Putting pen to paper (or pedal to the metal on your keyboard) can be a daunting task. Hence why copywriters exist. We don’t understand people that dislike writing (because we literally love it more than ice cream on a hot day) but we certainly like meeting and helping them.
And I’ve noticed a lot of traffic to my site was coming from one simple search “how to write an article” so in the interest of giving the people what they want, here are a few of my tips on getting started:
1) Choose your content: an article is a different beast to a blog or opinion piece. It needs to provide balanced views and interesting educational points for an audience. They don’t want to walk away knowing what you think, but rather what’s the view of the world? What are the two sides of the coin? You could be writing a news article that’s shining a light on a recent event, a feature that’s showing a new way of thinking or even a how to piece or interview. Broken down in my language, that looks something like this:
NEWS: Campari sales rise as a result of recent TikTok trend
FEATURE: TikTok’s filling our cups with Sbagliatos, but why has this video gone viral?
HOW TO: Learn how to make THAT TikTok Negroni Sbagliato sensation here
INTERVIEW: We sit down with the unlikely TikTok cocktail star, Emma D’Arcy
2) Pick your purpose: an article should have a valid reason for being written. Whether that’s a google search spike in “how to make a negroni” or current affairs, there needs to be a compelling hook that’s usually something your audience is interested in right here, right now. They’re not going to care about mulled wine in the summer. Start with the why and the rest will follow.
3) Organisation, organisation: To hook a reader in, and keep them interested, takes careful organisation. Collate the facts, workout the narrative, then bring the story together in a way that not only strikes an initial chord, but leaves the reader walking away with new information and possibly a new perspective too.
4) Audience matters: There’s no point trying to write a quirky piece of content that needs to sit on a factual news site. Readers won’t resonate with it. When they’re expecting formality and facts they don’t want funny. And vice versa. The way you write is guided by the who.
5) Reinforce the views: Anyone can come up with a viewpoint, but without facts or third party commentary it means very little. Consider that you’re persuading every eyeball on the page and work out what would make you believe the words. Are there cultural happenings that can point to the trend too? You’re building a story to influence a point of view, so you need to be convincing.
But if you think that all sounds labour-intensive and you’ve made a mental list whilst reading this of ten things you’d rather do than write an article, then that’s where the copywriters of the world come to the rescue. And if you’re in need of food & drink articles, I’d love to hear from you (and write about your delicious brand!)
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