Article Writing in 10 Easy Steps

It’s time to sit down and write an article for your online community. Instead, you get up, refill your mug for the 5th time, wash your breakfast dishes, start a load of laundry.

You’re waiting for inspiration to strike and yet by your very act of procrastination and distraction, you are repelling inspiration from emerging.

So what do you do?

Follow these steps:

Foreplay:

Step 1: Sit down. Breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Step 2: Select your canvas of choice: pull out a sheet of paper or pull up a new word doc.

Step 3: If you…

– Know the topic you want to write about, write it at the top of the page

– Don’t know the topic you want to write about (and feel concerned that you have no brilliance at all), think about a tip you recently shared with a client. Remember how it felt like obvious information to you yet she responded with an “Ahhhh….” This is a good sign that there is value in that pearl of wisdom. Write that tip down at the top of the page.

Committing the Act:

Step 4: Brainstorm what you know about this topic/tip. Capture this knowledge in words, fragments; no need to create paragraphs or pretty prose. Let it be raw.

Step 5: Review what you wrote and identify the top 3 ideas/lessons/points you want to make. (These are the juiciest morsels; the ones that grab your attention; the ones that tap into the greatest pain and desire of your clients.)

Step 6: Flush out a few sentences or 2 short paragraphs about each idea. Keep it simple. Use your clients’ language along with your unique voice.

Step 7: Add an intro: tell ’em what you’re going to tell them and why they need to read this.

Step 8: Add an ending: don’t just leave them hanging… give them a next step to take (visit your FB Event Page and share a comment, sign up for your free offer, etc.).

Step 9: Create a captivating headline. Check out this post for more tips for how to do this.

Step 10: Share it. Don’t go for perfection. Proof it, infuse it with your mojo, and pass it on.

Bask in the After Glow

Now it’s time to celebrate! You just liberated your voice and shared wisdom with people who are hungry to hear what you have to say.