Write a useful article.

Most people want to learn something they can do. How-to articles or articles with a how-to aspect are overwhelmingly popular. This is almost always the case with business articles. But it is also the case with consumer articles.

People read to learn, and mostly to learn how to make their lives better.

The main exceptions to this is articles about politics and religion. In these areas, people read for background, to have their views confirmed or to keep up to date. But even with those topics, giving people a way to follow up with action is a valuable bonus.

Use visuals in your article.

You might have no control over photos or illustrations. That’s the publisher’s domain. However, if you can supply visuals, that should help.

Good quality photos that show action are best. Photos of products sitting on a table are less likely to be published and will be less effective if they are.

Graphs that illustrate data mentioned in the article are also very effective for some publications.

How can you tell if an illustration is good? Ask these two questions:

• Does this image tell an interesting story?
• Does this image help readers better understand what we have written?

The goal of content marketing begins with reaching people. Visuals are critical to turn your readers into your promoters.

Focus on one key message.

It happens all the time. A business gets the chance to pen an article, and it tries to cram several messages into this one big chance.

Slow down. One article, one message. Anything more makes the article weak. Spaghetti is good. So is cheese cake. So are olives and oatmeal and cabbage rolls. But don’t put them all in the same bowl together.

If you write a focused article, magic will happen:

• People will read the article.
• People will comment on the article.
• Your reputation will grow and you`ll get business.
• Best of all, you’ll be invited back to write another article.

If you get invited back, you’ll have several effective, focused articles. If you cram everything into one article, you`ll have one ineffective splattering of words.

Write a personal article.

The more personal, the better. Nobody wants to read a machine-generated text. Making it personal gives a human connection, much like a conversation.

• Tell stories.
• Include personal anecdotes.
• Speak to the reader, not about the reader.
• Use the active voice, not the passive voice.
• Include personal details, making reference to your own tastes, habits, strengths and even weaknesses.

Not only does a personal tone improve reading rates and engagement, but it boosts your reputation as an expert or as a company.

Write in straightforward, simple language.

This is called “plain language”. It means making the article as easy to read as possible. People are lazy. Unless they have to, they won’t read an article that takes effort. They won’t even start reading an article that looks like it will take effort. If it looks like work, they won’t read it.

When people feel like they have to read an article, they will. Even if it looks like work. But they won’t like it. And laziness will often lead them to scan, to skip, to stop reading part-way through or to hydroplane. By hydroplane, we mean coasting across the surface. They might read the words, but a lot of the meaning doesn’t sink in.

This applies to scientists, lawyers, academics and other highly-educated people. They can read complex text with lots of big words, but that doesn’t mean they want to. And it doesn’t mean they will, if they don’t have to. If it’s too much work, they won’t. They have to read complex text with lots of big words for work. At other times, even in professional magazines, they don’t want to have to work more than necessary.

Write your article in plain language. Or let us write it for you. Or write it however you like, then turn it over to us for a plain language edit.

How to find an article ghostwriter for hire

We can help! Our article writers and blog writers are at your service. For a free quote on writing your next article, tap or click the red button to the right.

Provide topics for your article writer.

Professional writers are not professional bakers, metal formers or ball bearing manufacturers. They don’t know your business like you do. They don’t know the best topics to write about. Tell them.

Provide research for your article writer.

Even when writers come up with topics, they’ll need some research. They can search Google easily enough, but so can anyone else. The best way to ensure that you articles are the most authoritative and the biggest draw for your readers is to ensure that they have the best data and examples.

Especially valuable is proprietary information, such as:

• Your own case studies.
• Your own experiences.
• Data you have gathered.
• Anecdotes form your customers.

Provide clear feedback to your writer.

The worst thing you can do is be a passive-aggressive client. We’ve had several, and we don’t keep them long. It hurts us and it hurts the client.

A passive-aggressive client has high expectations, but withholds the information needed to deliver. What typically happens is this:

• The writer delivers a draft based on the information provided.
• The client says he doesn’t like it and asks for it to be redone .
• The writer asks what in particular the client doesn’t like.
• The client says he doesn’t like all of it.
• The writer tries again, asking in what way the client would like a new draft to differ from what was written the first time.

This can go a few more rounds. The frustration builds. In the end, the client is not happy, the writer is totally frustrated, the relationship ends and both writer and client have wasted timetrying to build a relationship that has to be dropped.

Be totally clear about what you want from the start. If there are any misunderstandings when you see a draft, be totally clear on exactly what needs to be changed.

Don’t starve your writer.

Writers eat. They need food in order to keep writing. Paying on time is one of the best ways to keep your writer from losing motivation. A delayed payment might be a good cash flow move for you, but a paid-on-time writer will deliver superior writing. Being tardy is a poor investment.

Explain what quality looks like to you.

Just saying you want quality, doesn’t mean you’ll get the quality you want. Amazingly, the majority of article writers think that quality means good spelling and good grammar. But quality can be measured in many ways. If your goal is reputation-building or content marketing, you might have other definitions of quality. Here are a few examples of how you might describe quality to a writer.

• At least three useful, actionable tips.
• A totally original angle or analogy of the topic.
• Colorful, visual language. Or plain language, under grade 7 level.
• Screenshots or images of everything that can be explained visually.
• Back every statement up with data or a link to an authoritative source.

However you define quality, your ghostwriter needs to know.

Tell the writer what he or she is responsible for.

Yes, the writer has to write. But what does that include? It might include finding topics and doing research. It might include proofreading and editing. Or you might prefer to edit the articles yourself.

Is the writer responsible for images? What about publishing? Some companies want the writer to post an article with images in draft form, ready to publish, before it goes in to edit.

Whatever your needs are, they should be nailed down before fixing a price. The writer will not appreciate suddenly finding out that you expect more than was agreed to earlier on.

How to find an article writer for hire

Our article ghostwriters and blog ghostwriters deliver quality. For a free quote on writing your next article, tap or click the red button to the right and tell us exactly what you want.