It’s a fact - article writing and submission helps ranking. Not only can articles help your site get to page one in the search engines by being on your website, but they can also rank as individual pages on article directory sites.

For example- If you’re in the real estate business and your home page ranks on page one, it’s possible that one or more articles rank on that page as well - either as pages on your site or as pages on a directory site. So, that’s great, right? You have multiple pages for your business ranking on page one, but it goes beyond that. Here are some other benefits:

1. If you rank in four places on page one, there are four places your competition doesn’t rank. WIN!
2. Multiple positions on page one, especially with articles, make you look like a subject-matter expert. WIN!
3. Multiple rankings with articles that contain relevant and useful information will help your prospects. WIN!
4. You’ll have seen the power of article (and press release) marketing and be more inclined to use it. WIN!

But writing articles isn’t just about jotting down a few ideas that you think might help readers. Here are three question you should ask before you write and submit, or have someone write and submit, an article:

1. Does your article inform? Sure, every article serves the purposes of furthering branding, promotion and lead generation, but if your article isn’t laser-focused on informing your audience, then it doesn’t matter how high that article ranks in the search engines. A crappy article make you look, well, crappy. You must choose informative topics that your target audience needs or wants to know.
2. Does your article take advantage of keywords and relevant links back to your site? OR does the article look like a page of keywords linked in dozens of places? Overdoing it on the keywords won’t help your cause. And most submission sites only allow a certain number of links to be in your article. Choose your keyword placement well and make your links relevant and within the submission site’s guidelines.
3. Is your article ‘yours’? By that, I mean is your name associated with the article? Don’t just put your business name and info with the article, use YOUR name. You are the one wants to be set apart as a thought leader in your business. You are the one you want people to remember when the finish your article.

It’s not a lot to keep in mind, but when it comes times to write an article, many do-it-yourselfers get caught up in their creative flow and miss the point of their article. This does nothing but waste time and money. If necessary, hire a professional who can craft the message you want, while keeping all of the above in mind.

Jason Pedley is a professional SEO content copywriter based near Raleigh, North Carolina. Need articles that improve your online presence and set you apart as a thought leader in your industry? Contact Jason Pedley today - mail@jasonpedley.com or (860) 886-3455.

There are dozens of ways to refer to someone who writes for a website:

• SEO writer
• SEO content writer
• SEO copywriter

The list goes on. But the difference isn’t so much what you call a person who writes SEO content, it’s in the services they provide.

So how to we differentiate between an SEO writer and an SEO content provider?

To truly understand the difference in the services people offer, it’s important to know what each does.

SEO Writers

SEO writers typically write keyword-rich articles, press releases, blogs, case studies and static web pages for themselves or clients. Their value is great - learning what an SEO content writer has learned could take months away from your core business if you tried to do it yourself. If the SEO writer is good, they are generally always worth the money you spend. The good SEO writers have trained and gained valuable experience in writing based on keywords and what clients want visitors to see on the page.

The SEO Content Writer Difference

SEO content writers are typically great SEO writers, but offer certain services “off the page” that SEO writers simply can’t. In addition to being a good SEO writer, SEO content writers:

• Take into account URLs and meta tags, writing them if necessary, to increase page performance
• Research SEO strategies of a client’s competition, and create content accordingly
• Integrate different content types (articles, press releases, blogs, websites) to gain maximum SEO
• Find and suggest new content subject ideas and areas that create relevance and and increase visibility and ranking

I think the best way to compare SEO writers to SEO content writers is to say that content writers look at more than just keywords before they sit down and write, hence the “off the page” reference above.

Here’s an example of how an SEO writer and an SEO content writer might handle the same press release:

SEO Writer:

- Research keywords, write release with appropriate keyword density

Note: This is all great, but when it comes time to place this release on the client’s website, someone, probably a web designer, will have to create a title, description, insert links, create a unique page URL, etc. If your designer isn’t as skilled at SEO as they could be, you might not get as powerful a page.

SEO Content Writer:

- Research keywords, research similar releases (and keywords) created by competition, write release with appropriate keyword density, create links to other relevant content using correct linking techniques, create a title and description for the page, create an SEO-friendly URL, research other pages on client site that should link to release, suggest distribution sites for release.

Some people don’t need or want an SEO content writer. They feel that optimized copy on their pages written by an SEO writer is enough. They’ll settle for a great article, even if it means having a page title like “Article 7″ and a description of “Article on our product.”

It doesn’t cost much more to hire an SEO content writer, but you’ll really get your money’s worth when you realize the importance of things like research, titles, linking, URLs and descriptions.

Jason Pedley is a professional SEO content copywriter based near Raleigh, North Carolina. Need SEO content that improves your online presence? Contact Jason Pedley today - mail@jasonpedley.com or (860) 886-3455.

Whether you’re having a new website built, or adding pages to your existing web footprint, it’s a good idea to use an SEO content copywriter to write the page copy, title and description. But, what characteristics should you look for in an SEO content copywriter?

Ask yourself these questions:

Is the content writer capable of writing non SEO content?

I’ve noticed over the past few months that SEO content has become increasingly poor in terms of writing. Chance are, a good SEO content copywriter was, or still is, a good print copywriter too. I’ve made the expansion into SEO content, but have brought the principles and experience from the print world. This shows in my copy. It’s been my experience that many SEO writers have STARTED their careers writing SEO without fully mastering the English language and its use in marketing. So, chances are, if you find an SEO writer who’s gone from the print world to the online world, you’ll be in good hands.

Is the content writer experienced?

Experienced does not mean that a writer has written a few websites. It means they’ve written hundreds, if not thousands of pages of content on the web. This includes press releases, articles, blogs, case studies and web pages. Anyone can build a free website and call themselves a content writer, but without the portfolio and some high-ranking websites to back up their claims, they’re just another bad writer waiting to happen.

Is the content writer busy?

And by ‘busy’ I mean ‘too busy for you.’ part of the freelancer’s curse is that we find it hard to say no to new projects. I’m no exception. But there are different definitions of busy. If I can’t complete your project on time, on budget and deliver a professional final product, I’ll tell you. But if there’s a way to fit your project in - even if it takes some late nights and weekends to get the job done - I’m all yours. For some freelancers, ‘busy’ means one project a week. For others, it means one project a day. Talk to the content writer and get a feel for their pace. If they rush you off the phone, or send one-line email responses when you expected more, then start looking for another writer.

Is the content writer charging more than you can afford?

Granted, what you can afford is not always an indicator of what your project is worth on the open market. I’ve had people come to me thinking their content could be written for $5 a page. This is simply not the case. Have a realistic budget. Get some quotes from a few writers if you must in order to arrive at your budget amount. But don’t let the amount you can afford dictate your budget. You might get exactly what you pay for.

Finding a good SEO Content Copywriter can make the difference between an average website and a site that converts visitors into customers.

Jason Pedley is a professional SEO content copywriter based near Raleigh, North Carolina. Need SEO content that improves your online presence? Contact Jason Pedley today - mail@jasonpedley.com or (860) 886-3455.