Would you be surprised to learn that nearly every successful website owner is heavily engaged in an ongoing article marketing campaign?

You only need two things to have a successful website …content and traffic. And, while traffic can come from any number of sources, the most coveted traffic comes from organic listings in Bing, Yahoo, and Google, the top three search engines.

Although developing and promoting a website which ultimately achieves enviable search engine ranking requires substantial time and work energy to develop, the resultant traffic is free. If you elect to promote your site via advertising, it is unlikely that your cost will be less than $5 per targeted visitor. And, research has repeatedly proven that visitors who reach you after a search in Bing, Google or Yahoo are far more likely to be buyers than those advertising drives to your site.

Actually, that shouldn’t be surprising news. The person who arrives at your site after clicking on a banner ad or getting an email ad may have some level of curiosity about what is on your site…he or she might be called a shopper. Conversely, he person who actually utilizes a search engine to find your site is far more likely to be an actual customer, not just a shopper.

That explains why successful website marketers spend significant time and energy chasing search engine rankings. And, as anyone engaged in search engine marketing realizes, obtaining links is the most critical element in achieving top rankings. In most cases, article marketing is an integral part of SEO campaigns because no other activity yields as many links as quickly. In fact, a single popular article can result in hundreds of links within a week and thousands of links in a month. It’s not that uncommon.

In most cases, website marketers write about topics closely related to the subject of their sites. And, basically, that’s a sound strategy.

However, if all of your articles are related to your website content, you are leaving money on the table.

By submitting articles on a limited range of topics, these people also limit the article directories and websites which will be consider using their articles. Thus, they significantly reduce the number of links their articles produce and the „link juice“ they receive. Here’s a better way to proceed. I own a number of education sites, so my articles are most often related to college admission, financial aid, online education, and similar topics. I’ve gotten…literally… thousands of links from these articles, but there are any number of article directories and websites that have no interest at all in the aforementioned subjects. Realizing that, I also write 100-200 articles a year on topics of general interest. That way, I reach a whole new group of readers and…even more important…my sites get a far higher number of links than they’d have if I confined myself to writing on education.

I recently wrote an article on gardening. I have also written about parenting, dealing with difficult people, preparing a winning resume, dozens of other topics wholly unrelated to higher education. You’d probably never guess that my education sites got more than 1,000 links from an article I wrote on gourmet hamburgers, but they did. Not bad for an hour of work, right? That is why the best piece of advice I can give you after ten years of internet marketing is this: you should regularly compose and submit articles on at least twenty or twenty-five different subjects to supplement the articles you write that directly relate to your website content. I can almost guarantee you’ll find the results well worth the effort.

Marion Newman is a community college transfer counselor who counsels students on upper division online degree programs and online college financial aid programs.

Article marketing is a great way to promote a website. But there are some traps to be avoided to do it effectively. Here are five of them.

1. Authors often fail to realize the importance of titles. Without an interesting title, a story is far more likely to be rejected by an online article directory. And even if a story makes it past the article directory editors, few website owners will use it on their sites if it does not have an engaging title.

2. Articles are often heavy on fluff and light on content. I often find myself abandoning an article before reading even half of it because it has no value or relevance to me. If you want to draw readers to your website, give them informational or thought provoking articles. Content really is king.

3. Don’t limit your articles to the subject of your website. If you do, you will limit the number of websites interested in using your articles. Unfortunately, many website promotion „experts“ offer exactly the opposite advice. If you do a little math you’ll see just how bad their advice is. While you might want to produce up to two thirds of your articles on topics related to your website, at least a third should be on a variety of topics of high general interest.

4. Article writers often tend to be formulaic. In some instances they try to cram a prepared list of keywords into an article. In other instances they try to ensure that 3-4% of the content consists of keywords. While such formulas may make sense from an SEO point of view, they often make articles unreadable.

5. Authors should never be the only ones to edit and revise their own articles: those who do walk a tightrope without a net. It is not just about catching spelling errors and typos, it’s about word choices, typos, and transitions as well.

Article marketing done properly requires considerable time and thought. But, because it can establish you as an authority, produce immediate traffic to your site, and boost your search engine rankings, it is well worth the effort. Do it well.

