Have you ever done a search for something specific and you come to one of those junk sites that someone puts together? I find those sites highly annoying, so this article is NOT about them. Rather it's about a using content that is engaging and wants to make people come back to your site to read, study, research and eventually buy your products.

It is common knowledge these days that content is the key to success on the Internet. But you can use content the right way and you can use it the wrong way. The wrong way is usually the easy way out. You just throw the content up and are done with it. You can use it in so many more interesting ways.

One of the best things I like about article databases is that they give me tons of ideas. In fact sometimes it is hard to cross over out of a creative rut and get good ideas. I like to build a mini chart and make a goal to fill it in by going to an article database. This works very well on your website or using HubPages. The concept is to pick a main topic and then find 5 to 10 other topics that you can use to link to that main article as a support system. You can either use the articles straight as they are, or maybe even use the titles or content for an outline and write you own. I find that if I write my own, I get better articles using the keywords that I am thinking about and they link more naturally.

Today the Web 2.0 movement has led us to video. Video is very important and you can get some great results using it. The problem is, sometimes it's hard to figure out what to make a video about. Again using the idea generator concept, I go to the article databases and get ideas. I am not looking to make a long video, maybe 2 to 3 minutes with something related to my site. I can use the articles as an outline and fill in the blanks. Most of these videos I am talking about are screen capture videos. They show screen shots and give some good data while being narrated. There are so many articles out there; it is like a ripe field of fruit. If you are new to video, articles can get you going very quickly.

Let's not forget the content portion of your website. It is obvious that the more pages you have on your site, the better chances you will be found by potential customers. More content means more search engine results. It makes sense to add as much of it that you can. You need to make sure you read these articles thoroughly so that they represent good information. Just because it has been published does not mean the content is good or correct. Make sure by taking the time to read the information. I often find myself thinking about how the article is going to look on the site and figuring out if it adds to my visitor's experience.

Articles can also monetize your site in the form of Google Ad sense or Contextual advertising. This is another good reason to proof read thoroughly what your articles are saying and what keywords they are using. Google looks at the content and plugs in the type of advertising that matches the content of your site. This may bite you if you do not think through it. Each page of content you add to your site has the opportunity to grow and rank in the search engine. Do not forget to add Meta tags to each article so that you can take advantage of those opportunities.

Another good idea is to use the article databases for ideas to make free content as giveaway EBook. Giving something for free is a great concept in building yourself and your site as an authority. I like to build a small mini EBook of maybe five articles and make a PDF document out of it. I personally suggest using the articles you find as a guide and rewriting the content so that you can make the giveaway valuable to the visitor. Again, using the idea generator concept is invaluable here. Now you can take the EBook and use it to generate leads as well as give the customer something. This gives your visitors a great reason to stay on your site longer, or become a repeat visitor.