by Ruth Belena

Created on: July 10, 2009

Writing articles of quality is important for success online. Quality article writing requires only a few special writing skills and a little knowledge. When it is done well the results can be very effective for driving traffic to a web page, site or blog,

1. An online article requires a good title. This should contain at least one keyword and needs to attract attention. An article title can ask a question, "What are the best ways...." or head a list "Ten top ways to....". An article title should suggest it is useful, "How to...", or "The best places to..."

2. A good quality article should have a great opening that grabs attention and compels people to read on. It should introduce the topic immediately, and can imply there are advantages to be gained from learning more about it.

3. The body of the article should set out each point, clearly and precisely. Paragraphs should be short and can appear under subheadings. Points can either be numbered and listed, or a bullet (usually a large dot or a dash) can be used at the start of each point, to distinguish each one and make it stand out.

4. An article should end with a good concluding paragraph, which should sum up the main points and answer the title.

5. A quality online article should stick to the main topic and address the reader, not be written from a personal point of view. An informative article does not refer to "me", or "my", but a guide article can tell "you" what to do and refer to "your" actions.

6. Authenticity is obviously an important element when presenting facts in an article. Research should be based on reliable sources, and facts validated from official sites or prime sources.

7. Quality writing never paraphrases anything that has been written elsewhere, without giving attribution. To do that would be plagiarism. Anything quoted or taken another source must be clearly indicated. A direct quotation or piece of information can be attributed to the author, or referred to its original source. In an online article the links to sources can either be embedded into the text or appear as a list of resources at the end.

8. Search engine optimization is an important element of online article writing, so the page can be properly indexed by search engines. The best performing keywords should be written naturally into the article, without making it appear too obvious that those phrases are being repeated for the purpose of SEO.

9. Keyword density can affect how well an article performs. There has to be some repetition for keywords to be found by search spiders, but an article is stuffed full of keywords, with too many repetitions, becomes meaningless and of poor quality. Attempts at cheating can be detected by search spiders, and a site featuring only meaningless repetitive content will be blacklisted by some search engines.

10. The most important elements are accuracy and an acceptable standard of writing. Each article has to be carefully checked for spelling, grammar and typing errors. Any piece of writing can be effectively edited and improved. It is important to carry out these procedures before submitting or publishing online.

Quality article writing can be achieved with all these elements. The result will be accurate and well crafted articles, which are clear and authentic, optimized to work well online.

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