Writing articles is possibly the best way to generated free traffic to your site. A short article, submitted to a few places, creates permanent streams of traffic. Here are some of the ways articles bring traffic to your website:

1. Click-throughs from article banks. People read your articles at an article bank, and click on the link in the “author’s resource box.”

2. Search engine traffic. Search “cheap international plane tickets” on Google, and sites with my article will be in the results. Wherever the article is found, readers can click through to my travel site.

3. Other web sites. When my reports show a referral address I don’t recognize, it’s usually a web site that’s using one of my articles.

Article Submission - The Basics

Submit your articles to article banks and newsletters. Article banks usually carry “free-distribution “articles, meaning anyone can use them for a site, newsletter or blog. They just can’t change them, and they have to leave your link active. The link is in the “resource box,” where you say something about yourself and invite the reader to visit your web site.

Post an article once, and it can spread, creating permanent streams of traffic. Why permanent? Here’s an example: I get search traffic for “mexico real estate” on my site HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com because of an article I used. The author gets clicks through to her site, but I get traffic - and revenue - so I’ll never remove that article.

The Easiest Article Writing

Article writing isn’t just for writers. Online articles are short and less formal than magazine articles anyhow, but if you really don’t like writing, try a “list-article.” This is the most popular type of article online, which is fortunate, because it’s also the easiest type to write.

For a site about making money on Ebay, you could write an article titled “The Top Ten Sellers On Ebay.” A short introduction, a list with a sentence or two about each item, a bit about yourself and a link to your site, and you’re done. Write “Six Mistakes People Make On Ebay,” and we need to read that to avoid the mistakes, right?

Some article banks charge fees, but there are many that are free. There are also more ways to generate traffic with your articles. That’s this article’s “tease” to get you to the site.

Writing articles for the web is a learned skill. And you can learn it. In fact, you can master it. Once a professional writer in the print publishing world, I had feature articles published by some well-known names (Woman’s Day, The Washington Post, Family Circle, Christian Science Monitor and more). Fortunately, as a self-publisher online, I’m able to transfer some of my professional print writing skills to this form of online publishing. I don’t struggle with writing articles. And that makes filling my websites with useful, well-written information a lot easier for me. But it’s not so for everyone. Some people struggle with article writing. Maybe that’s you.

Do you struggle with writing articles for your website readers? Do you want to write articles for other newsletters and websites that get free website traffic for you, or just more traffic to your website? If you struggle with article writing or if people don’t read your articles, I may be able to help you. While writing content for the web and writing content for print publications is not exactly the same, there is some overlap. Here are some things I’ve learned about both content formats that might help you write better articles for both web publishers and for your websites.

Your article should have:

ORIGINAL CONTENT - The one word magazine writers hate to hear their editor say is “fresh”. Editors frequently use the word as a reason to reject submissions as in “your tips are just not fresh enough”. Editors want originality. Their publishers want originality. Readers want originality. Everyone is in agreement about wanting original article content.

But if something has been said or written about a thousand times before, you CAN still say it again. You just need to have your own original spin and be using your own words (that means no plagiarism too). You need to have your own writing style or personality (which you’ll develop with time). My research tells me that originality is what both readers AND search engines want from online content. They want original content. The articles at your website need to be “fresh”. The articles you submit to publishers need to be “fresh”. With practice and persistence and a little bit of diligence thrown in you CAN write original articles for the web or for your website (to add diversity to all those reprint articles collecting on your site).

CATCHY TITLE - The online experts say you need key words in your online article titles or headlines to catch the attention of the search engines in the right way. That means you need to put the term or phrase you think people are searching for on your subject near the front of your article title (or at least somewhere in it). But you also have to remember that you’re still writing for readers. So on top of making your article title work for search engine optimization, it still has to entice viewers to read it.

