I was recently doing some search engine optimization for a client which included some articles with keywords included in them. I think keyword rich (NOT keyword stuffed) articles are a good marketing tool. Most of the articles went okay. Then I got to one article in which the keyphrase was a four word phrase that was grammatically incorrect. I don't want to say what it was exactly, but to give you a fictionalized example, it was something like "Cadillac Dealership Car Oklahoma". In other words, it wasn't anything you would ever use in a sentence; it was just the result from a Google keyword search. I suggested to my client that they rethink this keyphrase as an article but they insisted because 500 people a month search for that phrase.

Welcome to the attack of the long-tailed monster. The long tail – a notion famously developed by Wired writer Chris Anderson  – is the idea that the accumulated amount of a small group of things is greater than the "short head", the total of the initial spike. So, when you add up all of the books sold on Amazon, the one or two they sell of millions of copies of books far outweighs the millions of copies of a best-seller. Thus, the long tail doesn't look to be that profitable for them but it actually is. (If that doesn't make sense, try reading this Wikipedia entry for clarification; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Tail).

The long tail applies to search, as well, as illustrated by my attempt to write an article with keywords similar to "Cadillac Dealership Car Oklahoma" in a sentence. In this article, over at SEOmoz, they report that the 10,000 most common search terms only account for the top 18.5% of all searches.

Let me put this into perspective for you: If you were to list the top 10,000 search terms, you'd be hard pressed to do so (but you could probably list the top 250 – 500 and then you'd dry up!) but if you could do it, you'd still not be able to only account for more than three quarters of the searches done online. This study was based on 10 millions searches done in the US. That means that 1,850,000 searches were conducted with the top 10,000 terms… and the remaining 8,150,000 searches were on different terms. That is crazy!

… It also means there's some dramatic opportunity for you to target the long tail in your business. So, even though "Cadillac Dealership Car Oklahoma" makes absolutely no sense in a sentence, it could be enough (when combined with other similar keywords) to bring in the traffic you want to bring in!

How it works in article marketing, well, that's going to be the tricky part for marketers and writers and business owners, but that's going to be the future of web marketing.

Brought to you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

In my research into online marketing techniques I’ve noticed (we’ve ALL noticed) that there are two kinds of online articles.

There are the articles which make sense and have a beginning, middle, and end; and, there are articles which seem to have little purpose beyond being keyword stuffed. Their sentences look something like this: "Are you curious about internet marketing? Many people are curious about internet marketing and those who want to know more about internet marketing can find internet marketing sites online simply by searching for ‘internet marketing’."

I decided to go to the source and ask some contacts in the freelance writing and marketing field about these. They make a strict delineation between what they call "cheap articles" and "normal articles".

The cheap ones cost "next to nothing: (their words) and are often stuffed with keywords and spelling and grammatical errors. The "normal" articles cost more but the quality is higher. They point out that they get frequent requests for both kinds of articles. The cost ratio is anywhere from $1:$10 to $1:$100. What a gap! So which ones work?

To be fair to both sides: Cheap articles might not read well but you can get a bunch of them online fast which equates to plenty of backlinks. On the other hand, higher priced articles read better but you might get fewer backlinks because there simply are a fewer number of articles. With a cost ratio of $1:$10, you can spend $10 and get 10 articles or one article. On a strictly budgetary level it makes economic sense to get 10 articles.

However, there are other factors to consider: What is the likelihood that each type of article will be (1) picked up by other publishers and (2) read by an audience? With that in mind, the field turns in favor of the higher priced choice.

And to be honest, that’s where I prefer to be in my internet marketing: For me, it comes down to the customer. I might want backlinks – lots of back links – but if I don’t get quality traffic from it, it doesn’t matter. And cheap articles just don’t make the grade here. They may search well in Google but if a customer can’t get through the content, they are not likely going to click through to your site. On the other hand, if my higher quality articles attract interest (and they DO still search well and link back) then customers are more likely to click through to my site.

