Let's talk about a good person. Let's talk about a good person How to start writing an article

Author of articles, journalist. In this note, we will share with you our secrets that we adhere to when writing any material. Do you want to learn how to write an interesting, high-quality and memorable article? Read on.

The rules of professional copyright are simple and logical. It’s surprising how many people don’t follow them - proof of this is the mass of texts that you don’t want to read from the first sentences.

So, how to prepare for writing material and where to get information?

If you write an article yourself for your website or blog, this does not mean that this stage must be skipped. You need to prepare the terms of reference yourself, otherwise you risk writing a bad article that will:

• not interesting;
• not logical;
• will not cover the whole topic;
• do not meet the basic search engine optimization (SEO) criteria.

If you are writing an article to order, it is important to carefully study the terms of reference. If for some reason you are given the task of writing an article without those. task, it is better to require the customer to specify his wishes at least in an email or in correspondence on the same content exchange.

If you forget to discuss unclear or controversial issues with the customer, then for you this may result in revision of the article or even cancellation of the order, as a result of which you will not only lose precious time, but also money, effort, and the client.

Don’t be afraid to appear incompetent, as they say: “measure twice, cut once.” In our case, “check the information seven times, write once.” Moreover, it is advisable to consult at all stages of preparing and writing an article.

SECOND STAGE: INFORMATION COLLECTION

Use reliable sources. What are reliable sources? These are official sites dedicated to a given topic.

You write about a company - this is the company’s website, about a person - his official page, as well as his profiles on in social networks, if it supports Internet communication.

Use primary sources, not reprints or. This is where knowledge will come in handy foreign language, we often turn to English-language sites.

Reliable sources also include reputable resources—those you can trust. It is impossible to list any specific ones; common sense will help here.

For example, if you are working on a company history, the source financial indicators its annual reports published on the official website will serve, and for a visual assessment of the enterprise’s activities in comparison with competitors, you can use Forbes ratings.

If you are writing about the price of shares of a corporation, go to the website of the stock exchange where the securities are listed and find out their current rate.

Don't be lazy

When working on an article, it is not enough to “rummage” through 2-3 sources. So what if you tell in your own words what everyone already knows?

Don’t follow the example of today’s schoolchildren who write essays about “Crime and Punishment” based on online reviews of this work...

Don't be lazy! Be curious! Know how to “dig deeper,” look for new information, study the material comprehensively.

For example, if you write in an article that the company’s new marketing move was successful, look at YouTube commercials, read about the company that came up with the stories for them, find out which stars were invited to participate in the filming, how competitors reacted to this promotion, etc.

If you are writing about a famous person, read an interview with him, find out his opinion about a sensational film premiere, take an interest in the celebrity’s quotes, find out what he is proud of in his life and what news he shared yesterday on Facebook, etc. and so on.

To more clearly present the hero of the article, read books about him, compiled by official biographers and/or colleagues, and also study this person’s own writings (if he wrote them).

If I have a choice, I upload audio versions of these materials, it saves time.

Use the latest data

This is an axiom. There is plenty of outdated data on Wikipedia. If it is 2013, then you should not indicate the sales volumes of a well-known company for 2008, unless they were a unique record.

If you write that a company is releasing a new gadget, look at the developers’ news feed; perhaps they are already busy releasing another technical novelty. In general, enough examples, you already understand everything)

So, you have dug thoroughly into reliable sources, collected a lot of information and thoroughly studied the material. Now what? Now I will tell you what you need to pay attention to when writing an article.

THIRD STAGE: WRITING AN ARTICLE

Plan your article

Make a plan for your future article, following the classic essay formula “introduction - main part - conclusion”.

This structure, known from Russian language lessons, has not been canceled. You can write short summary.

Introduce the audience

Be sure to think about what audience your article will be aimed at. Let’s say you were given the task of writing an instructional article “How to install an application on an iPhone.” If you write this article for advanced users, then the entire text of the article will be reduced to four points:

1. Login to the app store
2. Login
3. Download
4. Install the app

An experienced person will immediately understand what we are talking about. In this situation, there is no need to load it with unnecessary information, give detailed instructions, insert screenshots or videos.

