Curatti

5 Editorial Guidelines Based Tips To Writing Better Content

  • Anna Rud

    • As a content marketer, I have to read editorial guidelines literally every single day. I’ve read so many of them that sometimes I can predict the end of sentences. Some can argue that every blog has its particular requirements, but there are always some common things I find on every “write-for-us” page. The main points are common for most blogs, but I still see a lot of articles that don’t meet these requirements (not even close).

    In this post, I’ll share most common points almost every editorial guidelines include. I believe this list of 5 tips can help you to keep editors happy and get more publications!

    Tip #1: Sometimes, the lead paragraph doesn’t get enough (or any) attention

    The title and lead paragraph are most important parts of your content . These are where you must hook and keep your reader’s attention. Once your reader gets bored, s/he will leave your blog – even if you write useful articles that provide actionable advice. Thus, all your work can just go to nothing if you neglect your lead paragraph.

    The easiest way to start an article is to proclaim some obvious truth like “The Internet has changed everyday life” or (no, not again!) “Content is king”. As I said, it’s the easiest way, so a lot of writers choose it. Well, it’s your choice, but this way your article won’t claim to be an exceptional one. On the contrary, it will look like lazy writing to some.

    Here is what I suggest to those who aren’t looking for an easy way:

    Example: 

                              From BuzzSumo blog

                        From MeetEdgar Blog

        From BuzzSumo Blog

                        From MeetEdgar blog

    Tip #2: Don’t forget to leave breathing space

    It’s no surprise that most people are surfing the Web via mobile phone these days. Now imagine that you open an article on your phone, and its first sentence occupies the entire screen. Would you continue to read?

    This refers not only to mobile phones. Sometimes even via desktops, people get scared of straight text and just pass over your article.

    Thus, you should keep your sentences and paragraphs short, when possible. And, what is more important, you should leave a space between paragraphs.

    It will be much easier to read and understand your text. But it’s also important not to overdo it. Here is what it looks like on Neil Patel’s blog:

    Also, break up chunks of text with subheadings, pictures, screenshots, and bulleted lists.

    Tip #3: Give some fresh ideas!

    The most common requirement I meet is to read the previous content on the blog to make sure you’re not going to write something similar to it. Also, your article somehow should differ from all the existing content on this topic throughout the Internet.

    Here you should implement two steps:

    Explore the results and think if you can write something that stands out.

    It will return the list of top articles on your topic. If finds the best articles by keyword or domain. You can sort the results by FB, LinkedIn or Google+ shares. Potential traffic is the number of monthly visitors you could have received additionally if you were in the first position for all keywords currently ranked for in top-20 search results. Explore the results, adopt some ideas and write something unique!

    Tip #4: Self-editing is crucial

    Remember that the editor is your first reader and you can’t send a rough draft to him. If you want to impress your first reader, you should edit your article by yourself before sending. I suggest using Grammarly and Hemingway for this purpose.

    Grammarly is a free spelling, grammar and syntax tool that will help you to avoid silly typos, overused words and all the mistakes in your text.

    Hemingway app, in turn, can help you to write in more simple and clear language:

    Quick tip: Finish your article and then leave it alone for a while. Get distracted, go for a walk, do some other kind of work — whatever you think is best. Anyway, you can’t see all your mistakes when you’ve just finished the article. Don’t be in too much of a hurry to send it over to the editor. Take some form of break, then get back to edit your post. You’ll see that your text isn’t as perfect as it may seem at the beginning.

    Also, never trust these tools entirely. They’re just tools, and they can’t be perfect. Sometimes you should believe yourself more than the AI version of Ernest Hemingway 🙂

    Tip #5: Keep it informal and simple

    Don’t use a formal and corporate (read: boring) style of writing. Speak of your own voice! Be helpful, friendly, and informative. Feel free to include some jokes in the article, as long as it’s respectful.

    Also, I suggest reading your post out loud before sending to the editor. If it’s hard to read and there’s not enough air to finish the sentence, then you should simplify and make it shorter.

    Summing up

    That’s it. Admit that there are way more requirements your article should meet. In this post, I gathered the most common ones and described few ways to handle them.

    What else to keep in mind?

    Any Comments?

    Have you fallen foul of any blog guidelines? Maybe you’ve learned some useful writing tips from some? Please share your experiences with guest blogging in the comment section, below.

     

    You may also want to read: Guest Blogging Guidelines: How We Compiled Ours

    Guest Blogging Outreach: How to Pitch an Article No One Will Turn Down

    Cautions and Advice for Guest Bloggers & New Content Marketers

    Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_dolgachov‘ / 123RF Stock Photo

    Sign Up For Our Mailing List

    To receive more in-depth articles, videos and Infographics in your inbox, please sign up below

    The following two tabs change content below.

    Anna Rud

    Anna Rud is a Content Marketer in an IT company. She's often writing useful pieces on how to rank higher, how to write for the Web, how to carry out PPC campaign and so on. Obsessed with the constant learning.