Writing Internet Articles

Written by: Nick Hantge

Do you consider yourself a talented writer, but you’re not sure how to go about it?  If you enjoy writing and you want to be able to make money off your skill, consider writing articles to help with other’s internet marketing campaigns.  There is probably an SEO company in your area who would be willing to pay for niche related articles.  Article writing is a great skill to develop and market yourself. Writing is in high demand so take advantage of your writing skills and make some extra cash. Well-written articles on any topic are always in high demand. 

Get to the Point

Internet articles are written slightly differently to the conventional articles you read in the daily newspapers or magazines. Your style should be simple. The contents of the article should be pitched in a brief but informative manner to hold the person’s interest. Internet searchers are impatient and want to find information quickly as possible.  This being said, keep your articles quick and to the point.  Often times online articles are written with numbers or bullet points to guide readers through quickly.

Catchy Article Titles

Think about what will grab the attention of your audience, start with an attractive title.  It will be the first chance you have to gain interest of searchers to your article and also help you begin your introduction.  Writing a catchy title will separate your article from the others around it.  A nice title may be the key to attracting searchers to your articles and getting them to click on your links driving more traffic to your site which is obviously the main point of any internet marketing campaign.

The introduction of your article should summarize the focal point of what you’re going to write about.  This will draw your reader in and they’ll want to continue reading.  Start with the main point of your artilce and defend it or describe it in the rest of your article. If the reader finds your point interesting they will read the rest of your article and hopefully click on the links to the website you are promoting.  When it comes to writing, remember that ‘less is more’.  Don’t make your articles too long.  Most internet articles vary between 300-500 words. 

Avoid getting technical. Don’t get wrapped up in impressing your reader. They care more about your points and topics, not your vocabulary.  Your intention is to share information in a friendly, efficient manner. The ideal internet article should be clearly communicated, easily understood, and looked at as a resource. Remember if further information is required, the person will pursue the matter by themselves.

All internet articles should be submitted in Word. Once you’re finished writing, make sure you proofread the article and put it through a grammar and spelling check.  Did you communicate your ideas clearly? Are you happy with the end result?  If so, you are going to want to start finding places to submit your articles or sites that buy articles.  Often times you can contact a local SEO company near you and ask them what types of articles they could use.  Work out a deal with an internet marketing firm and start making money with your writing skills.

Finally, don’t be disheartened if your first article is not accepted. Stick with it, and success will soon come your way. You will be sure to find a SEO company who is willing to buy articles for their clients.

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Blogging is an integral part of your SEO Campaign

By: Cade Lee

It seems that every time the topic of blogging comes up, customers ask us, “Why is a Blog important?” If I were to ask them if they wanted to originate business online, they would undoubtedly answer “Yes”. If I asked any prospective customer if they wanted to be on the first page of Google, I know I would get the same positive response. Everyone would like to attract attention online which is exactly why it makes it that much more difficult for anyone to draw a crowd online. There are several strategies of course to bring in the crowds; some of them are not the most ethical or considerate to say the least.

Many website owners and SEO professionals alike will try all sorts of gimmicks and tricks to obtain a page one ranking. I cannot say that we haven’t attempted everything to obtain a page one ranking as well. I think any good SEO company will need to experiment as much as possible (not with client projects), to understand the algorithms and search engine rankings better. So, with everyone vying for the 1^st page of Google or any one of the other major search engines, what can really differentiate you from the pack?

Over and over again, our blog has been one of the most important resources and reasons that we continue to be on the 1^st page of Google for relevant search terms to our site. We have had many comments on our blog, some positive and other’s negative. Overall it was comments we were looking for to begin with. We wanted to be noticed and we were able to do that most efficiently with our blog.

It was our intent to draw traffic to our site by providing quality, informative and useful content on our blog. I wished that I could say that we started publishing our blog and it brought in a flood of traffic to the site that was simply just not the case. Here were some of the best methods we used to attract attention with our blog:

1. Build useful applications or programs: I already know what you are thinking, “I am not a programmer and I would not know where to begin”. I understand this as we felt much the same way. The thing is that you have access to something in your arsenal, something that someone else would find useful. In our case it was a simple toolbar that we had created to help us keep track of SEO sites, resources and blogs. We distributed this toolbar to as many freeware or shareware sites that we could. We hosted the program on our site, so as we attracted visitors to the software, we were able to bring many new visitors to our site.
   