But a beginner will probably only understand the word “Download” from the instructions given above. Therefore, you need to prepare completely different material for it. Here is an example of such an instruction:

You can view the instructions in more detail. If you analyze this article, it contains:

• 8,186 characters without spaces,
• 1374 words,
• 23 photos
• 2 videos.

Did you feel the difference?

Analyze information

Think about where you will start, which facts you will definitely tell about, and which ones you will mercilessly throw away, so as not to overload the perception of the main material.

Be prepared for the fact that... 20 percent of the source material will end up in the final article. But the remaining 80 is not in vain baggage collected, but precisely what will help you qualitatively reveal the given topic.

Write interestingly

Write the article as if it were for yourself – so that you yourself find it interesting to read. The ability to present information in an entertaining way is what you should strive for.

Nobody reads boring, monotonous stories that make you feel depressing. You often come across materials in which the amount of information per square centimeter is simply off the charts - the abundance of numbers and dates dazzles your eyes.

Remember your school lesson(or a lecture at the university) - when the teacher monotonously mumbles theory or non-stop scribbles formulas on the board - attention is scattered.

Teachers who remembered at the right moment were always especially popular. funny incidents from life and “defused the situation.”

Of course, all the basic facts need to be covered - without them, your story on a given topic will turn from documentary to fantastic. But “dilute” the information provided a little fun fact or a quote - and the reader will not run away from you!

Think with your own head

It is precisely our own - even in primary sources, sometimes there are such “blunders” that you are simply amazed! Here's an example - go to the official website of the writer Paulo Coelho paulocoelho.com, then click on the Russian flag and go to the no less official page http://www.coelho.ru/, where in the “Biography” section we read (quote):

“His reluctance to follow the wishes of his parents led to the fact that at the age of 17, Paulo was admitted to a psychiatric hospital (1966), where he received electric shock treatment.”

What confuses me? It’s just that in the indicated year of 1966, Coelho could not have been 17 years old - the year of birth of the Brazilian writer was 1947!

These kinds of inconsistencies can happen all over the place—so before you write anything, show a little disbelief in the material and think about it for yourself!

Write about what you understand

If, while working through the material, you come across unknown abbreviations or concepts, study them.

If you simply insert them into the context as they were mentioned in the original source or decide to completely get rid of unfamiliar terms, this will not do you any honor.

After all, maybe your reader will be puzzled by a previously unprecedented definition, so tell him what’s what, and increase your level of knowledge together)

Adapt articles to suit your readers

It’s just great if you know how many centimeters are in inches and kilograms in pounds. But, believe me, the average citizen of the Russian Federation is better oriented in the units of measurement familiar to him, and not to translate all these foreign measures into “normal” ones, in my opinion, is simply disrespect for your reader.

If sales of a rock star's new album hit an all-time high in New York, that's good. But also ask how many people attended his concert in Moscow - this fact will tell no worse about the singer’s popularity.

Don't make mistakes

This rule does not require special explanations - and it is clear that only a literate text will produce good impression to the customer.

If you are not confident in your knowledge and/or in the Word spell check service, check the correct spelling of a particular word in the dictionary. So that later it doesn’t turn out like Winnie the Pooh: “My spelling is poor. It’s good, but for some reason it’s lame.”

To write an article correctly, I recommend checking errors in the Spelling service. Just don’t blindly rely on such automatic assistants. Carefully check the errors pointed out by the service and think with your head, because the robot can interpret this or that result in its own way, and the person makes the final decision - leave it as is or make changes.

Proofread the finished article

Before submitting the material, be sure to read your work, even if it seems to you that you have already corrected all the shortcomings in the text.

You can print the article on a printer and make notes on paper - if this is more familiar to you than reading from a monitor screen. We prefer to distill the article into e-book and again, slowly, re-read it.

Check the text for uniqueness

The final article must be unique - here you can use special free programs text checkers, of which there are a great many on the Internet.

