subject: Article Marketing - 7 Mistakes In Your Title That Are Costing You [print this page] When it comes to article marketing, your title can make or break your strategy. If your title isnt good enough, people will not click on it and read your full article. If theyre not reading your article, theyre not seeing your link at the bottom, and you will never see an increase in traffic.
How do you know if youre getting the most out of your article titles? See if youre making any of these mistakes:
1. Using characters like quotation marks and asterisks.
Having these in your article title can confuse the search engines. If the search engine spiders get confused enough, they will not index your article, and that ruins the entire concept of article marketing. It means that all of your work was in vain, because your article will have no bearing on your search engine ranking.
2. Referencing a specific year or date.
It will make your article seem stale down the road. Since article marketing can bring residual benefits for months, or even years, you do not want your article to have an expiration date. When youre creating an article title, stick to evergreen titles, or ones that will be relevant no matter when the reader looks at it.
3. Making your articles part of a series.
You never know where your articles are going to get picked up. If someone sees your article and its titled Tax Tips #3, that person will not read your article because they didnt see Tax tips #1 or Tax Tips #2. If you make readers feel like they missed the beginning of the information, theyre just going to assume that your article wont make any sense, and they will not read it.
4. Misspelling keywords because you think it will boost your search engine ranking.
This is a giant article marketing mistake. Even if you know that one of your keywords is commonly misspelled, use the correct spelling in your article title. You may think that a misspelling may come up more frequently in the search engine rankings, but it will only make you look less credible. No matter the circumstances, you always need to spell everything correctly.
5. Not using keywords in your title.
If you do not properly optimize your article title, people will only see it by chance, instead of through search results. That doesnt make for a good article marketing strategy.
The first four words of your title should include one of your target keywords. Your goal should be to include as many target keywords as you can, without stuffing.
6. Not making your article titles catchy.
In the world of article marketing, a book really is judged by its cover. Because internet searchers have so many choices, they scan article titles and look for a good one. If your title grabs their attention, they will be much more likely to pick it out of the bunch and click on it.
7. Asking questions or making promises in your title that you do not deliver in the body of your article.
One of the biggest goals in article marketing is to present yourself as an expert. When internet searchers see a question in your title, they expect you to answer it quickly. If you promise them something, they expect you to come through quickly. If you dont, youll be seen as less credible.