Thread: The 6 kinds of articles

Taken from my blog at informationverse.com

We all know the feeling of emptiness. Chances are that a thousand ideas are floating around in your skull, but you can’t really come up with any “great” ideas. What I usually do is that I try to come up with the title for an article and then write. However, that’s not all there is to it. On my hard-drive I have folders for different kinds of articles. They are split into different sort of articles, so each folder gives me a basic structure of how things should look and what the end result should be. If I’m lost, I just pull out an old article and have a look at what I wrote and do it that way, because it works.

So here’s how my current structure looks like:

1. How to

How to articles are one of the most interesting kinds of articles, because it requires a lot of background knowledge. But that also means that it’s the harder one to write. If you are good at something, then write a how-to article about it!

Here’s some examples of what you could write:

How to use CSS
How to solve a rubix-cube
How to write a 5-points article

2. Make a list

Well. In essence, this article is in fact a list. It’s a list of the different types of articles. So if you know how to do something in a lot of different things, then you can write a list.

Some examples about what sort of list you could write:

5 ways to make money online
6 ideas for articles
7 ways to share pictures online

3. Write a review

If you are opinionated about something, maybe it’s software, music, or movies, then writing a review about it. People wants to know if it’s worth their money or not. So writing a review is always a winner, as long as you aren’t overly biased.

Some ideas for what kinds of things you could review

iPhone software 3.0
The newest World Of Warcraft expansion
The most recent Britney Spears album.

4. Write about news

Here’s another one for you opinionated people out there. People enjoy and often seek coverage of news by independent sources. Some of the most subscribed channels on youtube, are made by opinionated people who cover the news with a touch of humor. You can do this too

Here’s some recent news articles which you could write about:

Economic stimulus package - good or bad?
Recent aircraft crashes
The problems in Gaza

5. Tips and tricks

People are often looking for new ways or hints for how to do things better. So once again, if you know soemthing extremely well and have developed some more efficient ways of doing things, share them!

Here’s the kind of tips and tricks you could bring:

Tips and tricks for making your computer faster
Tips and tricks for how to writing better articles
Good poker tricks

6. Do an interview

With the internet, interviews isn’t just something that journalists do. Even you can approach people and ask them a bunch of questions, and post it on your website. If you ask the right questions, people will find the interview to be interesting and they will send it to their friends.

Well, I think you get the idea.

Nice article. I have made few interview articles myself. And they got some good traffic. Even if I suck at writing. Try to get an interview with a professional, on your niche. Like dermatologist, fitness coach, and so on. It isn't so hard to get the interview. You will be surprised how easily some people agree to do it.

That's a pretty good system, if you used it on a website you would have a pretty wide variety of topics on that website, which can only be good for your visitors. Or rather if your website was about a certain topic, as most are, you would have a wide variety of different angles on that topic.

Great article Charlie. I'd like to write every now and then and you gave me some ideas.

really nice post this reminds me that i have to get of my ass and start writing some content

Originally Posted by sam

really nice post this reminds me that i have to get of my ass and start writing some content

That is the hardest part.

Originally Posted by Desan

That is the hardest part.

Tell me about it

Ever thought about buying content, instead of writing it yourself? I see a lot of writers advertising their services on various forums but have no idea what you get for your money.

Originally Posted by keynes

Ever thought about buying content, instead of writing it yourself? I see a lot of writers advertising their services on various forums but have no idea what you get for your money.

Always request a sample first. That should help.