An article that appears on the first page of the search engine results attracts lots more traffic than one that’s not. If you don’t research keywords to include in your article it won’t get spidered by the search engines. If it doesn’t get spidered, you will lose out on traffic and sales.
Steps to optimize your article for the search engines
1. Keyword research
Use the free word tracker tool to find the keywords related to the topic of your article. This tool displays the number of searches for keywords and keyword phrases people enter into the search engines. Sometimes the keyword you think is popular is not. When you enter the keyword phrase in word tracker you will also find related keywords. You can then select any one of these related keyword phrases to include in your article.
Example:
– I decide to write about “brown widgets”.
– I enter “brown widgets” into word tracker.
– Word tracker doesn’t display results for “brown widgets” but does display results for “affordable red widgets”, “professional red widgets” etc.
– Instead of writing about “brown widgets” I change my topic to “red widgets” and include the keyword phrases “affordable red widgets,” “professional red widgets” in my article.
– This will ensure the search engines will spider my article based on the keyword research I performed.
2. Weave the keywords into your content
Include your keyword phrase(s) several times throughout the article. Definitely use it in your title, first and last paragraphs. Don’t overdo it. If you repeat it too many times it will not only sound strange to your readers but the search engines may view it as spam.
3. Include related keywords
Instead of just using “brown widgets” multiple times within your article, include related keywords by opening the thesaurus. This helps prevent repetition, makes your article interesting to read and professional.
4. Check the article
Read the article aloud to yourself or get someone else to read it to you. If it sounds strange to you it will probably have the same effect on your readers. Edit the content until it reads smoothly.
Conclusion
If you optimize each article with keywords you researched, it may rank well in the search engines. If it ranks in the top 10 searches you’ll receive a continuous flow of traffic. Increased traffic means more visitors. The article prepares the customer’s mind to receive your offer. Placing them in a buying mood creates more sales than if you had run an ad. A well written article is more effective and costs less.
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Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of Web Design, SEO, Hosting
Receive fresh, in-depth articles articles on how to design, optimize and promote your web site by subscribing to his “Marketing Tips” newsletter at: http://www.isitebuild.com/
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