The Structure to Writing a Good Article, Blog or News Story
How to Write an Article, Blog or News Story
Before I explain how to write a good article, I’ll quickly let you know why you should be writing them.
Any content published online should fall into at least one of these categories. To inform, persuade or entertain. In addition to these categories, search engines love new content. Providing it’s good content and well structured.
So, here’s a quick guide to writing a good article.
Starting at the top of your page. Include a clear feature image ensure you tag it correctly. Add alt text to these images and also consider using SEO keyphrases. Just don’t ‘stuff’ the alt text with keywords. Describe what’s in the image so search engines and people can make sense of it.
Break Up Your Article with Clear Headlines
There are many reasons why you should use headlines within your article. In my opinion, there are two reasons though which stand out:
- Making it easier for your users to read. Headlines are like signposts.
- Better text for users is better for your SEO. If somebody can’t find the answer they’re looking for, quickly, they’ll leave your site.
Internal and External Page Linking
Internal links help users and search engines find pages within your site. An internal link is a hyperlink of some text to a webpage within your website. External links are used to form credibility with search engines. Google follows content that is linked to other websites.
Furthermore, using both internal and external links can help with page authority ranking. As a base rule, I try to stick with two internal and one external link.
Keeping Sentences and Paragraphs Short
You may have noticed that my sentences are short and paragraphs are shorter. Well, there is a method to my madness. Majority of people consume content on their mobile phone now. Your screen is small and therefore digesting the content can be tricky.
If paragraphs took up the whole screen, plus a few scrolls, would you even read it? Or do you just think ‘wow, look at all that text, I can’t be bothered.’
Using Transition Words
Additionally, (see what I did there…) transition words are key in your article. Also known as linking or connecting words, these help the reader follow your article and carry your thoughts from one sentence to another.
Adding Authenticity to Your Articles, Blogs or News Stories
There are so many great articles out there. However, how many of them include who it was written by? You should always include who the article, blog or news story is written by. Especially, if you’re a website / company with lots of different writers.
SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions
An SEO title is the headline on the SERP (search engine results page). For example, if you search Google “Par 3 golf course in Surrey”. If a golf club has a page title which includes / matches this search term, then you will feature higher up the results page.
Equally important, the Meta Description is the small chunk of text beneath the page title in Google. This description should describe and summarise the contents on that page. This will help benefit your users and search engines.
Does Your Golf Business Need Marketing Support?
If you’re interested in finding out how Your Golf Marketing can support your golf business further then please get in touch.