of modern marketing strategy. If you are interested in topics like these that are relevant to the marketing industry, consider Concordia University, St. Paul’s online marketing degree program.

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How to Write Articles

Last Updated: March 14, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Janet Peischel . Janet Peischel is a Writer and Digital Media Expert and the Owner of Top of Mind Marketing. With more than 15 years of consulting experience, she develops content strategies and builds online brands for her clients. Prior to consulting, Janet spent over 15 years in the marketing industry, in positions such as the Vice President of Marketing Communications for the Bank of America. Janet holds a BA and MA from the University of Washington. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 3,284,959 times.

There are a multitude of different types of articles, including news stories, features, profiles, instructional articles, and so on. While each has specific qualities that are unique to its type, all articles share some common characteristics. From forming and researching your idea to writing and editing your work, writing articles can give you a chance to share compelling and important information with readers.

Forming Your Idea

• News: This type of article presents facts about something that happened recently or that will happen in the near future. It usually covers the 5 Ws and H: who, what, where, when, why and how.
• Feature: This type of article presents information in a more creative, descriptive way than a straight news article. It can be an article about a person, a phenomenon, a place, or other subject.
• Editorial : This article presents a writer’s opinions on a topic or debate. It is intended to persuade the reader to think a certain way about a topic. [1] X Research source
• How-to : This article gives clear instructions and information about how to accomplish some task.
• Profile: This article presents information about a person, using information that the writer typically gathers through interviews and background research.

• What interests you about this topic?
• What is a point that people usually overlook?
• What do you want people to know about this topic?
• For example, if you want to write about organic farming, you might say to yourself, “I think it’s important to know what organic labeling means on food packages. It can be confusing to know what it all means.”

• Your goal is to convey enough passion that your readers think the issue in your article is worth caring about.

• Enter some keywords into an online search engine. This can lead you to sources that write about your topic. These sources can also give you an idea of different approaches to the topic.
• Read as much as you can on the topic. Visit your local library. Consult books, magazine articles, published interviews, and online features as well as news sources, blogs, and databases for information. A good place to start looking for data not apparent on the Internet is the Gale Directory of Databases, which exists in both book format (available in libraries) or online .

• For example, for the organic food topic, you might focus on one grocery shopper who doesn’t understand organic food labeling. Use that opening anecdote to lead into your main argument, known as a "nut graph," which summarizes your unique idea or perspective.

• For example, if you are writing about how one person learns how to read organic labels, your overall argument might be that the public needs to be aware that many companies misuse organic labeling. This leads to dishonest practices in product advertising. Another topic might be: it’s important to know who owns your local media outlets. If corporate media organizations own your local newspaper, you may get very little media coverage of your area and not know much about your community.
• Write your argument in one sentence. Post it near your computer or writing area. This will help you stay focused as you start working on your article.

Researching Your Idea

• Primary sources can include a transcript from a legislative hearing, lawsuit filing, county property indexes with folio numbers, discharge certificates from the military, and photos. Other primary sources could include government written records in the National Archives or special collections sections of your local or university library, insurance policies, corporate financial reports, or personal background reports.
• Secondary sources comprise published databases, books, abstracts, articles in English and other languages, bibliographies, dissertations, and reference books.
• You can find information on the internet or in a library. You can also conduct interviews, watch documentaries, or consult other sources.

• You can make a longer list of evidence and examples. As you gather more evidence, you will be able to prioritize which ones are the strongest examples.

• Don’t assume that one source is completely accurate. You'll need several unrelated sources to get the full picture.

• Choose a citation style sooner rather than later, so you can compile citation information in the correct format. MLA, APA, and Chicago are some of the most common citation styles.

• Don’t copy any text directly from another source. Paraphrase this text instead, and include a citation.

Outlining Your Idea

• For example, if you are writing an article for a specialized academic audience, your tone, and approach will be vastly different from if you’re writing an article for a popular magazine.

• It’s helpful to start with the five-paragraph essay outline. [4] X Research source This outline devotes one paragraph to an introduction, three paragraphs for supporting evidence, and one paragraph for a conclusion. As you start plugging in information into your outline, you may find that this structure doesn’t suit your article so well.
• You might also find that this structure doesn’t suit certain types of articles. For example, if you’re doing a profile of a person, your article may follow a different format.

• Make sure to fully attribute your quote and use quotation marks around anything that you didn’t write yourself. For example, you might write: A spokesperson for the dairy brand Milktoast says, “Our milk is labeled organic because our cows are only fed organic grass.”
• Don’t overdo the quotes. Be selective about the quotes you do use. If you use too many quotes, your reader might think you’re using them as filler instead of coming up with your material.

Writing Your Article

• Telling an anecdote.
• Using a quote from an interview subject.
• Starting with a statistic.
• Starting with straight facts of the story.

• Be flexible, however. Sometimes when you write, the flow makes sense in a way that is different from your outline. Be ready to change the direction of your piece if it seems to read better that way.

• For example, you might write about the grocery shopper having trouble with organic food labels: “Charlie concentrated on jars of peanut butter on the shelf. The words ‘organic’ and ‘natural’ seemed to jump out at him. Every jar said something different. He felt they were shouting at him: ‘Choose me!’ ‘Buy me!’ The words started swimming in front of his eyes. He left the aisle without buying anything.”

• For example, use words or phrases such as “however…,” “another important point is…,” or “it must be remembered that…”

• For example, a newspaper article will need to offer information in a narrative, chronological format. It should be written with accessible and straightforward language. An academic article will be written with more formal language. A how-to article might be written in more informal language.
• When writing your article, use a strong "anchoring" sentence at the beginning of each paragraph to move your reader forward. Moreover, vary the length of your sentences, both short and long. If you find all your sentences are about the same word length, chances are your reader will be 'lulled" into a standard rhythm and fall asleep. Sentences which are consistently choppy and short may give your reader the impression you are writing advertising copy instead of a well-thought-out article.

• If you started with an anecdote or statistic in your introduction, think about reconnecting to this point in your conclusion.
• Conclusions are often strongest when they use a last, brief, concrete example that leads the reader to new insights. Conclusions should be 'forward-thinking' -- point the reader in a direction that keeps his or her "thirst" for knowledge going strong.

• For example, you could include photographs, charts, or infographics to illustrate some of your points.
• You could also highlight or develop a major point more with a sidebar-type box. This is an extra bit of writing that delves more deeply into one aspect of the subject. For example, if you’re writing about your city’s film festival, you might include a sidebar write-up that highlights one of the films. These types of write-ups are usually short (50-75 words, depending on the publication outlet).
• Remember, these materials are supplemental. This means that your article should stand on its own. Your writing needs to be understandable, clear and focused without the help of charts, photographs or other graphics.

Finalizing Your Work

• Look closely at the central argument or point you’re trying to make. Does everything in your article serve this central argument? Do you have a unrelated paragraph? If so, this paragraph should be eliminated or reframed so that it supports the main argument.
• Eliminate any contradictory information in the article or address the contradictions, showing how the contradictory information is relevant to readers.
• Rewrite sections or the entire thing as necessary. Revisions like this are common for all types of articles, so don’t feel like you’ve failed or are incompetent.

• It’s helpful to print out a hard copy of your article. Go through it with a pen or pencil to catch mistakes. Then go back and correct these mistakes on the computer.

• It is common to be able to identify your mistakes in grammar or writing while reading aloud as well; this could cut down on the feedback that you may receive from someone else.

• This person may also catch errors and inconsistencies that you have overlooked.

• If you want to convey slightly more information, write a sub-headline. This is a secondary sentence that builds on the headline.

How Do You Minimize Bias In an Article?

Article Outline Template

Expert Q&A

• Make sure to give yourself plenty of time to write the article. If you don't, you'll be rushing at the last minute to create something that isn't representative of what you can truly do. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• To find out more about using primary research tools and databases, consult the Investigative Reporters and Editors website or get a copy of The Investigative Reporter's Handbook: A Guide to Documents, Databases and Techniques, Fifth Edition. Authors: Brant Houston and Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. (New York: Bedford/St. Martin's 2009). Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Determine whether you actually have an interest in writing. Try writing 2 paragraphs with as much creativity as possible. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• When writing for a newspaper or magazine, do not do so free. Ask what the freelance fee is beforehand. Your pay will usually be calculated on a per-word basis or per-article basis. Your work is valuable. Writing for free makes making a living more difficult for those who depend on freelance fees to pay the bills. If you're just starting out, volunteering to do some articles for smaller community papers, student publications and trade magazines is a great way to build your portfolio. Thanks Helpful 3 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/journalism/types.html
• ↑ Janet Peischel. Digital Media Expert. Expert Interview. 30 March 2021.
• ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/writing/creating-a-5-paragraph-essay-outline.html
• ↑ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/why-is-context-important-in-writing#quiz-0
• ↑ https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/166662

About This Article

To write an article, use both primary and secondary sources to gather information about your topic. Primary sources include photos, government records, and personal interviews, while secondary sources include books, abstracts, scholarly journals, other articles, and reference books. When you’re writing, use facts, quotes, and statistics from your sources to support your point, and explain your topic as if the reader has never heard of it before. To learn the different types of articles, including news, features, and editorials, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• Content Production

Content Writing 101

Written by Brian Dean

What Is Content Writing?

Content writing is the process of planning, writing, and publishing written material, such as articles, blog posts, product descriptions, and marketing copy, that is intended for online consumption. The goal of content writing is to inform, educate, or persuade readers, and it can be used for a variety of purposes, including:

• Building brand awareness
• Increasing website traffic
• Generating leads
• Improving search engine rankings
• Establishing credibility

Why Is Proper Content Writing Important?

When most people hear “content writing”, they think “writing articles”.

However, writing content isn’t just important for blog posts.

In fact, content writing is important for all types of different content formats, including:

• Video scripts
• Email newsletters
• Keynote speeches
• Social media posts
• Podcast titles
• White papers
• Web page copy
• Landing pages
• YouTube video descriptions

Or put another way:

Writing is the foundation for pretty much any content that you publish.

Best Practices

Create an outline.

Creating an outline is a GREAT first step in the content writing process.

Outlines help your content come out better for two main reasons:

First , outlines force you to put all your thoughts down in an organized way (rather than writing everything off the top of your head). Which really speeds up the writing process.

Second , outlines usually lead to a much better structure for your content. That’s because an outline lets you see your content from a “high level” that’s impossible to see as you’re writing.

Plus, because you have an outline, your final content will hit all of the major points that you set out to before you started writing.

So: how do you actually go about creating an effective outline?

Here are three main strategies that work well:

So when we start working on a new guide, we use a lot of the structure from our existing guides as a base.

• Use a template: Most professional content writers work off of proven templates. Here are 5 content templates you can use to create outlines .

For example, let’s say you’re about to write a guest post about the keto diet.

Well, you’d want to type “keto diet” into BuzzSumo to see what’s already done well.

Then, read some of the best posts to see exactly what you should cover in your article.

Make It Easy to Consume and Share

Content that’s super easy to read and share is of the keys to great content .

You can have a post written by the world’s top copywriter. But if that post is hard for people to consume, no one will read it.

Here are a few tips to help make your content easier to consume, skim and share.

Keep it Snappy, Rich and Entertaining

Whether you’re writing about content creation or cars, your writing needs to grab (and keep) people’s attention .

Otherwise, they’ll click over to something else.

How you grab someone’s attention depends on the format you’re working with.

When I create videos, I use “Family Guy moments” throughout the video. These are little asides that add some humor to and spice to my video content.

And when I write videos, I focus a lot on formatting and layout.

Specifically, I try to keep my paragraphs short:

I also sprinkle in visuals and screenshots to mix things up.

And if you’re about to sit down and record some audio, you want your lines to be short and snappy. You also want to avoid parenthetical statements. Content in parenthesis is easy to follow when you’re reading it. But you can easily “lose the thread” if you’re listening to your audio as a podcast.

In short: your final content needs to be super engaging to work. And no matter what format you’re working with, that starts with the content writing process.

Quotable On Social Media

According to a study that we conducted, very few blog posts get shared or linked to .

And to increase the odds that your content ranks in search engines and gets shared on social media, add shareable quotes.

For text-based content, this can be a statement that you highlight in your post.

And if you’re making a YouTube video, you can pull out a short snippet from that video to share on LinkedIn.

The important thing here is to have these quotes ready before you publish the post. Then, highlight them in your content.

Choose Interesting Angles

With 2.3 million blog posts going live every day , you can’t just publish something generic and expect a wave of visitors.

Instead, to get traffic to your content, it needs a compelling angle.

An angle is simply the hook that makes your content stand out from all the others on that topic.

Your angle can be a personal story. A bit of controversy. Or something that simply looks better than what’s out there.

The angle you go with depends on your target audience.

For example, when we published our guide to becoming an SEO expert , our 8-bit design helped it stand out.

Make It Actionable

For most niches, your content can’t just be entertaining.

And it’s not even enough for it to simply be informative.

For your content marketing to work, your content needs to be super useful .

Here’s how:

Our SEO audit post is a great example of this.

It’s not a collection of random tips. This content is a step-by-step action plan that anyone can follow.

• Keep it up-to-date: A single outdated step or example can derail an otherwise great piece. I recommend going back and updating your old content at least once a year.

Make it Trustworthy

For people to share and link to your content, they need to trust it first.

And while design factors in to how much people trust your content , your writing plays a big role too.

Here are a few tips to make your content more trustworthy.

• Use proper grammar: If you want to improve your writing skills, a tool like Hemingway Editor or Grammarly can be a huge help.

For example, whenever we write a guide, we add lots of stats and references.

Here’s an example from our blog.

Give it a Magnetic Headline and Introduction

Most visitors only spend 15 seconds reading an article before leaving.

With such a short window of time, your headline and introduction are incredibly important.

