The importance of articles in the internet marketing industry is immeasurable. They determine the potential a website has to make money and they are a key element in driving traffic. A website owner must include well written, informative, and attention grabbing articles on their website if they wish to be successful as an internet entrepreneur.
It's no secret that keyword rich articles are the driving force behind website traffic. They are also a huge factor in achieving high search engine rankings. The higher a site ranks, the better it's traffic statistics. With a large traffic flow comes more profits and more potential to generate income in other areas such as contextual advertising.
It's not just about cramming your website full of articles, however. There are certain requirements that need to be met in order to obtain the best results and establish your website as a reliable place to obtain expert information.
Here are four key elements that should be present to ensure a quality article that has the best chances of ranking well.
1. Great Content
I'm sure you've heard that content is king, and that's the truth. Simply using the right keywords won't make a good article. Articles must be able to entertain the reader and provide quality information. They should also be grammatically correct. Proofread your articles at least twice before publishing them.
It's a good idea to do some research as well. Quoting facts and statistics can add to the value of your article. Use images and graphs to get your point across. Writing a great article will help establish you as an expert in your field. People will begin to trust your product recommendations and search out your content for answers to their problems.
2. Keywords And Keyword Phrases
An article should always be centered around one or two keyword phrases. There are generally two types of visitors- those who browse, and those who know what they are looking for. In order to find this information, the searcher will often turn to a search engine and type in a certain phrase in hopes of finding what they are looking for. If these keywords are present in your articles, then they will appear in the results. This is how targeted traffic ends up on your website.
Your keywords must also relate to the subject of your website. If the visitor finds what they were looking for, they may stay and read more articles. It will also help your website rank better if your keywords are relevant to your niche. For example, if your website is about weightlifting, you'll want to have articles about many different aspects of the sport.
3. Keyword Density
Now that you have your keyword phrases, you must use them fully. An article must have good keyword density in order to make an impact on the search engines. Most experts recommend a ten to fifteen percent keyword density in order to rank high with no backlinks.
Simply explained, keyword density is the number of times a keyword or keyword phrase is used per one-hundred words of an article. It's broken down into a percentage. For example, if you insert your keyword term five times within the first one-hundred words of the article, your keyword density would be five percent.
An effective article must not have a keyword density that is too high or too low. If the density is too high, the search engine may classify the article as spam. If it's too low, it may not be indexed at all. It's important to find that happy medium between ten and fifteen percent.
4. Links
There are a couple of aspects that are important when it comes to links and articles. A good article will contain a well written resource box. A resource box is a small paragraph at the bottom of the article that includes a few details about the author and a link to their blog or website. Make sure the site you link to is relevant to the subject of the article.
Another important aspect of linking is building backlinks to your articles. Backlinks are like votes to the search engines. Every link to your article counts as one vote. The more votes your article gets, the higher it will rank. Backlinks can be built in many ways, but the best way is to allow other website owners to publish your articles on their website. As a condition, insist that they link to the original article or to your blog or website.
If you truly want to make the most out of article marketing, publish only original articles. Unique and original content is the best way to promote yourself and your website. Although it may mean investing a little more time and effort, it won't be long before the results will start to add up in your bank account.