A question came up tonight at one of the forums that I frequent. What's the ideal word count for an article? Well, I knew when I gave the answer it was going to cause a big fuss. The truth is, there is no ideal word count and in this article, I am going to explain why. Oh yes, I know what you're thinking. You can't write an article that's 10,000 words. Nobody would read it. Who says? Anyway, keep reading and you'll understand why I feel the way I do.
I have read single paragraphs that were less than 100 words that were so painful to read that I couldn't go on. At the same time, I have read articles as long as short stories that I couldn't put down. When all is said and done, if the writer of the article is worth his salt, he can get away with just about any length article. If he can't write to save his life, he'd be lucky to be able to keep someone's attention past the intro.
Having said all this, for those of you who are just starting out and might not quite have the flair for writing off the cuff and forever into the night, there are some structural tips that I can give you that will greatly increase the effectiveness of you articles while at the same time making them a length that is manageable and easy for your reader to get through.
Basically what I do when I want to keep an article to a certain length is map out the main points I am going to discuss in the article itself. For example, let's say I'm going to discuss the three best forms of advertising on the Internet. I'll first list each one. Then I'll write an introductory paragraph telling the reader what the article is about and what they're going to learn from it. After the intro paragraph, I then take each bullet point and write an entire paragraph on each one. Each paragraph will be about 100 words. So between the intro and the bullet points, we've written about 400 words.
I then conclude the article with the conclusion, which basically sums up what I talked about in the article. This way the reader is left with what they need to remember. By the time your article is done, you've written about 500 words. That is an "ideal" length for an article if you don't want to risk losing your reader's attention, especially if your writing skills are so-so.
As you can see by this article, I have not used that approach, but more of a freehand approach. However, I still got the message across and have come pretty close to 500 words. It's not hard, especially if you are familiar with your subject matter.
In my signature, you'll find a great resource for learning how to write killer articles every time. It's a method that I have perfected and I think you'll find it quite effective.
To YOUR Success,
Steven Wagenheim
Want to write killer articles? Want your bios to sizzle? Want to get people flocking to your site like bees to honey? Check out a book that I personally wrote called "The Complete Article Writing And Marketing Guide" which you can find at http://www.stevewagenheim.com/ under the products section. This is my own personal site made especially for writers and marketers where you will find articles, reviews and a wealth of information on many topics related to writing and marketing.
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