Here’s how to create headlines and intros that work:

Note how these bullet points aren’t topics . They’re benefits that someone will get out of reading and implementing what’s in the guide.

How can I become a content writer?

If you’re looking to dive into the world of content writing, you’re in for an exciting journey. Let me walk you through the steps that have worked wonders for me and many others.

1. Learn SEO Fundamentals

First off, get cozy with SEO basics . It’s the backbone of content writing.

Start with keyword research – it’s like picking the right tools before you start building. Use tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Semrush to find what your audience is searching for.

Then, dive into on-page SEO . Think of your titles and meta descriptions as your first handshake with your readers – make it count.

2. Niche Specialization

Now, pick a niche.

This isn’t just about what you love; it’s about where you can add real value.

Ask yourself, “What unique perspective or solutions can I bring to my readers?” This focus will make your content more engaging and valuable.

3. Develop a Unique Writing Style

It’s your signature. Keep it clear, engaging, and packed with actionable tips.

I always aim to write as if I’m talking to a friend – straightforward and helpful.

Use tools like Grammarly to keep your grammar in check and Hemingway Editor to make your content crisp and readable.

4. Create a Portfolio

It’s your playground for trying out new ideas and a portfolio to showcase your skills.

Make sure it’s SEO-friendly; after all, you want to walk the talk.

5. Learn from the Best

Learning never stops. Keep an eye on the top content writers and digital marketing resources.

What are they doing right? How are they engaging their audience? How are they using new AI tools in their workflows?

Don’t just consume content; dissect it.

6. Feedback and Improvement

Lastly, the power of feedback can’t be overstressed. Use it to refine your writing.

Remember, the best content writers are those who listen, learn, and adapt.

That’s my blueprint for becoming a content writer. I

t’s about blending SEO savvy with a unique voice, continually learning, and always striving to provide value to your readers.

Stay curious, stay committed, and you’ll find your path to success in content writing.

The Definitive Guide to Writing Blog Posts : I recommend sending this to any content writer that you work with.

The Complete Guide to SEO Content : How to write quality content that’s specifically engineered to rank in Google.

Evergreen Content : How to plan and write content that continues to bring in traffic for years after you publish it.

The Definitive Guide to Copywriting : Learn how to write SUPER compelling copy for blog posts, sales letters, videos and more based on tips from the world’s top copywriters.

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Copywriting

How to write an article for website publication

Read Time 11 mins | Written by: Gill Fernley

If you’re not familiar with content writing, you might not realise that there are completely different approaches depending on whether you’re writing a press release, sales copy, a website page, or an article for a website.

There are many reasons for that, but one of the main reasons is that every piece of content you write should have a particular content goal. For example, the goal of a press release will be very different than the goal of an article.

In fact, you really shouldn’t write any content at all for either a client’s site or your own until you know what the aim is for the piece. Which brings us nicely to the first point in this article on how to write an article for website publication.

Follow these steps and you will have a professional article to pitch or submit:

1. Follow the brief and house style

If you don’t get a brief and you’re not sure what to do, check out Copify’s blog post on how to write the perfect brief . Take a look at the post and then you can work out what questions to ask your client. Some companies you're pitching to or writing for may also specify a house style in their submission guidelines. 

Once you have your brief, pay particular attention to the goal the client has for the article, and keep that in mind as you write. You’ll write a whole different article if it’s aimed as a promo article to get the client’s audience to buy than you will if you’re writing epic content to establish your client as an expert in their field.

Top Tip: If your potential client doesn’t give you a proper brief and won’t sign a contract that covers your fee, how many edits, and other important terms and conditions, consider very quickly dropping them like a particularly dodgy, hot potato!

2. Keep the target audience top of mind

After establishing the goal of the article, the most important thing is who the target audience is. The more you know about the audience for the piece, the more you can shape what you write to suit them.

Think that doesn’t matter? Imagine writing an article that’s aimed at millennials who are into rap music and think about what language you’d use and what popular references. Then imagine the same article but this time it’s aimed at retirees who are downsizing.

You’d use completely different language, wouldn’t you? You’d know that both of those audiences have a different outlook, different problems and different aims in life, and you’d write accordingly.

That’s why knowing your target audience thoroughly really matters. You need to know what their problems are, their likes and dislikes, what kind of language they use, what solutions they want, and what really matters to them.

3. Think about language and tone of voice

They might cover that in their brief, or they might give you a copy of their brand manual so you can follow their guidelines.

If you look at the content on Ash Ambirge’s site (language warning!), for example, you can see it’s vibrant, fun, humorous, and definitely not shy and retiring. If you wrote for that site, you know you wouldn’t get away with sounding like a stereotypical accountant with the word ‘procedure’ stamped all the way through him like a stick of rock!

The contrast in tone of voice between different sites and types of business can be marked, so you really do need to stick to the client’s preferences.

4. Write a great headline

There are almost 2 billion websites on the internet right now. And counting!

That means you need to get attention in a very crowded arena, and the way you do that is by writing an amazing headline that your target market can’t ignore.

We’re back to knowing your audience as you’ll need to know exactly the right language to appeal to them. But there are some other tips to consider when writing an eye-catching headline:

• Use active voice, rather than passive voice, and use strong and emotional verbs and words. You’ll give your writing more energy that way, and your audience is more likely to click.

• Put a benefit in your headline. Why should your audience click through?

• Don’t use a ridiculous click-bait headline to get attention, unless that’s the type of thing that will appeal to your audience. And if you do that, make sure the content matches your headline or your audience will feel cheated and click away.

• Use at least one keyword that you want your article to rank for in the headline. It’s great for SEO!

• Numbers written as digits are very eye-catching, and more likely to make people click. You can use them to highlight benefits, such as ‘15% off today’, or to tell the audience exactly what they’re getting, for example, ‘7 steps to baking the perfect cake’. That way, they know the article isn’t going to be pages and pages long, and they know exactly what it will do for them.

5. Have a linking strategy

Internal linking is when you link to other posts and pages on your own site, and external linking is linking to other websites.

Internal linking is brilliant for your search engine optimisation as it helps the search engines find their way around your site and map it. They also look at how many internal links a page has to weigh how important it is.

External linking also helps with SEO. Linking to helpful material on another site is a good way for you to come across as an authority, both to your audience and the search engines. And external links can also help the search engines work out what your content and your site are about. You can also tag sites that you’ve mentioned in your articles on social media, and you may get some likes and shares from that, and also start building a relationship with them.

6. Add an attention-grabbing call to action (CTA)

Remember that you have a goal for your piece of content? This is where you can guide the audience to take the action to meet that goal.

You might want them to sign up to the client’s newsletter, read more information, get a quote, download a freebie, or even buy something, and a call to action can make that happen, if it’s well written.

Writing a great CTA is similar in many ways to writing an eye-catching headline, so follow the tips above to create a strong CTA that will get attention.

In addition, make sure you allow plenty of white space around the CTA and use a colour that stands out on the page to draw attention.

Follow these tips, and you’ll be able to create attention-grabbing articles that deliver for both your client and their audience.

Image Credits

Main image credit: Tirachard Kumtanom

Internal image credits: rawpixel.com ,  meo ,  Vojtech Okenka

Gill Fernley

The director of her own copywriting firm, Gill writes B2B and B2C content for SMEs and digital marketing agencies. She has a background in performing arts and writes conversational, direct sales copy for businesses on a range of topics. She’s also a keen writer of chick lit.

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The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Starting Your Website Content

Pamela wilson.

You have a brand-new website. Congratulations!

You may be wondering exactly how to write website content, though.

It’s a big job. Where do you start?

If you’d like tools and tips for how to make your writing faster and easier, scroll to the bottom of this post for a helpful video.

If you’re ready to write your website content, let’s get going!

First, it’s important to understand the difference between static, unchanging website pages like your: 

• Contact page
• Commerce-style pages like Store, Products, Services, or Work with Me

And website pages that update frequently like your:

• Blog or podcast content

As we tackle this topic of how to write your website content, we’re going to focus on getting your static pages created first. We’ll get them done, published, and working for you, and then we’ll work on how to write a blog post and other frequently published content.

First, a reality check, my friend. If you’re feeling slightly terrified at the thought of writing all that website content, I get it.

There are few things more intimidating than looking at a big, blank website that you have fill with content. 

Never fear: This post will cover how to write a content for your website, even if it’s brand-spanking new.

How to write website content when your site is new (and blank!)

The way to tackle this job is to prioritize what you’ll focus on.

Here’s how to write website content, in order of priority:

• Create a Home page where people can land.
• Create an About page so visitors know who’s behind the website.
• Create a Contact page so people have a way to reach you.

Once these three pages are complete, you’ve covered the basics.

Now you can focus on adding pages that take longer to create.

The next website content you’ll focus on writing depends on where you are in your business growth.

If you already have products or services to sell, you could create what I call a Commerce page. This is a page that offers links to your products or services. It can take a variety of forms. It might be:

• A Store page which displays all of your available products with links to purchase them
• A Services page which explains the services you provide with links to find out more
• A Work with Me page which details the kind of clients you help, how you work, and shares a way to take the first step toward working with you

If you don’t have anything ready to offer, no worries! You can skip directly to the next area of focus, your Content section.

By definition, this is the part of your website that will be updated frequently.

The most common content type (and the easiest kind to start with) is a blog.

If you’re wondering how to write a blog post, you have come to the right place! I’m going to cover that in detail in the next section.

What should be included in a blog post?

If you’ve never written a blog post before, the process can feel like a big mystery.

You may know a good blog post when you read one, but you may not be sure how to re-create it yourself.

I’ve written blog posts consistently since 2010. My work has appeared on some of the most high-traffic sites on the web, like Copyblogger , Duct Tape Marketing , Smart Blogger , and Problogger .

And I’ve written two much-loved books on content marketing, Master Content Marketing and Master Content Strategy .

I’ll let you in on a little secret that might surprise you …

For decades, I didn’t think I could write.

I was a graphic designer by trade.

I was naturally drawn to the visual side of marketing and became very good at creating logos, publications, brochures, annual reports, and newsletters.

But I was determined to build an online presence. To do that, I knew I had to figure out this “content marketing thing.”

That meant learning to write, even though I didn’t think I’d ever be good at it.

In order to learn from the masters, I started paying attention to the best blog content on the web. Over time, I began to see a pattern emerge.

I discovered that great blog posts — and effective content marketing — contained the same seven elements, over and over.

You can learn to master these seven essential elements of content marketing and use them in all the content you create for your website.

I’ll use a blog post as an example, but the same seven elements can be used to structure a podcast episode, a video (vlog) piece, and other frequently updated content.

Master these seven elements and you’ll know how to write website content that performs well and helps to grow your online business.

How to write a blog post: The 7 essential elements of effective content marketing

The best blog content contains all seven of the elements below.

Each section needs to be strong so it pulls its own weight and does the job it needs to do in your content.

1. Write a compelling headline

Want your blog to be clicked on and read?

Spend lots and lots of time (way more than you think) working on an engaging headline.

My favorite tools to use when I’m working on headlines are:

• A plain text document where I can brainstorm 10-25 headline ideas
• A site that allows me to “grade” and compare my best headline ideas. I like the Sharethrough headline analyzer .
• Coffee! (Or tea). Seriously — writing headlines is hard work. Caffeinate as needed.

Headline resources:

• My book Master Content Marketing has a whole chapter on writing headlines and includes 50 fill-in-the-blank formulas to help you create winning headlines. Get Master Content Marketing .
• Read How to Write Magnetic Headlines on Copyblogger.
• Register and download Headline Hacks from Smartblogger.

2. Craft an inviting first sentence

The very first sentence of your blog post is a make-or-break moment.

Keep it short, snappy, and casual. Write it like you’re writing to your best friend.

It needs to be inviting. It should be intriguing.

If it’s not, readers will click away and look elsewhere for their information.

First sentence resources:

• 10 Ways to Hook Blog Readers With Your Opening Line by my friend Amy Harrison .
• My book Master Content Marketing has a whole chapter on writing your first sentence. Really! Get Master Content Marketing .

3. Add an intro section

You may not have noticed that most blog posts have an intro section.

The intro section serves as a transition between your first sentence and your main content.

This is the first place on the page where you’re asking the reader to settle in and commit to reading what you’ve written.

Use it to summarize what they’re about to learn. Give them a preview of why you’ll make it worth their while to consume your content.

Intro section resources:

• The Ultimate Guide to Writing Blog Post Introductions by Neil Patel
• Master Content Marketing has a chapter on crafting blog post introductions. Get Master Content Marketing .
• 7 Ways to Write Better Opening Paragraphs for Your Blog Posts by Barry Feldman on Orbit Media.

4. Write attention-getting subheads

Subheads are one of the most important ways you can make your online content easier to consume.

They serve as “signposts” that move the reader through your blog content.

(The podcast or video equivalent to subheads is the short introduction to a new section of the information being presented.)

In written content, subheads give people who are skimming through your written content a general idea of what it contains.

Subhead resources:

• How to Write Subheads that Hook (and Re-hook) Your Readers on Copyblogger
• The No-Nonsense Guide to Writing Online Headlines and Subheads by Enchanting Marketing
• My book Master Content Marketing includes a chapter on writing subheads, too. It includes information on how to format subheads and shares a compelling reason to write your headline and subheads before you write the rest of your content. Get Master Content Marketing .

5. Fill in your main copy

What do I mean by the “main copy?” It’s everything else.

It’s all the writing outside of the sections above and the sections below.

It’s the heart of your content, where you deliver the value you’ve promised.

Main copy resources:

• The best tip for writing your main copy from my book Master Content Marketing ? Write it fast. When you’re working on the first draft of your content, get your ideas down as fast as possible. Don’t re-read, edit, or polish. Get Master Content Marketing .
• Day Two: How to Fill in the Details of Your Winning Piece of Content on Problogger

6. Wrap it up with a summary

Here’s another content section you may not have noticed before, but the best content features it.

