Archive for article writing

26 Jan 2013
article writing • internet marketing

Writing Article Titles That Make The Viewer Click


I was struck by the title of this article and of course intrigued so I had to read it.  The title of the article is How SEO Almost Killed Our Business.  As an SEO webmaster my curiosity was peaked.

Having read it now I know that the title is misleading and probably purposely done that way.  I mean, I think more people would read the article with the current title vs what the article should actually be titled, which is “How My Obsessive Control Issues Almost Killed Our Business.”

The title of the article leads you to believe that SEO is or can be a detriment to your business.  Instead, the writer reports incredible growth and overwhelming success coming from his SEO efforts.  What actually “almost killed” his business was that he was spending so much time working on his SEO that he neglected his CEO work and as a result his staff, his customers and his company suffered.

What I thought would be an article slamming SEO is actually an article praising it!  But, the author did accomplish his goal.  Which is, as always, to get exposure!


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24 Apr 2012
article writing • internet marketing • seo

Writing Content – Some Inspiration


I talk alot about writing new content for websites, blogs and how important it is.  I mean really, Internet users type in words in search engines (or is it on search engines?) anyway, all these engines can do then is look for those words on pages.

But, I will concede, as I think anyone who does any writing will, it’s not always easy to write.  I found this on my Pinterest account and thought it was worth sharing. I hope you think so too.

22 Ways to Create Compelling Content - Infographic
Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.


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15 Feb 2012
article writing • internet marketing • seo • small business

Simple Effective Internet Marketing Strategy


Okay, I know, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve written.  What can I say?  Life gets in the way of work sometimes.

So, to make up for my long absence I’m going to share with you a valuable tool (method really) on how to market your website.  It’s a bit anal, so please bear with me.

Step One: Choose Your Keyword

You’ve all heard me say it a billion times, it’s all about the keywords.  Internet marketing is, after all, keyword driven.  People type in keywords and the search engine machines do their best to choose the right websites to show the people.  So, the game then is to pick the keyword phrase(s) that people are typing in.

That being said, there are many tools out there that claim to do this an frankly, in my 12 years of doing SEO I haven’t really found any tool that does what it says it does.  So, take all these tools with a grain of salt.

AND, with THAT being said, I will say that the tool that I tend to use the most is Google Keywords Tool.  It’s not exactly the keyword phrases that people are typing in, but believe it or not, it’s closer than the other tools out there.  Be sure to sign in with your Google Account – you’ll get more data this way.

Here’s How To Use The Google Keywords Tool

a) Once you’ve signed in, type in a keyword phrase that you would like to be found for.

b) Open an excel sheet and begin typing in the keyword phrases that you find on the Google Keywords Tool that match your needs.  Type them in a column.

c) In the column next to the keyword type in the number of global monthly searches.

d) Once you’ve completed your list go to Google and type in each keyword phrase from your list and use quotes (i.e., “keyword phrase”).

e) In another column type in the number of search results.

f) Once you’re done with that list, you want to separate them in the following way…

*** All keyword phrases with 1 million or more search results in one group

*** All keyword phrases with 100,000 to 999,999 search results in one group

*** All keyword phrases with under 100,000 search results in one group

Choosing The Best Phrases

Now comes the hard part, you’ve got your list of keyword phrases and basically the amount of requests and the amount of competition for each phrase.

Obviously you want to try to use the phrase with the highest number of global searches because that means it’s the most popular.  Yet, you also want to use the phrase with the lowest amount of search results (which is the competition).  So, use your judgement as to what phrases to use.

Now, from the list of phrases that have 1 million or more search results, choose ONE PHRASE.

From the list of phrases that have 100,000 to 1 million search results, choose 2-3 phrases that will support the ONE PHRASE that you already chose in the million + category.

From the list of phrases that have less than 100,000 search results choose 2-3 phrases for each of the phrases that you chose in the 100,000 to 1 million category.

The idea here is to write a website page about the MAIN keyword phrase (this is your ONE PHRASE) that you pulled from the million + list.

