Why Articles Are a Great Format to Start With?

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Articles Format


Why Articles Are a Great Format to Start With, How to Write Good Articles, and How Much You Can Earn from Them

I've been in editing for five years. After getting past the freelance platforms, I started earning real money specifically from articles — they used to pay, and still pay, from 7,000₽ per piece. In the first couple of years of freelancing, I wrote over 250 articles for major companies: Tinkoff Journal, MTS, Sber, Yandex, Moscow Exchange, Neskuchnye Finances. This experience gave me a huge push toward even more interesting projects and even higher fees.
Tatyana Shvetsova
Commercial editor
Author of the channel
"Lya, what a text"
Author of the article

  • Why are articles the ideal format for beginners?

  • Who orders articles and why?

  • Where are articles published and what are the specifics of different platforms?

You’ll learn:

  • Where to find article writing jobs

  • How to make any article stronger and keep readers engaged

Why Are Articles the Ideal Format for Beginners?

There are several reasons:

  • Opportunity to work with an editor, get detailed feedback on your work, and significantly improve as a result. Many people start with short social media posts, but with those, the text is often handed off to a copywriter. With articles, there’s almost always an editor who will guide you in the right direction.

  • Opportunity to work with cool brands. Corporations need the most articles because they have to write for dozens of different platforms. For example, I published my first article in Tinkoff Journal — got a great portfolio piece and a decent fee.

  • Good pay. Even if you get 4,000₽ per article (and I rarely see lower rates), writing 10 articles a month means 40,000₽. That’s more than you’d earn on freelance platforms, and you don’t have to work 12 hours a day.

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Who Orders Articles and Why?

I distinguish four types of clients, but they can overlap:

  • Large corporations. These are big companies with lots of departments and lots of clients, each with different interests. For example, Sber has blogs about finance, technology, and real estate.

Example: my article for Sber’s page on Pikabu — about cybersecurity.

  • Brand media. These are like online magazines that don’t always talk directly about the company’s product but touch on it indirectly. For example, I wrote for a year about marketplaces for Yandex Market’s brand media "Check."

This is what the brand media of the online school "Foxford" looks like.

  • IT companies. These aren’t just giants like VK and Yandex, but also smaller organizations, because IT products are complex. Articles serve two purposes: help clients understand why they need the product and build an HR brand to attract skilled professionals. Some even run educational content to bring newcomers into the field.

An article about marketing and analytics on the blog of an IT service.

  • Any company with a complex product. You won’t see a supermarket like “Pyaterochka” writing articles on why cucumbers are useful. It’s different with complex products — services, B2B offerings, healthcare. These companies use articles to explain their products and industry challenges.

Articles on the "Neskuchnye Finances" blog explain why businesses need to manage money wisely — and simultaneously promote the company's services.

Where Are Articles Published and What Are the Specifics of Different Platforms?

There are many platforms. Here are a few I’ve worked with:

  • Company blog on their website — the only specifics here are internal requirements (editorial policy, tone of voice, etc.)

  • VC.ru — a startup-tech crowd that’s there to have fun.

  • Promo pages — where product articles are published to move the reader down the sales funnel.

  • Habr — a tech platform where hardcore IT folks write for other hardcore IT folks.

At the beginning, I recommend trying different platforms: study their requirements, read successful pieces. If a client comes with one request, a good author will help them choose the best option. For example, if the client wants a blog post but the writer realizes it’s better to publish on a media platform with an existing audience — then the article will definitely get views.

Where to Find Article Writing Jobs?

I found my first gigs in Telegram channels with job listings. For example, “Norm Rabota” and “Tekstodrom.” At first, I responded only to topics I already understood — I had taken courses or worked in those areas before. If you can’t find anything relevant, remember: it’s not about already knowing everything, but being ready to learn when needed.

Here are a couple of job posts from Telegram channels. Companies looking for article writers vary greatly, and most are willing to pay well.

Another way — reach out directly to a company whose product or content you like. Once, I messaged Unisender and offered to write articles for their blog. We’ve been working together for two years now, and over time, they’ve given me more interesting projects.

How to Make Any Article Stronger and Keep Readers Engaged?

Two tools make any article strong — examples and scenarios. Thanks to them, people read articles to the end, and something sticks in their minds afterward.

  • Examples. A basic tool that every writer must have. If you present a theoretical point or abstraction, you must back it up with an example. Abstracts are interpreted differently by everyone because of different life experiences. The role of examples is to draw a picture that everyone understands the same way.

In an article for Unisender, I give an example of what to write in a business email.

  • Scenarios. A scenario helps the reader see themselves in the situation where the product is useful. For instance, we’re writing an article about the benefits of a residential complex and say that all entrances are at ground level. That’s a statement, a feature. But until we explain it, the reader won’t understand — “Ground level, so what?” But we add a scenario: “All entrances are at ground level, so you won’t have to carry strollers up the steps.” If the target audience is families with children, they’ll immediately see why they should buy an apartment there.

Here, I start an article about a payment calendar with a scenario entrepreneurs can relate to.

Finally, Let Me Share a Small Failure from My Practice

Once, the editor from “Neskuchnye Finances” contacted me and asked me to write a couple of articles. I’m not a big fan of financial topics, but I agreed. When one of my texts was published, I realized the editor had completely rewritten it. I didn’t even include it in my portfolio — I was so ashamed.

Since then, I stick to this principle: work only on topics that are close and interesting to me, don’t betray myself, and don’t chase projects just for the money. In my experience, that leads nowhere good. And what’s truly mine has never left me — and it won’t leave you either.

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