Article Marketing Writing Techniques SEO Copywriters
Posted on 12. Jan, 2009 by Christine OKelly in SEO Copywriting
There are several reasons why we often recommend that clients pursue article marketing: to establish themselves as industry experts, to increase awareness of their products and services, and to build backlinks to their websites. The first two are fairly obvious, which is why we are going to focus on the third in this post.
Starting an article marketing campaign does not guarantee links. In fact, it is entirely possible to achieve absolutely no linking benefit to your website — and it is amazing how many people are doing just that. Here are some tips to optimize a distribution article for maximum SEO benefit:
Choose Keywords Wisely
Keywords are the search terms that your readers or customers use to find your website. Knowing which keywords you wish to target is one of the single most important components to your Internet marketing campaign. When done correctly, keyword research will be able to pinpoint which keywords your competitors are targeting and which keywords are more easily mastered than others.
Choose one primary keyword to target in your article, as well as 2-4 related keywords to sprinkle throughout. Using these related keywords helps the search engines get an even clearer idea about the topic of your article. Believe it or not, search engines can tell the difference between a keyword that appears on a page of many unrelated terms and one that appears with terms related to its topic.
Using Keywords In Your Title And Summary
You should use the keyword in the title of the article whenever possible — trying to position the keyword toward the first part of the title. For example, a title that reads:
Article Marketing: 3 Things Strategies for Achieving More Visibility
Vs.
3 Things Strategies for Achieving More Visibility with Article Marketing
Using keywords in the title is important because the title often becomes the title tag and sometimes the URL of the web page. The title tag and URL are two of the most important pieces of a webpage that help search engines identify the topic of the content. Not only does the title tag give the search engines a critical tip as to your topic, but the title tag usually becomes the dark blue title that appears in the search engines results page. This is why it is essential to create article titles that not only include keywords, but that also captivate readers. A good, solid, intriguing title can make the difference between your article being seen and being overlooked.
The summary of your article often becomes the Meta description for the page on which it’s published. The Meta description is usually the short summary that appears in the search engine results page beneath the title. The same logic that applies to writing captivating, keyword-rich titles also applies to writing summaries.
Using Keywords In The Body And Author Bio
When writing articles for article marketing, a good target keyword density is between 1.0% and 1.3%. Trying to “over optimize” by using keywords at a higher percent density can cause the article to be rejected by many publishers.
It is also very important that you use your main keywords as anchor text whenever the online article distribution site will allow. Google uses anchor text to determine page ranking. When you use your keyword as an anchor text, you are essentially telling Google (and the reader) what your website is all about.
The author bio is the most important place to use keywords. Many article submission sites allow for anchor text in the ‘about the author’ bio – and taking this opportunity critical. When creating a bio with anchor text, it is beneficial to include two links: one link to the homepage in a main keyword, and a link to an internal page using the keyword the internal page is targeting.
We see many businesses make the mistake of only building links to their homepages. This is a missed opportunity! It is very important to build links to a site’s internal pages — in fact we recommend that an article be written and distributed linking to any new pages created. The backlinks generated by that article will help establish the new page with the search engines.
By choosing to target the right keywords, using your main keyword in the titles and subheads of an article and of course linking to your website with anchor text keywords, you will effectively be using article marketing to build a backlink campaign for your website.
41 Responses to “Article Marketing Writing Techniques SEO Copywriters”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
25 Top Guides For Online Writing | Career Building Tips.html -
February 2, 2009
[...] 10.Article Marketing Writing Technique SEO Copywriters builds on the basics for those starting into article marketing. [...]
Leave a Reply
Recent Posts
- SEO Copywriting Step-By-Step: 25 Facebook Post Ideas
- SEO Copywriting Step By Step: 5 Newsletter Topic Ideas That Hook Your Readers
- Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions To Boost Online Visibility
- How to Optimize an Article for Maximum SEO Effectiveness
- More Proof That SEO Content Marketing Is Fueling Search Visibility
Megan
12. Jan, 2009
Thanks for these great tips! I never realized that you could actually “over optimize” key words when writing articles. I will follow your suggested guidelines for keyword density in the future.
Chaz
24. Feb, 2009
Great article.
Thers obviously more to article marketing than we are normally taught. It has changed the way I’ll think about my articles.
Thanks.
Jain
14. Mar, 2009
This might be a little off subject, but have you looked at seoclientprospectingrobot dot com? Just wondering if you have any reviews of it, I’m thinking of buying a copy, and wanted to see if anyone had bought a copy yet.
Kevin Sandridge
07. Apr, 2009
Great feedback on internal (deep) linking. So many folks link only to their home page, and they always use the same anchor text when doing so! Mix and match is the way to go – and deep linking really does help coax search engines “deeper” into one’s blog site!
milton rhodes
07. May, 2009
Great article. This is just what I was looking for.
Writing trainer
07. May, 2009
Great tips. Excellent advice for building a backlink campaign for your website through article marketing.
polyachenko
13. May, 2009
I agree that it is needed to spare the special attention to the selection of keywords!
Chicago SEO
14. May, 2009
I agree with all of you points in this post. It’s basically all about finding the right keywords and then putting them in the right places in the article.
Simon
03. Jun, 2009
Great advice! Particularly if using the bigger article websites that require a keyword density of 2% or less. I personally recommend Google’s free keyword research tool for accurate keyword research.
Enrique - SEO-Exchange Marketing
03. Jun, 2009
Great Article! Article marketing has to be one of the greatest way to get your business name out there in the search engines. I submitted an aritcle for a client and got 250 views within 2 months. I submitted that same exact article to 50 different article directories. The only problem is that your page rank will lower for that article if you post it on your website because its considered duplicate content by google; however, it is still well worth posting it on article directories because of visbility!
frases
04. Jun, 2009
So many folks link only to their home page, and they always use the same anchor text when doing so!
