Articles today are recognized as key forces in driving traffic to the sites of the businesses they represent. But not just any traffic. It is the kind of traffic that converts into sales. This is known as high conversion traffic (I.E. converting the visit into a sale and possibly a repeat customer.)

It is the well written article, with the catchy headline and easy to read material that brings in the traffic and adds to the bottom line. But what goes into the well written piece that draws the desired attention of both the reader and the search engines? There are four absolutely must haves for an article to be successful.

Good Content

First and foremost, the article must have easy to understand content. This includes having key words and key phrases placed strategically in them. The content must flow, meaning that the material transitions from one portion to the next must be easy to follow without the reader getting lost.

It must be entertaining and put the reader at ease. It must contain something of value to the reader. More importantly, it must not be a sales letter. This will be a major turn off to any prospective customer.

Key Words and Key Phrases

each article must be centered on specific key words and phrases. What this means is that you're chosen key words must relate to your site. They can even be the same as your site key words.

It is important to remember that search engine returns are based on those key words. Often time's articles will show up more often than the sites they are representing. One trick that if often used is to use certain words in some articles while others are used different articles.

Keyword Density

Keyword density is the number of times that subject related keywords are used in the article. These words necessary for the article to successfully represent the site they were created to.

One of the main purposes of an article is to build a sites page rank. Part of this is related to the number of keywords used in that article. The best average is between ten to fifteen percent for the search engines to notice the article. Any more than that and the search engines (and readers) get turned off. Less than that and the essence of the article may be lost. It will almost assuredly be ignored by the search engines.

Remember that the higher the page rank is, the more the traffic the site gets.

About The Author Box

This is how the article makes money for the site by linking to it. Irregardless of whether it is being submitted to an article directory, an Ezine, or anywhere else. It is also how the represented site earns higher page ranking and, obviously, more traffic. It should contain no more than a line or two of text and one or two urls. If using an article directory submissions service, you may be limited to only one url.