This is a 2000 words guide with 15 steps to help you writing articles with real added value for your readers.

1. Plan What You Want to Achieve with an Article

This point is essential.

Planning is very important not only in your daily or business life. Before you start writing you have to know what you want.

So, ask yourself some questions:

• Should it be a promotional article?
• Or maybe you want to share your experience about something?
• Is it a simple story for your readers?
• Do you want to make them cry? Or laugh?
• Or maybe you want to arouse interest about something?
• You should answer these questions before you start writing your article.

Answers to these questions will give you an idea, what is the goal of your article.

And having a goal is a must, even in copywriting.

2. Plan Some Time Free of Distractions

There are a lot of things which may distract you from work.

Especially freelancers (bloggers, online marketers, SEO specialists) who spend most of their work in front of the screen, are in danger.

So it’s very important, before you start writing, to finish all of your other tasks, clean up the desk and switch off your mobile phone.

With a little effort, you are free from incoming emails, social media, and other online temptations.

These are the most common distractions as a blogger or writer:

• Emails
• Cellular phone
• Social Media
• Family and Coworkers
• Noisy environment
• Mess on Your Desk
• Online Games
• Laziness

Must Read: Top 10 Distractions in Online Business – How to Operate With Them

3. Do Some Quick Research On Your Topic

I assume that you know the subject matter of your article.

But even if you are an expert, it’s worth to do some research about it. You should check in your favorite search engine what’s hot, and what’s not.

You can do it also on blogs you are following via RSS.

Below you can find some resources which I use to find hot topics.

• Google
• Google alerts
• Other blogs which I follow
• Amazon Best Sellers
• Social networks
• Newsletters (like Forbes, groups on LinkedIn, Axandra Search Engine Facts)

4. Use PROPER Keywords in Your Article

If you want to write your article not only for readers, but also for search engines, you must think about proper best keywords for your article.

And best keyword for me means that there are a lot of searches for that keyword, and competition with the keyword is not too high.

There is a lot of tools, you can use it. Some of them are free, and some aren’t.

Most famous free tool for researching keywords is Google Keyword Tool.

This tool is ok for me for three reasons – it’s free, it’s simple and you can use this tool on each computer, which has access to Internet.

For some time I have used a paid tool, Market Samurai. It’s not free (it costs 149$) but there are discounts and it can cost you only 97$.

What’s more, you can download your free trial version here.

Must Read: How to Find Best Keywords

5. Great Headline is a Key!

The headline of your article must attract internet users to click it. There are tons of blogs, portals, and article hubs.

What is the most important thing in choosing what to read (except author’s name) is the headline.

It’s similar to first impression – you can like the title or not (if you don’t like the title, you won’t read it).

Title of your article should not only arouse interest to your readers – it should be also SEO friendly.

Your headline may be controversial, with a question, provoking your readers to answer – almost everything is acceptable here.

Below you can find some irresistible examples of titles:

• Devil’s Guide to Online Marketing
• 10 Tips Which Bloggers Didn’t Tell You about Blogging
• Blogger – Naked from Nature
• How to Get 500 Likes on Facebook in 2 Days
• How to Get 100k Visitors in 3 Months

Also, this is a funny and nice working title generator (from SeoPressor):

6. Consider Making Your Article as Point List

People love to read lists.

Even going shopping they prepare a list of goods to buy. So why not make them happy?

Besides, posts written as a list are easier to read.

Even preparing a great headline for a list is very easy.

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So, how you can prepare your list?

Find three to ten important points you want to raise in your article.

If you find more – it’s okay, but your article will be longer and probably will take you a lot of time (but maybe it will be a killer article?).

Write down these points and fill them with content.

7. Use (12+2)*3 Technique

This technique is very simple – write for twelve minutes, take a two-minute break, and repeat it three times.

If you need less or more time for writing an article – you should repeat the process less or more times.

But remember – for 12 minutes you should write and only write, without exceptions.

After that, you will get a two-minute break, when you can do something else (but I recommend you to stay on the computer).

For counting minutes, you can use a timer on your clock or smart phone.

Even a kitchen timer may be good for this technique.

8. Write for Your Readers

You may think – are you joking? Of course, I’m writing for them.

