Article Marketing - 4 Essential Ingredients

The importance of article marketing in your online business in today's world is immeasurable. Well written articles can drive coniderable 'free' traffic to your website. There are 4 'must have' ingredients in a well-written article.

1 - Keywords & Keyword Phrases. An article must be centered around the keyword or long-tail keyword phrase. Its always helpful before you write your articles to consider what you would be searching for in your niche. For instance, if your website in the weight loss niche, what keyword phrase would you enter when beginning your search? Always consider what your particular customer would be searching for in order to reach you and your website or product. Make sure your articles are closely related to your niche. They must be congruent.

They are many tools on the internet today that will help you determine your most effective keyword or keyword phrase that researchers are looking for. (ex. - google keyword planner, jaaxy.com, etc.) You can do a google search for keyword tools.

2 - Keyword Density. In order for your keywords and keyword phrases to be discovered by the search engines, its a good rule of thumb for your keyword to have a 10 to 15% density throughout your article. Keyword density is simply the number of times your keyword appears throughout your article. Depending on the number of words in your article, make sure your keyword density in not too low and not too high. With a density that is too high, the essence of the article is lost and may turn off the reader as well as the search engines.

3 - Good Article Content. Good article content, in my opinion, means an article that provides a benefit or value to your reader. In addition, the content must have correct spealling and good grammar. More importantly, in order to retain the attention of the reader, it must also be entertaining. Providing accurate facts, figures and statistics combined with keeping the reader entertained is a learned art. Much more difficult that it may seam initially. In order to gain the trust of your readers, and eventually your customers, your content needs to be genuine and accurate.

4 - Linking Articles. Another important point to remember, if your are submitting your articles to the article directories such as ezinearticles. com, don't ever forget to include a link to your site. After all, the most well-written, articulative article you have ever written is worthless without your reader being able to find your website or product. Usually, this link is provided in the resource box after the body of your article.

Like the article itself, the resource box must also be eye-catching to demand the attention and interest of the reader. The resource box should contain the authors name, a brief description of the author, a brief description of the sponsoring site and a link. Never underestimate the power of the resource box. It may be small in size but highly important in driving traffic to your site.