One of the hardest things for a writer to do is to put pen to paper (Or finger to key)and just write. When writing factual articles such as how to’s or product guides you will normally know a great deal about the subject at hand, but focusing that knowledge into a tight, concise and helpful form is hard. Cut too much, and your work will be useless. Cut too little and the point is lost in verbal baggage. Factor in other things such as search engine optimisation, and it can be hard to even know what to write anymore!

The purpose of this article is to help people who are in this situation, people with an idea, but no proverbial lens and filter through which they can sharpen up and purify their ideas into a high quality, written product. Throughout this piece I will be making reference to one of my most successful articles to date, a small walkthrough guide for the combat challenges in the videogame ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’. I will share with you the secrets that have made this piece one of my highest grossing articles, fast approaching paying for the cost of the game itself after a single month! So, without further adieu, here we go.

Part one: Defining the subject.

You more than likely know what you want to write about already, but it is very important to place boundaries on what you are going to be discussing on your writing. What you are aiming for in your article is a high degree of information density, and information quality. This means that your final piece of work should have lots of high quality information, with as little non relevant material as possible. Take a moment to read through the videogame guide I mentioned earlier.

Notice how it launches straight to the point- there is no discussion on the quality of the game itself, or references to other aspects of game play such as stealth and riddles. I have clearly defined my subject before I start- this guide will be about getting the best possible score in a videogame. Anything else has been mercilessly cut and left at the wayside.

As I have mentioned, in this case a high degree of information density and information quality is essential, and only by defining your subject matter clearly before you begin can you ensure you avoid losing the point, and by extension, your audience. This also means that you can identify other areas where explanation and knowledge is lacking. For example, I have also written guides for finding the riddles, and using the gadgets. By splitting up articles you  ensure that the reader can find exactly what they are looking for, and also gain extra exposure if the reader is looking for all the information they can on the subject.

By linking to other articles, you can create an ’information web’, getting more hits out of one reader, and keeping articles clean and to the point. To finish off this section, let’s look at an example:

John is writing an article on how to build a book shelf. He has defined this subject, but finds that he is writing a large section of the guide on how to use power tools safely. Clearly, this is important, but it is also beside the point. To keep the guide clean, John removes the section on power tool safety, and instead writes another article exploring the subject in more detail, then places a link in his bookshelf article, to the power tool safety piece:

“Remember, power tools are very dangerous! If you are not familiar with the safe method for handling them, please read my guide here (link), before continuing!”

John has kept his article clean and to the point, and saved a lot of unnecessary reading for any of his audience who know how to use power tools safely.

Part 2: Structure.
Have you ever read an article that had lots of good information, but was very hard to read? One of the most common culprits in readability issues (outside of poor spelling and grammar), is lack of structure.  Good structure is one of the easiest things in the world to achieve- provided you take a little time to plan your article!

Start with a pen and paper and picture yourself telling someone about the subject you have chosen. Where do you begin? Write down the order in which you tell the person what they need to know. Does it make sense? Is it logical? More often than not, you will always get this right first time- provided you plan like this. Rushing head long into the article and then cut / pasting big chunks around later will not work- get everything in the right place the first time and it will flow naturally.

In my Arkham Asylum Combat  guide, I began with the most important part first- how the scoring system works. As the subject of the article was to get the best possible score, knowing this system is the most important part. Tactics, dealing with tougher enemies and so on is just an extension of that- so the scoring system was my starting point. Then I went on to the next most important piece- the combat multiplier, and so on and so on until I crammed any useful odds and ends that didn’t fit into the article’s conclusion.

A logical, progressive structure is vital to a good article. It must read well, flow with ease and constantly engage and interest the reader. If they find your work is too ‘bitty’ then it doesn’t matter how good your information is- your audience is going to look elsewhere. So the golden rule is to plan your sections, and what you will put in each of them ahead of time.

Back to John and his shelf guide. The most logical way for him to lay out his guide is with an introduction explaining what he will be doing (Making a shelf), then providing a list of parts and tools so his reader can get everything ready, then a step by step guide, and finally tips and tricks to make it easier (Putting them at the end saves cluttering up the main body of the text).

