If you've never heard of SEO, google it. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and it is the writing term of the decade. Those who know SEO are making money hand over fist above the people who don't. I am one of those who is still learning about it and it's potential. It takes a little while to get used to, but learning how to effectively write SEO content puts you miles ahead of the competition in the freelance world. Here's why.
Search Engine Optimization is the art of keyword placement, keyword usage and careful crafting that gets your content listed higher on search engine results. Consequently, the higher the search engine result, the more traffic your content will receive and the more money you will make off of it. Most sites offer adrevs these days (adrev= advertising revenue; you get a cut of whatever advertising dollars your content makes.) The more people read your content, the more people will statistically click on the ads. The more people that click on the ads, the more sales the sponsors get. The more sales they make, the more of a kickback the website host gets and in turn, the more money you get. Mastering SEO writing is not just good for you; it's a chain that is mutually beneficial for all parties involve.
There are several things you can do to improve your SEO skills, the first of which is simply reading up on it. There are a ton of SEO articles on the net, simply googling "SEO" will get a nice big list of them. Once you've gotten familiar with SEO terminology, find a good keyword generator and start inserting some keywords into your content. No need to go nuts, just add a few here and there.
Good idea for an SEO-friendly article title: "Fallout 3: Walkthrough and Review"
Bad idea for an SEO-friendly article title: "Fallout 3 Walkthrough Review Release Date Official Site"
There is such a thing as "keyword spamming", whereby some fool attempts to publish "content" that is in fact just a jumble of keywords. Search engines are programmed to generally ignore this kind of tripe. However, a few tactfully-placed keywords can greatly increase your traffic and revenue.
Look at all the elements. There is more to SEO than just keyword-friendly titles. Meta Tags and Meta Descriptions of your content are also critically important to driving traffic to you. The Meta Tag is what a user sees when your content is displayed in a search engine and the Meta Description is the text the user sees beneath your entry in the results page. If this content catches the eyes, it will draw people in. If it is boring, stock dialog, it will either bring in few people or flat-out drive people away. Make the description and title interesting, stimulating; invite the reader to come in and take a look.
Marketing is not just a game for people in suits with offices anymore. Your average freelancer, armed with a little knowledge and a list of relevant keywords, can do some heavy-hitting marketing with relatively little investment. All it takes is some time to learn how to write SEO content and some practice doing it. Most sites you freelance for (if you post content online) have some sort of system for SEO, along with tutorials written by in-house experts. Read these, bone up on SEO. It's important.
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