by: Mike Long

Writing articles requires skill and continuous practice. But writing good articles requires more than these. So you would ask: "What are the components of an article?" "What could be the common mistakes of these writers? What makes the article a good one?"

Here are the answers to these questions:

An article intends to grab the attention of the reader. It also aims to send the intended message of the article written to the readers. If these 2 goals are not reached, the article is useless. Many article writers would fail in this stage alone.

So what should be done to avoid it?

An Article is composed of 3 important components: the title, the body, and the depth.

A good title tells everything about the whole article so if the title alone could not attract the reader, reading the rest of the article is pointless. The title should keep the readers interested to the topic. Make sure that your title corresponds to the whole article especially the first paragraph.

After the title, the body should be taken into consideration. The body should be interesting. It should not give any misleading information about the topic.

When we say depth, we mean insights. A good article should be appealing to the general readers. Your article should not need be an Einstein to get what it means. Meaning, it should not have to be too technical and scientific. It also should not give the impression that your article makes your readers dumb. Write for the middle, the average people. This is the safest place and they are plenty.

Common mistakes usually come with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. These 3 would destroy every single word of your article. To avoid these, edit your article. You will be surprised to spot errors scattered all over your articles. Afterwards, let your article be proofread by another person. This would give the article a good run if it would pass and also pinpoint the mistakes you miss.

Too much bragging and advertising would mean disaster. Self-serving words would draw readers away. Never infuse anger to your readers at all cost. They read because they want to be entertained.

Make it simple. Let your reader figure out easily what you mean. The fact that the reader gives attention to your article means you have his/her interest. If your content is good enough, your reader will surely know what you are trying to point out. Keep your article short. Or if you can squeeze all your thoughts in the shortest terms possible, do so.

An article with so many superfluous words could not add any credit to its popularity. Instead, use clear words and make your article readable. As much as possible, squeeze your thoughts on a good, well-written paragraph with vocabularies that are common to all.

Mistakes often occur on the format. Do not punish your readers by writing long paragraphs. An article is a complete turn of if it contains big blocks of letters. If this happens, readers would only scan the first sentence of the paragraph or would not give your article any chance to be read. 5-7-line-paragraph is ideal and easier to absorb and easier to read. Also use bullet and numbers to give your readers an easy reading.

From here we go back to the question: what makes a good article? Four words: Simple, short, and clear!