In our eclectic world of freelance writers and bloggers, we all have one thing in common… we all want traffic. There is no such thing as too much traffic and we go to great lengths to gain more recognition. Hours and hours are spent linking articles, networking, signing up with bookmarking sites, adjusting layouts, fonts and colors, creating referrals, and registering with GoogleAds , Paypal , Ebay and Amazon. All of this work on top of the brainstorming, editing and publishing becomes a part time job, for most. Overzealous, and commonly new writers, can easily sabotage hours of hard work and dedication by following these “6 ways to NOT increase traffic to your articles and blogs”.
Blanket Keywords
In an attempt to access readership, a writer may copy/paste a hot keyword list into an article's tag list. Seasoned and respected writers will commonly pass by an article, and even a writer's entire portfolio, for this mistake. Ever Google a topic and a totally unrelated article comes up? Don't you want to scream? This is what inappropriate keywords will give to your article… a bunch of angry readers who feel misled. Credibility is very important to any writer looking to earn any sort of pocket money from freelancing.
Do ensure your keywords are appropriate to your content. Strategically place pre-determined keywords into your article. Once published, a search engine like Google or Yahoo will be able to find your article very easily and direct appropriate readers to your site.
Post Ill Comments or Back-Handed Compliments
Just as with email and texting, harsh words and malice flow easily through online article and blog comments. Constructive feedback should be directed to the author's private mailbox or messaging system. Does your boss yell at you in front of your co-workers and customers? No. She invites you into her office and closes the door. Same goes for commenting on a blog or article. Be constructive behind closed doors.
Do comment frequently and honestly. In some cases, a comment should be read by the masses. For example, in a case you are an expert in a subject and you find an article to be false or poorly researched, adding your expertise to the “Comments” could be helpful to the author and readers and should be publicly published.
Poore Smellings
Spell like you graduated. A well researched article chalk-full of pictures and links will gain much less credibility and readership if you failed to spend an extra 20 seconds to use the spell check. Rereading your pre-published article is critical to finding poor vocabulary, wrong tenses or usage.
Do use a thesaurus and a composition handbook. The Little Brown Handbook is a great source for new writers.
Steal
Would you steal a Clark bar from the 7-11? Probably not. Using published information or pieces of articles is stealing if proper citations and credit are not given to the rightful owners. Learn to use citations properly and credit any work you have used for the completion of your article. It is better to be safe than sorry regarding credits.
Do copy/paste research information into a word processor including the citation. When it comes time to organize and draft your article, citing used works will be much easier if you have already gained the references. The Little Brown Handbook is a good reference for proper citations too.
Only Write Poetry/Publish Pictures Taken on Your Cell Phone
To be completely frank, you are one of the only people who cares about your poetry or funny cell phone pictures. Very few poets are actually good. The rest of us use poetry as a form of journaling resulting in dangling ideas, poor form and pretentious vocabulary. Cell phone pictures turn out poorly in print and should not be used. Buy a great digital camera if you are a budding photographer.
Do publish your poems and pictures that are well planned and of good quality. Save the love poems for your sweetie pie, it makes the rest of us gag.
Publish Garbage
Freelancing is a whirlwind of creativity and passion. The initial excitement of earning money to publish on any subject is overwhelming as we brainstorm 500 possible topics to write about. Publishing 20 articles in the first day we feel well on our way to making some great cash in our new venture. Fast forward a week. We are now all angry about the whopping 3 cents earned on 20 articles. The problem lies in lacking content and planning. Remember to organize great content in lieu of great quantity.
Do research topics thoroughly and thoughtfully. Brainstorm, outline, organize, cite and use proper keyword placement. Utilize your knowledge of paragraph and sentence structure.
In the words of our Triond editors, “Happy Publishing”.
