Continuing our lesson about article marketing for SEO, let's talk about how to write your article.

In truth I can't tell you how to write your article, because your writing style is different from mine (just like your personality is different from mine).

But I can offer the following guidelines for crafting high-performance articles:

1. Make sure your article follows some sort of logical flow. Choose a path (step-by-step, top ten, a series of related items, chronological order) and stick to it throughout your article.

2. Optimize your article for online reading. Use short paragraphs, meaningful sub-headers, list, bullets, etc. Keep your language simple (Hemingway, not Faulkner).

3. Keep the article reasonably short so it can be comfortably read or perused online. Aim for 500 - 700 words, but don’t obsess over those numbers.

4. Write your first draft, then put it aside for a day or so. Come back and revise it for tightness and logical flow. Ask yourself the questions below:

Questions to ask about your article:

• Does my article suggest a benefit in the the title and first paragraph?
• Does it move the reader forward smoothly and logically?
• Is it Web-friendly (easy-to-read paragraphs, lists, sub-headers)?
• Does it stick to one topic, sharply focused?
• Does it deliver on the promise made in the title?
• Is the information genuinely helpful to my key prospects?
• Does the article position me as an expert?
• Is it free of typos and grammatical mistakes?
• Is it lively and interesting? Does it have personality?
• Does it speak directly to readers (using "you" and "your")?

Next lesson: How to create your title.

Until then...

-Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Article Marketing

Posted by Brandon at 4:39 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

Continuing our lesson about article marketing for SEO, we need to talk about your topic.

What do you write about?
So far, we've talked about how article marketing can increase the number of inbound links to your website -- and thereby increase your search engine visibility. But what do you write about to achieve maximum results?

To answer this question, just look at the kinds of blogs and websites you want to get links from. The best inbound links (for SEO purposes) come from websites relevant to your own. So if you want links from those sites, you'll need to write the kind of content those sites publish.

For example:
If you wanted links from software-related websites, you would need to write software reviews, software "how to" articles, or software shopping guides. You wouldn't necessarily have to write about your exact product or service offering ... you just have to write the kind of content that relevant websites would want to publish.

Quality articles + persistence = lots of inbound links!

Next lesson: How to write your article.

-Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Article Marketing

Posted by Brandon at 7:17 PM | Permalink | | links to this post

What is Article Marketing?
From an SEO standpoint, article marketing is the process of writing and publishing articles online to improve your website's search engine visibility. The SEO benefits of article marketing come from two principles:

1. Viral Marketing -- A good article can travel a long way on the Internet.

2. Link Building -- As they get republished, articles increase the number of sites linking to yours (a big factor in search engine ranking).

Other Benefits of Article Marketing
SEO is not the only reason to begin an article marketing program. This practice can also drive direct traffic to your website, position you as an expert in your field, and help you develop an critical skill in today's information economy ... writing!

Next lesson: What to write about.

Until next time...

-Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Article Marketing

Posted by Brandon at 8:24 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

This search engine optimization tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy — SEO advice for Austin, Texas companies.

Some people probably get tired of hearing me talk about articles.

I don't. I love writing and publishing articles. And I love talking about writing and publishing articles.

Why? Because I truly believe good articles can help you grow your web presence more than any other element of online activity.

By "web presence," I'm suggesting that articles go beyond basic SEO. Hell, I'm not suggesting ... I'm saying it! A well-planned, well-executed article publishing program can help you build your reputation, increase awareness, drive direct traffic to your site, and yes ... improve your website's search engine visibility.

You might call article marketing an "SEO plus" kind of tool. Sure, it's good for search engine optimization, but it's also great for so much more.

Lots more info to come!
In the next few posts to this blog, I'll teach you some of the things I've learned over the years about publishing articles online. What do I know about it? Well, I've published hundreds of articles through hundreds of channels and built entire websites around the concept ... not to mention writing a book on the subject along the way.

So stay tuned for the SEO benefits of article marketing!

Until next time...

-Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Article Marketing

Posted by Brandon at 3:54 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

This SEO tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy — search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.


Today is a milestone for Austin, Texas SEO training.

I've decided to launch a seminar / workshop series to train Austin-area companies on search engine optimization, website content strategies and Internet marketing in general. I've even got some quotes on training sites in the area.

* I'm thinking the Embassy Suites at the Arboretum...
* I'm thinking a limited-seating event for 75 folks...
* I'm thinking in-depth training, handouts, and more goodies...
* I'm thinking mid April of next year. Who knows, maybe sooner.

Learning SEO in a day
Now, I've been to a lot of marketing seminars. And to be quite honest, most of them were over-priced and offered only top-level information. You know, the kind of information you can get from one of those "For Dummies" books.

But not my seminar! I plan to focus on the day-to-day tasks of a professional SEO consultant. In other words, I plan to show you how I spend my days. You'll learn about key phrase research, website structure, article marketing, link building and more.

There I go, getting myself excited about it, and it's months away!

I'll keep you posted.

-Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Austin SEO Seminar

Posted by Brandon at 2:19 PM | Permalink | | links to this post

This SEO tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy — search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.

I stumbled across an interesting article at RISmedia.com, and I thought I'd share it with you. It discusses the SEO benefits of blogging.

For those of you familiar with the SEO benefits of publishing a blog, this might be a little basic for you. But if you're not up on the subject, this article will give you a good overview.

