What makes an article special? It is something that speaks to the reader to either provoke an emotional thought, is entertaining, interesting or is informative. Successful writing comes from following a few proven principles and using skills that can be learnt through study and perfected with practice. Here are 8 pointers on how to get your article or blog started.

1. Write on what you are passionate about.
This way your enthusiasm will shine through, and it is this that will in turn infect your reader with your exuberance. Remember it is your vibrancy and speciality that will make your piece stand out from the crowd. When you are busy with your feature, keep in the back of your mind that it is for your readers benefit, it is their approval you want. It is your audience, that will decide and judge if your offering is excellent or not…This is what gives the greatest satisfaction, getting their approval.

2. Be comfortable with your subject.
You must have sufficient knowledge or experience in it. If it is a set piece, approach it from a angle that you can relate to. This will mean that you have a firm grasp of the facts, information, terminology and have enthusiasm to carry through to your presentation. From this you can articulate your delivery in a flowing, interesting and informative way.

3. From the outset cultivate a positive attitude within your self.
As a writer you must decide that you are going to have fun, will enjoy this experience and will reap self satisfaction in successfully completing it. Now imagine your completed article that you are proud of. Plant this emotion of gratitude and satisfaction of a job well done within you. Nurturing this positive attitude goes a long way towards helping you creating your masterpiece.

4. Build from the foundation up.
Lay out, organise your thoughts to build some sort of structure. Jot down how you will build your thought piece. This means planning the sequence, from your introduction, to fleshing out the body for your content, followed by summing it all up with a well constructed conclusion. In other words your intro will explain what you are going to give your reader. In the body tell them what you got using supporting points, (When writing use these to benefit your reader that reflects the energy of your essay), then tie it all up with a conclusion.

5. Keep to the point.
Only write what is necessary, don’t ramble on or take a detour. Everything you put down needs to contribute and add substance to your build. No need for extra pieces sticking out, BUT make it unique. This means putting a little bit of your personality it to your creation. Some humour, whit, controversial idea or mystery could do the trick. This gives it warmth and life that touches and engages your audience.

6. People love stories, secrets, tips, tricks, mysteries,unexplained coincidences.
Share new ideas or answers . A story of some sort shrouded in mystery. To do this, promise to reveal some secret in your intro and only give it towards the end. This creates suspense and intrigue which is much desired.

7. Layout and presentation…
Start with an introduction where you inform your readership what to expect, then give them your message, body or meat followed by a conclusion. This is a summary to tie up your thoughts. Keep it simple. Use clear, crisp, concise sentences in a coherent manner. Your text should flow in an open and easily followed manner. Keep each sentence short and to the point, without making your paragraphs too long.

8. Express and inject some of your personality into your write-up.
Be generous with your information, methods, strategies, secrets, tips, tricks, wisdom and thoughts or ideas. Be bold and take a stand to be the “expert in your field”, if this is your passion then you would want to be that. The more you write so your skills as a writer will improve. No one was ever born a prestigious literary prize winning writer, these skills evolved and are honed through practice.

With these 8 pointers, writing excellent and successful articles will come with practice.

**Rod Saunders**