Tips to Write an Article Summary - A Simple Format to Get Your Audience to Read More
Tips to Write an Article Summary - A Simple Format to Get Your Audience to Read More
By Justin Arnold
A tremendous number of SEO article writers have a simple format when it comes to creating a summary that’s really focussed on getting the reader to click the link and go on to read the full article: copy and paste the first sentence or two of the article.
Although in many cases this may work, it isn’t the best strategy, especially when most article writers focus on their main keyphrase within the first sentence, rather than on creating a catchy, enticing and engaging summary for the readers. The problem really stems from a perception of focus, or a misperception of focus.
Whilst the first few sentences within an SEO article are pretty important ones in terms of search engine optimisation, the summary is much less important in this regard. The summary is usually what’s seen in either the search results listings, or the listing on the article directory. It’s prime purpose is to capture the attention and interest of the reader, because unless this is achieved, the article will remain unread, and your links fairly worthless.
So what is the best approach when creating an article summary that will ensure your audience wants to read more of what you have written? One of the easiest ways of starting to think about how to approach this is to imagine you’re in a pub sitting round a table with half a dozen of your friends, sharing gossip. Suddenly a story hits you that you want to tell them, but everyone’s keen to have their but of gossip heard. So what do you do?
You make a short, simple statement that you know will whet their appetite, get everyone else to shut up, and leave them hanging on your every word. It’s something most of us know how to do, and it’s a skill we use when it suits us. Writing SEO articles and developing an effective summary should be approached in the same way. Except that your audience isn’t sitting round a table at a pub with a drink in hand and a readiness to listen to your gossip. Your online audience is much harder to convince, and so you have to work hard to gain their attention.
One of the most important points to appreciate is that you must know who your audience is, and what they’re looking for. Knowing what someone is looking for means that you can shock them, surprise them or intrigue them more easily. Again, back at the pub your tactic would be much less successful were it not for the fact that you knew your friends would be interested in that particular type of gossip. If your audience is likely to be looking for information on how to do something a little better, surprise them by suggesting that their approach is wrong, or that their hopes are about to be realised.
But then there is another important rule - make sure you deliver on your promise. It’s no good shocking or surprising someone with a stunning summary only to let them down when it comes to the article itself. You must make sure that your article delivers as promised.
When it comes to writing summaries I tend to wait until I have written the article completely. After all, how can you summarise something that hasn’t been written yet? Once I have written my article I think again about who my audience is, what they’re looking for and why they’re likely to have clicked the link that brought them to my article. Then I think about a way of phrasing my summary that will intrigue them quickly and effectively, without giving away the answer.
This is the final rule - don’t summarise your article in the summary. Okay, so I have slightly contradicted myself here, but the thing is that if your title suggests that you’ll describe 3 ways of doing something, and your summary explains those three ways fairly well, no one’s going to bother reading the article itself. Your summary must attract people, intrigue them, but not satisfy their curiosity. That’s what the article should do.
So, to summarise then, the simple format used to get your audience to read your article by creating an effective summary is:
1. Wait until you’ve actually written the article
2. Don’t just copy your first sentence or two
3. Make sure you know who your audience is, and what they’re likely to be looking for
4. Capture their attention quickly by shocking, surprising or intriguing them
5. Don’t summarise the entire article - leave them curious
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Arnold