Toward the end of your content, it’s smart to summarize the topic you covered and move readers to the final content element — the call to action.

Your content summary is a way to look back and say, “Here’s what we covered.”

It’s a last opportunity to reinforce the information you shared so your reader retains it.

Summary resources:

• How to Summarize an Article on WikiHow
• Here’s what I share about writing a summary in Master Content Marketing . First, refer back to something mentioned at the beginning. Remind your reader about what they learning. Reinforce how they’ll benefit from having consumed the content. Get Master Content Marketing .

7. Add a call to action

Content marketing and blogging serve a business purpose.

Creating content helps your website get found on search engines. It attracts prospects to your business and it gives you a way to develop a trust-based relationship with them.

But if you don’t ask your readers to take action, you might as well skip the whole exercise!

Your call to action — placed at the very end of your content — will do this for you.

Call to action resources:

• Powerful Calls to Action: How to Get Your Reader to Take the Next Step on Copyblogger
• In Master Content Marketing I say “Your call to action is where business happens.” Your “CTA” doesn’t have to ask for a sale — you can request that people leave a comment or share your content on social media. Either way, make sure your call to action is convincing and direct, like this: Get Master Content Marketing .
• Call to Action: Five resources to help improve your CTA on MainWP

How to write website content like a pro

I hope that this simple breakdown was helpful. You don’t become a content pro overnight.

Take it day-by-day and build your website content in this order:

First, create the foundational pages that won’t change often

• Build a Home page that explains who you help and how you help them
• Create an About page so visitors can learn more about the person or people behind the website
• Build a Contact page so people can reach out

Have something ready to sell?

Have something to offer? Build a Commerce page next.

Use this page to offer your products or services. You can add to it over time. And if you haven’t developed any offers yet, skip this step and get started with the next one.

Finally, begin publishing regular content

Once you have the basics in place, focus on creating and publishing content on a regular basis. The seven essential elements to include in each piece of content are:

• A compelling tagline
• An inviting first sentence
• An intro section
• At least three subheads
• Your main copy
• A call to action

Now that you know how to write website content, do me a favor? (And yes, this is a call to action!)

Click one of the colorful social sharing buttons here and share this content on your favorite social platform.

Improve your online business writing skills — 5 favorite tools and tips

When I started my online business in 2010 I didn’t consider myself a writer.

I taught myself how to write for an online audience by learning and practicing — writing web copy and blog posts. Lots of blog posts!

Since those early days I’ve written three books and many thousands of words on my own site and sites like Copyblogger. If I can do it, so can you, my friend.

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all my latest videos, hot off the digital press! Here’s the list of tools I mention in the above video:

• 750Words.com
• Hemingway Editor
• SendCheckIt Subject Line Tester
• Sharethrough Headline Grader
• Writesonic (affiliate link)

Remember, they’re only pixels

You may have always wondered how to write content for a website that’s brand new.

Staring at those blank web pages can feel incredibly daunting. But think of it like this — a blank page is an opportunity to carve out your own little corner of the web.

Remember, pixels are easy and fast to update. Don’t be afraid to create content and hit publish with the website content creation tips here.

NOTE: The illustrations in this post are taken directly from Master Content Marketing and were created by the brilliant D.J. Billings .

• Content Marketing & Copywriting , Online Business , Website Best Practices

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I’m Pamela Wilson

In 2010, at the age of 45, I started this site and grew it into a business that offers freedom, flexibility — and consistent revenue.

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How to Write a How-to Article Step-by-Step (+Free Template)

Have you ever had to explain how Zoom video calls work to family-members or how to get from point A to point B to someone visiting your neighborhood?

If so, you’re already halfway to being able to write a helpful how-to article. But to get that extra bit of structure, flair, and inspiration you’ll need to hold your reader’s attention, keep reading.

Below, I’ve put together an eight-step guide to writing the perfect how-to article online, along with some additional tips on writing and optimizing ​eye-catching Informational articles for search engines and readers alike.

I’ve even included a free-to-download how-to article template – the end result of years of testing and trials using Similarweb Digital Marketing Intelligence – to get you started.

Remember, you can skip around this article to the parts that are most useful from your point of view. First, we’re starting with the what behind the how.

What is a how-to article?

Refreshingly, the name doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

A how-to article lays out exactly how to do something. A how-to ​blogger might walk readers through how to buy, use, or troubleshoot a product, or focus on a wider, more general topic instead, like how to bake a chocolate cake.

What sets a how-to ​article apart from the rest of the content on the internet is user intent . People clicking on how-to guides aren’t necessarily looking for info around what a topic is, or why they should be interested. They already know, and they already are – your job is to show them how.

How to write a how-to article in 8 simple steps

A good article should provide practical and clear takeaways that the reader can put into practice. They should avoid jargon, and be made up of a list with easy-to-follow steps and bullet points in chronological order.

• Choose a Topic
• Put yourself in the audience’s shoes
• Research keywords
• Plan your article’s structure
• Keep your steps snappy and straightforward
• Give your guide a unique selling point
• Set your page up for SEO success
• Monitor your page’s metrics – and keep optimizing

Let’s start with step one.

1. Choose a topic

The logic’s infallible – you can’t begin writing a how-to article if you don’t know what you’re going to be writing about. So first, you’ll need to select a topic .

The topic you pick will depend on what you want to achieve, your industry, and target audience .

You might, for instance, be a company that sells a fairly technical product, so you’d want to publish an article that offers honed, specific advice as to how to use it. In this case, the how-to guide services a specific business need – educating the customer. In this case, the topic will be dictated by your product catalog, for example:

• How to Assemble an IKEA Kallax
• How to Set Up a Samsung Neo TV
• How to Use an Amazon Echo

At the opposite end of the spectrum, you could be publishing a how-to content offering additional tips around a more general subject, such as:

• How to Blow Up a Balloon
• How to Defrost a Chicken
• How to Change a Lightbulb

In the case of these examples, you’re probably writing the content either to build your brand, or make money via display ads or affiliate marketing .

But still – that doesn’t mean your choice of topic for your how-to article should be random. Y ou should always pick topics that fit within your particular niche or industry. ‘How to Blow Up a Balloon,’ for instance, is a great choice of topic for a party supplies website – but not for one specializing in digital marketing.

So, think carefully about what you want to write about. If it ties into your brand’s sector and niche, it’s good. If it addresses a direct business or customer need, it’s great. And if you have experience with the topic – and are passionate about writing it – it’s even better! Tweet this

2. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes

Now you’ve chosen what you’re going to write about, you’ll need to figure out who you’re writing for . You’ll have to start thinking like your target audience – that is, the people who will read your how-to guide – and tailor the content accordingly.

To craft quality content, ask yourself a few questions:

• What are their pain points?
• What do they already know?
• What new information can I offer?
• What knowledge gaps are they expecting this article to plug?

Even better, you can use audience analysis tools , like Similarweb Research Intelligence to dig into the data. On this foundation, you can start building up a comprehensive ‘user profile’ of your article’s intended audience. This’ll then lead to more advanced considerations, like:

• What other sites do they frequent?
• What topics or products do they search for online?
• What is the best channel to promote this content for my audience? (i.e. social media, email, PPC, organic, etc .)
• What demographics are my readers (location, age, etc.)

Knowing your audience is crucial for striking the right balance when it comes to your article’s tone, content, and technicality.

An article entitled ‘How to Build a Model Airplane,’ for instance, shouldn’t alienate the beginners among its readership with overly complicated terminology. Similarly, ‘How to Deal With a Breakup’ should adopt a more compassionate, conciliatory tone.

3. Research keywords

Now that you know your topic and your audience, you’ll need to find the right keywords – particularly if you have any aspirations to get said audience’s eyes on your how-to article organically.

Keywords are words and phrases that people enter into search engines like Google and YouTube to find what they’re looking for online. Here’s an example, using Similarweb Keyword Research Tool  found related keywords to ‘How to blow up a balloon’:

Now you can see what are the related keywords and questions to get more ideas while brainstorming the sections to include in your piece. You can also select secondary keywords to rank using the “Trending” keywords filter.

In this case, the root keyword “Balloons” shows that “birthday balloons” and “balloons online” are both very strong terms to include.

Once you’ve identified the primary and secondary keywords you’re hoping to rank for, you are ready to create your outline.

4. Plan your article structure

The order in which you write your article is completely up to you. You can start with the first paragraph, or fill out your steps and main points before tackling the introduction and FAQs.

But whichever angle you come at your how-to article from, there’s one thing you’ll need in place before your first draft – a structure!

Here’s what we recommend:

For a more detailed deep dive into what content, headings, tips, FAQs, and CTAs you need to include in your piece, I recommend downloading our how-to article template.

It’s free to download, and will get you on the fast-track to how-to article success.

Pro tip : To take your how-to article to the next level, create a short video covering the main steps you go over. Not only can this increase engagement with your article, but it can help more people find you on YouTube.

5. Keep your steps snappy and straightforward

Remember, no one’s here for an essay. So make sure that each step of your article says what it needs to, without ever becoming overlong or bogged down in detail. Less is more, being clear and concise and engaging is key to keeping your target audience engaged (and coming back for more). Moving on…

6. Give your how-to guide a unique selling point

Remember, people learn in different ways. Some will be readers, while others will prefer to absorb information via watching, listening, or engaging in hands-on interaction.

With that in mind, be sure not to load your how-to article up with too much copy. Break up those text walls with videos, infographics, tables, music, or quizzes, instead. Trust us – it’s not just the visual learners in your audience that’ll thank us.

Plus, there are plenty of other ways to bestow a unique selling point upon your content. You can, for instance, give your article a special angle, or hook. For instance:

• Is your guide ‘step-by-step’ or ‘no-nonsense’?
• Does it offer ‘everything you need to know,’ or is it simply the ‘ultimate guide’ to the subject matter?
• Would you brand it for beginners, or for those with a more advanced understanding?

Case studies, ‘top tips,’ and expert comments – which you can source from PR databases such as Response Source or Help a Reporter Out – are also great ways of infusing your how-to article with unique, value-adding (and original!) quality content.

7. Set your page up for SEO success

You wouldn’t spend a night out on the snowy tundras of Alaska without bundling up warm.

So before you push your article out into the unforgiving wilderness of Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll need to arm it with all the gear it needs to survive – and thrive – in an online environment.

Now, you already started equipping your how-to article for SEO survival when you researched relevant SEO keywords using our keyword research tool and integrated them naturally into your copy. But before you hit ‘Publish,’ you’ll want to make sure you’ve got the rest of the basics downpat, too:

• Include the keywords you found in the page content
• Ensure your page has value-driven titles and meta descriptions (with the right character count – about 60 for the title and 160 for the description)
• Link to other, thematically relevant pages on your site, as well as external sources that will elevate user experience
• Compress any images on your page to reduce their file size, and drive down the amount of time your how-to article takes to load

And that’s just the on-page stuff. There are so many more factors – from the layout and speed of your website to its linking structure and backlink profile – that’ll affect how your page performs.

For more SEO tips, skip down to the dedicated section on it below, or check out our comprehensive guide to creating an SEO strategy .

And please don’t forget to proofread before you press publish.

8. Monitor your page metrics – and keep optimizing

Congratulations – your page is live. All that planning, research, penmanship, and SEO-ing has furnished you with a how-to article worthy of top-tier SERP real estate.

But alas – the work doesn’t stop there.

Now begins the perpetual process of study, evaluation, and iteration that comes with being the proud author of web content.

Among the metrics you’ll want to keep tabs on are:

• Session duration (can you increase this with a video or infographic?)
• Bounce rate (can you reduce this with a more engaging introduction?)
• Page views (can you boost these organically , or with paid advertising?)

Ultimately, there’s always something you can do to make a page better. So test, tinker, and never be afraid to experiment – that’s how breakthroughs are made.

How to optimize your how-to page for SEO

We touched on the basics in Step 7, but – for your how-to article to really get a tune out of Google’s rankings – you’ll want to dabble in the following:

Marking up your page with how-to schema

In the words of Google, “structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying the page content.”

In the words of the layman: it’s code that makes it explicitly clear to Google that your article is a how-to guide, specifically – and not some other piece of content with a contrasting intent.

Adding this schema to your page will also help optimize it for voice searches – such as those made through Apple Siri or Amazon Alexa – and assist Google in extracting your article’s rich media and showcasing it in the SERPs (pictured).

Structured data can be added with code or a programming language, such as JavaScript, or – if you use a content management system – via a plugin.

Write conversationally

This piece of advice is to help you avoid one of the most common mistakes: too much jargon. You won’t find the key to writing good web copy in the thesaurus – so drop the big words, the long sentences, and the unnecessary wordiness.

Instead, write conversationally – that is, in a way that reflects how you actually speak, and how your readers will read and interpret your content. Address your readers as “you,” ask questions, use the active voice, and use analogies and storytelling to forge a connection with your audience.

In addition to helping your reader empathize with you – and understand your content – conversational copy and specifically copy that is readable is thought to be preferred by users (and Google), and will also help your article rank for voice searches. After all, when people are saying their inquiries to Google – rather than typing them out – they tend to search as they’d speak.

E-E-A-T: Why the author matters

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. It’s one of the factors Google uses to rate the overall quality of a how-to article and is tied specifically to the content’s creator – in this case, you!

Here, Google’s looking to understand three core elements about you as an author:

• Experience: Do you have relevant personal experience on the subject? Does your personal experience reflect in the content?
• Expertise : Are you an established expert in the topic? What kind of experience do you have in the field?
• Authority : Do you – and the site you’re publishing on – have recognized authority in the space? Is the content you’re writing original?
• Trustworthiness: Are you trustworthy? Have you checked your sources? Do you rely on expert knowledge? Why should Google rank your content?

