How to Write an Amazing, Impactful Article
A powerful article always starts with the reader in mind, understands what they want and shows them the benefits they will get from taking their valuable time to read what you have to say. Sad but true, most readers will only read your title and headings, so make sure they convey exactly what is in your article. Bring clarity and structure to your writing, if it is hard for them to follow what you say they will immediately stop reading. Finally, always spell and grammar check, with no exceptions. Also, prevent plagiarism as we will send your article to an automated plagiarism check service. Lastly, focus on the necessary as your article should not be longer than 1,000 words.
Example article: Capital structure
Capital structure is the company’s mix of funding from equity vs. debt
Capital structure is the mix of different sources of capital that a firm uses to finance its growth. There are two main sources: equity and debt. Equity can be capital that is raised from investors in the form of common or preferred stock and also can come from internally generated funds called retained earnings. Analysts calculate the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio of a company to understand its capital structure, a high D/E ratio usually means the company is higher risk.
What is the optimal capital structure?
The optimal capital structure is that which maximizes the value of the firm. One core responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is to identify the firm’s optimal capital structure. Blah, bla, bla
Five steps to determine your optimal capital structure
Make them offer the main points of your articles or posts. Use appealing, clear words to make them attractive and to divide your main points into sub points, to give the reader a rest from long blocks of text, which frankly can bore a reader silly and give them a negative response. For example, which article would you read? One titled Effective Valuations Considering Time as a Factor OR Smart Valuation: Helping Clients See the Money Value of Time. Linking your title to how it benefits your readers will draw the kinds of audience who usually skip past most articles.
Capital structure is not real life
One professional has suggested: “Writing like you talk is a good idea, writing as you talk (without editing) is not.”
Another way to think about it is to write as though you’re talking to a respected friend.” Not too formally (so you don’t talk down to the reader) but not too politely (that shows too little respect for yourself and will cause the reader to lose faith in you) Also, if your audience readers feels like it’s hard work reading your material, they will run away. Hard work can be that it’s too long or your words are too specialized (financial jargon) or you use too many abbreviations. Clear, short sentences are usually the best. Have an objective reader review your text. A great resource for good, clear writing is here: the Plain English Campaign.
Be careful of grammar and punctuation mistakes
Simple mistakes cost money. If show a lack of care with your words and writing, you can give potential clients the idea that you lack care in other areas, such as their investments. If you have even the slightest doubt about your writing (even if you are sure about your writing), always use your company’s editor, employ a professional or at least ask a mentor or more experienced colleague to run through what you’ve written. After all, we are all human and make mistakes.