Ralph Jenton
04. Jun, 2009
I can’t seem to get your RSS feed to work with my program. Do you mind telling me the url so I can read your posts on my own program?
Article Marketing Tip
13. Jul, 2009
Good post.
I think the idea of rotating your links and anchor text may be one of the most overlooked benefits of article marketing.
Just by changing up your resource boxes, you can easily get dozens of more related links which will appear more natural and have a greater SEO affect.
Greg's Seo Copywriting Services
12. Aug, 2009
And of course, one of the most important questions is how to do keyword research. Do you have a recommended way of doing it? Of course, Word tracker is recommended, but, really, how do you know if it is a good keyword or not?
Paul | copywriting blog
21. Aug, 2009
Thanks for the post. These are all very useful suggestions. I was just watching a Matt Cutts video last night, and he suggested similar things, in the context of blog posts.
One thing I’d add: sometimes it’s a good idea not to use the “about the author” resource box just to ramble about how wonderful you are, but you can use it as an extension of the article and a “call to action”. On the other hand, I’ve noticed that articles with a proper resource box at the end seem to get syndicated more, so it really depends on whether you want more click-thrus, or more distribution.
Article Profits
31. Oct, 2009
Great tips here…Keywords is important but do take note of the resource box too. It is the main aim to let readers clicked and visit your website.
Pammy
31. Oct, 2009
Article Marketing is really a good way in promoting your products and also your website. i used to write health articles on a big pharmaceutical company for the purpose of article marketing.
Translation
10. Nov, 2009
Thanks for this information, it was very helpful. Keep up the good work.
arthritismarketer
11. Nov, 2009
Article Marketing is one of the best ways you can promote your website and the products that you sell. The articles that you publish online or offline also helps to establish the credibility of your website or product.
Article Directory
17. Nov, 2009
Hello, I found your website when i was searching Google for websites related to this article. I have tell you, your site is good. I like the design too, its nice. I don’t have the time now to fully read your blog but I have noted it and I also registered for your RSS feed. I will be back in a night or two. Thanks for an informative site.
klaverjassen
10. Jan, 2010
This is a fantastic post. I have learned some new useful things. I have a question though, could you recommend a good keyword search tool other than Google Keyword tool?
article directory
10. Jan, 2010
Article marketing is truly one of the best ways to advertise. Another good thing is that you are not only using articles to promote your website/product/service etc. you are also able to provide quality content to your readers. The better content you have, more readers you will attract. Anyway, I found this post to be very useful, especially when it comes to keyword linking. Thanks!
SEO Nottingham
22. Jan, 2010
What a great little post about copywriting – well summed up!
Milford MA Real Estate
09. Mar, 2010
I have done a few press releases but I have never found these to be a good means of achieving anything special as far as SEO goes. There are so many other better avenues for that.
free articles for web content
27. Mar, 2010
awesome thanks!.
Anthony Hopkins
26. Apr, 2010
It’s ok to research the Internet for article ideas, but it’s not ok to copy word-for-word of any article. Paraphrasing can also be classified as plagiarism. Be original.
SEO Nottingham
10. May, 2010
Great little post, this has just given me some great ideas for marketing copy and try a few different routes – great post keep up the good work!
Article Directory
10. Jun, 2010
I agree, marketing your self or your web sites through article directories is very beneficial
Esmeralda Cosey
12. Jul, 2010
What need to I do to have my web site towards the top of google do I will need to hire an seo firm or can I do it myself thanks for the help
dofollow backlinks
01. Sep, 2010
Yes, it really comes down to keyword. And too many people seem to forget the importance of those keywords.
There are websites to check the density as you said and everyone should use them!
seo orlando
02. Sep, 2010
Choosing keywords and conducting proper market research is THE most important thing. Everything else is dependent upon this, from your web copy, marketing efforts, site design, market positioning…. etc.
The placement of these terms should be the icing on the cake if the first part is figured out….which is skipped over more often than you think.
Joel Boyd
06. Sep, 2010
Thought I would supplement the list of tips here and bring in one of my own: Your resource box needs to be considered a part of the article.
If you treat it separately from your article 99% of the time the reader will not even look at it. By doing this you are telling your reader that the article is over and you are beginning an ad, which is not good.
Finish your article in the resource box by providing a little more information and telling them to act by going to your site.
Christine
06. Sep, 2010
That is a GREAT point Joel – I’m so glad that you mentioned this!
Nick
02. Oct, 2010
Great information! I think many people forget the tags in HTML and think that merely creating and hosting a webpage will get it found.
worx reviews
24. Apr, 2011
What need to I do to have my web site towards the top of google do I will need to hire an seo firm or can I do it myself thanks for the help
Jack
17. Jul, 2011
These are sound tips for writing for search engines. Don;t forget to write the articles for humans too, or they may never get re-published, or never add any credibility to your site.
troy-bilt tb154e review
23. Sep, 2011
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results. If you know of any please share. Thank you! Also, please check out my blog http://troybilttb154e.doodlekit.com/home
Simon Canter
26. Sep, 2011
The All in One SEO Pack is a popular plugin for wordpress that makes optimising your site easier – once you know the keywords of course.
Liyya
27. Sep, 2011
This is an AWESOME article! I love how you ladies just break this down to the basics. I think many businesses looking to start with article marketing may understand the value of it, but are just not sure where to begin. There so many misconceptions with this valuable content marketing technique and just knowing the RIGHT technique can make a huge impact!
seo
31. Jan, 2012
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your weblog? My blog site is in the very same area of interest as yours and my users would genuinely benefit from a lot of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Thanks!