Build incoming links with articles

...and gain pagerank in the process
If you're just starting your blog a great way to gain pagerank which will in turn increase visitors is submitting articles. In the world of SEO this method usually gets swept under the rug, mainly because it takes a bit of hard work. You actually have to write some content. The truth of the matter is Google loves articles. They also like seeing links to your site from various related website sources. 

Why are articles good for building pagerank? Well, Google spiders are smart, sophisticated little critters and they have learned to sniff out related content links. Where better to find a link and related content than an article? Sounds simple doesn't it? One of the many things that will determine your pagerank is how many inbound links you have. They need to be quality links as well. Links from link exchanges and unrelated websites have little to no effect and can actually do more harm than good. The good thing is Google happens to consider articles one of these quality sources. Mainly it’s because your article talking about a certain subject, then it’s linking to a webpage of that subject. That is the one two knockout punch for a quality inbound link.

What makes a good article? Following a few simple guidelines when writing an article can greatly increase it's effectiveness. I'm not gonna teach you how to sell your website or a product. This advice applies to optimizing your article for search engines.

1. Know your topic and make sure it's relevant to your website. If you have a website solely about motorcycles and you write an article about hang gliders and then link to your site. Google will no doubt virtually completely ignore your article for this one reason alone. Just as true, if a human reads your article they're going to be quite mad when they show up to find the "Big Rex's Custom Choppers" staring back at them. So keep the article in the vein of your website and you'll be fine.

2. Once you have the topic of your site and the premise of the article sorted out the next thing you need to do is think about keywords. Keywords is a term used a lot these days when it comes to SEO. One caveat when it comes to keywords is do not over use them. Having a few well placed keywords in your article will go a long way. Think of keywords as a spice, a really hot spice like cayenne pepper. You just want to gently sprinkle the right amount on there. Using too much is called "keyword stuffing" and can greatly increase your risk of being ignored by a spider.

3. Think of a good title for your article. Make sure it's a bit unique in some way and contains those relevant keywords creatively. Instead of "Make money online" you might want to go with something like "Discover 10 easy ways to make some quick money online". The title is the first thing spiders and people look at so spend some time to think of a good one.

4. When writing the article keep it short within the 600-1500 word range. Once again, just like with the keywords you have to find a nice goldilocks zone so to speak. Not too short but long enough to ensure you've got some good informative content. A super long article no one will read and will no doubt have way too many keywords littered in.

5. Be sure not to talk about your site too much in the article. Do not put a link to your site or many other links but yours throughout the article. Just one well placed link at the end of the article is best. For example: "For more about anything motorcycles check out bigrexcustoms.com"

6. Submit it and forget it. Overtime link building like this will help drive a consistent stream of visitors to your site.

See also:
Over 20 great sites to submit your articles
Over 25 great sites to submit your blog and get it noticed

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