In the world of affiliate marketing, content reigns supreme. As it does in every area of marketing these days. It's no longer acceptable to put up a site full of duplicate content and half-spun PLR articles. Searchers are too savvy. They're looking for real information and they won't settle for anything less.

One of the most important things you need to do with your content is make sure you use your keywords. You should have a keyword in the article title and then use that same keyword in 2 or 3 places throughout your article.

Perhaps one of the biggest mistakes that new affiliate marketers make is to write stiff, stilted articles for their blogs or websites. They sound like they were written by the same person who wrote the Encyclopedia Britannica. Boring - unless of course, you're trying to SELL the Encyclopedia Britannica.

'Speak' to your readers in a language and tone they'll understand - just the way I'm 'speaking' to you. When you try to tell them something about your product, imagine you're sitting across the table from your best friend and you're trying to explain it to him. Then use those exact same words in your article. And only after you've written the article should you go back and put in the keywords. Otherwise, you'll get all tangled up trying to work in keywords without messing up your sentences. You'll see - they'll fit.

The more unique and engaging your articles are, the more interested your readers will be. They can read PLR articles on dozens of websites across the internet. There are probably millions of website that use that same PLR but yours will stand out from the crowd because you wrote original articles. Readers notice that and they'll keep coming back.

If making your readers happy isn't enough to convince you that you need to provide unique, engaging articles then consider this - Google is cracking down on shoddy, spammy websites. Over the last two months, millions of websites have lost their index rankings - and their traffic - because Google deemed their quality to be sub-par. Instead, Google is giving those top spots to sites that provide a unique and engaging experience for the searcher - quality websites with original content.

So don't buy into those programs that tell you all you have to do is copy and paste and in 15 minutes you'll have a website that will make you thousands of dollars a month. But if you take the time to create a unique, quality site, it will eventually make money for years to come.

By Bruce Stewart