SEO for Authors: How to Turn Your Articles and Blog Posts Into Marketing Magnets

Are you losing out on high-quality Internet traffic simply because you're making a few dumb mistakes?

Are you confused by search engine optimization (SEO)?

If so, relax. Even I, a supposed Internet marketing "expert," have to constantly remind myself of some key principles to stay sharp. (And yes, I still make dumb mistakes :-).

An article on the Mequoda Daily site offers some good advice for making the most of online articles and blog posts -- so you increase the odds of your ideal customers finding you.

The article made two points I want to focus on:

Put primary keywords in the title. If your keyword is "organic gardening," then your article title should be something like "10 Organic Gardening Tips" or "How Organic Gardening Helped Me Lose 10 lbs."

Absolutely. Don't be cute or vague with your article and blog titles. What's more likely to pull in web visitors: "What I Did This Weekend" or "Wind Surfing for Beginners (or How I Embarrassed Myself This Weekend)"?

Be specific and make sure the main topic of your article is in the first few words of the title. Notice how the title of this very blog post begins with "SEO for Authors."

Include keywords in your URL. Both dashes and underscores are acceptable to Google now, so use either, but make sure that you are using your keyword in your URL. If your keyword is organic gardening, your URL might be www.site.com/10-organic-gardening-tips.com.

Many blogging platforms do this automatically, based on the title you enter. But if you're uploading content to your own web site, make sure the page address is filled with keywords.

Over on my music site, I'm doing some research for an ebook called "How to Recession-Proof Your Music Career." So the other day I searched Google for "how to save money" and "how to save money on gas."

Here are some of the article titles and addresses that came up:

How I save money
www.zenhabits.net/2007/02/how-i-save-money/

How to Save Money
www.mahalo.com/How_to_Save_Money

How to Save Money on Gas
www.wikihow.com/Save-Money-on-Gas

Saving Money at the Gas Pump
www.ftc.gov/savegas

See the beauty of this? Be clear about what you're writing about, and make sure to label your titles and web pages so people can find the great stuff you write about online!

-Bob

P.S. Now you can get FREE access to my Self-Publishing Confidential report filled with my best book publishing advice. Go grab your free report now.

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