So if you have all the right credentials to be talking about your topic, don’t hold back. Include a bio of yourself with your how-to article, explaining your experience and motivations, and reaffirming why Joe Public and Google alike should trust you.

Equally – if you don’t have that standing just yet – don’t fret. You can build up your E-A-T by:

• Accruing (and responding to) user reviews
• Collecting quotes from expert sources (see Step 6 above for more!), then getting those expert sources to mention you
• Regularly reviewing and updating your content
• Building up your website’s backlink profile

How to write a how-to article: conclusion

“ Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality”

The Dalai Lama

With these eight steps, you have everything you need to share your knowledge with the world; to turn an idea into a fully-fledged how-to article, and achieve SERP immortality.

Now, all that’s left is to… get started. To commit to an idea, use your expertise to develop it, and – through your passion for the content and subject matter – share it with the world.

So go show ‘em how it’s done!

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Get the data you need to adapt to market changes and industry trends in an instant.

A how-to article explains exactly how to do something and assumes they already know the what.

How should I structure my how-to article?

Always try to format your how-to article in a step-by-step format (Google loves it, as will your reader), with an introduction, conclusion, and FAQ section. If you have room, you can also include additional content – such as a ‘What Is,’ or ‘Top Tips for’ sections – to add value.

How can I download a free how-to article template?

Simply download Similarweb’s free, no-strings-attached template to walk you through structuring and formatting your how-to guide, with helpful hints around writing CTAs and FAQs, too.

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Wondering what similarweb can do for your business.

Give it a try or talk to our insights team — don’t worry, it’s free!

12 Free Platforms For Writers To Publish Articles Online

Are you a new writer looking to publish your articles? Choosing the right digital publishing platform might be a little confusing at first.

Before looking for the best publishing options, you need to decide which platforms are suited to your topic or writing style. Are you interested in writing opinion pieces, sharing personal experiences, providing expert advice, or publishing on academic topics?

Every platform has its own strengths and weaknesses. It’s all about finding one that aligns best with your writing style, topics, and intended audience.

You can check the suggestions in this article to help you decide which platforms will offer you the best chance of finding new readers.

You can publish articles online right now

With digital publishing, it is easy for anyone to learn how to write and publish articles .

There are many online publishing platforms for writers, so you can publish your writing in a matter of minutes.

What works for one writer might not work for the other. Are you writing essays or how-to guides ? It is also important to know who your audience is when choosing article publishing sites.

Do you want to reach teens, young adults, or adults? Are you trying to reach young entrepreneurs or established business owners?

Are you writing poems? There are also many free sites where you can publish your poetry .

Consider the types of articles you want to write and the audience you want to write for. Then, you can go ahead and find the best online publishing platforms.

There are also plenty of free writing apps to help you write great content that readers will love. But you should always use a reliable online grammar checker to make sure your writing is as perfect as possible.

Then, you can bring your vision and ideas to the world with digital content. With so many people reading articles and online content on laptops, smartphones, and tablets, there is always an audience for new writers.

There are many online magazines and sites that accept articles for free. It’s up to you to find the best digital publishing solution to suit your needs.

To get you started, here is a list of platforms offering free article publishing.

Medium is a very popular free publishing site where you can share your writing. You can connect with more sophisticated and dedicated readers than you might find on other social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

However, it is similar to a social network in its ease of connecting with other Medium users. But it is best suited to long-form writing.

It is very easy to create and set up your Medium account. Then, take a quick tour and read the FAQs. You are now ready to be published online with your first article.

The publishing tools are super easy to use with click and edit or drag and drop to move elements.

Your content on Medium should be full-length articles that are highly informative. Using original images is highly recommended.

Be aware, though, that it is not a publishing platform suited to short and obvious promotional blog posts.

You can read our how-to-use Medium guide for more detailed information about the submission guidelines. But they are quite straightforward.

2. Linkedin Articles

You are probably already on Linkedin. So why not publish your articles there?

Follow the instructions for publishing LinkedIn articles , and you are ready to go.

With so many people on the site, you are bound to find readers for professional articles.

It has to be one of the best places to help you gain readers.

3. Publish PDF

This really is the easiest way to publish your writing online.

You don’t even need to have a website or blog.

All you need is a PDF file and your Google account.

Best of all, Google indexes PDF documents , so yours may appear in Google Search.

Read our quick tutorial on how to publish a PDF article online , and you will be ready to publish immediately.

4. Scoop.It

Scoop.It is one of the most popular free publishing platforms for new writers.

You can publish great magazines on this website, and it does what it promises.

There is a function where you can find great content to help as inspiration.

Simply use appropriate keywords, and you will be flooded with information.

You can find some excellent content on Issuu  and some entertaining writing as well.

It is a user-friendly platform where anyone can create digital publications.

You don’t need to use any publishing software.

You can also sell your digital magazine directly from the website, making it possible to earn some money.

Issuu is definitely one of the leading platforms for anyone who has something worthwhile to say.

With more than 15,000 updates daily, it is clear why it is so popular with article writers.

It also gives you the opportunity to reach a lot of people with your writing. It doesn’t matter what your passion is; there is a place for you on this platform.

Your magazine can be about anything from cats to basketball, so there are no boundaries.

If you are a photographer who wants to share your multimedia with the world, you might find that Yudo is for you.

On this platform, you can mix your writing, videos, photographs, and audio.

Who wouldn’t like to read a digital magazine that offers all of these features?

It makes for a more exciting read, so it could be worth a shot.

All you need to have is a passion and start working hard at it.

7. ArticleSeen

ArticleSeen  prefers original content. But that is what you should do when posting your articles online.

If you want free exposure for your writing, this is a good site to help you on your way.

There is a good choice of categories, which means you are sure to find one that suits your writing topic.

8. PUB HTML5

PUB HTML5 is free of charge, so you can see if it is the right digital publishing tool for you.

The design is sleek and simple, which is what you want as a beginner.

You don’t want websites that are confusing to use.

But the great thing about this platform is that your publications will appear professional on all devices.

It can be a computer or a mobile device. The results are the same.

You can publish interactive elements in magazines, catalogs, and brochures and create rich-media flipping books.

If you are trying to get your name out there as an influential writer, you might want to give this website a try.

With over 500,000 publishers using this website, you can understand why I included Joomag  in this list.

You can manage your subscribers on this platform and add more when you please.

It gives you full control over your publications.

Use a good grammar checker to help you write flawless articles. Then, you can launch your own campaign.

You can use your mailing list to notify all of your subscribers when you publish a new article.

As a plus, you can send emails that you write for your subscribers to make them feel part of the team.

It is an easy way to promote your work.

10. ArticleBiz

ArticleBiz offers you the chance to get your articles picked up by online publishers.

It’s very easy to submit your articles.

When you do, you will also complete a resource box. It is a short bio about yourself. You can include your email and website address information.

You can choose from a huge range of categories for your articles.

It has an Alexa ranking of 210,908. So it certainly gets a lot of traffic and readers.

If you are new to article writing, it is a great site to make a start with your online publishing.

11. Substack

For writers open to a different approach in publishing, Substack is well worth investigating.

It’s a free platform you can join to publish your articles. But the big focus with Substack is on getting readers to subscribe to your writing.

Your articles will certainly be available online. But if your sole aim is to get your articles to rank high on search engines, Medium might be a better option.

However, if you want to build a loyal readership, there’s no better way than to attract email subscribers.

You can start by offering your articles for free. But if you can build some traction and your mailing list, there is an option to monetize your writing later.

Many high-profile writers are already earning money from paid subscribers, but some new writers are also succeeding.

If you only want to publish one or two, it’s not the platform for you.

But if you want to make writing your passion and publish regular articles on your topic, Substack might be precisely the right publishing option for you.

12. Google Sites

When you want to have more control over your articles, you might consider using Google Sites .

It’s a simple website builder from Google. The two big advantages are that it’s free and very easy to use.

All you need is your Google account to log in and get started.

You can set up your new site in only a few minutes. Just make sure you make it available online.

Once you start adding your articles, you then have a chance of them being indexed by Google.

Like other website platforms, you can add gadgets to create interest. But they are basic.

Submitting your articles to a lot of different sites can be time-consuming and difficult to track.

But with your own site, you are in control of all your content.

Google Sites is a great option when all you want is a free, simple, and easy way to publish articles online in one place.

When you see the choices you have, there are no limits today on interactive content creation and digital publishing.

Anyone can learn to publish articles online once they decide to start. All you need to do is find new topic ideas .

With all these fantastic platforms available to you, all you have to do is get to work and start writing.

Many have native apps for iOS, Android, and Google Play. Check your App stores.

Before you know it, you are going to be writing for free article submission sites .

All you need is to use your drive and passion to get you heading toward your goals.

Give one of these websites a try, and you will be publishing your fantastic articles in no time at all.

Related reading: Where To Publish Short Stories Online

About The Author

Derek Haines

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Peeked, Peaked, Or Piqued My Interest? Are You Curious?

52 thoughts on “12 free platforms for writers to publish articles online”.

I am a retired man with a technical background. I have written many articles on varied subjects but have never published. The subject matter includes science, religion, political and current events. The articles vary in length from one page to 20 pages. Have you ane suggestions for an appropriate posting site?

You cover a lot of topics, and different lengths, Phil.

It might be difficult to find one platform for them all.

Perhaps setting up a free blog, such as with Blogger or WordPress, might be a better move.

Thanks, I’ll look into that.

I have written quite a few articles, most of them being inspirational. Some are in the form of messages learnt from incidents in everyday life. I also feel that as a citizen on this planet, it is my duty to share the good things I have learnt, so others can benefit too. Am wondering where would be a good place to begin publishing. Thanks.

Derek, I am a decent lady, not available for romance, but just want you to know that I like your way; I just like your website & the way you make your comments and respond to questions. There’s just something about you. I like you.

Thank you. I’m happy to hear that you enjoy the content of the site.

I think writing story’s and publishing them and seeing how people comment, will help me when i get older and see what I want to be. I haven’t chosen yet I’ve always wanted to be a journalist or a media worker, honestly, I don’t yet…

I notice that as a new writer, I have strong passion to publish. But I believe there is the need to learn to make my writing ‘clean’, mistake-free and perfect for my readers before publishing. What writing training apps would you recommend to help me ‘sanitize’ my writing?

I would suggest Prowritingaid for a new writer. It’s got everything you need to edit and improve your writing.

Will be paid for publishing articles on this platform listed above?

Will try this

I’m seventy-two and have been writing for a long time. I have a folder full of articles and I also have a folder full of science fiction stories. I have poetry and comics. I need a platform that allows me to publish as I please.

I’m an unpublished writer with several manuscripts. Do these platforms here publish novels?

No, Samuel. These sites are only suitable for publishing articles.

If you want to publish novels, try Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) or Draft2Digital.

Hello Derek, I’m new to writing articles, but I wasn’t to write articles focusing on Young People and their struggles. I would like to build some readership for my article. What site do you recommend? Thank you.

You can use any site, Paul. But before you do, make sure your writing is perfect. In your comment, I’m sure you meant, wanted to write, and not wasn’t to write. You can’t expect to find readers if you make errors like this. Always, always check your writing before you hit the button.

Dear Derek, I would like to write articles about personal awareness and development. I am a new writer and I would like to reach a large odience eventually .. which platform would you recommend, please?

The best platform is always the one that you feel will work for you, Paoletta. But if you are looking at building a readership, Medium and Substack are two you might consider.

I’m really grateful to have stumbled on this site which I believe will greatly help me in publishing my articles. I do news articles that focus much more on culture. But I sort of publish stuff that is newsworthy so I also write on crisis in Africa.

Be aware that on Medium your articles and you as an author won’t be searchable until you get a critical mass of readers and followers/claps. Which means that you need to actively promote your writing, for strangers to find your page on any given day (except the few first hours of the publication). Very disappointed.

Medium is no different from any other form of publishing articles. You need a certain amount of traction before it can rank in Google Search.

For a blog post, you need backlinks. On Medium, you need followers and claps.

It’s pretty standard stuff, but not disappointing if you know how to promote what you post.

There are no free rides at getting articles to rank. You still need to work on it to be successful.

i need to publish my story about chronic kidney disease and kidney transplants, the need for kidney donors and how this need is affected by the Covid pandemic.; and my personal need for a transplant to save my life. Where is the best place to submit my article?

Use any of the sites listed in this article. But I would try Medium first.

I need to publish my article which are explain about lidar technology. Where can I publish my article?

Dear sir I need to publish my paper which concerns on climate. so how can I publish it?

Really grateful to get these platforms to publish my article. Thanks to you for gifting us such information for these platforms.

how I can publish the article ??

Good information but why did you not include Substack?

this is great where do i publish my scholarly articles and class modules

Hi Derek, Impressive Collection shared on Free Publishing Articles. Would like to know where we can share technical content.

Ok how can I publish

Hey this is Simeone here. I already participate in the Medium corporative community, it is a good platform for publishing your stories online. I only have a technical problems with the platform. I’m hoping to enjoy my writing of articles with these other platforms.

According to me the best usage of time is writing. It makes an individual to think widely on every aspect. Writing enable person to do brainstorming over the topic. This improves the writing work of writer.

Thank you very much! I spent about 2-3 hours and looked at these sites. Medium appears to be educational and very helpful for beginning writers! I will use it and promote it! See where I am with it by the end of the year! Thank you again! Edina Back, Executive Establishment Officer, Personnel Efficiency Foundation

Good morning. Please I am a prolific writer. I write on a broad range of topics and areas ranging from Marriage, Relationship, Politics, amongst others. How do I publish my articles please?

Fine, thank you.

I want to publish my poetries. Where I can get it published?

I have 200 pages of musings and poetry in RHYMING format. Deep thoughts and shallow—-should it be published? C R Petty Col USMC Ret.

