Thursday, July 5, 2012

Article Writing Can Be Effective In News Format

An experienced journalist is adamant that informational article writing can be an effective marketing tool if written in news style.
William Wordsmith, a journalist and writer for more than 20 years, believes adapting the journalism news writing style to traditional methods can provide as much benefit to article marketers as tips and "how to" formats.
"Journalism writing has a structure just like any other style of article writing," said Wordsmith. "Journalists are experts at article writing and can produce five, 10, 20 articles a day. That's just what you need for effective article writing and marketing."
Wordsmith added that he has successfully employed news writing methods for his article marketing campaigns in order to boost traffic to his website.
The above is a classic example of a four-paragraph news story lead. The reason I started this article like that was to show you how news writing techniques can used for article writing.
You don't even have to make up a name as I've done for Mr Wordsworth. You can use your own expertise, or even quote yourself, and turn it into news.
There are several benefits of using news-writing techniques.
1. Grab your readers - the very nature of a news intro is that it is hard hitting and aimed at grabbing your reader's attention.
2. Details - you can expand on your intro with relevant details that continues to inform, entertain and educate your readers.
3. Authority - a news story demands an authority to back up what you are saying, so that your readers know that what you are writing is true and not merely hype. This can be done through quotes or reported speech.
In addition, the news story format does not preclude you from providing bullet points - as this article does - and other helpful pieces of information.
The best thing about the news writing structure is that it is easy to learn. Thousands of journalists around the world use this structure - and I am not talking about the inverted pyramid - allowing them to write freely and fast, without worrying about writer's block.
The truth is that anyone can learn this writing style, made up of four structural components, plus requiring the ability to spot powerful angles that draw in your readers.
The beauty of this format is that it is conducive to all kinds of topics and writing abilities. Whether you have just a single piece of information or a list of points to make, you can use this style to structure a value-added article.
Most important of all, it can turn you into a prolific writer. As a journalist, I regularly write at least two stories, or articles, a day. However, if required, I can easily up the tempo and churn out 10-20 a day because of the writing style I've been trained to use.

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