Jeff Herring

One of the more common problems I see with beginning article writers is people will write without helping. They'll tell all about the why and all about the what, but none of the how.

Now you don't want to give away the store and tell them everything so there's no reason for them to contact you by clicking through on the links in your resource box. What you do want to do is give a little bit of the how - what to do, and a bit of how to do it.

By doing this you demonstrate your expertise and you help people to know, like, and trust you. The reader will then believe that you have something more for them worth reading.

They're going to want to find out more about you and more about what you can do. The psychology of it goes like this

"Wow, if this is what this person gives for free, I wonder what else they have that I can learn from for free, and maybe even spend some money with these folks."

What to do instead

A great article contains what to do, why to do it, and at least some of the how to do it. You don't give away the store by telling everything, but you do give the reader something useful to go on. Think of your article as being useful but incomplete.

You want to make sure you give your reader at least one actionable tip that they can use from your article.