NEWS FLASH!!\u00a0 Mild-mannered blogger devises brilliant plan to draw customers in, and leave them wanting more…<\/p>\n
Suspense!\u00a0 It’s one of the keys to a great article.\u00a0 Today’s readers have a very short attention span and will spend less than 30 seconds reading your article before they decide to stick with it, or go see what Paris, Britney, and Tiger are up to.\u00a0 You have to grab them in that 30 seconds and leave them wanting more.\u00a0 Admit it.\u00a0 I gotcha didn’t I?\u00a0 Now that you’re here, I want to help you write a great article for your site.\u00a0 These are the skills that pay the bills, the keys that meet your needs.\u00a0 You too can be a great writer.\u00a0 I’m going to show you how.<\/p>\n
Plant the Seed<\/strong><\/p>\n No one wants to miss out on something great, or new, or exciting.\u00a0 It’s why there is such a fascination with the lives of celebrities and why every hack and their cousin has started a gossip site.\u00a0 Your readers want you to enthrall them.\u00a0 Remember, you only get 30 seconds to do that.\u00a0 So the headline of your article and the first few sentences MUST grab the attention of your reader.\u00a0 Had I titled this article “The Keys to Writing a Great Article” some of you would have glazed over it.\u00a0 But you didn’t.\u00a0 You urgently wanted to see what I had to say.\u00a0 You too must make your readers excited to see what else your article has to say.\u00a0 You will want to let them know what you will be sharing with them as they continue through the article.\u00a0 Once you have drawn them in, here is how you keep them reading.<\/p>\n The Pyramid of Relevance<\/strong><\/p>\n Imagine you went to Taco Bell in Washington D.C. and ran into President Obama.\u00a0 When you recount this story to your best friend, would you start it like this, “So dude, I woke up this morning and I was really thinking about where I would go for lunch then I took a shower, got dressed, and jumped in the car, then I went to Taco Bell, and President Obama was there!” You might start that way, if you wanted your friend to fall asleep.\u00a0 More likely\u00a0 you would say “OMG, you are not going to believe it!\u00a0 I was at Taco Bell today and ran into President Obama!! Isn’t that crazy?”\u00a0 You would of course put the most important details first.\u00a0 You want to write articles for your site the same way.\u00a0 Always put the most important stuff at the beginning, then the next important, etc.\u00a0 In journalistic jargon, it is referred to as the IPS or Inverted Pyramid Style.\u00a0 Simply put, the important stuff goes on top, and the rest falls below that.\u00a0 This guarantees that those with short attention spans still get the gist of what you are trying to say to them.\u00a0 But the devil my friends, is in the details.<\/p>\n What’s in a Word?<\/strong><\/p>\n The words you choose are of vital importance.\u00a0 How many of you can recount large chunks or even entire books of Dr. Seuss?\u00a0 Most of us can.\u00a0 He knew what words to use and how to arrange them so that they would stick in our memories forever.\u00a0 A great article does the same thing.\u00a0 Here is what you need:<\/p>\n So, be your name Bixby, or Buxbaum, or Bay, or Mordechai Alli Van Allen O’Shea,\u00a0 it’s time to get started, so be on your way, go forth and write a great article…TODAY! (Thank you Doctor Seuss)<\/p>\n\n