How to Write Search-Engine-Friendly Articles

Writing articles and submitting them to article directories (such as ezinearticles.com) is a great way to increase your ranking in the search engines and get ever-growing amounts of traffic back to your website. And I often recommend that aspiring entrepreneurs who may be short on time use inexpensive freelancers to write those articles.

But should you give your freelancer a list of the keywords you are targeting?

That’s the question an Internet Money Club member asked last week. “I am in the process of outsourcing content on Elance. Should I give the contractor the keywords to write articles based on my keyword research?”

In short, the answer is yes.

When you write and submit articles, you want to get ranked for the specific terms your target audience is searching for. You can research the keywords your target market is searching for by using a simple keyword research tool such as Word Tracker (WordTracker.com).

When writing your articles, or having them written for you, you should focus each article around the keyword or keyword phrase you have selected. This would include having it in the title of the article, and sprinkled throughout the beginning, middle, and end of the article.

I usually aim to have a keyword density of around 2 percent. You can use a free tool at Live-Keyword-Analysis.com to check the keyword density of your articles.

Let’s say you’re writing an article on dog grooming. You may want to target the keyword phrase “dog grooming.” (But stick to that one keyword phrase. Don’t try to target other phrases, such as “poodle haircut” or “dog toenail filing” in the same article.) Once you’ve selected your keyword or keyword phrase and written your article, you can run the article itself through the keyword analysis tool to determine its keyword density. If the keyword density is too high or too low, you can adjust it.

Also be sure to include the keywords you are targeting in the title of your articles – e.g., “Dog Grooming Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.”

Keep in mind that you are writing for a human audience first. The search engine rankings are secondary. (You don’t want to go overboard and end up “keyword stuffing” your articles. Write naturally and be informative – and then use the keyword tools to get the most benefit from your articles.)

[Ed. Note: High-level “secrets” to success on the Internet aren’t necessarily complicated. While you can’t get personal mentorship from Internet Money Club Director Brian Edmondson until the IMC Class of 2009 opens up, you can still get help to take your Internet business to the next level. ETR’s team of Internet marketing experts have laid out a step-by-step program for creating a money-making business online.]