Companies have a tremendous tool to use in building awareness and driving traffic to web sites: publishing articles on the web.

There are many benefits of article marketing which can be the marketing foundation for any business.

1 Speak directly to the target client and show how you meet their needs

2 Speak directly to the need of a potential customer

by showing the benefits your company offers

3 Sharing knowledge - article marketing gives a chance to showcase

your knowledge and track record

4 Cost effective: the cost of articles is in the initial writing. A skilled writer

can write several articles efficiently. Once articles are written they have a

life of several months, thus stretching the marketing dollars.

5 Can replace or supplement traditional public relations efforts.

Building relationships with the media takes time. Press releases are often not published or

published once and then forgotten.

6 Online articles can be used for printed fact sheets.

These can easily be distributed to customers or handed out at networking events.

7 Improve web site visibility. Articles submitted to leading web sites and directories can contain links to a corporate web site.

8 Establishes credibility for a company or for an individual service provider

9 Establishes a personality, too, allowing potential customers to get to know the point person

10 Effective to use in an integrated media campaign. Online articles can be easily emailed or referred to in a direct mailing.

To write an effective article, don't just talk about your business and your need for customers. That's not why customers want to do business with you.

Instead, focus on what you offer as I briefly stated in point 1. Writing an article about your business and how you solve the problems of others or meet their needs is good business.