If you have been searching for a creative way to promote your online business, consider writing articles and submitting them to article directories. Writing articles that are relevant to your site or product is an inexpensive yet effective way to drive traffic to your site. Submission is usually free and signing up is simple. Begin with one, well written article and submit it to a free directory. Over time this article will appear in various publications and traffic to your website will begin to increase. The more articles you write, the more exposure you'll have.

Most article directories are free for both authors and publishers. When an owner of a website or newsletter is seeking new content for their publication, an article directory is often the first place they'll look. Remember, the higher the quality of the article the more likely it will be used. Once it is published, your article will be seen by many potential customers.

Your articles should be well written, informative and keyword rich. Be sure the articles you write are on topics you're familiar with. This will make the writing process much easier.

If your article is picked up and used by a publisher, you will begin to increase your web presence as well as back links to your site. If, for example, a publisher of a newsletter with 1000 subscribers publishes your article, 1000 people will learn about your website or product. Article directories allow you to create a resource box at the end of your article where you can tell the readers a little bit about yourself and infirm then of your website. You'll also be able to create links to your website.

Article writing is simple. The articles don't need to be long, just well written and informative. It's important that the articles you submit are original as search engines will often find duplicate articles. Also, writing original articles will eventually give you credibility and expert status.

There are some services which will submit your article to multiple directories for a fee. I've chosen a few directories and I manually submit to them regularly with terrific results. A simple search will result in a pretty good selection of directories. Definitely submit to the larger dirctories as they get thousands of visitors per day. Niche directories are useful in that they offer articles on particular subjects such as gardening, home office or parenting.

Before you publish your article be sure its concise (400 -1000 word is generally an appropriate length, longer articles can be divided into two) and well written. Format is important, as is grammar. Have a friend read the article before submitting it for an outside opinion. Most importantly, make sure that the article is informative and offers readers and potential customers original, useful information. If you do this, you'll be more apt to spark the interest of your readers.