High quality Uniqueness checks are provided by the Text.ru service, however, comparison of similar programs is the topic of a separate article.

Coincidences with articles already posted on the Internet are allowed when you provide quotations in your work.

FOURTH STAGE: DESIGN OF THE ARTICLE

Regardless of whether your client has an article designer or not, the copywriter must design the text for ease of reading. Articles written in plain text are extremely difficult to read. The eyes quickly get tired and the person stops perceiving information. As a result, such an article will not be of any use to the readers, nor to your customer, nor to you as an employee.

Your material should, if possible, contain following structure or elements:

• content, especially for long articles;
• paragraphs consisting of 2-3 sentences, no more than 5 lines. Here it is more correct to start not from the Word in which you are writing the article, but from the site on which the work you have prepared will be posted. Remember that 5 Word lines on a site can turn into 10 due to differences in page layout;
• headings and subheadings h2-h4;
• lists of enumerations (bulleted and numbered);
• tables;
• quotes;
• widgets;
• comparative characteristics;
• Photo and video.

Please note that not every article must contain all of the listed elements. Also, not in all cases the copywriter must design, for example, the same widgets, tables, search and insert photos and video materials. In large projects, Article Designers do such things.

However, the copywriter is the main character, and who else, if not you, knows your material better than anyone? You can indicate to the customer in a separate footnote that at this point in the article it would be nice to insert such and such a table or video.

Perhaps this was all spelled out in the terms of reference, which is why the first stage we indicated was Study and discussion of technical specifications and added a note: “...at all stages of preparation and writing of the article.”

And finally, remember that your reader is also a person)

Respect him, yourself and your customer.

Read also on this topic.

What a problem it is! How to start an article? More than one copywriter puzzles over this question. It happens that in the main part of the article everything is fine, the end is also logical, but the beginning looks sluggish, boring and very banal! Let's tell you a secret: in order to captivate the reader, the article must, firstly, have an interesting title, and secondly, a “catchy” first paragraph, that is, the very beginning. Even if the article is then written interestingly and well, the reader may not know this, since he will evaluate the material based on the first lines. If he sees hackneyed phrases, banality, or sentences that are too difficult to understand at the beginning, he will close the article without regret.

If you want to ensure that people receive your articles with a bang and read them avidly, then it’s time to learn how to start your text correctly. This is exactly what we will talk about now.

“Each of us...”, “Today...”, “Not so long ago...”, “Currently...” - such words and expressions cause mortal boredom, make you want to yawn and quickly close. "another boilerplate article." Initial phrases like these seem normal to you, but in the reader they evoke exactly those feelings and desires that we have just described. The reader has already “fed up” such materials, and therefore, from the very beginning, such articles will be perceived as boring, useless and mediocre. Another mistake is very long drawn out sentences with numerous terms and complex constructions. To “get into” what you want to say with such a sentence, a person must either read very slowly or re-read it several times. Readers are also not pleased with the long-known thoughts like “Birthdays come only once a year!”, “A child in a family is a big joy", etc. Boring!

• Do not use banal phrases and words at the beginning of the article;
• Give up bureaucracy, hackneyed designs, templates;
• Don't try to make the beginning of the article abstruse by using long sentences and lots of difficult terms.

How to start an article: good options

So that the beginning of the article causes a person to think like: “Wow, this is something interesting, I haven’t read this before! What’s written there next?”, use the techniques suggested below. We offer you exactly the techniques that successful copywriters use.

