Keywords for Ezine or Online Magazine Articles
Writing for the Internet Market Means Understanding SEO and Tags
Dec 1, 2008
Quirky, eye-catching headlines, may draw a print magazine reader’s eye to a piece out of curiosity. But just how curious would an online reader have to be to find an article that’s placed at the bottom end of a Google search that produces 4 million other articles on the subject?
Great Writing Isn't Enough
Switching from print journalism to writing for the web’s online market means becoming acquainted with a whole new vocabulary and a new set of skills.
Keywords, tags, SEO or search engine optimization, are phrases which are alien to most print journalists; but if feature writers are to survive in a world where readers are turning more and more to the web for the latest news, or for a greater choice of news sources, then they must adapt their writing accordingly.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is the essential principle that writers have to master. Writing for online magazines means that articles don’t reach readers via the news-stands. On most occasions, articles don’t even reach readers who are browsing through an online magazine. Articles reach readers via search engines. It’s a simple process:
- readers are looking for information
- writers want to get information to readers
- the search engine brings the two together
Every writer has searched for information on the internet, therefore they know what words to enter into search engines. The logic is the same when composing the title of any article. Feed the search engine the words which will lead people to the article.
Search Engines Don’t Get Jokes
Successful writers may pride themselves on their wit, their humor, their subtlety, their style, all of which are fine in the body of the article, but none of which are appropriate in the title or subtitle.
- aim for clarity
- be specific
- be concise
- cover all the angles
In other words, imagine the variety of different approaches readers might take when searching for the information contained in your article.
Keywords
The space for listing relevant keywords allows you to highlight further relevant words and phrases from your article in order to attract the search engine’s attention. The first keywords you list should be those used in the title and and subtitle.
When choosing the other keywords, the first question in any writer’s mind when choosing the phrases should be:
- If I wanted to find the information contained in this article, what words would would I type into Google?
And the second question should be:
- Have I contained those words in my article?
Always remember that the rest of the words and short phrases used as Keywords should be picked from within the text of the article. If the words aren’t in the article, they should be!
One final note, this is only part of the story, remember that the composition and layout of online articles also differs from print journalism.
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