SEO, Page Views, and You

There are many phenomenal writers within the Associated Content community. Once in awhile, however, you come across a not-so-great writer. Like those idiots on American Idol who think they can sing; some writers go on and on, completely unaware of how atrociously they're bombing. The least they could do is edit and spell check their work before submitting it, but I digress. Occasionally, you'll happen upon the Susan Boyle of the writer's world. This author can take any subject matter, no matter how stale and tedious, and transform it into something remarkable-- taking Associated Content by storm and rising to stardom on their talent alone. We can't all be Susan Boyle. For the rest of us, there's SEO.

SEO (search engine optimization) is a skill that, used wisely, may encourage page views to your content, helping you earn money with AC. There's a variety of websites available that list off the hottest search words and phrases on the Internet. Plug these words into your articles and you'll avoid having your masterpiece shuffle down into obscurity. Sometimes it's as simple as replacing a few choice words here and there with something more effective. For example, did you know more people search under the keyword poems than they do poetry? And free downloads is more frequently searched than videos. Keep up-to-date with current events. Pay attention to which celebrities are hogging the spotlight. Talk politics. If you're unsure of what to write about, the front page of Yahoo might give you some examples of what's hot, searchable, and news-worthy for today's freelance writer.

But stay focused. Don't write about subject matter that doesn't interest you or topics you know nothing about. Your keywords shouldn't feel out of place, redundant, or abused. Let me re-write the first paragraph, to give you an idea of how NOT to use SEO:

Lots of writers here are super-cool like President Obama. Some crash as bad as Air France Flight 447. Then there are people like Eminem, Susan Boyle, and Conan O'Brien, but I digress. The best writers keep a look out for swine flu on Craigslist. If you don't know what swine flu is, you can Google or Yahoo it. I love to watch American Idol and the MTV Movie Awards, don't you? I hear New Moon, the sequel to Twilight, is coming out soon. That movie has Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in it. They're almost as hot as Kate Gosselin in a bikini. God doesn't like free porn.

You get the idea. Sure, I've just flooded my article with all the most commonly searched keywords of the hour, but no one would recommend that heaping pile of bunk. Keep writing like that, and someone will walk right up to you and punch you in the face one of these days.

Keywords are a beautiful thing. But they're not everything. Don't sacrifice the quality of your work on a mission to score more hits than Brittany Spears in that music video I'm sure you can download for free on YouTube.

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