How to Write a Feature Article That Generates Mind-Blowing Traffic
Creating engaging featured articles that drive traffic requires strategic planning
How to write a feature article is one of those ‘How-to’s’ article writing you may think you have figured out. But you probably haven’t. Yes, there is a ‘How’ to writing feature articles that generate mind-blowing traffic─targeted organic traffic from Google and other search engine platforms.
So, how can you write a feature article your readers and search engine will love? This article will define a feature article and outline a step-by-step guide on how to craft unique featured content. Enjoy the complete guide to writing a feature article.
What is a feature article?
Collins Dictionary defines a feature article as an article that deals in-depth with a topic or person. Many may describe a feature article as an insightful, opinionated piece written by outsiders instead of the website or magazine owners.
The catch to it is that the writer needs to conform to the organization’s in-house style guide. As much as it has to be the writer’s thoughts, it usually does not go against the magazine or website’s writing style.
What is the purpose of a feature article?
Writers write featured articles to provide a detailed description of a place, idea, concept, person, or organization — the goal is to help the reader connect with the narrative and the article’s central entities.
With the purpose of a feature article established, I will highlight some things you should know before writing your feature article.
What to know before you start writing your feature article
Given that magazine publications, blogs, and other media outlets will always provide their target market with informative content pieces, you need to create evergreen feature articles for your blog and clients. But how? The following are what you should know before you start your marketing content writing to enable you to produce content that establishes you as an authority.
Check the topics that resonate with the publisher.
It is one thing to get a compelling article topic that attracts traffic, and another to get one related to the blog or magazine. Therefore, it is out of line to pitch a topic on celebrity gossip and profiling to a healthcare magazine editor. Such a theme might be suitable for an entertainment magazine, but not for a health publication.
Best practice?
Develop many ideas so you can select from a pool of feature article topics.
Decide on the type of feature article you wish to write.
There are three primary types of feature articles, and your topic should fall under any of these categories.
- Instructional/How-to
- Expert Insight
- Profile
1. Instructional/How-to
A feature article can be instructional─telling people how to do or make something. It could be writing a blog post about how to make your blog profitable, web design, starting a freelance writing business, and more.
The goal is to ensure that the reader learns something new. However, the content should not be too long to lose the reader’s attention. And also, not too short not to pass the message. A how-to article writing should go in-depth and provide adequate information.
When people learn new things, they will gladly refer to others and start a cascade of referrals that will generate traffic to the feature article. In other words, your readers become brand ambassadors for your business blog.
In this feature article example, Hubspot did a great job in this 3-minutes-read ‘How-To’ feature article. According to Ahref, this article brings more than 18,000 visits to the blog monthly, one of Hubspot’s best-performing thesis.
2. Expert Insight
An expert insight article, which is also called expert tips or advice, is similar to an instructional article as they both pass information to consumers. But, expert tip articles would take on a more comfortable writing style instead of an instructional tone. That is because it is more of an advice than an instruction.
These subjects can range from topics like ‘tips on SEO writing,’ down to ‘tips on traveling with children.’ People love to read such articles, especially if they know that it comes from an industry expert. You also have the assurance that it will generate excellent traffic if well-written.
Consider this example of a feature article by SEJ─read 351,000 times and shared 463 times.
3. Profile
To write a profile feature article means writing a story about a person or organization. It could be a celebrity figure or a notable business in society. Whatever individual or company you want to write about should be famous enough to trigger people to want to read and share.
In view of this, ensure you give in-depth information about the profiled entity. If it is an individual, you can go deeper and talk about their background, school, personal and family life, and more. The more unknown and ‘wow’ information you put out, the more likely people will read and share.
Choose a content flow
What is content flow? A content flow refers to how you would want to present your article to the readers. Hence, ensure you go through the blog or magazine-style guide and get the editor’s approval before you continue with the feature article.
You must have done an understudy of your audience to know the tone that appeals to them. Also, your feature article can be humorous or conversational. You can employ a rhetoric approach or take up a serious tone — it all depends on your audience’s likes.
Understand the publisher’s formatting style
If you are writing for a magazine or blog, you are answerable to them. Thus, any content writing you do must be in tune with their style. For instance, If the organization prefers its marketing content articles in Calibri font size 14, you should not have yours in Times New Roman font size 12.
Consequently, as a feature writer, you need to understand the organization’s writing and formatting style to avoid making mistakes that will bring misunderstanding with the editorial team.
Determine the writing language to use
Know the language or voice tone that works best for your audience and connect with them through your article. Some people feel that everything will go perfect once they pen down words, but connecting with your readers goes beyond that.
Since no two persons are the same, the way that audience ‘A’ receives information may not be the same way that audience ‘B’ would perceive it. As a result, understand your audience and determine the writing tone or language that relates to them.
The person for the feature article
Choosing a person to write in can be tricky. You might be wondering which particular form is better as a feature writer. If you want to write feature articles that generate traffic, you should write in a first-person way. This approach gives readers a personal touch, and people connect with an article better when it has a unique feel to it.
It enables them to establish an emotional attachment to the topic. However, you might want to check in with the blog or publication (if you are writing for an external entity) to determine editorial preference.
Decide the approximate feature article length.
In addition to a compelling feature article, you should decide what length is most suitable for your content to engage your readers and drive more traffic. Although different pieces might require various word counts, there are types of articles that drive more traffic. And it would help if you determined the length for optimal impact.
Given this, a standard feature article should not be less than 800 words and should not be unnecessarily prolonged. Once again, if you are writing for a blog or magazine, you might want to contact the editor to know their views. When you have all this background information, then you’re equipped to create your content.