I’m looking for free publishing platform. I want to publish an article I wrote while I was in college. This an academic article for educators (teaching profession). What is the appropriate website for that.

Hlo sir/mam, we are the students of masters. Sir we want to publish our research article in your site. So sir please give us the details regarding publication criteria or fees. We shall be thankful to you for this kind of purpose.

As they say always seek knowledge I would like to seek knowledge and become one of the best poets ever in history by explaining to people about what’s love

Kindly please keep providing me the work related to writing . Iam hard working and dedicated.

“Life is my teacher and living is my lesson.” I believe everyday you live, you learn alot from life. When you stop living is when the lessons stop. Article is informative and useful. Reading it has set me in motion. I now know how to proceed. The lessons are a step forward in the right direction.

Very valuable information. Lot of secrets, thank you.

Hello Lisa, Great article. Thanks for bringing these tools on one platform for the world. Keep up the good work. Regards

Hello we are publishing house based in Rwanda Africa, we would like to get in touch with you for more information on the on how we can work with you in publishing working in have books for kids both fiction and non fiction kindly tell me how we can work together. Waiting from you soonest Best Regards Andrew.

Please use our site contact form if you wish to get in touch with us.

I want to publish a book. What is the process ? Can I contact you ?Nearest office ?

We only offer advice articles on our site, Abraham. Sorry, but we do not offer personal support or coaching.

Is it possible to publish a small article regarding medical science

Frankly speaking, and as human beings, we always learn from one another. You may good in x and I’m good at y, for that reason I may need your help and you may need my help. It’s a mutual learning.

Hi Derek Haines, I would like to publish my short gospel articles, Where do I start?

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SEO Writing: How To Write SEO Content (12 Easy Tips)

Learn how to create SEO-Optimized content. Follow our tips to write SEO-friendly content that users love to read.

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What Is SEO Writing?

Why is seo writing important, how to write seo content, key learnings, learn more about seo writing.

Writing for SEO is an art. The job of an SEO writer is to write content for search engines and users. To do that successfully, you must know how to apply basic SEO content principles in practice.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need about SEO writing. I will explain what SEO writing is and give you 12 SEO content writing tips to ensure that each content you write is search-engine friendly.

SEO writing is the process of writing content to rank high in search engines like Google, for related keywords.  This is done by doing keyword research and writing SEO-optimized and helpful content relevant to the user’s search intent.

SEO writing is also known as SEO copywriting or search engine optimization writing.

SEO writing is important because if you want your content to get traffic from search engines, it needs to appear in the top positions of the SERPs. According to studies, the majority of search engine traffic goes to the top 5 positions.

Another reason is growth. If you consistently write content that keeps users and search engines happy, it will have a positive effect on your Google trust and you’ll be able to rank for more keywords.

Over time, you’ll experience a steady growth of organic traffic with numerous other benefits for your business.

Follow these rules to start creating optimized SEO content.

• Find Your Primary And Secondary Keywords
• Craft Your Page Title And Meta Description
• Create An SEO Friendly URL
• Satisfy Search Intent
• Create Helpful, Unique Content
• Use Keywords In Your Content
• Create Meaningful Subheadings
• Add Internal Links With Relevant Anchor Text
• Optimize Content For E-E-A-T
• Optimize Content For Featured Snippets
• Add And Optimize Images
• Make Your Content Easy To Read On Mobiles

1. Find Your Primary And Secondary Keywords

The first step before writing new content is to decide which keywords to target.

This process is known as keyword research, and it’s very important for a simple reason. You need to write content around topics that people search for and keyword research will tell you that.

When you do your keyword research, the outcome will be a set of SEO keywords both head (or primary keywords) and long tail keywords that people type in search engines.

The easiest way to do this is to:

• Go to Google and search for your chosen topic (general).
• Visit the top 5 pages and analyze the type of content they provide.
• Take each URL and, using Semrush or other tools (Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, etc), find out for which keywords those pages are ranking and the traffic they get.
• Then, depending on the results, decide which main keywords you will target in your content.
• Take those keywords again and, using a tool, find out the associated long-tail keywords and related keywords.

Here is an example of how I followed the above steps when writing this post:

I did a general search on Google using “write for SEO”.

I analyzed the first results using Semrush and found out that the keyword that has a high volume for my chosen topic is “SEO writing.”

I then used the Keyword Magic tool (utilizing the advanced filters feature) of SEMRUSH to find other related long-tail keywords.

If you take a closer look at the content, you’ll see that these keywords are used in different places throughout the article.

By following this process every time you write new content, you help search engines understand your content better, and if your content satisfies what users want, this will eventually translate to higher rankings, social media shares, and more incoming links.

2. Craft Your Page Title And Meta Description

The next step is to start thinking about your page title. Choosing a good page title is critical for the success of your content, so allocate the necessary time to come up with a title that:

• Includes your target keyword
• It’s unique for your website
• It’s interesting for users to click
• It’s around 60 characters
• It’s not the same as the existing titles on the first page of Google.

Don’t omit any of the steps, especially the last one. Before deciding on your title, go to Google, type your target keyword, and analyze the first 10 titles.

Your goal is to create a title that is unique. Otherwise, you limit your chances of getting a top-10 position. Google rarely shows pages with the same title in the first 10 results.

Do the same when crafting your meta description . Make it unique, and try to describe your content in 160 characters or less. Include keywords so that users can know if the content matches their intent.

For example, look at the title and meta description below and notice how the keyword ‘learn digital marketing’ is used naturally in both.

3. Create An SEO Friendly URL

The next step is very easy to implement. When creating the permalink of your post, ensure it includes your target keywords and eliminates any unnecessary words.

Look, for example, at the URL of this post. By default, it was the same as the page title, i.e.

https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-writing-how-to-write-for-seo-12-easy-tips/

But I have shortened it down to:

https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-writing

Aim for having exact match URLs where possible. Read our guide on SEO-Friendly URLs for more details.

4. Satify Search Intent

After finding your target keywords, the next step before writing the content is to examine what kind of content users like to consume for the particular keywords. In other words, you need to find the search intent behind each keyword.

To do this successfully, search for your target keywords on Google and examine the top-ranking pages. What kind of content is ranking in the top positions? Are they short-form articles, long-form articles, or listicles? What is the average content length? How are the pages structured?

Also, look at the ‘People Also Ask’ section, which shows users’ common questions about a particular topic.

For example, let’s say you’re writing a post on “blogging tips”.

If you perform a search on Google, you can easily make these assumptions:

• Most articles have a list of tips, so the appropriate format for this keyword is listicles .
• For each tip, they give a summary and links to learn more.
• The average article length is 3000 words.
• Top-ranking articles have many custom-made visuals.

If you follow the above guidelines and provide content that is unique and useful, you’ll have more chances of achieving a high ranking.

Another example. If you are writing an article about ‘SEO tools,’ you will notice that almost all results are about lists with ‘Free Tools.’

This means that Google has found out that when users search for tools, although they don’t include the word ‘Free’, they intend to browse lists of Free tools.

This also means that if you target this keyword, you must adjust your title and content accordingly. Otherwise, you minimize your chances of rankings for that term.

Pro Tip: Make sure you research on both desktop and mobile, as the results are presented differently.

5. Create Helpful, Unique Content

Now it’s time to get your hands dirty and get into content writing .

You already know what your competitors have published, you have your title, and you know which keywords to include in your content. What else do you need?

You need content that has the following characteristics:

• People-first – content produced to provide value to people and not search engines.
• Original – content that is not a copy of existing content.
• Unbiased – content that is not biased but presents both sides of a story.
• Complete – content that provides a comprehensive description of a topic.
• Better – content doesn’t have to be perfect, but it has to be better than what is already published.

Follow the checklist below, every time you start creating content.

What is the ideal length of content?

I’ve mentioned above that you must make your content comprehensive enough so that users can get accurate and in-depth information about the topic.

Despite what you might have read, there is no magic number when it comes to word length.

It all depends on the topic and keywords. For some topics, you might need to write articles that are over 2000 words. For other topics, you can provide a comprehensive answer in 800 words.

Content length alone is NOT a ranking factor. What matters is the quality of the content and how well it can satisfy the user’s real intent.

To avoid any confusion, several studies have shown that the ideal article length for SEO is around 1800 words, and this is true for many cases.

Longer articles allow you to use more keywords (without keyword stuffing), and they tend to do better in social media.

But, this is a general guideline and not applicable to all cases. My recommendation is to find the average length of the first 10 results and try to provide a bit more content but better than what has already been published.

There is no reason to write a 3000-word article if you can have the same result as a 1500-word article.

6. Use Keywords In Your Content

Here is a nice tip that most SEO writers fail to follow. Once you are done with the first draft, you need to go back and revisit your post introduction.

Your goal is to make sure that your target keyword is included in your opening paragraph .

The reason is that Google always considers that content that is above the fold and high on a page is more important than content found down the page.

Adding your keywords in the first paragraph gives Google a big clue as to which keywords to associate this page with. It’s also good for the users since you can help them understand that they are on the right page.

With the introduction of machine learning to Google search algorithms (known as RankBrain), Google is trying to truly understand what the searcher wants by using natural language processing.

This means that for a given keyword, Google will look for the deeper meaning of the query and not just for exact match keywords.

For you as an SEO copywriter, it means that you need to add related keywords in your content to help them during this process.

Related keywords are keywords that have the same or similar meaning. You can find these keywords using tools like Semrush. Here is a screenshot of the related keywords for “SEO writing”.

So, you need to return to your copy and enrich it with these keywords naturally. You may have to rephrase some of your sentences, but it’s a step that can improve the relevance of your content.

7. Create Meaningful Subheadings

One of the characteristics of SEO-friendly content is that it’s easy to read by both search engines and users, and headings help in that direction.

Don’t be surprised but the majority of users won’t read your content, they will scan through it. Having meaningful headings helps them find the part they want faster.

Search engines follow the same pattern, especially for long-form content. They scan the page and look for certain elements to understand how it is structured and what topics or keywords the content covers.

To make their job easier, you can use predefined heading tags in your HTML, like the H1 tag , h2 tag, and h3.

Usually, a page has only one H1 tag, which is used for the title, and then the rest of the content has H2 for the main headings and H3 for the sub-headings.

To further improve the SEO friendliness of your copy, try to use some of your long-tail keywords in the headings. Take a closer look at the headings of this article and notice how I have added long-tail keywords in my headings.

8. Add Internal Links With Relevant Anchor Text

One of the SEO principles most SEO content writers tend to forget is internal linking . An internal link is a link that points to a page on the same website.

Why is it important?

When you publish a new page, it has to match your site’s topics. This improves relevancy and rankings. One of the ways to ‘tell’ Google that your content is relevant to the rest of the site, is to use internal links.

Although internal links are not as powerful as SEO backlinks, they are still used by Google to understand what the linked page is about, especially if the right anchor text is used in the link.

They also help users learn more about a topic (look at this article again and notice how I have used internal links to give users a way to find out more information about a topic).

Last but not least, internal links are followed by search engine crawlers, and this leads to better crawling and indexing of more site pages.

9. Optimize Content For E-E-A-T

A lot of content is published on the Internet, and to protect the quality of their search results, Google algorithms can detect which pages demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness on a given topic.

In the SEO world, this is known as E-E-A-T and is a critical factor of SEO content and an indicator of content Quality.

Here is the relevant quote from Google’s guidelines on content quality.

How can you improve your SEO copy for E-E-A-T?

Follow these simple guidelines:

• Every page should have the author’s name and bio published (see how I use this on all my posts).
• A page should have outgoing links to trusted sources.
• A page and website, in general, should have incoming links from other trusted and related websites.

As an SEO copywriter, you cannot control the last guideline (incoming links) since this has to do more with the content promotion part, but you can control the first two.

So, revisit your content again and ensure that it links to other trusted websites and that the author bio is clearly shown on all pages.

10. Optimize Content For Featured Snippets

Another important tip for making your content more visible to search engines is optimizing for featured snippets .

A featured snippet appears on position ‘zero’ of the organic results and has a higher CTR compared to normal listings. Here is an example:

For every piece of content you publish, you should analyze the SERPs to find what kind of featured snippets Google shows for your target keywords and optimize your content accordingly. The most common types are paragraphs, lists, tables, and videos.

11. Add And Optimize Images

Before you hit the publish button, ensure your content includes optimized images.

Adding images to your content makes it more interesting and easier to read. While this is not directly related to SEO writing, it can help in many ways:

• Users are more likely to share content with high-quality images in their social media networks than content with no images.
• You can use the image alt text to give search engines more clues about your content.
• When you properly optimize your images , you have more chances of appearing in Google image search for your target (or related) keywords.

12. Make Your Content Easy To Read On Mobiles

When writing content, ensure it is optimized for reading on mobile devices. This means:

• Use a font that is big enough.
• Breaking the text into short paragraphs.
• Use lists where appropriate to make the information more digestible.
• Use responsive images that adapt to different screen sizes.
• Ensure that the main content is not confused with ads.
• The page loads fast and has no annoying popups.

Anyone can learn to write for SEO. It’s a skill that can be easily mastered through practice and by following some basic SEO principles.

If you work as a freelancer , you can apply for many SEO writing jobs. If you’re doing SEO for your website, learning how to write content for SEO will make your content get found on Google .

What you should not forget is always to put the user first. Your primary concern is providing content users want to read and then optimizing it for SEO.

This is why I have separated the process into several steps that involve writing the content naturally and then revising it for SEO.

• Best SEO Writing Courses
• SEO Certifications Guide
• The Complete SEO Course

Alex Chris is a digital marketing consultant, author, and instructor. He has more than 18 years of practical experience with SEO and digital marketing. Alex holds an MSc Degree in eCommerce and has consulted with Fortune 500 companies in different industries. He blogs regularly about SEO and Digital marketing, and his work has been referenced by leading marketing websites. Connect with Alex on Twitter and LinkedIn .