2. Providing Resources: By providing good and useful information online you are able to prove yourself as a trusted advisor. We have many clients that are in the “services” industry and over time we have had heard the same objection over and over again. “If I provide information for free to the public, what reason would they have to come and see me”. Granted there are a group of “do-it-yourselfers” that will take whatever information you can give them and run with it, these are usually not the customers that a “services” company would be looking for to begin with.
   
3. Create Unique and Useful Content: Following a most recent event or providing timely content can be very useful for readers of your blog. Whether you are utilizing creative content or image, even video, make certain that your blog stands out with originality. This is difficult to do. Often times, for us we will come up with an idea or theme for a new post or blog after we have read the thousands of e-mails that we get every day. Giving our opinion on a certain technique or software that we have been solicited for makes for interesting and useful content. At the end of the day you will just want to make certain that you spend time here making your presence different.
   
4. Covering an unpopular topic or controversial opinion: We had completed a blog article, “Do you need a web designer?”, you could imagine that many web developers and designers were very interested in what we had to say. The article title might have been a little misleading as we were not recommending that a company “not work” with a developer or designer, we were simply making the point that most designers do not take search engine optimization into consideration when creating a website. What could you do to make your title more alluring?
   
5. Utilize Anchor Text inside your blog. As you go through your content, make certain to link appropriate text to resources that would be useful for your audience. This is a good time to link to your site as well. So for example, throughout our blog you will notice that we utilize “Denver SEO“, Denver SEO Company“,”SEO Company” or “Denver Internet Marketing”. These obviously are some of the keywords that we would hope to appear on the 1^st page of Google for. You do not want to “keyword stuff” or spam throughout your blog, but using some keywords sparingly can definitely help and boost your rankings. Make certain that you use “alt text” when utilizing anchor text in your blogs as this can add some benefit to your SEO.
   

If your current SEO company is not doing this for you, then you might want to take a more active role in your search engine optimization. Your blog or blogs will have a lot to do with your campaign, so make certain that you invest the time necessary to differentiate your blog and make it useful.

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You might be surprised to learn that Matt Cutts, who works for the Search Quality group at Google has most recently come out with comments about meta tags or more specifically “keyword” meta tags and stated “Google does not use keyword meta tags” in their rankings. For the longest time many SEO professionals pounded the desk suggesting that keyword meta tags were critical for any SEO campaign.

According to most SEO Companies, Google has for many years completely ignored this tag which has made the use of this meta tag completely pointless. I know as a Denver SEO company, we have definitely utilized the keyword meta tag and we will continue to do so. It is not that we believe that this meta tag would help us in the rankings, rather we have used it to define the theme of each page that we publish. So, although Google has stated that they do not utilize the keyword meta tag, we have still found much use for it.

Usually when speaking to anyone with any knowledge of SEO, they will go over a list of important factors to complete when working on a SEO campaign. One of the first things we hear many SEO companies speak about or write about is the importance of keywords in the keyword meta tag. This might be a warning to those that are looking for the experienced professionals who actually know SEO and focus not only on “onsite Optimization” but “offsite optimization” or link building as well. I have included the Matt Cutts Video in this post about Google’s complete lack of interest in the keyword meta tag, you can read more about their disinterest in the keyword meta tag here on their very own Webmaster Tools blog.

So why would Google disregard the keywords meta tag anyway? It started several years ago when the meta tag was actually abused by many website owners. If Google strictly followed the keywords in the meta tags, than it would be easy to mislead or misdirect the search engines. Google has probably one of the most elaborate and complex algorithms for their search results which has made them a market leader in search. So it is going to take much more than meta tag to throw them off course.

Even though Google has stated that they ignore keywords, we will continue to use this meta tag as previously described. It gives us direction for each page that we produce and keeps our entire campaign organized so we find it very useful even if Google does not. However, when you are talking to that next search engine optimization sales representative or SEO Company that goes through their thorough process of search engine optimization, you might ask,”How important is the meta tag keywords for a SEO campaign?” You might just be talking with one of those that is not in the know and this would be a good way to find out!