1. Start the article with a question. In this way, you involve the reader in a conversation, he will willy-nilly answer it and will definitely look at what you write next. For example: “You know that smoking is harmful, but you still aren’t going to quit?”, “Do you have a loved one?”
2. Creating a mental image. The technique is good, but not suitable for all articles. Its essence is that you need to invite the reader to imagine a certain situation: “Imagine that suddenly...”, “Imagine that you...”, “Suppose you have...”, etc. Next write what situation you need to imagine. In this way, you also involve the reader in communication, interest him, he thinks: “Well, I introduced him, and what next?” and reads your article.
3. A story or anecdote. All people love to listen and tell stories to each other. It’s interesting, it brings people together, so why not tell an exciting story (can be fictitious) or an anecdote on the topic at the very beginning? The main thing here is the vividness of the narrative; you can use a conversational style. Let the reader imagine that a friend or acquaintance is telling him this story. It will be great if you tell a story from your life, so to speak, from personal experience. This inspires confidence in the reader and the idea that “the author understands me and will probably advise or tell me something useful further.”
4. Statement of a problem or question. If it’s difficult for you to come up with a “catchy” beginning, then the easiest way is to immediately point out the problem or question that interests the reader, and promise to give a useful and correct answer to it, and then start doing it.
5. Conclusion on emotions. To interest the reader, at the very beginning of the article he can be led to positive or negative emotions, for example, provoked. Usually this affects a certain audience of readers, and it is negative emotions that work better than positive ones. For example: “All women are such fools!”, “Spending time on the Internet is an activity for mediocre and boring people.” At the same time, it is important to refute your attacks on readers in the article so that they do not get offended.
6. Quotes and facts. Two more simple ways for those who can't come up with a witty opening. All that is needed is to provide factual data related to the issue at hand or an exact quote at the very beginning famous person, also directly related to the subject of conversation.
7. Joe Sugarman, an American copywriting master, once came up with another way to start an article. It's called the "slippery slide". Its essence lies in the fact that the shortest unspoken sentence is written at the beginning. It raises interest and a lot of questions. In the second sentence the idea is considered in more detail, it appears new information, in the third sentence - yet more information. This is how we gradually lead the reader to read the information we want to tell.

Here are a few ways to start writing an article, use any of them and thereby arouse the interest of the reader!

There are several well-known methods how to start writing an article and capture the reader's attention from the first minutes. Here they are:

How to start an article from scratch?

8 ways to start an article

Most copywriters do not even assume that the beginning of the article is read by almost everyone who visits the page. And largely because how I started the article author, the fate of its continuation depends. That's why we've compiled the 8 best methods into one list:

1. Slippery slide

As a rule, everyone who has reached the pinnacle of success in writing adheres to Sugarman's Slippery Slide. At one time this method of writing an introduction to a text invented by Joe Sugarman, a famous copywriter. Sugarman method, how to start an article, is universal. It is used when writing various articles and texts. You can apply it everywhere. Let's see what the principles of this method are:

1. The first sentence should be structured so that it is as short as possible and seems unsaid. This will greatly intrigue the reader. It should also raise a question in the reader’s mind. Which will force him to read the next sentence in order to find the answer in it.
2. The next sentence should intrigue the reader even more so that he turns to the next one.
3. And so on down the chain, with each new offer interest will grow:

2. Facts and figures.

Also, at the beginning of the article, you should rely on facts and statistics. This way, the reader will find your article interesting, and they will be happy to read it to the end:

3. Question.

The next option that can and should be used in the introduction is to use a question. What is it for? And so that the person, reading the question, gives the answer to it himself. And it is precisely thanks to the answer that he is drawn into reading the text at a crazy speed. As a result, the text will be read.

P.S.: And an even better effect will be produced by a question that sounds intriguing.

4. Controversial statement.

Controversial statement may catch the reader

This technique is to write a phrase at the beginning of the article that will provoke people to emotions (the beginning of the article is most effective if negative emotions awaken).

This technique is most often used by copywriters who have great experience work and know how not to overdo it. After all, this negativity needs to be removed completely in the continuation of the article. And beginners often cannot do this.

5. History.

It is also worth remembering that people love to read stories. People learn something useful from stories. As they say: “We learn from other people’s mistakes.” That is why they are read with interest.

6. Use your imagination.

There is another method. It's called a "hypno-insert". And they use it more often when writing. What is the essence of the method? It's simple - the article begins with words such as: “remember”, “imagine” and the like.

