Everyone likes to laugh. At least everyone sane. Actually, insane people laugh too, they just don't know they're laughing. Even the Pope laughs, just not in public. Laughter unites people. It can diffuse tense situations. And most importantly, at least from a writer's standpoint, it can keep people reading your articles.

You don't have to be a comedian, or Dave Barry to incorporate laughs into your writing. You don't really have to be that funny of a person, either. And you're not looking to put the readers in stitches. Just a slight chuckle can make a world of difference.

I often try to incorporate cheap puns into my articles. For example, I might include the pun: 'To write with a broken pencil is pointless' in an article about daily freewriting. It's a groaner, but it might just keep the reader reading, at least for another paragraph.

Including a humorous anecdote is another great way to get your readers to smile. A simple search on Yahoo or Google will yield a number of websites that have anecdote archives. Or you can include a personal anecdote. Seven words that are sure to keep a reader's attention are: 'That reminds me of a funny story..'

I like to keep my readers on their toes by incorporating a technique I like to call Random Insertion. (I'll pause here while you less mature readers stop snickering.) Random Insertion is actually self-explanatory, I randomly insert information that obviously does not belong. For example, If I was listing possible places to promote ezine articles I might mention: (A) Free Ezine Articles Announcement List (http://ezinearticles.20fr.com) (B) Go Articles.com and (C) www.drew-barrymore-is-a-goddess.net The third listing is obviously bogus (though true) and putting in an otherwise serious article can peak the readers interest and keep them reading.

I will not keep droning on any longer. Hopefully, by now everyone has gotten the point. Humor makes people laugh, and laughing makes people happy. And happy readers keep reading and will remember your name the next time they see it at the top of an article. Maybe you'll even be able to use some of my suggestions to sprinkle laughs all through your next article. If not I'm fully prepared to tell the Pope...