HellBound Bloggers

Posted: 19 Jan 2012 07:39 AM PST

HOW TO posts The reason why How-To posts are very popular is simply because nobody really wants to read long paragraphs of content, especially if English isn’t their first language – hence the reason why step-by-step instructions constructed in succinct sentences and easy-to-understand English is popular across the world. Today, I will share some simple tips with you on how to write awesome how-to posts.

1. Get Smart

Before you can bestow knowledge unto others, you would have to do a fair amount of legwork first, so pick a niche matter that you feel passionate about and digest as much information as you can. Once you’ve selected your niche, you can then unleash an entire barrage of How-To topics related to said topic.

For instance, if you happen to like baking, you could write a whole tome of How-To instructions, such as How to Bake A Cake and Eat It, How to Whip Egg Whites and How to Bake Egg Tarts. Once you’re done exhausting your supply of recipe knowledge, you can then go off tangent and discuss other kitchen-related matters as well, such as How to Select the Perfect Tomato or How to Slice a Strawberry. Think outside of the box, and you will never experience writer’s block.

2. Write It Down

If you don’t write it, no one can read it so once you’ve collected an entire wealth of information, you need to then begin practise writing down everything that you know regarding the subject matter. At this point of writing, it is much more important to get the facts and instructions down before even worrying about the title of your articles.

While it may seem daunting or difficult at first, the wonderful thing about jotting things down regularly is that you will eventually find your very own writing voice which you are comfortable with.

3. Keep It Simple

We know that only approximately 27% people in the entire world speak English, so you would probably want to keep your instructions as simple and clear as possible to help make it easier for others to follow your article. After all, a successful How-To article is one which allows others to successfully perform a task after reading your written instructions.

In recent years, the heaviest media users on the Internet happen to be children and younger adults, so it is best to keep your articles as interesting, light and easy to read to cater to a larger audience.

4. Introduce Your Topic

Chances are pretty high that if someone loads your article page, it is very likely that he or she is already interested in the topic at hand. However, to keep them coming back for more and to encourage them to read further on, you will have to catch their attention earlier on in the article. Like the rest of your article, your introduction should also be simple and easy to understand.

Great introductions might include benefits on why they should learn all about your How-To instructions or it might simply include interesting facts about the subject matter.

5. Add a Conclusion

Conclusions are important for two reasons, the first being that visitors who are too lazy to go through 12 steps of instructions would prefer to read summaries. The second reason why conclusions are important is because it can act as a call-to action, meaning that this is where you can further encourage your readers to follow through with your instructions.

6. Proof Read

Nobody really wants to take instructions from someone who can’t even spell right or string proper sentences together, so be sure to double check your writing before publishing the story for the entire World to see. Besides typing errors and grammatical mistakes, you would also want to make sure that all of your articles are clear enough to prevent any misunderstanding or confusion. We recommend taking a couple of hours break away from your article and then coming back to look at it again. Alternatively, you might also want to ask your friend to look through the article for you.

7. Rinse and Repeat

The more articles you write, the better you’ll get at conveying information and instructions. So do try to keep a regular schedule and actively post as many How-To articles as you can to gain an exponential increase in readership. This might take awhile, but as long as you keep going at it, your efforts are bound to pay off in the end.

This article is written by Jasmine. She is an experienced web developer and web consultant. She is also the chief editor at Best Web Host – a web hosting review and resources website. For web hosting needs, you can check this out. If you wish to write for us, kindly check this.

7 Tips To Write Awesome “HOW TO” Posts is a post from HellBound Bloggers (HBB)

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joi, 19 ianuarie 2012