You don’t necessarily need a clever article title, just one that appeals to your target audience and briefly describes the article topic. If I’m looking to lose weight quickly you can be certain “Weight Loss - 3 Easy Steps to Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Days at Home” will catch my attention. If I want to know what Britney Spears is doing (and by the way, I don’t), a title like “Guess What Britney Spears Did Now” will catch my attention and make me read further. But if I’m trying to learn the difference between a flat panel monitor and a flat screen, I’m perfectly happy reading an article with a boring title such as “Flat Panel Monitors and Flat Screens Defined for the Home User”. That title addresses my need at the time for specific information I’m seeking on the web. And it has your key phrase “flat panel monitors” right in front too.

GREAT LEAD - The best title in the world won’t keep readers engrossed in your article, if the first paragraph stinks. In the print world, editors happily rewrite their writers’ leading paragraphs to make the lead just so. There are MANY ways to write a leading paragraph. Just remember that your goal is to intrigue the reader while giving him a clear indication of what he’s about to learn in your article. And the SEO experts say the first sentence, or near the beginning of your first paragraph, is a good place to put that key word or phrase once that you’re focusing on for the search engines’ sake.

GOOD GRAMMAR AND SPELLING - Sloppy writing affects your credibility and makes you look lazy. And it makes for a bad reader experience. If you want to keep readers coming back to your website for the content (or publishers coming back to article directories to use your content), get a grasp on your spelling and grammar. A dictionary and grammar book by your side while proofreading your article will be helpful.

CONCISE FLOW - In high school, many students fluffed up their articles with extra words when the teacher assigned them the task of writing a certain word count. That trick isn’t useful after high school (if you ever considered it useful). Most likely you have plenty to say about your topic if you know it well or if you’ve researched it well. Tight concise writing is as appreciated in the online world as it is in the print publishing arena. Don’t repeat yourself or use excessive words to make a point or statement. That will help keep your copy clean. And know that concise writing doesn’t necessarily mean short articles. You don’t have to write 300 word articles. You don’t have to write 3,000 word articles. Just don’t write a 1,200 word article that really can be written in 500 words.

It’s these writing techniques that make you a professional writer and not a sloppy amateur whose writing for the web doesn’t get read. And it’s these techniques that will help you to add better content to your website and get your articles published by other websites and newsletters. And good article writing means more traffic for your website.

Writing articles for the web is a learned skill. And you can learn it. In fact, you can master it. Once a professional writer in the print publishing world, I had feature articles published by some well-known names (Woman’s Day, The Washington Post, Family Circle, Christian Science Monitor and more). Fortunately, as a self-publisher online, I’m able to transfer some of my professional print writing skills to this form of online publishing. I don’t struggle with writing articles. And that makes filling my websites with useful, well-written information a lot easier for me. But it’s not so for everyone. Some people struggle with article writing. Maybe that’s you.

Do you struggle with writing articles for your website readers? Do you want to write articles for other newsletters and websites that get free website traffic for you, or just more traffic to your website? If you struggle with article writing or if people don’t read your articles, I may be able to help you. While writing content for the web and writing content for print publications is not exactly the same, there is some overlap. Here are some things I’ve learned about both content formats that might help you write better articles for both web publishers and for your websites.

Your article should have:

ORIGINAL CONTENT - The one word magazine writers hate to hear their editor say is “fresh”. Editors frequently use the word as a reason to reject submissions as in “your tips are just not fresh enough”. Editors want originality. Their publishers want originality. Readers want originality. Everyone is in agreement about wanting original article content.

But if something has been said or written about a thousand times before, you CAN still say it again. You just need to have your own original spin and be using your own words (that means no plagiarism too). You need to have your own writing style or personality (which you’ll develop with time). My research tells me that originality is what both readers AND search engines want from online content. They want original content. The articles at your website need to be “fresh”. The articles you submit to publishers need to be “fresh”. With practice and persistence and a little bit of diligence thrown in you CAN write original articles for the web or for your website (to add diversity to all those reprint articles collecting on your site).

CATCHY TITLE - The online experts say you need key words in your online article titles or headlines to catch the attention of the search engines in the right way. That means you need to put the term or phrase you think people are searching for on your subject near the front of your article title (or at least somewhere in it). But you also have to remember that you’re still writing for readers. So on top of making your article title work for search engine optimization, it still has to entice viewers to read it.

