“Content articles” are articles written specifically for websites, blogs and ezines. Because they are written primarily for people who are on the run and looking for practical, applicable, and accurate information which they can hopefully put to good use right away, these articles are somewhat different than the traditional articles published in hardcopy magazines. If interested in writing these types of articles (presently highly-sought-after), then you should strive for the following characteristics:
Are very concise. These articles give people only the meat of the matter, leaving off the any unnecessary “fat.” In this regard, content articles are like news articles, telling people only “who,” “what,” “when,” “where” and “why.”
Have a high SEO word count value. These are key words which help make these articles search-engine-friendly and easy to find.
Use unique, to-the-point, catchy, witty, and good-content-summarizing titles. Coming up with great titles is essential for these types of articles since the title may be the only thing that people will read as they speed their way through the Internet. A title, therefore, is a fishing hook with which to bring people to websites and ezines, if they are good enough to attract and hold people’s attention.
Contain few (if any) misspellings and grammatical/syntactical errors. Perfection is not necessarily demanded but writers need to take care that major language problems are corrected. Keep in mind, though, that substance is more important than literary excellence in these articles-one of the reasons they are called “content” articles.
Cater to issues, subjects, topics or categories that are popular on the Internet at the time the article is published. Needless to say, some topics are more important than others, but is there a point to publishing articles that few (if any) people are interested in at the time the article was submitted for consideration? As a general rule, content article editors maintain a good pulse of what topics are in high-demand every week.
Provide up-to-date, accurate and useful information. For this reason, some of the most popular content articles are how-to or self-help articles. In this information-overload environment, people are very choosy about what they read. Good, reliable information can give people an advantage; inaccurate information, on the other hand, can be very damaging. The quality of content on a website or an ezine can make or break that entity.
Don’t contain any plagiarized or re-hashed material . Unfortunately, some unscrupulous content article writers comb the Internet looking for other people’s material that they can re-dress and re-sell. Editors, well-aware of this problem, however, frown on this practice and will give preference (in deciding whether to publish) to articles that avoid this nefarious practice.
Have a long shelf life. Editors prefer articles that will remain pertinent or useful for as long as possible. An article on “Steve Slater,” the flight attendant that abandoned his plane after a customer refused to apologize for assaulting him, would have had limited shelf life, but if the emphasis was on the plight of the airline industry in general, then such an article would then have had a much longer shelf life.
Are likely to arouse or motivate comments and spark attention. For this reason, injecting some controversy into articles can actually be a good thing, as long as care is taken to not unnecessarily offend anyone. Good content articles invite people to think, titillate their imagination, and provide fresh options they might not have previously considered-in other words, they entertain as well as educate.
Provide an original angle, perspective, point of view, or set of facts. If writing an article on filing for bankruptcy or divorce, for example, how does the article in question differ from the other hundreds of articles already on the Internet on that same topic? Good content article writers first of all read up on the issue in question, then, after they have fully informed themselves on the issue, delve into nuances of issues others have not touched upon, come up with original theories of their own, or come up with a totally new angle from which to analyze the same issue. Sometimes, though, they just provide more detailed information or more up-to-date facts than the other articles.
