A guide to help to write articles

Want to give writing articles while earning some SoulGems along the way a shot? Maybe you don't know where to start or have a hard time picking a subject as a topic?
In this article i present you a rather extensive guide on how to get started to become a published article writer on Gamehag.

Writing articles might seem hard but once you've got the hang of it writing can be a good source of income or, in the case for GameHag, an excellent way to earn some extra SoulGems. But how and where to start? What will get your article accepted or rejected?
There is no such thing as a free lunch or a quick road to riches and this goes for just about anything, including writing articles and getting them published.
In this rather extensive guide you will find the Do's and Don't that will help you on your way to becoming a published writer. In this guide i will teach you the basics of making your article suitable for publishing however, there is no 100% certified way that any article will get published. Following this guide will greatly increase your chances of delivering quality content but in the end results will always depend on the work you put into it.

Do's:
- Pick a good topic
Picking a topic isn't that hard. Look at trending topics about gaming for inspiration. Review a popular game or write about the newest piece of hardware. Guides and howtos are also a good choice if the content is correct and complete.
A good place to start looking for a topic for GameHag is right here in the rewards section. You can pick a reward to write/review about and link that reward to your article.

-Gather information
Even if you already consider yourself an expert on your chosen topic, still look around to see if you are correct and if what you want to write is really complete. Find out what others have to say and investigate general opinions. Read other reviews about your topic and explore user comment sections on articles on popular sites such as IGN.com or gaming platforms as Steam or GOG. Implement useful information you find in your article.

-Write and review your own article
Open a text editor and make a concept of what you want to tell about and check it for spelling and grammar mistakes. Think about what you wrote down. Is there something you might add or better omit? Maybe you should move around some phrases to make improve the logic of your text and readability? Are your sentences not structured equally over and over or maybe you can rephrase some things?. Are you repeating information in some places or did you forgot an important item? Is your text written in an interesting way?
Always make sure you format your text in small readable subtopics or paragraphs. If you are adding lists of some kind, use item bullets. A messy text makes for a messy read and won't keep people interested. Use proper capitalization and punctuation and make sure you clean things up before you post your article.

-Ask friends to proofread
Especially if you are not a native English speaker/writer, it can be a good tip to ask some friends to proofread your texts and ask their honest opinions about it. Do not be afraid of criticism and use any critique to see if you can somehow improve your text.

-Add media
Nothing is more boring than a big wall of text. One image can speak a thousand words, so make sure you have some nice visuals like images or even a Youtube video to add to your article. It's always good to make images or a Youtube video yourself, but there is plenty available on the internet to find with a few simple Google searches. Make sure you do not use copyrighted material and if you do always make sure you have the permission from the original holder of these rights.
For the more popular games or sometimes even hardware often there are "Press-kits" to available. Presskits are packages of information, images and sometimes even videos supplied by the developers/publishers specifically for news articles and reviews. Media supplied in Presskits is always of high quality and free to use.
Youtube videos can mostly be freely embedded because content creators will enjoy every view on their content they can get. Of course, this also can be a great way to get views on your own Youtube content since a good video in a good article on GameHag will generate views.
Getting your article containing your own Youtube content published on GameHag is a win-win situation for both you the Youtube creator and GameHag.

-Add links
If people are enjoying your content, or are getting interested in the topic you have chosen it can always be nice to provide them with some links to similar content or information sources.
Think of things such as a good place to buy or try out the product you have written about, or links to communities and forums with fans of the subject. If you have written about a game then maybe link to a modding community or a site that offers play guides.
Give people hungry for more after reading your content a way to quench their thirst for knowledge.

