For anyone doing business online, article marketing is one of the most popular ways to enhance your search engine optimization efforts. With the introduction of article submission tools, the task of distributing your articles across the Internet is easier than ever before. There are a number of rules you should follow if you want to get the most from your article marketing.

Here some article writing and submission guidelines that I’ve personally used to enhance the overall effectiveness of my submissions and guarantee that articles are placed on web pages with a high Google PR.

Article marketing gives your article content a life well beyond a single listing. Website owners visit article directories to find relevant content for their website, blog, or ezine. Your article can be published for quite some time after it’s submitted and posted. The real value of article submission is when third party sites provide a link back to your website in exchange for the content you have provided them.

Make Sure Your Article Is More Than 500 Words. Too often I see valuable content that are just a few words short of the minimum required. Many article submission web sites have a length requirement of 500 words or more. I like to exceed the minimum threshold by at least 35 words so that sites that do not count prepositions still measure more than the minimum.

Make Sure Your Article Is Long Enough. Too often I see valuable content that is only a few words short of a powerful article. Many article submission websites have a length requirement of 500 words or more. I like to meet that minimum by at least 35 words so that sites that do not count prepositions still measure more than the minimum number of words.

Use Your Keyword Phrase Within Your Article. When writing an article about a particular subject, choose a keyword phrase that helps to promote your website, product or service. Doing so allows search engines to easily find and classify your content related to specific keywords.

Submit Your Articles To Top Article Directories. In order to get the most from your article marketing efforts, find top ranked article websites using an article submission tool, software, or application that can give you an indication of a web sites age or Google PR. By doing so, you’ll be able to spend more time submitting to web sites that can provide value to your online marketing efforts.

Focus On The Author Section. The most valuable aspect of article marketing is the link placed in the article content itself or in the author section. Links provide valuable link value for search engine purposes and can drive users back to your website. Article links can be provided in two ways. The first is through a link back to your website. This is a link to your website presented in the actual body of the article. The second is in the author section. The first type of link is rarely accepted by article directories. The second, which provides information about the author of the article, is usually less than a couple hundred words and usually accepts an html link back to your website. Choose your link text carefully and include with each article.

Submit Your Articles To Top Sites. Don’t waste your time submitting your article to sites that are brand new or only have a low Google PR. Find top ranked article sites using some type of article submission software that can give you indication of site age or Google PR. This helps you to spend your precious time submitting to websites that can truly provide value to your article marketing efforts.

Using article marketing is simply a great way to improve your websites ranking. With the help of distributed content and links back to your website, search engines like Yahoo! take notice and assign your website a good amount of value. This comes back to you in higher rankings and Google PR.

Anyone doing business via the Internet, then you must consider article marketing as a vital search engine optimization strategy. Not only can article marketing help you promote your website, but original content is viral in nature and builds your traffic to your website over time.