How to write articles for your website

The key to making money on the Internet is having content on your website. Good, unique content. The best way to get good unique content is still to write it yourself. Buying ready made websites, or purchasing articles from websites is not going to help, because this content is unlikely to be unique. Duplicate content is penalised in the Google search engine results.

The first key to writing articles is, simply, to be able to write. Sounds obvious, but takes some practice. There are countless websites out there about writing, but a few points:

• Be fairly accurate about grammar, and spellcheck heavily.
• Use paragraphs frequently. A block of solid text is daunting to the reader
• Read your articles out loud, if you find yourself struggling for breathe, google for "full stop".
• Use lists (like this one) to break things up a bit.
• A few images help, but refer to them in the text.
• Don't steal articles from other websites.

The next step is to think of article ideas. Keep a notepad on your computer. If an article idea occurs, jot it down. You might not write it for weeks, but you must preserve the idea. Have mini-brainstorming sessions. A few minutes constructive thought might come up with enough article ideas to keep your keyboard busy for a few weeks.

Look at things you have posted to forums, or sent as email. Often you'll find you've written a few hundred words explaining something in an email - that email is your property, and can be used as a basis for an article for your website.

Think about your niche or topic, and just jot down any article idea that comes to mind. For example, if your website is about caravans, sit down and write some articles about caravans. If you are doing a website about caravans, it is more likely than not that whether you care to admit it or not, you know more about caravans than the average person. Google for "keyword density" and get typing. It is a lot easier than you might think. Just write about stuff you know. Pretend you are a caravan holiday consultant, getting asked questions about caravan holidays. At the end of the day, most people are using search engines to answer questions, find information and solve problems, so pen some articles about caravan information, common caravan questions and caravaning problems. These pages will then get search engine hits by people trying to find the answers you are providing.

Thus you get traffic.