Article Writing Tips | Part of the Freelance Writing Jobs Blog Network

Down with Deb Ng! Headline Writing 101

Terreece Clarke — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:59:50 +0000

Headlines are an important, often overlooked part of article writing. They are what prompt readers to click the link, pick up the magazine or buy the paper. Blog posts, magazine articles and news articles have unique characteristics that will be addressed individually in follow-up posts, but there are a few guidelines that apply across the different styles and medium of the articles.

Interesting & Descriptive

Headlines should attract reader’s attention while giving a brief overview of the article’s content. Sounds easy right? Well, given the dearth of boring and vague headlines in media there’s got to be more to it. A headline should:

Include action words. Tell readers to stop doing something, start doing something, give something, take something, learn something – spur them to action and translate that action to reading.
Avoid jargon, abbreviations or profanity. Unless writing for a specialized niche publication in which it is assumed all the readers will have a working knowledge of your niche language or abbreviations/acronyms, don’t use it.
Be creative. When not a news headline, which tend to be very clear cut and straight forward, interesting plays on words or catchy titles work in grabbing a reader’s attention.
Use punctuation. Commas, for example can be used instead of the word “and” in headlines. Utilize limited headline space by eliminating word clutter.
Avoid exclamation points *most of the time. There are some exceptions, but most articles with exclamation points either cry of desperation or sales pitchy-type pieces. If you use one, make it count!

Non-Inflammatory & Clear

“Down with Deb Ng!” I’ve used an exclamation point, unclear language and inflammatory wording to get to you to click the link for this article. It worked, you’re here and it’ll probably work on the search engines. The problem is, the article is not about Deb (a true sweetheart), it was truly only written to prove a point – there are inflammatory, wildly inaccurate headlines all over publications today. This causes a problem for writers, publications and their readers because when you pull a bait and switch it is not only annoying, you’re readers begin to distrust your work and your wolf cries begin fade into the background of the rest of the media noise.

The post title is also unclear. “Down with Deb Ng!” could mean I’m banding together with a group of wild freelancers to crush poor Deb under our boot or it could also mean that “Right on, I’m down (or supporting) Deb Ng!”

The other no-no of this headline is I’m clearly using the Google juice of Deb’s name to boost the blog hits. All around it’s a stinker of a headline and readers are not stupid, they can smell sensationalism a mile away and are usually annoyed by it.

Take the time and make your headlines a priority not an afterthought. The next few blog posts will cover the specifics of writing headlines for different types of articles including blog posts, magazine articles and news.

When do you write your headline, before or after you write the article?

Creating an Outline that Works for You

Terreece Clarke — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:32:02 +0000

While creating an outline is an important part of the article writing process, it doesn’t have to be your 6th grade English version of an outline. Outlines can be made to fit your style including as many details as you’d like, however there are some parts of an outline that you must include in order for it to really work as a framework from which you can base your article:

How it begins

When outlining your article, it’s best to formulate your lede (lead) paragraph. The lede paragraph, depending on the type of article, can tell the readers what they’ll learn from the article, how the article’s information will affect them, or share an anecdote that relates to the information that follows. Creating this paragraph will tell you how to formulate the rest of your outline.

How it ends

The conclusion is usually not chronologically created after the lede, however it is second in importance only to the lede. The mark of a good article is a great beginning and a strong ending. The lede and the conclusion are often the sections on which writers spend the most time. Ask yourself, what do you want to leave the readers thinking about from the piece? Whether the reader comes away feeling satisfied that they’ve read good information or they are left with an action prompt, the one thing is to never leave them wondering what happened or worse, looking for whether the article continues on the other page.

The middle shouldn’t meander

An outline is designed to keep you and the article on task. List the points you want to cover chronologically with sub-sections. Every section of an outline can be complete sentences or fragments that serve as writing prompts for each paragraph/section.

The article’s body should be outlined to include source information, especially professional titles and quotes. It shaves time off writing if you have Dr. Snuffilumps, chief medical yogi and OTRA certified’ practitioner’s info right there on the same sheet. It helps the writer decide whether some information will be used as a pull out quote or clarified in shorter, easy to understand bullet points.

