Have you been writing articles and blog posts and find you aren’t getting either people motivated to take action or there just aren’t enough coming to read what you wrote?  Perhaps the problem lies more in how you wrote than in what you wrote.

You see, there are thousands of articles a day that get written.  And I am just talking about what is written in your niche, nevermind the overall number.  So how do you get more “stickyness” out of what you wrote?

SEO is still in play!

There are a lot of folks who are going to tell you that search engine optimization is not that big of a deal.  I am not going to agree with that totally.  I am going to tell you that using tools like WordPress as the foundation for your site helps a bunch and makes it easy for folks like you and me to optimize their posts. 

What about social media optimization?

When writing content or articles and considering search engine optimization alongside social media exposure, here are10 key points to keep in mind:

1. RSS friendly? People getting to you through an RSS feed may only see the title of the post and nothing else.  Is yours relevant and interesting enough to make them click to read?
2. Who is your target audience? Are you writing to specialists in your niche?  Are the people who are likely to read your posts experts?  Are you providing info to demonstrate you are a subject matter expert or are you trying to sell something?  Know who your target is and your success will increase?
3. Which keywords you are aiming to optimize?  Give some thought to the terms people are going to search for and be sure to bring those up in the first couple of paragraphs.
4. Is your post either educational or informative?  People aren’t going to read an article telling how great you are.  Save that part for the summary J
5. Well placed links? Having links both internal and external that are well placed let people know you have done your due diligence.
6. Use bullet points or lists?  Using a list has almost double the chance of getting read.  Why?  Because the reader can just scan the highlights so to speak to see if something grabs their attention.  Paragraph upon paragraph becomes a blur.
7. Do you grab their attention?  Short title headings grab a readers attention and makes them want to read further.   
8. Clearly defined subheadings  You not only want to grab their attention, but you also want search engines to intuivetively pick up key words along the way
9. Interesting quotes! It not only reinforces your point, but is a way of grabbing people’s attention (and some search engine love as well)
10. Are you a thought leader? No rule that says you have to, but you will get more traction if you are.  Otherwise, the question you want to ask yourself is this: “Does this post communicate the feeling or your niche or community?”

There you have it.  Make some changes to what you are currently doing and start to see the difference in site traffic as well as how you are perceived by your peers and potential customers!

If you are looking for free tips or advice on how to approach your social media, go to Social Media Dudesand subscribe to your newsletter in the upper left hand corner! Still not convinced that social media is right for your business? Read this and get our F.R.E.E. report on the 7 Myths of Social Media! Or follow our tweets on Twitter at twitter.com/johnpanico Finally, those are my thoughts from high atop my 2nd floor office above my garage. What I want to hear are YOUR comments. Please leave one now.

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