Then, to write 2-3 pages using associated keyword phrases to support that ONE PHRASE.  This would be the pages written for the keyword phrases you chose in the 100,000 to 1 million list.

Then, to write 2-3 pages using associated keyword phrases (from the under 100,000 list) to support the keyword phrases you chose from the 100,000 to 1 million list.

Confusing?  Yeah, I know, but if you read what I wrote and go through an example, it’ll be clear to you, I promise.

In Summary

So, the idea here, if you haven’t already figured it out, is to build a section on your website, not just a page, to market a highly competitive keyword phrase.  And these days, there are many more highly competitive keyword phrases than not.  So, it’s a strategy that works.

The downside?  It means more writing.  More pages on a website are not a problem, the glitch is in the writing.  From my perspective, getting clients to write down information is a losing battle.  Out of 50 clients, only 2 do this – the others – it’s just a monthly battle that I don’t win.

The upside?  More business!!!!!!  I don’t know how else to say it, but it’s more business for you.  More sales, more exposure, more everything.  It works, it absolutely works.

Well, I hope this valuable method makes up for my long absence.  I will work hard to keep myself more active in my writings.


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20 Jun 2011
article writing • internet marketing

Neuromarketing – Sounds Sy Fy Doesn’t It?


My business coach sent me an article that he thought I would be interested in – it’s about “neuromarketing”. So, I’d like to share it with you!

The article is about improving Email Newsletters so that the folks you send it to will actually read it! Any of us who work on blog posts and email newsletters know that it’s a good amount of time dedicated to the project and most often we don’t hear a peep from any of our readers (which can be really discouraging). Although I do have to say that a few days ago someone told me they really liked my blog posts – that made me feel good. He said they were very informative and I was glad to hear that SOMEONE was reading it and more than that, actually getting some good information from them. After all, what’s the point?

Anyway, I can stray (as you all know!) so, let’s get back to this article.

The focus of the article is on neuromarketing which is basically identifying what the Internet user is looking at and clicking on when they come to a website or blog post or anything that’s online, including email newsletters.

Jakob Nielsen (a renowned web usability consultant) conducted an eyetracking study of email newsletters. He was looking to see where do people look when they read an email newsletter. What he found was not much different (if at all) from the eyetracking studies of websites. Basically, the majority of people read the left hand side and the top masthead section of the page. What they’re really doing is scanning, looking for bolded keywords, titles, bullet statements.

He also noted that the readers spend an average of 51 seconds on a newsletter. So, to capture your audience and relay whatever information you have, you’ve basically got 51 seconds to do that!

There is no doubt in my mind that whether you write an email newsletter or a blog post or add information to your website, that all the effort is worth it. I get clients who found me from an article I wrote 4 years ago! So, it’s simply worth it. The key is to create a system for yourself so that the process doesn’t take up too much time. (Easier said than done, I know!)

Put Neuromarketing To Work For You

The article went on to give 5 suggestions on writing an email newsletter that will be more effective, for you and your audience. Below is what they said:

1. Keep it short. If you learn nothing else, remember this: keep your newsletter short–three articles at most, all of which are short. Otherwise, you are basically wasting your time writing stuff that no one will read. Therefore, you really need to focus on publishing information that your readers will find useful and interesting. Case in point: My favorite newsletter arrives once a week, and it contains one short article that is always worth reading.

2. Skip the intro. Intros to newsletters are basically little previews of the newsletter, right? Well, if your newsletter is short anyway, your readers don’t need you to tell them what to expect. As the above stats show, they’re going to skim the headlines anyway. It’s far better to just focus on the headlines and content.

3. Focus on headlines. If you want to grab your readers’ attention and actually tempt them to read something in the newsletter, write the most compelling headlines possible: quick tips, a numbered list of top whatever, must-haves/can’t miss lists, etc.

4. Keep best info up top. Put your most interesting or useful article at the top of the newsletter so it will be more likely to get read. If you want your readers to take action on something, like signing up for a webinar, definitely put that information at the beginning. Keep more general industry news at the bottom.

