Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Why Overlooking Article Relevancy Is A Big Mistake

By David McCammon

Your articles must be relevant to the general theme of your website. If they aren't, you will lose both the trust of your visitors and the esteem of search engines.

So, what's relevant

"Relevant" means "related to." Basically, any subject you can tie in some way to your main business can seem relevant in an article. If you are selling a startup kit for small businesses, you can generate a list of relevant topics that will interest visitors and keep search engines happy:

How to get a startup loan

Internet versus brick-and-mortar startup business

Tax tips for business owners

Creating an advertising budget on a shoestring

Basic equipment business startups need

Good reasons to start a small business

The pitfalls of starting a small business

Of course this is only some of the list you could come up with. a site on small businesses can generate quite a few articles that are relevant.

Another example would be if you sold something like dog treats.

It can be harder to determine relevant content when dealing with niche markets. If your subject is very limited, consider including in the subject of your articles other areas that may be of interest to visitors.

In the above example it is safe to assume that most of your readers and prospects are dog owners. So given that consideration, there are lots of topics you can write or otherwise acquire that will keep readers interested and brand you an expert. For example:

The best dog breeds for households with children

How to come up with a creative name for your new puppy

How to vacation with your dog

Pet grooming tips

Housebreaking tips for puppies

Whether dogs should wear sweaters

How to come up with a creative name for your new puppy

All of these topics are a natural extension of a core business: dogs and the owners who love them. They're all relevant to the website, and a mention of homemade dog treats could be included in each article without sounding blatant or awkward.

Where to look for relevant topics.

If it's hard to come up with relevant article subjects, try using a keyword tool to get more ideas. There are several free and useful keyword generators that can kickstart the thinking process and reveal topics you might not have thought of. - 15478

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