Article Surfing Archive

It's no secret that article writing is one of the most effective ways to help your online business. A good article writing campaign can help brand you as an expert while improving your search engine positioning. However, there are some major drawbacks if you do it incorrectly:

When people are either in a rush or lack writing skills, they:

1. Post articles that are either too general or poorly written.

2. Write articles for a saturated market without providing anything new, different or original.

3. Do not target a specific niche market.

4. Do not use specific keywords nor optimize their articles for search engine placement.

5. Try to sell a product or service within the article.

6. Have a resource box without an effective call to action.

7. Do not provide a URL in the resource box for text display.

8. Use the same title, call to action description and link for all their article directory postings.

9. Post the same articles on their Website and to the article directories.

10. Post their articles all at once to the article directories.

11. Link their posted articles to their home page instead of a landing page.

12. Simulating originality by using *word scrambling* programs to rearrange other posted or pre-written PLR articles from membership sites.

If you are incorporating any of the above into your article writing campaign, you run the risk of:

* Your articles getting rejected by the major credible article directories.

* Your posted articles not being used by Webmasters.

* The search engines de-valuing your links because you violated the *duplicate content* rule.

* Being banned by the search engines for spamming your content.

* Losing targeted traffic because your text version doesn't contain your URL.

* Losing subscribers because your resource box sent them to your home page.

* Losing visitors because your *word scrambled* articles insult their intelligence and communicates that you don't care about them.

The Solution Stop working in a vacuum and develop a solid article writing campaign.

The list of action items below will ensure that your article writing campaigns are successful:

1. Select a niche that you know or are willing to learn about.

2. Select a primary keyword phrase to use for each article and two to three related secondary keyword phrases.

3. Review the *top 20* Websites displayed in Google for your primary keyword phrase to review what content is posted.

4. Visit a few article directories and search for articles using your main keyword phrase. Look for new article topics.

5. Visit blogs and forums associated with your niche and review the postings. Look for questions, problems and *more-information* type requests that will make good article topics.

6. Research the answers at the library or visit a bookstore. This will provide you with an *off-line* perspective and may provide more in-depth information.

7. Make your articles either *how to* or *problem/resolution* oriented.

8. Write a series of articles. Post half to your Website and half to the Article Directories.

9. Post three to five articles to the directories per week. Optimize them for good search engine placement. Also avoid penalties by changing the titles, resource boxes and links for each distribution.

10. Link your resource box to a landing page that captures your visitors* e-mail address. Then forward them to a Web page that pre-sells your product. Both the link and URL needs to be included for HTML and text display. Use the following html format as an example:

John Doe, an avid gardener, provides creative gardening information on his website http://www.your_url.com. Subscribe to his e-zine and receive free tips and techniques on creative Gardening.

This is the way your resource box will display:

HTML Version :
John Doe, an avid gardener, provides creative gardening information on his website http://www.your_url.com. Subscribe to his free e-zine and receive tips and techniques on gardening.

Text version:
John Doe, an avid gardener, provides creative gardening information on his website http://www.your_url.com. Subscribe to his free-zine and receive tips and techniques on gardening.

Conclusion
You do not have to be an expert to write effective articles. Write as if you are writing an e-mail to a friend who is experiencing difficulty and you are sincerely trying to help him or her to solve their problem. This tone will help you to connect with your readers. This is as important as providing them with unique and original content. When planning your next article campaign, use the above techniques to satisfy the search engines; then add your serious desire to help people. This strategy will produce the type of return that you are striving to achieve.