Want More Page Views? Obey One Rule

I first launched my lackluster writing career over three long and painful months ago. I came across an article on a web search that said I could make money writing on the internet. "Hey, I know a little about a lot of things...maybe I should write." I thought to myself. I knew nothing about SEO (nor did I even know what it meant) or key word optimization but I hurriedly opened an account with Associated Content and an ensuing Pay-pal account (which was sure to be bursting with money soon after my first article) and tapped out a few pieces that I thought were interesting, witty, and, entertaining. None of the articles were about Michael Jackson, the economy or health care but they were what I thought interesting topics. I paid little mind to the search tags and half heartedly picked some related words and phrases. I selected clever and catchy titles such as "Mountain Mist Upon the River" http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2023870/mountain_mist_upon_the_river.html?cat=44 and "Cheap Week" http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1870229/cheap_week.html?cat=7 and then I anxiously waited for the money to start rolling in.

The next morning I was more than displeased at the three page views that I scored (probably from my wife and a few sympathetic or curious friends). I began to feverishly write another article, this time I took an assignment about how to cook a steak. This was a guaranteed $2.00 in my Pay-pal account. I again nonchalantly chose a few related search topics and picked a straight forward title, "Cooking a Steak" http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1859177/cooking_a_steak.html?cat=22 that was sure to rack up the page views. Not too long after it was published, I started to see a dismal trend of loneliness one digit page hits and once in a while the dreaded "0" page hits. I needed an education on the difference between writing for reading purposes and writing for the internet. The school I chose was Associated Content so I scoured the pages searching for "How to get more page views" and "How to make money writing for Associated Content". There were many opinions, I learned a great deal about SEO (which I now know means Search Engine Optimization) and key word density. I learned to scan a few pages such as Google trends http://google.com/trends and the most searched topics of the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/gst/mostsearched.html?period=7.

Prepared with my new found education, I reviewed some of the hot topics concerning Obama and his school speech, China, and modern love. I knew nothing of these topics, or at least not enough to write a meaningful article. Then I saw my golden ring. It was Michael Jackson. Who wasn't an expert on the music and life of the Pop Legend Michael Jackson? The news channels were filled with his stories, the headlines of the daily paper read a different facet of Michael Jackson's life, family or recent untimely passing. It was a topic that I could relate to, I could understand, and I could educate my readers about. I intently studied a number of broadcasts concerning his final farewell and the burial of Michael Jackson. I made notes regarding the friends and family of Michael Jackson that attended the private ceremony. I searched the internet for interesting tidbits of information regarding his final resting place in the Forest Lawn Cemetery and then I wrote the jewel in the crown of my writing career, "A Final Farewell to Music Legend Michael Jackson" http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2139599/a_final_farewell_to_music_legend_michael.html?cat=49. I carefully chose my search tags and submitted this piece as a news article in the wee hours of the morning. I went to bed that night dreaming of thousands of page hits and bundles of money rolling in. The next morning, I was met with rejection. The editor was soft and gentle in words, kind in tone and clear in their message. I hadn't abided by the dreaded guidelines of submitting an original news article. I reworked my piece, quoted my sources and submitted the article as a general article. I'm thankful for the tenderness of the editor as I'm sure that they receive more than their fair share of fumbling writers who's aspirations are a bit loftier than their skills.

After finally being published, I was pleased to rack up triple digit page hits in a single day. Quite the accomplishment for an author who's previous standing record was 46 page views in a single day. Unfortunately, it was only after I had published my article that I submitted it to textalyser.com http://www.textalyser.com to find that my word density was not as high as I had originally thought. There were several places where the he or his could have been replaced with Michael Jackson or Michael Jackson's, but the article read smoothly without an evident effort of hitting a 5 percent word density.

If you would like to increase the number of page hits, you must obey one rule - well actually a couple of rules (but the obey one rule sure did show a lot of hits on the New York Times page views list).

• Review a sampling of the most searched topics and find one that interests you
• Utilize the myriad of key word density tools that are available to you
• Implement effective search tags
• While clever titles are cute, pointed and direct titles gain page views
• Write about topics that you enjoy - your passion will show in your work

So to sum up, I would like to accept my first 1,000 page views award gracefully and thank my editor who was kind, gentle, and understanding. I would like to thank the five people that actually viewed my article entitled, "Cheap Week", and I would like to thank the myriad of experienced web writers that offered me some pretty hard found lessons and enabled me to learn their lessons in a less painful manner than they had earned theirs.