The Secret Formula for Internet Writers

"...I am just about desperate here....I have been reading and re-reading your blog. I have been writing online (feverishly) for over 2 years. I get that residual pay takes time. What I don't get is what I am doing wrong....I try writing about timely/popular subjects...excuse me for mostly writing from my heart but that is what I do. Can I not expect to earn money unless I figure out the "secret" formula for success?"

The above is a message I received yesterday from a fellow internet writer. My heart went out to this writer. I've been there, frantically looking for "the secret formula for success."  The one thing I have learned from years of internet writing is that there is not one secret formula. There are several formulas, none of them secret, that must be mixed and matched with each other to fit each individual internet writer and their internet articles. These are just a few of those formulas I've discovered:

• Write Every Day - Internet writers must write every day. Whether it is published or not, we must produce new content every single day. This is part of honing our craft - improving our work. As internet writers write each day, we must see improvement. Internet writers must learn from their mistakes and not repeat them.

• The Devil is in the Details - Yes, it is true that the devil is in the details. No one is writing "War and Peace" or "Gone With the Wind" for the internet - it is all short snippets that will fit into our hectic lives and crazy schedules. Despite this, internet writers must weigh the details that will fill their "snippets" and make their concise and clear internet articles even more concise and clear.

• Original Only - Internet writers must produce original internet articles. We can't being writing duplicate or "almost the same" content as others. With millions of internet writers out there, we must put our unique spin on everything we write. The personality and spirit of the individual internet writer must shine through. The only way I know to do this is to write from the heart. If you aren't writing from the heart, you are missing the boat and the potential of a profitable career of an internet writer.

• Trial and Error - All writing, especially internet writing, is trial and error. My "writing philosophy" is quite simple: Throw everything against the wall and see what sticks. What works for one internet writer may not work for another internet writer. Yes, there are rules all internet writers should follow. Think of the old Air Supply song..."I know all the rules and I know how to break them and I always know the name of the game." The name of the game is "Making Money" and, as internet writers, we must break some rules to win that game.

• SEO - Always have SEO on your mind. I have Post-It notes on my edges of my computer screen, reminding me of SEO. Internet writers can't forget that SEO is what gets their internet articles indexed by search engines and increases your page rank. Without both, you will struggle with earning a living as an internet writer.

• Keywords - As with SEO, internet writers must be mindful of keywords. Use them and use them wisely. Use the keyword tools available to internet writers online. Pay attention to the specific keywords you use and their ratio in your internet articles. Avoid using too many different keywords in individual internet articles. Use trial and error to find the mix that works best for you.

• Branding - Internet writers must brand themselves and their work. This is key; an internet writer must be remembered by their readers. Develop your specific brand and stick with it. Use that brand to increase your readership. As your readership increases, so will your earnings.

• Promotion -Internet writers must promote their work! Never count on getting indexed on the first page of major search engines. This does happen and it happens often, but you must promote your work to help the search engines pick up your internet articles. Use Twitter, Facebook, Digg and other forms of social networking sites to increase your page views. The more page views you have, the more like you are to make money.

If I had "the secret formula," I would have it in bottles on shelves everywhere and the internet would be saturated with this formula. The formula would have a pretty bow on it and a nice price tag. I don't formula. Personally, I don't think it exists. You will see so-called formulas all over the place. Many of them will have giant price tags on them. Please don't fall for it. The internet is always evolving and changing; our internet writing should do the same. Because of that, those secret formulas are often outdated and obsolete. What what last year or last week may not work today, tomorrow or in six months. As internet writers, we must learn to adapt and change. We must hone and craft, constantly "putting it out there" for the world to read.

Limiting Your Keywords

For internet writers, it is all about keywords. We need them to survive. Without keywords, search engines would not index our internet articles. We would not be able to have a great page rank. The SEO would sink. Internet writers would be writing for themselves - with few readers and little revenue. Despite the need for internet writers to use keywords, those keywords need to be limited. No, I'm not talking about keyword density. I am talking about too many keywords in an internet article.

An internet friend of mine recently asked, "How do we get 'win no fee,' 'Coffee AM,' and 'wrongful death attorney Los Angeles' in one article?" For the record, as of the date publication, the CPC for "win no fee" is $241.35; the CPC for Coffee AM is $127.73 and the CPC for "wrongful death attorney Los Angeles" is $73.73. She was joking, of course, but it did bring up an interesting topic - limiting the individual keywords in an internet article.

