How can you write article that increase traffic to your website? Here are 10 strategies :
1. Keep it Short. Articles should be between 450 -1000 words, with an optimal length of 700-800 words.
2. Be Selective where you submit. Many article submission services and article directories permit you to submit an unlimited number of articles on a weekly basis. Consequently, some of these services have been blacklisted by the more reputable directories.Some article directories permitting unlimited article submissions are simply repositories of poorly written articles – unless they have some type of article approval process attached to the submission. The reputable article banks (those that have great credibility with ezine publishers for having content-rich articles) usually limit article submissions to no more than 2 per week.
3. Make it Catchy. Creating a compelling title to an article is key in attracting a great readership. Most well read articles are “How to” articles, or they are some type of tips article that solves a problem. For example, “Top 10 Strategies to…”, “5 Secrets to Creating..”, “The 3 Key Ingredients to…”, or “7 Mistakes to Avoid”.
4. Include your keywords. In order to drive traffic to your site, you’ll need to include the keywords by which you want to be found in the title of the article. To maximise the effectiveness of the article, you’ll want to use that same keyword 3-7 times in the content of the article.
5. Short paragraphs are best. Your school English teacher may cringe, but when you’re writing online content, your paragraphs need to be no more than about 3 sentences each, and your sentences need to be rather simply constructed. Keep in mind that people are looking at light, not paper, when they’re reading online. That means that stress on the eyes is different in this medium than reading a hard copy of something. Because many readers tend to scan online content rather than thoroughly read it, divide your article content into numbered bullet points for easier reading and comprehension.
6. Valuable content. There is an incredible amount of drivel in online articles. It’s extremely frystrating when an article has a wonderful title that promise to solve a problem, but the content fails to deliver any valuable information. It’s even more annoying when the article is simply an advertorial of sorts for a product or service. You should always try to deliver the best information possible about a topic to your readers. Don’t be afraid of giving away what you know! It’s a great way to establish your expertise so that your target market will confidently buy from you when they’re ready.
7. Have a beginning, middle and an end. Your article should have an introductory paragraph to tell your readers what you’re going to tell them in the article, the body of your article with your prime content, and then an ending that summarises what you said in the article. If you write tips articles with numbered points, it’s important to end with a summary paragraph rather than your last tip, as many directory editors will refuse to publish your article because it’s considered incomplete.
8. Limit your URLs. Many article publishers won’t list your article if you have more than 3 URLs in the body of your article. Stricter publishers may refuse to publish any article containing affiliate links in the body, or links back to one of your websites in the body.
9. Compelling resource box. The resource box is the “commercial” that appears at the end of the article to tell the reader what you do. Typically, this commercial is 1-2 sentences containing your catchy “tag line” and the URL of your website (preferably on a separate line to make it stand out better). A resource box that makes a reader take action and visit your site such as a free offer often works best.
10. Place your articles on your website. Search engines love valuable and relevant content, so the more of this type of content that you have on your site, the higher your search engine rankings.
Your target market needs your expertise! If you use the strategies outlined above to write your articles, you’ll almost certainly start to see the traffic to your website increase.