Keep Learning

Learn how to create high-ranking listicles. Includes writing tips, examples, and best practices.

Replicate my steps and learn how to write SEO-friendly blog posts optimized for both search engines and users.

A complete step-by-step guide on SEO content. Learn how to fully optimize your content for search engines.

Learn how to craft great page titles for SEO. Includes best practices and examples of optimized title tags.

32 Comments

July 8, 2014 at 7:52 pm

this article is very useful. As iam a new learner so it helps me a lot. Thanks for all this information 🙂

November 6, 2014 at 7:19 am

Thanks for explaining in detail about SEO Friendly Content, this will be helpful.

January 10, 2015 at 2:37 pm

Great article for content writing and seo optimization..

May 25, 2016 at 8:30 am

Thanks for this wonderful post. SEO is an great part of blogging, and helps to get constant flow of traffic over long periods of time. Both on page and off page optimization are equally important, but I have been trying to learn more and more about on page optimization. Learned quite a few rocking tips on how to write SEO optimized posts.

Thanks bro.

May 25, 2016 at 10:47 am

Thanks for commenting. Glad you find my post useful. You can also check https://www.reliablesoft.net/ebook/wordpress-seo-guide/ for more actionable tips and advice about on-page and off-page SEO.

All the best Alex

January 29, 2017 at 7:19 am

Thanks i read it alreally. Really usefull for my site. Thank you so much bro.

July 15, 2016 at 8:46 am

Great little article! Giving the basics of SEO in an incredibly light and informative way. Very easy to read and understand thank you for your help!

July 16, 2016 at 10:49 am

well..informative blog..I am planning to rewrite content for one of my websites.I would like to ask about keyword density. please guide for the same..thanks in advance ..

July 21, 2016 at 8:01 am

Great article, many thanks.

July 22, 2016 at 6:23 pm

Great tips Alex! Writing for SEO without sounding like an SEO is easier these days. Ridiculous keyword stuffing is redundant and luckily Google is better penalizing for it. I’m generating ideas on my next piece of content with keyword tools. I like search suggestion tools like Answerthepublic.com or sg.serpstat.com but being organic in your writing isn’t something you can acquire with a tool)

January 19, 2017 at 4:31 pm

You are write Alex. If you wanna have frequently visited web/blog, you must have a well prepared showcase.

January 20, 2017 at 1:43 pm

Very well said! Prepare your content from the beginning so that it’s ready and in good shape once the traffic starts to flow in.

Thanks Alex

January 23, 2017 at 9:37 pm

Really amazing information with full detail but in point 5 you have a spelling mistake “big fun” instead of” big fan”. Thanks Alex

January 23, 2017 at 10:33 pm

Thanks for your comment. Spelling mistake corrected.

April 6, 2017 at 1:23 pm

This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading through your posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same subjects? Thanks a lot!

April 19, 2017 at 8:54 am

Thank you for your advice. I have a question for you: my blog is new, how to develop content the most effectively and get more traffic with content marketing.

April 20, 2017 at 1:40 pm

Take a look at these two posts: https://www.reliablesoft.net/how-to-write-content-that-actually-deserves-to-get-links/ and https://www.reliablesoft.net/seo-friendly-blog-posts/ . They describe the process I use to create new content and increase my traffic.

October 27, 2017 at 4:15 am

Hey Alex, your article is awesome. You start easy and basic and I think everyone can follow your step by step description. What do you think is the worst mistake one can make while writing friendly SEO content?

October 27, 2017 at 8:40 am

Keyword stuffing. SEO Friendly content has to be written naturally without exaggerating with the use of keywords.

December 20, 2017 at 9:24 am

Impressive article on SEO. Very easy to read and understand thank you for your help!

January 11, 2018 at 10:58 am

hey Alex, your post is excellent and so informative. it is really helpful for a beginner blogger like me. keep up the good work. i have a question, what would be the minimum word limit of the article??

June 7, 2018 at 7:05 pm

I am a beginner in the blogging industry. I really benefited by your super reach article. That helps me to write an SEO optimized post. Do I have some question, How to write a perfect SEO title and meta title? and how to find the best keyword? please help me, sir…..

November 6, 2018 at 2:04 pm

Can you please let me know that if I use an image for which I don’t have copyright like images from direct Google search.Then what will be the effect to my website?Are there any risk of penalized my website by Google.

March 26, 2019 at 10:55 am

You should always reference the source of the image by adding a link to your content. There is no Google penalty from using images from Google search.

Hope this helps Alex

October 10, 2019 at 4:18 pm

hi there, informative clear updated thanks for the detailed explanation with a presentation, it will be really helpful to enhance in-depth knowledge about Content Writing Skills.

November 23, 2022 at 3:28 pm

Thanks! Glad I could help.

November 1, 2019 at 3:29 pm

Best article for a beginner to kick start with basic SEO for a blog 2019. I am a beginner and it’s very helpful to me.

January 3, 2021 at 9:27 pm

Hey Alex, thanks a lot. This is a very informative post and you have written all the things about SEO in a very easy way. Thanks for sharing this kind of nice content.

Regards Mohit

May 25, 2021 at 2:23 pm

Writing a content with SEO tactics is not an easy task, but here you wrote a wonderful post which make easy to write SEO friendly content.

September 2, 2021 at 5:54 pm

Wow Very informative article Alex as usual. Thanks for sharing.

November 23, 2022 at 3:29 pm

Thanks a lot for commenting.

January 2, 2024 at 8:58 am

Thank you for this incredibly helpful guide on SEO writing! Your 12 easy tips provide a clear roadmap for creating SEO-friendly content. The breakdown makes it so much simpler to understand and implement these strategies. Grateful for the valuable insights that will surely improve content creation. Much appreciated!

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About Reliablesoft

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

MLA Works Cited: Electronic Sources (Web Publications)

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The MLA Handbook highlights principles over prescriptive practices. Essentially, a writer will need to take note of primary elements in every source, such as author, title, etc. and then assort them in a general format. Thus, by using this methodology, a writer will be able to cite any source regardless of whether it’s included in this list.

However, this guide will highlight a few concerns when citing digital sources in MLA style.

Best Practices for Managing Online Sources

Because online information can change or disappear, it is always a good idea to keep personal copies of important electronic information whenever possible. Downloading or even printing key documents ensures you have a stable backup. You can also use the Bookmark function in your web browser in order to build an easy-to-access reference for all of your project's sources (though this will not help you if the information is changed or deleted).

It is also wise to keep a record of when you first consult with each online source. MLA uses the phrase, “Accessed” to denote which date you accessed the web page when available or necessary. It is not required to do so, but it is encouraged (especially when there is no copyright date listed on a website).

Important Note on the Use of URLs in MLA

Include a URL or web address to help readers locate your sources. Because web addresses are not static (i.e., they change often) and because documents sometimes appear in multiple places on the web (e.g., on multiple databases), MLA encourages the use of citing containers such as Youtube, JSTOR, Spotify, or Netflix in order to easily access and verify sources. However, MLA only requires the www. address, so eliminate all https:// when citing URLs.

Many scholarly journal articles found in databases include a DOI (digital object identifier). If a DOI is available, cite the DOI number instead of the URL.

Online newspapers and magazines sometimes include a “permalink,” which is a shortened, stable version of a URL. Look for a “share” or “cite this” button to see if a source includes a permalink. If you can find a permalink, use that instead of a URL.

Abbreviations Commonly Used with Electronic Sources

If page numbers are not available, use par. or pars. to denote paragraph numbers. Use these in place of the p. or pp. abbreviation. Par. would be used for a single paragraph, while pars. would be used for a span of two or more paragraphs.

Basic Style for Citations of Electronic Sources (Including Online Databases)

Here are some common features you should try to find before citing electronic sources in MLA style. Not every web page will provide all of the following information. However, collect as much of the following information as possible:

• Author and/or editor names (if available); last names first.
• "Article name in quotation marks."
• Title of the website, project, or book in italics.
• Any version numbers available, including editions (ed.), revisions, posting dates, volumes (vol.), or issue numbers (no.).
• Publisher information, including the publisher name and publishing date.
• Take note of any page numbers (p. or pp.) or paragraph numbers (par. or pars.).
• DOI (if available, precede it with "https://doi.org/"), otherwise a URL (without the https://) or permalink.
• Date you accessed the material (Date Accessed). While not required, saving this information it is highly recommended, especially when dealing with pages that change frequently or do not have a visible copyright date.

Use the following format:

Author. "Title." Title of container (self contained if book) , Other contributors (translators or editors), Version (edition), Number (vol. and/or no.), Publisher, Publication Date, Location (pages, paragraphs and/or URL, DOI or permalink). 2 nd container’s title , Other contributors, Version, Number, Publisher, Publication date, Location, Date of Access (if applicable).

Citing an Entire Web Site

When citing an entire website, follow the same format as listed above, but include a compiler name if no single author is available.

Author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site. Version number (if available), Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), DOI (preferred), otherwise include a URL or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).

Editor, author, or compiler name (if available). Name of Site . Version number, Name of institution/organization affiliated with the site (sponsor or publisher), date of resource creation (if available), URL, DOI or permalink. Date of access (if applicable).

The Purdue OWL Family of Sites . The Writing Lab and OWL at Purdue and Purdue U, 2008, owl.english.purdue.edu/owl. Accessed 23 Apr. 2008.

Felluga, Dino. Guide to Literary and Critical Theory . Purdue U, 28 Nov. 2003, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/. Accessed 10 May 2006.

Course or Department Websites

Give the instructor name. Then list the title of the course (or the school catalog designation for the course) in italics. Give appropriate department and school names as well, following the course title.

Felluga, Dino. Survey of the Literature of England . Purdue U, Aug. 2006, web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/241/241/Home.html. Accessed 31 May 2007.

English Department . Purdue U, 20 Apr. 2009, www.cla.purdue.edu/english/. Accessed 31 May 2015.

A Page on a Web Site

For an individual page on a Web site, list the author or alias if known, followed by an indication of the specific page or article being referenced. Usually, the title of the page or article appears in a header at the top of the page. Follow this with the information covered above for entire Web sites. If the publisher is the same as the website name, only list it once.

Lundman, Susan. “How to Make Vegetarian Chili.”  eHow , www.ehow.com/how_10727_make-vegetarian-chili.html. Accessed 6 July 2015.

“ Athlete's Foot - Topic Overview. ”   WebMD , 25 Sept. 2014, www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/athletes-foot-topic-overview.

Citations for e-books closely resemble those for physical books. Simply indicate that the book in question is an e-book by putting the term "e-book" in the "version" slot of the MLA template (i.e., after the author, the title of the source, the title of the container, and the names of any other contributors).

Silva, Paul J.  How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing. E-book, American Psychological Association, 2007.

If the e-book is formatted for a specific reader device or service, you can indicate this by treating this information the same way you would treat a physical book's edition number. Often, this will mean replacing "e-book" with "[App/Service] ed."

Machiavelli, Niccolo.  The Prince , translated by W. K. Marriott, Kindle ed., Library of Alexandria, 2018.

Note:  The MLA considers the term "e-book" to refer to publications formatted specifically for reading with an e-book reader device (e.g., a Kindle) or a corresponding web application. These e-books will not have URLs or DOIs. If you are citing book content from an ordinary webpage with a URL, use the "A Page on a Web Site" format above.

An Image (Including a Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph)

Provide the artist's name, the work of art italicized, the date of creation, the institution and city where the work is housed. Follow this initial entry with the name of the Website in italics, and the date of access.

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV . 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo Nacional del Prado , www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-family-of-carlos-iv/f47898fc-aa1c-48f6-a779-71759e417e74. Accessed 22 May 2006.

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine . 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive , www.artchive.com/artchive/K/klee/twittering_machine.jpg.html. Accessed May 2006.

If the work cited is available on the web only, then provide the name of the artist, the title of the work, and then follow the citation format for a website. If the work is posted via a username, use that username for the author.

Adams, Clifton R. “People Relax Beside a Swimming Pool at a Country Estate Near Phoenix, Arizona, 1928.” Found, National Geographic Creative, 2 June 2016, natgeofound.tumblr.com/.

An Article in a Web Magazine

Provide the author name, article name in quotation marks, title of the web magazine in italics, publisher name, publication date, URL, and the date of access.

Bernstein, Mark. “ 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web. ”   A List Apart: For People Who Make Websites , 16 Aug. 2002, alistapart.com/article/writeliving. Accessed 4 May 2009.

An Article in an Online Scholarly Journal

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Wheelis, Mark. “ Investigating Disease Outbreaks Under a Protocol to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. ”   Emerging Infectious Diseases , vol. 6, no. 6, 2000, pp. 595-600, wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/6/6/00-0607_article. Accessed 8 Feb. 2009.

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Alonso, Alvaro, and Julio A. Camargo. “ Toxicity of Nitrite to Three Species of Freshwater Invertebrates. ”   Environmental Toxicology, vol. 21, no. 1, 3 Feb. 2006, pp. 90-94. Wiley Online Library , https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20155. Accessed 26 May 2009.

Langhamer, Claire. “Love and Courtship in Mid-Twentieth-Century England.” Historical Journal, vol. 50, no. 1, 2007, pp. 173-96. ProQuest , https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X06005966. Accessed 27 May 2009.

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Salmar1515 [Sal Hernandez]. “Re: Best Strategy: Fenced Pastures vs. Max Number of Rooms?” BoardGameGeek , 29 Sept. 2008, boardgamegeek.com/thread/343929/best-strategy-fenced-pastures-vs-max-number-rooms. Accessed 5 Apr. 2009.

