How to make an article?
If you are blogging, then perhaps you are familiar with the feeling when nobody reads the article that was cherished, born in hard work. And you can not understand the reasons. It seems, and the theme is chosen correctly. And the style is chosen adequately. And the words used are exactly the ones you need! The article is written interestingly, and, undoubtedly, should be useful for a significant part of your key audience ...
You are ready to accept it and take it adequately if you yourself feel where you made a mistake, and where you frankly faked it. You know that the article does not reach the level of your usual publications. But if everything seems to be done correctly, one can even get into a deep depression because of a misunderstanding of the reasons for such a failure. I keep silent about the fact that the motivation for further blogging evaporates in proportion to the number of such “unsung” publications.
Desperate to fail, you conclude that you should continue to work on your copyright (writing) skills. And perhaps in 2-3 years your articles will finally begin to notice ...
')
In reality, the solution may be much simpler and have nothing to do with writing skills. The main reason for the "invisibility" of your article may well be in a misunderstanding of the specifics of perception of content on the Internet.
Of course, you heard that the reader’s behavior on the Internet is significantly different from the offline behavior of the reader. The way we read a paper book is not at all like reading updates from your favorite blogs in a reader.
The fact is that proven and high-quality content usually gets into books. Yes, and books get to us, not all in a row - but only selected ones. Those for whom we were willing to pay money, and therefore we are confident in the value of the information they carry.
With online content - otherwise. Web 2.0 made the Internet accessible to everyone, which could not but affect the quality of the content that is published here. Reading the next article in one of the millions of blogs, you can’t be sure that this particular article will be interesting and useful for you!
Pre-selection of high-quality blogs and subscriptions to the best ones with the help of an RSS reader slightly corrects the situation. But such a decision creates new problems. If before you read only what you found in Google, now the reader constantly reminds you: you have 100, 200, 300 ... 1000 + unread entries. And you begin to feel obligated to review them. After all, no wonder you subscribed to these blogs. The probability of potentially interesting and useful publications among their list is quite high!
The specificity of the perception of content on the Internet follows from its features. The information to which the reader has free access is much more here than offline. But no one guarantees its quality. The only way to make sure that the selected content is interesting and useful is to check it yourself. The problem is that with all the desire a person cannot read not only several thousand, but even several hundred publications per day. And there remains only one alternative ...
SCAN.
Do not underestimate the impact of the specific perception of information on the Internet on the promotion of your content.
Even if you are doing exactly what most of the Internet readers are doing - that is, scanning an article instead of reading it - anyway, I'm sure you noticed the word “scan” in the previous paragraph!
The answer is obvious! Since it stands out against the background of the rest of the text, and even highlighted in a separate paragraph. In a word in a paragraph! Undoubtedly - this is very important.
Here are some other techniques for making your writing apt to scan:
It is time to share with you a revelation, which may not be obvious from the previous text, but if you don’t understand it, you can safely forget about a successful blog and loyal readers: formatting can stop a visitor’s view of your article for longer, but always content remains. And the content does not depend on the formatting!
In no case formatting should not be an excuse for vacuity or lack of a main message. If you have nothing to tell the reader, no formatting will correct this situation.
Despite the importance of formatting for simple scanning of publications, your loyal readers are those who do not scan, but read from cover to cover. One such reader is more expensive than a dozen random "scanners." Therefore, formatting is not a panacea - but simply a useful tool that helps casual readers decide whether to give your article and blog more attention.
It is scanning the article that the reader makes the decision to bookmark it so that later, having found his free time, he will read it carefully and thoughtfully. You hunt for just such - thinking - readers. But if you didn’t use the correct formatting - with a high probability such a reader would not even look at the article. His time is too valuable to spend on finding key ideas that you, as an author, could so easily highlight using formatting ...
Remember this when you write another article in your blog or on Habr!
You are ready to accept it and take it adequately if you yourself feel where you made a mistake, and where you frankly faked it. You know that the article does not reach the level of your usual publications. But if everything seems to be done correctly, one can even get into a deep depression because of a misunderstanding of the reasons for such a failure. I keep silent about the fact that the motivation for further blogging evaporates in proportion to the number of such “unsung” publications.
Desperate to fail, you conclude that you should continue to work on your copyright (writing) skills. And perhaps in 2-3 years your articles will finally begin to notice ...
')
In reality, the solution may be much simpler and have nothing to do with writing skills. The main reason for the "invisibility" of your article may well be in a misunderstanding of the specifics of perception of content on the Internet.
Traditional Books & Online Content
Of course, you heard that the reader’s behavior on the Internet is significantly different from the offline behavior of the reader. The way we read a paper book is not at all like reading updates from your favorite blogs in a reader.
