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SEO article writing isn't the same as writing an academic paper or magazine article. Your readers are only with you for about 400 words, and they're looking for quick, helpful and easy-to-digest information. Research is an essential part of crafting these articles. Here are a few tips to help streamline the research process and ensure that you're producing quality stuff that people will read and click through. Look For Key Info One thing that's important is to know exactly what you're looking for. Otherwise, you'll waste lots of time looking at sites that are too general. I almost never type the article's keyword into a search engine because it just turns up too much stuff that's too general. For example, I've got to write an article on "barn building." I'd never just type "barn building" into Google to start my search. Instead, I'd look for an aspect of barn building, and the more specific the better. Start with a question in your mind leading to specific info. I might search for "barn building foundation" or "barn building essential tools." Do barns even have foundations? I guess I'd find that out in my research. Also, never bother with sites that refer you to other sites. In other words, if the page you get is a listing of articles on said topic, skip it. Go back to the search results page and look for something else. Scanning those titles and looking for useful info is a waste of time. Of course, you can always hire a ghost writer to do your SEO article writing and be done with it. Don't Steal We all know that copying stuff straight from another site is strictly prohibited, but that it would save you LOTS of time researching. As a general guideline, most SEO writers say to take information from 3 sources and not use anything that isn't "common knowledge." In other words, don't use exact facts like, "Last year, 35 million Americans did such-and-such," or any direct quotes. Take things that anybody could know. I always picture other webmasters seeing the article. Would they say, "Hey, I wrote this already"? It shouldn't be so specific that someone would think that. If you're getting exact facts, just make sure to quote your sources at the end of the article. Plagiarism is bad for you, bad for your clients, and just plain unethical... oh yeah, and LAZY too. Remember also that we're not talking about obscure facts and figures here. Most SEO content involves "how to" articles or "tips" on doing something. These offer the reader simple, ready-to-use "calls to action." You're not writing about the history of underwater basket weaving. A good tip on how to remove mold from bathroom tiles with lemon is "common knowledge." In other words, a bunch of people have probably thought about this technique or posted it somewhere, and so there's no reason to worry about plagiarism. Instead of 3 sites, I'd recommend using many, many more. Take a tiny bit of information from each site. This keeps you from copying, and it also makes your content much more unique. You'll write stuff that stands out from the ordinary, which is a great way to attract readers and offer them more. custom-writing testimonials
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