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@PurdueWLab. “ Spring break is around the corner, and all our locations will be open next week. ”   Twitter , 5 Mar. 2012, 12:58 p.m., twitter.com/PurdueWLab/status/176728308736737282.

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McGonigal, Jane. “Gaming and Productivity.” YouTube , uploaded by Big Think, 3 July 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdzy9bWW3E.

“8 Hot Dog Gadgets put to the Test.” YouTube, uploaded by Crazy Russian Hacker, 6 June 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBlpjSEtELs.

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Scientists use generative AI to answer complex questions in physics

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When water freezes, it transitions from a liquid phase to a solid phase, resulting in a drastic change in properties like density and volume. Phase transitions in water are so common most of us probably don’t even think about them, but phase transitions in novel materials or complex physical systems are an important area of study.

To fully understand these systems, scientists must be able to recognize phases and detect the transitions between. But how to quantify phase changes in an unknown system is often unclear, especially when data are scarce.

Researchers from MIT and the University of Basel in Switzerland applied generative artificial intelligence models to this problem, developing a new machine-learning framework that can automatically map out phase diagrams for novel physical systems.

Their physics-informed machine-learning approach is more efficient than laborious, manual techniques which rely on theoretical expertise. Importantly, because their approach leverages generative models, it does not require huge, labeled training datasets used in other machine-learning techniques.

Such a framework could help scientists investigate the thermodynamic properties of novel materials or detect entanglement in quantum systems, for instance. Ultimately, this technique could make it possible for scientists to discover unknown phases of matter autonomously.

“If you have a new system with fully unknown properties, how would you choose which observable quantity to study? The hope, at least with data-driven tools, is that you could scan large new systems in an automated way, and it will point you to important changes in the system. This might be a tool in the pipeline of automated scientific discovery of new, exotic properties of phases,” says Frank Schäfer, a postdoc in the Julia Lab in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and co-author of a paper on this approach.

Joining Schäfer on the paper are first author Julian Arnold, a graduate student at the University of Basel; Alan Edelman, applied mathematics professor in the Department of Mathematics and leader of the Julia Lab; and senior author Christoph Bruder, professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Basel. The research is published today in Physical Review Letters.

Detecting phase transitions using AI

While water transitioning to ice might be among the most obvious examples of a phase change, more exotic phase changes, like when a material transitions from being a normal conductor to a superconductor, are of keen interest to scientists.

These transitions can be detected by identifying an “order parameter,” a quantity that is important and expected to change. For instance, water freezes and transitions to a solid phase (ice) when its temperature drops below 0 degrees Celsius. In this case, an appropriate order parameter could be defined in terms of the proportion of water molecules that are part of the crystalline lattice versus those that remain in a disordered state.

In the past, researchers have relied on physics expertise to build phase diagrams manually, drawing on theoretical understanding to know which order parameters are important. Not only is this tedious for complex systems, and perhaps impossible for unknown systems with new behaviors, but it also introduces human bias into the solution.

More recently, researchers have begun using machine learning to build discriminative classifiers that can solve this task by learning to classify a measurement statistic as coming from a particular phase of the physical system, the same way such models classify an image as a cat or dog.

The MIT researchers demonstrated how generative models can be used to solve this classification task much more efficiently, and in a physics-informed manner.

The Julia Programming Language , a popular language for scientific computing that is also used in MIT’s introductory linear algebra classes, offers many tools that make it invaluable for constructing such generative models, Schäfer adds.

Generative models, like those that underlie ChatGPT and Dall-E, typically work by estimating the probability distribution of some data, which they use to generate new data points that fit the distribution (such as new cat images that are similar to existing cat images).

However, when simulations of a physical system using tried-and-true scientific techniques are available, researchers get a model of its probability distribution for free. This distribution describes the measurement statistics of the physical system.

A more knowledgeable model

The MIT team’s insight is that this probability distribution also defines a generative model upon which a classifier can be constructed. They plug the generative model into standard statistical formulas to directly construct a classifier instead of learning it from samples, as was done with discriminative approaches.

“This is a really nice way of incorporating something you know about your physical system deep inside your machine-learning scheme. It goes far beyond just performing feature engineering on your data samples or simple inductive biases,” Schäfer says.

This generative classifier can determine what phase the system is in given some parameter, like temperature or pressure. And because the researchers directly approximate the probability distributions underlying measurements from the physical system, the classifier has system knowledge.

This enables their method to perform better than other machine-learning techniques. And because it can work automatically without the need for extensive training, their approach significantly enhances the computational efficiency of identifying phase transitions.

At the end of the day, similar to how one might ask ChatGPT to solve a math problem, the researchers can ask the generative classifier questions like “does this sample belong to phase I or phase II?” or “was this sample generated at high temperature or low temperature?”

Scientists could also use this approach to solve different binary classification tasks in physical systems, possibly to detect entanglement in quantum systems (Is the state entangled or not?) or determine whether theory A or B is best suited to solve a particular problem. They could also use this approach to better understand and improve large language models like ChatGPT by identifying how certain parameters should be tuned so the chatbot gives the best outputs.

In the future, the researchers also want to study theoretical guarantees regarding how many measurements they would need to effectively detect phase transitions and estimate the amount of computation that would require.

This work was funded, in part, by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the MIT-Switzerland Lockheed Martin Seed Fund, and MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives.

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Researchers at MIT and elsewhere have developed a new machine-learning model capable of “predicting a physical system’s phase or state,” report Kyle Wiggers and Devin Coldewey for TechCrunch . 

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How to sell furniture like a pro on Facebook and Craigslist

Expert furniture resellers share their best tips and tricks for outshining the competition.

For years, people looking to turn unwanted furniture into a few extra bucks have posted on sites such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Craigslist. But recently, the market has gotten more crowded , in particular with professional resellers, who make a living sprucing up old pieces then selling them online. For the average Craigslister, it can be hard to craft a listing that stacks up against these seasoned experts.

So, we went directly to them to ask how they make their items stand apart from the competition. Here are their tips for writing an effective description of your piece, taking great photos of it and generally landing the sale.

Know what you’re selling

Knowing about the item you’re selling — such as its maker, the year it was produced and what it’s made out of — can yield a quicker sale or a higher price.

Lilly Skjoldahl, who fixes up and resells old furniture on the Instagram page @thefurnituredr , recommends doing a reverse image search of the item on Google. “That’s how I find about 80 percent of my pieces to see if they’re valuable or not,” she says.

While most pieces are easily identifiable online, those that don’t show up might require some guesswork. Skjoldahl looks for telltale signs in an item’s craftsmanship to estimate age. Where newer pieces might be held together by nails and glue, furniture made before the 1990s might have wooden slides and dovetail joints.

If your piece doesn’t have a maker’s mark, but it is labeled with a jumble of letters or numbers, try looking them up online, Skjoldahl advises. She recently had an item labeled with the letters “S, T, R, D, S, T,” which she figured out meant “Stardust” — the name of the furniture collection it was a part of. This information, in turn, led her to its manufacturer.

You can also signal to buyers that your piece is more valuable based on its material. Solid wood is typically worth more than an item made of wood veneer over particleboard, for instance. Same goes for genuine leather upholstery.

Give it a quick cleanup

Small fixes can go a long way to help market your item. For wood, Jessica Faulkenberry, a furniture flipper who runs @evergreenrestorations on Instagram, recommends products such as Howard Restor-a-Finish , a formula that blends minor scratches and abrasions. Available at Lowe’s and Home Depot for under $10, it’s easily applied with an old T-shirt or rag. “It won’t fill in the scratches, but it will completely conceal them,” she says. “Sometimes I buy pieces from Goodwill, throw that on it and resell it for $200 more because it looks brand new.”

Even a quick cleaning can make your item look better to potential buyers. Skjoldahl dusts, then wipes down with a damp cloth or old T-shirt and dish soap. Be sure to wipe away grime from hidden spots, too, such as the insides of drawers and underneath handles.

Take great photos

You don’t need a professional camera or photo studio to make furniture look magazine-worthy. Your iPhone and good natural lighting should do the trick. Whenever possible, shoot the piece outdoors, but if that’s not doable, at least photograph it in a room with ample sunlight. Whatever you do, avoid dimly lit photos and strange shadows.

Position the piece against a solid backdrop to avoid cluttering the shot. You could use your garage door, a blank wall or a white bedsheet. The first picture in your listing, according to Skjoldahl, should be a straight-on shot of the entire piece. Following shots should include every angle — inside the drawers, close-ups of the legs, shots from each side, the back and the top. Also take zoomed-in photos of any damage so viewers get an accurate impression of what they’d be buying.

Staging the piece may help potential buyers envision the item in their own home, but going overboard can draw focus away from the furniture itself. “Less is more,” Skjoldahl says. “But either a photo above it, a plant next to it or a few items on top gives them an idea of what it looks like [in a room].” For inspiration, check Pinterest and home decor magazines.

Write an informative description

To make sure people can find your item online, you’ll want to craft a title for your listing that includes keywords that people seeking the particular style would likely search. Including such details can also show you’ve done your research and help you justify the item’s price. Skjoldahl gives this example from one of her recent listings: “Vintage Kent Coffey Perspecta, rare mid-century modern walnut dresser.”

“It sounds like a whole bunch of gibberish, but you’re just creating a reason for your price, for why you can charge what you can,” she says. “You know this information about it, you’re proving that it’s important.”

In the listing description, provide as much detail as possible, but keep it objective — this is not the place for flowery adjectives like “beautiful” or “stunning.” Make sure to include the item’s dimensions, history, number of drawers (if applicable), any damage, price, payment method and, if you expect a buyer to pick it up from your home, what part of town you’re located in.

Price it right

Don’t be fooled by the prices you see on resale sites such as Chairish, Etsy and 1stDibs. Since sellers there are willing to ship all over the world and have often restored items professionally , they are targeting a higher-end market. Pieces sold locally, says Skjoldahl, are more likely to go for a third or half the price you’d see on platforms like those. Your location matters when it comes to pricing, too. “Here in remote Texas, I’ll sell a dresser for $300 that my friends in California will sell for upwards of $1,500,” she says.

Faulkenberry recommends tracking the sale of comparable items in your local marketplace to determine a fair price for your piece. If, after two or three weeks, your item has lots of views and saves on Facebook Marketplace but no messages, potential buyers are likely watching to see if the price drops. This is a sign that you may be asking too much.

Keep safety in mind

In the age of dating apps and ride-shares, it’s more normalized than ever to meet a stranger from the internet in real life. But you should still take safety precautions when meeting your buyer — including conducting the sale in a public place.

Facebook Marketplace’s guidelines advise sharing your plan (including the location, time and date when you’ll meet the buyer) with a trusted friend or family member. Skjoldahl also recommends being wary of new accounts or accounts without profile pictures on Facebook Marketplace, which may be more likely to be scammers.

Know when it’s worth it — and when it’s not

Sometimes an item just isn’t worth the trouble of trying to sell it. If your piece smells like cigarette smoke or has water damage, for example, it’ll likely be tough to find a buyer. There are also a few types of furniture that Faulkenberry says don’t sell well: huge media cabinets from the 1990s and 2000s, dining room sets, single nightstands, coffee tables and china cabinets.

You can also consider listing an outdated, poorly painted, damaged or otherwise imperfect item as a “project piece” with a discount, says Faulkenberry, explaining that furniture flippers like her may be quick to snatch those up.

Consider alternatives

If handling the sale yourself seems like too much work, there are other ways to make money off your unwanted furniture. Antique buyers and auction houses may be interested in taking rarer or more valuable items and selling them on consignment.

Sites such as AptDeco and Kaiyo are another option. With both companies, you can submit photos of your piece for consideration. If they agree to take it, they’ll pick it up for free, sell it on their website and give you a percentage of the earnings , depending on the price that it ultimately sells for. Grace Baena, director of branded content at Kaiyo, says her company is more likely to accept items from well-known brands such as West Elm, CB2 and Restoration Hardware “given their reputation for quality and style.”

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DIYs you can actually do yourself: Don’t be intimidated by those home projects. Consider which renovations add the most value to your home (including the kitchen and bathroom ), what you can actually get done in a weekend , and everything in between.

Your home + climate change: Whether you’re trying to prepare your home for an electric vehicle or want to start composting , we’re here to help you live more sustainably .

Plants and pets: Your furry friends and greenery add more life to your spaces. For your green thumb, find tips for saving money on houseplants and how to keep your plants alive longer. Pets can make a house a home, but stopping your cats from scratching the furniture isn’t always easy.

Keeping your home clean and organized: We breakdown the essential cleaning supplies you need, and point out the 11 germy spots that are often overlooked. Plus, hear hacks from professional organizers on maximizing counter space ,

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Contact us: Looking to buy your first home? Do you have questions about home improvement or homeownership? We’re here to help with your next home project.

How companies calculate their carbon footprints

Porfesseur et directeur de recherche de l'EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute, EDHEC Business School

Disclosure statement

Gianfranco Gianfrate does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

EDHEC Business School provides funding as a member of The Conversation FR.

EDHEC Business School provides funding as a member of The Conversation EUROPE.

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When it comes to slashing carbon emissions, the onus is often placed on individuals and their carbon footprint. But companies also have a major role to play. In fact, the biggest corporations have accounted for more than two thirds of global emissions since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

To contribute their fair share of the effort to cut CO 2 emissions, companies now dispose of a potentially powerful tool: internal carbon pricing (ICP), also known as “shadow carbon pricing”. First thought up following the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, which laid the foundations for carbon pricing and offsets, shadow carbon pricing is a voluntary method for companies to estimate the costs of their greenhouse gas emissions to society, even when all or part of their operations are out of the scope of external carbon regulations.

My research at the EDHEC Risk Climate Impact Institute seeks to test the robustness of these accounting methods in the private sector and its complex modelling .

