Article Marketing & Guest Blogging Tips

In a previous post I wrote about the pros and cons of article marketing. If you haven’t read that, I recommend you do so now. I mention some of the pitfalls of article marketing in general that you should be aware of. That article was written in 2010 and now guest blogging has taken over in popularity. Since both can be seen as tactics to manipulate Google, care is in order. If you’re gong to do it, do it for the right reason.

What to write

1. Save the really great stuff for your own site. You’ll get more inbound links to your own site that way. (You have to learn how to SEO and market though!) Put the great stuff out there in other sites and people will be linking there instead. See #5 in “How to write..” below for more info.
2. If you know how to do something, tell them how in how-to article directories.
3. Provide information that positions you as an expert. Right about what you know.
4. Research blogs and forums for current discussions around your area of expertise. Write the answers they are looking for, but don’t forget point #1 above.

How to write for maximum benefit

1. Write a catchy title to capture attention. Be sure to include keywords.
2. Don’t toot your horn. Do that and your post may not get accepted. Posts should not be an advertisement.
3. Just like your website, you want this article to be found by Google. So use the same SEO techniques which include: keywords in the title, keywords in the copy, H1 tags <h1> with keywords in them, <emph> emphasis tags around keywords. Do your keyword research and include long-tail keyword phrases.
4. Make your article informative and educational.
5. Keep it short isn’t as effective for getting inbound links as long articles are.
6. Make your readers either curious or excited to learn more about you and what else you have to say so that they will click over to your profile and then your website. In other words, leave them hungering for more.
7. Google came down on exact match keyword links, so don’t try to spam your signature. This used to be the norm:  “Kathy Long is a San Jose, CA search engine optimization specialist. More articles of interest can be found in her SEO blog.” But now be content with a link on your name. If you can include information in your article that references something on your site, a link there could be very helpful.

How to choose the best places for your articles or guest posts

Look for:

1. Popularity and lots of traffic. PageRank (PR) and the Alexa score will help you determine this. The higher the PR (up to 10) the better, and the lower the Alexa rank the better.
2. Followed links. If the website only gives you a no-follow link, don’t discount the value. If it is popular and sends lots of traffic, you should still be happy. Explanation of no-follow links is here.
3. In-content links. These provide a great way to create keyword-rich links that Google loves. And Google much prefers links in the body of the copy.

Now that you know how, I’ll give you a list of what I feel to be the best article directories in the next post.

Another post will follow on how to find the best places to guest blog.

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Kat

Top Kat at Kat & Mouse Co.

Kathy (aka Kat) is one of the internet's original Digital Divas and freely shares her expertise in the fields of web design, SEO, Local SEO, social media marketing, content development, PPC, and conversion optimization to help businesses succeed online. Sadly, she's allergic to cats.

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