Articles are the lifeblood of the information era. Bill Gates once said that “content is king,” referring to the ideal composition of a webpage. This is truer today than ever, as people turn to the Internet in increasing numbers.

Above all else, article writing techniques must focus on providing a readable final work. So-called articles that are presented only to focus on optimization will appear to be contrived and will be very difficult to read. The reader will go away feeling less than satisfied, far from being educated or entertained.

Over the years, a number of different article writing techniques have arisen to satisfy various demands. Sometimes a “top 10″ style is utilized, other times a “how-to” approach or even a straightforward, bulleted list takes the place of a conventional approach. The style of the webpage in question will normally dictate the ultimate formality of contents.

We are learning that the search engines value appropriate content. They use a process similar to latent semantic indexing to gauge whether the body of the article actually relates to the keywords found in its title. In other words, secondary keywords should appear throughout the article, which the search engine compares against its comprehensive database for relevancy.

Fundamentally, an article should consist of 5 to 8 paragraphs and be about 500 words long. This is a standard format for articles found throughout the Internet. When composing an article, the lead paragraph should give the reader an idea of the overall content, the following 3 to 5 paragraphs should enlarge on a particular point — one point per paragraph – and the closing paragraph should sum up the entire piece.

Different authors have different article writing techniques but all should follow good practice. Content should not represent a pure “salesy” approach, even though it can be argued that the majority of websites have an ultimate commercial purpose. There is always a time and place for an appropriate pitch and competent writers will focus on good service first and foremost.

When looking at structure from an SEO perspective, remember that secondary, LSI — type keywords must back up your prime words. Content experts will not need to worry about this element, as they will naturally form an article containing such content.

We are told that the major search engines are placing more and more emphasis on quality content and penalizing those webmasters who try and optimize first and provide quality second. As this scenario unfolds there will be a lot of focus on article writing techniques, as well as demand for the provision of great content.

Click on the hyperlink to learn more about article writing techniques, and how you should actively consider the idea for your online marketing program.