If you are writing online content, especially blogs or how-to’s, then you should make avid use of a concept that is frowned upon heavily in conventional writing circles. This concept is writing to you. What I mean is that online writing is so much more compelling when you talk directly to your reader.
Who?
Most of the people that are searching for answers online are looking to answer one question, how does this work with or for me? Answer this question directly by telling them that this is how YOU do it, or that YOU will find YOUR answers here. Believe it or not it makes a big difference. The internet is already cold and mechanical enough without reading content that is written to a vague and invisible audience. When you read about products online, you want to know how it pertains to YOU.
How?
So you have probably already noticed that I have used the word YOU over and over, but that is not the only way to address your audience. You should engage your audience with action words. Using passive verbs will kill the enthusiasm of your reader. Tell them how to take action, and create the sense of urgency and inspire them with words that motivate. Don’t tell them what they want to do in the future, give them a commanding line of text telling them how to get it done now. Your readers will respond better to “use the injector to fill the mold” than “you can use the injector to fill the mold”.
Why?
One more thing that you want to give your readers to keep them interested in your article is why it benefits them. The fact is that we all want to know why, and what’s in it for us. To be blindly led to something that I am told benefits me makes me feel suspicious, but if you tell me why it is beneficial I am way more likely to respond. Don’t leave your article with unanswered questions; deliver information in a way that will make your reader feel as though they have gained something from the experience.
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Avoiding Duplicate Content Penalties
When you create your own content you start to realize how difficult it is to create high quality work at a rapid rate. Obviously you want to get as much exposure as you can, but search engines are starting to penalize web sites for carrying duplicate content. This means that if you have the same article posted in several locations throughout the internet that it will actually hurt you. The goal of search engines is to find fresh, original, and relevant content; which means that they do not want to return 25 of the same article in for the same search.
Outsource
I realize that many start up online businesses are strapped for cash, but the use of a good online freelancer to help you research and generate fresh content is invaluable. You may start by developing your own content, but you will soon see that if you choose to use articles as a major source of traffic that outsourcing may be your only option. It is very important to find a trustworthy writer that will not take the money and run, a writer that uses the language that you are publishing in as a primary language to communicate, and a writer that will produce the promised content at a constant rate so that you are never left high-and-dry.
Modify
If you truly cannot afford to outsource, you can modify your standing content. What this means is that you rewrite your articles line by line or paragraph by paragraph. There is temptation to use an article spinning software, but simply “spinning it” will create an unnatural piece of writing that is difficult to impossible to read. When you modify your own content, it is a good idea to use a service such as Copyscape or software like DupeFree to ensure that your content is different enough to keep the search engines from labeling it as duplicate content.
Diversify
When you post your articles, make sure to use different high traffic ezine sites (like EzineArticles and Helium). If you are rewriting content, then keep your replicated content on different sites and blogs than the original. If you are posting content that looks like the same thing over and over you will find that you are singled out for a different type of duplicate content penalty. Your blog loses credibility when it keeps on delivering the same message over and over, and e-zine sites like fresh content instead of the same thing rewritten a dozen times. Create several accounts and post your replicated content on these sites and blogs one at a time rather than using an auto-poster.
I hope that these tips help you to create more targeted traffic through replicated online articles while not incurring duplicate content penalties. Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Outsource
I realize that many start up online businesses are strapped for cash, but the use of a good online freelancer to help you research and generate fresh content is invaluable. You may start by developing your own content, but you will soon see that if you choose to use articles as a major source of traffic that outsourcing may be your only option. It is very important to find a trustworthy writer that will not take the money and run, a writer that uses the language that you are publishing in as a primary language to communicate, and a writer that will produce the promised content at a constant rate so that you are never left high-and-dry.
Modify
If you truly cannot afford to outsource, you can modify your standing content. What this means is that you rewrite your articles line by line or paragraph by paragraph. There is temptation to use an article spinning software, but simply “spinning it” will create an unnatural piece of writing that is difficult to impossible to read. When you modify your own content, it is a good idea to use a service such as Copyscape or software like DupeFree to ensure that your content is different enough to keep the search engines from labeling it as duplicate content.
Diversify
When you post your articles, make sure to use different high traffic ezine sites (like EzineArticles and Helium). If you are rewriting content, then keep your replicated content on different sites and blogs than the original. If you are posting content that looks like the same thing over and over you will find that you are singled out for a different type of duplicate content penalty. Your blog loses credibility when it keeps on delivering the same message over and over, and e-zine sites like fresh content instead of the same thing rewritten a dozen times. Create several accounts and post your replicated content on these sites and blogs one at a time rather than using an auto-poster.
I hope that these tips help you to create more targeted traffic through replicated online articles while not incurring duplicate content penalties. Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Using Your Keywords Responsibly
Many function under the unfortunate notion that more keywords are better, and any keywords will do. There was a time when that was true, but today’s search engines are smarter than they ever were. When you “stuff” your articles with keywords, it becomes apparent, and you can even be penalized or banned for poor keyword use. If you use your keywords responsibly you will never need to worry about damaging repercussions and you will find that your traffic start to accelerate.
