The secret to writing a good article

The Young Writers Society has a lot of awesome articles in our Knowledge Base, and lately I've been sharing them over Twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, while the information is great, the way the information is presented often needs work.

With that in mind, here are 4 tips for writing a good article:

1. Write an intriguing title. Readers are much more likely to click on something that has a number (e.g., 4 Tips...) or contains the word "secret" (e.g., The secret to...).

2. Use bold or italics for proper emphasis. When people read on the web, their eyes dart all over the place. Give your reader's eyes a place to hold on to by using bold or italics.

3. Be concise. Don't try to be cute, clever, or funny. When someone reads a tutorial, they just want information. And that information should be offered in short, concise paragraphs.

4. Organize your article. You can use numbers, section headings, lists, etc. A reader should be able to put together a summary of your entire article just by glancing at it.

The point-form thing is kind of important. It's what makes list sites like Cracked so successful. Information broken up into manageable pieces keeps the reader's attention far better than a wall of text.

And Nate has done a fantastic job of illustrating the bold option, which I find particularly attractive for some odd reason. Also, I kind of disagree about the funny part, but if anything, use correct grammar and be concise. That is a must, especially if you want to be taken seriously. If you can somehow manage to find a nice balance between interesting and informative, that will put the last nail in the coffin of your article. (That actually doesn't sound good. Maybe I should have used another analogy...It's late. My analogy is justified.)