Play time counts

Outlines and their formats allow you to play with your article to enhance flow and accuracy awithout reworking an article repeatedly. Play around with the style that works best for you. List every detail or coordinate general ideas. This tool is also helpful in addressing any concerns your editors may have about your piece and vice versa. When an anxious editor wants to see your progress they can see the direction your piece is taking by viewing your outline.

It can also help protect a writer from writer’s block. Plugging information into an outline is like completing a jigsaw puzzle, there’s no pressure like there is when you finally start writing the article.

Here are some great article structure resources:

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE OUTLINE

Newspaper Article – Raft Pyramid

How to Write an Outline

Outline Your Way to A Better Article

Terreece Clarke — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:50:59 +0000

All great works start with good foundations and articles are no different. An outline is a great tool to give your article solid support and using one has many benefits:

Faster Writing

Many writers think taking the time to write an outline adds one more time consuming step to the writing process. The truth is, having an outline speeds up the writing process by giving writers a road map to their article. It is much harder to write a clear, focused and coherent article off the cuff. If you tend to write your articles straight from your head, how many times do you stop to think about what direction to take? How much time do you spend editing things on the back end? An outline cuts time off of both processes dramatically.

An outline gets your brain thinking about the order in which to present your information, which information is key to the piece and which information may not be as significant or may need to be presented in a different way i.e. bullet points or pull-out box. It also helps you identify your lead and conclusion, arugably the hardest parts of the article to produce.

Better Organization

Outlines are essentially organization tools. They are your thoughts, research and interview information gathered and structured – they are the bones of your piece. When writing off the cuff, writers often have to stop to go over notes, scroll through interview transcriptions, etc. An outline forces you to go over the information before writing the piece. You can even make an outline detailed to note pages and transcription time or notations, if you choose.

An outline doesn’t have to be the tightly structured, rigid writing technique you learned in middle school. It can adapt to your writing style and needs, remember, it’s to help you get organized, you won’t have to turn it end with your finished project at the end of class! Tomorrow we’ll look at some outline techniques and formats in an effort to find a few that the FWJ community can adopt for your own use.

Do you use an outline before writing an article? What about blogs? Tell us how it works for you!

Day 5: Update Your Reading, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Writing Skills

Terreece Clarke — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:50:10 +0000

There’s nothing like finding a blog you love or a columnist that says exactly what you’re thinking. Often at FWJ we are accused of being mind readers and though I’d love to have all the readers of Freelance Writing Jobs spend $9.99 a minute to call in so I can read their writing tea leaves, we are actually just writing about what we live and questions we have had or have been asked. We try to evolve here, meet our readers needs, etc. and your other daily, weekly reading favorites should do the same.

When’s the last time you looked at the blogs you read and the columnist you follow? How about the last time you Googled freelance writing or freelance writer? There are a lot of new sites out there, sites that have moved up in readership/rank and sites that you may not have considered reading before and it may be time to find some new reading materials.

Writers want to grow in their craft. We want to increase our business profits, our writing prowess and sense of fufillment. Periodically, we need to take a look at our go-to materials and leaders. Don’t think I’m pushing you away from Freelance Writing Jobs – not likely since I love my job and like hanging out with you all on a weekly basis!

It’s simple – good writers read other good writers and great writers not only read their regular enlightened word wonders, they seek out new ones. The writers you follow don’t have to be experts, they don’t have to be the Hemingway of blog marketing or tech writing, they only need to have three things: good information, engaging content and a point of view.

FWJ has gone from single blog from Deb Ng to a thriving network with writers enthusiastic about their subjects, have you checked them all out? There’s no better place to start looking for more writers to read than right here:

Blogging for a living? Check out Jennifer’s blog at FWJ

Lay or Lie? If you don’t know, check out Dawn’s blog at FWJ

Getting ready to make the leap to full-time freelancing? Hang out with Bob at his FWJ blog

On the hunt for freelance writing gigs? Hit Jodee up!

Want to have some fun in your freelancing, take the load off for a minute? Lorna will crack you up!

