How to write a good article

[edwarddowd]

This article (http://theblogbeat.com/the-internet-is-full-of-people-with-add-cater-to-them/) is from my site The Blog Beat.

All Web Surfers have A.D.D., Cater to them.

Face it, people don’t want to spend all day sorting through your articles to find the information they want. They want to find information and they want it fast. So how do you provide your viewer with the most A.D.D. friendly environment?

Here is a list of ideas to keep in mind when designing a website and writing an article.

Lists A list is a great ways for a reader to skim around an article without consequences of getting lost after skipping previous bullet points. If a reader can start reading the middle of an article and obtain information as if they had started reading from the beginning, then you have truely made your article A.D.D. friendly.
Images An image or diagram can provide instant gratification to a reader. An image can intrigue a reader into the information and summarize the content as well.
Bold Headers Bold Headers break up parts of an article and summarize the information following. Headers also represent a hierarchical structure in your article making it easier to move around the article without getting lost.
Whitespace If a website or article lacks whitespace most readers won’t bother reading the article.

[ses5909]

Thanks for sharing the meat of your article and not just linking to it. You made some good points and yeah, it seems people like to read lists. It also seems that sites like digg like lists.

[millzee11]

Lists are good, why I don't really know. Maybe people like to just glance and not fully read articles online.

[smittenbite]

thats exactly it. the problem is theres too much worthless info out there, and if you dont have what they want immediately AND let them KNOW that you have it - theyll just click back and re-search for what they wanted. with all the useless/wrong/outdated info on the web, people surfing the internet dont care to give you the benefit of the doubt that you have the info in the middle of your page long wonderful article.

[dreamr802]

Those are great ideas. Thanks for showing them to us!

[3plus3]

I agree, I am a total skimmer. I will glance at an article and if there isn't something that sticks out to me I will move on.

[Calypso]

I think this is great advice. If I look at an article and it's all words, not broken up by paragraphs, headers, etc., I'm tired almost before I start reading.

I like being able to skim through lists or headers at a glance to make sure this is content that I'm interested in. Once I'm interested, though, I usually will take the time to read the full article.

[samwoodfin]

Barring the appropriate use of paragraphs, I think that reading-style depends upon the type of content that's being read. I know it does for me. If I'm reading a tech/blog-related post, the goal is to get in, get skimmed, and implement, unless something about the writing, itself, stands out. If I'm reading a writer's post, or a personal post, then I'm more inclined to sit back and actually read.

But not using paragraphs? That's just evil, regardless of genre.

[deronsizemore]

Lists are good, why I don't really know. Maybe people like to just glance and not fully read articles online.

I think lists are good simply because it breaks the text up all little and makes it easier to read. If you use no images, no lists or anything else and just use straight text, sometimes it can look a little jumbled together.