5. Include images. Readers are always drawn to images, especially of people, which you can see by looking at the heatmap. Just include high-quality images that are related to what you are writing about and not for the sake of visual interest alone.


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12 May 2011
article writing • internet marketing • seo • small business

Know What To Sell Before You Sell


I was talking with a colleague today and we were discussing how often a website should be updated with information. She had mentioned that maybe she should add several new pages to her website every day for 30 days. I replied that it wouldn’t work. I mean, yes, for a little while the site might do well but the reality is that dumping lots of pages on a website in a short amount of time is not the way to go.

What needs to be done is to add pages regularly throughout the life of the website. The reality is, that when it comes to website marketing or any kind of Internet marketing – the writing never stops. At least not if you want a successful website.

But there are some factors to consider in this process.

1) You should be writing about what your audience is looking for. What are they hungry for?

2) You should be adding information to the areas of your website that are under performing – this will help to boost those sectors.

Now – how to do it

One tool that you can use that’s free is Google Insights – here’s how…

1) Go to Google Insights

2) Change any of the Filter information that you like, the time frame, the geography, etc. Just keep in mind that the broader the filter is, the more information you’ll receive back.

3) Oh – one tip in using Google Insights – the fewer keyword phrases the better. Actually, just ONE keyword is ideal for this tool. So, it gets a bit tricky but we’ll do a few samples.

Okay lets try some

Let’s say you’re a dentist – so type in the word “tooth” – leave the filters so that you get back the broadest terms. Skim thru those results and then start using the filters. Break it down to just the last 12 months, and/or break it down by geography.

I broke it down to the last 12 months in Georgia. I got many phrases that I could use but the two that were “Rising Searches” were “broken tooth” and “tooth ache”.

This tells me that I should be marketing how I can help people with these problems. What would my services do for them? I mean, they’re typing this into Google – so they’re looking for answers – why shouldn’t they find the answer on my website? I’m supposed to be the “expert”!

Another sample

Let’s say you provide services for elder care. When I went to Google Insights I typed in several different phrases, “old”, “care of”, “seniors”, “getting old”, “mother”, “caregiver”. I finally found some that I could use with the “caregiver” term. So, if you have to try several phrases, do that – don’t just give up after one or two tries.

When I filtered the results down to Florida I saw a great phrase, “caregiver support”. That’s an excellent phrase to market – it’s the caregivers who are most likely looking for your services and what this tool shows me is that they are looking for support – for help. If you’re the one they find to give it to them, you will increase your chances of making the sale.

Does all that make sense?

Well, I hope those two samples gave you some ideas of how to use this great free tool that Google shares with us. It’s all about feeding the niche. Find out what your customers want and then give it to them. The Internet makes that pretty easy to do.

Have fun!


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04 May 2011
article writing • internet marketing • seo • Uncategorized

Website Placement – Attracting Traffic


A web designer I work quite often with sent me a link to a video she found about keyword strategy to increase website traffic. The source of this interview has increased his website traffic from 3500 a day three years ago to 80,000 a day today.

So, I took a moment to look it over – here’s the video and here are my thoughts…

How Fraser Cain Attracts 80,000 Search Visitors Per Day with Zero Link Building from Corbett Barr on Vimeo.

My Summary

1) The concept that Fraser Cain is talking about is nothing new. If you’ve done any Internet marketing you’ve heard a thousand times that it’s all about the content. What Fraser basically did was “answer the questions being asked”.

2) He actually says “…alot of people on the Internet are looking for something…” If you – the website owner – can be the source for those answers – you will then get the traffic.

3) He admits that he has added several thousand website pages to his site. (So, the next time I ask you for more information for your site – this is why!!!) Basically, he would answer ONE questions with ONE article. So, each new page of his website addresses an issue that his audience is looking for.

