Article marketing offers many advantages for the online business owner. Some of these include:

* The ability to attract search engines and increase your site's marketability. Search engines determine the value of your site by the number of useful links pointing to it. This is how your site climbs positions in the search engine rankings. * Promotion through article directories dramatically increases traffic to your website. Your articles are used by other websites, printed in e-zines and featured in newsletters.

* A free method of reaching thousands of buyers interested in the type of product or service you are offering. Once you promote your marketing article on the relevant directories, you are finished with that part of your marketing. The traffic developed through the article directories will continue to grow and you won't have to do anything else with that article.

* The ability to get many links posted on other sites. Every time a link to your marketing article is posted on another site, you gain the opportunity to reach all of that site's visitors as prospective customers.

Promote and publish informational articles about your product or service and gain the trust of potential buyers. Through article marketing you have the ability to become an authority on your topic of interest.

How it Works Online article marketing provides directory publishers with free content. It also provides web-based businesses with free advertising. Promotional articles are written to target certain niche markets. They are then distributed to directories that focus on those markets. This provides business owners with a ready-made audience that already has an interest in the topic.

Readers are allowed to reprint articles from the directories, provided they include the original author's information box. The result is that your article is now posted on another website, and you gain that site's traffic.

What makes a good marketing article? Every marketing article must contain key elements. These are:

* Original content
* Quality content
* Relevant keywords
* Marketability to high traffic directories
* Author information leading the visitor to your site

It costs you nothing to submit your articles to these article directories. This means free advertising for your website. It also means increased traffic to your website.

You may also choose to have someone else write your articles for you. For a minimal fee, you can hire a company or individual to create the content for your marketing articles. Using this method, you have invested little financially and have reduced the time you must dedicate to your marketing.

Your Author's Information Box A few essential items must be included in the author information box of your marketing article. The following items attract the reader to your site.

* Your name
* A valid link to your website
* USP (Unique Selling Proposition): What makes you and your product or service different from all others?
* A call to action in which you prompt the reader to go to your website

You may choose to include these options as well:

* Your contact information
* A free report: Just as you like free advertising, your customers like to get something free for visiting your site.
* An address to your free E-zine subscription: Offering a free E-zine is another method of attracting potential buyers and gaining credibility in your area of expertise.

One of the most effective tools for promotion and advertising available to you as an Internet business owner is the use of article marketing. With this tool, you can attract your target audience to your website and convince them to purchase your product or service.