By John Alexander
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.
