Unless you happen to be someone who has only recently started doing business online then you will Know about article marketing. Through article marketing people like you and me are able to get involved in niche markets and target those visitors who are interested in the product you are promoting and turn them into being motivated to purchase from you.

Without a doubt article marketing is the most powerful way in which one can promote a website. Done properly article marketing is the effective way for getting targeted traffic to your site as well as helping to build backlinks. A short but informative article in order to promote a site may seem to take a lot of effort, but the returns you get are quite phenomenal. So just how does article marketing work for an online business?

Initially, it is going to cost you little or nothing, you if you want write your own articles and then submit them to different article directories and other websites. When submitted these sites in turn will then publish them on theirs for you. The benefit is that your site’s search engine rankings will begin to rise because of the backlinks which you have gained because other sites are now using what you have written.

Article marketing is extremely viral. As you will find it only takes one well written article using the appropriate targeting keywords will allow you to generate numerous links back to your site or to some other designated landing page.

Article marketing also provides the added benefit allowing even a new website owner or author to develop a reputation as an authority in a niche. When a reader comes across your article through an article directory and is interested enough to click through your links and visit your site, you’ve been handed the opportunity to develop a relationship with that reader. It’s up to you to cultivate that relationship by offering even more relevant content for your readers that addresses their questions, needs or wants.

At various times, you’ll hear that article marketing is no longer effective or that submitting an article to hundreds of article directories does nothing more than create duplicate content and puts a site at risk of being de-indexed by the top search engines.

But putting aside the arguments that rage for and against duplicate content just now, article marketing is still as effective as any other promotional or traffic strategy being used today. Promotional strategies are constantly changing, yet the strength of article marketing remains because the foundations of the World Wide Web are built on it. Plus the WWW is always in need of fresh and relevant content.

Each and every day millions of potential customers are going online searching for information. By giving these potential customers the information they want you are placing yourself in a position from which you can profit. By writing many articles you will soon attact a steady stream of traffic to your websites. It’s then just down to your site whether you convert that traffic into sales.

Article marketing is the one free or nearly free strategy to promote a product or website that anyone can do. It is an excellent way to bring in targeted traffic if you are willing to work at it consistently and for the long-term.

By writing informative articles using well-researched keywords in whatever niche you select, you can gain more exposure and higher search engine rankings. But, just submitting the same article over and over to hundreds of article repositories and niche websites can dilute the effectiveness of your article marketing efforts.

The real key to article marketing success is to submit unique versions of your articles to the different directories and websites. Daunting as this may sound the results are truly extraordinary and well worth the effort. Gone are the risks of duplicate content and slippage of ranking. While the definition of what constitutes duplicate content continues to be the subject of hot debate, many experienced webmasters are comfortable with ranges above 30%.

Of course, the greater the difference between versions, the better, but keep in mind that the top search engines spiders review a webpage in its entirety and take other elements of the page into consideration. Even a seemingly small 30% change can be quite sufficient to avoid being “sandboxed”.

Submitting unique versions of your articles is the smartest way to undertake article marketing. Not only are you gaining targeted traffic, but the boost in ranking tends to last longer from backlinks you build through marketing unique articles.