The fact is that proven and high-quality content usually gets into books. Yes, and books get to us, not all in a row - but only selected ones. Those for whom we were willing to pay money, and therefore we are confident in the value of the information they carry.
With online content - otherwise. Web 2.0 made the Internet accessible to everyone, which could not but affect the quality of the content that is published here. Reading the next article in one of the millions of blogs, you can’t be sure that this particular article will be interesting and useful for you!
Pre-selection of high-quality blogs and subscriptions to the best ones with the help of an RSS reader slightly corrects the situation. But such a decision creates new problems. If before you read only what you found in Google, now the reader constantly reminds you: you have 100, 200, 300 ... 1000 + unread entries. And you begin to feel obligated to review them. After all, no wonder you subscribed to these blogs. The probability of potentially interesting and useful publications among their list is quite high!
The specificity of the perception of content on the Internet follows from its features. The information to which the reader has free access is much more here than offline. But no one guarantees its quality. The only way to make sure that the selected content is interesting and useful is to check it yourself. The problem is that with all the desire a person cannot read not only several thousand, but even several hundred publications per day. And there remains only one alternative ...
SCAN.
Do not underestimate the impact of the specific perception of information on the Internet on the promotion of your content.
Even if you are doing exactly what most of the Internet readers are doing - that is, scanning an article instead of reading it - anyway, I'm sure you noticed the word “scan” in the previous paragraph!
Why?
The answer is obvious! Since it stands out against the background of the rest of the text, and even highlighted in a separate paragraph. In a word in a paragraph! Undoubtedly - this is very important.
Correct formatting
Here are some other techniques for making your writing apt to scan:
- Use short paragraphs and leave at least one blank line between them. This banal and simple technique makes your article much more “friendly” to the reader. If the books still use the traditional technique of separating paragraphs using the indentation of the first word into several letters, then this is not enough on the Internet. You need to add at least one blank line between paragraphs. Again - this is conducive to scanning!
- Do not neglect attractive subheadings. If I at least understand something in the psychology of the reader - then I can guarantee - he will read the subtitles. Just as you just read the subheading of this paragraph, although you may not read these words.
At its core, the subtitle is no less important than the title of the article and belongs to the type of content that will be read in the first place. So do not take the time to spend a little more time and take care of the attractiveness of the names! They will force the reader to “postpone” other blogs and decide to read your article from beginning to end. - Lists and lists. Despite the sincere hatred of the lists of some authors and readers - their effectiveness is obvious! And the main advantage of such formatting as the list, again, is the ease of scanning: the mileage on items in the list - and you have an idea about the article.
The problem with lists and lists is not that they are “bad” in themselves, but that, being carried away by this technique, the authors try to apply lists even where they are contextually inappropriate. And the banal and uninteresting filling of items on an artificial list is capable of once and for all turning the reader away not only from the article, but also from the resource on which it is published. Therefore, do not abuse them. - Images and captions for pictures. Studies show that articles in which images are used attract readers ’attention more often than publications without illustrations. But what has become a real discovery for me is the fact that image captions refer to content that is read at the headline level. Therefore, if you have something to illustrate - use this advantage and use interesting and informative signatures.
Useful links increase the attractiveness of the content and motivate the reader! Internal links to your best articles not only contribute to the formatting of the publication and make it more conducive to scanning, but also encourage the reader to stay longer on the site and “wander” through archival materials. The likelihood that a random reader will become permanent increases with each subsequent link through such a link. After all, this means that your publications really interested him! - Color and visual formatting. In order to highlight an important concept, you can use bold or even a different color. But remember that this practice cannot be abused. Otherwise, its effectiveness will be zero!
Formatting and content (about thoughtful readers)
It is time to share with you a revelation, which may not be obvious from the previous text, but if you don’t understand it, you can safely forget about a successful blog and loyal readers: formatting can stop a visitor’s view of your article for longer, but always content remains. And the content does not depend on the formatting!
In no case formatting should not be an excuse for vacuity or lack of a main message. If you have nothing to tell the reader, no formatting will correct this situation.
Despite the importance of formatting for simple scanning of publications, your loyal readers are those who do not scan, but read from cover to cover. One such reader is more expensive than a dozen random "scanners." Therefore, formatting is not a panacea - but simply a useful tool that helps casual readers decide whether to give your article and blog more attention.
It is scanning the article that the reader makes the decision to bookmark it so that later, having found his free time, he will read it carefully and thoughtfully. You hunt for just such - thinking - readers. But if you didn’t use the correct formatting - with a high probability such a reader would not even look at the article. His time is too valuable to spend on finding key ideas that you, as an author, could so easily highlight using formatting ...
Remember this when you write another article in your blog or on Habr!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/288876/
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