Businesses can use feature articles to improve their credibility and become reliable sources of information for consumers. While the quality of an article’s content is important, writers must also structure the piece in an appealing manner. This blog will teach you about the five major components of a feature article and what you can do to elevate each section.
Start with the headline
The first step in writing an article is to create a headline to use at the top of the page. Headlines are the first interaction a reader will have with your piece, so they should be written in a way that can grab a person’s attention. Using too many words in the title may cause consumers to skip the content, and it can mean the title is truncated if the piece is shared on social media, making it crucial that the headline is to the point and easy to read.
The title is also the article’s main selling point to the reader. A compelling headline will convey the subject of a feature article to the viewer and give them an incentive to stay for the reading experience. For example, a piece titled Three Simple Ways to Improve Your Branding would be alluring to business owners interested in refining their brand. Using ‘simple’ as an adjective is a selling point to those who don’t want complicated strategies.
Create a compelling introduction
Once you’ve written the headline, you can move on to the intro. The beginning of an article should offer enough information to let readers know what to expect. It helps to add context to the piece by writing a sentence that defines the article’s main subject or highlights the importance of the content.
However, adding too many details may turn the introduction into a summary. Summarizing the content at the start of a piece will give people less of a reason to read through the entire article since they already received the info they were looking for. Limiting the introduction to two or three sentences can prevent you from revealing too much information to viewers.
Use headings to separate paragraphs
You can start placing headings into the feature article after the introduction is finished. A header will help separate the content for the reader, allowing them to take in the information without feeling overwhelmed by blocks of text. The subtitles also create natural instances of white space, which leads readers from one section of an article to the next while preventing the screen from becoming overcrowded.
Dividing the content into easily distinguishable sections can also make it easier for people to skim the article. Those looking for a specific piece of info may use the headings to locate the most relevant paragraphs. Giving viewers a convenient reading experience can help websites position themselves as a great source of information.
Write informative body paragraphs
The headings give you a convenient roadmap for placing the ‘meat’ of your content throughout the article. You can write out multiple paragraphs under each subtitle to provide readers with the in-depth information they were promised at the piece’s beginning. Writers must space out the content of their body paragraphs to prevent the text from clumping together. Viewers may find the piece less appealing if the writers don’t add the necessary space.
A good rule to follow is to break the body paragraphs into easily manageable sentences. You can write three to five sentences for the paragraph before including a line or two of space before their next section. Like with the headings, the space between paragraphs will add more white space to the piece and unclutter the text. The total body paragraphs used in a feature article will vary based on its required length and the number of included topics.
Finish with a conclusion
The final part of an article’s structure is its conclusion. The piece’s finale offers you a chance to give your work a satisfying end that wraps up the main ideas of the presented information. The conclusion can refresh the reader’s memory of what they read by quickly reiterating the article’s main points, or provide an opinion about the overall meaning of the piece.
The finale of the featured article also allows you to include a call-to-action for the viewer. A business may ask readers to subscribe to the website’s newsletter for similar content to the article they read, or invite people to check out other pieces on the site related to what they’ve finished. Adding calls-to-action at the end can help increase consumer engagement with articles.
Understanding how to properly structure a feature article plays a significant role in how the piece is perceived by readers. Articles that are too cluttered and unorganized will leave viewers with a negative impression of the writer and publisher of the content.
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