Each article should follow certain requirements to be prepared for publication.
Don’t know what the follow terms, used to write an article, mean?
- Main title (H1);
- lead paragraph;
- introduction;
- subheadings (H2, H3 and other);
- main content;
- summary;
- meta description,
then you will find answers in this article, including using of the categories and the correct elements of the content.
Main title
- The title should be at least 50 characters long, but the optimal length is 70 characters.
- Try placing the keyword in the first position in the title.
- The title should contain a verb to increase the expressiveness of the article. Verb should be contained in one of the first 5 words.
Lead paragraph
- It is the first paragraph in the whole article. Here we ask questions of who, when, where and why.
- Lead paragraph should be bold text at the beginning of the article. The optimal length for lead paragraph is 1-4 lines.
- The Lead paragraph should state what the article is about, but the title of the article should not be repeated.
Introductory paragraph
We follow up on lead paragraph smoothly with an introductory paragraph. The optimal length for the introductory paragraph is 1-4 lines, but sometimes maybe one line is enough.
H2, H3 and other
Subheadings help us to make the article more readable. Use and compose keywords here as well. Make sure that the subheadings are formatted correctly. If the subheadings don’t have layout, the article is not easily usable for the reader, he is more likely to close the website and leave.
With H2 and other headings, you don’t have to create long headlines as with the main title (H1), a few characters is enough.
Content
We talked about this in more detail in How to write articles to be readable and optimized for search engines, feel free to go trough.
In a nutshell, the ideal length for paragraphs is 1.5-5 lines. It is a good practice not to write each paragraph the same length so that the reader doesn’t find the text too uniform.
Summary
In the summary the CTA or CALL TO ACTION should be used if applicable.
For CTA you can use sentences like:
- If you liked the article, leave us a comment on how do you like our new product.
- If you have more questions, do not hesitate to contact us via the contact form.
- Do you like our new product? You can contact us at any time with further questions.
The summary should never repeat the information already mentioned in the article!
Meta description
It is similar to lead paragraph, but it is a paragraph that appears below your link in a search engine result. The meta title is displayed first and below it, you can find this meta description paragraph where you should provide information about the article with sufficient appeal.
Pay particular attention to the this so that you do not repeat the same verbs and the same appeals.
Meta description should be around 140-160 characters.
List resources
If you are inspired by other websites or books, always mention the source from which you used the information. If you do not, you can get in to trouble because of copyright.
Use internal and external links
It is good practice to include a links in the text and at least one link should lead to your site. This may be a call to purchase or a redirect to another article. Incorporate the external links into the content in the same way, but never force it! If this is not possible, it is better not to change the text, than to spoil it.
Images
Articles should also include images that can refresh your text. You can download the images for free in the free photo bank or you can make your own photos. It’s always better to use your own photos!
ALT attributes are associated with images, they serve as a description of the photo in situations where the reader can not see the image. It is therefore important to describe the photos properly. For example: „White notebook with notes, on which a blue pen is placed. There is a blue ink blot on the table.” This sentence is sufficient as a description, as your targeted keyword is the word ink.
Remember that it’s also a beneficial to use a keyword in ALT attributes if it’s associated with the photo.
Ending advice
Do not use underlined words – if you use an underlined word or sentence in an article, they may lead to misunderstanding that underlined words are links and the reader may try to click on this content but nothing happens. This also applies to blue font color.
If you still hesitate and you are just not too confident about creating the articles, you can always find someone who can take care of this and who can help you with your articles.