But in this economy, we’re all definitely mindful of the cost of marketing. I’d like to hear from you on this point.

Do you prefer lower priced articles that give you back links? Do you prefer higher priced articles that might be more "people friendly"?

Brought to you by: Contemporary VA - Run your business instead of running in circles.

Article submission is a great way to get your name and expertise out there which can help to solidify your reputation and expertise in your particular industry. It’s also another way you can drive traffic to your sites. This type of marketing is generally referred to as article marketing. Write articles that are excellent in content and relative to your niche. But they key is to find a good balance of giving the reader some excellent knowledge but also leave them craving more on the subject. It can be a tricky balance so if you aren’t the best writer, hire one. There are many Virtual Assistants who specialize in this arena. You may be able to get another website owner to add your article(s) to their site by contacting them and offering your content to their site. Site owners are always seeking out new content. It’s not likely they’ll pay you for it, but that’s not your ultimate goal. Your goal is to spread your word. Do a search and find sites/blogs that are relative and contact the webmaster or owner. Don’t act like you’re doing them a favor, sharing your content with them does you both a favor. It creates a win-win situation. DO NOT blatantly promote yourself or your product in the article. The article should be informative and teach the reader or give them valuable information. Site owners will allow you a link, just ensure you make the most of that link! Don’t forget your anchor text. Article directories will also give you an outlet to publish your articles. Most of them don’t pay, again this isn’t your goal, but there are some sites that will allow you to earn money from your article visits like:

Helium which does allow you to get paid for articles that their clients are seeking and allows you to be paid according to the amount of visits your article receives. Associated Content which, similar to Helium, also gives you the option to have your articles purchased and the option to get paid per amount of article visits. Article Income

The options to get paid via visit don’t pay much but it’s a little something on top of your exposure. Do a search and check around to find the ones that interest you most. Most article directories include a Resource Box for your promotional information; use it wisely. Check out this Article Resource Box article. You can also market yourself as an article author after your articles are published. In sales literature, you can push your article on “10 Ways to Improve Sales” or anything else you’ve written about. Other article directories:

Ezine Articles Article Dashboard Article Base Buzzle Go Articles Article Alley Search Warp Article City

Check out Top 50 Article Directories by Traffic and Pagerank to find out the top article directories and how they match up. Karen J. for Contemporary VA

One of the goals of using article writing in your marketing strategy is to brand yourself as an expert in your particular niche.

However, when you write about a number of topics you can actually dilute your “expert” status if you author them all the same. For example, say you are a real estate investor and you write regular articles related to the field of real estate investment to help drive traffic to your website.

On the side, you also have a passion for organic gardening and running. You begin to write some articles based on these other interests of yours and figure it won’t hurt to submit them to the article directories too. When you submit these articles for organic gardening and running under the same author profile that you created for real estate investment, you begin to dilute your expert status in real estate investing. As a reader, I’ve come to recognize and associate your name with quality information on real estate investing.

Now when I want more content from you, I might search to see what other articles you’ve written. My search shows these new hits on organic gardening and running – not at all what I’m interested in. I begin to wonder if you’ve changed your focus and are moving away from real estate investing. Your credibility as an expert in real estate investing begins to diminish because I’ve now begun to associate you with these other niches.

So what can you do?

Use a different pen name for each niche that you write about. You don’t have to stray too far from your real name, and shouldn’t. Many article directories have rules about using fictitious names. Make sure the pen names you use are still a variation of your real name. For example, John Thomas Doe could use the following pen names: J. Thomas Doe, John T. Doe, J.T. Doe, John Thomas, J. Doe. You get the idea. Now John Thomas Doe can be an expert in real estate investing, J.T. Doe can specialize in organic gardening, and J. Thomas Doe can write about running. This method will also help you track the effectiveness of your writing for each niche since results for each author can appear separately in your traffic reports. You’ll be able to more easily see which articles or niche had the most article views, author views, clicks, and links.

Cathy Yerges Partnering in Your Marketing Success