Whenever I catch myself nodding while reading an article, I know I've found something worth sharing. The author is promoting his blogging system (of course), but he still does a good job covering all of the fundamental SEO benefits of blogging.

Of course, these benefits come in addition to the big-picture reasons you should blog -- to educated your audience, share your ideas, and connect with clients and prospective clients.

Here's the article:
http://rismedia.com/index.php/article/articleview/15903/1/1/

Until next time...

-Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Blogging

Posted by Brandon at 4:12 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

This SEO hilarity is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy — search engine wisdom (and fun) for Austin, Texas companies.

Still number one, baby! Can you dig it?

In a previous post, I used the nonsense phrase "purple polka dot widget sticks" to illustrate a point about shady SEO companies ranking their clients for obscure phrases ... and then bragging about it.

Well, here I am to brag (with tongue in cheek) about the fact that I now rank #1 in Google for the phrase "purple polka dot widget sticks." This just illustrates the point I made in the first post ... in an amusing and unintentional way.

#1 in Google

#1 in MSN / Live Search

First page in Yahoo

Incidentally, the only websites beating me out in Yahoo are websites mentioning my blog post and article. Does anyone else think this is hilarious, or am I the only geek in the room? :-)

Until next time...

-Austin SEO Guy

Posted by Brandon at 1:01 PM | Permalink | | links to this post

In my weekly (okay, daily) prowl of SEO websites, I stumbled across an RSS feed that led me to a blog post that led me to an SEO guide for real estate folks.

But what really leaped out at me was the idea of a link-building manual, which the author has apparently created for real estate folks. Hey, what about the rest of us? I, for one, would pay good money for a time-saver in what is my most time-consuming tasks (link-building).

Just my thoughts on a rainy Tuesday morning in Austin.

Okay, I'm off to post something on my Statesman blog now.

Until next time...

-The Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Search Engine Optimization

Posted by Brandon at 4:58 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

This search engine optimization tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy -- search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.

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I'm always happy to show you new SEO tools and resources as I find them online. And today's tool, is extra neat-o.

It's called a spider simulator, and it gives you an idea of how search engine spiders are "seeing" your website.

I use the tool for educational purposes. A lot of people insist on graphic heavy home pages with little to no regular text. When you combine this with weak title tags and dynamic navigation, you end up with a page that gives search engines no idea what the page is all about.

The spider simulator helps me get that point across.

Here's how it works:

1. Visit http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/spider-simulator/

(There are actually dozens of spider simulators online, but this is one of my favorites.)

2. Enter your blog or website's full URL (including http://) into the "valid URL" box.

3. Click the "Spider" button.

The tool shows you several revealing things about your site. Basically, it will go through the page and read all the things a search engine spider would be able to read (title tags, meta descriptions, page copy of the plain text variety, links, etc.).

If you have a Flash site, for example, you might have a bunch of empty or near-empty boxes, because search engines can't read Flash. Read the text in each of the boxes and ask yourself, does this information give a good indication of what my site is about?

Oh, and be sure to read the helpful explanation at the top of the page.

Until next time...

-The Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Search Engine Optimization

Posted by Brandon at 9:01 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

This search engine optimization tip is brought to you by the Austin SEO Guy — search engine wisdom for Austin, Texas companies.

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Linking within your blog to other relevant posts can benefit you in two ways:

Linking for People
Internal linknig increases your blog's usability because reader's click on a particular phrase or topic for related information. This makes your blog more usable, more enjoyable, and more "sticky."

Linking for Search Engines
Internal linking also improves your search engine visibility. When a search engine indexes your blog, it will begin to crawl through as many pages as possible.

By default, most blogs are designed in a way that allows search engine spiders to easily crawl from post to post / page to page. But by providing some inline text links from one post to a related post, you're making your blog even more "crawlable."

SEO Tip: When deciding what words and phrases to link, use the following two criteria:

1. Choose phrases directly related to the post pages you're linking to. If you hyperlink the words "Austin Symphony," the link should go to a page about the Austin Symphony.

2. Choose phrases your readers might genuinely want to learn more about.

3. Choose phrases related to your blog's overall topic or theme. This will help search engines understand what your blog is all about.

Until next time...

-The Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Search Engine Optimization

Posted by Brandon at 6:36 AM | Permalink | | links to this post

A recent forum post over at Webmaster World offered some insight as to whether outbound links to shady websites can hurt your rankings:

It's unlikely that your outbound linking is causing your pages to be listed in the supplemental, rather than main index.

Also, be assured that we're not looking to penalize folks for a "bad" link here and there. Rather, our algorithms are tuned to look for patterns of "egregious" linking behavior... both on individual sites and in the aggregate.

"With that said, it's certainly in your users' interest that you regularly audit outgoing links on your site (especially prominent ones) to ensure that you're not losing folks' trust by sending them to inappropriate places or 404 pages. Sure, it's great to keep Google happy, but it's usually more important (long term) to have your users be return visitors.

This comes from Adam Lasnik of Google. I'm glad he points out that you should put your readers before search engines. Some people forget that in the grand scheme of things. I call it "SEO tunnel vision"!

Until next time...

-The Austin SEO Guy

Labels: Search Engine Optimization

Posted by Brandon at 6:55 AM | Permalink | | links to this post