Article Marketing is one of the best methods of driving targeted traffic to your site. Whether you are selling your own products or someone else's, you need people to come to your site and see what you are offering. Only then will they be in a position to buy your product.

Article Marketing can also be used for increasing your search engine rankings by having high page ranked sites publish your work.

Just as with any other venture, your objectives should be clear at the start. Ask yourself these questions:

1.Are you writing articles as a long term method of driving traffic to your affiliate pages?
2.Are you promoting a specific product, service, mlm/network marketing program or is your aim to get leads?
3.Is this going to be your primary method of advertising?

Once you post your article on a site it can be picked up and reprinted thousands of times. Is your site going to be "Up" for the next 5-10 years?

That's why I say this is a long term strategy. You could have thousands of "hits" per year or per day from that one article.

Multiply that by 1000 or 10,000 and you have an idea of what this could mean to you.

So, pick your topic carefully and add links that will lead to sites that will still be here for a long time to come.

This is a powerful strategy indeed.

You see, when you post your article on an Article Directory it will be there for as long as that site is there and it will be easily accessible by subject or author through that sites search engine. Since articles can be reprinted on thousands of sites all over the internet, your articles have the potential to reach millions of readers with no extra work on your part.

Article Marketing is about writing high value content. The information contained in it should be clear, concise, accurate, informative and timely.

Your article should not try to sell the reader. It should tell, not sell.

A prospect is much more likely to click on the link in your resource box if you don't apply any pressure.

Your main objective should be to establish yourself as an expert in your field or niche. This will encourage your readers to click on your links and buy your products. There will also be the added benefit that your brand – your unique online presence - will be enhanced by your credibility and your readers will "attach" themselves to you. They will trust you as a provider of valuable information.

About the Author
Paul Sanford
http://www.1articlemarketing.com