How do you do it? Well, you don't. Unless you are writing a schizophrenic internet article that is "all over the place." Instead, you would write three different internet articles. Each on of those articles would concentrate on of those keywords. Even though you could mix "win no fee" with "wrongful death attorney Los Anglees," your internet article would do better only one keyword.

I'm sure your thinking "But this blog post has lots of keywords in it." It has a few - keywords, internet writer and internet articles. However, my goal with my blog is to have it indexed according to several keywords. I am not particularly concerned with this one post being indexed. That is a luxury a blog has as opposed to one internet article.

The tip of the day is to limit your internet articles to one keyword and limit your blog to several similar keywords. This will help get indexed by major search engines, increase your page rank and the internet article's SEO. Please don't think of it as more work; think of it as helping with the quantity and quality of your work.

SEO - On-The-Page Help

One of the ways that search engines decide how to rank your internet articles is by what they find in your internet article. Improving your page rank can be as simple as editing your internet article to improve it's SEO. These are just a few ideas that will help you increase the SEO value of your internet article:

• Keywords - Remember to always use keywords in internet articles. It is best to plan your internet article ahead of time so you know which keywords you will be using. Use these keywords as "tags" or "labels." This will help the search engine "spiders" to find and index your internet article and increase the SEO value of your internet article.

• First 50 Words -Search engines love the beginning of your internet article. In fact, many search engines pay more attention to the first 50 words your work than the rest of it. It is important that you include your keywords at least once in the first 50 words of your internet article. Those first 50 words not include the the title or the header of internet article.

• Keyword Density - Keyword should be between three and six percent. That means you should use your keywords three to six times in every 100 words. Check your keyword density to ensure that you are getting the best SEO available. I wrote more about this topic in a previous post entitled Keyword Density-Finding the Right Mix for Your Online Article . I also wrote about using Keyword Analysis Live in this earlier post.

• Internal Links -As you can see from my previous paragraph, I used the keywords of this blog post in the actual hyperlink. This will increase your SEO. Instead of the typical "click here" hyperlink, I used my keywords to direct my readers back to a previous post. Search engines will notice that and it will increase the chances of my posts being indexed by search engines and the page rank of my entire blog.

• Original Content - The best way you can take advantage of SEO is to use original and quality content in your internet articles. Search engines work hard to "weed out" duplicate content. Despite what you might have heard, there aren't really penalties for duplicate content - other than not getting indexed and lower page rank. With all of the internet articles it can be difficult to create completely unique copy. When you write for a writing site where the articles often have the same titles, use synonyms as often as possible. Move your paragraphs around to make your internet article as different as possible. Whenever possible, change the title as much as possible.

These SEO tips may seem quite basic, but many internet writers forget to use them. I am guiltiest of not using my keywords as my hyperlinks. So, we all have specific areas that need a little work. Use these tips increase your SEO and see how much it will help you get your internet articles indexed by search engines. Then, watch as your page rank increase.

Tips for Using Live Keyword Analysis

I couldn't be happier when I use LiveKeywordAnalysis. It is the easiest and fastest way that I have found to tweak my keyword density. This is just a little information about this great tool that is such a big help to me. I find it to be a must for online writers. The purpose of LiveKeywordAnalysis is to figure out your keyword density. It will tell you the exact ratio of the keywords in your online article. Knowing your keyword density is essential for SEO. Too many keywords and search engines will consider your online article to be spam. Not enough keywords and your online article will be indexed incorrectly, if it is even indexed by search engines.

What I love most about LiveKeywordAnalysis is the fact is it is so easy to use. I simply type my online article on a Word document, which I do anyway, and then copy/paste it to LiveKeywordAnalysis. I then type in the keyword I need to the ratio information about and VIOLA! it is done. If my keyword density is too low or too , I add or delete the keyword directly on the page. Once I have the ratio I want, I simply replace the old online article with the new one on the Word document and publish when I am ready.

Another thing about about LiveKeywordAnalysis is that isn't muddled with all sorts of other options and gadgets I do not want. It doesn't tell me how many times I've used the world "the" or the number of sentences are in my online article. I don't use that sort of information for my online work and I don't want to spend time sifting through it to get to the information I want.

Give LiveKeywordAnalysis a try and see how it works for you. I know you will love it as well. It makes SEO much easier and easier it always better, especially when it comes to online writing and making money with your online writing. It will help you get the ratio of keywords exactly where you want it and you will see the difference in where you find your online articles on search engines, your traffic and your earnings.