There is no doubt as to just how important articles are, in internet marketing today, but what distinguishes a good article from a poor one? The impact from good articles, in today’s websites and internet businesses, is huge. If strategically placed, these articles not only attract attention, but can be used to send hordes of traffic to the selected websites. They are also extremely useful, for improving a site’s search engine rankings.

All webmasters should strive to replace, or at least renew content on their sites regularly and articles help to do this very effectively. Articles are a wonderful means of capturing niches and they give the writers a chance to establish themselves, as somewhat of an expert on the subject. They also offer a free and easy method of creating many back links, from each article site, straight to the desired website.

Articles have become one of the most effective methods of getting traffic to a website. The higher a site ranks with the search engines, the better the search results and the better the traffic. The more traffic, the more sales, and the bigger the profits. It sounds simple.

This is not just about stuffing your site full of any old articles, there are certain criteria to be met. These criteria require close attention to detail and must be helpful and accurate and within the niche that you are hoping to attract. Good, informative articles will attract the interest of your customers and keep them coming back for more. You would also like them to recommend your site to other people, based on the strength of your content.

I have outlined four main points to consider, when preparing to write your articles. Try to improve their effectiveness, by incorporating these tips. As always, stick to the basics.

1) Use Keywords and Keyword Phrases.

As with websites, articles must also be structured around  keywords and keyphrases. These will be the keywords you have identified, as being the most descriptive and most searched for, in your niche. Just as visitors arrive at your website from searches, so too do people looking for articles, or content and advice, contained in those articles. A searcher normally goes to a search engine and types in the keywords that they are interested in. If looking for a lighter, they might use words such as lighter, cigarette lighter, gas lighters, zippo, ronson,
lighter fluid etc. So if you had written an article on lighters and used those keywords, you would be assured of traffic.

The important thing is, that you have an article, rich in keywords that are related to your site. For example, if you ran a website specialising in cigars, cigarettes, lighters and tobacco, you would write articles around those topics, to make best use of your keywords.

If you are stuck for possibilities, there are many places offering help and free tools, with which to research keywords for your subject.

2. Check Keyword Density

Once you have found the most searched keywords and phrases, you must use them as often as possible. An article needs to have good keyword density, to be recognised by a search engine. You should aim at around ten to fifteen percent of keyword density, in your content, for search engines to take notice and rank your site higher. Getting a higher ranking for a site, is where good articles, written well and sprinkled liberally with keywords, can help.

Keyword density, is the number of times any keyword, or keyword phrase is used, in an article. The number of keywords will vary, depending on the overall length of the article, but the ratio, or percentage, should not change much. An effective article must have a keyword density that is not too high, or too low. With a very high density, the essence of the article is lost and may become repetitive and boring. If too low, the core of your subject matter is lost and may be overlooked by the search engines.

3. Ensure Good Content

As mentioned earlier, people will react well to an informative, well written article, but nobody wants to read rubbish. If you are submitting articles, because you feel you have to, then stop. You will do more damage than good. You cannot write a poor article, riddle it with keywords and hope for the best results. They must be regarded as good reading, on the topic in which you are knowledgeable and the reader is interested.

Good articles should be entertaining, as well as full of relevant information. People expect a good read and will think poorly of you, for an inferior article. Watch your grammar and spelling too. It is easy to mistakes, but just as easy, to take the trouble to check and to correct them. Remember you are trying to impress your readers and want them to trust you.

People respond well to figures, facts and statistics. Before trying to write an article, take the time to conduct a little research on the topic and then litter your article with a few statistics. People will be impressed. Mention as many facts, as you can. A good, informative and well written article, will boost your reputation as an expert in your chosen field, or topic and pay huge dividends in other ways. As more and more people get to know you, believe in you and see you as an expert, you will see growth in your business.

4. Links

Another very important factor, when posting articles, is to include your resource box, in order to get as much exposure as possible, through back links. Place your article on as many websites, blogs, article sites and e-zines as you can, for maximum exposure. Without a resource box at the end of the article, you have wasted the opportunity.

Remember to include a little about yourself and those all important links, to your other sites. The whole point of posting the article is to get interested people to your site. Once there, you can collect names and addresses and then revert to promotional mailings. With them being interested in your niche and in what you have to say, you have a very good chance of making sales. That is why it is so important to have a good article.

A system has been developed, where by selecting keywords and keyphrases and by expanding on these, while narrowing the field down, within a specific niche, this software virtually creates the articles for you. Save time and frustration by getting this software to literally write the articles for you. See more here:
http://www.dersalsites.com/artwiz/

Derek Robson is a South African Internet marketer, with a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by finding solutions to the many obstacles facing them. He is a syndicated article writer. He and his wife Sally, have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. For daily postings and articles, on Internet marketing, South African online business, list building, affiliate marketing, article marketing, blogging, seo, the law of attraction, rugby and other general topics, visit Derek at: http://dersalsites.com/southafricanbusiness/  

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