You don’t necessarily need a clever article title, just one that appeals to your target audience and briefly describes the article topic. If I’m looking to lose weight quickly you can be certain “Weight Loss - 3 Easy Steps to Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Days at Home” will catch my attention. If I want to know what Britney Spears is doing (and by the way, I don’t), a title like “Guess What Britney Spears Did Now” will catch my attention and make me read further. But if I’m trying to learn the difference between a flat panel monitor and a flat screen, I’m perfectly happy reading an article with a boring title such as “Flat Panel Monitors and Flat Screens Defined for the Home User”. That title addresses my need at the time for specific information I’m seeking on the web. And it has your key phrase “flat panel monitors” right in front too.

GREAT LEAD - The best title in the world won’t keep readers engrossed in your article, if the first paragraph stinks. In the print world, editors happily rewrite their writers’ leading paragraphs to make the lead just so. There are MANY ways to write a leading paragraph. Just remember that your goal is to intrigue the reader while giving him a clear indication of what he’s about to learn in your article. And the SEO experts say the first sentence, or near the beginning of your first paragraph, is a good place to put that key word or phrase once that you’re focusing on for the search engines’ sake.

GOOD GRAMMAR AND SPELLING - Sloppy writing affects your credibility and makes you look lazy. And it makes for a bad reader experience. If you want to keep readers coming back to your website for the content (or publishers coming back to article directories to use your content), get a grasp on your spelling and grammar. A dictionary and grammar book by your side while proofreading your article will be helpful.

CONCISE FLOW - In high school, many students fluffed up their articles with extra words when the teacher assigned them the task of writing a certain word count. That trick isn’t useful after high school (if you ever considered it useful). Most likely you have plenty to say about your topic if you know it well or if you’ve researched it well. Tight concise writing is as appreciated in the online world as it is in the print publishing arena. Don’t repeat yourself or use excessive words to make a point or statement. That will help keep your copy clean. And know that concise writing doesn’t necessarily mean short articles. You don’t have to write 300 word articles. You don’t have to write 3,000 word articles. Just don’t write a 1,200 word article that really can be written in 500 words.

It’s these writing techniques that make you a professional writer and not a sloppy amateur whose writing for the web doesn’t get read. And it’s these techniques that will help you to add better content to your website and get your articles published by other websites and newsletters. And good article writing means more traffic for your website.

There’s thousands, millions of article sites out there. You might even count blogs as article web sites and there are new ones popping up every day. The question is: what writing makes you want to read them?

You. You you you.

You. It’s all about you. When writing an article or a tutorial, make sure it’s directed to the person reading it. No one cares about what the author thinks, you want to get the job done. You don’t care about them. Make sure you don’t use words like “we, us, I” and use “you.” It keeps the article or tutorial personal.

Grammar

Keep the grammar casual, but still good. Do you want to sift through a mess of spelling errors and run-on sentences trying to figure out what the author is saying? No, of course you don’t. No one does. Spell check it, grammar check it, read over it once. Make sure your readers can understand you.

Examples

When you read an article, usually you want to see some kind of concrete proof about something the author is talking about. If the article you’re reading is a tutorial, you want to see the end result, right? So put it at the beginning. You don’t want to have to scroll all the way down to see what the final outcome of all your work is to decide you don’t like it. Put your examples at the top to show your readers.

Keep It Casual

Make sure your readers aren’t bored. If you’re going to be writing a long article, might as well make it fun for them to read. You don’t want to read an article straight from a science journal (unless it is a science journal), and even then it should still be somewhat casual. I’ve seen some science articles that are interesting because of how it’s written.

Originality

Put a spin on your writing. Make it your own. It’s cliche, yes, but do it! No one wants to read the same idea over and over. I know I’ve been somewhat guilty of it, but some rule breaking is allright. Like talking about myself here. It’s an example. Refer to #3.