Hey FWJ crew, which writers or blogs do you follow?

Networking Your Articles into More Work

Terreece Clarke — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:21:13 +0000

Carson, one of our newest bloggers at FWJ had a great post today: Writing Talent and Success as a Freelancer. Carson discussed how writing talent will only get you so far and your ability to master the business end of freelance writing is what is going to make the difference between eating steak or bologna. I added the bologna part, but it’s an important point to consider. Writers define their success in different ways – first when they get published, then when they can live off their earnings. The question is what are you eating steak or bologna?

There are many talented writers who never get out of the lunchmeat stage because they don’t know how to roll their published work into more work. The idea is that once you finally get a coveted published clip under your belt you can write your ticket to success on your talent. The problem is if no one knows about you, if no one outside the publication’s audience sees your work you may not get too far.

It’s not enough to write an article and forward the clip to editors in a query anymore. Successful freelance writing is about building relationships with editors, clients, bloggers, readers and others in the business or your niche. Social networking, whether micro-blogging on Twitter or being active on Facebook, is an essential skill for writers.

The goals of networking your work are to build up your own buzz, connect with others in your field and show publications you write for that you can bring in readers, clicks, etc. You also want to become the person others think about when they are looking for writers to hire. I have gotten more work, speaking opportunities, etc. through people coming across my work via Twitter and Facebook and the relationships I’ve developed through these sites.

Writers have to go beyond opening a Twitter or Facebook account and just posting links to their articles. Successful social networking is like networking out in the real world – you have to build relationships and conversation around your work and the work of others. If you only post links to your items you quickly go the way of commercials in cyberspace – earning barely a glance. To network your articles:

Seek out and follow those in your field, well-known and lesser-known alike. Everyone’s following ProBlogger and should he’s got fantastic stuff, but what about those other bloggers who aren’t huge cyber-stars? There are other sites, editors and publications that offer up great opportunities as well.
Contribute to the conversation when you have something to contribute. Tweets or FB comments with “I agree.” or “LOL!” are fine, but if that’s 90 percent of your comments you start to look like that weird person at the meeting who hovers just on the outside of the group dying to get into the conversation by laughing when everyone else laughs and hrrumps when others do. You become forgettable.
Include your article links, but read and forward other links as well. There’s a lot of great work out there, including yours. People will trust you have a good selection of retweet or article links when you forward other things worth reading as well as your own. They are also more likely to click your links.
Add a catchy title where there is none. What makes people click? What is going to get editor’s interested in your post? An interesting headline or blurb. When I retweet I’ll add a little bit of what the article is about or one interesting point in the piece.
Add a tweeted/FB response to a query letter. When relevant, remind the editor of a previous article they liked or responded to and roll that into your pitch to them.
Send a link to an editor when it’s something you know they might like. Not a link to a competitor’s site though, you can imagine how well this would go over: “Hey Anna [Wintour], I thought you’d might like this article I wrote for Harper’s Bazaar.” I’m talking more about a tech article on kid apps for your iPhone-loving editor whose wife just had a baby.

Networking your work shouldn’t take a lot of time or effort, if you make it a part of your regular work cycle and you enjoy the relationship aspect of it, you’ll look forward to this little piece of freelance upkeep.

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook!

Day 4: Technology, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Writing Skills

Terreece Clarke — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:31:47 +0000

Freelance writing is one of the businesses people can start with little to no start up costs. All you need is a computer, Internet connection, a phone and the writing talent with which you were born. This is one of the reasons why freelance writing is such an attractive career for so many. The danger is a simple start can lead to technological complacency. Day four’s tip is update your technology.

There are a variety of helpful techno gear and software that will save you time and increase your access to clients thereby increasing profits and success. The key is to realize you need them. Many writers don’t see a use for social networking sites like Facebook or microblogging tools like Twitter, but the truth is not utilizing these tools will cause you to miss out on a variety of clients and opportunity.

Let’s take a look at Twitter. The microblogging site is a great way to connect with readers, other writers, editors and publications. You can pass on your article links, discover new sources for articles and develop relationships with people who can point you toward gigs and new clients. When you increase your Twitter following, things you’re interested in become things your followers are interested in and that can be a great boost to a client whose release you’ve published links to or publications who you’ve written an article for and posted a link. If you have a blog, Twitter is essential to boosting your readers.

