Writing Informational Lenses That Answer People’s Questions

For once, I thought that I would write about articles that are not designed to sell, but to answer people’s questions.  Of course, if you know me at all, you will know that I would still try to find a way to make money from them.  But I will save that part for the end of this post.

The truth of the matter is that when you take the time to exercise your writing skills by writing an informational article, you will find that it will help you write sales articles.  When I decide to write an informational article, I start by researching the questions people are asking about my topic.  Then I write the article by answering those questions, using the questions as the subtitles in my article.  This way, people who ask the questions will find my article when they input those phrases in the search bar.

So the first step is to gather the 5 to 10 questions that will make up the bulk of my article.  Then I research the answers so that I can answer them.  Once I have all my notes together, I can write an article that flows, and uses all the information that I have gathered.  I always use a friendly tone, to invite the reader to share in the discoveries that I have made, and include them.  I never want to bore or insult the reader.

However, many of the articles I write in this manner are intended for school kids, mostly high school age, to use as reference for their classes, so I do not want to make the language too complicated.  Once I have completed the text portion of the article, I can add images, and further references.  This is where I can potentially make money from this lens.

I try to always use pictures from AllPosters.com if I am talking about geography, travel, or history.  Readers may want to buy a picture or map, and AllPosters has some very good ones.  Then I add references to further the reader’s knowledge.  These can be books, maps, travel books, or documentary films, all which can be purchased from Amazon or other book sites.  These are usually the items that get purchased, because the reader wants to learn more.

I have been recently working hard to add short films to my lenses when they are appropriate.  You can find many films on Amazon that the reader can download to their computer for free or $.99.  While you don’t make a lot of money on these, it is still an introduction to Amazon for more searching or an additional item in your cadre of sales from Amazon that month.  Short films are great because it doesn’t take long to view them, and since they don’t cost much, people like to view them.

Here is a lens that illustrates this technique:

The Congo River: Facts and History

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