I'd
like to share a few simple
tips and techniques for working with search engine
optimization in articles. Of course most writers will be writing for
their audiences anyways and this is the way it should be. But in
addition, there is nothing wrong with applying some mild
optimization principles to your Web based article content for
better exposure and ranking on the search engines.
So let's
start with a few basic, easy-to-follow tips that should help
your cause as you apply them.
Tip
1. Start by writing for your audience - without concerns
about the SEO technical stuff.
By
this we are talking about writing something of value that speaks
directly to your audience. Highly useful content that engages
the reader and will meet their need. Write something that you can
feel proud of. Do not stress or worry about search engine
optimization tactics while you are in the creative writing phase.
Most of the time we do not create our best work, if we are all
bogged down about SEO related issues...such as how many times a
keyword is being used or what the exact keyword density is.
Write your article for the readers first and try and keep it
focused on one central topic.
Tip
2. When you are creating an article, understand that often that
article is "born" as you write it.
Maybe
you are a new writer just getting started. If
you are struggling with an idea or feel like you have writers
block, it's important to realize that one of the best ways to
get started, is to simply begin actually writing and let your article
"take shape" as you write it. Fashion your story as you
assemble your thoughts onto paper. Writing is something that
flows as you practice. Great articles are born as you
write them.
Tip 3. Realize
that some of your best article writing will be created if you
work on it over a period of time.
I believe that often, our
thoughts creatively continue as the old expression suggests...as we "sleep
on it." This applies especially to creative writing or even
just copywriting in general. Try working on two or three
different projects at a time and over a period of a few days.
Don't be in a big rush to finish something off quickly. But give
yourself the liberty to be creative over a period of time.
Tip
4. Once your article is finished, it's time to test
it out and see how it will flow to the reader.
One of the smartest tips I learned from Robin Nobles, is to
read your finished content out loud. There are errors that will
not be picked up by the spell checker. But as you read your work
out loud, certain issues will surface and you can make changes
to the "delivery of the article" or the "tone of
the article" so that it flows much better.
Once
your article is complete it's time for a little SEO (or a little
mild optimization.)
Tip 5. Use Wordtracker
to do some additional keyword research and include important
keyword phrases into your article in specific areas.
You can mildly re-write your finished article with specific
attention to basic optimization principles. Pay attention to
your focus on the "researched phrase" especially with
respect to usage in the Title Tag, Description Tag, Heading text
and of course the link text. Remember that there is a huge
advantage to writing your article first and then as a second
step, applying some very basic, mild optimization. Try and stay
focused on just one keyword phrase per article.
Secret:
Did you know that if you write your article so that it naturally
"reads very well," you will naturally gain some bonus
for having useful content that reads well to a human being. You
don't need to stuff your tags full of keywords but use
moderation in everything you do. One of the things you need to
understand is that "theme based" search engines like
Google, are actually using a measure of artificial intelligence
(AI) to measure how well your article reads based on all of the
overall data a search engine has gathered concerning a specific
topic. The better you write quality content so that it reads
intelligently, the closer you will be to matching your correct
theme.
Tip
6. Remember to flesh your article out in the re-write process
with a few additional synonyms of your focused keyword
phrase. You want your article highly focused on your topic,
but it should not need to sound Spamy with the same keywords
repeatedly used in an un-natural way.
Tip
7. Consider the quality of "customer focus" within
your dialogue and article content. There are all types
of articles of course, but many times we could do much better by
speaking to our readers rather than just writing coldly stating
facts or information. There are times when you'll want to breath
some human interest into an article. While other times, the
article could feature historical or statistical information.
Always keep the audience who you are writing to in mind and
apply a good "reader focus" to your articles so that
you include the right elements. What types of phrasing are you using to put the message
across? Is it WE, OUR, OURS, etc....or is it YOU, YOURS and
YOU'RE.
Tip
8. Don't forget to include a detailed Bio.
It should not be too long, but it needs to include your important
keyword phrase within the text links, which will link back to
your Web site. Make sure your Bio reads well and realize that it
must be kept down to about 300 to 400 characters. Some editors
just don't want your Bio going on for miles.
Tip
9. Remember to think about submission of your article to
quality e-zines and publications.
You can use a free submission
service such as this one. The free service sends to over
3,723 editors and 9 article announcement groups. They also have
a pay service for $39.95 for unlimited submissions over 3 months
to
31,600 editors months and over 70 article announcement groups.
Very reasonable. You can also pre-time your paid submissions to
go out before a certain date or after a certain date.
Or if you prefer, you can manually submit your articles yourself. Follow the exact
publishers guidelines for submission so that the article is well
received and has a better chance for full distribution and
circulation.
Tip
10. As your article is published, depending on where it is
published and when, you'll want to use an analytics program to
track your traffic and you can sometimes expect some huge
traffic surges as you article goes out to major e-zines who do a
distribution by e-mail. Some e-zines can have as many as several
hundreds of thousand readers on their lists and you'll be surprised at how
much impact you can get from article that gets distributed by
e-mail.
REMEMBER:
If you need help to refine your SEO skills quickly, you can
build and refine your SEO skills by attending one of our Live
5-Day SEO Mastery Workshops where I will work with you in person
for 5 complete days of SEO skill-building. There is no easier
way to learn SEO, than to "learn by doing" with
personal instruction direct from us.
Dates
of upcoming Workshops:
But
what if you are not a writer?
What
if you don't have time to write lots of fresh original content?
Okay, perhaps you want to enjoy the advantages of a regularly updated
site with lots of fresh new articles. You know the search
engines just love crawling sites that have original, new content
added on a consistent basis, but you feel you simply don't have
time enough to devote to all of this writing...."Are
there any other options" I hear you ask?
Okay,
let's give you a couple of options you can think about.
Here are 3 more
alternative Ideas to help you with Content Freshness: (Even if
you don't have time to write)
Tip A. How would
you like to have a series of 18 Ghost writers working for you?
That's what you get from this excusive service called Article
Underground.
For a membership they provide you with:
-
400 freshly
written articles (each
and every month)
-
Each article
written from the ground
up
-
Each article
optimized for exact
keyword phrases
-
Access to 15 web
sites to announce articles on with complete flexibility in
posting privileges
-
Extensive
keyword research - (raw spreadsheets with research made
available to members)
-
Access to a
Members only forum with friendly helpful environment
-
SEO techniques
for beginners and the pros
-
Membership
capped at 350 participants to keep all content of value
Check
out the details by clicking here.
Tip B. You
might consider hiring a writer by contract through http://www.elance.com/mp/cat/writing/index.html
Tip C. You might consider outsourcing your writing to
others. Find a writers group. There are plenty of good
writers that are willing to help your write content for your Web
site and many will work very reasonably. I know of one SEO
marketer who did very well by hiring high school students to
write for him.
Always remember that
the more value that you build into your Web site using lots of
fresh, original content being added on a regular, consistent,
basis - can have a genuine impact not only your rankings,
but it can be beneficial to increase the number of times that a
search engine robot keeps coming back. But even more important than
this......it will also keep your visitors keep coming back over
and over again too.
Don't
wait, but get started right now today!
Good luck with all
of your online business.
Highest regards
John Alexander
john@searchengineworkshops.com
Search Engine
Workshops
About John Alexander
John Alexander is the Co-Director of
Training of Search Engine Workshops with Robin Nobles. Together,
they
teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive
"hands on" search
engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe.
John also teaches online
search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com.
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