Points To Consider When Writing Articles Or Posts

Think about this - the web is just a big collection of "content".

Website articles play a significant part of this. They come in varying styles: news articles, information articles, blog posts and many more - get them right and in return, they will drive more traffic to your website.

Articles have turned into a key component of attracting more website visitors. A great article which incorporates engaging content will draw visitors to your site, retain them longer and often encourage the reader to share it with other people.

For an article to drive more visitors to a website, it must be optimised to perform on search engines. The higher the article (or page containing the article) ranks on search engines, the more opportunity there is for searchers to discover it.

Yet, it is not all about just filling your website with articles or posts, they have to include certain elements and be relevant.

Just like newspapers, articles need to be written in a certain way to engage the reader. The headline is the most important aspect - for both readers and search bots. A headline only exists to make a person read the first paragraph, the first paragraph is there to make them read the second paragraph and so on.

Essential Points You Must Consider

When you are creating articles or posts keep in mind that they should include key elements so visitors will read them and search engine bots will understand the topic and appropriately rank them.

Here are a few simple tips to help you.

Structuring Your Article For Maximum Impact

If you are a seasoned copywriter then great, you are well placed to take advantage of article marketing.

If you are not a copywriter, then learning a few basic points on structuring an article will help you. It is often said that being great at producing content is the best marketing skill you can learn.

A successful article begins with an extraordinary headline - it has to pull in your reader. Once the reader has reacted to the headline, the headlines job is over.

Following the headline, you need to include a good sub-headline, its purpose is to re-enforce the headline and raise the readers interest. Headlines are essential, particularly in the article marketing world. At least with a paper book, you can include an eye catching image to draw in the user, articles often do not have that luxury.

The headline must propel the reader to stop what they are doing and take interest in the article,  the sub-headline will continue to build on the topic of the article.

There is a divide in the SEO world between article length.  A short and "to the point" article will be in the vicinity of 400 to 600 words long. This will be split into three or four sections with more sub-headings to emphasize items. Some other marketers will state that articles should be 1,900+ words in length to have the best chance of ranking on page 1 of Google. Writing articles of that length is a challenge.

No matter what the length of your article, the opening paragraph should to stand out and draw-in the reader even more. It will contain a brief overview of the article, so they know what is in the rest of the article. Structure paragraphs to contain one or two sentences, unless a sentence is only a couple words long and needs to separated out for impact.

A good approach for articles is to create a statement or ask a question, then go on to answer it within the copy.

It is imperative that each paragraph encourages the reader to read the following section. It is like the cliff-hanger closing sequence of a TV series. The episode always leaves the viewer wanting more. You need to achieve the same effect with your article. That way, the reader will eventually read your entire content.

When they reach the end, the last section will summerise and wrap up your article - and if you want, lead them to take an action.

Finally, to create a degree of authorship, provide details about yourself, and if appropriate include an image and means of how the reader can follow or connect with you to find out more information. It is always an advantage to ask the user to share your article with other people. That enables you to reach a wider audience and will secure more readers.

Use Keywords And Phrases To Get Readers

An article should contain keyword and key phrases that someone may search for. When a person uses search engines such as Google or Bing to find information, they most likely enter a particular keyword/phrase that they are interested in, for example "internet marketing guides", "how to register a company" etc.

It is difficult to make articles rank highly on search engines for key phrases that are not included within the article page.

It is also important that your articles are relevant to the main theme of your site. For instance, if you are a plumber, you should write articles about plumbing, bathrooms, etc. on your website. If you include articles such as "How to change a bathroom tap", this is what readers will expect.

If you start posting articles such as "How to cut grass" this will appear inappropriate and to search engines, it may be seen as unnatural.

There are many free (and paid) keyword tools to help you uncover what key phrases people are searching for in relation to your industry. We list these tools and how to use them in the marketing guides on our membership site.

By using these tools, you will drastically shorten your keyword research stage and then be able to write your articles in the knowledge that there are people actively seeking to find and read them.

Keyword Density - Be Careful You Don't Get Banned

Whilst the importance on density has been somewhat degraded in recent years, it is still a factor. As mentioned above, if your article does not contain the keywords you want it to be found for, it is highly unlikely to rank highly.

First and foremost, write your articles for humans and write them so they read well and come across as natural.

After selecting the underlying keywords and key phrases, you should intertwine them naturally within your article content. The article should have greater density of these keywords for search engines to identify them.

Be careful if you read elsewhere that the articles should contain keyword densities of 10-25%. Whilst search engines have not declared a specific percentage, doing this could lead to over-optimisation issues and risk the article being downgraded.

For your information, keyword density is the number of times a keyword or phrase is used in an article compared to the total number of words.

For example, if your article was relating to "internet marketing" and you dotted this key phrase throughout the article, you would count the number of times "internet marketing" appeared and divide this by the total number of words, then multiply by 100. This will give you the keyword density for that phrase.

Too low a density and search engines may overlook the phrase, too high and it will look spammy.

Great Content Is Much Better Than Terrible Content

To get a human to read your entire article - you must have great content!

If, and only if, your article contains relevant information which is well written (spell checked and correct grammar) will you keep that person engaged.

If a visitor is attracted to your heading, but once they start reading the article it goes off topic, then it is likely that the reader will leave your page. More often or not, searchers are seeking information which solves a problem. If your article can help do this, then you will retain their interest and gain some trust and loyalty.

Most people react well to facts, insights and truthful information. Where possible, you should attempt to include creditable data and  facts in your articles. An elegantly composed article will support your reputation for being a specialist in your niche or industry.

As more readers gain faith in you, they will also trust you and any product or services that you provide.

Include Links Within Your Articles To Boost Your SEO

Search engines primarily determine ranking positions by analysing "content" and "back-links". These are the two most important factors to consider when drafting your articles.

To help create internal linking and to generate "back-links", you need to include links to other sections of your website. These links may be to other services pages such as this link to our consultancy services or links to other articles or posts.

Why do this? If your article is submitted to other external websites or picked up by news sites, then at least you will have a link which will direct users back to your website. Once that reader follows the link to your website, you can present more material to them and they can see the services or products that you offer.

Additionally, search engines may follow the link to your website. Depending on the nature of the link, it can be seen as a "vote" for you and help boost your search rankings. You must be careful not to overdo the quantity of links within an article as this seen as spammy and go against search engine guidelines.

Re-read Your Article To Avoid Mistakes

When you have finished drafting your article, save it or print it out and read it again the following day. You might find that once you read it again with a fresh mind, you can spot areas for improvement.

Rushing to write an article is never a good thing, as that is when errors creep in. Ask someone else to proof read your article before you publish it.

Please Share

Just as I have mentioned above, please share this post with your friends, family or colleagues who might be interested in writing their own articles or posts.

About the author

David Reid

David previously worked with Europe’s No.1 Marketing Agency & the World’s No.6 biggest Integrated Marketing Agency, seeing first-hand how £150 million+ campaigns are executed to create household brands. Now he is the CEO of YewBiz and is focused on helping small businesses.