7. Own example.

The copywriter can take example from my life to start the article interesting

You can also use examples from own life, the reader really likes it. This method is identical to the story, with only one difference, the story is written in the third person, and here the author himself tells it.
You can also focus the reader’s attention on a certain current problem and promise to talk about its solution later in the text.

8. News.

And the last method: introduction-news. You can take advantage of people's interest in news and start the article with the words: “intrigue,” “scandals,” “investigations.”

We released new book“Content Marketing on Social Media: How to Get into Your Followers’ Heads and Make Them Fall in Love with Your Brand.”

Most copywriters are assholes. Even if you draw up a detailed technical specification, tell in detail what to write about and what you want to see, you still risk getting a terrible text. Instead of good and interesting material, the scribbler will produce something completely different. That's why sometimes it's easier to do everything yourself.

If you are not a writer at all (or a beginner) and you suddenly want to write a bomb article, but it doesn’t get written, read on, there will be examples, algorithms, explanations of how to write an article correctly, and that’s all. There will be no magic formulas backed by research and A/B testing, only personal experience, from which you can learn something for yourself. If you are a beginner blogger, read too, because a blog is not a drain into which you can pour a stream of consciousness. This is a platform for interesting and good content. And you want to do just that anyway.

Algorithm for writing an article

You have collected your thoughts, created a file in Word and are ready to get started. And then it happens to you existential crisis– you don’t understand what to do with your future article: what and how to write about, what presentation method to choose, where to start. This happens because you started from the wrong place. First you need to prepare. Let's see how to do this.

Analysis

The first rule of writing an article: working with the text begins even before you write the first line. First you need to analyze everything: decide why and for whom you are writing the material, what result you want to achieve and how you are going to do it. Answering these questions means cutting out all the unnecessary stuff and starting working on the target audience.

This way you will understand what style to write in and whether it is possible to use professional terms. After this, you can sketch out the future structure, decide on the presentation and do much more useful things.

Examples of analysis when writing an article

We are writing an article for a brokerage company’s blog.

For whom:potential clients who understand the topic at a basic level; professional brokers, analysts and sympathizers.

For what:talk about current trends in the market and how to use them for your own selfish purposes.

Result:confirm expertise; prove that company employees can be trusted with their money.

How we achieve the goal:We present arguments and analytical calculations; We advise you to contact professionals if you lack knowledge and experience; We use basic professional terms and explain more complex ones separately.

Let's go through each point

First we define our target audience. It consists of two large segments: fellow professionals and potential clients of the company. The former will appreciate the material only if it is useful and relevant. They want to gain new knowledge that will be useful in their daily work. The latter are unlikely to independently follow the instructions from the article; they will simply understand that you understand the issue and will be more willing to trust you with their money. Let's move on to the next point.

First, we determine the “reader value” of the material - what those who click on the link and spend a little time on the article will receive. This is important because no one will read a text written for the sake of the text itself. People need benefits: advice, examples, theory, in general, something that they use in their own lives and work.

Next, we define the company's purpose. It can be anything: increase the number of requests, brand awareness, confirm expertise. The main thing is that it exists. Readers don't need useless text, but neither does the company. What's the point of spending money on writing articles if there is zero profit from them?

The last block brings everything together and helps you decide on the tools. We have already found out the target audience and set goals. Now you need to understand how to achieve these goals. In our case, we need to do two things: prove our expertise to our colleagues, and advise clients to turn to professionals. To achieve the first goal, we need to find fresh, relevant and useful information. To achieve the second, you need to present this information in a clear and convenient form, because potential clients different level economic literacy and this must be taken into account.

If there are complex things in the article, they should be explained separately in detail. What is obvious to a professional is completely incomprehensible to a beginner. At the same time, you should not completely abandon the terms; you just need to use them carefully and with care for the reader. Example: “...volatility has increased - the difference between the highest and lowest asset prices. Their cost fluctuated around 7%.”

All these things can easily be transferred to any topic. If you are writing an article for a cosmetics store blog, target a female audience of almost all ages. Review new products, or detailed instructions with screenshots and videos. Mention products sold in your store, but without false advertising. Don't use English words if you don't have to do this. Make it clear and interesting article for everyone and don't forget about fun - your audience doesn't want to read textbooks.