Many writers don’t see why they should promote their work, but when you get people interested in your articles it boosts your writing credibility and publications are always tracking which articles, departments, etc. get the most hits/readers. You can bet a client for whom you’ve written a release is going to appreciate the spike in clicks because you tweeted about it.

Facebook acts as another way to connect with others in you field. Creating a fan page for your site/company is a great way to boost its profile. Friending editors, clients, etc., is a way to keep your relationship moving in the right direction – as long as you use caution with posting. I suggest if you are worried about your Facebook posting and your clients’ reactions you might want to have one page for business and one for personal. Just remember everything you put on the web is likely to be there forever. Oh, and don’t poke clients a lot or brown nose, it’s annoying and transparent. Keep your relationship as professional and sincere as it would be if you saw each other often throughout the week.

Writers tend to get into a routine and are often the last ones to move on to the next great thing. Some of you clung tearfully to your typewriters and saw no problem with hanging onto dial-up Internet, after all it was cheaper right? It is vital to be flexible and indispensable to be a successful freelance writer during this season of downsizing or closing publications.

If your Internet goes down you may have to resort to typing out an article on your smart phone. Billing, invoice tracking and other business matters may have to take the next step beyond a stamp and word document. And that laptop you finally splurged and got six years ago – it’s probably time for an upgrade. Clients don’t understand why you can’t keep up with their technology and are usually very grateful when you can succinctly and knowledgeably hip them to the latest that will connect them to their audience or save them money like that Skype business.

Keeping up with technology isn’t about following trends and the latest fly-by-night whowhatsit, it’s about discovering what technology is changing business as it happens everyday, learning it and adopting it successfully to your own business.

Blog Posts vs. Articles: Format

Terreece Clarke — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:26:44 +0000

Today we complete the blog versus article comparison. Previous posts covered length and POV, audience expectation and today we are going to look at formatting differences.

Articles have a pretty standard format. There’s the lede (lead) paragraph, some quotes, source citing, each new idea is in a new paragraph and there is a conclusion paragraph to tie it all together. Articles that have more information will also have bullet points or sub-sections with different headers. It’s a simple concept that’s not so easy to execute successfully no matter what those “Freelance Writing is Easy!” ads contend.

Blog posts have more flexibility in their approach. Some write posts much like they write articles – lede, supporting paragraphs and conclusion. In blog posts it is often not necessary or possible to have quotes, especially when the writer is tackling a topic from their point of view. *Side note, quoting yourself within a post is dumb, it’s like speaking about yourself in third person.

Articles must have outside supporting sources to corroborate the information presented by the writer, a blog post not so much. I don’t advise you just make up random stuff without some grounding in reality, common fact, etc. if you want to really make a living as a freelance writer. When blogs do cite information gleaned from other areas, and they must cite it otherwise it’s plagiarism, they usually just give a quick shout out or link to the blog as opposed to an article’s more formal citation process.

Example:

Blog:

“The OWL at Purdue University defines plagiarism as the uncredited use (both intentional and unintentional) of someone else’s words or ideas. Many writers and not all of them are newbies, include information in their articles, blog posts, etc., that originally appeared somewhere else without giving credit to the originator of the information.”

“Deb Ng had a great post today about freelance writing routines that discussed how maintaining a routine demands people have more respect for your time.”

Article

“In September 2003, The University of Iowa Health Science Relations and Dr. Nicole Nisly published a report that said yoga can be helpful in reducing the need for medication in mild cases of asthma and high blood pressure. The report also said yoga helped people cope with Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit disorder and back pain.”

Blogs posts tend to focus on bite-sized bits of information in shorter, skim-enabled paragraphs. Visually there is more white space and the important idea is placed “above the scroll.”

Basic writing techniques, rules and information apply easily to both writing styles. Whether it’s a blog post or an article, the writer needs to communicate with their audience, present clear, concise information and follow grammar and style rules. Good writing shines no matter the venue.

