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.

I think if you want to stand out from the rest you have to take a whole different approach to the topic you are writing about. For example, one of the hot searches this very moment on Google Trends is “what does the secretary of state do”. That means a whole lot of people are searching this phrase right now, primarily focused on finding out what the Secretary of State does.

People with web sites that follow the trends will be quick to post this keyword phrase on their own site, eager to get in with the web surfing crowd. The whole goal for the web site owner is to get their site out in front of the rest. The owner of the site wants to build traffic, and if their site ranks well they will be able to get indexed pretty quick.

But what if they would just take a whole different approach and make it a bit more interesting? Stand out from the rest! Instead of simply throwing the search topic around carelessly, like “what does the secretary of state do”, incorporate this into something of more interest. Expand a bit on the topic. Yes, you’ll want to answer the question that is being asked, but throw in some additional helpful and useful information for the reader.

If you can be unique and offer up something more related to the topic other than a carbon copy article of your competitors, you’ll have an edge. It seems like quality news has been placed on the back burner. This is where I see a significant opportunity. If you maintain a website that is up to date with the current hot topics and trends, why not try and take a whole different approach. Be creative and try and do something different with your articles. Give some thought and write an attention grabbing headline. I believe if you can offer content that is of better quality than the next guy, and “think outside the box”, you’ll be able to grab a bit more attention right from the very beginning.