If you were to write any old article and submit it to directories, you'll probably end up finding that it isn't the stunning success that you hoped it would be. In fact, the main problem you'll have is that it seems to get few, if any, readers.
Sure, you could have really written a masterpiece that is worthy of being published in more than just an article directory, and sure, it may be the most informative and useful article on the matter ever.
But if it’s not getting any readers, then it could all just go to waste.
Essentially, the reason many articles face this problem is the fact that they’re not keyword-optimized. If you’ve encountered search engine optimization before, you’ll probably know something about this, but keywords are basically just phrases that people use to search for topics on the internet.
Optimizing your article for keywords means that you’ve identified certain keywords that have decent popularity and low competition, then inserted them throughout your article. By doing so, every time those keywords are searched for, your article should pop up.
And thus, you’re going to be able to let readers find your article!
Using keyword research tools, such as Google’s Keyword Tool and Wordtracker, you’ll be able to get data on the popularity of any keywords related to your topic. Furthermore, if you head to a search engine and search for those keywords, you should be able to get an idea of the competition that it has.
Armed with this information, you’ll be able to decide what keywords it is best to target, and then insert them into your article. Remember though that using 1 to 3 keywords per 100 words is normally more than enough. Any more than that and you could find yourself being penalized by search engines.
Also, although keywords are important, at the end of the day your article is going to be read by real people, and so you don’t want to concentrate on the keywords so much that the quality of the article itself is affected. Try to find a balance between the two, and you’ll find that you’re able to casually insert keywords in a manner that appears ‘natural’.
Last, but certainly not least, make sure that the first four words or so of your article, i.e. your headline, contains keywords. Most search engines take this as a form of ‘relevancy’ and give you extra credit for it, which is definitely going to make a difference when it comes to overcoming your competition!
See, nothing too complicated right? Keywords really are something simple, but using them could make all the difference in how well your article does.
Should you target the right keywords, and use them as we just prescribed, you’ll find that you’re able to get tons and tons of readers to your article, and from there, do with them as you please.