Day 7: SEO Article Writing

Another of our make money online tactics without spending a dime is SEO article writing. Get the digs on how to easily get started.

If this is your first time visiting the thirty-day Make Money without Spending a Dime Challenge - Welcome! If you want to start from the beginning, you'll find the first posting here, and a list of all of the challenges to date here and the entire Article Writing for Search Engine Traffic Series here. Also, don't forget to join in the discussions.

Today I'm lazy. I'm feeling a bit under the weather and I spent more time reading than anything anything else. I don't have much to report on my progress.

I do, however, have a seven-part article series on SEO Article Writing I want to share. Here's part one; the rest will be posted within the next couple of days in addition to my daily posts. - Bonny

Article Writing for Search Engine Traffic, Part 1: Benefits and Reasoning

Article writing is one of easiest, simplest ways to get new potential customers to visit your website. Not only does it position your company (and you) as an expert in your field, it also provides free advertising, increases your search engine hits and gathers backlinks to your website.

Sharing Your Expert Knowledge

If you provide a product or service on the Internet, you are probably an expert in the topic already. Why not share this knowledge with others? You do not have to give away trade secrets or wholesale sources, but you can inform a total stranger about a myriad of aspects about your business. The intent is to provide informative content that lets the reader know you know what you are talking about, which builds trust. And when a customer trusts you, they remember you when it’s time to make a purchasing decision.

Positioning yourself as an expert has many benefits to the business owner, some of which aren’t readily apparent until months or years down the road. I will never forget the day that I received a phone call from a major newspaper asking me my opinion on a newsworthy subject relevant to my business; not only did it build instant credibility with anyone who read the final piece, but it drew in customers I never would have found on my own. Plus, I use that newspaper copy in all of my testimonials and sales pieces to further support my expert status.

Using Search Engines To Your Benefit

If you choose to write keyword-optimized articles (a descriptive how-to is provided later in this series), you will let those using the search engines know that the information you are offering is right up their alley. Although some skill and time is required to do this well, the long-term benefits are obvious: if you can target your articles to a highly searched keyword, you can attract thousands (or even millions) to your website.

Gathering Backlinks

Most website owners are acutely aware of their Google PR and Alexa ratings. One of the ways to increase your rating (and therefore search engine hits) is to have higher-rated websites link to yours. The easiest way to do this is to write an informative article and then submit it to these websites. Whether they are article submission sites, online magazines or even related businesses you can quickly change how the search engines link to you by gathering a high number of high quality backlinks.

Discovering Free Advertising

Press releases used to the ultimate way to get lots of attention focused on your business. Writing articles is the new press release but without the sales pitch. Unless you choose to pay someone else to write articles for you (which we will also discuss later in this series), all that you have to lose is a couple of hours of your time to gain a whole lot of benefit.

Now that you understand more about what article writing can do for you and how it can improve your search engine rankings, increase visitor numbers to your website and position you as the head honcho in your field, you’re ready to move to the next step of the article writing process: determining what keywords to use.