An important point: it’s better to write everything down. If you keep all the analytical calculations in your head, it’s easy to miss something. And you can always return to the entry at the beginning of the document to check if you have lost your way. Even better, write everything down on a piece of paper in beautiful handwriting. This helps you remember everything at once - the effect is the same as taking notes. If a student wasn’t glued to his phone during class, he remembers the content of the lecture for at least a couple of hours after it ended.

Making the structure

We’ve decided what to write about, now we’ll figure out how to write. To make it clear and convenient for the reader, you need to carefully pack your thoughts into blocks and paragraphs - this makes the text easier to read. This will help sort everything out in your own and the reader’s head. Come on and look necessary information it's easier that way too.

The structure of the text does not obey rules and formulas, only common sense. If the format allows, go from general to specific. Let's look at an example of developing a structure when writing an article: let's try to sketch out a plan for material about neural networks.

Article outline

• Introduction.
• What are neural networks?
• How do they work?
• What are they and where are they used?
• How will they be used in the future?
• Conclusion.

In my opinion, everything is logical: we start with general concept and gradually delve deeper into the topic. Use headings for each separate semantic block, do not combine them if you can do without it. Let's look at the example above: you can talk about what neural networks are and how they work in two different blocks. But with classification and application this cannot be done - these things are tightly tied to each other.

If you are writing instructional material, describe the actions in chronological order, one after another. At the same time, try to make each point independent of each other so that a person can return to it and not get confused.

If this is a selection article, then everything is even simpler. The blocks are almost always independent of each other, so arrange them however you like. If this is not your case, write about the important things first, and then about everything else.

Let's summarize

In general, the main thing is logic and common sense.

We write

Once you understand the structure, write. Write as it is spelled, but keep a couple of important things in mind:

• One paragraph - one thought.The same principle applies here as with blocks. Don't try to cram everything into one poor little paragraph. He will feel bad - he will become bloated and will feverishly explain something incomprehensible to the reader. The latter will definitely not appreciate this.

• Cling thoughts to each other. The end of the previous thought is the beginning of the next. It’s easier to give an example here: “...the most popular type of automatic transmission is a torque converter. The torque converter transmits torque using an oil flow that rotates the turbine and reactor wheel...”

• Don't sit for too long. Try to write well right away, but don’t sit for an hour on one sentence. If you don't succeed the first time, move on. Everything will get better in the next stage.

You have finished writing the text, but it is not ready yet. Now the material needs to be sanded and polished.

Editing

It's even more difficult than writing material. It is necessary to correct errors and inaccuracies, clear the text of unnecessary elements, bring it into a readable form and add everything that was missed. Let's look at each point:

• Errors. Everything is clear here - you can trust yourself or use verification services. I like it the most"Spelling" , but it's paid. For 0 rubles, the text.ru verification service helps you do the same.

• Extra. The first edition of a text is always a stream of consciousness that needs to be streamlined. To do this, we read the text and ask ourselves how it can be shortened without compromising the meaning. An abstract but illustrative example: “the application configures the system” is shortened to “the application configures the system.” The meaning is not lost, but it has become easier to read. Many people advise submitting your text to the Glavred service, but if you are not a professional text writer, it will only confuse you and make you hate the whole world. Therefore, just trust your intuition. You also need to remove duplicate information, and make vague wording clear and sharp.

• Structure. Once again we go through the structure: check the division into paragraphs, insert additional headings, if appropriate.

• Missing. It’s hard to give out all the necessary information at once the first time. Some things are forgotten, and some things are invented later. These losses need to be compensated. Example: you are reading a text and suddenly remember a thought that insidiously escaped you or come up with a new cool example. All this needs to be added.

Ready!

Now the text is finished. All that remains is to post the material on the website, add photos, graphs, tables or videos.

