Here are 5 article writing tips to help get you started:

1. Ask yourself a question.

I’ve found it very helpful to start writing my article with a question.  Once I have a question related to the topic of my article, I find it easier to expand on the topic and provide an in depth answer to that particular question.  For example, we could be writing an article about Wordpress blogs.  I would then begin my article with the question “What is a Wordpress blog?”.  This will help focus all my thoughts on the topic.

2. Brainstorm, create bullet points.

Once I have created a question for the topic, I will then brainstorm ideas and answers.  Instead of writing answers in a paragraph form, I list answers as bullet points.  This gives me an opportunity to expand on each bullet point and add more relevant information step by step.  I have always found this helpful for creating more content in the article.

3. Write down your thoughts as they come.

You can reduce the amount of time it takes to create an article by simply writing down every thought that comes through your mind while thinking about the topic.  Most people are faced with writers block and will simply stare at a blank page.  Why not write it all down?  Just translate your thoughts as simple as you can.  Once you have everything down, go through it all.  Piece together all relevant information.  You’ll probably be surprised when you discover how much content you have just created within a short period of time.

4. Set a timer.

I will almost always time myself when writing articles.  If you can determine the amount of time it’s taking you to write articles, you can then set a goal and set out to accomplish your tasks a bit better.  Allow yourself enough time to write thorough and high quality articles.  The reader of your article will easily be able to tell if you rushed through your writing.  So simply remember to set a timer to set a goal.

5. Brainstorming

The process of organizing your thoughts is one of the most helpful aspects of article writing.  Before writing your articles, brainstorm thoughts on your topic.  Simply write down a list of bullet points which you can eventually incorporate into your article.  You’ll find it much easier to expand on each bullet point as you set out to write each paragraph.

Having other writers write your articles can actually save you a lot of time.  If you are working on multiple projects, it can help to have someone else write your articles for you.  Professional writers will usually know what keywords to focus on, and will be knowledgeable when it comes to specific search engine optimization techniques.

If you decide to outsource, there are several good resources you can utilize to get your projects done.  Be sure and do some resource before selecting a freelancer to write your articles.  There are a whole lot of people willing to take on the job, but you have to look for the good ones who will write your articles for a reasonable price.  Excellent places to start are GetAFreelancer.com, Elance, and ScriptLance.  Keep in mind that it sometimes takes a little bit of time to sort the good writers from the bad.  Unfortunately you can’t always rely on the feedback a writer receives.  So if you choose to take this route, think wisely.

There simply are times when you need to focus on a certain part of your project more than another.  The only way you’ll know weather outsourcing your articles is right for you is by experimenting.  See what works better.  You may ultimately decide that having someone write for you is not the way to go.  On the flip side, you may find out that having others write for you provides a boost in both traffic and sales.

Quality articles are the key, and they always will be. Before you start distributing what you have written, you’ll want to be sure that you have researched your topic thoroughly. The benefits from delivering quality content to your readers will pretty much outweigh just about everything else. Remember that once you have written and distributed your articles, you’ll be adding more and more incoming links to your site. People will eventually take notice, and be thirsty for more.

Before you begin the actual process of writing your article, take some time and browse through popular article sites, like EzineArticles.com for example. Search through the articles using keywords that pertain to your own website and niche. Take note of which articles are getting the most views. You can do this by simply taking a look at how many page views the article has received. You’ll see this number located towards the bottom of the article. It’ll look like the image that is shown below.

Once you’ve gathered some relevant keywords from some articles with decent page views, you can begin to put those keywords and phrases to use in your own articles. Always remember though, use your own writing style and approach. Never, and I’m serious, NEVER directly copy information. It’s a poor method that many use, and it’s plagiarism. You’re looking to create quality articles in your own words, not someone else’s.

If you take the time to research and think things out a bit, you will produce a pretty good article in the end. Let your ideas flow out naturally, and edit things out later on. Remember not to write your article in a way that it sounds like a blatant sales letter. Yes, you’re selling something, but take one step at a time. The whole reason you are writing your article is to share knowledge and eventually direct the reader to what you yourself are offering.

It’s a good idea to keep your articles around 400 and 600 words. This isn’t something that is really set in stone, but good quality articles will generally contain this amount of words. Some will argue that shorter articles are more effective, but it really depends on what you are trying to convey. A high quality article will be organized and contain a significant amount of information to grab the reader’s attention.

Don’t Forget Your Quality Resource Box

Another highly important step is your resource box at the end of each article. Before you submit your articles to the big directories, be sure your resource box contains a link to your website. Your site should be relevant to your article, as this will help you obtain more leads and build more traffic. Each article directory website will usually have their own rules in place for author resource boxes. So when it comes time to submitting your article, you’ll have to review the rules that are in place.

Once you have your article written you’ll want to thoroughly review it. Have someone else proofread it if necessary. Sometimes someone else will catch something that isn’t quite right, even after you have done your own review. So gather opinions of others if you can.

If you take some of this advice and put it to action, you’ll more than likely have less trouble next time you begin writing your articles.