Smart Reads - Writing on the Internet: Learn SEO Tips & Techniques and Become a Successful Online Writer

Writing On the Internet

Learn SEO Tips & Techniques and Become a Successful Online Writer

By Smart Reads

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Making money is art, and working is art, and good business is the best art.

- Andy Warhol

Copy writing has never been more in demand. And because its so much in demand, people are willing to pay a LOT of money for the best talent. Pretty soon, you will be part of the cream of the crop who can ask for princely sums in exchange for red-hot copy. Countless people have done it and so can you.

You only need three things to get started:

A laptop (or a computer)

Wi-Fi

And good writing skills

At first, you might think that becoming a freelance writer sounds tricky and even daunting. Maybe you still feel that way about it. People can feel especially nervous about becoming a freelance writer if they have no journalistic or literary background or qualifications. But guess what? None of that matters.

Copy writing is different from both journalistic and literary writing. And indeed, some of the best novelist and poets would struggle to succeed as a copywriter.

There is nothing - with possibly the exception of a basic understanding of grammar - that a degree in the English language can help you with when it comes to copywriting. Instead, the rules youve learned are about to be broken.

CHAPTER 1 : WHAT TYPE OF WRITING ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE?

SEO writing. Ever heard of that? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. What does this mean?

When someone says an article is SEO optimized, it means that it contains keywords (or topics) that people are actively searching for in Google. Lets say you write an article about leather jackets and a client tells you that the keyword is discounted mens leather jackets. Youre asked to use this keyword six times throughout the article as this will ensure that Google ranks it fairly highly.

When people come along and tap, discounted mens leather jackets into Google, lo and behold your article is the first thing they see. Writers that dont care for keywords will find it tough to get their content seen. Google ranks content according to how good their SEO is. Get yours spot on - which is super easy to do - and you climb up the Google search rankings.

Not all your clients will request that you use keywords. In fact, a lot wont. But when they do, theyll want you to use the keywords organically so that it doesnt look like a machine wrote it.

Heres how NOT to do SEO:

Come visit our store for some discounted mens leather jackets. Weve got the best discounted mens leather jackets for anyone who loves a bargain. As well as discounted mens leather jackets, we also have

It looks horrible. Not pretty and completely unreadable. You have to be sparing with your use of keywords and fit them into your content so that it always looks natural.

When writing SEO content, you need to do two things:

Inform your audience with entertaining, engaging content

Maximize the articles' search engine ranking

At first, you might find it hard to balance the two. But with practice, it'll become second nature.

SEO is easy to get into for beginners, and you might find its the niche you enter first. This is because it doesnt pay a ton, and the clients who need it are usually small business owners who work in unusual niches. For example, you might find yourself writing articles for a dentist in Minnesota one minute and articles for a pet store in Scotland the next.

Its not always the most interesting line of work, and you always have to be mindful of where youre placing the keywords and avoid keyword stuffing (using too many keywords, which Google condemns as spam).

The good news is that SEO articles are generally no longer than 500 words. Sometimes theyre 1,000, but that still isnt a lot. Youve just got to make sure to write content that is informative but also engaging. Basically, not too dry but also not too bloggy. You need to make sure you use the keyword that your client gives you in the right amount of times and in the right place.

Its good practice to use the keyword once in the first line, once in a sub-header, a few times throughout the article (usually two times), and then again in the last line.

CHAPTER 2 : HOW TO TRIPLE HOURLY EARNINGS VIA SEO WRITING

Don't be surprised if the only jobs offered to you as a newbie is SEO writing, will be a job that pays poorly. There are some clients who take advantage of this and say, You dont have much experience but we LOVE to give newbie writers a chance. So they give you a platform in exchange for you accepting pretty lousy fees.

In many ways, this works out fine and dandy for you. You ARE getting a platform in which you can test the waters and hone your skills. And youre doing it without the pressure of a massive fee dangling around your neck. Sure, $5 for 500 words might seem like a pittance. But theres barely any pressure at all, and the chances are high that the client isnt expecting a totally flawless effort. They just want some content. Plus, guess what? The client is right - you DONT have any experience.

Experience must be earned. And if that means working a few lousy-paying jobs for a few weeks while you build your stamina, resolve and skills, then so be it. Yeah? Moreover, remember that if you can dust off 4 x 500 word articles an hour that pay $5 each, thats $20. Which is still more than the average national minimum wage. So youre still winning.