Hope Writes

Put Some Meat On Those Bones - Part 1

I have noticed something lately that is interesting, but a little disheartening. I wanted to write about this, but wasn’t sure exactly how to approach the topic. Then my title came to me this morning, so I knew it was time to talk about it.

Here’s what is bothering me…choppy, seemingly incomplete articles. I see this a lot, and I’m not referring to blogs. What I’m talking about is in the article directories and on websites.

If you have ever taken part of article marketing, you already know the process. Sign up at an article directory, then write and submit articles in an effort to gain backlinks and, hopefully in time, more attention to your website. (That’s the short of it.)

Many of the larger article directories take their job very seriously and refuse articles that aren’t of the highest quality. This is a good thing. But what about articles that don’t really say anything?

I’ve read quite a few articles that contain the bare essential (250 words at many directories) word count, and yet seem to be just a rambling thought and not really a complete article. I make it a special point to visit certain authors’ pages just because I like their writing style and I (usually) enjoy reading their articles. But it’s getting to the point that I’m left feeling let down…like there was something more that I could have or should have learned from the article, but didn’t.

So what makes a good article then?

If you look back at some of my articles at Ezine Articles, you’ll notice that there are several in there that meet the minimum requirements, too. I’m not saying I’ve never done this myself. However, regardless of my word count, I try to make sure that each article I write and submit contains something of value to my readers.

For example, let’s take a look at one of my articles that contain exactly 250 words, which is the minimum requirement for Ezine Articles. The title is: Writing Articles - You Can Write Articles With Great Speed And Ease. I look at that article and I know that I can do much better than that. I probably could have expanded that one to at least 500 words, if not more. However this article, as is, has received 197 views (to date).

Now let’s take a look at another article that’s just a little bit meatier: Top 7 Topics People Love To Read About. This article contains 343 words (okay, but again, I probably could have written a few more words on that one, too) and has been viewed 307 times (to date).

The first article is just a general overview of article templates and how they can help you write quicker. To add more meat to the bones of this one, I could have added a sample article template at the end. To take it even one step further, I could have included an article sample from the sample article template.

In the second article, even though the article itself contains some really great information, I could have expanded it by listing a few topic ideas below each hot topic.

One of the things article marketers always say is, “Don’t give away the kitchen.” Meaning, don’t give everything away in your article. Leave your reader wanting more so they’ll click on your link at the end of the article. I do believe in doing this, but I also think we can/should provide our readers with a greater reason to want to click our link.

More on this tomorrow…

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