4) The interviewer asked a good question, “What prevents alot of people from doing this?” The answer that Fraser gave was very basic. Give out GOOD information – real answers to these questions (vs the crap that can be generated by content farms and ghost writers). The quality of the content is important as well as how it’s optimized for the search engines. So, for many people, it seems, it’s just too difficult to write

5) Basically, knowing what your audience is looking for and then giving it to them – feeding the fetish – will bring in the traffic. Now, does your product / service have a large Internet traffic? Well, that’s another story, for another post. But I’ve said it many times before, give your audience what they want and they will find you.

6) I loved how the interviewer and the interviewee were talking as if this was a brand new concept never thought of before. There’s nothing new about silo marketing and long tail marketing which is what they are talking about. It’s really all about the words. Listen to your Internet marketer when he/she gives you phrases to target.

Believe me, it really can be that simple.


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25 Apr 2011
article writing • internet marketing • seo

Scrolling vs. Clicking


I read an interesting article last night (early this morning – whatever it was!) all about scrolling vs. clicking.

I remember reading years ago that most people “click” vs. “scroll” so the concept of long pages on a website became obsolete. Well, at least I thought they would but the truth is, I still see many, many website pages that are looooooooong. But, the article I read on Technology Review brought it all back up again.

The idea basically is that when a viewer pulls up a website page on their screen, the part of the page that they see before they begin scrolling is called “above the fold”. This area is the area that these studies show have the highest impact on the website visitors.

The article referenced a study which looked at gazing and scrolling behaviors of website users.
Scrolling vs Clicking Website Behavior

As you can see in this image above, the majority of “views” are above the fold – it decreases as the viewers scroll down the page and can increase near the end of the page.

The implications for website design are…

1) Place the most important, most compelling information on your website page above the fold.

2) Use bullets and short statements throughout the website page as viewers scroll down they will read this information more than paragraphs of data.

3) Don’t forget to put some great information at the very bottom of the website page as well.

I know – not only do you have to be concerned with “what” to say on your website page, you also have to be concerned about “how” it’s laid out! Well, what can I tell you? If web design and Internet marketing was that easy, everyone would be doing it!

So, take a look at your website pages, are they too long? Can they be shortened? Or, can the information be re-arranged to place more important data above the fold?


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22 Apr 2011
article writing • internet marketing • seo • small business

Writing Web Content That Works


Writing web content is, by far, the most difficult aspect of Internet marketing. For many reasons…

1) Coming up with a new creative way to say what’s already been said is not easy – for novices and experts.

2) Web content needs to fulfill both the Internet viewer and the search engine machines.

3) Integrating new content in a website requires some skill in website architecture – which can be quite tedious!

But The Benefits of Writing Web Content – Are Many!

I have been writing posts on the Internet for years and I have to tell you, when I look at my website statistics I still see people coming to Eckweb’s website from articles I wrote years ago. These articles are now on other publications and I’m getting the feedback from that. But, it’s work that I did many years ago. I’m still reaping the benefits.

So can you!

Writing Web Content That Works

Okay, so if it’s just a matter of writing content and putting it on a website or a blog then why doesn’t everyone just write? Why aren’t there hundreds of copywriters out there writing for website owners?

Well, there are. And most of them are very inexpensive. I mean, you can get an article written for $8.00 (for heaven’s sake). But – you know there was going to be a “but” didn’t you?

But, what are those $8.00 articles really doing for you? For your reputation? For your business? For your website?

I agree, it’s easy to assign the writing of content to someone else, of course. But are they really saying what you want to say? The answer is almost always NO. And don’t kid yourself into thinking that eventually, the public and the search engines won’t figure that out.

Writing web content that works simply involves writing FOR your target audience. Find out what they are searching for (keyword research) – answer their questions (talk to your customers) – give them information that can be useful in helping them to make a decision involving your product and/or service.

Yeah, I know, you’ve heard it all before – I’m not telling you anything new (at least I don’t think so!) – and that’s what I’m trying to get across here – there isn’t anything new! Internet marketing is all about giving your audience what they want – it’s not about blowing your own horn.