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) entails a maelstrom of techniques and tactics with the end goal being to improve the ranking of a particular website in the search results of major search engines. Denver SEO can be broken down into two main categories, on site SEO and off site SEO.

On site SEO relies upon excellent content first and foremost. Content must be on topic, relevant, and contain a 5% – 8% keyword (words or phrases) density. This means that for every 100 words of content, five to eight keywords should be used. The keywords that will be used must be carefully researched using tools such as the free Google AdWords keyword tool. When choosing keywords, it is important to remember to think like the customer. What will they be searching for? These same keywords should also be embedded into the website source code via Meta, Title and Heading tags. This will help ensure a high page ranking for these search terms.

Also, the website should be organized with a clear hierarchical structure. Creating a site map will significantly enhance site structure and ability to be scanned by search engines. This will allow search engines to more efficiently scan the target website. The most important information on a given website should be placed at or near the top of the page. This will make it easier for search engines to find the content that you want them to find. Use text instead of images; search engines can only scan text, so all important information must be included in text. This should be done even if the message(s) being conveyed are duplicated in images, banners, etc.

Of even greater importance is off site SEO. This includes back linking to highly ranked sites. For example, you can submit articles to free online repositories with links to your target website embedded in the text. The Google search engine will interpret a page with many back links to highly ranked pages as being of greater importance, and will therefore increase its page ranking. Another tactic is to submit entries to a highly ranked online blog, with excellent content, important keywords and back links where possible. Furthermore, you can join appropriate, and highly ranked, online forums and post useful content with a signature containing a back link to the target website. You should submit your website to the major search engines’ web indices. This will speed up and enhance the optimization process greatly.

SEO is a multifaceted endeavor, and requires ongoing maintenance and tuning. There are many competent companies that are dedicated to carrying out SEO campaigns. If page ranking is extremely important to you, consider outsourcing the project to a professional Denver SEO company.

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can serve as the linchpin to your overall marketing plan for your business.  Gone are the days when all you needed was an ad in the local phone book.  The most efficient way to drive leads to your business is through Internet marketing.  You need more than just a website, though.

A website that has not been optimized for search engine results pages (SERPs) will only serve as a digital business card.  Nobody will find it unless they know about it and where to look.  Your competition will quickly surpass such an outmoded approach.  You need to hire a Denver SEO consultant to help get your website seen by those searching for the products and/or services that your business offers.

A competent SEO company will offer a full-service approach to Internet marketing, in order to ensure that your SEO campaign is in fact successful.  You will need to start out by looking for a Denver SEO company on the Internet.  Here’s a good tip: if you search for SEO company, SEO consultant, SEO, Internet marketing, etc. the company you end up choosing should appear near the top of the SERPs.  The reason:  if a particular Denver Internet marketing company can’t get their own site near the top of the SERPs, they probably can’t do it for you, either.

Once you have chosen a particular SEO company, carefully examine the SEO consultant with whom you are to be partnered.  Do they act in a professional manner?  How much experience with Internet marketing do they have?  Can they provide examples and references to demonstrate that they have a track record of success?  Do they have as many questions for you as you do for them?  A good SEO consultant will begin by trying to understand your business and the goals you have for it.  This will aid them in one of the early steps in SEO, keyword research.

Do not settle for a mediocre SEO company.  Don’t shop by price alone.  Remember, you get what you pay for.  The success of your business depends on you choosing the best Internet marketing company possible.

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denver internet marketing,denver SEO,denver web development

Denver Web Development is absolutely key in helping to produce awareness, traffic, and sales for your company or product.  Just like traditional marketing campaigns, there are many specific skills required to be effective in your Denver Internet Marketing plan.  These skills include but are not limited to link building, web design, Denver search-engine-optimization, HTML writing, blogging, and social networking.  Techniques and trends are constantly changing as well, and it is important to utilize the experience and knowledge of a Denver SEO Firm or Internet Marketing Company.