Bold Words

Bold words always help. So do lists, links, and quotes. Readers like you can skim for the bold words they’re looking for, and find what they want. It’s perfect for them. Saves time, and gets to the point.

Conclusion

Always have an awesome conclusion that wraps it up nicely. You always want to see that whole work of art brought together with a nice summation. So if they want to skip that boring article you wrote because they didn’t pay attention, you can hope they’ll read that nice summarized conclusion. Like this: Make the article personal, use lots of examples and styled text to make the article easier for the user, watch your grammar, and make the article your own and have fun with it!

There’s thousands, millions of article sites out there. You might even count blogs as article web sites and there are new ones popping up every day. The question is: what writing makes you want to read them?

You. You you you.

You. It’s all about you. When writing an article or a tutorial, make sure it’s directed to the person reading it. No one cares about what the author thinks, you want to get the job done. You don’t care about them. Make sure you don’t use words like “we, us, I” and use “you.” It keeps the article or tutorial personal.

Grammar

Keep the grammar casual, but still good. Do you want to sift through a mess of spelling errors and run-on sentences trying to figure out what the author is saying? No, of course you don’t. No one does. Spell check it, grammar check it, read over it once. Make sure your readers can understand you.

Examples

When you read an article, usually you want to see some kind of concrete proof about something the author is talking about. If the article you’re reading is a tutorial, you want to see the end result, right? So put it at the beginning. You don’t want to have to scroll all the way down to see what the final outcome of all your work is to decide you don’t like it. Put your examples at the top to show your readers.

Keep It Casual

Make sure your readers aren’t bored. If you’re going to be writing a long article, might as well make it fun for them to read. You don’t want to read an article straight from a science journal (unless it is a science journal), and even then it should still be somewhat casual. I’ve seen some science articles that are interesting because of how it’s written.

Originality

Put a spin on your writing. Make it your own. It’s cliche, yes, but do it! No one wants to read the same idea over and over. I know I’ve been somewhat guilty of it, but some rule breaking is allright. Like talking about myself here. It’s an example. Refer to #3.

Bold Words

Bold words always help. So do lists, links, and quotes. Readers like you can skim for the bold words they’re looking for, and find what they want. It’s perfect for them. Saves time, and gets to the point.

Conclusion

Always have an awesome conclusion that wraps it up nicely. You always want to see that whole work of art brought together with a nice summation. So if they want to skip that boring article you wrote because they didn’t pay attention, you can hope they’ll read that nice summarized conclusion. Like this: Make the article personal, use lots of examples and styled text to make the article easier for the user, watch your grammar, and make the article your own and have fun with it!

Before writing an article, have you ever felt overwhelmed by a blank sensation, not knowing where to start?

…I’ll bet you have!

This checklist should help you eliminate some common problems in writing articles:

1. Have a specific purpose in mind.

Always have a specific purpose in mind before you begin writing: you should be crystal clear about what are you hoping to accomplish by writing your article.

Is it an article clarifying an issue for your customers, to attract prospects, to improve the link popularity for your website?

2. Know your target population.

Before writing an article, conduct research on the target population. What are their experience, their interest, and their wants in the chosen topic? What pain or problem do they try to avoid?

3. Develop a detailed outline first, stressing on the benefits.

Now that you have a purpose and a target, organize your article so that scanning it quickly will show immediately to your reader how he will benefit from it and what are the most important points.

4. Stop your reader in his tracks with your title.

Your title should grab the reader’s attention and ‘force’ him to read your first paragraph. Using your most important benefit usually does it.

5. Start your article with the most important information

Again, do not keep your most important information for the conclusion! Give it immediately and develop on it in the following paragraphs.

6. Keep jargon to a minimum.

If possible, avoid jargon as well as prejudices and insinuations. Write your article so that even a child can understand it.

7. Make your article warm and personal.

Speak direct to the reader. Use a lot of ‘you’.

Reading your article, the reader should feel warmth and empathy, knowing that you have the same problems and goals than him.

8. Keep sentences short and simple.

Using short and simple sentences will allow a fluid and easy reading, preventing your reader to get bored.

