As freelance writers, entrepreneurs and small business owners, we are constantly finding ways to effectively improve the marketing of our services and products online. Since most of us are not large corporations and cannot afford a team of marketing consultants and employees to do the groundwork for us, learning to formulate and execute new ideas on our own for as little money as possible, is essential.

Freelance writers are not web designers or SEO (search engine optimization) enthusiasts, but every freelancer has the ability to effectively improve his/her website’s performance, one step at a time. As writers, authors, editors, copywriters and anything else related to your services, the content on your website is your most valuable asset. The problem is, that as important as your content on your website may be, you may be overlooking some very fundamental aspects of SEO, that can dramatically impact the way your website is indexed and ranked by Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Here are a few quick and easy SEO changes that you or your web designer can easily implement to better your website’s exposure.

Pay Attention to Keywords and Keyword Terms

For those of you who are web savvy freelance writers, you probably already know that keywords in your content play a big role in user searches.

As an example: “We are a copywriting and marketing firm helping our clients achieve professional writing services.”

The simple sentence above includes keywords like “copywriting” and “marketing firm,” however they don’t pertain to any location per say.

- A simple easy fix would be adding a location you are trying to target.

The results: “We are a Boise Copywriting and Marketing firm helping small businesses achieve professional writing services.”

Now your keywords relate not only to your service, but also who and where you are trying to target. These tips are often times easily overlooked, especially when constructing your first website. And lastly, be careful not to get carried away and put too many of the same keywords in a paragraph or page, as Google will penalize your rankings. This is known as “keyword stuffing.”

Stay Relevant

Back in 2011, Google did a major search engine algorithm update, which put the importance of relevant and fresh content higher than ever before. What does this mean? All of those websites from 2002 that haven’t been touched or updated since then, will take a huge drop in rankings. Google continues to give higher-ranking power to websites that keep fresh and relevant content on a weekly basis. As writers, this means that now is the time to update your content and keep consistent with updates.

The best way to keep fresh content on your site is by utilizing a blog. For many writers, their website is a blog. If that’s already the case, try to always blog about useful and relevant information at least a few times a week. It is also important that whatever topic you find yourself writing about; make sure that it’s relevant to your online audience.

The most popular blogging platform available today is WordPress and is free to everyone. If you are using WordPress, be sure to take advantage of some free extensions that are available for you to download, including ones that help with the SEO of your site. These plug-ins are designed to do most of the in-depth work for you. They help optimize each post by allowing you to enter in the post title, keywords and a description of each page.

Relevancy of your content mixed with the importance of keywords will continue to play a huge role in your online marketing. Following these quick and easy on-page SEO tips will prove to make a difference with your website’s rankings.

About The Author:

Josh Olswanger is a web designer and owner of Thrive Web Designs, a Boise web design company who offers custom website design services, content creation and SEO for their nationwide clients.

Website: http://www.emilysuess.com

Specialty: Creative Web Content

Rates: .15 to .35 per word

In the word business since 2003, I have experience writing creative website content, blogs, email marketing copy, newsletters and more.

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, my specialty is creating web content and marketing copy for small businesses, startups, and internet-based companies.

Please visit my website to get to know me better, review my portfolio, and see what clients are saying about my work.

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There are plenty of SEO tools available on the Web, and most of them are great for giving you a simple keyword density analysis. This is important to any writer who publishes work online, since SEO works best when following keyword density protocol and clients may even request a certain number of keywords per piece of writing. So it helps to have a tool that enables you to determine the keyword density of an article you’ve written, and you may also need to compare this with your total word count to get a keyword-to-plain text ratio. But wouldn’t it be great to have one tool that also picks out keywords and keyword phrases in a visually effective way? After all, readers are going to be looking at your text and perceiving word placement as well as comprehending your meaning. Our readability and SEO tool, or keyword density analyzer, can make that happen and get you and your writing on the way to online success.

Readability and SEO: Benefits for Writers

1. You can advertise the fact that you analyze readability and SEO for every piece you write. Clients will be happy to take advantage of this fact and may even send you a set of keywords to use, including their company name. Tell clients that you can offer increased accessibility to their websites, brand visibility, targeted traffic, and better usability ratings. All of this can be accomplished with effective SEO strategies and readable pieces.
2. You’ll get increased exposure when your writing is read by more people, even if it’s not your website. A simple byline will do the trick.
3. Once you’ve got successfully optimized articles online and are attracting more readers, you’ll have social proof for future clients that your writing is readable and your keyword densities are on-target.

The Keyword Density Analyzer

You can increase your readability, SEO, and success when you take advantage of the keyword density analyzer. This tool is unique, free, and can improve your writing on a daily basis. It’s easy to use and even allows you to set a minimum character limit, which removes two- or three-letter words from your total word count. In addition to keyword density and word count, you’ll notice that once the tool has performed its analysis, each keyword or keyword phrase is highlighted in a different color. This enables you to quickly and easily pick out the most important pieces of text for readers so you can improve the overall readability of your article. Check out the following tips to help you make the best use of the readability information you gather from the keyword density analyzer.

Tips for Improving Readability

1. Make use of space between paragraphs. Your paragraphs don’t have to be long, but you shouldn’t be spacing every other sentence, either. Try to position your keywords so that they easily catch the eye’s attention in the first and last lines of your paragraphs.
2. Now that you know which phrases are important, you can take out some of the filler. No matter what you’ve written, you can always remove something without changing the content, so keep your articles from overwhelming readers by editing after keyword density analysis.
3. If you can put some of your keywords into your headings, this will go far toward increasing readability.
4. Try to find a pull quote (from a relevant and credible source) that contains one of your keywords, then make sure you place the quote near the top of the page in an obvious format (such as a colored box with larger font).

