​If you’re going to write your own articles, (which many times, is the best way to go about article marketing), then all you need to do is place yourself in your customers’ shoes and ask yourself, what information would you look for before buying that particular product? In other words, what would you type into Google to read and learn about a product before making a final purchasing decision?

For example, if you were selling web development software on your website then you can write about the top 5 web development software programs for beginners. Or, you can simply create a comparison chart with reviews on the top 10 website development programs for beginners to advanced users.

If you were selling video games for example, you can write articles on tips, tricks and reviews for such games and post them onto your website. On that same review article page, you can link that page to the actual product page where the reader can buy the reviewed product on your website. And you can use the same technique for any type of product reviews for those products being sold on your website.

​If you were selling digital cameras then you can write an article on “How to Choose the Best Digital Camera for You”, based upon their needs and their budget for example. And if you’re writing an article about a particular product then be sure to place emphasis on the benefits of the product to the consumer as benefits are what sells the products and motivates consumers to buy. Therefore, focus on benefits.

Your articles and more importantly, your article titles must include keywords and keyword phrases that your customers will use when searching for such information online. Then you can link those keywords and keyword phrases from that article to other related pages on your website to give those pages higher search engine ranking for those particular keywords.

There are many benefits to writing your own articles and posting them on your website. And writing articles on subjects such as mentioned above would draw in tons of targeted traffic each and every day. And best of all, you can do it yourself for free.

When writing your own articles it’s important to start your paragraphs with the major point of that particular article in your first sentence. And you can also divide and start off other paragraphs with sub-headlines as well.

​Readers tend to skim articles first and are enticed to read the article based upon headlines and sub headlines as well. Therefore, when using sub-headlines, be sure to use sub-headlines that grab attention and create enough interest to cause the reader to read the rest of the article.

Each paragraph should also be short in structure as long block paragraphs seem to intimidate readers and drives them away from reading that paragraph and quite possibly the rest of the article as well. 

Paragraphs in your articles should consist of 3 to 4 sentences and should cover everything that is necessary to get your point across for that particular paragraph. A typical article consists of 350-750 words. However, you don’t have to write long articles in order to inform and educate the reader. A simple article of 350 words or less can be more than sufficient to get your point across. 

Most internet readers simply don’t have the time or the desire to read long articles. And anything longer than 750 words may be disregarded by most readers online.

When writing articles for the average reader, try not to use technical jargon or sophisticated words to make yourself appear more intelligent than what you really are. Instead, it’s best to write in layman terms using common and familiar words so that the average person can easily understand and relate to every thing you say and write in your articles.

Articles written for the average reader are more likely to get read, retain retention, and create repeat traffic to your website as well. And as a result, more traffic can turn into more sales. However, it’s also important to include as much information as you can about a particular product, category or market in order to educate the customer and establish yourself and your business as an expert in your field.
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If you simply don’t have the time or desire to write your own articles then you can always obtain free articles from article directory websites such as:

-Ezinearticles.com 
-ArticlesBase.com 
-ArticleAlley.com 
-and others as well…

​Simply visit any of these article directory websites and find articles related to your niche market and then post those articles onto your own website. As long as you include the authors’ information at the bottom of the article then you are free to post and publish such articles however you please.

Each article creates a new search engine optimized web page for your website. And the more search engine optimized pages you have on your site then the more traffic you’re bound to receive.
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​You can also hire a professional writer to write your articles for you. Most article directory websites have a community of well talented writers who will write your articles according to your specifications for a small fee.

You name the subject and tell them exactly what you want mentioned in your article and they’ll do all the work for you, including the research as well.  Article writers have the ability to write about any topic and can produce custom articles with 500 and 800 words quickly and easily. And such articles are produced for your use only, and are sent to you directly via email upon completion. The content of your articles will be original and unique and the copyrights for the articles will be yours also. 

Average cost for custom made professional articles:

1 Article: $25- $35
2 - 5 Articles: $30 per article
6 - 10 Articles: $25 per article
11 - 20 Articles: $20 per article
21 + Articles: $18 per article

And there are plenty of freelance writers who can write your articles for $20 or less. You can find and hire a professional article writer from the following websites and from other websites as well:

- www.Articlez.com 
- www.ArticleAlley.com 
- www.Textbroker.com 
- www.99centarticles.com
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​Post your articles on your website: One of the best ways to draw targeted traffic to your website is by posting search engine optimized articles on your own website. 

Write the article using your most important keywords and keyword phrases in the title and throughout the rest of the content of the article. Then build a web page for the article; insert your keyword rich title in your title tag; post your article on the page and you’re done. And within a few days Google will find your article and add it to their data base for everyone to find.

Furthermore, you can link keywords from that article to related pages on your website and Google will rank those pages for those keywords that are linked to those pages. Not only does the actual article page become important to search engines and readers as well, but the pages they link to also increase in search engine ranking for those specific keywords.

Posting articles on your website is one of the best ways to increase targeted traffic and as a result can also increase sales as well.

Submit your articles to article directory websites: If you’re writing your own articles then you can submit your articles to article directory websites to get even more traffic to your site. 

At the end of the article you can add your signature file which will include your name, a short bio, and a link to your website. And this signature file will remain attached to the article at all times.

Web publishers are constantly looking for free articles to post on their site. And by submitting your articles to article directories, you make your articles available for others to post on their websites as well.

As a result, this becomes a form of continual marketing where that one article will soon be posted on many websites. And the more publishers who place your articles on their websites then the more sites you’ll have pointing back to yours which increases your search engine page rank also. Furthermore, when people find and read those articles on other websites then they’re more likely to click on your link and visit your site as well. This creates even more, free, targeted traffic to your website daily.

Submitting your articles to article directories also increases the number of links pointing to your site. And since your articles are posted on high traffic directory websites then those links increase the page popularity for your website as well.

Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing place a significant amount of value on incoming links to your website, especially when those links are coming from high traffic websites such as article directories. And all of this will help increase your website ranking on all of the major search engines which will give your website better search engine placement as well. More incoming links will also increase the possibilities for more targeted traffic. And again, more traffic means more sales.
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​Once you begin to accumulate opt-in subscribers on your website, you can begin to send out monthly newsletters to your subscribers. And in your newsletters you can include your articles, reviews, new product announcements, industry news and more.

Newsletters become a great tool to send out short yet informative articles pertaining to your niche market after you’ve managed to obtain a good amount of subscribers to your bi-weekly or monthly newsletter. And best of all it’s free and automated as well. This also becomes a wake up call for past customers and website visitors to come back to your website, and possibly, buy something else. (See All About Email Marketing for more information on email newsletters.)

To summarize, writing and posting articles to your website and article directories can create targeted traffic to your website daily and as a result can become very profitable in the short term and in the long term as well. And best of all, you can do it yourself for free. And this is the main reason why so many website owners are now writing, posting and submitting their own articles online – because it works!