Want to make money writing articles? You can, if your articles are read. Unfortunately many Web articles evaporate faster than a drop of water on a gridle – discover how to ensure that you get the maximum impact from your writing.
1. Titles Get Read: Keyword Plus Benefit
Whether your articles are read or not depends entirely on the titles you choose.
There are two ways of creating titles: focusing on the search engine benefits, and focusing on viral potential. You'll use different strategies in different situations.
Most of your Web articles will be written for their long term search engine benefits – you want your articles to send traffic to your Web site (or the buyer of your articles that that) for many years to come.
If this is the case, you'll write with the search engines in mind. Use this formula: keyword, plus benefit. Viz: "Dog Training: Calm Your Snappy Pooch Fast". In this example, "dog training" is the keyword, while "calm your snappy pooch fast" is the benefit.
You may believe that your article can "go viral", and choose a creative title you believe will facilitate that. This is an excellent strategy, in which you forget about keywords, and just get as creative as possible, often using a reader's curiosity, or humor, to get your articles read.
Unfortunately the viral option can backfire, so be careful if you choose this option.
2. Outline First: Do not Waffle – Deliver on Your Promises
The second step in getting your articles read through to the end is simple: deliver an article worth reading.
Outline your article before you writing it. You've (usually) promised the reader a benefit in the title and first paragraph. Deliver on your promise. Remember that it's easy for the reader to hit his browser's Back button.
3. Link to Your Articles to Increase Traffic
Finally, remember that the Web is based on links. While you can do a great deal to ensure that your article is found (using the keyword in the title, and so on), the more links you can give an article the more traffic the article will get.
If you're writing articles for someone else, the linking strategy is not your concern. If you're writing articles for yourself however, do send a couple of links your articles' way – the more links, the more readers, and the larger the payoff for the time you invested in the article.