If you’re a divorce attorney – don’t spend pages and pages talking about how great your firm is. Instead – talk about “how to” go through the divorce process. “what’s involved” in child custody issues. “can do it yourself divorces work?”.

If you’re a psychologist – don’t spend pages of your website talking about the degrees you’ve obtained and the honors that have been bestowed upon you. Instead, talk about how you can help someone with depression, with an anxiety attack, with addictions, relationship problems, whatever your specialty is.

If you’re selling a product – don’t spend pages talking about how wonderful your customer services are (your testimonials should be doing that anyway) – instead – talk about the products themselves, how are they rated? How do your prices compare? Of course customer service is important but so is the product!

So, take a look at your website. Is it a promotional for your company or for your services / products? If it’s just promotional – get writing!!


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15 Mar 2011
article writing • internet marketing • small business

How To Gain Authority Online


So, you wanna be famous? Well, maybe not famous but at least profitable online? Profitable with your business?

Get Authority!!!!!

What I mean is to showcase your expertise by becoming an authority which, online, means to write about it. But, it’s not just writing some words, of course, it’s a bit more specific than that but let me tell you how you can gain authority online.

Step One:
Get a list of keywords to target. You can use a number of keyword search tools online for this (semrush.com, google adwords keyword tool, wordtracker – just to name a few). Also, add your own keywords, what you want to be found for or what you think your audience is typing in.

Step Two:
Test the competition. Go to Google and type in each keyword phrase on your list, but type it in quotes. So, if a phrase on your list is “recipes for pizza sauce” (guess I’m hungry) then you would type that phrase in just as I have it here, with quotes. If the number of results comes back less than 50,000 then you’ve got a winner.

Step Three:
Now you should have a list of keywords that are less than 50,000 and a list of keywords more than 50,000. You want to begin creating pages on your website (or changing the ones already there) to use the list of keywords less than 50,000. You want to break them up into categories. The reason is because the more specific the pages can be, the better and by creating categories you can essentially create sections in your website for each area you are an authority on.

Step Four:
The most important part – keep on doing this. Every week, every month, every other month, whatever schedule you want to keep up with, keep doing this. Start off with the list of keywords under 50,000 then keep building it up.

If you have these pages optimized, then you’re not only going to gain incoming links from being an authority, you’ll also gain traffic because the search engines will be able to recognize your website for the keyword phrases you’re trying to target.

Have fun!


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19 Nov 2010
article writing • internet marketing • small business

Small Business Internet Marketing – Reality Check


Every once in a while a client contacts me to let me know how unhappy they are with the Internet marketing of their site.  Like any business, I want to make my clients happy but I also have to face the reality that I can’t possibly make everyone happy.

But I still try.

So, the first thing I do is I look at the techniques I’ve used on the site.

1) Did I put in all the coding that’s needed to market the website for specific keyword phrases?
2) Am I using the best keyword phrases?
3) Does the website have enough call to actions through it?

Then I look at the co-operation I’ve received from the client.  In other words, has the client performed the recommendations I made to improve the site?

1) Is the client giving me new content to add to the site based on the new keyword phrases I give him every month?
2) Has the client begun or participating in social media sites?
3) Has the client taken any of the recommendations I have given him in the last 6 months such as adding video, signing up for press releases, etc.

There are times that I see that I did not 100% do my job.  So, I do make the corrections of course.  I make sure all the coding is appropriate, the keywords, etc.

But 98% of the time I can honestly say that the client has not done ANY of the requirements from his part.  So, that’s like taking the car to the dealership, telling them there’s a problem with the engine but neglecting to give them the key to the car.  Yes, the dealership can fix the problem, the dealership can tell you what needs to get done but in order to do any of that they need to get into the car.

The biggest mistakes small business owners make is to think of their websites as static billboards.  That simply doesn’t work.  Maybe it did in 1995 but it doesn’t today.  The bottom line is if you want the website to work for you, you have to work on the site.

But hey, I’m not the only one strumming this chord.  Steve Strauss from USA Today wrote a great article addressing these issues in an article called “What Should A Small Business’ Website Do? Check it out!


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