Practical guidelines on how to write a feature article that drives traffic
There are six elements to consider in this section. These six components are:
- Get a compelling topic
- Do your research
- Prepare to write the material
- Prepare your outline
- Write the content
- Edit and proofread
1. Get a compelling topic
Fundamentally, there must be something to talk about–a feature topic. And since feature articles give in-depth insights into a subject, you should think of something compelling when coining a subject material. But keep in mind that if a topic does not excite the readers, it defeats the aim of writing. So choose captivating themes or subject matters that will drive results.
Also, besides keeping your readers informed, an article’s goal is to engage and generate traffic. But accomplishing that objective is not possible if the prospective audience does not like the topic.
Pro article writing tip: Observation and keeping up with trends can help you determine a suitable article topic to write. People resonate better when the ideas center on trendy issues and things that affect them.
2. Do your research
It is one thing to get the right topic and gather the necessary information you need to write the article. A list of tips on how to write a feature article cannot be complete without ‘research.’ Therefore, conduct thorough research, so you don’t miss any critical detail.
Never underestimate your audience; work towards giving them all the information they need to know. It is not ideal if the user’s knowledge is broader than what they would get from your write-up. It means that without a defined theme and the needed value in your content, sharing your article with their followers becomes slim.
3. Prepare to write the article.
One of the most effective ways to create compelling content is to get your facts right. It proves your authority and helps you build credibility. The internet is a free space for all and is a resource for gathering information. However, it also has a downside. How? Because with fake news spreading all around, some information from the internet can be misleading.
Therefore, you should not always depend on it. Instead, the best thing to do as a writer is to verify the information you get. Thus, filter through to ensure you have factual information. Also, avoid plagiarized content as much as you can. Not only does it downgrade your job, but your content will also get penalized.
4. Prepare your article outline.
Everything in life requires thoughts, preparations, and outlines for execution. The preparation phase also applies to feature content writing. Given this, when you want to write a feature article, diverse thoughts will fly into your head. It is not ideal to start writing if you do not have an article outline.
So, it is best if you prepare the content structure and outline every detail before you start writing. A strategy will also help you cover every possible detail and provide more value. Moreover, there is a clear difference between an article with an outline and one that does not.
5. Write the article
Have a captivating introduction
Your content introduction is a crucial blogging element that can attract or drive away readers. That is why you need a persuasive introduction that will keep your readers on the page. When they read your introduction, they know outright if they would want to continue reading the article or not. Keep in mind that readers only have a few minutes (if not seconds) to spend online.
Hence, the captivating power of your introduction determines if they will leave or remain hooked. For this, there are many ways to write an irresistible feature article introduction. So, identify what works for you best, and go with it.
Hook your audience all through the article
Your effort shouldn’t end after crafting a catchy introduction because every part of the article matters. It doesn’t make sense if you have an excellent introduction and a boring article body. Thus, after a catchy introduction, the next step is to have engaging content that will leave your readers with no regrets.
Provide value to bring them to come back to your blog and make them repeat readers. That way, you can quickly convert blog readers and your blogging community into paying customers.
Related Post: How to Make Your Boring Blog Post More Interesting to Read
Write according to your outline.
It is one thing to have an outline, and another to stick to it. Many people experience difficulties sticking to rules, and you will also hear writers say that they find it hard to follow their outline. But your method is there to guide and not to cage you.
An outline helps you remember your points and arrange them with a flawless transition. Additionally, it enables you to cover every moment you have thought about without forgetting any. After all, everyone is prone to forgetfulness.
Conclude your content correctly.
If you read through your work and found out that you have done justice to the topic, it is time to write your conclusion. Writing a conclusion can be tricky. Some stray ideas might pop in, tempting you to push it into the body of your work.
So, don’t be in a hurry to write a conclusion for your article; only do so once you are confident you have covered everything. Also, do well to include a call-to-action (CTA) in your conclusion to move your readers to take your desired action. It serves as a trigger and reminder for the readers to always act by what they read.
Quick Tip: Optimize your CTA to increase the article’s clicks and conversions.
6. Edit and proofread
Not editing and proofreading your writing work leads to many negative results and feedback for writers. And that is not something you want. Your work does not end at your conclusion. Therefore, go through your writing work as much as possible and ensure it is clear of errors. While there are many proofreading tips out there, I’ll highlight some of your focus’s most critical ones.
Top ways how to efficiently edit and proofread your feature article
- Double-check your facts and data: Verify the accuracy of the facts and data you want to show your readers. Crosscheck these against numerous databases to ensure that you are not giving out the wrong information and figures. It will not only dent your image or that of the brand publishing the feature article, but it may also cause havoc to those who absorb it.
- Crosscheck spellings and grammar: Understandably, everyone is prone to mistakes. Hence, it is in your best interest to proofread the material as there might be hidden errors you didn’t notice at first. Even the best writers make grammatical errors, so it should not be a thing of pride to proofread. To make it easier for you, you can use proofreading software like Grammarly.
- Get your friends and family to read and give feedback: Your friends and family should be your most prominent critics and cheerleaders. Why? Because they are never afraid of being blunt with pointing out your mistakes. With them, there is no room for pretense since they are not trying to impress you. They will always give their honest opinion because they want you to be unique and outstanding.
Final thoughts on how to write a feature article that drives tons of traffic
In conclusion, the excellent feature article developed with the step by step guidelines discussed herein is sure to get you published and generate tons of traffic. But if you have been struggling with publishing a successful feature article, I hope this post helps you overcome it.
So now you know how to write a feature article that generates mind-blowing traffic, where do you wish to get started publishing your feature article?
This article originally appeared at https://mossmedia.biz/