-Add simple technical facts
Especially if your article is somewhat short because of it being about a simple topic, there might be some simple technical facts you can add. Think about things like developer/manufacturer names, release dates, technical specifications and/or system requirements.
A small summary of such simple facts sorted at the bottom can be a nice way to complete your article and overall give a better impression of quality of the whole content

-Use spellcheckers
The human brain is a wonderful thing, but can be your enemy when it comes to writing articles. The way our brains work can often make it so that we easily overlook small spelling mistakes and errors and still understand perfectly what has been written. It is stunning how many errors still remain in published media like newspaper articles, books or internet articles even after multiple revisions of a certain text.
Still, there will always be people finding and pointing out these small flaws and mistakes so to look as professional as you can run a few spellchecks on your content and see if there are ways to improve on what you have written.

-Check for plagiarism
Unique content is good content. GameHag and any other site use unique content to get indexed higher on search engines such as Google. Most search engines now have complex algorithms that can detect duplicate texts or plagiarism and so will give a lower indexing to the page who added this content last. Of course, it is alright to use published content partially for your own content, but always rewrite what you are saying in your own words. If you decide to copy some content from any source you found, make sure that you clearly quote that portion and refer to the original publisher, preferably with a link to the original source if available.
Even if you have written your own text 100% yourself it is still a good idea to check for plagiarism. Because of the sheer amount of content already available it is not unlikely that something similar to what you wrote is already published elsewhere.
If you find portions of your text already written elsewhere it is a good idea to rewrite that portion is a slightly different way.
The key to getting published and paid for your article is always unique and quality written content.

These were some good basics on what to do and how to get started on writing your own articles, not only for publishing on GameHag but basically every online place you will want to publish. Now we move on to the "Don'ts" of writing articles. The "Don'ts" of writing articles are very important to adhere since maybe you'll be forgiven in small flaws with the "Do's" of writing, ignoring the "Don'ts" are usually a sure way to get your article denied from publishing. Let's move on;

Don'ts:

-Do not blatantly copy content
Write from your own opinion or experience, use checked facts and/or popular opinions. It is ok to use any material you can find as a source, but NEVER duplicate something someone else has published before. Not only is this considered wrong and unethical or even stealing from a press related viewpoint, publishing blatantly copied content can even hurt the publishing site in the way that it will lose its search engine indexing. In a worst-case scenario publishing copied and/or copyrighted content without its owner permission can even result in lawsuits. There are many automated and non-automated ways to detect if your content is unique or copied.
When using source material, make sure to make up your own texts with the information at hand and write in your own words and structure.
Copying content is by far the biggest "Don't" and the worst mistake a writer can make!

-Do not use copyrighted images/videos
Do not randomly pull some imagery from Google Images to use for your articles. Many images and pictures or sometimes even videos have copyrights and are not allowed to be published without the permission of its original owner(s). If you find any material you want to use and notice if there is a copyright, make sure you have that permission to use it or else, don't! If you are not sure if the material has any copyright maybe it is best not to use it just to be safe.
Like stated above, look for Presskits for freely distributable material or just use sources from the Public Domain. Youtube videos are mostly allowed to be published but there can be a few exceptions. Again if you are not sure about a video, ask the owner if you can use it for your purpose. Video sources other than Youtube might have stricter copyright terms, be sure to check those terms before using the content they provide.

-Don't use bad language, curse words or slang
Depending on the type of article and its content you are writing it is ok to write in a lighthearthed way or even to use some jokes. However refrain from using any hurtful jokes or phrases, use of street language or slang and/or foul language or cursewords. An article that drops the "F-bomb" every sentence or uses foul language that might hurt some people or ethnic/religious groups will not be taken seriously and has little value to a publishing site. Occasionally there can be exceptions to this but those must relate to context of your content. If you decide to use any form of bad language in your content, make sure that context is clear.

-Don't clutter your content with improper formatting.
Texts aligned left right and center, overly use of images and colors, misuse of capitalization and poorly written endless sentences. All such things make for a bad or difficult read and so you will lose interest of your readers. Always try to keep a clean and consistent format for your content.