There is one and only one online marketing secret. There is no secret, no magic bullet, or foolproof formula.

Ignore the daily emails we all receive from self-proclaimed internet millionaires who make thousands of dollars daily while traveling to the world’s most exotic vacation spots. If these folks are as wealthy as they claim to be, their money probably comes from selling worthless „secrets“ and questonable business opportunities to newbies.

I am not just guessing. For years, I have offered a free website promotion course to webmasters. As a result, I have closely investigated numerous information programs and pieces of software. A few offer decent advice or assistance at reasonable cost. Most do not.

There is no shortage of self-promoters who will tell you how much they earn and promise you the same result for $50-$200. And, if you pay their price, one of you will make money…exactly $50-$200 dollars.

But, there are some tips and techniques that can help you become a successful internet marketer. And all they will cost you to get them is a few more moments of your time.

1. You do not need a formally constructed business plan unless you seek investors, but you do need a plan. Better to move forward slowly than to spend months making up for mistakes.

2. Almost nobody builds a successful business without putting in time and effort.

3. Your best product or service is something people need. Something they think they need can work too.

4. Be honest. Say or write nothing that is not true. If you exaggerate or lie to a prospect once, he or she may never be able to trust you enough to buy from you.

5. Make sure your website gets to the point. People are busy. Tell them what they want to know, offer to answer questions, and invite them to buy. That’s all.

6. Surveys show that people are afraid they’ll get ripped off if they buy online. A good guarantee and an „about us“ page on your website can overcome buyers‘ fears.

7. Invest in products that can save you time and bring you success more quickly. Link building software, article submission software, and a good autoresponder are good examples.

8. Devote at least 20 hours a week to promoting your website unless and until you hire someone else to do so.

There is no shortcut to success, but there are tried and true principles. Choose a good product or service, continue to educate yourself, and work hard. If you do, your odds are good.

With eight active websites, I keep pretty busy. But, no matter how busy I get, I allocate at least four hours of my time each day to promoting my sites.

I initiate link exchanges, write press releases, produce newsletters, and more. But, I spend more time engaged in article marketing than in any other activity because it produces, by far, the best results. Of course, you have to do it right.

If you pay attention to the following suggestions, you can expect to be successful.

1. The title of your article is extremely important. The better the title, the more often the article will be reprinted and read.

2. Do not write too formally or you will risk sounding stilted. But, avoid slang, especially if the nature of your website is such that you need to be taken seriously.

3. Respect your readers‘ time. Be clear and concise.

4. Concentrate on writing articles about, or related to, the subject(s) of your website. But, write on general interest topics as well so you can get your articles in as many article directory sites as possible and maximize the number of website owners who will use them on their sites.

5. Craft your author’s box copy carefully. Be certain that your website links are embedded in your best keywords. Most of my sites are on higher education, so my links are embedded in terms like „online degrees“, „online colleges“, „scholarships“ and other terms for which I would like my sites to rank well.

6. Proofread. Even one error in spelling or punctuation can prevent your article from being published.

Nothing will compensate for good content. But, however good your content, aggressive promotion is required if you want people to visit your site. And, nothing works better than a well-conceived article marketing campaign.

It is no secret. The more links you can obtain, the higher your site will rank in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Not all website owners, however, are aware of how many ways there are to obtain links.

Here are the top 10.

1. Submit your website to directories. Some require a fee, but most do not.

2. Submit your site to online classified ad pages. Most are either free or very inexpensive.

3. Initiate link swaps with other website owners. Seek out those whose sites are on subjects related to yours, but avoid contacting competitors.

4. Podcast. You really need not be a techie to do it.

5. Shoot a couple of brief videos and submit them to appropriate sites. If you do not have a camera, you can rent one.

6. Register at social bookmarking and other social sites.

7. Utilize press releases. Several services are available to assist you, some at no cost.

8. Blog. It’s almost a must. Link from your blog to your website.

9. Write articles on subjects of interest to your potential visitors and submit them to article distribution sites. Include a a link to your website in the author’s box.

10. Post on forums and comment on blog sites. Caution; do not spam.

There you have it…10 quick ways to get links to your websites. Try as many as you can and you’re almost certain to see good results.