Everyone who has built a website must know that the secret to success is building back links. This used to consist of hours of work finding sites and asking for reciprocal links unfortunately this no longer works as well as it did. When it comes to getting 1 way links there is a new kid on the block and that’s article marketing.

Every website owner needs fresh content. This keeps the search engine spiders coming back and indexing the site on a regular basis. Writing articles and distributing them is an excellent way of providing fresh content for webmasters while ensuring yourself a back link. In this article we’ll provide some answers for commonly asked questions.

What should I write about?

It is always easier to write about what you know to start with. Once you develop your writing skills then you can move on to subjects you need to research. Always make sure that the topic is related to the site that you are promoting.

How will people locate my articles?

When you have finished writing and checking your articles you will submit them to article directories. These are like online libraries where the articles are listed in categories. Webmasters can copy the articles from these directories and use them just so long as they keep all the links in the articles live. You’ll need to make sure that you have added a resource box to the bottom of your article that contains your links.

Won’t people just remove the links?

Yes this does happen but not as often as you think. It is very easy to track these webmasters down. Use a tool like Google alerts which checks the Internet for relevant key phrases. It is very useful if you add a unique key phrase to your articles that you can enter into the search tool. You can also search for your name to ensure that all the links are live.

How long should the articles be?

Usually anywhere between 350 words and 500 words is ideal. If you find yourself writing longer article split them up into 2 or 3 separate articles

How many sites should I submit to?

There is no definitive answer to this. Personally I try to make each article unique and submit it to only 1 site. This is not as difficult as it sounds if you have the right tools at your disposal. Try to monitor the results you get and if you are getting good links from submitting to multiple sites then carry on doing it.

How many Articles should I write?

The more you can write and distribute the better. It all depends on how comfortable you are with writing. This is my second article today while my wife has written 10. Set yourself a target to start with. For example try to write 1 article before your first coffee.