Writing Articles with Keywords – Two Disadvantages
To write articles with keywords is one of the main methods of generating content that will receive Internet traffic.
You make a keyword search, find out what’s hot these days and write on that topic.
It makes sense, doesn’t it? The more popular a topic, the more it will be searched on the Internet, and the more visitors you’ll get. Simple as that.
However, this method has two serious disadvantages that people usually don’t talk about:
DISADVANTAGE #1:
What’s a popular keyword right now might not be what you enjoy and care to write about, or know anything about.
“Hair”, for example, is a perennially high-ranking keyword. I made several experiments and every time I wrote an article on “hairstyle” or “hair care” it quickly climbed in number of readers.
However I am not selling a hair product or offering my services as a hair stylist or consultant. So there is not much to do for me to convert all that traffic into something useful. True, I could have used an affiliate product to sell. But most of the affiliation products out there were not good enough to generate any genuine income stream in the long run.
I also have to admit, I’m a guy going bald and I’m not crazy about “hair” as a topic either. My idea of a hairstyle is to have a short hair cut every time I feel like my hair is getting too long. With that kind of utilitarian approach to “hair style and care,” how can anyone expect me to write hair articles hopping with energy, enthusiasm and useful tips? Of course not.
If you are not passionate about what you’re writing about but doing it just because it’s “optimized” for a “hot keyword,” it will show through your writing and will fail to bring the traffic and income you expect to get from your article campaign.
Quality and enthusiasm cannot be forced or faked.
You may choose to hire someone to do it for you but the question remains: how would you know that the other writer is passionate about this hot-keyword topic either? The chances are if he were, then he would be writing for himself and not selling it to you for a fee. In my estimation, buying articles just because your keyword search says they are “hot” is not a winner but a quick way to lose money upfront.
DISADVANTAGE #2:
What’s a popular and hot keyword today may not be so tomorrow. Actually you can bet your money that it will NOT be so.
So what happens to all those flavor-of-the-day articles that you’ve written yesterday that no one has any interest today?
For example, timeshare properties were hot yesterday and it made sense to write about them. But right now, they are not.
Those keyword-indexed articles keep forgotten in one lonely corner of the Internet. Since once upon a time I also used to write a lot of keyword-inspired articles I know for a fact that I do have hundreds of articles sitting on some lonely servers waiting for someone to find them and read them.
“But what if I keep changing my focus depending on the keyword of the day?” I hear you asking and that’s a good question too.
If you do that you won’t have the time and volume to develop an EXPERTISE in any area. You’ll write ten articles today about the wisdom of keeping your money in cash… tomorrow, twenty articles on making your own jelly and baking your own bread at your home, and perhaps the next day… another article or two on the wisdom of investing in gold. You’ll be floating all over the place, ending up as the proverbial “jack of all trades and master of none.”
Writers without an expertise do not build up a following and they do not communicate the same kind confidence that write focus on one or two areas do. The amount of traffic you’ll get through back-links to your articles will be proportional to your image as an “expert” and a “specialist.” Jumping from one keyword to another won’t help you build such an image.
