To all writers and non-writers out there, now is the time to start digging up those creative writing skills.With modern communication technology comes the popularity of information-based marketing, which is one of the oldest and most effective techniques in getting targeted prospects to sites and converting them into buyers. This is

On the Web, links are currency. The more links you have to your site, the more traffic you will get. Article marketing gives you a time-tested way to develop good links, and to increase the traffic to your site.

Article marketing has other benefits too: it reveals your expertise in your area, and over time, brands you as an authority. This builds the credibility of your site and your offerings.

So you can use article marketing in two ways: to develop links to your site, and to increase your credibility online.

But first, let's establish what "article marketing" is. Article marketing is essentially a form of advertising - a site owner writes short articles related to their business as a form of promotion.

Links are vital online, and article marketing helps you to get links

Let's say you and your competitor have two similar sites, with roughly the same number of pages, and good content throughout each of your sites. However, your competitor always shows up in the first ten results on the Search Engine Results pages (SERPs) for your primary keywords.

What's happening here?

Invariably, your competitor's site has more backlinks - more links which point to his site. The search engines, especially Google, take the number of backlinks into account when deciding which site has more authority, and the most authoritative sites are always returned first in the search engines' query results.

Is your site credible?

When someone finds your site, at the back of his mind is a single question: "How credible is this site?"

Credibility and trust are vital issues online, especially if you're selling from your site. Your site's visitors must know that they can trust you.

Article marketing helps to establish trust. Write articles in your field, promote the articles on article directories, and you will become an authority in your field, if those articles are useful.

So if you're considering article marketing as a form of promotion, don't hesitate. It gives you a lot of bang for a small amount of time invested.

When you consider that your articles will work for you year after year, and compare this with the ephemeral nature of advertising, article marketing is a great investment of your time and energy.

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For more writing tips, subscribe to Angela's Fab Freelance Writing Ezine at http://fabfreelancewriting.com/ezine/fab-freelance-writing-ezine.html and receive "Write And Sell Your Writing: The Power-Write Report". It's 21 pages packed with information to help you to develop a six-figure writing career, and it's completely free. Angela's Fab Freelance Writing Blog at http://fabfreelancewriting.com/blog/ brings you fresh writing tips several times a week.