Website: http://anne-pottinger.com/

Specialty: Writing SEO oriented articles for web clients

Rates: 50 per 500 word article/blog post

Not just writing, but writing well is my passion. I write seo-optimized articles that drive search engine traffic to your site.

My specialty is providing freelance writing, web content writing, and article writing services that work.

Over the years I have learned an immense amount about research and I believe I have developed the resources and expertise to research all my writing projects thoroughly before committing any words to print.

Specialty: Articles/Blog for Gadgets, Education, Business & Content Writing

Rates: .10 per word

I am an Finance student. Done articles for national magzine and local newspaper.
I am good in article writing. You could rely on me for assignment quality within short period ASAP

For the sake of this post, let’s consider feature articles for print publications only, such as consumer and trade magazines. Most freelance writers who I speak with really want to break into this market, but have no idea how to get started or what to do if they ever land a gig.

These five details will help you become better acquainted with feature articles and what you should be thinking about:

1. Who is the audience? When you pick up a feature article project you must first know who you are writing for. Is it a sports publication focused on basketball? A wedding magazine for brides? Finding the audience is usually as simple as picking up a back copy of the magazine or heading to the appropriate website for additional information.
2. Length. The length of the feature will be specified by the editor. While most feature articles are at least 500 words in length, the editor may decide that they need something a bit shorter due to page layout. Also, don’t be surprised if some of your features end up being 2000 words or more. The best thing you can do in this area is take advice from the editor you are working with.
3. Facts are important. In most cases, a feature article is going to be full of facts and not much opinion if any at all. For this reason, it is important to make sure all of your information is 100 percent accurate and backed up by reliable sources.
4. Interviews. Speaking of reliable sources, most feature articles that are assigned to me come with the specification of interviewing at least one authority on the subject. This is not always the case, but be ready to conduct at least one interview. Not only will this please the editor, but it will round out your piece.
5. Revisions. I cannot remember ever writing a feature article and getting it perfect the first time around. With most features you will be asked to complete at least one revision, if not more. There have been times when I worked with an editor for days on end, revision after revision, until the article was perfect. If you are going to get involved with writing feature articles you should be ready for revisions and plenty of them.

Think you’re ready for feature article writing? Then start networking with editors and preparing some pitches. And check back later today for our “Getting Started” series interview with established magazine writer Linda Formichelli.

Here are three tips for effectively writing SEO articles:

1. Length. How long should an SEO article be? This all depends on who you talk to. I have clients that want each article to be at least 750 words. At the same time, many others feel that a 250 word minimum is just fine. Before starting any SEO article project be sure to ask the client for clarification of this detail.
2. Keyword stuffing. The whole point of an SEO article is to include keywords that the client wants to rank for. For instance, if you are writing an article on “making money online” you will want to include that phrase throughout. Again, how often and where the keyword(s) appear is subjective.
3. Angle. What type of angle are you going to take? Just because you are writing SEO articles does not mean you are putting together a bunch of slop. Even if the client is only using the articles for search engine optimization and directory submissions, you must still an angle and try to provide accurate, high quality information.

Before I go any further, you can probably see by now that every client is going to be different when hiring you to write SEO articles. I strongly suggest that you discuss the three details above, as well as any others that are important, before you get started. It will save both you and the client a lot of time in the long run.

Who needs SEO articles?

Now that you know more about this type of project you are probably interested in getting started. Through my experiences there are two types of people who are in the market for SEO article writers: webmasters and companies.

Some of my best clients are one-man shows who do nothing more than create and manage websites. To achieve success they need as many SEO articles as I can send their way. Don’t pass up a client because they are not a large corporation – this is a big mistake.

Of course, companies of all sizes can benefit from the use of SEO articles. I work with companies of 1,000 people or more in this capacity. At the same time, small businesses also need this type of content.

There is a huge market for selling this service. With the tips above you should be able to improve your SEO article writing skills, while also keeping an open mind to the type of people who are in need.

Update Old Content – Look at your website or blog statistics, and see what some of your most popular (most visited) articles or posts are. Are any of them outdated? Could you post something new on the same subject to take advantage of the popularity? You probably can.

For example, if you’re a U.S. blogger, you may have posted about how the 2008 presidential election results could effect your industry. Have any of your predictions come true? Were you, surprisingly, proven wrong about something? If so, blog about it.

Here’s another example – let’s say you’re a webmaster in the “make money online” niche. One month, you post your earnings from a specific ad network as an example to readers, and the post is wildly popular. You could turn that into a monthly series.

Look at Similar Sites – Other sites in your niche are great resources when you need to come up with article or blog post ideas. First, look through their categories or sections. Are there entire subject areas that would fit into your site that you’re currently neglecting? If so, add it. Then look at specific articles (especially if the site highlights their most popular articles).

Do not, under any circumstances, simply take the ideas or content in those articles and re-write them into your own article. Depending on where you live, that would be considered a derivative work, and be copyright infringement. Instead, take one of these routes instead:

1. Write a post of your own responding to theirs. Link to it early on in your post. If they took a stance on an issue, you may want to explore another side of it.
2. Use that article as just the first step in the research process. Look to several other sources for more information, and write your own article or blog post on the subject matter (and keep it ethical by citing your sources if you do this).

Use Keyword Suggestion Tools – Keyword suggestion tools, like the Adwords Sandbox, can give you lists of article ideas based on keywords and what people are searching for (if they’re searching for it, they want to know more about it, so it’s a good idea to write articles on those topics).

To use the tool, enter keyword phrases related to your site. For example, if you write a blog about knitting, you could just type in knitting and have it find suggestions for you. You would get a list of related keyword phrases, as well as how often those phrases are searched for and how much advertiser competition there is for each keyword phrase.

If you typed “knitting” into the Adwords Sandbox tool, for example, you would see results including:

1. “How to knit” – An average of 110,000 searches per month with very high advertiser competition
2. “Loom knitting” – An average of 22,200 searches per month and average advertiser competition
3. “History of knitting” – An average of 2400 searches per month and high advertiser competition

While these tools can be used to choose actual niches for a site or blog, they’re also effective for choosing specific articles. Here, for example, you may decide to do an article on the history of knitting, or a how-to tutorial series for beginners to knitting. (Keep in mind though that to take advantage of high search numbers, you have to rank very well in search engines, and it’s very difficult to do that for general keyword phrases – meaning longer phrases with fewer searches may actually bring you more readers over time.)

A few other article-specific ideas you’ll find in those results for the knitting niche include: “How to Knit a Beanie,” “Sock Knitting Patterns,” and “How to Knit a Blanket.”

Never assume you have nothing left to write about. Take a fresh look and see what you’re missing, what could be improved, and most importantly what your audience actually wants to read, and you’ll always be able to find new ideas.