Writing for an article directory differs somewhat from writing for your blog or website. While on your website or blog, you can talk about your history, explain why you are the best agent in the area and describe specific properties, these articles have to be informational but free of sales content. Read on for more details about writing for article directories.

Choose Effective Keywords

Good content for article marketing starts with keyword research. Choosing good keywords means your content will be more visible in the search engines, translating into more traffic to the article and then to your website or blog. An effective keyword or keyword phrase is one for which there are many monthly searchers and fewer web pages competing for the traffic. With fewer web pages competing for the same traffic, your article can rank higher in the search engines. The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is free and a good choice for keyword selection.

Write a Good Title and Subheadings

Start your article with a strong title. It should be relevant to your content, short and catchy. You want a title that will draw people in and make them want to read your content. Many people are drawn in by how-to titles, titles that ask a common question and those containing numbers, such as 5 Steps to Selling Your Home.

Include at least a few subheadings in your article. Subheadings help break up long blocks of text and give readers some idea of what to expect from the content below them. Include your keyword or keyword phrase in at least one of your subheadings.

Provide Informational Content

Think about the questions your audience wants answered and the problems it wants solved, and then write your content to provide solid answers and solutions. For article marketing, however, you’ll have to do this in a purely informational way. Provide general answers and solutions without discussing your business at all. For example, you could write about the qualities a person should seek in a real estate agent, but you can’t discuss your experience, skills, business, contact information or anything that could be considered selling your services. At the end of the article, often in a special resource section, you can mention your business and use a call to action to get readers to visit your website to learn more. This is where you’ll include links to your website or blog. Many article directories allow two or three links per article.

Length and Keyword Density

Each article marketing directory will have unique guidelines for article length and keyword density. It’s wise to familiarize yourself with them before you start writing. Generally, articles that contain between 400 and 700 words are good for article marketing. Most directories won’t accept very short articles, and you don’t want to give away too much by writing a very long article. Instead, stimulate readers’ appetites for the information you can provide, and then direct them to your website to learn more and get personal assistance.

Article marketing directories also differ in their preference for keyword density. If you use one keyword for every 100 words, however, you’ll meet most directories’ guidelines. In terms of percentages, many directories prefer a keyword density between one and four percent.

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What Is Article Marketing?

Article marketing is the creation of articles targeted towards a particular industry and then submitted to article directories. Article directories accept these types of submissions and typically sort them into subject-specific categories. Visitors to article directories can read your articles, and if interested, follow the links in them back to your website (or blog). Besides this traffic, article marketing also provides backlinks that boost your website’s page rank. Additionally, articles you submit this way are usually included in the search engines, providing another potential source of traffic.

Why Do It?

Getting targeted traffic to your website often requires a multi-pronged approach, and article marketing can be a reliable addition to your efforts. Most article directories allow you to post for free, which means your only cost is the time it takes you to write and submit articles or the money you pay another writer to do this for you. If you choose high-quality article directories with good page ranking, you get excellent exposure for your articles, backlinks that boost your own page rank, and search engine indexing for each submission. Additionally, other website owners can use your articles on their websites as long as they keep your links and bio in place. This means more backlinks and increased views each time your article is used.

What Type of Articles?

Most directories do not accept articles that are obviously salesy. To have your articles accepted, you’ll need to provide content that is informative and relevant to your subject. Articles that provide real value to the reader and stimulate interest are the most successful. For example, rather than write all about your particular real estate business, you would write about real estate in general (tips for buying and selling, advice for choosing an agent, or guidance for preparing a home for sale). You would use the links and bio the article directory allows to draw readers from these general articles back to the business-promoting content on your website.

The Resource Box

This is where you can be a bit more salesy. The resource box is a section at the end of the article in which you CAN promote your real estate business. Usually, you are allowed two or three links here. The idea is to write a short but compelling pitch that makes your reader want to learn more by clicking your links. For example, you might answer some important real estate questions in your article but leave readers hungry for more. In such a case, the pitch in your resource box should make it clear that they can learn more by following your links.

Let REVStaffing boost your productivity. Take the next step towards better organization and exposure for your business. Shoot us an email or give us a call for a free needs analysis.