subject: Talking About Article Marketing and Keywords [print this page] Talking About Article Marketing and Keywords
If you're going to get involved in article marketing, the first thing you need to do is learn how to write articles. And that includes writing articles which are targeted to your chosen keywords.
Once you've chosen a particular keyword around which you're going to focus your article, then you need to consider the following:
How do you get the right keywords in there.
How many times should you include your keywords in your article.
Do you focus on just one keyword or sprinkle a few others throughout the article.
Where is the best place within the article to place your keywords?
Plus a whole other bunch of stuff, but for now let's just look at these.
Getting The Right Keywords In Your Article
The first thing you need to understand is that once you even start thinking about 'keyword stuffing' you're on dodgy ground. Yes, getting your keywords in your articles is important but if you want those articles to actually bring you any results, then they have to make sense.
If the 'exact match' keyword you're targeting doesn't fit properly into a sentence, you can't just think, "oh heck" and put it in anyway. Try changing the sentence around if it helps. If not, leave the keyword out of that sentence and put it somewhere else.
If you can't get your exact match keyword into any of your sentences, then you need to find another keyword or give up on writing articles because what the hell are you doing choosing keywords that don't occur naturally?
Keyword Density
One of the most argued of all subject when it comes to writing articles, (or any web based content) is keyword density. How often should your keyword appear in your article?
I personally opt for, 'as often as it needs to and no more'. But that's just me.
The general consensus seems to hover around 2%, which means in an average 400 word article, you should use your chosen keyword about 8 times. Do you really think that search engines won't know what your article is about if you only put it in there 7 times? Or that they'll think you're keyword stuffing if you put it in 9 times?
If you start putting an exact match keyword somewhere in your article just so that you can have the required 'density', then you've lost all track of what article writing and marketing is about. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. In fact, go directly to jail and stay there until the article police can figure out what the hell to do with you!
One Keyword or Lots of Keywords
Whenever you write about a particular topic, you're naturally going to mention related topics. For instance, this blog is about article marketing, but you can't really write about that without also talking about writing articles. There's a natural link between the two.
Same thing goes with articles. Writing about blue widgets means you'll naturally mention widgets. Write about curing acne and you'll naturally write about skin problems. It doesn't matter what keyword you're targeting, there will always be other, related keywords that are going to pop up in your article.
Check out the related searches on Google and it's a pretty solid bet that you'll have included some of those in your article even without realising it. If you haven't, then you might want to do a rewrite!
Location - Location - Location
Ok, having gone to so much trouble to find your perfect article keyword, where is the best place to put it in your article? It goes without saying you want the first instance to be in your title. (You do know the keyword goes in the title right? Good.)
Next, get it in the first paragraph. This is pretty easy because the first point you want to make clear to your readers (and to search engines since they are the ones who are going to tell those readers about your article) is that they know the article is going to talk about whatever you said in the title.
As long as you stay focused on the topic at hand, you should naturally use the keyword throughout your article. Notice the use of the word 'focused'. It's very easy to get off track when you're sitting writing. And the thing about article writing is that you don't even realise you've gone off track until either: You've finished writing the article and realised it doesn't contain any of the information you intended it to. Or, You're still writing 3 hrs later and wondering why the heck you're taking so long.
Finally, make sure you mention it again in the last paragraph. Again, this one is easy because your conclusion is really just an overall summary of the article itself. If you're really smart you can just re-use the title, e.g.
"I hope you found this article about 'insert your article title here' useful"
or maybe
"As you can see 'Insert your article title here' isn't as hard as you might have thought".
Hopefully, next time you're talking about article marketing and keywords, you'll remember this little post and share it with your friends so they all know what you're talking about.
