The Best Topics for Writing Articles

The internet has become a vast resource for writers, both amateur and professional, and as the internet grows and adapts, the fight for decent traffic goes on as many writers use differing techniques to attract a decent amount of traffic.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very important, however some of the techniques related to SEO are not often that useful for writers who want to produce quality articles that are read for their content, not because they can simply change their article to suit the needs of SEO. The restrictions (or rules) of SEO create an environment where creativity is often sacrificed to get the best listing on Google.

So what can you do to avoid the pitfalls of SEO and still get decent traffic to your articles?

One of the keys is to find a topic that is interesting and popular – creating quality articles and listing them on top directories and forums will get you the attention of readers without the need for some of the more aggressive SEO and word of mouth (or viral marketing) can be just as powerful as SEO.

The import thing is to try and find the best topics for writing – while there are likely to be a lot of articles on the best subjects, you should find that as you build your reputation for producing quality articles then you will eventually see a rise in decent traffic – and what is good about this is that the traffic will be ‘real’ – most of the people coming to your article will be there because they are interested in your topic.

So what are the best topics for writing articles on the web?

It’s amazing how many people now use the internet to check out symptoms of diseases etc to try and be informed about their own health and negating the need for a visit to the doctor. The problem can be that there is so much information on the web, that you end up visiting five or six sites just to confirm that an article is correct. Thus, if you can write a series of articles that are accurate and easy to read then you eventually get a following, and build up a decent reputation.

With the advent of game console based fitness programs, the number of people searching for information on these products and on exercise and fitness in general has increased vastly. With the increasing costs of gyms many people are turning to the internet to find out cheap alternatives, and find exercises that can be done safely at home with minimal cost. Well thought out articles that point out the benefits of exercising at home and where to buy cheap equipment are always popular. One thing I have found is that articles comparing the top fitness games are becoming more popular as people don’t want to spend $50+ on a video game if they are poor.

As the old fashioned media of paper news is slowly fading, the presence of online news and information about current affairs is increasing. What is interesting, and something I find myself visiting, is that sites that are well designed and written by normal bloggers are actually becoming increasingly popular. One thing I have found is that if I can find an unbiased blogger, I am more likely to read their take on current events than one of the major news stations.

With the state of the economy and peoples distrust of Wall Street, brokers and other financial institutions, there is a growing need for decent articles on how to build wealth and how to save money – common sense information that is straight forward and written in layman’s terms is growing in popularity and if you can get into a niche market where you provide decent and honest advice on money then you will get a lot of traffic.

Sadly (or not as the case may be) one of the most sought after subjects on the web is sex. Whether it’s pure porn, or simply a site with advice on sex etc, you’ll find that decent sites related to sex will get a high volume of traffic.

People love a decent religious or Political argument and there’s no doubt that religion and politics are two of the most contentious subjects on the internet – people love to read articles on politics and then argue about them – I’ve seen some decent articles on such subjects as the Health Care reform have thousands of comments, thus they are receiving multiple thousands of views – it seems that the more controversial the article is the more contention you will get and therefore more traffic!

Personally I find that the articles I write on niche subjects get the most traffic. I have written articles on the Final Fantasy XIII game (hints and tips) and have literally had thousands of visitors a day to these sites – another example was the Football World Cup in South Africa – I wrote many articles on this tournament including an article on the schedules and another article on the sexiest players – while this niche has now ended, and the traffic is waning it did bring me in about 100,000 visits over the month of the tournament.

The key is to find a subject that you are very knowledgeable about and  continue to write as many decent articles as you can – you will find that there are a lot of people who will visit your sites.

Did you hear what Brad Pitt did last week? Did you see the dress Susan Sarandon wore at the Oscars? Do you know who Sandra Bullock is dating now? Whatever the question is there’s no doubt that there are a million people who want to know the answer! Writing decent articles on entertainment is one of the hardest areas to succeed, but if you can somehow get to the top, then there’s no doubt that you’ll end up with a lot of visits to your website!

There are hundreds of thousands of writers on the web and it is not easy to get a decent share of the pie. Finding the best topics for writing is very important and gaining a decent following with professional and informative articles is the only way to ensure long term readers.

As you build your reputation (and this can take a while) you will find people will ‘fan’ your blogs or writing and continue to read your work – this will lead to word of mouth and hopefully over time you will become a well read publisher.

The key is patience – it is not going to happen overnight – just concentrate on producing quality and informative work in the topics that are popular but also interest you and things will work out eventually!