Three Things Your Articles Cannot Do Without: A Checklist
Writing articles is a good way to promote products and services. How can you make sure that your articles have what it takes to help you with your online business? Well, the following are the three questions that you need to ask yourself every single time you write an article:
Does your article have good keyword phrases?
Of course, you want your articles to be found by your target market, which is why you should make sure that your article has the phrase that a person who is looking for the information that your article offers is most likely to type in the search box of a search engine.Where should you put the keyword phrases? It should be found in the title, the first sentence of your article and scattered around the body of your article. It is also wise to bold or italicize your keyword phrases or use them as an anchor to a related link whenever possible. However, you should know how often you should use the keyword phrases, which is why you should ask the next question which is...
Are your keywords being used enough?
A keyword phrase has to be used often enough for its presence to be "felt" by search engines. However, you should not use it too much or else you will turn off your readers because you would not "sound natural." You can also turn off search engines and they could penalize you for "keyword stuffing." A good keyword density is around 3 to 5 percent. By the way, keyword density is the number of times a keyword or a keyword phrase appears in article in proportion to the number of words of the entire article. E-zine Articles will not allow you to publish an articles if you use a keyword phrase too much. It is therefore important to mind your keyword density. Having good keyword phrases is not enough. You don't want your article to be just found; you also want it to be read and liked, which is why you should ask...
Does your article have good content?
Your articles can boost your reputuation and make people trust you. It is thus important for you to have good content in your articles. A good article entertains people and provides them with the information they need. Also, they should be well-written. You should mind your punctuation, spelling and grammar when you write. When people like your articles and trust you, they are more likely to click on the link in your resource box and to buy the products that you recommend.
A good article can give your online business a boost. It can drive traffic to your website. But they need to have good keyword phrases that are strategically and judiciously used and your articles have to be well-written. Ask these questions after writing your articles. You will never go wrong when your answer to each question is yes.
HOW-TO
Writing Articles that People and Search Engines Love
When writing articles, you write for your readers and the search engines. You write articles to build trust and a good online reputation for your online business, but you also need to write your articles in such a way that they get found by your target market in the search engines. This article discusses how you can write articles that are both search engine and people-friendly.
1) First, you need to research for good keywords.
You want your article to be found, so a good keyword research is a must. You need to find keywords or key phrases that have a high search volume and low competition. You can use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool for checking the search volume. To see the level of competition for the keyword or phrase, simply type the keyword or phrases in a search box (enclose key phrases in quotation marks) and look at the number of the search results at the upper right hand corner of the page. There are many things to consider in assessing keyword competition, but that would be another topic.
2) Make sure that the keywords or key phrases that you are going to use are well-placed throughout your article and have the right keyword density.
Those words or phrases need to appear on the title, and the first paragraph and scattered all over the article. However, you also need to be mindful of the keyword density. Keyword density is the ratio of the number of times the key word or key phrase appears in the article to the article's total word count. Three things are sure to happen when you use a phrase or a word too many times. First, you will sound "unnatural" and that can be irritating to your readers. Second, search engines hate keyword stuffing so you can be sure that your article will be ignored. Last but not the least, some article directories (especially Ezine Articles) will not allow you to publish your article if the keyword density for a certain key phrase or word is too high. Thus, it is really important that you use keywords and key phrases judiciously. A good keyword density is around 3% to 5%.
3) Write good content.
The saying, "Content is king" is a cliche in the world of article marketing because it rings true. Your readers must find the information that they are looking for in your article. This is important when you are trying to build trust and credibility. However, if you are selling information products, you can give your readers tidbits of information that make them hungry for more so that they end up buying what you have to offer. Your article must be easy to read. When appropriate, make your article entertaining. You also need to mind your grammar and spelling. If you are writing articles to build a good online reputation, you would not want to seem uneducated or unprofessional (or both) to your readers.
In conclusion, you should write your article for people as well as for search engines. Make sure that they are easily found by your targeted readers. More importantly, you must make sure that people feel that they got some valuable information out of your article so as to help you build trust, credibility and good reputation. Follow the guidelines above and you will achieve maximum results in your article marketing efforts.
STORY
Three Article Essentials: How a Successful Article Uses Them to Write Profitable Articles
Jason has been successfully marketing products on the Internet for four years through article marketing. There are many ways to sell products online, but he says he is sticking to article marketing because it is a free marketing method and it is quite easy to implement. Many article marketers have failed in the business, but Jason is not one of them. He says that he keeps three article essentials in mind while writing articles.
First, he makes sure that his article has good keyword phrases. He researches for good keywords using free keyword tools. He says it takes a lot of time, but the time is well-worth it because he wants his articles to be easily found by people. He looks for phrases that people are most likely to type when looking for the information that his article has to offer. He says, "An ideal key phrase has a high search volume but has low competition." He puts the phrase in the title and the first sentence and scatters it around the body of the article. He also bolds or italicizes the key phrase. Whenever appropriate, he also uses it as an anchor to a link back to the article.
Jason also makes sure that the key phrase is being used enough in his article because the search engines have to "feel" its presence in order for the article to be optimized. However, he makes sure that his articles sound "natural"; he does not use the phrase too many times. He says that a good keyword density is around 3% to 5%. Jason explains, "Keyword density is the number of times a key word or a key phrase occurs in an article in proportion to the article's word count." He cautions, "Some article directories, particularly E-zine Articles, do not allow you to submit articles if it has any keyword with a keyword density that is above 3%, so use key phrases judiciously."
Finally, Jason reveals what he thinks is the most important thing to keep in mind when writing articles: Content is king which is why the content has to be good. "Here's why," he says, "You don't just want your articles to be found. You would want your article to be a good read. A good article gives the information that your readers need. If you are selling an info product, you can give them a bit of that information and then lead them to your site or the landing page of the product." He further says that the point of writing good content is to boost one's online reputation and to build trust. He adds, "Part of writing good content is minding your spelling and grammar. Like it or not, poor grammar and spelling smacks of stupidity. You would not want to seem uneducated to your readers." People who read articles by someone they trust are more likely to click the link in the resource box and buy the products that the author recommends.
To sum up, Jason is successful at article marketing because he applies these three article essentials. He researches good keyword phrases. Then, he makes sure that these phrases are strategically placed in his article and he is careful not to overuse them. He also creates good content which helps him build trust and a good online reputation. He advises, "Apply these article essentials and you will never go wrong."