Several months ago a dear friend introduced me to internet marketing. Since that time, I have been learning a great deal about building traffic on my site. There are many ways to drive traffic to your website. They say the best things in life are free, so let's start with a free method.
Publishing Articles
I know, you think you can't write. But consider this, you know a lot about the subject of your website and there is probably lots more information available to you on the internet.
Here's a simple way to put together articles:
1. Collect several articles written by others on your subject. Copy those articles into a word processor such as Microsoft Word. (I like to use Word because it is easier to edit than Note Pad. However, after the article is ready, I always paste it into Note Pad and verify that I have no Word code that will translate poorly online).
2. From those articles copy and paste the headline and paragraphs that you like the most into one document. Your article should have an introductory paragraph, 3 or more main points (paragraphs) and a closing paragraph.
3. Once you have your favorite title and paragraphs together, begin rewriting the information in your own words and ensure that the article flows well and includes your keyword for the search engines.
- Forget English class, you should write like you talk.
- When you write, "talk" as if you are talking to one person.
- Make your paragraphs very short and simple....no more than 4 or 5 lines.
- Use lots of bullets.
Some important concepts to remember when writing your article are:
1. The title should present a solution to a "problem."
2. The introductory paragraph should ensure that the solution to the problem will be given in the article.
3. The body of the article should present the problem (paragraph 2), agitate the problem a little (paragraph 3), and present the solution (paragraph 4).
4. The closing paragraph should recap what you said in paragraphs 2 through 4.
5. *MOST IMPORTANT* Include a resource box somewhere in your article that includes a keyword link to your website.
The link will connect the reader to your site, resulting in traffic to your site.
Now that you've written your article, the next step is to perfect it. You should always:
* Make sure that your article contains information that is valuable to your reader. Everyone loves FREE information and they love it even more if it's information that will help them.
* As I always told my kids when they were in school....SPELL CHECK!!
* Use Microsoft Word to count the words. Your article should be 500-600 words. The search engines don't like shorter articles and readers get bored with more words than that.
* You need to read the article out loud to see how it sounds.
* Have a friend read the article and check for clarity and grammar errors.
If you follow these steps, you will be writing quality articles in no time. With practice, article writing will become easier and quicker and you'll see your traffic increase exponentially.
Sharon Harrison is an Online Business and Marketing Coach. Visit her website for more information on article writing.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharon_J_Harrison