Are you  sure?

Maybe  you are writing for your blog, for Google or for yourself?

After reading this tip, you may be a little bit confused.

In the 4th point of this guide I wrote that you should write not only for readers, but also for Search Engines.

It’s true as long as you remember that writing for your readers is in the first place!

9. Mix Content in Your Blog

I’ll tell you one secret – writing killer articles is not enough today.

It’s especially important these days – we have a lot of bloggers and tons of blogs, which compete with others for the audience.

So, what shall I do? – you may ask me.

You should arouse interest in your readers!

Each blogger must decide how he or she wants to charm their visitors.

If you don’t have any idea – below you can find some tips, how you can attract readers to your posts (you can find more tips at this link).

Of course, you can choose only one or few of them.

• Text
• Videos
• Pictures, photos
• Lists
• Graphs and tables
• Podcasts
• Infographics
• Slideshows
• Interviews
• Mind maps

Must Read: How To Attract Your Blog Posts – 20 Tips For Normal People

10. Don’t Waffle

You should write your articles as good as possible.

I’m telling you this second time: there are so many other sites and blogs on the web, that it’s not enough for your article to be the killer one!

So you should save time of your readers if you are writing about something, but you don’t have time to explain it in details – refer to it by linking to the proper source.

If you don’t know where it is, you should find it and share this knowledge with your readers.

On the other hand – respect the time of your readers.

So be clear about your ideas, construct simple sentences and don’t repeat over and over again. In a few words: Don’t waffle!

11. Place “Call to Action” in Your Article

As I mentioned in the first point of this guide, each article should have a goal.

Placing call to action will give you an opportunity to ask the readers about fulfilling your needs.

Simple “call to action” may help you in:

• Getting more comments below your posts
• Getting “likes” for your Facebook page
• Getting new subscribers on your email list
• Getting sells of your products

Even if you don’t know what you want from your readers, you should familiarize them with a call to action – maybe in the future it will help you in your business?

Some examples of call to action:

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12. Read Carefully and Correct All Your Bug(s) or Misspellings

If you don’t want to lose your readers, subscribers or potential customers you must write without bugs and misspellings.

So  now  it’s  time  to  check  your  post. You should read your article at least once  and  mark all  errors  or misspellings.

Next you should check it in your dictionary (or in Google), and correct all.

If you have some time, you can read it once more.

Tip: I use Grammarly, to double check for writing errors.

Must Read: List of 10 Common Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation Mistakes

13. Make Some break – Get Tea or Coffee

Even a short break is really important for your mind. So, stand up and go to the coffee room or to the kitchen.

If possible, you can even talk with somebody – but remember your goal – you need to write an article.

So set a time limit for your break – five minutes should be enough for it!

14. Publish Your Article

Your article is almost ready to publish.

Now it’s time for improvements and for formatting your post.

Your article should be readable – think about it as a brochure – is it easy to read, understand and find the main points?

There are only some little steps to take before sharing your ideas with your audience.

Below you can find them all:

• Put your article into WordPress (or another publishing platform)
• Add some related images, photos or videos to your article.
• Link up to other articles or resources
• Format your article – make points, paragraphs, etc.
• It’s time for final reading
• Publish or schedule your post for publishing

15. Promote Your Post

OK, your post is published.

But you need a lot of visitors, who will read your content. Unless you are an A-List Blogger, you must promote your blog and articles by yourself.

Below I list most important traffic tips for your blog

• Make comments on other blogs from your niche
• Make social media your friend (Twitter,  Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
• Add shares buttons on your blog
• Send info about your post to your subscribers from your email list
• Participate in Social Platforms (Triberr)
• Use Blogging Communities
• Write Guest Posts on other blogs
• Use  SEO tools for analyzing your blog and competition

Must Read:

8 Helpful Tips, How to Promote Your Blog

10 Ways to Increase Traffic to Your Blog

Boost Your Traffic and Increase Your Authority with Viral Content Buzz

Final Words

Now you are ready to create great and engaging content for your blog.

Do you like this post?

If yes, you can share it with your friends or followers.

Also, be sure to say “Hello” on NPI Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NoPassiveIncome

Thanks to Chris Madej, previous owner of this blog, for this fantastic content.