First 100 Articles

This step-by-step tutorial guides you from setup to publishing 100 high-quality, SEO-optimized articles. Follow this proven process to build a strong content foundation for organic traffic growth.

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📋 Overview

What You'll Achieve

By the end of this tutorial:

• ✅ 100 SEO-optimized articles published
• ✅ Established content workflow
• ✅ Keyword strategy in place
• ✅ Automated publishing configured
• ✅ Performance tracking active

Time Investment

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🎯 Phase 1: Planning & Setup (Days 1-2)

Step 1: Define Content Strategy

Before generating articles, plan your approach:

Questions to Answer:

1. Who is your audience?

   • Industry/niche
   • Experience level
   • Pain points

2. What topics will you cover?

   • 3-5 main topic clusters
   • 15-25 keywords per cluster
   • Mix of difficulty levels

3. What are your goals?

   • Target monthly organic visitors
   • Lead generation targets
   • Timeline expectations

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Step 2: Create Your Project

1. Navigate to Dashboard
2. Click New Project
3. Enter project details:

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Step 3: Import Keywords

Goal: Import 100-150 keywords across 3-5 topic clusters

Option A: Manual Import

1. Go to Keywords → Import
2. Prepare CSV with columns:
   • term (required)
   • cluster (recommended)
   • search_volume (optional)
   • difficulty (optional)

Example CSV:

term,cluster,search_volume,difficulty
"how to start a blog",Blogging,5400,25
"best blogging platforms",Blogging,3600,35
"content marketing strategy",Marketing,8100,45
"seo for beginners",SEO,12100,30

3. Upload CSV
4. Review import preview
5. Confirm import

Option B: Use Keyword Tool (Coming Soon)

Forest SEO will suggest keywords based on:

• Your niche/industry
• Competitor analysis
• Search volume trends
• Keyword difficulty

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Step 4: Organize into Clusters

Best Practice: Create 3-5 clusters for your first 100 articles

To Create Clusters:

1. Go to Keywords → Clusters

2. Click Create Cluster

3. Enter cluster details:

   • Name: "Blogging Basics"
   • Description: "Beginner-friendly blogging content"
   • Brief template: (optional)

4. Add keywords to cluster:

   • Select keywords individually
   • Or bulk add via filter

5. Repeat for all clusters

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Step 5: Set Up Integration

Connect your publishing platform:

1. Go to Integrations
2. Click Add Integration
3. Select your platform:

4. Follow platform-specific setup guide
5. Test connection
6. Configure auto-publish settings (optional)

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🎨 Phase 2: Generate First 10 Articles (Day 3)

Why Start with 10?

Benefits of starting small:

• ✅ Validate content quality
• ✅ Establish review process
• ✅ Test integration
• ✅ Refine settings
• ❌ Don't scale bad processes

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Step 6: Generate Test Batch

Generate from different clusters:

Generation Process:

1. Go to Content → Generate
2. Click Generate Content
3. Configure settings:

4. Select keywords:

   • Choose 10 keywords across clusters
   • Mix easy and medium difficulty
   • Avoid high-competition terms initially

5. Click Generate

6. Wait 2-5 minutes per article

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Step 7: Review Quality

For first 10 articles, review 100%:

Quality Checklist:

If Issues Found:

• Edit directly in Forest SEO editor
• Or regenerate with adjusted settings
• Document patterns for future reference

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Step 8: Publish First 10

Two Publishing Approaches:

Approach A: Manual Publishing

1. Open article in Forest SEO
2. Navigate to Publications section
3. Click + Add Platform
4. Select integration
5. Configure post settings:
   • Category
   • Tags
   • Status (Draft or Published)
6. Click Publish
7. Verify on your website

Approach B: Auto-Publish

1. Go to Content → Generate
2. Enable Auto-publish after generation
3. Select integration
4. Choose default status
5. Generate content
6. Content publishes automatically

For First 10: Recommend manual publishing to verify integration works correctly.

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Step 9: Analyze Initial Results

After publishing first 10:

Document Learnings:

• What worked well?
• What needs adjustment?
• Any generation settings to change?
• Integration issues?

