24 Steps to a Profitable Article Online

If you want to write articles online in an orderly, effective fashion, welcome to the right place! Here are 24 steps to quickly establish an excellent hub that will attract search engine (=84.3% Google) traffic and earn you some hubpages money.

Maybe these tips will produce some golden articles for you, who knows?

Here is your 24-step gold for online writing success, as measured in money.

No judging here. Simply write down any words you associate with the topic. You only have to be close. You'll learn how to discover what everyone else is thinking in a later step. Keep reading!

For example, you want to write about watches. Just "brain storm" without critical (yet) thinking. Write terms you think people will use to search for the content you plan to write: watch, watches, time pieces, pocket watches, Rolex, buy watches online, and a few others which come to mind.

Next, you will use the Google Adwords Keyword tool.

Enter your terms into the search box of the Adwords tool. Click the search bar located below the keyword box.

Results:

The first box gives the number of searches for the exact terms you entered. Subsequent boxes give terms similar to those entered, which have high search frequencies. Click the "plus" box on the right of one of these terms. A drop-down list reveals other long-tail key phrases used in searching.

Consider these as subtopics in your hub.

Will these topics make money? Hubs earn money if visitors click ads. For people to click the ads, there must be sellers competing for readers searching for the information on your hub. Only then will profit-making ads appear.

If your hub is about peanut butter cookies, it will earn nada, nothing, zip. Go now to Google and search for peanut butter cookies. Look at the right margin. It is completely empty. No one pays for customers looking for peanut butter cookies. So, pick another topic or find a longer phrase that has ads.

Now search for "Rolex watches" and for "buy watches online". See the ads? Great! Those topics have sellers looking for customers. If those customers come to your well-written, well-created hub, those businesses are willing to pay to put their ads into your article in the hope of getting a customer. That is your hope, too. It's a real win-win-win for seller, buyer, and writer.

For this 24-karat formula, you want at least three subtopics on the watch theme. Search until you have three.

The keywords and long-tail keyword phrases you use determine your Google traffic. Choose them carefully. Look at the price business marketers pay for the Adword. A higher price means higher potential revenue.

Invest a few minutes until you find some which interest you as a writer.

Most blogs and online writer's platforms like Hubpages and Squidoo recommend you include at least 10 "tags" for each article. You just processed many terms and words using the Google keyword tool. Now is the best time to choose 10 to 15 of them to tag your article.

Use as many keywords as are relevant to your article. These words must also be in the body of your article. Use single words, common search phrases, and long tail keywords (groups of words common to the topic.)

(If not writing on Hubpages, open a new document.)

Choose the "start a new hub" menu item from the upper right task bar, or from any other place it appears. Choose a title. The title can differ from the "unique web address" in the next box.

If either turns pink, change the web address at box 2. Keep your preferred title. Hubpages allows more than one article to share the same name. You can edit a title later. You cannot edit a web address later; it is permanent.

I honestly don't know what difference this makes. However, all hubbers want hp to be a HUGE success. So, keep the directory awesome.

Do your part by browsing through the options until you find the best match for your topic. Most writers stick to the same few topics. Once you locate your topic in the directory tree, it will be easier to locate in the future. If like me, you might have to search three or four times before it becomes natural.

The automatic "search" tab works better by reducing the number of words. It opens up generously by including your full title. This seems to confuse the results. Trim this down for some better options. If your best directory "leaf" does not appear in the search results, it is likely the correct branch does appear. This will accelerate your browsing and save time.

More valuable tips coming up!

At this point of the set-up process, enter the tag words you chose. Remember: at least 10 tags to generate traffic.

These tags will pair your articles to hubs being read. A link and summary of your article will appear (sometimes) when similar hubs with the same tags are being read. If a visitor from Kentucky opens a hub on buying online watches, there is a chance your hub will appear as a suggestion for further reading.

If your tags are misleading, or poorly matched to your content, a reader will leave in short time. Google monitors this read time, and downgrades articles. Google's spider bot can crawl pages and match words. But, it cannot assess interesting. It assesses the interest of human visitors.

Type in your appropriate, legitimate tag words.

Then, advance through to the creation template.

Add at least three text blocks. Title each one with one of the keywords or long-tail search terms you chose that bring up ads in a Google search.

Edit each block. Just hammer away at the keyboard. Use free thought and flow. Put down whatever you want. Hubpages recommends 1500 words for a good hub. You chose three topics. Try to produce 300 to 500 words in each one. You can edit, re-edit and re-edit all you want on hubpages. We get to that later in this hub...

Add at least three photos. If you have your own, this is best. Use a digital camera or the "scan to image" function on your copier. If you scan an image, crop it and then use a "refine image" function to make it a little more crisp.

I also occasionally make a doodle or create my own graphs, freehand. I just like it that way- and I am no professional sketch artist, either. You can do it, too.

For a watch hub, you can take your own photos, any time you like. Three weeks after publishing your watch hub, photograph the cashier's watch at Save Mart, or a business woman's wrist on the Metro. They will be complimented and happy to model the watch for you. Then, go in and edit your hub; add your new, original photos.

A yes or no poll is easy. Ask people's opinions. Everyone has an opinion! It's easy to poll readers, here is one now:

Avoid biased polls. They are not as fun as polls that have choices everyone likes.

If your topic is watches for sale, find a video about how to select a watch, or watch quality, or how a Rolex is made. Find a good, short video that is informative and will be a resource to your reader.

I found two videos. The first video is very succinct in describing and showing how to set up a hub page. Post videos like this one as they are valuable. A second video I found is a bit long-winded. It is 17:08 long. For long videos, note the time of valuable information so your reader can go directly to that part of the video without getting bored in the first 8 seconds.

