What are the basic things to keep in mind in order to write a good looking paper? Recently my advisor told me to write a paper up on a problem I have been working on, on my own. Since I have never written one before, I wanted to ask what are the essential ingredients one needs to keep in mind in order to write a good paper. Till now I understand that the following things are important:


Reducing typos and grammatical mistakes.
Proper references.
A good introduction which describes the work's justification and relevance, and its connection to existing ideas in literature.
Catchy but not cheesy title.
Nice writing style. I like to describe one idea per sentence/point, which sequentially connect to each other.
An adequate mixture of words and equations such that the content is easy to follow. Basically not too many words in the same place, and not too many equations either.
Asking some people to review the drafts.


Apart from this, are there some obvious things which I am missing which are very essential?
First of all, you want to clearly present the problem you are tackling and the approach that lead you to the success (or failure). This is the meat of the paper that most of the time should be spent on. 

It is common to write papers starting from the core that later naturally expands into sections like Introduction, Conclusion, and Abstract. There are certainly other approaches, but based on the list you outlined, I would certainly stress that the clear and correct presentation of the paper essence (which is usually not in the introduction, title, or proper references) is the most important thing.

After a good content-wise version of the paper is finished, then the time of the items in your list come into the play: typos, grammar, references, title choice, appropriate writing style, paper flow.

Several things I would point to be important (in addition to your list), but not necessarily essential:


Look into how the papers in your field are usually written. That will help in getting the basics right. Avoid uncommon abbreviations and notation, unless justified. If you have a journal/conference in mind for submission, take a close look into the guidelines for the template, paper organization, editorial &amp; referencing style.
Look into the flow of the paper. Ideally, most sentences logically flow from the previous one, every paragraph logically follows and is expected after the previous one, and so on.
Consider adding quality figures or diagrams that help to illustrate your problem/idea/approach/results (if any of that is relevant to your field).
Since you mentioned equations, consider double- and triple-checking your typed equations and derivations, maybe even using a symbolic math processing engine.