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.

Here are 4 extremely simple ways to do this:

1. Create Your Own Interview Product

An interview product is one of the fastest and easiest types of products you can create.  You can virtually go out and start this product in an instant.  All you have to do is find someone in your niche that is willing to answer some of your questions.  You might be thinking that it’s hard to find someone to interview.  To be honest, most will be willing to share their knowledge with you.  The one who is being interviewed will obtain free publicity and exposure during the process.  Interviews are very popular amongst internet marketers.  You can easily conduct your interview on Skype and have a completed product in no time.  Don’t forget to transcribe the interview and turn it into a report as well.

2. Use PLR (Private Label Rights)

There is an endless amount of PLR material available to internet marketers.  It may take some time, but allow yourself to search through and find good quality private label rights reports.  Once you find a decent report in your particular niche, change it up a bit.  Finding reports with PLR will allow you to do almost whatever you want to the material.  Be a little creative and add some ideas of your own to the report.  Remove any parts of the report you don’t like.  You can also add some nice looking graphics to the report, give it a new name, and write a sales letter to go along with.  This process can sometimes be a little time consuming, but it is highly effective.

3. Use a Ghostwriter

If you have no interest in creating a product yourself, you just might find it useful to find a ghostwriter.  Ghostwriters are used by internet marketers each and every single day.  In fact, you probably would be surprised to find out how easy it is to hire a ghostwriter to create a product.  Just remember that there are as many bad ghostwriters as good ones.  You’ll have to do some research and find someone who puts out high quality material.  The last thing you want is a ghostwriter who charges you money for poorly written work.  And the worst thing is having to rewrite content that you paid for.

4. Use Articles

The fourth simple way to create your own product is by using articles.  If you follow my suggestion of using PLR material, chances are pretty good you will have a large amount of private label rights articles available for use.  Once you have accumulated 15 to 20 PLR articles related to your niche, combine all the good aspects of each article and form them all into one single report.  This is very easy, effective, and can be done within a reasonable amount of time.

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.

If you are serious about producing high quality content, you must understand that it will take a little bit of time and effort to get things done.  Remember that your ultimate goal is to create something interesting for your readers.  Being original is extremely important during this time. The last thing that you want to do is plagiarize.  In other words, don’t copy other people’s content.  Not only is it ineffective, it is illegal.

Research your topics thoroughly, take notes, and gather your information in a way you can comprehend it best.  Then when it comes down to writing out articles, share the information you researched in your own words.  This way you are creating something original.  Just remember to keep your content interesting.  I can’t tell you how many times I find a website with a wealth of information, only to find it displayed in a completely boring fashion.  You want your readers to enjoy reading your content.  Everyone has their own style of writing, and I find it best that you read through your own style and examine it thoroughly.  If you find that your own writing is boring, chances are your reader will too.

Sometimes your time is limited when it comes to content creation, but you want to spend as much time as you can researching your topics.  You may find it beneficial to outsource some of your content creation if you are in a real big rush.  I personally don’t like outsourcing, but that’s my own preference.

Just remember that visitors will appreciate your site more if your content is good.  It may seem difficult when you are starting from scratch, but you’ll find it much easier as time goes on.