Review blogging and SEO

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I can see you shaking your head already. And I agree. The idea of writing a review with search engine optimization in mind is frightening. You’ve seen these reviews before – unreadable reviews we both know never will make it to the search engine index.

You’ve learned that keeping your posts real and relevant is what reviews are all about. The mantra is: “You should never write for the search engines!”

And that’s quite true. The most important aspect of any review is to create an honest one that speaks directly, friend to friend, to your reader.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t use your review format intelligently, and boost your SEO a little in the process. After all, part of the whole principle of “being the best you can be” involves doing everything you can to achieve strong results.

So let’s start with a really overlooked component of your review – your introductory paragraph.

It’s an axiom in creative writing that one should always throw out the first paragraph, because writers tend to take too long “warming up”.

The same thing applies in writing affiliate marketing reviews. Get down to business straight away. Open with a punchy sentence that makes your reader blink – but then, straight away, tell him which product you’re going to be reviewing. Add a sentence or two about what, who, why and where. (Sounds like a press release, doesn’t it?)

This is one of the few times when creative writing and marketing reviews run parallel courses for a harmonious moment or two.

Generally, when a reader is buried in a fiction novel, she likes surprises.

When someone is earnestly seeking the solution to a problem, however, they like to know what they’ll be getting – so they can decide if reading your review is going to be worth their time.

A good introductory paragraph fulfils all these requirements – and sets your reader up for a useful and enjoyable use of her time. And if you make sure the introductory paragraph also includes your most important search term, your chances of being indexed and ranked by search engines will increase.

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