Be Relevant
If you want to get more traffic and the respect of search engines everywhere, then you want to use keywords that are relevant to the topic that you are dealing with. That means that if you are writing about some great new software to generate super animations for web sites, then using keywords like “auto responder scripts” or “high conversion mini-sites” are not really relevant. If you want people that could really use your product to read your article, and then use words that pertain to the product at hand.
Be Natural
The temptation to lean toward over-use of keywords can be quite strong, but it is one that we must resist. Remember that article writing today involves targeted keywords, but needs to focus more on readability and usefulness more than ever before. You want your articles to draw targeted visitors, but you also want to retain them. Rather than shifting your attention to how you can get the most keywords possible into your page, try identifying what keywords are giving you the best success in your content and use them to develop your content in a natural way.
Be Real
Honestly, most of the websites out there are built to sell something. They may be there to promote services, promote advertising spaces, or promote products, but they are all in the sales business. Your product should be something that you have researched, experienced (if possible), and would use yourself to accomplish the same goals that you want your customers to. What will happen is that you will accidentally stumble upon keywords that apply to your product or service just through the use of the terminology. These natural keywords do not undermine your page ranking, they will instead promote your site more effectively by becoming more visible to knowledgeable customers.
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Be Relevant
If you want to get more traffic and the respect of search engines everywhere, then you want to use keywords that are relevant to the topic that you are dealing with. That means that if you are writing about some great new software to generate super animations for web sites, then using keywords like “auto responder scripts” or “high conversion mini-sites” are not really relevant. If you want people that could really use your product to read your article, and then use words that pertain to the product at hand.
Be Natural
The temptation to lean toward over-use of keywords can be quite strong, but it is one that we must resist. Remember that article writing today involves targeted keywords, but needs to focus more on readability and usefulness more than ever before. You want your articles to draw targeted visitors, but you also want to retain them. Rather than shifting your attention to how you can get the most keywords possible into your page, try identifying what keywords are giving you the best success in your content and use them to develop your content in a natural way.
Be Real
Honestly, most of the websites out there are built to sell something. They may be there to promote services, promote advertising spaces, or promote products, but they are all in the sales business. Your product should be something that you have researched, experienced (if possible), and would use yourself to accomplish the same goals that you want your customers to. What will happen is that you will accidentally stumble upon keywords that apply to your product or service just through the use of the terminology. These natural keywords do not undermine your page ranking, they will instead promote your site more effectively by becoming more visible to knowledgeable customers.
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Guidelines for Writing Good Copy
When you are writing articles for websites, there are different strategies to keep your audience engaged than when you are writing for print. With the "Google-it" generation in full effect, we need to keep things short, sweet, and to the point.
What This Means for You
When you decide to write your own sales copy, website articles, or ezine articles, there is a particular unwritten set of rules that you should follow to keep your copy from adding to the site's bounce rate. If you keep just a few simple guidelines in mind, your articles will be much more web friendly and more likely to draw rather than lose traffic.
No Keyword Stuffing
Okay, so someone told you that a great way to fool the search engines is to put so many keywords into your articles that they are nearly unreadable. Guess what? They were wrong. Search engines are catching on, and some of the bigger ones (like Google) are taking action. If you don't want your web site to be banned, try to keep your keyword saturation below 8%.
Be Concise
Readers online are not settling down to a cup of coffee and a good article, they are looking to find the information and move on. If you are particularly good, you get the much sought after bookmark. What this means is don't bother posting it if it is not relevant or useful. It also means that you can cut down on the word count. Pieces that receive the most attention are only about 500-750 words long. The internet is not a place for wordiness or artful prose; most of the visitors are looking for instant gratification. If you can't scan it and pick out the good parts easily, start over.
Proof It
A big no-no in article writing is to write it once and read it once. Why is this? When you are rushing through your copy, you can easily miss several spelling and grammatical errors. Also, if you do not bother reading it out loud, then you may find that the piece was barely readable. When you read your own writing to yourself it almost always makes sense. When you read it out loud you hear yourself reading it the way other people will. This is where you can pick out the whoppers such as run on sentences, double negatives, and overuse of a word.
No Copy is Better Than Bad Copy
If you are careful in your article writing and keep these very simple guidelines in mind, your content can be an asset to your site and products. If you prefer to breeze through it and pay your copy little attention, you may find that you are losing more prospective customers that before you had posted your content. Why? Bad copy is like wearing tee shirts to the office, it's just not professional. Customers want to believe that they are doing business with someone that is going to handle them professionally. If you give the appearance of someone that doesn’t bother to read what they are posting on his site, why would they think that you would handle them any more seriously?
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
What This Means for You
When you decide to write your own sales copy, website articles, or ezine articles, there is a particular unwritten set of rules that you should follow to keep your copy from adding to the site's bounce rate. If you keep just a few simple guidelines in mind, your articles will be much more web friendly and more likely to draw rather than lose traffic.