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📈 Phase 3: Scale to 50 Articles (Days 4-7)

Step 10: Optimize Workflow

Based on first 10, establish efficient process:

Workflow Improvements:

1. Standardize Settings

   • Use same tone, length, images for consistency
   • Create saved preferences in generation dialog

2. Batch Generation

   • Generate 5-10 articles at once
   • Check Jobs page for progress
   • Review when batch completes

3. Reduce Review Burden

   • Spot-check 30-50% of articles
   • Focus on new keyword types
   • Trust proven patterns

4. Enable Auto-Publish

   • If first 10 were high quality
   • Set default category/tags
   • Monitor published posts

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Step 11: Generate Next 40 Articles

Daily Generation Schedule:

Generation Strategy:

Keyword Selection Tips:

• Start with easier keywords (lower difficulty)
• Mix informational and transactional intent
• Cover all main topic clusters
• Leave highest-competition terms for later

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Step 12: Monitor Publishing

Check integration health daily:

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🎯 Phase 4: Complete 100 Articles (Week 2)

Step 13: Final 50 Articles

Week 2 Production Plan:

Accelerated Generation:

1. Monday-Wednesday:

   • Generate 10-15 articles daily
   • Reduce review to 20% spot-checking
   • Auto-publish everything

2. Thursday-Friday:

   • Complete remaining articles to hit 100
   • Review statistics
   • Check for any issues

3. Weekend:

   • Monitor integration health
   • Review first traffic signals
   • Plan next batch

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Step 14: Quality Assurance Check

After reaching 100 articles, audit a sample:

Sample Audit (10 random articles):

1. Select 10 random articles

2. Visit each on your live website

3. Check:

   • ✅ Published successfully
   • ✅ Correct title and meta description
   • ✅ Proper heading structure
   • ✅ Images display correctly
   • ✅ Content is readable
   • ✅ Links work (if any)
   • ✅ Mobile-friendly

4. Document any issues

5. Fix systematically

6. Update process to prevent recurrence

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📊 Phase 5: Monitor & Optimize (Weeks 3-4)

Step 15: Track Performance

Metrics to Monitor:

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Step 16: Identify Winners & Losers

After 2-4 weeks, analyze results:

Top Performers:

• Articles ranking in top 20
• Getting consistent clicks
• Driving traffic

Action: Create more content on similar topics, expand with related keywords

Underperformers:

• Not indexed
• No impressions
• Poor rankings

Action: Review content quality, consider updates, check technical SEO

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Step 17: Plan Next 100

Based on learnings, optimize strategy for next batch:

Questions to Answer:

1. Which topic clusters performed best?
2. What content length worked well?
3. Did image quantity matter?
4. Any technical issues to fix?
5. What keywords to target next?

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⚡ Quick Reference Guide

Generation Settings Matrix

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Daily Workflow (After Setup)

Morning (30 min):

1. Check overnight generation jobs
2. Review integration status
3. Spot-check 2-3 new articles

Afternoon (15 min):

1. Generate next batch (10 articles)
2. Select keywords from clusters
3. Click generate and forget

Evening (15 min):

1. Review completed batch
2. Check for any errors
3. Verify published posts

Total Time: ~1 hour/day for 10 articles

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🎯 Success Metrics

What Good Looks Like

After 100 Articles:

Timeline Expectations:

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⚠️ Common Pitfalls to Avoid

Mistake 1: Generating Too Fast

Problem: Generate 100 articles in 1 day without quality checks

Consequence:

• Poor quality content published
• Wasted credits
• Bad foundation for SEO

Solution: Follow phased approach with quality validation

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Mistake 2: Ignoring Review

Problem: Auto-publish everything without spot-checking

Consequence:

• Miss systematic issues
• Inconsistent brand voice
• Lower search rankings

Solution: Always review 20-30% sample

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Mistake 3: Wrong Keyword Selection

Problem: Target only high-competition keywords

Consequence:

• No rankings in first 6 months
• Demotivating results
• Slow traffic growth

Solution: Mix difficulty levels, start with low-hanging fruit

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Mistake 4: No Integration Testing

Problem: Enable auto-publish without testing integration

Consequence:

• Publishing failures
• Content lost or misformatted
• Manual republishing required

Solution: Test with 5-10 manual publishes first

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📚 Next Steps

After Your First 100

You've now:

• ✅ Built content foundation
• ✅ Established workflow
• ✅ Published quality articles
• ✅ Started ranking in search
• ✅ Driving organic traffic

What's Next?

1. Scale to 200-300 articles

   • Double down on winning topics
   • Expand into related keywords
   • Increase publishing velocity

2. Optimize existing content

   • Update top performers
   • Fix underperformers
   • Add internal links

3. Automate further

   • Set up content schedules
   • Enable full auto-publish
   • Reduce manual intervention

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🔗 Related Tutorials

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💡 Pro Tips

Tip #1: Start publishing before you have all 100 articles. Get feedback from real traffic early.

Tip #2: Use saved preferences in the generation dialog. Set your standard settings once, reuse for all batches.

Tip #3: Track costs. At $2-$5 per article (token-based), 100 articles = $200-500. Budget accordingly.

Tip #4: Create content calendar. Plan which clusters to target each week before generating.

Tip #5: Join early wins. After first 20 articles, see which topics get traction and generate more similar content.

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Congratulations! You're now ready to generate and publish your first 100 articles. Follow this guide step-by-step, and you'll build a strong SEO foundation for sustainable organic traffic growth.

Questions? Contact support at [email protected] or visit our Help Center.