Creating Your Article

Note that if your assignment includes any client instructions, your overarching instruction is to always follow the client guidelines as laid out in the brief.

Outlining

At WordAgents, we defer to our clients for instructions on outlining and shaping each article. But if a client does not provide an outline, follow these guidelines.

Outlining an article helps you:

• Focus on the key topical points

• Budget word count

• Stick to client formatting requests

• Answer the reader's intent

• Understand what and how to research

Outlining Tips

• The easiest way to outline is by starting with the heading structure so that you can determine what information you need to research before you begin writing the body content.

• Using secondary keywords as header inspiration (or, in some cases, as exact headers) can also help shape the content (whether the client provides the KWs or you research them yourself). If the client has provided a keyword list, consider pasting the list into your working document.

• Transferring the keywords directly into the document ensures that you don't miss any, but you may also find opportunities for outlining when starting with the keywords.

• Within the heading structure, you can and should add notes to guide your draft. Many writers also include research links or facts in sections where they may be useful later.

• Most articles, unless otherwise stated by the client, should feature an introduction, conclusion, and various H2 and H3 subsections.

Writing Your Article

When you claim an assignment, you will have all the information you need to get started, including:

• A title or topic for the content

• The client brief

• An SEO add-on link, if applicable

• Word count

• Due date

• Google Document link (click on Open Doc to start writing in the file)

Clients will provide instructions for each assignment. In the Project Data field, you'll find a link to an instruction brief. The instructions may come in one or more of these forms:

• Official WordAgents briefing documents

• External documents provided by the client

• Spreadsheets

• Template documents

• Document or spreadsheet with additional briefs/external documents embedded via link

• Document link/SEO add-on

As a writer, it is your responsibility to review these instruction documents closely and ask any questions before you begin working on the assignment.

Formatting and Article Structure

Creating well-written, value-dense writing is only part of what it takes to create a properly optimized article for the web. The content needs to be visually appealing as well!

Visually appealing content:

• Uses a clear heading hierarchy:

  • Titles are Heading 1, main section headers Heading 2, no farther than Heading 4 in most cases

  • Headings and titles should always be in AP Title case; use a tool to convert your titles/headers into the appropriate case

  • Do not indent headers, and always left-align (Google default)

• Involves easy-to-read fonts: Use the default formatting specs in Google Docs unless otherwise instructed. The default setting is Arial font, 11-point size, and all headings in the dropdown formatting menu are standardized.

• Makes use of white space

• Doesn't use walls of text: no more than five visual lines in a paragraph

• Incorporates bulleted lists, but not in the conclusion

• Includes cleanly hyperlinked sources:

  • If a client does not include instructions for external linking, aim to link out to 3 to 5 good-quality sources of information per 1000 words.

  • When hyperlinking to a source, please do not link entire sentences; a few words is sufficient

• No stacked headers: Never stack headers on top of one another without body text in between.