9. Have someone from the target population critique your article.

Who can give you a better feedback than someone from your target population? It will help you

10. Spend more time rewriting than writing.

Besides formatting your article for easy reading and nice presentation, be sure to use tools or an external editor to carefully proofread your writing for grammatical and spelling errors.

Remember that the more writing you do, the better you will get. After sometimes, when you are in the habit of writing, article writing will not seem as difficult as now!

Before writing an article, have you ever felt overwhelmed by a blank sensation, not knowing where to start?

…I’ll bet you have!

This checklist should help you eliminate some common problems in writing articles:

1. Have a specific purpose in mind.

Always have a specific purpose in mind before you begin writing: you should be crystal clear about what are you hoping to accomplish by writing your article.

Is it an article clarifying an issue for your customers, to attract prospects, to improve the link popularity for your website?

2. Know your target population.

Before writing an article, conduct research on the target population. What are their experience, their interest, and their wants in the chosen topic? What pain or problem do they try to avoid?

3. Develop a detailed outline first, stressing on the benefits.

Now that you have a purpose and a target, organize your article so that scanning it quickly will show immediately to your reader how he will benefit from it and what are the most important points.

4. Stop your reader in his tracks with your title.

Your title should grab the reader’s attention and ‘force’ him to read your first paragraph. Using your most important benefit usually does it.

5. Start your article with the most important information

Again, do not keep your most important information for the conclusion! Give it immediately and develop on it in the following paragraphs.

6. Keep jargon to a minimum.

If possible, avoid jargon as well as prejudices and insinuations. Write your article so that even a child can understand it.

7. Make your article warm and personal.

Speak direct to the reader. Use a lot of ‘you’.

Reading your article, the reader should feel warmth and empathy, knowing that you have the same problems and goals than him.

8. Keep sentences short and simple.

Using short and simple sentences will allow a fluid and easy reading, preventing your reader to get bored.

9. Have someone from the target population critique your article.

Who can give you a better feedback than someone from your target population? It will help you

10. Spend more time rewriting than writing.

Besides formatting your article for easy reading and nice presentation, be sure to use tools or an external editor to carefully proofread your writing for grammatical and spelling errors.

Remember that the more writing you do, the better you will get. After sometimes, when you are in the habit of writing, article writing will not seem as difficult as now!

Writing for the simple enjoyment of writing is something I throughly enjoy. If I have something to say and I want to share it with someone or everyone, then I put pen to paper or in this case keyboard to notepad and put together an article of some of my knowledge, tips, advise and sometimes wisdom to share with everyone.

One place that I have found to be a great source for not only submitting my articles for publication, but also a wonderful place to get lost for awhile just reading… article directories.

These wonderful directories are filled with vast varieties of information that cover just about anything you may want to know. These sites are perfect for anyone looking for a place to submit their articles to, if your looking for specific information about something then they are gold mines.

Simply do a search for article directories in your browser and you will be overwhelmed with choices. Some directories are very specific about the information they allow, while the most of them open their directories up to a wide variety of subjects. I’ve only come accross a couple that charge a fee for use.

If you publish an online newsletter or ezine then an article directory can be a great resource for you. Article directories allow you fresh and informative information for your readers on a daily basis id needed. Some directories will notify you when new articles are submitted that apply to your specific needs. If you have never used the sevice of an article directory as a source of content, I gaurantee you will be happy you did. Content is king!

Webmaster more and more are turning to the use of article directories as a way of boosting to traffic that visits their sites. They are getting this traffic from back links from other sites. By simply writing an article about their website and the products or services that the website offers and then submitting it to article directories they are building back links. Instead of purchasing over priced, non targeted traffic to visit a site, webmasters are building highly targeted, virtually cost free search engine freindly back links. Ahhh, back links… priceless.

Not sure you can write an article? There a writers for hire that can whip you up an article in no time what so ever for a small fee. You just furnish them with the subject and the key points you want to focus on and they will have you as many article as you want or need in very short time. Known as ghost writers, these writing wizards are wonderful.

