Keyword Article Marketing 101

Getting your blog ranked higher in the search engines takes work... a lot of work... we know the benefits of SEO, but sometimes there just isn't enough time to focus on both writing the article the way you want and make it SEO friendly. That's why I wrote this article about Keyword Article Marketing, because you can't always get them perfect...

Creating fresh, engaging content will build a loyal following and drive more traffic to your blog. But, if you're looking to improve your SEO with no budget, tweak your existing articles to get higher search engine rankings by following the advice in this Keyword Article Marketing 101 article.

Even when you do the proper SEO stuff, don't expect your article to be on the first page of Google in a few days. And don't stuff keywords into your post for ranking purposes. It won't really help, and the words probably won't flow well. There are however, several strategies to get your blog posts to rank higher. Instead, focus on these areas of on-page SEO and you'll be able to improve your search engine rankings.

Keyword Research Tools

Google Keyword Tool Google Insights for Search to research trends in search phrases. Wordtracker

Premium keyword research tools

SEObook SEOmoz

Use Your Keyword / Phrase in Your Post Title

Use the keyphrase in the title of your post and in your title tags.

Choose One Keyword / Phrase, Then Write or Tweak Your Article

Find a keyphrase with little competition; but you do want it to have some search traffic (greater than 500). Then write an article that targets that keyphrase or go back through some of your older articles and tweak them for a specific phrase.

Repeat the Keyword / Phrase in Your Article

Include your keyphrase in the first paragraph. This will have little impact on your rankings, but will show your readers that they're in the right place.

Focus on Low-Competition Keyword / Phrases

Don't waste your time going after highly competitive keywords with on-site optimization because you won't be able to rank for them, at least not yet. Take one of the phrases you found while doing keyword research, type it into Google search using quotations, e.g. "how to install WordPress", and then look at the number that appears below the search box. If the number is large (over 25,000), avoid it because it's highly competitive. If it's small, it's easier to score a higher ranking.

Use the Keyword / Phrase in Your Meta Description Tags

Using keywords in your meta description tags doesn't help you rank higher, but when people search Google for a specific keyword(s), Google bolds it in the search results. It won't help you rank higher, but will encourage people to click on the search results.

Find Images Related to Your Keyword / Phrase

When you publish your articles, find related images and use your keyphrase in the alt description of your image.

Summary of the Components Your Article Should Have

If you have a picture for your article, name it the same as the keyphrase you're trying to rank for, e.g. keyphrase = network marketing leads, your image should be named network-marketing-leads. I generally go with about 400x300 in size, 256 colors, save as a ".jpg" or ".png". When you put the image in your blog post, link it to your article post slug (url of the article). Make the "alt tag" for the picture the same as the keyphrase.

You should have at least 1 of each:

H1 tag H2 tag H3 tag Underline tag Italics tag Bold tag

In the first paragraph, try to use the keyphrase twice; make this your H1 tag and link the specific keyphrase to the url of the article. When this article gets placed on other blogs or websites, it creates a link back to this article (backlinks). What I typically try to do is use the keyphrase in the first paragraph, bold it, underline it, and put it in italics; this way I kill 4 birds with one stone (as shown above).

In the second or third paragraph use the keyphrase again; make this paragraph your H2 tag. In a paragraph toward the end of the article use the keyphrase again; make this paragraph your H3 tag.

For the post tags, use the keyword and related phrases, this is where the Google keyword tool will help you find related keywords. 5-10 good keywords will usually suffice. Your main keyphrase should be used roughly once per every 100 words; the length of the article should be roughly 450-600 words.

You can also use various WordPress plugins that will help you optimize your blog posts; there are many good SEO plugins that will assist you in following these basic techniques, tell you what you're missing, and score your article.

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