The content of your website and those articles you submit to directories should always be search engine optimized. SEO writing can make a huge difference in terms of search engine results. While I have followed links on StumbleUpon, Twitter, and Facebook and linking from those obviously works, many of the sites I visit do not rank high in search engine results. They are missing out on the majority of the traffic by neglecting SEO in their content.

Search engine optimized writing refers to writing that is clear, concise, and written around specific keywords the search engines love. SEO writing could be the reason your competitors rank higher than you do or the reason you don't have any rankings at all. I have seen it with web masters and business owners I work with and I experienced it for myself with my old website. SEO writing truly works.

The trick is in finding search terms that are not so popular you have to spend a fortune to get found. Using Google's Adsense keyword tool, you can find several keyword phrases that will pull in a few hundred visitors a piece. Yes, I know that "hundreds" is a low number, but if you use the phrases correctly (in titles of pages, file names, throughout the article....), you will find that the phrases you use will add up to thousands of visitors per month.

For example, when I had my site "Down Syndrome Tools" up and running, my site ranked on the third page of Google search engine results -- until I started promoting each individual page and utilizing long tail keywords. I titled the pages with keyword phrases and used them in subheadings and wherever else they fit in without looking ridiculous.

The top performing page was "Cognitive Development in Children with Down Syndrome", but my other pages didn't do badly, either. My site went from 200 visitors a month to 1200 visitors the next month... and grew from there. In case you are wondering, it is not there any longer due to time and money issues (lack of both). 

It doesn't matter what type of site you have; you must promote the product through SEO writing if you want the best results.

Another important factor in writing for SEO is the amount of text on each individual page. It is a good idea to keep the text between 500 and 1,000 words and use your keyword phrases at the beginning, several times throughout the article, and at the end.

Calculating the number of keywords for your page:

Count the number of words in your content and multiply by .02. The number you come up with is the number of times your keyword phrase should appear in your article if your target is 2 percent keyword density. Some site owners choose to go much higher than that but it is very hard to do without looking obvious and messy. A one percent or slightly more keyword density may be all you need. Start small and incorporate more if you do not see a change in the search engine results.

Don't "stuff" your pages with keywords. Keeping it real will keep visitors coming back for more.

In regards to article submissions, using keywords will assist in getting more visitors through "indirect" search engine indexing. When a site uses your article with your link at the bottom, their visitors can follow the link and when they are indexed, the search engine will follow and index your site as well. It is a form of "piggybacking" or "You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours".

Last of all, but definitely not least, you must freshen your content on a regular basis. Keeping your site updated is another way to keep the search engines happily indexing your website!