1. Do your research: Think about who your audience is (personas), what actions you want them to take and how to most effectively persuade them to do so. Jot down a quick outline so that you have an idea how the article will be laid out. As far as ideas on what to write about, here are a few good places to go:
• Competitor Web sites – check out what they are writing about.
• News sites (CNN.com, MSNBC.com, etc.)
• Yahoo frontpage – this is great because it lets you know what is in the news today.
• Note: Make sure to grab the article name, author name and link so that you can properly site the source of your content.

2. Appeal to users’ emotion: Remember that people justify a purchase based on facts “it was on sale”, but make buying decisions based on their feelings “I’ve always dreamed of owning one”.

3. Voice: Talk to the reader/user as if you’re talking to them in person. Try to get into their shoes and think of what questions you would ask in their position. Avoid addressing the third person (he, they) whenever possible by using the second person voice (you). Though understand that sometimes it’s necessary to use the third person.

4. Create a solid, high-level opening paragraph: Give an overview of what the reader will learn and is written in a way that engages the reader to want to read further—like giving them the “what” without the “why” (that comes later in the article). Usually 2-3 sentences long.

5. Use good keywords:
• Research keywords using sites like Trellian and SeoTools. Pick one main keyword and two or three supporting keywords.
• Include keywords in titles (most important), headers, subheads, hyperlinks and body copy
• First and last paragraph should include your target keywords.
• Main keywords should be used 5-6 times for the first 200-300 words; 7-8 times within 400-500 words; add an additional keyword for every 50 words after that. (BUT don’t “overstuff the turkey” – making the writing unnatural with too many keyword placements).

6. Writing Titles: Titles should include keywords and be engaging in a way that prompts the user to click or read.
• See Copyblogger.com for tips on how to write effective headlines (and persuasive copy).
• “How to” and “list” headlines (“6 Ways to…”) are very good.
• Don’t forget your subheadlines too!

7. Meta Data: Meta data is not something that your reader will ever see, but it is a short description of the article that search engines read to know what the title of the article is, what the topic of the article is about and the keywords you have written about in the article. Make sure to always have the following:
• Page Title
• Meta Desciption
• Meta Keywords

8. Provide contextual links:
• Links must be highly relevant—don’t add links for the sake of adding links.
• If trying to generate revenue, make sure that the links make sense to include in the article and go to a top performing landing page.
• Open a new window with the link if you are linking off of your site.

9. Use relevant images: Try to include an image with your article, but always make sure that it is relevant to what you are writing about.  If promoting a product in an article (say, in a graphic “ad”), the product must relate to the article.  If you’re talking about the company, you can use the logo. Though if you borrow someone’s image, make sure to give the owner credit.

10. Close the article with a good summary: Paragraph should summarize on a high-level what the article was about and ALWAYS provide a call to action, a question or something to engage the read in conversation with you.