It is important to set goals, and plan a complete strategy for building a valuable website and increasing the traffic to that website.  In addition to a clear website with substantial, valid content, you need to drive the site to towards the top of search engine results for targeted keywords.  This intricate, time-consuming process is called search-engine-optimization, or SEO.  A good internet marketing company will also handle Denver SEO for your business.  It is best to let experts execute SEO for you, because the ranking algorithms and industry trends are constantly evolving and changing.  A Denver SEO Company will keep up with the pulse of the industry, staying on top of all the new tips and tricks.

Denver Internet Marketing is paramount to staying on the cutting edge of any industry.  Create a strong, reliable Internet presence while at the same time being highly visible on local and global search engines.  Customize your plan to cater to your target audience, increasing your chances for sales, leads, and referrals.  The days of Yellow Pages are over, and you need to keep your business ahead of the curve by working with a Denver Internet Marketing Firm.  No matter what your industry, help yourself and take the right step towards a successful future.

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Choosing an effective and reliable SEO company can be quite difficult, especially with the rise of its popularity and the vast amount of businesses offering SEO services in the past 2 years.  Search Engine Optimization is one of the biggest investments you will make into establishing your companies online presence which makes it even more imperative you make the right choice when hiring an SEO company.  It goes without saying that hiring the wrong SEO consultant will not only cost you a lot of money but it could also cost you your domain getting dropped or delisted by Google if the company breaks the rules and uses black hat tactics.

Here are some questions to ask to help you make the important decision of hiring the best SEO company for your company, business or website.  Each SEO company has something special to offer so finding the right fit will help ensure a successful and pleasant SEO campaign.

How long have they been established? Along with most things in life, the longer you have been doing something; normally the better you are at it.  When you try to market a website in the top search engines, you have to be able to adapt to the changes they are making in their algorithm and how they rank sites.  If a company has been doing SEO for more than a few years they have had to deal with the changes made and should be able to show you how they’ve adapted.

If possible, take into account how long the SEO company has been established, the chances are if its been around for a few years they will be well up to date with the latest strategies and have a decent history and background.

Can they provide testimonials & recommendations? Any good company, regardless of the industry, should be able to provide a handful of testimonials and recommendations from their previous projects.  Now remember they are going to give you their favorite customers if not friend’s phone numbers so it is important to ask these questions:

“How long did it take to see results on the search engines for your campaign”?  This will give you a good indication of how the time and effort the company operates at.  A good SEO company should be able to show results inside of the first 30 days.  They will not be dramatic results but any SEO consultant will tell you they have the ability to influence a websites ranking in a months time.

“Why did you hire this SEO company”?  Asking this will let you know if they hired because of a previous relationship, price or even their internet marketing strategies.

“Did they do more for you other than just get you to the top of SERPS?  A good SEO company will do more than just get you to the top of Google for “Denver Attorney”.  If the company knows anything about internet marketing they understand that today’s searchers are researching companies and individuals before they make decisions.  An SEO company should be working on video and article optimization to help build credibility for your company as well.

Do they make any “too good to be true” claims? Any SEO company that makes a guarantee is simply not worth working with.  As an SEO consultant, I personally know I cannot guarantee anything because I do not have direct control of a websites ranking.  Just like a weatherman gives an educated guess about the 7 day forecast, an SEO consultant will give you an educated guess as to where they can get you placed on the search engines.  The only guarantee most of us can offer is to work hard and within the rules.

“Do they enjoy your line of business”? This might seem like a silly question to ask but it actually can be a good indication whether the SEO company is right for you.  As an SEO consultant, I can say from tons of experience it is everything in the world to be passionate about an SEO campaign we are working on.  The amount of time and energy put into a campaign is enough to drive you crazy if you do not like talking or writing about a particular industry.  Make sure to find someone who is at least interested in the services you provide or products you offer, it might help make the SEO campaign be more effective.

Although these are just a few questions to ask, it should help give you an idea if the SEO company is a good fit for you and your business.  If you have any other questions about hiring an SEO company, please don’t hesitate to email me at nick@thisisiniquitous.com or give me a call (303) 999-7963.  I would be happy to answer any questions you have.

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