Writing articles is key to driving sales for anyone who owns, runs, or maintains an Internet-based business, but most people hate writing website content.
Writing Original Website Content in Less Time
Most people who have a website realize this; even frequent Internet users know it. Articles feed a web-surfer’s hunger for information and knowledge, help a website owner place higher in the rankings for search results, and increase the confidence and trust levels of customers.
However, many website owners lack ideas to inspire creative article writing, would rather spend their valuable time on something else, or simply don’t have the time to write articles when there are so many other duties to fulfill. Only big companies have the financial resources to hire out the job. Finally, plagiarism, copying other articles, is frowned upon and could easily get you into big-time trouble, such as a hefty fine and jail time. So what are the other options?
Public Domain Articles Are Free and Unrestricted
If a website owner hates writing articles and cannot afford to hire people to write them, there is a huge repository of free content available. The first place to look is in the public domain. There are no concerns with copyright infringement and the possible penalties and fines associated with plagiarism.
Public domain articles are freely given for public use for anyone to publish anywhere. Such content can be placed on an owner’s website, put in a newsletter, or emailed. The key is in choosing public domain content that sounds original and is related to the niche topic of the website.
The downside to public domain articles is this: since they are free for everyone’s unrestricted use, many of a site’s direct competitors may have access to them as well. Since every site needs to be original despite sharing the same niche, public domain content could present a dilemma. Website owners may have to edit the content a bit, swapping relevant keywords and keyword phrases, to make it rank higher on the search engines.
Article Submissions from Other Sites
Another way to obtain content at no cost is to allow other sites with the same subject or topic as yours to submit articles. This would serve to augment existing content. Otherwise, all the articles submitted would be “outbound:” leading to other sites, since the articles would have resource boxes with them that could link or direct the readers to their site. That’s why it is important to have at least some original content—in order to link to other websites as well.
Low-Cost Original Articles by Freelance Writers
There are no substitutes for original articles on a website and the ability to link those articles to increase traffic to one’s site. However, there are many part-time and freelance writers willing to submit articles for minimal fees. Therefore, it is possible to gain quality articles at a reasonable cost with all the keywords and keyword phrases you need.
The investment in writing original articles, as with the other “Must Haves” to drive website traffic, is either time, money, or both. But the payoff can be huge in driving traffic to one’s site or in the credibility needed to gain a financial foothold.
* Originally published on Suite 101 January 23, 2011
