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If you do not know the new trend, this is it: article writing has gone beyond just putting words and sentences together and slapping it on your website.

If these were the 90s or early years of this century when websites and online contents have not been this proliferated (increased in number and amount), it would have worked fine for you.

Today, your readers are bombarded with thousands of contents daily, they hardly find time to read one to the end. That is why your readers do more of scanning.

Only the interesting and well-structured articles will ever be read to the very end, only those that the readers relate with (engaging) will gain their appeal and be read.

In this article, I’m going to take you through the process of writing an interesting and engaging tech article, that your readers can read, and follow from the beginning to the end.

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Are tech articles boring and hard to read?

via GIPHY

Tech articles are boring to read. They are almost thought of as the food only the ‘nerds’ can chew and swallow. You must be a ‘geek’ to read and understand tech articles.

Does that mean tech is a boring field; where all they do is pull off their hair?

Not at all. The problem lies in how tech articles are written; that is poor writing style of tech writers.

This is where most tech writers make the mistake; they see writing as an opportunity to show their expertise, or an opportunity to use jargons to obscure even the most basic tech concepts.

See this example of 2 writers writing about the blockchain technology.
Writer 1:
“Unlike the current state of the internet; where the government and institutions are in control of databases and how information is held, the blockchain is not like that. Here information is stored in different computers connected to the network from different part of the world, such that not one single person or organization is in control of it.”

Writer 2:
The blockchain network is a decentralized ledger system where data are stored on nodes that are connected to the network from different geographical locations.

Which one is easier to understand and more engaging? 1 or 2?

As a freelance writer, digital marketer or executive of a tech firm, writing an interesting and engaging article goes a long way in ensuring you achieve your content writing goals.

And in this article, I’ll teach you exactly how to do that.

Article Structure:

It is the starting point to write an engaging article. Your article should have these 4 parts:

Title
Introduction
Body and
Conclusion

The structure of the final article must be such that these four parts are distinguishable.

A title must be catchy and enticing. It is said that your title is the most read part of your article. Your title must:

Contain a promise
Be attention-grabbing
Connect to the emotions of your readers

Your introduction is the second most read part of your article. This is where you pull your readers deeper into reading your article.

The introduction tells what they will gain from the article. The best introductions are brief, highlights the purpose of the article and how it will benefit the reader.

You tell the main story in the body of your article. This is where you fulfil the promises you made in the title and introduction. The body must be informative and engaging (that has a flow). How do you achieve this?

It’s important you also structure the body of your article.

You’ll agree that your topic is made up of sub-topics and subsections. These are the different subject matters that make up the entire body of your article.

To build flow, structure your ideas into logical steps and sections, give each section it’s own heading (a subheading) and then write on each section and link them together into the general topics idea.

Here are all you have to do to make your article engaging.

Banish jargons from your articles: if you must use anyone, make sure to explain it after it is used.
Define your acronyms: ensure all acronyms are defined at least once.
Short is better with paragraphs: not more than 3 sentences per paragraph is the best way to go. Your paragraphs should contain no more than 3 sentences.
Humans love pictures and graphics contents: we engage better with visual contents. In fact, they attract us. So spice up your article with a lot of useful images.
Hit them with the list; always use lists to outlines your points and ideas. They aid skimming.
Simple is best with tech articles: imagine yourself talking with a close friend, how would you communicate an idea to him? In the simplest manner possible, right? Write like that.
Take hold of your readers’ emotions: storytelling is the best way to go here. Get them hooked on a story that connects with them and their feelings.
Write to only one person: never refer to your readers as a group. Though thousands will read your article, reading is a solitary activity.
Your readers are always distracted: your readers are interested in what you’re writing about but are easily distracted. Do not assume that they have a clue about what you’re writing about, they don’t. Imagine it as giving directions to a blind man; he is interested in where he is going but has no clue how to get there. You’ll have to use simple steps delivered in very clear language to guide him. This is how you should write.
Let your writing be active: always use the active voice
Split it with subheadings and whitespaces: subheadings aid skimming and help to break the entire content into logical sections. Whitespaces are psychological breaks for your readers. Like a lunch break after a paragraph of learning and working.
Let the computers help you: use software, like Hemingway, to calculate the readability score of your article. A score of 6-8 is the target.
Banish the errors and typos: proofread, proofread, proofread.

Finishing with a captivating conclusion.
The finishing is the most memorable part of any game, if you have played Mortal Kombat, then you’ll understand.

So use your conclusion to drive home your purpose and get your readers to do something for you. This can either be to leave a comment, share your article, subscribe to your publications, buy your product or services, take a free trial of your product or schedule a call etc.

You’re ready to go live!

If you followed these steps as close as you can, then you’re ready to hit the internet with your engaging content that is set to help you meet your goals.

Note that this requires a lot of time to do. So do not expect to produce top quality in just 3 hours, some of the best articles take days to be completed.

Remember, writing is never about you, it’s all about your readers.Click To Tweet

These steps can be used to write white papers, ebooks and newsletters as well.

PS: I followed the steps in this article, to write this article.

The finishing is the most memorable part of any game, if you have played Mortal Kombat, then you’ll understand.

So use your conclusion to drive home your purpose and get your readers to do something for you.

This can either be to leave a comment, share your article, subscribe to your publications, buy your product or services, take a free trial of your product or schedule a call etc.

Contributed by:

John Emoavwodua is a compelling and engaging copywriter who brings his background in programming and engineering to communicate ‘geek’ to readers. He focuses on a writing website, PR, information, sales and information copies for tech companies and publications and has been doing this for over 5 years. When he is not creating contents for his clients or his personal publications, he is away devouring his favourite literature.”