Influencing future decisions

To come up with a shadow carbon price, companies need to assess both their direct and indirect emissions from their own sources, but also their energy use, supply chain operations and waste management. Direct emissions come from sources owned or controlled by the company such as emissions from combustion in a company’s boilers or from its vehicle fleet. Indirect emissions are estimated on the basis of purchased energy such as electricity, heat or cooling. Finally, other indirect emissions in the supply chain are factored in, such as transportation of materials or waste disposal.

Also taken into consideration are current and estimated future carbon prices. This complex process is critical to understand the pattern of carbon prices over the long term, and how they might impact companies’ performance in the future. To reach such estimations, the company must assess the climate policies in place in the countries where it operates and those where it plans to expand. Companies should also factor in potential major political, technological and economic developments that could lead to significant changes in the price of carbon in each of the target countries.

Only with the information above will companies finally be able to set their internal carbon price. To determine the price for a ton of CO 2 , they can use the current market transactions – in Europe, for example, it is known as the EU Emissions Trading System . In other markets, carbon tax rates can be found in national tax laws .

Impact on company valuation

On top of optimising companies’ decision-making processes, this tool also helps companies to improve communication with investors. An increasing number of climate-aware investors are poring over the plans disclosed by companies to deliver on the transition to a low-carbon world, and what firms assume as ICP validates the credibility of the long-term strategy and of corporate actions to successfully compete in a dangerously warm planet. As carbon-related risks can have a significant impact on a company’s cash flow, it makes financial sense to integrate this “carbon price” into the company’s valuation.

For example, when an energy company has to make a decision regarding a new plant, they can calculate and compare the expected costs of a fossil fuel-based choice versus a renewable energy choice. A baseline valuation that does not consider the future likely increase of carbon prices may easily show that traditional more polluting sources of energy are more convenient. However, when the valuation also includes the future expected evolution of carbon prices, the costs associated to the future carbon footprint may become so prohibitive that the company would realise the financial convenience of switching to a cleaner source of energy.

This way they can make informed decisions that include the shadow cost of carbon use, improving the quality of financial investments. Ultimately, carbon risk assessment isn’t just an important step in the global fight against climate change, it also helps companies and investors navigate the complex challenges of a rapidly changing business landscape.

A patchwork of regulations

Still, current regulations regarding environmental policies vary widely between countries. As a result, carbon prices ranged from 1 cent to more than $130 per ton in 2023 ( World Bank ) – a textbook example, if there ever was one, of how stronger climate policies could spur greener business decisions.

As climate change policies and carbon prices evolve rapidly, companies will increasingly need to measure their exposure to carbon risks . In fact, managing carbon risk should be treated as importantly as any other traditional risk within the company, such as compliance or currency risks.

This article was originally published in French

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• 22 May 2024

Bizarre bacteria defy textbooks by writing new genes

• Ewen Callaway

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A bacterial enzyme turns biology on its head by reading RNA (artist’s illustration) into DNA that forms new genes. Credit: Artur Plawgo/Science Photo Library

Genetic information usually travels down a one-way street: genes written in DNA serve as the template for making RNA molecules, which are then translated into proteins . That tidy textbook story got a bit complicated in 1970 when scientists discovered that some viruses have enzymes called reverse transcriptases, which scribe RNA into DNA — the reverse of the usual traffic flow.

Now, scientists have discovered an even weirder twist 1 . A bacterial version of reverse transcriptase reads RNA as a template to make completely new genes written in DNA. These genes are then transcribed back into RNA, which is translated into protective proteins when a bacterium is infected by a virus . By contrast, viral reverse transcriptases don’t make new genes; they merely transfer information from RNA to DNA.

“This is crazy molecular biology,” says Aude Bernheim, a bioinformatician at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, who was not involved in the research. “I would have never guessed this type of mechanism existed.”

One-up on CRISPR

Bacteria fend off viruses and other invaders by deploying myriad defences , such as the juggernaut gene-editing system CRISPR . One of the more mysterious defence systems contains the DNA gene for a reverse transcriptase and a short stretch of mysterious RNA without any clear function: the sequence didn’t seem to encode any protein.

To work out how this system works, a team co-led by molecular biologist Stephen Tang and biochemist Samuel Sternberg, both at Columbia University in New York City, searched for the DNA molecules made by a reverse transcriptase from bacteria called Klebsiella pneumoniae . It found very long DNA sequences that consisted of numerous identical repeating segments. Each segment matched a chunk of the mysterious RNA.

Loop-the-loop

To explain this, the authors note that long RNA strands can form hairpin-like shapes, bringing two distant portions close to each other. The researchers found that the K. pneumoniae reverse transcriptase was doing repeated ‘laps’ around the RNA sequence, which was looped over itself like a shoelace, writing the same RNA molecule into DNA many times over. This created a repetitive DNA sequence.

How scientists are hacking the genetic code to give proteins new powers

The repeated segments created a protein-coding sequence called an open reading frame. The researchers named this sequence neo , for ‘never-ending open reading frame’, because it lacks a sequence that signals the end of a protein and, therefore, theoretically has no limit. They then found that viral infection triggers the production of the Neo protein, which causes cells to stop dividing. The findings, which have not yet been peer reviewed, were posted to the bioRxiv preprint server on 8 May.

How Neo halts growth of infected cells isn’t yet clear, the researchers say. A predicted 3D structure of a portion of Neo — its length probably varies depending on how much of its RNA gets translated — suggests that it forms a series of helices. Experiments showed that breaking up these shapes stymied Neo’s toxic effects. Exactly how viral infection kicks off the creation of the Neo protein is also a mystery, says Bernheim. “This I am burning to know.”

Wonderful life

The discovery that reverse transcriptase — which has previously been known only for copying genetic material — can create completely new genes has left other researchers gobsmacked. “This looks like biology from alien organisms,” Israel Fernandez, a computational chemist at Complutense University of Madrid, wrote on X.

“Their findings were astonishing,” says Nicolás Toro García, a molecular biologist at Zaidín Experimental Research Station in Grenada, Spain, and should help researchers to develop biotechnology applications for the system.

The discovery has even left Sternberg in awe: “It should change the way we look at the genome.”

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01477-8

Tang, S. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.08.593200 (2024).

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Research: Negotiating Is Unlikely to Jeopardize Your Job Offer

• Einav Hart,
• Julia Bear,
• Zhiying (Bella) Ren

A series of seven studies found that candidates have more power than they assume.

Job seekers worry about negotiating an offer for many reasons, including the worst-case scenario that the offer will be rescinded. Across a series of seven studies, researchers found that these fears are consistently exaggerated: Candidates think they are much more likely to jeopardize a deal than managers report they are. This fear can lead candidates to avoid negotiating altogether. The authors explore two reasons driving this fear and offer research-backed advice on how anxious candidates can approach job negotiations.

Imagine that you just received a job offer for a position you are excited about. Now what? You might consider negotiating for a higher salary, job flexibility, or other benefits , but you’re apprehensive. You can’t help thinking: What if I don’t get what I ask for? Or, in the worst-case scenario, what if the hiring manager decides to withdraw the offer?

• Einav Hart is an assistant professor of management at George Mason University’s Costello College of Business, and a visiting scholar at the Wharton School. Her research interests include conflict management, negotiations, and organizational behavior.
• Julia Bear is a professor of organizational behavior at the College of Business at Stony Brook University (SUNY). Her research interests include the influence of gender on negotiation, as well as understanding gender gaps in organizations more broadly.
• Zhiying (Bella) Ren is a doctoral student at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on conversational dynamics in organizations and negotiations.

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Guest Essay

It’s Time to End the Quiet Cruelty of Property Taxes

By Andrew W. Kahrl

Dr. Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and the author of “The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.”

Property taxes, the lifeblood of local governments and school districts, are among the most powerful and stealthy engines of racism and wealth inequality our nation has ever produced. And while the Biden administration has offered many solutions for making the tax code fairer, it has yet to effectively tackle a problem that has resulted not only in the extraordinary overtaxation of Black and Latino homeowners but also in the worsening of disparities between wealthy and poorer communities. Fixing these problems requires nothing short of a fundamental re-examination of how taxes are distributed.

In theory, the property tax would seem to be an eminently fair one: The higher the value of your property, the more you pay. The problem with this system is that the tax is administered by local officials who enjoy a remarkable degree of autonomy and that tax rates are typically based on the collective wealth of a given community. This results in wealthy communities enjoying lower effective tax rates while generating more tax revenues; at the same time, poorer ones are forced to tax property at higher effective rates while generating less in return. As such, property assessments have been manipulated throughout our nation’s history to ensure that valuable property is taxed the least relative to its worth and that the wealthiest places will always have more resources than poorer ones.

Black people have paid the heaviest cost. Since they began acquiring property after emancipation, African Americans have been overtaxed by local governments. By the early 1900s, an acre of Black-owned land was valued, for tax purposes, higher than an acre of white-owned land in most of Virginia’s counties, according to my calculations, despite being worth about half as much. And for all the taxes Black people paid, they got little to nothing in return. Where Black neighborhoods began, paved streets, sidewalks and water and sewer lines often ended. Black taxpayers helped to pay for the better-resourced schools white children attended. Even as white supremacists treated “colored” schools as another of the white man’s burdens, the truth was that throughout the Jim Crow era, Black taxpayers subsidized white education.

Freedom from these kleptocratic regimes drove millions of African Americans to move to Northern and Midwestern states in the Great Migration from 1915 to 1970, but they were unable to escape racist assessments, which encompassed both the undervaluation of their property for sales purposes and the overvaluation of their property for taxation purposes. During those years, the nation’s real estate industry made white-owned property in white neighborhoods worth more because it was white. Since local tax revenue was tied to local real estate markets, newly formed suburbs had a fiscal incentive to exclude Black people, and cities had even more reason to keep Black people confined to urban ghettos.

As the postwar metropolis became a patchwork of local governments, each with its own tax base, the fiscal rationale for segregation intensified. Cities were fiscally incentivized to cater to the interests of white homeowners and provide better services for white neighborhoods, especially as middle-class white people began streaming into the suburbs, taking their tax dollars with them.

One way to cater to wealthy and white homeowners’ interests is to intentionally conduct property assessments less often. The city of Boston did not conduct a citywide property reassessment between 1946 and 1977. Over that time, the values of properties in Black neighborhoods increased slowly when compared with the values in white neighborhoods or even fell, which led to property owners’ paying relatively more in taxes than their homes were worth. At the same time, owners of properties in white neighborhoods got an increasingly good tax deal as their neighborhoods increased in value.

As was the case in other American cities, Boston’s decision most likely derived from the fear that any updates would hasten the exodus of white homeowners and businesses to the suburbs. By the 1960s, assessments on residential properties in Boston’s poor neighborhoods were up to one and a half times as great as their actual values, while assessments in the city’s more affluent neighborhoods were, on average, 40 percent of market value.

Jersey City, N.J., did not conduct a citywide real estate reassessment between 1988 and 2018 as part of a larger strategy for promoting high-end real estate development. During that time, real estate prices along the city’s waterfront soared but their owners’ tax bills remained relatively steady. By 2015, a home in one of the city’s Black and Latino neighborhoods worth $175,000 received the same tax bill as a home in the city’s downtown worth $530,000.

These are hardly exceptions. Numerous studies conducted during those years found that assessments in predominantly Black neighborhoods of U.S. cities were grossly higher relative to value than those in white areas.

These problems persist. A recent report by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy found that property assessments were regressive (meaning lower-valued properties were assessed higher relative to value than higher-valued ones) in 97.7 percent of U.S. counties. Black-owned homes and properties in Black neighborhoods continue to be devalued on the open market, making this regressive tax, in effect, a racist tax.

The overtaxation of Black homes and neighborhoods is also a symptom of a much larger problem in America’s federated fiscal structure. By design, this system produces winners and losers: localities with ample resources to provide the goods and services that we as a nation have entrusted to local governments and others that struggle to keep the lights on, the streets paved, the schools open and drinking water safe . Worse yet, it compels any fiscally disadvantaged locality seeking to improve its fortunes to do so by showering businesses and corporations with tax breaks and subsidies while cutting services and shifting tax burdens onto the poor and disadvantaged. A local tax on local real estate places Black people and cities with large Black populations at a permanent disadvantage. More than that, it gives middle-class white people strong incentives to preserve their relative advantages, fueling the zero-sum politics that keep Americans divided, accelerates the upward redistribution of wealth and impoverishes us all.

There are technical solutions. One, which requires local governments to adopt more accurate assessment models and regularly update assessment rolls, can help make property taxes fairer. But none of the proposed reforms being discussed can be applied nationally because local tax policies are the prerogative of the states and, often, local governments themselves. Given the variety and complexity of state and local property tax laws and procedures and how much local governments continue to rely on tax reductions and tax shifting to attract and retain certain people and businesses, we cannot expect them to fix these problems on their own.

The best way to make local property taxes fairer and more equitable is to make them less important. The federal government can do this by reinvesting in our cities, counties and school districts through a federal fiscal equity program, like those found in other advanced federated nations. Canada, Germany and Australia, among others, direct federal funds to lower units of government with lower capacities to raise revenue.

And what better way to pay for the program than to tap our wealthiest, who have benefited from our unjust taxation scheme for so long? President Biden is calling for a 25 percent tax on the incomes and annual increases in the values of the holdings of people claiming more than $100 million in assets, but we could accomplish far more by enacting a wealth tax on the 1 percent. Even a modest 4 percent wealth tax on people whose total assets exceed $50 million could generate upward of $400 billion in additional annual revenue, which should be more than enough to ensure that the needs of every city, county and public school system in America are met. By ensuring that localities have the resources they need, we can counteract the unequal outcomes and rank injustices that our current system generates.

Andrew W. Kahrl is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Virginia and the author of “ The Black Tax : 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Dispossession in America.”

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