People are always looking for secrets. The secret to life, the secret to happiness, the secret to Grandma’s chocolate cake… even article writing secrets. Truth be told, the ‘secrets’ I’m going to share with you here aren’t so much secret as little-used common sense. You’ll see why.

Secret #1 – Pick Your Keyword
The long term purpose of article marketing on the internet is to capture long tail keyword traffic, and send it back to your site. Therefore, your articles should ALL be SEO optimized. That means picking a keyword, and focusing on it. Most people go wrong by trying to think of a topic first, then go looking for a keyword. I start with a keyword that gets reasonable monthly traffic and then use that as my topic, and write an article around it.

Secret #2 – Pick Three Subpoints
Once you know your topic, quickly brainstorm three short subpoints that you can talk about. They don’t have to be long. These three points give you an instant framework for a quick article. Each point should be relevant to your topic. This not only helps you focus your thoughts and writing, but it also makes for a fast, easy article to read. You naturally end up with three subtitles, which is pleasing to the eye and allows the reader to pick out the most relevant part instantly. Of all the article writing secrets I’ve ever come across, this one is the most powerful.

Secret #3 – Write Fast!
Now that you’ve got your topic and subpoints, start writing! I’ve trained myself to write articles in one go, without going back to edit (except spelling!). Write fast, just answering your subpoints. If you can escape from agonizing over wording and content in your articles, your productivity will skyrocket.

These three article writing secrets form the foundation of my article writing strategy, and they’ve allowed me to write many articles in short periods of time. They will do the same for you if you apply them properly.