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Current Events Article Template
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This new article template takes advantage of news you can use.
One of the best ways to get readers immediately interested in reading your articles is to tie them to a current event.
The death of Michael Jackson, for example, spurred a flurry of articles tied to the speculation over how he died, his music, his legacy and how his death affected people.
In two very different articles, one author used the death of Michael Jackson to show how to talk to children about death. If you write about psychology and related issues, this would have been a good topic to cover.
On the other hand, one author in the exact same niche talked about throwing a Michael Jackson-themed party, which has nothing to do with psychology and related issues!
A word of caution: Be sure that your article is written for your niche. Straying too far from your niche or forcing the link between your niche and the current event can confuse readers and alienate your followers. Only use this template when there is a clear, firm connection between the news event and your niche.
Building an article around a news event is simple – and is very beneficial to your traffic, since keywords for breaking or celebrity news are highly indexed.
(6) Steps to a Great Current Events Article:
- The first step is to pay attention to the news – and not just the top of the hour headlines. Keep your ears tuned in and listen for news about recent studies or findings that you can use in your articles.
- After you’ve found your news event, find a relevant aspect in your niche to connect your reader with.
- Open your article with a one paragraph overview of the news event a its connection to your niche. If your readers want to know more about the news event in question, they can go to CNN. You need to draw them in and show them (don’t just tell them) how this event affects them.
- In the next paragraph(s) describe in the related problem in depth and concentrate less on the news event. The news event, title and first paragraph were your hooks, the body paragraphs should be the meat.
- Finally, give them a paragraph or two on the actions they can follow to overcome the problem you’ve outlined. Again, concentrate on the problem and solution here, not on the event.
- Conclude with facts from the event and a “reminder” as to how they intertwine with your niche. Putting a twist on a news event will leave your reader satisfied that they learned something new, particularly if it’s an event that has been covered a lot.
Remember: Keep the content of your articles evergreen. The content should be as valuable and relevant in two years as it is right now.
Try to write an article related to a current event a few times a month. You don’t want to “overuse” the news, but incorporating a current event regularly will keep you tuned into the news and give you yet another go-to tool – especially if you feel writer’s block creeping in.
Put this template to good use in your next article set. Then leave a comment to tell us how it worked for you!
 Posted by Christopher M. Knight on July 13, 2009 at 10:51 am | 1,070 views |
12 Comments »
I have one question with regards to basing articles on current events, and this stopped me from writing an article recently.
If an article takes a few days to be approved, will the news event still be of interest maybe a week after the event? Obviously it depends on the event in question. Michael Jackson’s death is a big event, but I was trying to think of months ahead and wonder if anyone would be interested…
Admittedly my own lack of time at that point also affected my decision not to write the article I was thinking of, and then I felt it too late as it wasn’t a big news event…
Anyone else have any opinions on this?
[Reply]
Thaddeus,
Frankly, provided you can find clear, logical tie-ins between your niche and news-worthy events, then there aren’t any real “drawbacks” to using this template often.
With that said, be cautious of…
- Forcing a current event into your niche. Be sure the connections you make are clear and relevant.
- Creating a drop in credibility for you as an author. You may be perceived as shallow or grandstanding if current events are the hook for all of your articles.
Paul,
One of the key points of this template is to be sure the article is evergreen. This means that regardless of when the article is read, the content is still relevant.
For example, in the case of MJ you could open your article with “Remember the media furor over the death of Michael Jackson? This phenomena has been seen…”
The wave of interest in any current event will subside with time, so the real value has to be in your content, not in the current events hook.
Think of a current events hook as a short, temporary boost for an already great article!
[Reply]
Paul,
Typically and out of our own selfish interests, we have a whole internal process to give incoming articles a priority review based on a specific keyword or keyphrase.
In the case of MJ’s death, we prioritized articles that mentioned his name for about 2 days.
I envision a day when the delays you currently experience vanish and we’re investing continuously to that end.
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Thanks for all the great article templates. :)
I always put them straight into our content system.. templates really streamline the whole process.
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