A few words about optimization

“Okay, but how, for example, do you write an SEO article? What to do if you need to monitor spam, wateriness and uniqueness of the text? What if you need to enter completely wild requests?” – those who want traffic (everyone) will ask. Do everything the same. Yes, you will have to spend more time, but this is a completely doable task.

Any text should be optimized for search engines. Because quality content can bring you a lot of traffic and clients. If you really want, you can even write articles “based on real events", – search queries. We at SEMANTICA call this "".

• Always think about the reader. Don't write complicatedly, you are not a writer. Don't write text for text's sake, make it useful. Use personal experience, but do not turn the article into a “dear diary”: instead of material about “how I had a party with Andryukha and visited 15 bars in one night,” write “15 bars in area X: review and delightful stories.”

• Use examples. Everything is simple here - abstract concepts are difficult to try on. If you are writing about something, tell us how it is used in real life: “heater power is XX Watt - this is enough to warm a standard room of XX m 2".

• Be original. Don't pretend to be someone else. Write as you write, all these recommendations leave plenty of room for creativity. The main thing is, don’t go too far and don’t turn an article into a blog into your Opus Magnum about everything in the world. At first helpful information, then everything else.

Results

It was difficult, but we figured out how to write an article, found out the basic rules for writing interesting material and looked at how everything works using examples. The main thing is to think through the future opus to the smallest detail, optimize the text and double-check it ten times. Analyze the target audience, decide why you are writing at all, think over the structure and edit the finished article. Ideally, you will have good material that is interesting to read. And if you optimize the text correctly, you will also get traffic.

I don’t care who starts the article or how.

Other scribblers scribble out hackneyed, general, boring phrases and don’t realize that they’ve created a tedious thing that’s only good for wiping their behinds. Their articles are not read, no matter what benefits they put into them. Boring authors are not held in high esteem by readers.

I like to start without rules. Because the rules are boring and working within the system is uninteresting. At the same time, I try to give the reader benefit, arrange everything in a convenient structure and explain the essence with clear examples.

In this article I will give tips on how to start an article. I suggest you use them or throw them the fuck out of your head, considering them crazy. But it's better to try it. Because the theme works. Let's go.

To get your head working in the right direction and make your introductions interesting, start by eliminating the easy options of the outdated advertising world from your arsenal.

Don't start with a question

And everyone started asking questions in every article, on every site. Now this technique is so outdated and boring that it has become disgusting to the point of vomit. Authors ask questions when the reader comes for answers.

Now this is done by everyone who doesn’t know how to start an article to make it interesting for the reader. Or they just don't want to stress. After all, you need to open new books, websites, useful newsletters, compare options and create your own.

If you give up the questions in the introduction, the article will become a little more interesting.

Don't start with jokes

The jokes at the beginning of the article are useless nonsense of a lazy, unsuccessful joker. They are added by those who want to, but do not know how to joke. They want to cheer up the reader so that he thinks that the author is a witty, funny guy who loves to make jokes.

Start with jokes only if you have a site with jokes. In other topics they are not needed at all. This is a stupid attempt to amuse the reader.

You will especially screw up if the reader has already seen your joke several times in other publications. Then he will laugh not at the joke, but at you. And, choking in ridiculous convulsions, with teary eyes from laughter, he will find a cross in the corner of the browser tab and with the last bodily impulses he will poke several times with a calloused finger on the left mouse button in order to close this misery and finally catch his breath.

Don't start with anecdotes. Well, screw him.

Don't start with quotes

The worst sin is to leave out a quote at the beginning of an article.

This is done by guys who feel that the text is weak. Starting with the quote, they try to make the material more valuable.

And I don’t care whose quote it is. The main thing is to have a smart, deep statement. And the deeper, the cooler.

Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg, Durov and Ford are cool guys. But by quoting them, the author reports that he himself does not have enough convolutions to give out his brilliant idea.

Start with a quote only if you have a site with quotes or if the quote is from the person you are writing the article about.

Write the main part first

I write the introduction when the main part of the article is already ready. And I start with main idea which I want to convey to the reader.

It’s easy to write a good introduction when you’ve rethought the material from all sides while working.