No Keyword Stuffing
Okay, so someone told you that a great way to fool the search engines is to put so many keywords into your articles that they are nearly unreadable. Guess what? They were wrong. Search engines are catching on, and some of the bigger ones (like Google) are taking action. If you don't want your web site to be banned, try to keep your keyword saturation below 8%.
Be Concise
Readers online are not settling down to a cup of coffee and a good article, they are looking to find the information and move on. If you are particularly good, you get the much sought after bookmark. What this means is don't bother posting it if it is not relevant or useful. It also means that you can cut down on the word count. Pieces that receive the most attention are only about 500-750 words long. The internet is not a place for wordiness or artful prose; most of the visitors are looking for instant gratification. If you can't scan it and pick out the good parts easily, start over.
Proof It
A big no-no in article writing is to write it once and read it once. Why is this? When you are rushing through your copy, you can easily miss several spelling and grammatical errors. Also, if you do not bother reading it out loud, then you may find that the piece was barely readable. When you read your own writing to yourself it almost always makes sense. When you read it out loud you hear yourself reading it the way other people will. This is where you can pick out the whoppers such as run on sentences, double negatives, and overuse of a word.
No Copy is Better Than Bad Copy
If you are careful in your article writing and keep these very simple guidelines in mind, your content can be an asset to your site and products. If you prefer to breeze through it and pay your copy little attention, you may find that you are losing more prospective customers that before you had posted your content. Why? Bad copy is like wearing tee shirts to the office, it's just not professional. Customers want to believe that they are doing business with someone that is going to handle them professionally. If you give the appearance of someone that doesn’t bother to read what they are posting on his site, why would they think that you would handle them any more seriously?
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Driving Website Traffic with Articles
When you are looking to create more site traffic, article writing is one place that many successful online businesses turn. For years many businesses have used articles that have their “brand” on them to be pushed out of several venues for additional coverage and credibility. Here are three ways to push traffic through effective use of article writing.
Blogging
If you utilize one of the popular blogging sites to create an identity, you are tapping into nearly instant search engine exposure and the ability to create a following. When you start a blog, you are creating a series of articles that will help, entertain, or educate your readers in some way. If you choose to use the blog to market your product, then you must post articles that will deliver relevant and useful information to your prospective customer on a regular basis. Blogs create both visibility and credibility.
E-zines
Ezines are widely used on the internet. The concept is simple: post relevant and useful articles, webmasters like your article while they are searching for site content, your article is posted on their site, you receive a back link and name recognition for your efforts. This is a great scenario, as you will not only get a backlink from a site that will likely host other relevant information and improve your page rank, but you will improve your likelihood of others reading your informative article and following the link back to your site.
E-books
The thing about e-books is that they give you instant credibility. In reality, anyone can write a couple of thousand words and publish them in a pdf. The difference between a 3 page pdf and an e-book is one thing: marketing. If you gather a handful of your best articles on one solid topic and publish them with a table of contents you have an e-book. What do you do with it? You can offer it as a promotional gift, it can be bundled with other products to sweeten a sale, or you can use it to coerce your customers to sign up for your mailing list.
Sell Yourself
Make sure that if you choose to publish an article that you put your name all over it, link back to your site, refer to your products, and give information that is strong and relevant. Remember that your customer will appreciate that you are experienced enough to deliver a high quality e-book on the topic and will likely refer to you again in the future or recognize your name when you market your next product.
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
Blogging
If you utilize one of the popular blogging sites to create an identity, you are tapping into nearly instant search engine exposure and the ability to create a following. When you start a blog, you are creating a series of articles that will help, entertain, or educate your readers in some way. If you choose to use the blog to market your product, then you must post articles that will deliver relevant and useful information to your prospective customer on a regular basis. Blogs create both visibility and credibility.
E-zines
Ezines are widely used on the internet. The concept is simple: post relevant and useful articles, webmasters like your article while they are searching for site content, your article is posted on their site, you receive a back link and name recognition for your efforts. This is a great scenario, as you will not only get a backlink from a site that will likely host other relevant information and improve your page rank, but you will improve your likelihood of others reading your informative article and following the link back to your site.
E-books
The thing about e-books is that they give you instant credibility. In reality, anyone can write a couple of thousand words and publish them in a pdf. The difference between a 3 page pdf and an e-book is one thing: marketing. If you gather a handful of your best articles on one solid topic and publish them with a table of contents you have an e-book. What do you do with it? You can offer it as a promotional gift, it can be bundled with other products to sweeten a sale, or you can use it to coerce your customers to sign up for your mailing list.
Sell Yourself
Make sure that if you choose to publish an article that you put your name all over it, link back to your site, refer to your products, and give information that is strong and relevant. Remember that your customer will appreciate that you are experienced enough to deliver a high quality e-book on the topic and will likely refer to you again in the future or recognize your name when you market your next product.
Click here to get a free copy of my authorative new eBook: Jump Starting Your Profits With Lists.
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