So, whether you are a seasoned writer or just someone like myself that simply enjoys writing, you will find that article directories are not only fantastic places to submit to but great places to find information for just about anything your looking for.

Writing articles and marketing with articles is one of the best and fastest ways market your business. In fact, if you can write a 7 item grocery list, you can write an article that will help you increase your prospects, publicity and profits.

Here are seven ways that you can benefit from articles.

1) Articles will quickly position you as an expert in your field.

The written word is incredibly powerful. Writing articles sets you apart from your competition. You never have to say “Listen to me, I’m an expert!” Your articles do that for you, because articles increase your “expert-ability.”

2) Articles can become little 24/7 salespeople.

Once you have an article published, especially on the internet, you now have a 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year international salesperson working specifically for you and your business.

3) Just one article can be used in many ways.

This is called leverage. Just one article can be used a free report, a bonus, featured in a newsletter or ezine, become part of an online e-course, become part of a book, and many other ways.

4) Articles spread the word about your business and your services.

One article that I wrote 5 years ago was recently used in one of my internet newsletters. A newspaper reporter that is on my mailing list saw it and interviewed me for a story. When he pitched it to his editor, the editor liked it so much that they turned it into a feature article. They ran it on the front page of the paper, and it has been picked up and run across the country.

5) Marketing articles is simple, easy and inexpensive, especially when compared to other ways of marketing online.

It costs you nothing to write an article. It also costs you nothing to have it listed on article directories such as EzineArticles.com. Imagine what it would cost you to pay for that kind of exposure and publicity.

6) Articles can help you build a mailing list that you can market to over and over again.

Once you have a few articles out there, you will reach a certain critical mass where the prospects begin to flow in. Continue to grow past the critical mass, and you will grow to the point where you could not stop the traffic and prospects flowing in if you wanted to.

7) Articles allow you to stay in touch with customers/clients and sell more products.

We know that it can take from 5 to 8 contacts or more for new prospect to be ready to become a customer. Articles allow you to stay in touch with prospects and provide them with quality information.

These seven benefits are really just the tip of the iceberg of all the many benefits of article writing and article marketing.

Writing for the simple enjoyment of writing is something I throughly enjoy. If I have something to say and I want to share it with someone or everyone, then I put pen to paper or in this case keyboard to notepad and put together an article of some of my knowledge, tips, advise and sometimes wisdom to share with everyone.

One place that I have found to be a great source for not only submitting my articles for publication, but also a wonderful place to get lost for awhile just reading… article directories.

These wonderful directories are filled with vast varieties of information that cover just about anything you may want to know. These sites are perfect for anyone looking for a place to submit their articles to, if your looking for specific information about something then they are gold mines.

Simply do a search for article directories in your browser and you will be overwhelmed with choices. Some directories are very specific about the information they allow, while the most of them open their directories up to a wide variety of subjects. I’ve only come accross a couple that charge a fee for use.

If you publish an online newsletter or ezine then an article directory can be a great resource for you. Article directories allow you fresh and informative information for your readers on a daily basis id needed. Some directories will notify you when new articles are submitted that apply to your specific needs. If you have never used the sevice of an article directory as a source of content, I gaurantee you will be happy you did. Content is king!

Webmaster more and more are turning to the use of article directories as a way of boosting to traffic that visits their sites. They are getting this traffic from back links from other sites. By simply writing an article about their website and the products or services that the website offers and then submitting it to article directories they are building back links. Instead of purchasing over priced, non targeted traffic to visit a site, webmasters are building highly targeted, virtually cost free search engine freindly back links. Ahhh, back links… priceless.

Not sure you can write an article? There a writers for hire that can whip you up an article in no time what so ever for a small fee. You just furnish them with the subject and the key points you want to focus on and they will have you as many article as you want or need in very short time. Known as ghost writers, these writing wizards are wonderful.

So, whether you are a seasoned writer or just someone like myself that simply enjoys writing, you will find that article directories are not only fantastic places to submit to but great places to find information for just about anything your looking for.