I'm forever writing tips articles for Creative Boom. It's great to share my experience and knowledge, things I've learnt along the way in a positive bid to help others. And it's encouraging to see that these articles are the most popular on my website. In fact they're so popular that they account for attracting thousands and thousands of hits every day.
So if you want to attract more traffic to your website and/or blog, then the best thing you can do is share your expertise. Not only will people love you for it, they might hire you and pay for your services once they discover how knowledgable you are.
How you write effective tips articles is something that many people struggle with. That's why I thought I'd write this 'How to write great tips articles for your blog or website'. That's right! A tips article about tips articles. Now I've got you cross-eyed, in a spin and have your full attention - read on to discover how to write great tips articles...
Write about what you know
It goes without saying, but you should stick with a subject you're comfortable with when writing tips articles. It's no good writing about things you're not familiar with - it will be obvious in your writing if you're not sure. Stick to what you know and you can't lose. For instance, if you're an illustrator - why not write about drawing techniques? Or if you're in marketing, share your wealth of expertise on how to attract more clients.
Stuck for ideas?
Ideas for great tips articles are difficult, that's without question. A good tip to find things to write about? Go into Google and start typing 'How to...' - the search engine will give you a good indication of popular 'searched for' phrases and questions. Or you could ask people on Twitter what they'd like you to write about. Another good tip... carry round a notebook and write down any ideas you might have... Because inspiration can strike at any time.
Choose the theme
When it comes to tips articles, you can do anything from tutorials and step-by-step guides to 'how to' posts. Things that tend to be very popular with surfers are lists, e.g. 100 inspiring ways to market your business is a great example article.
The more you put in, the more you get back
If you only spend half an hour writing your tips article, don't expect too much for your efforts. However, if you spend half a day - or even a whole week - drafting your article, you are more likely to get back what you put in. For example, list articles that have a hundred items are going to be more viral-friendly and shared by others online. They'll also get more hits. Therefore, if you want your tips articles to draw in lots of web traffic and be heavily recommended by others on social networks, make sure you work hard and provide real value to people.
Consider the title
The whole point of these tips articles is to attract people naturally via the search engines, so your article title should reflect what people are searching for. Just make sure your title also becomes your Meta Title and you can't lose. Consider those popular questions people ask and ensure your title is SEO-friendly.
Write SEO-friendly copy
When drafting your tips articles, make sure you throw in some keywords relating to your title. Remember, you want the search engines to consider your article as high quality and they'll do this by looking for related keywords and phrases. So if you're talking about photography tips, then Google will expect to see words like 'camera' and 'shutter'. Bottom line? If you're writing naturally about your favourite subject, you'll naturally be writing SEO-friendly copy.
Check your spelling and grammar
You lose big points with Google if your article is littered with spelling mistakes, so double check your copy before publishing. Go through every sentence with a fine tooth comb. But we're not just talking about search engines here. Humans won't like sloppy copy either. They'll only lack trust in you and what you're saying. And worse - they might never come back!
Throw in some helpful, relevant links
Throughout your tips articles, always throw in some helpful links to other articles or websites... Anything that will help your web visitor further. Linking to relevant content will also give you extra points with the search engines. Plus you could use this opportunity to entice other influential bloggers and build key relationships.
Stay positive to get big hits
In all my time of writing tips articles for Creative Boom, the ones that are the most popular are the positive ones. People love positivity. It's like magnetism. What people don't like is negativity. They tend to shy away from articles that talk about anything negative. So write positive stuff and you'll get a good response.
Be controversial
While writing positive tips articles is always a good thing - if you want to get even bigger web traffic, consider writing something controversial and topical. Remember to make your article title very enticing and thought-provoking. People won't be able to resist and will visit your blog or website to take a further look. Beware though - you have to be prepared for some backlash!
Link them up
When drafting tips articles, it's always worth referring back to other tips articles wherever possible. Not only are you encouraging web visitors to further dig around your website - thus reducing your bounce rate - you're also providing further, welcomed help... And people will only love you for it.
Respond to comments
When your article is published and online, make sure you look out for any comments and respond to them. Even if they're negative or a little prickly. Try and encourage a debate and talk to your web visitors. The more people that talk about your tips articles, the more you could attract to your website or blog.