Remember- good structure is easy if you give some time to planning!

Part 3: Style.

This is an often maligned consideration for writing an article. Your vocabulary, tense, tone, pacing and literary technique all combine to form something unique about your writing- a sort of essence, a soul if you will. A touch that only your work has. Many experienced writers can use many different styles from informative, journal styles used in the news, to cold, no frills styles used in academic papers. There are hundreds, if not thousands of different styles, and knowing which one is right for your article can be absolutely vital.

With my Combat guide, I opted for a very neutral ‘facts only’ style, something I have done rarely since leaving university. But in order to convey my information with high quality and density, I felt it would be worth sacrificing humour and other embellishments in favour of a cold, clinical approach. This means that the writing may be very dull to read, but the information is easily accessible!

Think about what you are writing. If you are doing a piece on something very personal or touchy, let’s say, how to recognise an STD, or support group information for victims of violent crime, do you think it would be appropriate to include jokes? Evidently not. Likewise, making personal attempts to comfort and console people may also come across as patronising or even insulting. In these cases, cold hard facts are best, coupled with a simple, reassuring (Although non personal) message.

But, this style would not be suitable for a video game review. People want to know your opinions and feelings on the subject. You also need to entertain them with funny stories, colourful metaphor (Yahtzee at zero punctuation is the king of this) and interesting hooks.

Jargon is also the bane of many articles. If your piece is entitled ‘How to build a RAID array under windows XP’ Then you would expect a certain amount of unexplained jargon and acronyms, as it can be assumed that the reader has a knowledge of the subject. But something with a title like “The idiot’s guide to virus protection” should contain no jargon (at least none without an explanation). The important point of style is to remember who your audience is! Do they want to be informed, entertained, or both?

 A final consideration for style is a science all in itself- search engine optimisation. Search engines work by trawling through websites looking for the keywords you have entered. Websites that have this keyword appear in them frequently will appear higher up the list than those that do not. It’s actually more complex than this, but keyword density is an important factor.

This means if you’re writing for a search engine, you have to repeat certain words and phrases over and over again- something that is frequently considered the mark of a poor writer. But this is a catch 22 situation- if you don’t do it, no one will be able to find your work. In my combat guide, I tried to use the words combat, challenge, Batman: Arkham asylum, and score, as many times as possible. These are unobtrusive words, and so the reader doesn’t notice their repetition as much as they may some key phrases. For more information on SEO, please click here.

John has decided on his subject matter, his structure and now he has also decided on his style. He’s going to stay focused on the matter of building the shelf, but he isn’t going to be a stick in the mud in his writing! He’s got a couple of interesting stories about his DIY attempts that are both useful to know, and funny. In this way he can keep the information density and quality high, but also entertain the reader. He’s also decided to do a little Search Engine Optimisation, and is going to repeat the words ‘Shelf’, ‘DIY’ and ‘put up’ as much as he can, his reasoning being that people will probably type “How to put up a shelf” into their search engines. Hopefully, the reader won't notice these keywords being repeated!

Part 4: Hooks and final considerations.

By now, Abmox and John (and you!), should have a much better idea about how you’re going to get that knowledge from inside your head onto the paper. You know the area of the topic you want to write in, the structure of the article and the style you want to present it in. These three elements are the key to how an article is put together, so I’m going to leave you with a few final considerations:

1)    Write a good introduction. Remember, first impressions are the best impressions.
2)    Don’t worry about SEO, become a good writer, then start studying the technical side of things.
3)    Stick to what you know best- people can smell Bull a mile off!
4)    Useful titbits like these are a great way to end an article, as well as providing useful information that would just clutter the rest of the piece.
5)    Try to keep your work as short as possible. This will encourage you to get into the habit of providing good information density.
6)    If you don’t try to write one thing, you’ll never write anything! Not every piece can be a winner, but you should still keep writing and posting, as luck can play a huge role in how well your writing does.

7) Edit your work. Either leave it to mature for a few weeks and then read over it, or have a friend read it for you. Tell them to be critical, and nit pick over every slight detail and gripe. Only by being this anal about your work can you achive the best standards.

I hope this helps you all- good luck and keep Writing!