Following the above "Do's" and "Don'ts" while writing your content for your chosen topic should give you a pretty good start. Of course, there are many other things to improve your writing abilities but keeping this guide in mind should give you a solid foundation and increase the chance of your articles getting published.
However here are a few things to think about:

-Keep the use of pictures/images limited and related to your content.
For example; if you are talking about the vastness of the world from the sandbox game you chose as topic then add a picture of some nice in-game scenery or map and not just a generic picture of the character creation or title screen.

-Use 'clean' videos
If you are using a (Youtube) video that you did not create yourself, pick one that related to the content and context of your article. Your readers will love to see some related footage but might not like some random youtuber shouting their opinions or dropping memes constantly. Do not pick the random first video but look at the video in its completion and decide if it relates and is appropriate to add to your article.

-Length of your article
Find a balance in length of what you write down. Too short and it might lack important info you should have talked about. Very short articles usually have little value to publishers too. However, articles that are too long might lose the interest of the reader or stop them from reading at all. Depending on your chosen topic it might seem necessary to write a long article, but beware of redundant or repeating content.

-Take notes from other published writers
Still unsure or in need of tips and ideas? Just look around and read some articles by other published writers here on Gamehag. Find your inspiration on how to do things and apply this to your content. Eventually, you will get more skilled in writing and might even find your own unique style.

-Don't give up
Article rejected? Take it as constructive criticism. Try to find out why it got rejected and look if you can maybe improve on its quality. writing is a learning process and there are few people to whom this comes naturally. Take your content and improve or rewrite. Once you'll get accepted to be published you will notice that there is a structure that works for you. Expand on that structure and keep yourself improving.

-Enjoy writing
Try to enjoy writing articles. Forced writing will reflect negatively on your content and reduce the quality of your articles. Start from the the idea that you like to talk to people and enjoy them with your content. Let writing be your reward itself and then once you do get paid for your efforts, the rewards feel extra satisfying.

Success on your road to getting published!

Useful resources:

-Free Online Spell Check - https://www.jspell.com/public-spell-checker.html
-Free Online Plagiarism Checker - https://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/
-Free Grammar- and Spellcheck Plugin for Firefox and Windows (free signup required) - https://www.grammarly.com/

Thank you for sharing with us,:thumbsup_tone1::thumbsup_tone1:

why you have to check for plagiarism if you wrote it yourself without using any additional articles as a base?

Oxana I don't use those notifications. I just activated them and turned them of for the free SG's. I check Gamehag enough and check my notifications on that site. If something happens on Gamehag, it can wait until tomorrow.


And I write articles for SG's, nothing else. I don't care if those pigs never learn how to use a knife and fork. As long as I get paid for my work, I'm happy. It's not like I put my heart and soul into it. I just pick a topic I can talk about, and write what comes to mind as professional as possible. It takes a while to finish an aritcle, but I always make sure I'm writing on moments that I can't do anything better. Can't waste time when you've already expected it to be wasted.

I am quite frustrated that the gamehag community in general is not that up to par in commenting, giving criticism and reacting, but then again it is an earning site and I can't complain when SG's are given to me.

its really helping , thank you

Great article, very useful.

Vey helpful. Thanks for the help!

Helpful for me.. Thanks a lot

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Hmm, still can't find what's the average pay per article

thank you very much

Thank you

I hope I can write as effective and perfect as you.
Also this really should be recorded in FAQ section.

its so helpful, at my first article i used copy paste but now i understand.Guyș don't make this mistake again(copy/paste)

I was use copy paste because I understand that my grammar is not perfect and I can't to write an article without mistakes how you say.Its was my problem.

but I have a question how to save the link or this article in gamehag

*of this))

Great guide, definitely going to use it in the future when i make my own article.

nice guide :)

i miss steamburnerdutch hope where ever he is he is happy and in great peace :(

good work appreciate it. It will be helpful

thanks for your guide

Hi:D

meh, the bot helped you all with the writing