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Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education and performs research surrounding online schools. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Website: http://azrieljohnson.com

Specialty: Blogs, SEO

Rates: 0.10 per word

In Writing:
If I do not have any prior knowledge of a subject I will relish the opportunity to learn more about the subject. In my experience, I have come across a number of subjects, but I am always ready to learn and grow that much more to get a project finished.

Experience:
AzrielJohnson.com
2005 – Present
Cleveland, OH
Webmaster, Contributor
• Basic HTML programming for AzrielJohnson.com website.
• Extensive use of Search Engine Optimization.
• Extensive use of Social Networking techniques.

Detroit Examiner
2009 – Present
Detroit, MI
Religious Diversity Examiner
• Focus on Religious Subjects.
• Research in highly diverse religious areas.
• Focus on up-to-date news concerning religion.

Head Over Heels P.R.
2009 – Present
Los Angeles, CA
Freelance Writer, Programmer
• HTML programming for Head Over Heels PR website.
• Research in highly diverse areas.
• Extensive use of Search Engine Optimization and Networking.

The Writer’s Rep
2009 – Present
Los Angeles, CA
Freelance Writer
• Completion of time-sensitive articles.
• Research in highly diverse areas.
• Extensive use of Search Engine Optimization and Networking.

Education:
Washtenaw Community College
2006-2009
Ann Arbor, MI
• Liberal Arts Associates Degree as of 2009, Graduated with honors.
• Emphasis in Writing and Humanities.
• 3.5 GPA, heavy workload in last two semesters.

Strengths:
Tenacity, Determination, Attention to Detail, Creativity, Outside-the-Box Thinking, Logical Thinking, Adaptability, Article Research, Search Engine Optimization.

Skills:
Article Writing, Proofreading, Time Management, Adobe Photoshop, MS Office (Excel, Works, Word, Access, PowerPoint), QWERTY Keyboard 70+ WPM, Spanish Language Comprehension, HTML programming.

Specialty: Web copywriting

Rates: 50 per Web page

I am a freelance copywriter based in Minneapolis. In five years as a full-time professional copywriter and editor, I have written hundreds of effective websites for clients throughout the United States. I use in-depth knowledge of search engine optimization and current best practices to write effective Web copy.

My optimized Web copy has won several awards, including selection as an Official Honoree at the 14th Annual Webby Awards.

My writing experience has included Web sites, product descriptions, reviews, informational articles, blog entries, press releases and e-mail newsletters. Most of my work has been as a copywriter for an industry leader in lawyer marketing, writing websites for law firms throughout the United States.

I am a graduate of Vassar College with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature (2001) and of William Mitchell College of Law (Juris Doctor, 2007). I am an attorney admitted to and in good standing with the Minnesota Bar.

My grammar and spelling skills are strong. While I typically follow AP style, I have experience using the Chicago Manual of Style and will conform to your in-house style guidelines.

I believe in meeting strict deadlines with high-quality work. I also believe that strong communication is the key to a good relationship between copywriters and their clients. Please contact me with questions about my work.

1. The first thing to bear in mind about SEO articles is that you have to research SEO article terms! That means that if you are writing an SEO article on, say, Nicole Kidman’s new baby, you would want to do some research on that. I don’t really know where you would go! I just sort of make them up myself. I think that should work just fine. There’s no other solution.
2. Second, when writing an SEO article, take your term and try to easily SEO ARTICLE weave it into the sentences. Let me show you an example using Nicole Kidman’s new baby: Nicole Kidman’s new baby is on the way. Nicole Kidman and Nicole Kidman’s husband are both excited about Nicole Kidman’s new baby. Nicole Kidman’s new baby does not have a name, but Nicole Kidman’s new baby should soon. Magic!
3. Third, look up what SEO means. I am not totally sure!
4. Fourth, publish your article and wait for all the pageviews to come in. If they don’t, then be sure to stuff more key terms into the article. I recommend using the same term over and over again in white on white background so that your page shoots to the top of the search list! This does not violate terms of agreement with Google or anything. SEO ARTICLE.
5. Profit!
6. Give me some of the profits.

I hope that this has helped you a lot! Please tell me what you think. SEO ARTICLE.

Website: www.cjbizwriter.com

Specialty: Freelance Writing / Consulting

Rates: $50 per hour

CJ Business Writing & Consulting provides the highest quality service while always striving for excellence and never settling for just “good enough.”
We genuinely care about each and every one of our valued clients and we strive to go above and beyond in order to provide the best client experience possible.

We provide all this and more, while at the same time providing good value services you can rely on.
Some of the services we offer include:

Copywriting
Resume Writing
Proofreading
Article / SEO Writing
Blogging
Data Entry
Travel Consulting
Marketing
Basic design – (website, letterhead, business cards)

Website: elizabethshipley.com

Specialty: Copy editing and substantive editing. Commercial, medical, academic, British-American translation

Rates: 50 per hour

I’m a skilled editor eager to transform your text into lean, strong copy. Fluent in Chicago, APA, and MLA stylebooks, I can edit to your house style with precision and panache. Meticulous, creative, and flexible, I’ll work with you to ensure that every word you publish helps achieve your goals.

Website: www.dannalexander.net

Specialty: SEO and Content Writing

Rates: .10 cents per word, $50.00 per 500 word article

Freelance Writer, Editor, Blogger. SEO content writer producing content for various websites about a variety of topics.

Social Media Management.

Website: www.alinabradford.com

Specialty: Fine Art, Woman’s Needs

Rates: 50

I am a highly creative, goal oriented professional with solid writing, design, and marketing experience. I have been a freelance writer / illustrator for more than 11 years and have experience in posting weekly blogs and producing copy for websites, print magazines, and ezines.