Article Marketing: How to Use Keywords to Optimize Your Articles for Greater Traffic

Article marketing — is it the panacea to getting more traffic to your site?  I’ll have to give this strategy a big thumbs-up, as this one strategy is responsible for the greatest amount of traffic to my site.  When I stop submitting articles, my traffic takes a nose-dive.  The feature of this strategy that sends traffic to my site is that I make sure that my article is keyword-optimized.

What’s a keyword?  A keyword is a word, or more likely, a phrase, that will be placed in the content of your article multiple times so that when the search engine spiders see that, the spiders will determine that your page will probably provide useful content about that keyword.  However, you have to be careful here not to “stuff” your article with keywords, i.e. placing them too often in the content, as that will get your article rejected by the major article directories, and may result in the search engines ignoring your article completely.

Here are my top 4 strategies for optimizing your articles to get more traffic to your site:

1.  Title.  Begin your article with your keyword phrase, as I have done in the title of this article.  Typically, the first four words of a title seem to be the most important, so try and include your keyword phrase at the beginning of your article title.

2.  Body.  Your primary keyword phrase should appear in the first sentence of the first paragraph of your article.  I also place it in my concluding paragraph, as well. If it fits naturally, you may also sparingly include your keyword phrase in the body of your article. At the time of this writing, Google’s optimum keyword density is between 1.5% to 2.5%, so stay within this range to avoid “keyword stuffing.”

3. Resource box.  Many article directories permit you to create HTML resource boxes (author bio information), but you’re typically limited to three hyperlinks, or only two if you have used a hyperlink in the body of your article.  I would recommend using only two in your resource box.  One should be a link back to a page on your site that contains your call to action.  The second hyperlink should serve as anchor text and contain a link back to your site (not the home page) using a keyword for which you want to be found.

4.  Article summary.  Many article directories ask that you include a 450-character summary or synopsis of the article as a part of the submission process. Make sure that your keyword phrase is contained in your article summary, as well.

Just a few simple steps to optimize your articles for relevant keywords will help your article get found online. Start integrating your keywords into your article marketing efforts, and watch your web site traffic grow!

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