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 . 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.

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

Tip B. You might consider hiring a writer by contract through
http://www.albaengine/services-contents-writing.htm

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.