Search engines determine their ranking based on two things:
1) Is your site relevant? (Optimized for certain keywords)
2) Is your website important? (Many links back to your site from other sites)
Only if you address both of these considerations are you guaranteed to make an impact. Your success rate depends on how hard you try and how many other people you're competing against (and how hard they try).
Optimizing your website for keywords is the easy part. (See http://www.divinewrite.com/seocopy.htm for more information on SEO copying.) Generating links back to your site is much more difficult - and time-consuming (especially with Google's dampening link filter - see HTTP:/ / www.divinewrite.com/googlelinkfilter.htm). But it can be done, and you don't need a big budget.
The key to getting a better budget on Google is to write articles.
Here's how it works…
STEP 1) You are an expert in your field, so you have the knowledge that others want.
STEP 2) You write a useful article - sharing your hard-earned knowledge and expertise.
STEP 3) Submit your article to recognized "Article Submission" sites on the internet.
STEP 4) Publishers of online newsletters, eZines, etc. collect content from these sites for free.
STEP 5) Useful, well-written articles are collected by thousands of publishers from all over the world.
STEP 6) The only condition is that they must publish an article with a working link to your website.
STEP 7) 300 people publish your article - you get 300 links back to your website.
Below are some article writing FAQs to help you write articles and manage your campaign.
Q) What should I write about?
A) Write about what you know. Make sure it's related to your business (so you can use the keywords you want to rank for) and useful (so it gets published). For example, if you are a manufacturer of industrial plastics, you could write an article - or a series of articles - on the best way to handle Teflon tubing before installation. Once you think about it, you will probably find that there are hundreds of useful articles that you could write. You may even have some of these already partially written in your user manuals or installation manuals, etc. Another good idea is to think about all the questions that customers and potential customers ask you. These questions will show you what people care about. Writing an article answering each of these questions will get you published and also establish yourself as a credible expert. (You can even reduce phone support time!)
Q: How long should my article be?
A) The best articles are only as long as they need to be. Keep it short and sweet – there is nothing wrong with a 400-word article. By the same token, if you need 1,500 words to say everything you need to, that's fine too.
Q) What type of writing should I use?
A) Simply write in a style that will suit your audience. If they are old school, don't write like me. Don't use contractions, don't end sentences with prepositions, and don't start sentences with "and" or "but." But if they are not old school, use conversational English. In fact, the more you include yourself in the article, the more engaging it will be. The key is to make it readable.
Q) Should I focus on keywords?
A) Yes! Yes! Yes! Any SEO web copywriter will tell you that just as you need to optimize your website for specific keywords, you should also optimize your articles. If possible, turn your keywords into links back to your website. And always try to include keywords in the headline and byline of your article. And don't worry about being considered spam; if your article provides quality information and guidance, it will not be considered spam by search engines, even if it is very keyword rich.
Q) Where should I put my article?
A) There are hundreds, if not thousands, of consignment sites on the internet. Too many to include here. Search for "submit article" and find the ones that best fit your industry and offer the most subscribers. Alternatively, you can purchase a list.
Q) Who publishes my article?
A) Generally, people publish pre-written articles because they want "eyes on paper". In other words, they want to generate traffic to their site. Helpful articles are one way to do this. It also establishes them as trusted authorities on a particular topic. And it develops customer loyalty. There are hundreds of thousands of companies (perhaps millions) that publish online newsletters, ezines, and article sites. No matter what industry you're in, you're sure to find a few people who are interested in what you have to say. Once a few publishers recognize you as a good source of content, they keep coming back for more (and even emailing you asking if you can send them directly).
Q) How will I know when my article was published?
A) As a condition of publication, you can ask the publisher to notify you when they use your article. Of course, most people don't bother with this, so it's a good idea to set up Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) to notify you when your URL has been published on a web page. Google won't pick all of them, but it will pick a lot of them. Whenever you receive a notification, make sure the article is intact and that the link back to your site is working.
Q) Will the publisher change my article?
A) No, generally not. Changing articles is just extra work. This is actually why publishers like good articles and consistent content providers – because it means they don't have to do any extra work. I have published many articles and do not recall an article being changed without my permission. If you're concerned about this, you can include an instruction not to change the article in the terms of publication.
Q) Can I get an SEO copywriter to write and submit my articles?
A) Yes. Any SEO copywriter should be able to write keyword-rich articles and submit them to several high-traffic sites.
Q) What kind of information would I need to provide an SEO copywriter to write my article?
A) You should tell your SEO copywriter something like, “We want to write an article to help people install Teflon hoses. The types of people who would do this are… They would do it because… The benefits of our hoses are… The difficulties they would face are… Here are the key steps to a successful installation…” Using this information, an SEO copywriter should be able to put together a very readable article that would have to be published.
Q) Will my reputation suffer if my article appears on a questionable website?
A) It shouldn't. Most questionable sites will either be unrelated or have very low traffic. If the site is not related, the publisher will not try to publish your article. If it's related but has very low traffic, very few people will see your article there anyway.
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