How to Select a Proper Article Writing MethodHow to Write Health Newsletter Articles © Ugur Akinci We live in a keyword-crazy age. Everybody's talking about keywords. And they have a point as well. There are expensive software products and membership-only web sites, as well as free ones, that provide you with all kinds of tools to research the keywords that are hot and those which are not. I admit I've used many of those tools in the past myself and I still do a lot of keyword research before writing an article for the purpose of "article marketing." But I have to remind you, that's not the ONLY way to do it. It's just one of the ways. Many keyword groupies will never tell you that. So here are the two main methods you can use to launch off your article marketing campaign. 1) Keyword Focus Method You make a keyword search, find out what's hot these days and write on that topic. It makes sense, doesn't it? The more popular a topic, the more it will be searched on the Internet, and the more visitors you'll get. Simple as that. However, this method has two huge drawbacks that people usually don't talk about: DRAWBACK #1: What's popular might not be what you enjoy to write about, or know anything about. "Hair", for example, is a perennially high-ranking keyword. I made several experiments and every time I wrote an article on "hairstyle" or "hair care" it quickly climbed in number of readers. However I was not selling a hair product or offering my services as a hair stylist or consultant. So there was not much to do to convert all that traffic into something useful. True, I could have used an affiliate product and I did that too. But most of the affiliation products out there were not good enough to generate any genuine income stream in the long run. I also have to admit, I was not crazy about "hair" as a topic either. My idea of a hairstyle is to have a short hair cut every time I feel like my hair is getting too long. With that kind of utilitarian approach to "hair style and care," how can anyone expect me to write hair articles hopping with energy, enthusiasm and useful tips? Of course not. If you are not passionate about what you're writing about but doing it just because it's "optimized" for a "hot keyword," it will show through your writing and will fail to bring the traffic and income you expect to get from your article campaign. Quality and enthusiasm cannot be forced or faked. You may choose to hire someone to do it for you but the question remains: how would you know that the other writer is passionate about this hot-keyword topic either? The chances are if he were, then he would be writing for himself and not selling it to you for a fee. In my estimation, buying articles just because your keyword search says they are "hot" is not a winner but a quick way to lose money upfront. What's popular and hot today may not be so tomorrow. Actually you can bet your money that it will NOT be so. So what happens to all those flavor-of-the-day articles that you've written yesterday that no one has any interest today? Luxury vacations were hot yesterday and it made sense to write about them. But right now, as these words are written in November 2008, we are in the midst of a recession and nobody wants to take an expensive luxury vacation. Those keyword-indexed articles keep forgotten in one lonely corner of the Internet. Since once upon a time I also used to write a lot of keyword-inspired articles I know for a fact that I do have hundreds of articles sitting on these lonely serves waiting for someone to find them and read them. "But what if I keep changing my focus depending on the keyword of the day?" I hear you asking and that's a good question too. However, if you do that you won't have the time and volume to develop an EXPERTISE in any area. You'll write ten articles today about the wisdom of keeping your money in cash tomorrow, twenty articles on making your own jelly and baking your own bread at your home, and perhaps on the wisdom of investing in gold the day after that. You'll be floating all over the place, ending up as the proverbial "jack of all trades and master of none." And writers without an expertise do not build up a following and they do not communicate the same kind confidence that write focus on one or two areas do. The amount of traffic you'll get through the footers of your articles will be proportional to your image as an "expert" and a "specialist." Jumping from one keyword to another won't help you build such an image. This brings us to the second method of article writing: 2) Interest Focus Method This method does not care which keywords are hot today. You write your articles on what you know best; about what gets your blood hot and boiling, and you just simply don't care if your keyword is hot or not. You put all your energy and heart and everything you know into your articles and if you do that, people will take notice immediately since a majority of the articles posted out there on the Internet lack that. Major Drawback This method also have a MAJOR DRAWBACK – if your interest revolves around an obscure or at least "not hot at this very minute" topic, you want be discovered easily by the Internet search engines. You'll get relatively few readers and relatively few footer-traffic. However, as you keep writing about your most favorite topic or two, you'll generate a lot of content. The "keyword writer" would be struggling to find the exact words and proper facts to squeeze out yet another article on a hot-keyword topic that he feels nothing for in his heart. But you, on the other hand, would be breezing through several of articles in a row in your own field since not only you're charged up and love to write about that favorite topic but also already know a lot about it. Coming up with the facts and organizing them in interesting and surprising ways would not be a chore for you. For example, you would probably have to pay me a lot to write anything about (let's say) International Monetary Fund, a very important organization that nevertheless bores me to death. It's clear that either anything I write about IMF would be so unappealing and boring that no one would reads it, or I'd have to spend so much time, money and effort to research the facts for a long time that the article I write at the end would not be worth it at all. But on the other hand. ask me to write an article on films and movies, thrillers or film noir, or anything about Cary Grant, and I can probably write two or three great articles within an hour. Real interest and real enthusiasm keeps the doors of imagination and inspiration wide open. Those are the kind of articles you want to write for wide circulation and high footer traffic. In any case, the idea is to select a method and stick with it. I personally prefer the second method – writing about what you love the most. However, I do know many others who have chosen the first method and prospered for having done so over the years. The worst is, obvious – not to do any article marketing at all. 2. SEO – Optimize your articles properly for the search engines. 5. Recycling – Recycle your articles through this "Dynamic Recycling" method. 6. Integration – Integrate your article marketing with social networking sites. Have a Great Tip, Photo or Comment About This Topic?Do you have a great tip or photo about this? Something that you believe we should read or see? Contribute and share it today! 
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