Anyone who’s been marketing online for a few months would know that article writing is one of the most talked about methods in driving traffic.

This is why there is a huge market for an article writing service. But not many people have really thought about why they need articles and therefore go about doing it wrong.

Here are some common reasons for why you need articles…

Reason 1:  For back links

Within your articles you can place anchor text that links to your main website or product pages. If your articles get re-published by different websites, then in effect, you’ve managed to build a lot of back links to your website which increases your search engine visibility.

Reason 2: To build your reputation as an expert

After someone reads your article, he should find the information useful and be looking for a link in your resource box to click through to know more about you.

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Even if you outsource your information product to the best professional ghostwriter in the world or spend years writing killer content, it won’t guarantee that you’ll make sales. This is what a lot of entrepreneurs don’t get. The money is in the MARKETING.

One of the best ways to market an information product online is SEO (search engine optimization).

As well as being free traffic (which is not a bad thing), the traffic is targeted. People use the search engines to find information. If they see your website ranked high in the listings for what they are searching for, they will trust it.

The God Father of all search engines is of course Google.

So if you’re ranked in the first page of Google for your keywords, you’ve got a herd targeted traffic hammering your website as long as you stay on the first page.

So let’s talk about how you can promote your information products on Google using SEO.

First, you have to understand what Google’s goal is. To stay as the number one search engine in the world, Google has to do one thing — Deliver relevant results to the users.

So if a user searches for the phrase “self-help books“, the top results must show website that are most relevant to those keywords. If a website is about mobile phone and is listed on the first page, then Google has failed.

Your goal therefore, is to make the search engines think that your website is very relevant to  the keywords.

So how will a search engine decide whether or not to list your website high in their search results  for particular keywords?

The answer is in your content and the websites that link to you.

That is all there is to SEO. There’s no magic or secret.

If your website has a ton of web pages that are related to the keywords and your website is regularly updated, then you’ll get on the search engines’ good books.

But to further make them consider your website to be ranked highly, they will consider how many other websites link to you.

This makes perfect sense. If thousands of websites link to you and some of these websites are ranking very high themselves plus they are relevant to the keywords you’re focusing on, then obviously your website is damn relevant for the keywords.

For example, let’s say that you have your own search engine and you have hundreds of websites linking to you and two of them are Google and Yahoo, you’re highly likely going to be listed on the first page for the keywords “search engine”.

This is easy to understand.

This is common sense but it’s amazing how people are still struggling with SEO. The main reason is because they are trying to find a fast way to rank high for their keywords.

There is no secret backdoor to ranking high on the search engines. Even if there is, the search engines will find out and blacklist whatever technique you are using.

The proper way to win the search engine battle and get a ton of traffic from your keywords, is to regularly produce good, fresh content and build as many links to your website as possible. The key word here is regularly.

When you hundreds of web pages of good relevant content and you have thousands of links to your website, you will get the traffic and rankings you want.

Here’s a simple action plan you can work on right away to get search engine traffic.

Simple Action Plan

1. Read up on search engine optimization and do your own SEO on your website. This is not hard. Alternatively hire some one to do it for you. Once your website is search engine friendly then you can start the real work which is the next 3 steps.

2. Create a list of keywords for your website that you want to be ranked for.

3. Write one page of content for your website/blog using 3 -4 keywords from your list. Do this every day. It’s a good idea to write in advance for a few days when you’re in a writing mood.

4.  Build back links to your website every day. This is tedious and boring. Highly recommend that you outsource this.

That is all there is to it. I told you it was simple.

However, it will 100% work. It is what search engines expect you to do.

This is why I always recommend my clients to create information products focusing on one niche, one website. All the back links and fresh content they create will not be wasted. It will turn their huge website into an authority.

So the next time you create an information product, think ahead of how you will promote it since that is where the money is. Search engine optimization is only one part of traffic generation.

