Adsense, Tails, & Articles

If you want your writing to attract a crowd, and earn Adsense income, you will have to add a couple steps to your writing procedure, and how you format your writing.  Learn them and make them a small automatic part of your writing and the fruits of your labor will be rewarded.

Image by Craig Key via Flickr

Keywords, Short-tail Keywords, & Long-tail Keywords

The first thing you need to know is what a keyword is and the different varieties.  A keyword is a word that can be identified closely with the subject of your article.  In other words, when someone is looking for the information you are providing, the keyword is the one word that will be most closely associated with your article in a search engine.  For example a keyword for this article might be Adsense.

A short-tail keyword phrase consists of two words which further narrow down the scope of the content of our article.   For example, if the article is about hidden sugar in foods, our short-tail keyword phrase might be Corn Syrup.

A long-tail keyword phrase consists of three or more words that zero in even closer in defining the nature and content of your article.  For example if your article is about the effects of inflammation on aging the long-tail keyword phrase might be disease inflammation aging.

Using Tails & Keywords

What you will be doing is plugging these into Google or another search engine.  Let’s use the example of my article on inflammation.  If I plug in just the word inflammation I see that there 24,400,000 webpages that key onto that word. 

If I plug in the short-tail keyword phrase of inflammation aging I see that there are 2,700,000 webpages that key onto that phrase.  I have just eliminated 90% of the competition, there by improving the chances my article will be read. 

If I plug in the long-tail keyword phrase inflammation aging disease improves my standing so now I only have 485,000 webpages to compete with.  Let’s try one more shall we?

If I plug in the long-tail keyword phrase inflammation aging disease antioxidants I’ve narrowed the field to just 160,000. Now we’re talking.  That’s much better than trying to swim in the ocean with 24 million other webpages.

Article Formatting

Now that you know a good long-tail keyword phrase, you are going to use it, in whole and in parts.

• Craft your title around it
• Use it in your sub-headings
• Use it in at least one paragraph in each sub-heading
• Apply them as tags

If you examine this article closely you will see that I have done just that.

Niche Knowledge

Every article should fill a niche.  Articles that are broad of scope are for when you are rich and famous and everyone is reading you already.

There are websites, two popular ones are Wordtracker and Nichebot, which will tell you what the Click Through Rate and Cost Per Click are for the keywords and phrases you’ve chosen to represent your article.   You want keywords and phrases that have what is called a high conversion rate – meaning that readers who found your article based on the keywords you chose are more likely to click on the ads associated with your article.  A high cost per click, the amount an advertiser pays for a reader to click on the ad, when associated with your keywords means more money for you with each and every reader.

Niche Keywords, Backlinks, & Tails

When you go to promote your article, you’re going to want to know other long-tail keyword phrases that are associated with people finding your article.  For example, my inflammation article, may also be found by the following -

• inflammation disease death
• inflammation food antioxidants
• disease inflammation mitochondria
• death aging inflammation

Not only is your article also being found by these, but it gives you inspiration for related articles you can write.

Most importantly though are the backlinks you create or receive.  This will help determine your PageRank.  If you quote from your article in another piece of writing on another site, or you make a text backlink using some of these long-tail keywords, it makes Google sit up and take notice of your article.

When promoting, don’t cut and paste.  Google doesn’t like monotony.  As a matter of fact, it could be said that it takes a dim view of it.  Mix things up, use different words from your list when making your backlinks.

When promoting on social bookmarking sites and in forums you need to mix it up as well.  Do not cut and paste.  When it asks for the title, change it just a little.  When it asks what the article is about, write something different each time.  If it gives you the option of adding tags, use alternate ones from the list you made.  All of this will increase the credence that Google gives to your article and pushes you up in the rankings.

Nothing Sells Like Quality

Lest you think that gaining a high readership, a high PageRank, and following a stale formula will garner fame and success for you; Google also demands that you provide quality content in return for having Adsense ads grace your webpage.  It’s part of the policy, go read it.

Now combine quality content with the tips I’ve given you and you will be ahead of most of the other writers out there hoping to be read.

Happy writing!