So you have an opinion to share, don’t we all? Now we need a place to share it online where it will be viewed and read by the very target audience you seek to address.

The great news is that Lost Coast Populist is your online soapbox to share your opinions with Humboldt County, California, and the world.

Step 1 – How to identify your keyphrase or keyword

The easiest way is to select the entire text of your article, wherever you have written it, and paste it into this nifty Keyword Finder. This will identify the word or phrase you use most often in your article. Ignore words like “the,” and “when,” focusing on specific words or phrases that fit the topic of your article.

Step 2 – HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR TITLE WITH THE KEYWORD OR PHRASE

Once you’ve identified your keyword or keyphrase, you must include this as near the beginning of your article TITLE as possible.

EXAMPLE:

Say your keyword is “Beaches,” and your opinion article is about trash you found while walking local beaches. Your title could be something like “Trashed Beaches in Humboldt, GROSS!”

When you are filling out the LOCO Opinion Wizard, you will enter “Beaches” as your keyword and the title example above into the “Title” prompt of the form.

Excellent work! Let’s keep learning.

Step 3 – HOW TO CHOSE A PROPER CATEGORY

Each article published on Lost Coast Populist is placed within a “Category.”

Running with the same example of trash found on local beaches, one could propose the category “Conservation,” or “Environmental.”

NOTE: Categories are typically not the keyword, but can be. Proposing a category does not guarantee the category will be created and/or used for the submitted article.

Excellent work! Let’s keep learning.

Step 4 – HOW TO SALE YOUR ARTICLE IN THE MINI DESCRIPTION

When searching Google, every article or page should have a “description.”

This short body of text essentially sells the person surfing the web WHY they should click your article and read it.

Typically, this is best accomplished by creating curiosity around the title, which draws your reader to click on the link and read your content seeking the answer.

You can get creative here, but always include your keyword or keyphrase within the description, and you will be dialed in for maximum optimization!

Excellent work! Let’s keep learning.

Step 4 – HOW TO SELECT A PROPER THUMBNAIL / MAIN IMAGE

When authoring an opinion article, one should always be keenly aware of the need for images.

In this GENZ fast-paced world of digital information, simply creating an opinion article only to publish it without accompanying images is wholly foolish and a borderline waste of time and energy.

Therefore, a minimum of ONE image is required to have your article published on Lost Coast Populist.

WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO TAKE ORIGINAL PHOTOS AND/OR CREATE ORIGINAL IMAGES

You know what they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and when it comes to authoring online Opinion Articles, this is foundational.

Keeping with our example of trash found on local beaches, and a concerned community member voicing their discontent with their fellow community about that experience.

The same article, including multiple photos of the trash found, close-ups, wide-angle shots, and even links to Rumble, YouTube, or Facebook videos posted by the author, would drive their message home and support their position.

The same article without these things, or even a SINGLE photo, would get lost in a sea of online content. 

But do not fret if you are here, imageless, and eager to publish your opinions. The internet is your friend Mon Ami!

Follow the Steps Below to get a FREE IMAGE!

1. Go to Google.com and type in your Keyword
2. Click “Images” from the top menu
3. Click “Tools”
4. Click “Usage Rights”
5. Select “Creative Commons”
6. Click on “Size” and select “Large.”
7. Chose an image by clicking on it
8. Right-click the image or long-press on a phone or tablet, then select “Open image in new tab.”
9. Navigate to the newly opened tab, the image will load exclusively. Long press or right-click, select “Save image as,” and follow the prompts to save the image to your device.
10. Now upload this image to the LOCO Opinion Wizard!

Excellent work! 

If you’ve made it this far, you are a graduate and ready to post Opinion Articles like there is no tomorrow!

Congratulations and big thanks from the Lost Coast Populist team of Citizen Journalists for being brave, and speaking your truth to power.