The Article Writing Genie Returns to Grant Three More Wishes
Today, we bring back the mystical Article Writing Genie to respond to some new requests from real Expert Authors.
He’s been receiving plenty of questions recently about keywords, so he decided to focus in that direction for this wish granting session. Here are wishes from a few lucky members and what the genie had to say:
Wish #1: Genie, there are so many keywords in my niche to choose from. Give me the keywords and keyphrases that are trending right now so I know where to focus my future articles.
The Genie Says:
Every niche is a little bit different, but many authors run into this problem. They get excited about article writing and have so much of their expertise to share, but they just don’t know where to start. Plus, they want to make an impact on people right now by focusing on keywords that are currently relevant.
There are three ways to approach this situation. You:
Provide timely advice around topics that may change in the future
Write evergreen articles that have more staying power
Use some combination of both
The problem with the first solution is that your time-sensitive article loses relevancy over time. For example, an article based on the key-phrases “summer 2011″ and “fashion trends” will be highly relevant this year, but when 2012 comes around, it’s no longer relevant.
Evergreen content is the type of content that stays relevant every year, all year round. Aim for the best of both worlds by writing a combination of both trendy articles and evergreen ones.
Here’s where to start: Do keyword research with tools like Wordtracker, Goodkeywords and Google’s Keyword Tool, to build a list of the keywords that are currently popular. Then, go through the list and mark each of the ones that seem to be trendy topics. Make sure you have a mix.
Then, each keyword becomes a new article or a whole set of articles. Also, take a look at the success of your own articles by checking the Keyword Referral Stats on your account.
Wish #2: Genie, what’s the long tail? I've heard it mentioned before, but I’m not sure how it can be applied to my overall writing strategy.
The Genie Says:
First, if you’re looking for a basic overview of what the long tail looks like, check out this video and its accompanying PDF [316KB]. The long tail distribution curve indicates that the most general, basic keywords at the head of the tail generate high levels of interest, but there’s also a high level of competition at the head. As you move down the curve, the keywords become more specific and there’s less of an audience, but it’s also less competitive.
Further down the long tail is where your expertise comes in the most handy. It’s where the most detailed articles come from and where you’ll be able to accurately target the types of people looking for your content.
However, don’t focus solely on writing for the tail of the distribution. You want to have a wide range of articles covering a lot of different keywords and key-phrases to maximize your exposure. Aim for about 20%-30% of your articles on the keywords at the head of the curve and the remaining 70%-80% at the middle and long end of the curve.
Wish #3: Genie, grant me this one wish to always use the perfect balance of keywords.
The Genie Says:
At first, this seems like a tall order, but it really isn't as difficult as it sounds.
First, don’t try to stuff extra keywords into a sentence that already sounds natural. You aren't going to be doing yourself any favors if you do that. Instead, write naturally for your audience.
Always test the readability of your articles before you submit them by reading them aloud. If something doesn't sound natural when you read the article aloud, revise it until it does. Never sacrifice readability for anything else.
On the other hand, if your articles tend to go off-topic and don’t stay focused on your targeted keywords, the search engines may not recognize your article or index it. Articles like that may be easy-to-read, but they won’t get you any closer to optimizing your content for search engines. To avoid that, create an outline for the article before your start. Then, you should be able to stay on topic and not stray away from your topic and keywords.
