How to become a better article writer.

Amateur writers eagerly wait for the Google Pandemic to settle down and hope that the larger article sites regain their rankings, however there is no guarantee that this will ever happen. Article writers must find ways to improve their writing so that despite the algorithm changes their articles float to the top of the Google search engine rankings.

Simply sitting on your haunches and hoping that your writing is good enough will not work; you must invest the time to become a better article writer – the benefits are many-fold; you’ll be more confident in your writing, you will improve your reputation, you hopefully will see more traffic to your work.

There are several reasons why every amateur writer should aim to improve their writing:

Quality counts –this is the underlying message from Google – quality content is what they want, and therefore you should strive to provide content that is excellent and become a better writer.

Differentiate yourself – there are thousands of good writers on the web, but only a few excellent writers – if you can gain a reputation for excellence then your reputation will build and so will your fan base.

Readability – you may already be producing quality content, but is it actually readable by the target audience? Adapting your writing for an audience is one of the most neglected aspects of writing online.

Here are several ways to become a better article writer:

I was advised that if I wanted to become a millionaire then I should hang with millionaires so that I pick up their habits. The same goes for writing; if I want to become a better writer then I need to read the best articles, books, magazines etc and try and pick up the styles and methods that these excellent writers use when writing.

The more you read, the more you’ll understand how excellent writers are able to capture their reading audience, and you’ll gain an understanding of how effective writing is presented. You’ll also find that your spelling and grammar will improve simply because you are reading articles with proper sentence construction, punctuation etc.

One thing I am slowly learning is that a writer who instills passion in me is an excellent writer – if the writer makes me passionate about his/her story or article, then they must be doing something right. How do they do it? What methods do they use? Are they direct? Are they Subtle? These are the things you should think about as you read.

You may never be the next Wordsworth or Tolkien, but by emulating the styles and techniques of the best authors and writers then you will not only be able to present better articles, but you’ll also find that you will begin to stand out from the crowd.

Many people know that the best way to write decent dialogue is to listen to spoken language. Spoken English is different than written English and can often break the simples grammatical rules, but as you’re using in dialogue then that is totally acceptable.

As an article writer it isn’t obvious how listening to conversations with colloquial connotations can help in writing articles. You may even think that introducing a different tone and style into articles could actually diminish your writing. In some ways you are right – you shouldn’t introduce poor grammar, or bad spelling simply to sound like the audience you are targeting, but you can use some of the jargon or lingo that the audience uses.

For example, if you’re writing an article aimed at Science Fiction fans then you are going to introduce some technical writing as generally a science fiction reader would definitely be interested. However, if you are writing an article on farming, then you will be less technical and more hands on in your writing. It’s difficult to change your style for the targeted audience, but generally you’ll find that if you talk in terms that the audience will understand then they will appreciate it and read more of your work.

One of the most off-putting elements of ‘bad’ writing is the misuse of similar sounding words. There simply is no excuse for not using the correct word where appropriate. How many times have you seen the misuse of to, two or too, there, their or they’re – as a reader it is aggravating and in many cases you immediately lose trust – if you can’t get simple things like this right, then why should the reader trust your work?

Take the time to do the research on different words – as an example one of the most misused word combinations is affected and effected – if in doubt use a dictionary to find out which word should be used.

One lesson I learned very early in my career is that creating articles that are verbose and full of complex words isn’t always the best way to write. There may be nothing wrong with your article, in fact it could be excellent- but in the internet world, readers are looking for instant information. So simplicity is key – if you can say something in 5 words and provide all the facts, then don’t fluff it out to 20 words.

This is one of the most important aspects of becoming a better writer especially on the web. You have to understand that the majority of readers of your articles will not be Masters of English, so using complex words, while correct, may lose you readership simply because the reader does not understand what the words mean.

There are some caveats of course – technical documents aimed at a scientific audience who would expect complexity don’t need to be simplified – however, you’ll find that writing something in a simple form will be far more effective in most cases.

Another area that will immediately lose trust is the misuse of punctuation. Punctuation isn’t a complex science – there are set rules, and they’re very easy to learn. Make sure your articles use the correct punctuation every time. While this may not be important in some targeted areas, if you’re trying to gain a reputation for quality and excellence, and by doing so get your articles listed on the best blogs and web pages, then punctuation is a very important aspect – get it right or don’t bother!