If you are a freelance writer or someone who is offering a service online, one of the free platforms you can use to promote your services online is Squidoo.

Squidoo is ranked relatively high in the search engines and by having a link from a Squidoo lens to your main website, you will also be benefiting your website’s search engine rankings.

The good thing about having a Squidoo lens is that it is easy to update and you can capture a lot of visitors which you can re-direct to your own website. I have 2 Squidoo lenses which I capture the visitor’s email address by offering a free report.

With the list I can send re-direct them to my website and tell them of any promotions I have.

Here are some tips on how to use Squidoo for maximum benefit.

1. Choose a good keyword for your lens. If the name is taken, add a word next to it. But it is important that you have the keywords in your lens.

For example, I wanted the lens freelancewriter but it was taken. So I chose freelancewriterarticle which you can see at freelance writer.

2. Update your Squidoo lens regularly. The more you update your lens with good articles, the higher your lens will rank in Squidoo and in the search engines.

3. Have a form right at the top to capture your visitor’s emails. Give them a free report or gift in exchange for their email address.

4. Place pictures and videos in your lens to make it look more interesting and make the reader stay on your lens longer. Just having text will bore your visitors.

5. Have a poll, in your lens. This will give you some good information as to what your market wants.

6. Link to your Squidoo lens. Write articles and have links to your lens in your resource box. This will help the lens in search engine rankings.

7. Post your blog’s rss feed on your Squidoo lens. Whenever you update your blog, it will appear on your lens. This will keep the Squidoo lens updated with fresh information.

Follow these tips and you’ll have a valuable Squidoo lens bringing you targeted traffic for free.

At the very start when you’re planning your website, you need to think about search engine optimization. This is important because sooner or later, you would want your web pages to be shown on the first page of search results for your keywords so that you can get free targeted traffic. Here are some essential SEO tips for the small online business owners.

1. Your URL

Your website’s domain name is important for ranking in the search engines. If you want to target for the words “coffee mugs” then it would be ideal if your domain contains these words.

With every web page you create, put the keywords as the file name for your web page. For example, /coffeemugs.html, /coffeemugsandcups.html

You will see that the names of your web pages helps your search engine rankings.

2. Title Tags

Title tags are what appears in your browser’s window title right at the top. Don’t put your company name in the title tag. Instead put your keywords and try to make sense of them. e.g. Coffee Mugs | Coffee Cups

The keywords in the title tags will be seen as important by the search engines to rank your web page.

3. Links

Have links to other quality websites on your web pages. These help because they tell Google that you are providing good information to visitors and not just promoting your own website.

4. Quality Content (Text)

Have good content on your web pages that are focused with your keywords. The more text you have, the better it will do in the search results.

The internet is about information. People search for content that they are interested in. This is why in order for search engine optimization to be effective, your website must have a lot of content and targeted to your niche.

5. Images

If you have images on your website, you can turn them into keywords that will be noticed by the search engines. You do this by assigning tags to them. Basically you describe what the images are about.

So don’t just put pretty pictures on your website. Make them help with your search engine optimization.

6. Anchor Text

The search engines will love your website if you have many other related websites linking to you.

To get ranked high for your keywords, you need other websites to link to yours with an anchor text. The anchor text will contain your keywords.

The more anchor text you have linked to your website, the more credit you will get from the search engines. At the end of the day, it is the number of links you get to your website which will make you win the search engine war.

With these search engine optimization tips, you should use them as soon as you start building your website. The reason is because search engine optimization takes a long time. You can’t expect instant results.

The website that will rank at the top, is the one with the most quality content and the most amount of links from other authority websites. If you do get to rank as the top 3 for a competitive keyword, you will get an avalanche of free targeted traffic.

There are other techniques that will help you with your SEO such as writing press releases and articles. You need to do some further reading to understand them. For now, the 6 SEO tips mentioned in this article will help you get off to a good start.

Check out the press release and article writing services at freelance writing services to put your SEO campaign on full throttle.