A lot of online marketers like to write articles to generate credibility for themselves or to market themselves as experts in their field. A good article is one that grabs your attention and keeps you interested while you read it. No one likes to read an article that drones on and on about how great and knowledgeable the writer is. Short paragraphs with lots of good information will hold a reader's attention. Adding some humor helps too, if it is appropriate for the subject in which you are writing about. Here are some tips about writing each of the essential parts of an article.

The Title

The heading is important. It should be something that catches a reader's attention and clearly describes what the article will be about. The title should contain 25 to 65 characters; not to exceed 100 as many article submitter sites will place a limit on how long the heading can be.

Tips and strategies are good, for example; Tips Every Internet Marketer Should Know or 6 Proven Strategies for Successful Online Marketing. Secrets are good too, like Secrets to Marketing Yourself Online. ?How to? is another good example; How to Effectively Market Yourself with Articles. Numbers are good. 5 Proven Strategies for Successful Online Marketing. 7 Reasons to Learn about Internet Marketing. The Top 10 Mistakes that will Kill Your Business.

Starting your heading with keywords followed by a colon, like the title of this article, Internet Marketing: Tips on Writing a Great Article, is another way to structure your heading.

The Introduction

The first paragraph of an article is the introduction. This will contain about five to seven sentences telling what the article is going to be about or topics that will be covered. The introduction should contain the promise of good information to follow to keep the reader interested. Each paragraph should end in a sentence that flows nicely into the next paragraph. For example, the last sentence in the introduction could say something like, ?following are some tips on writing a great article.?

The Body

The body of the article is ?meat and potatoes? of the article. It should be educational and interesting to read. Some articles are just for fun; they may be humorous, yet still contain some kind of moral or lesson, or they might just be fun to read nonsense. In any case, each paragraph should be short, around 5 to 7 lines, and each paragraph should flow smoothly into the next paragraph.

Be careful to stick to your subject and just say what needs to be said. Don't elaborate too much on any one part or you will lose your reader. Remember, one reason you are writing the article is to show your reader that you are knowledgeable and experienced in your field so that they will be interested in doing business with you.

The Conclusion or Summary

The last paragraph is a conclusion of your article. This paragraph should summarize the article, using about one sentence for each paragraph that the article contained or just covering a few of the most important points of the article.

The Resource Box

Finally, you get to mention yourself and your business. This is the ?about the author? part, where you mention your name and a little something about you and your accomplishments. Don't forget to include a hyperlink to your website; this should be your reader's next stop. This is one reason you submitted your article, to generate traffic to your website.

You will say something like, ?This article was written by Ms. Article Writer, an experienced journalist and noted author of several books. She has been a mentor to many small business owners who have discovered how successful they can be with good internet marketing skills. Visit Ms. Article Writer's website at http://www.yourwebsite.com to read more articles or to order one of her informative books.?

It is important that your article begin with a good title and an introduction of what is to follow. The body of the article should deliver what you promised in a way that will hold your reader's interest. By the time the reader finishes reading the article, they should have learned something of value. When they get to the resource box they will be very interested to know where the link takes them to. If your website designing skills are as good as your article writing, you are well on your way to success. Website designing?hmmm?that's a topic for another article!

This article was written by Mark Maupin, a college instructor who teaches internet marketing and search engine optimization classes. Mark has been hired by many national franchises to do their internet marketing and he has been very successful at getting them to the top of a Google search. To get Mark's FREE CD of market proven strategies that he uses every day to generate traffic to his website and his business go to http://www.imtruegrit.com