Therefore, first write, reread and correct the main part, and therefore already think about the introduction.

An interesting introduction is obtained when you feel what the reader wants to see at the beginning of the article. And to feel this, you need to live the article several times: write, rewrite, edit, correct, add a little more, correct something, re-read, and correct again. After this process, a good introduction is born.

When the main part is ready, think about how to start the article. Choose a method from those below and make an introduction. And to level up, make different introductions for each point and choose the best.

Start simply: Describe the purpose of the article

This is the easiest way. Before writing an article, you had an idea that you wanted to tell the world. Tell us about this idea in the introduction.

Example:

Don't repeat my mistakes. I stepped on a nail in the shed and didn't think anything of it. But in vain. There is an infection. Any more and my leg would have to be cut off so that I wouldn’t die.

Now I'll tell you about possible consequences and I will give instructions on how to treat wounds so that there is no infection. The article was written based on the recommendations of my surgeon.

Start useful: Describe the situation or problem

Start by describing the problem you want to solve. This way the reader will see that you are on the same page.

Example:

Not everyone knows how to treat wounds, scratches and abrasions. Or they think they know, but they do it wrong. Because of this, the wounds do not heal, but after a while they fester. To avoid this, regular and correct processing is needed. In a sad case, limbs will have to be cut off to save a healthy part of the body.

In this article you will learn how to treat wounds yourself, with what exactly and how often.

The stories are captivating. Especially if you have the skills and talent of a storyteller. I don’t know if I have such abilities, but I like to tell stories. My intro would be something like this

Example:

Three days ago I stepped on a nail. It was painful. I screamed as if there were 50 nails or more. The neighbors, deciding that I had been killed, called the cops. Ten minutes later they arrived and I came out to them in blood and bandages. It took a long time to explain what happened.

But I just went into the barn to get some tools. The light bulb burned out and I was too lazy to screw in a new one, because it would have taken ten minutes. And to take it from the barn necessary tool, it only takes 30 seconds. It is enough to take two steps and rummage around on the shelf. So I boldly stepped into the darkness and immediately stepped on a rusty nail sticking out of the board.

I didn't give it to the wound special significance. Well, puncture and puncture - nothing special. I just bandaged it and scored it.

Three days later the pain intensified and the leg became swollen. I went to the surgeon. It turned out there was an internal infection. The doctor said that the damaged tissue needed to be cut out, otherwise the leg would have to be amputated.

The operation could have been avoided if I had not taken the wound so lightly.

The surgeon explained in detail what needed to be done so that everything was ok. If you encounter this kind of crap, you will have the right checklist.

Start emotionally: Have a fight (18+)

The emotions you show in the article evoke different feelings in the reader. But you almost always want to finish reading the emotion.

Use emotions at the beginning of the article if it is appropriate and if you know how to express emotions in the text. And if you don’t know how, try too, otherwise you won’t learn.

Sometimes I like to swear, but it's not necessary. It's just how I'm wired. There are other ways to express emotions.

Example:

Fuck, the surgeon wanted to cut off my leg.

Sometimes my level of stupidity goes overboard. A week ago I stepped on a rusty nail in the shed because I was too lazy to screw in a new light bulb and went looking for a hammer in the dark.

I haven’t experienced such pain since I was a teenager stealing pears from someone else’s orchard and the watchman shot a load of salt into my ass with a shotgun.

Three days later the leg became swollen. I went to the doctor, and he said that if I didn’t cut off the infected tissue, I would have to cut off my leg. There was no choice. I went in for surgery.

Everything went well. Now I’m lying in the ward and writing this article for you.

The surgeon told me how to treat wounds after cuts with rusty objects so that such crap would not happen.

See what needs to be done.

More on the topic. Sasha Volkova suggests sharply introducing the reader to the topic, and Maxim Ilyakhov advises at the beginning of the article to attract attention, establish authority and indicate benefits.

There are no rules in this article. I don't like rules. You can do anything to start an article and make it interesting. Boundaries in the head.

The main thing is to love the reader. Try options, practice, improvise.