If you can fit in the map capsule, do it. Restaurant reviews match using the map capsule very well. Reviews of physical locations like theaters, colleges, and beaches also call for maps.

For your article on watches, you might add a map to the business of a watch retailer you interviewed, or to the watch district in your town (if you have one). Just find a good reason to tie a map to your article.

In desperation, I have added the location of my city, Modesto. (I am the Man from Modesto, after all.) We have some good writers here, and a excellent, supportive writers' group. But, statistics hate us. Ugh.

Add in a few returns to align a text capsule end with the end of an image or map capsule.

This is a hubpages recommendation for a good hub that will rank well. Make it fun. This will keep readers on your page longer, and the Google bots will rate it more interesting and place it higher in search results. Higher search result placement means more readers. More readers translate to more clicks.

At this point, you have included all the capsules you need for a good hub. Now, review your format. Consider aesthetics and natural flow. Rearrange the capsules into an orderly orientation. For example, you might put your text and photos for "buy watches online" in the upper portion, and "best ladies watches" in the lower portion. This creates a flow from less specific to more specific.

Now that text, images, quiz, map (maybe), and videos are inserted and arranged, go back and edit your text capsules.

Flow

Make sure there is flow. For example, in this hub the idea of writing a hub on watches creates flow throughout.

Language Aspects

Check spelling & grammar. Check verb usage; convert verbs to the same tense. Run spell checker.

Beauty

Earlier, you just hammered out some text. Next craft those words into something wonderful. Writing is an art. You are the artist. Don't just hub; create hubs.

Reduce Big Blocks

A long block of text really turns off readers. Even the eyes complain and wince at massive walls of type. Break text into manageable paragraphs. Separate run-on sentences into distinct thoughts.

Use Subtitles

Convert very long capsules into subtopics using subtitles. This makes it easier to follow. A subtitle also lets the reader know you are moving into a slightly different or more specific context of the topic. For example, in a capsule on types of watch bands, use subtopics like Leather, Stainless Steel, and Ceramic.

To exemplify this, steps 15 and 16 are separated into subtopics. It's easy and beautifies your hubs.

Add in some attention grabbers- questions and forecasting that will keep your readers following your hub. For example:

Knowing the signs of a fake watch can save you thousands when buying a Rolex. This article reveals the three best ways to identify a fake. Be sure to learn these before you buy.

You are almost finished with technical aspects. Next, we discuss how to generate some traffic for your fantastic hubs.

When your hub appears in a Google search results tabulation, the searcher sees your summary. All the art you invested remains invisible. Write it well. Be bold.

Think you know how to buy a watch online? You know nothing until you read these warnings and tips! How do you identify a fake Rolex? Where are the best places to find a deep discount luxury watch?

Buy watches online. Best watches online. Watches online cheap. How to buy ladies watch online. Luxury watches. Best Rolex online buy.

Which of these two do you think receives more visitors? Consider also that the second one appears in several forms- too many people do that.

Every hubber should have a Redgage account. All you do is copy the address, enter a title, tags, and description. It is an instant second source of revenue for your work. If you are not yet on Redgage, Join Redgage Now. In my first month, I earned $30.40 ($3.25 in bonuses, $25 in a contest, and $2.15 for 3580 views).

On the account page, in the "Statistics" block, click on "edit groups".

Find the new hub in the "Orphan Hubs" category. Click and drag it to an appropriate category. If you need to create a new category, click "Add New Group".

When you add hubs to groups, readers see options for two of your other hubs in the same category. These appear as links at the end of your article. Grouping your hubs increases traffic to your hubs by transferring readers to additional articles at a rate higher than if you had no groups.

Put an RSS capsule at the bottom of your article. The RSS feed will insert text from your other hubs onto the base of your hub. This will also create opportunities for readers to click through to your other articles.

For RSS to work, you must have good tags on your hubs. If you want certain articles to appear, be sure to add tags that correlate them together.

Here is the format for an RSS feed URL:

http://hubpages.com/author/man from modesto/latest/?rss

Edit out "man from modesto" and insert your own hubber name. You can change "latest" to "hot" or to "best". Or, you can insert keywords to match tags in your articles. For example: watches+online+buy

A link capsule on each of your hubs provides backlinks, which Google likes.

Choose one hub to be an anchor. This hub has no outgoing links. It is a destination. For example, my hub "How to Make Blogging and Writing Online" is a destination hub. My most-trafficked hubs have links going to this hub.

Find similar hubs you previously wrote. Edit them to include links to your new article. This will create traffic for the new hub. Google likes well-trafficked hubs which visitors like to stay on.

Do this mutually with other writing accounts such as Squidoo and Seekyt (be sure to type 'Man from Modesto' in the referral box, thanks!)

Search through hubpages for similar articles. Comment that you have also created a similar review/article/ or collection, and copy-paste the URL for your hub along with your genuine comment. Then, add that hub into the links capsule on your own hub.

Reciprocation is good policy on this. It is my own opinion. But, I expect most agree with me.

Another rule I have is that I will only do this with a genuinely great hub. Your hub should be valuable for your readers, including the outbound links.

If you have an exceptional hub, consider posting it to Reddit. If done right, Reddit can generate a high volume of traffic to your hubs. Be careful not to get banned for overly promoting yourself!

I hope this list is useful to you in preparing productive hubs. If you have ideas of your own, please post a comment! I am very much open to improving this hub's value for readers.

Please comment, share, like, and Pin it.

I wish you happy hubbing!