I wanted to bring this post up from Matt Cutts because he mentions important keys for writing good articles either for Websites, Blogs or Press Releases.

Writing useful articles that readers will love (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-advice-writing-useful-articles-that-readers-will-love/)

In his post, Matt emphasizes on the following points:

- Imparting useful and concrete knowledge to our readers.
- Writing about something that you need and could not be found. After you figure out how to do it, of course.
- Thinking more about words and variants and less about keyword density or repeating phrases.
- Becoming an expert on something, even though it is a small niche looking for a progression that can build your way up to a big and important area over the time.

I do not want to put away one of the best advice we can receive:

"Use this advice only for good (high-quality articles), not for evil"

Thanks for pointing that post out. This is exactly what the moderators on this forum have been saying for years :)

I just sit down, write what I think and be done. My diction and grammar is lousy, my punctuation non existent. But the content is fine and it ranks well and gets the message across. :) This is why I thank god for creating the blog where things like the quality of the above is largely forgiven if the quality of the information is good LOL.

Professional writing is an artform though, and while I can not write GOOD quality copy like Karon (copywriter above), I CAN recognise poor quality copy, and that is what my job as a web marketing seo rests.

I just sit down, write what I think and be done

I liked this phrase not only because is short but it is concrete. I think writing what we think is a way of passing a message over somebody that is willing to read what was written. There are many, many people like us out there. Those are our niche or at least the initial one.

There are readers who like to read good articles but also there are readers who like to read stories, thoughts or simply comments. Sometimes, I think there is not good or bad content. Something that is good for one may be bad for somebody else.

I started my blog few months ago. I have written very few articles but I always get stuck at the same point... the blank page, that small piece of paper (that could be a screen now) that you see as a big monster. Every day I face the same situation and conclude that I cannot find anything to write about. Curiously, I think about many things when walking, driving or eating.

After reading your post and going to your blog, I could have a clear picture of what you are talking about. The Blank Page Monster appears when you write from the reader stand point of view and not when you write from your stand point of view; when you want to write what the reader wants to read and not when you write what you want to write.

Thanks.

I think the old cliche is true - great writing is not written, it's re-written. I think there is a lot of value in just starting (as Old Welsh Guy mentioned) and getting information down. A big part of that early process, for me at least, is allowing myself the luxury of not being brilliant on the first draft. But, by the time editing comes into play, that's where I put my other hat on, the one that demands a higher level of quality and substance. I think the last two watchwords - quality and substance - even in shorter pieces, is what makes for great copy that is useful to users. And overall, I think this makes for credible copy that will attract the right kind of attention, including search engines and subscribers.

I think its amazing how good copy can get visitors to your site. I've only been promoting my site for a couple of months, but quite early on I wrote an article about Pawnbrokers listed on the stock-market. Fairly off-topic to my business, but I thought people might find it mildly interesting.

On Tuesday night in the UK there was a TV program about the 'Customers' of pawnbrokers - the next day I had around 30 hits related to pawnbrokers. Not earth shattering I know, but still good when you're trying to build a new site.