Article Marketing Strategy: Write Articles to Claim the Top Spot in Your Niche

When I first started out on the web as a psychotherapist, I had no idea that I was trying to penetrate a saturated niche - relationship advice. I just got started and let the chips fall where they may.

What I didn't know back then was how writing articles on different issues in my niche and posting them to my site, would mean a flood of new organic traffic to my website and more dollars in my PayPal account!

If you are just starting out on the web, or even if you have been online for a while and haven't penetrated your niche - writing the articles just may be the ticket for you. What started as an accidental turn of fortune for me, can be a deliberate cash cow for you.

Ready to learn? This is how you can get started right away becoming the authority in your niche...

1. Research relevant keywords in your niche using keyword finder tools such as Google Keyword Tool and my favorite - Wordtracker.

2. Start out by writing one article bi-weekly. This is a pace most any entrepreneur can keep up with, but if you can write more - more is better!

3. Write A 400-500 word article. If you have articles that are 1000 or 1500 words long, break them up into an article series or article set. Research shows that search engines love content that is at least 400 to 500 words long, and that readers love reading short chunks of info-packed articles.

4. Write keywords early into the title of your article, and also place them in the first paragraph and somewhere in the latter body of your article. Don't become a keyword stuffer. The search engines are smarter than that and will think you are a spammer. Plus your article will not sound very good.

5. Don't obsess with how often you use your keywords. I did this in the early years. Just make sure that it is in your title and mentioned at least twice in your article like I stated above in #4. Some people can become a little "crazy" about how to place keywords in their articles and become paralyzed, then never write anything at all.

6. Submit your article to relevant sites, especially ones that people in your marketplace like to visit. Also, movers and shakers in your niche will begin to learn your name and start to view you as an expert or authority in your marketplace, and may refer your articles to others via Twitter etc.

7. Ramp things up even more by promoting your articles via social marketing, press releases, etc. This will gain you wider exposure so that you can begin to reach people outside of your niche. This is all good because you never where that next "word-of-mouth" referral is going to come from.

8. Finally, be consistent. Try to create a "writing schedule" for yourself or your virtual assistant. Remember that it's more important to write and publish 100 "good enough" articles on a consistent basis -- then to write 10 perfect ones and then never write again!