Follow Article Writing on Facebook

Terreece Clarke — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 11:32:53 +0000

Heads up FWJ crew, Article Writing at Freelance Writing Jobs has a Facebook fan page! Come on over for great post links from FWJ and other great sites, stimulating conversation and an opportunity to ask all your deep, dark article writing questions.

Blog Posts vs. Articles: Audience Expectation

Terreece Clarke — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 08:58:52 +0000

Today we further our discussion on the difference between blog posts and articles for both the web and print. In “Blog Posts vs. Articles: Length and Point of View,” I discussed how many of the tools, tips and tricks I publish here on Article Writing are applicable to both blog posts and articles. Successful application of interviewing tips, lede creation, etc., depends on knowing how to cater your writing skills to the piece. Defining the difference between blogs and articles means looking at not only the length and POV, we also need to understand audience expectation.

When writing an article, writers should always think about the audience for which they are writing. Knowing their habits and meeting their needs is important to having a successful article and a successful freelance writing career. They want the latest news and gossip without the drawn-out teasers and commercials of television. Your reader could be a busy professional looking for an expert, or at least a knowledgeable person’s advice on a product; or a hobbyist looking for instruction or ideas on a new project. Imagine a busy parent, who in between tending to their kids, balancing the family budget, driving to activities and wiping mystery goo off the floor, has stopped to browse the net to connect with other parents or research a concern.

Now ask yourself, what do these readers want? What are their needs?

When readers hop on the ‘net they are often looking for a quick read, fix or solution to whatever is going on in their lives. They have limited time and blog posts are there to fulfill that need, while adding personality, opinion and community.

Articles have personality to an extent, many have opinion, but blogs are where the people go to read and talk – hopefully. Blog posts inspire people to read, respond and follow a particular blog. They become invested in the community, interacting with the writers and other commenters.

Articles for both the web and print will inspire comments and letters to the editors, but the expectations are different. The don’t really expect a response from the writer or editor and are often tickled, or horrified, when someone does respond. They also expect a journalist’s approach to the subject matter – information given and shaped by sources and facts rather than the writer. When a person settles down with a magazine they are doing just that – settling in for a period of time to read and they expect in-depth coverage.

So in short (too late) blog posts – quick, informative and community building; articles – in-depth journalism.

Coming Up: Blog Posts vs. Articles: Format

Blog Posts vs. Articles: Length and Point of View

Terreece Clarke — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:57:23 +0000

We’re going to take a break from the 5 days, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Writing Skills series and answer a freelance writing question I receive pretty regularly. “What’s the difference between a blog post and an article?” In many ways they are the same and much of the information featured here can apply to both. There are, however, important ways they differ:

Length

Most blog posts are short – between 200 – 300 words. They may be longer, but the majority of posts are designed to give you information quickly before you lose interest – almost like a commercial. Blog writers know they only have so much time before most readers move on to the next item in their feed reader. Topics that require more time to introduce and develop are often turned into a series of blog posts.

Articles fall into two different catalogs: articles for the web and articles for print. Both are longer than blog posts – typically beginning at 500 words. Articles for the web, like blog posts, lean toward getting to the point of the piece. The paragraphs are shorter and there is more ‘white space’ within the article. This style is pleasing to the eye for online readers.

Articles for print can be as long as the editor desires. These articles allow a writer to delve deeper into a topic with multiple sources, in-depth information and plenty of room for anecdotes and subject development.

They vs. You

Blogs posts are definitely more flexible when it comes to point of view. Writers can refer to themselves, speak directly to the readers or write in the third person. On the flip side, a traditional article avoids the use of ‘you’ and ‘I’ is frowned upon. The idea is once you insert yourself in the piece you take the spotlight off the subject matter and place it on yourself. There are exceptions to this, of course, and first person accounts are found in publications regularly, often in specific departments.

Next up: Blog Posts vs Article: Audience Expectation & Format

Related Posts from the Freelance Writing Jobs Network:

Blogging rules you should follow and rules you can break – by Jennifer

Minor Rant: A Blog is a Blog and a Post is a Post – by Deb Ng